Did anyone else see that article get pulled off Kotaku today?

So Stephen Totilo had a story at http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/05/console-war-revisionist-history-alert/ (dead link now) where you could vote for the winner of this generation of console wars. A choice between Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and ... PC. His story was basically "no Wii? That's strange, etc." ... except the voting is tied to a competition. The contest is at https://www.playfire.com/a/blog (this is NOT a referral link) and you get extra chances to win if you refer people...

Stephen Totilo put a story up on Kotaku about a shitty competition and put a referral link in the story but did not mention how it benefited him. The story has been taken down now... but man, that's got to be the nail in the Kotaku coffin... as if Brian Ashcraft's obsession with sexy cosplay, Gundam and other "news" wasn't bad enough.

@PandaBear said:

but man, that's got to be the nail in the Kotaku coffin...

Bet you it isn't. Bet you fifty dollars.

Well no ... I don't think they'll be out of business. I meant more on a personal/credibility level. Lies and rumours ... it's worse than Destructoid.

I wish I understood....I do not get out much beyond GB, and the New releases/ some other stuff section at GS...

That already happened. When you link to Kotaku now, some people won't click it out of principle. If anything, this is what we've come to expect from Kotaku.

And, uh, I didn't mean to come off so snarky in that last post. It was just a joke.

I was able to find it. Maybe it was pulled off Kotaku Australia, but it doesn't look like they pulled it off the main site:

http://kotaku.com/5908709/console-war-revisionist-history-alert

Kotaku turned me off when they tried to force that hideous interface redesign on us last year.

Anyone who enjoys an involuntary eye twitch or three should take a look at the "Top 100 Games of All Time" post on that playfire site.

They didn't need to pull the story, just update the link so he didn't get referrals from it, anyway Playfire is an alright site, and I don't think their system works with the Wii which would explain why it isn't on the list.

All I know is David Jaffe let Stephen Totilo know everything he thought about Kotaku, and that's good enough for me.

@Doctorchimp said:

All I know is David Jaffe let Stephen Totilo know everything he thought about Kotaku, and that's good enough for me.

Damn that was a great listen. Go David Jaffe.

@MonetaryDread said:

@Doctorchimp said:

All I know is David Jaffe let Stephen Totilo know everything he thought about Kotaku, and that's good enough for me.

Damn that was a great listen. Go David Jaffe.

Whoa that is gold ... Jaffe is one of those guys that I always respect even if I'm not the no.1 fan of his games... sort of like Lorne Lanning.

Anyway, I know it's not big news, but I feel like shit blog sites get away with too much. I have nothing against PlayFire, but Kotaku should be better than this... should be.

@Skald for the record I didn't think you were being snarky ... much ;)

@PandaBear said:

Well no ... I don't think they'll be out of business. I meant more on a personal/credibility level. Lies and rumours ... it's worse than Destructoid.

@Fattony12000 said:

@PandaBear said:

Well no ... I don't think they'll be out of business. I meant more on a personal/credibility level. Lies and rumours ... it's worse than Destructoid.

i honestly don't understand how anyone can dislike this man.

not even being sarcastic, jim is fucking hysterical.

@Three0neFive said:

@Fattony12000 said:

@PandaBear said:

Well no ... I don't think they'll be out of business. I meant more on a personal/credibility level. Lies and rumours ... it's worse than Destructoid.

i honestly don't understand how anyone can dislike this man.

not even being sarcastic, jim is fucking hysterical.

Jim is thug life.

I got a lifetime ban on Kotaku for writing...

This isn't news.

I know, I'm a monster.

@Seppli: I do hope you're joking. But still, Kotaku is... well, all that's been said here. It seems more business that blog.

@fetchfox said:

@Seppli: I do hope you're joking. But still, Kotaku is... well, all that's been said here. It seems more business that blog.

Nope - it's exactly what happend.

...sexy cosplay...

What? Tell me more.

@PandaBear said:

as if Brian Ashcraft's obsession with sexy cosplay, Gundam and other "news" wasn't bad enough.

Brian Ashcraft's stories are the only reason I occasionally regret deleting my Kotaku bookmark.

I wish there was a site where I could just read his stories. At least he sticks to his guns and doesn't pretend like he doesn't.

And what's wrong with Gundam?

@fetchfox said:

@Seppli: I do hope you're joking. But still, Kotaku is... well, all that's been said here. It seems more business that blog.

