Should blair herter be fired?

Did...did no one tell him that Homefront was originally meant to be about a far more plausible Chinese invasion? That idea was scrapped because of you American's weird 'Hate/Vitally need to keep your economy afloat' relationship with China.

LOL G4 is a joke what do you expect.

this is why i dont watch Xplay any more, it used to be so good too. :(

" I'm really, really surprised whoever his editor is cleared that. "

Fuck yeah, bro! You can't fucking invade America motherfuckers! Whoooooo.....
 

At first i thought i was going to be about the review score. Did not see that coming

" @Bennyishere said:

" Hey guys, have you heard about this thing called Freedom of Speech? It lets anyone, even douchebags, say what they want. I think that's pretty cool. "

How exactly is that relevant?  Last I heard, the government is not shutting down G4 because of the review.  Wouldn't everyone inundating him with insults also be covered under the oh so vaunted freedom of speech? "

I haven't read the entire thread, but did no one but me in the entire fucking world that played the awful piece of shit named Homefront notice that it isn't Kim Jong Il at all that invades? It's his son. Can't remember his name in the game, but IRL it's Kim Jong Un. And it's entirely plausible, since North Korea has more soldiers than the US by almost 5 times (2,4m US, 9,5m NK, that's in total), and are possibly soon on par technologically. They only have an army, that's fucking it, and with huge national resources that army gets pretty crazy big. 
 
He might be a douche, I don't really care, but he's an awful reviewer, journalist and is generally incompetent as fuck. You research shit like that before going off on a slightly racist rant.  
 
I mean, about the only thing I liked what so ever about Homefront is the premise, because it's chilling and entirely plausible. The Korean Union that exists in the game, with the annexed countries, would be immensly more powerful than a US where the economical decline has continued. 

" Wow. Who knew that GB's "soft underbelly of offended" was North Korea?!  "

" And it's entirely plausible, since North Korea has more soldiers than the US by almost 5 times (2,4m US, 9,5m NK, that's in total), and are possibly soon on par technologically.      

" @Turambar said:

" @Bennyishere said:

" Hey guys, have you heard about this thing called Freedom of Speech? It lets anyone, even douchebags, say what they want. I think that's pretty cool. "

How exactly is that relevant?  Last I heard, the government is not shutting down G4 because of the review.  Wouldn't everyone inundating him with insults also be covered under the oh so vaunted freedom of speech? "

It's relevant because many people want him fired. It seems to me like for a people who is so fond of being able to say what they want, they seem very adamant that there should be repercussions for what a dude said in his review. And yes, everyone insulting him is covered under that freedom, did I state otherwise? "

" People really need to hop off Blair's dick for two seconds

Where the hell did that come from? Thought it was was normal review at first, but then it got weird!! 
It's not like it was North Koreans who made the game as a threat... or have I missed something? That seemed uncalled for.  
 
But then again, I've never even heard of "G4" before. Are all their reviews like this?

" I think some of you guys may have missed where he made fun of people living in a hellish dictatorship as if it was their own fault.  And then the South Korea thing.  I'm not sure if "racist" is quite the right word but that was some low, low fucking shit. "

" @Turambar: That's true, and if he gets fired for not following the guidelines of the company or whatnot, I will not complain. My post was more of a facetious stab against the people being outraged by his words than an actual plea for his protection. "

" I haven't read the entire thread, but did no one but me in the entire fucking world that played the awful piece of shit named Homefront notice that it isn't Kim Jong Il at all that invades? It's his son. Can't remember his name in the game, but IRL it's Kim Jong Un. And it's entirely plausible, since North Korea has more soldiers than the US by almost 5 times (2,4m US, 9,5m NK, that's in total), and are possibly soon on par technologically. They only have an army, that's fucking it, and with huge national resources that army gets pretty crazy big.  He might be a douche, I don't really care, but he's an awful reviewer, journalist and is generally incompetent as fuck. You research shit like that before going off on a slightly racist rant.   I mean, about the only thing I liked what so ever about Homefront is the premise, because it's chilling and entirely plausible. The Korean Union that exists in the game, with the annexed countries, would be immensly more powerful than a US where the economical decline has continued.  "