Nope, I saw lots of people get buried for doing that. The Kotaku readership are apparently very fond of learning about how a game that will never come out in their country will come with a sexy pillowcase or some shit.

Shit, I was a starred commentor over there before I left. >_>

Kotaku haven't had any credibility for years.

I got a lifetime ban on Kotaku for writing...

This isn't news.

I know, I'm a monster.

Kotaku and Destructoid... the horrors of video game journalism.  
 
Please don't defend Jim Sterling, can't stand him. 

@GS_Dan said:

@fetchfox said:

@Seppli: I do hope you're joking. But still, Kotaku is... well, all that's been said here. It seems more business that blog.

The Kotaku readership are apparently very fond of learning about how a game that will never come out in their country will come with a sexy pillowcase or some shit.

You realize Giant Bomb used to host images of anime children being blasted with cum and straight-up raped, right? Your point about Kotaku being perverted is kind of moot.

Kotaku has been useless since the Gawker redesign. It caused them to lose a huge chunk of their visitors and they responded by putting up as many stories of scantily clad or fully nude women as they could.

That's not to say that they weren't kinda shitty before then, but as long as you avoided certain editors you could get some decent information.

@Three0neFive said:

@GS_Dan said:

@fetchfox said:

@Seppli: I do hope you're joking. But still, Kotaku is... well, all that's been said here. It seems more business that blog.

The Kotaku readership are apparently very fond of learning about how a game that will never come out in their country will come with a sexy pillowcase or some shit.

You realize Giant Bomb used to host images of anime children being blasted with cum and straight-up raped, right? Your point about Kotaku being perverted is kind of moot.

Pretty sure that wasn't the staff though. Although, Jeff...

@Seppli said:

I got a lifetime ban on Kotaku for writing...

This isn't news.

I know, I'm a monster.

You insensitive asshole!

you never stopped and maybe thought for 2 seconds, that the guy maybe had a really rough week and forgot to post the news because he left them at home, 5 times in a row??? huh? no you didnt you asshole!

@MrKlorox said:

@Seppli said:

I got a lifetime ban on Kotaku for writing...

This isn't news.

I know, I'm a monster.

Mine came from using the word "Bitchcraft" and Bryan Ashcraft didn't fancy it. As if Kotaku was worth clicking to begin with. And what's better, they kept my password around for hackers to steal and put in a torrent.

Heh, i know he wants to make it appear cool with his name being Ashcraft and all, but all i can think of is Asscraft when i see that name.

I still browse Kotaku half at times but often for videos and pictures, the people who write that nonsense make my skin crawl.
 
But this ain't news, I'm amazed these lads still keep writing, after all the bad blowouts over the years.

@GS_Dan said:

@Three0neFive said:

@GS_Dan said:

@fetchfox said:

@Seppli: I do hope you're joking. But still, Kotaku is... well, all that's been said here. It seems more business that blog.

The Kotaku readership are apparently very fond of learning about how a game that will never come out in their country will come with a sexy pillowcase or some shit.

You realize Giant Bomb used to host images of anime children being blasted with cum and straight-up raped, right? Your point about Kotaku being perverted is kind of moot.

Pretty sure that wasn't the staff though. Although, Jeff...

@EvilKatarn said:

@PandaBear said:

as if Brian Ashcraft's obsession with sexy cosplay, Gundam and other "news" wasn't bad enough.

Brian Ashcraft's stories are the only reason I occasionally regret deleting my Kotaku bookmark.

I wish there was a site where I could just read his stories. At least he sticks to his guns and doesn't pretend like he doesn't.

And what's wrong with Gundam?

Taken from Gawker's advertsing profiles:

"Kotaku is the definitive digital hub for video game news, reviews, cheats, design, and entertainment. It tracks the genre's spreading popularity from hardcore obsession to casual gaming in pop culture and social media."

Off the top of my head I recall the time Brian Ashcraft wrote about a Japanese homeless man dying near an arcade which he disgustingly tried to relate to video games. Then there's his love of cosplay, cosplay, cosplay. Anime/hentai, anime/hentai, anime/hentai. Perverted crap, perverted crap, perverted crap. Gundamand Gundam. Not news, not news , not news and not even interesting... why bother reading his crap at all? It's offensive what they do for page views.

"Read by both developers and the players who idolize them, Kotaku is the lifestyle bible for millions of button-pushers and console fiends." -Kotaku advertising profile.