" @Ertard said:

" I haven't read the entire thread, but did no one but me in the entire fucking world that played the awful piece of shit named Homefront notice that it isn't Kim Jong Il at all that invades? It's his son. Can't remember his name in the game, but IRL it's Kim Jong Un. And it's entirely plausible, since North Korea has more soldiers than the US by almost 5 times (2,4m US, 9,5m NK, that's in total), and are possibly soon on par technologically. They only have an army, that's fucking it, and with huge national resources that army gets pretty crazy big.  He might be a douche, I don't really care, but he's an awful reviewer, journalist and is generally incompetent as fuck. You research shit like that before going off on a slightly racist rant.   I mean, about the only thing I liked what so ever about Homefront is the premise, because it's chilling and entirely plausible. The Korean Union that exists in the game, with the annexed countries, would be immensly more powerful than a US where the economical decline has continued.  "

Not sure where you're getting this info, but Wikipedia lists them at the 4th largest army in the world with 1.21 million armed soldiers.  That being said, they're nowhere close to the US technologically.  They have only recently gotten nuclear technology that the US had back in the 50s, they still don't have the missile technology to deliver it to anywhere dangerous to us (not that this shouldn't scare the crap out of the South Koreans).  Plus, the regime only survives because of massive foreign subsidies, which would probably vanish if North Korea were to invade.  So the main point this guy is making, that North Korea is not really threatening to the US, is pretty valid.  I can understand how that would break story immersion in a game.  How would you feel if you were to start an epic war game, with the ultimate bad guys being the Costa Ricans?  I think I'd have a tough time buying it. "

" @mzuckerm said:

" @Ertard said:

" I haven't read the entire thread, but did no one but me in the entire fucking world that played the awful piece of shit named Homefront notice that it isn't Kim Jong Il at all that invades? It's his son. Can't remember his name in the game, but IRL it's Kim Jong Un. And it's entirely plausible, since North Korea has more soldiers than the US by almost 5 times (2,4m US, 9,5m NK, that's in total), and are possibly soon on par technologically. They only have an army, that's fucking it, and with huge national resources that army gets pretty crazy big.  He might be a douche, I don't really care, but he's an awful reviewer, journalist and is generally incompetent as fuck. You research shit like that before going off on a slightly racist rant.   I mean, about the only thing I liked what so ever about Homefront is the premise, because it's chilling and entirely plausible. The Korean Union that exists in the game, with the annexed countries, would be immensly more powerful than a US where the economical decline has continued.  "

Not sure where you're getting this info, but Wikipedia lists them at the 4th largest army in the world with 1.21 million armed soldiers.  That being said, they're nowhere close to the US technologically.  They have only recently gotten nuclear technology that the US had back in the 50s, they still don't have the missile technology to deliver it to anywhere dangerous to us (not that this shouldn't scare the crap out of the South Koreans).  Plus, the regime only survives because of massive foreign subsidies, which would probably vanish if North Korea were to invade.  So the main point this guy is making, that North Korea is not really threatening to the US, is pretty valid.  I can understand how that would break story immersion in a game.  How would you feel if you were to start an epic war game, with the ultimate bad guys being the Costa Ricans?  I think I'd have a tough time buying it. "

I guess I see the point about North Korea not being a very strong country.  But look at something like the Six-Day War with Israel and a host of Arab countries in '67.  Israel was outnumbered and technologically inferior to Egypt and its supporters.  But the war was fought and concluded over the course of six days.  Look at the Vietnam War.  The US, with the South Vietnamese and other allies were much stronger and much more advanced then North Vietnam and its supporters.  But that war ended in a military draw with the US leaving South Vietnam to fend for themselves.  It's easy to say how great the US is due to our military and technological prowess but it is a foolish thing to sell a country short because they don't match the US in these areas.  There is more to a war then numbers and technology. "

" @JasonR86 said:

" @mzuckerm said:

" @Ertard said:

" I haven't read the entire thread, but did no one but me in the entire fucking world that played the awful piece of shit named Homefront notice that it isn't Kim Jong Il at all that invades? It's his son. Can't remember his name in the game, but IRL it's Kim Jong Un. And it's entirely plausible, since North Korea has more soldiers than the US by almost 5 times (2,4m US, 9,5m NK, that's in total), and are possibly soon on par technologically. They only have an army, that's fucking it, and with huge national resources that army gets pretty crazy big.  He might be a douche, I don't really care, but he's an awful reviewer, journalist and is generally incompetent as fuck. You research shit like that before going off on a slightly racist rant.   I mean, about the only thing I liked what so ever about Homefront is the premise, because it's chilling and entirely plausible. The Korean Union that exists in the game, with the annexed countries, would be immensly more powerful than a US where the economical decline has continued.  "

Not sure where you're getting this info, but Wikipedia lists them at the 4th largest army in the world with 1.21 million armed soldiers.  That being said, they're nowhere close to the US technologically.  They have only recently gotten nuclear technology that the US had back in the 50s, they still don't have the missile technology to deliver it to anywhere dangerous to us (not that this shouldn't scare the crap out of the South Koreans).  Plus, the regime only survives because of massive foreign subsidies, which would probably vanish if North Korea were to invade.  So the main point this guy is making, that North Korea is not really threatening to the US, is pretty valid.  I can understand how that would break story immersion in a game.  How would you feel if you were to start an epic war game, with the ultimate bad guys being the Costa Ricans?  I think I'd have a tough time buying it. "

I guess I see the point about North Korea not being a very strong country.  But look at something like the Six-Day War with Israel and a host of Arab countries in '67.  Israel was outnumbered and technologically inferior to Egypt and its supporters.  But the war was fought and concluded over the course of six days.  Look at the Vietnam War.  The US, with the South Vietnamese and other allies were much stronger and much more advanced then North Vietnam and its supporters.  But that war ended in a military draw with the US leaving South Vietnam to fend for themselves.  It's easy to say how great the US is due to our military and technological prowess but it is a foolish thing to sell a country short because they don't match the US in these areas.  There is more to a war then numbers and technology. "

I agree that numbers/technology don't always win wars.  But I have to dispute your assertion that Israel was technologically inferior to the invading Arab armies.  The Israelis were using a lot of American technology, which was presumably superior to what Egypt had.  I do think that a very important factor in both of those wars (Vietnam, Six Day War) was the location of the fighting.  When you fight on your own territory, you have a heavy advantage.  Not just from knowledge of the terrain, but also in terms of morale and the fact that your backs are against the wall.  During Vietnam, everyone knew that we could always just quit and go back to America.  The North Vietnamese weren't going to leave Vietnam, and were willing to fight to the last man.  That's a powerful factor (it's played out a number of times in Afghanistan as well).  But when you have North Korea invading the US, that factor would weigh in favor of the US. "

There's certainly some stuff in that review which is blatantly racist and downright ignorant but I don't think this is enough for him to be fired over. I just hope he and his superiors understand how unprofessional it was to publish statements like that (which I suspect they don't).

" There's certainly some stuff in that review which is blatantly racist and downright ignorant but I don't think this is enough for him to be fired over. I just hope he and his superiors understand how unprofessional it was to publish statements like that (which I suspect they don't). "

Given the current state of G4 compared to just a few years ago, everyone needs to be fired and they need to start over. At the very least, take Sessler off his leash.

" There's a difference between "reaching the common man" and being the common man. Video game "journalists" don't seem to get that. If you're going to babble on like some user review, why should I give your review more weight than some random user? "

I've seen others comment on the implausability of the plot of this game. It reflects a failure of imagination on their part, and a double standard borne in emotion.
 
I'm sure when he goes to the movies to watch the latest blockbuster, he's all fever and fury about the implausability of John McClane jumping from a bilding with a fire hose around his body and the idea of one man taking down a crew och highly trained and dedicated terrorists in the field.
 
In some ways, I guess you could say that the plot of this game trolled him.

I think the premise is unrealistic, but isn't that because the invader was originally China and they had to change it to be politically sensitive?

Who cares? Why are you people making a big deal about this? He just made some stupid jokes.

I just think he was a little offended by the games premise, but took it a little too far. 
Seeing how Kim seems bi-polar, it's kind of in a way drawing more attention for him to do something dumb. 
 
OF course I'll probably say something unnecessary, so i'll just shut up. 
 
(in experience the best thing to do)

Nothing wrong with anything he said.  Both korea's armies combined in an invasion would result in nothing but piles of bodies.  He's right it's unrealistic and dumb

Giantbomb needs more starving baby jokes in their reviews....You know, to class up the joint.....

" Giantbomb needs more starving baby jokes in their reviews....You know, to class up the joint..... "

Are you guys serious? It's a funny remark on how dumb the story is. Nothing more, nothing less. 
 
If they fired the guy, which they won't, he could sue them... big time. And taking the review off the site would be equally ridiculous. This is even less offensive than the embarrassing Dick Wolves thing. Learn to honor the right to freedom of speech.

It wasn't offensive, but it wasn't funny, either.

" Giantbomb needs more starving baby jokes in their reviews....You know, to class up the joint..... "

Im offended that G4 network still exist.

 @oysteinBrenne:

Well more than likely he's just reading a review script that the editorial staff wrote.  I could be wrong but I don't think he reviews games he's just more of an on air personality.  Jason D'Aprile wrote the written review on their site.

" Im offended that G4 network still exists. "

The StarCraft bit and the babies starving was just straight up ignorant. Attacking a tyrant is OK (not during a game review), but to call out South Koreans for playing StarCraft... Yeh, that dude should probably get fired.

I dont think he should be fired but the fact that he put that into what is meant to be a fairly professional piece is totally dumb and then theres the fact that an editor decided it was ok to go with.  
To start with its fiction, so any argument about how stupid it is isnt really valid. Then theres the fact that even in the game it isnt just North Korea invading the US, its North Korea and a bunch of other countries. Then we come to the "Kim Jong Ill couldnt get anyone to do anything haha" comment, fair sure all of North Korea does exactly what he says on a daily basis.  
Finally theres the comment about South Korea, nice way to be a total dick for no reason what so ever.  
He shouldnt be fired but he is a dumbass. 

I agree the comment was crap.  Herder is an unfunny douche but here's what I do, and what you should all do.  NEVER WATCH G4.  NEVER GOTO THEIR WEBSITES. 
 
In my world G4 doesnt even exist!  :D

His rant was rather offensive, but he probably didn't write it himself; G4 is just a terrible network and you shouldn't watch it. I mean, Sessler is alright I guess, but not nearly enough to justify dealing with the tripe that network has to offer (also Sessler's ocassional appearances on the bombcast during expos and whatnot are enough for me).

yeah kinda hate blair herter, he is one of the reasons i don't watch xplay anymore(especially after his alpha protocol review ), but no he shouldn't be fired over this.

He's right, and I could give two shits about North Korea or anything said about them, but its tasteless and pointless to rant about in a Game review. Maybe if we were truly invaded, then that type of talk is fine, but not now.

unrealistic? you're fucking right it is.
 
americans would be too busy playing angry birds and farmville while their children starve to notice a korean invasion. when their children unplug the computer in an attempt to warn them, they will brutally beat them, go grab a bag of deep-fried chocolate gummi twinkies and continue to be fat, all the while their useless nigger leader steals televisions and eats kfc.

Good to see this issue brought to light.  Making sure political correctness is carried out throughout all of American media will sure help those under the reign of despot leaders. 
 
To G4 haters, check out their web shows.  Feedback is a pretty good video podcast.

He shouldn't be fired. It's a stupid joke that could be considered offensive. Chalk it up to poor writing.
 
Besides, doesn't Tosh.o have way more offensive jokes than this in every episode? I don't mean to be insensitive, but I really don't think this should be a headline.