So he wants to write about junk? Go crazy. But let's not act like this is anything more than "Japanese girls are hot" and "Kotaku needs more clicks, here's some non-news". Then they attempt to do real news... but the credibilty is gone. It brings down gamers as a whole and makes game journalists look like horny otaku losers. Kotaku isn't a video game site, it was once...

If you want you can filter Kotaku to show only his stories... if you're into that stuff. Also, I was probably a little hard on Gundam.

@AlexanderSheen said:

...sexy cosplay...

What? Tell me more.

You have my full attention.

All I know is David Jaffe let Stephen Totilo know everything he thought about Kotaku, and that's good enough for me.

@PandaBear said:

"Kotaku is the definitive digital hub for video game news, reviews, cheats, design, and entertainment. It tracks the genre's spreading popularity from hardcore obsession to casual gaming in pop culture and social media."

And it is not that. I never said Kotaku was good in any way. Just that Brian Ashcraft is the most consistent writer there. Granted, his "stories" do not belong on a site claiming to be about videogames but they are the most entertaining when compared to the other "serious journalism" crap they post on occasion. And when they do post "serious journalism" it's a gurl gamer's 15 page essay about how rude young boys are in online games. Frankly, compared to that I'd gladly take a dedicated Bashcraft site anyday.

@Cloudenvy said:

@AlexanderSheen said:

...sexy cosplay...

What? Tell me more.

You have my full attention.

I would also love to know more about this Sexy Cosplay party. Also Jim Sterling is pretty great.

Hey now Destructoid is pretty cool they do pretty good live shows too what "bad thing" have they done.

And the only thing that comes to my mind when someone says Kotaku is this...

http://gameleon.thegamestribe.com/news/is-this-the-worst-piece-of-games-journalism-ever/

and this isn't even THAT article that was the piece that made me stop using the site for good before I used to check it for quick news reports.

I don't mind Kotaku. There are interesting articles and news amongst the stupid shit they mainly post. I can't stand Brian Ashcroft though. His contributions to the site are fucking stupid and he's a complete dick when he responds to users in the comment section.

@MonetaryDread said:

@Doctorchimp said:

All I know is David Jaffe let Stephen Totilo know everything he thought about Kotaku, and that's good enough for me.

Damn that was a great listen. Go David Jaffe.

What was all of that over? I need a little context here. I'm so out of of the loop with all this Kotaku stuff since I never visit their site.

@Bocam said:

@Cloudenvy said:

@AlexanderSheen said:

...sexy cosplay...

What? Tell me more.

You have my full attention.

I would also love to know more about this Sexy Cosplay party. Also Jim Sterling is pretty great.

I think the Jimquistion is actually not bad ... hate what he does on Destructoid ... but he's not all bad.

@EvilKatarnhttp://kotaku.com/people/ashcraft/posts That's Kotaku with on Ashcraft stories... But I don't see how you can bash other writers on that site (who usually also suck) and defend this. Different strokes I guess...

@RJay_64 said:

Kotaku turned me off when they tried to force that hideous interface redesign on us last year.

Same here. I just couldn't get used to the redesign because I couldn't get over the clunkiness. It felt I had to dig harder than I was used to for information.

I've stopped going there and get my news from Joystiq and IGN and come to have fun and participate in the community on GiantBomb.

Well, I can see from this thread that my boycott of Kotaku has no reason to end.

You think Kotaku's bad but when you look at some of the crap pulled by other Gawker sites this quite frankly comes off as tame. For example at CES 2008 Gizmodo used a device to go around and turn off the tv's at the event.

I left them around the redesign, never felt the need to go back. Too much shit to wade through to get to any good articles. 

@Trilogy said:

@MonetaryDread said:

@Doctorchimp said:

All I know is David Jaffe let Stephen Totilo know everything he thought about Kotaku, and that's good enough for me.

Damn that was a great listen. Go David Jaffe.

What was all of that over? I need a little context here. I'm so out of of the loop with all this Kotaku stuff since I never visit their site.

I would also like to know what they wrote about Jaffe

Forget Destructoid.

Kotaku is the fucking worst.

PC WINS MOTHERFUCKERS 
 
I mean that website sucks.

That's pretty reprehensible.

https://www.playfire.com/ps3-xbox-pc/TCD4SI

@Crixaliz said:

@Trilogy said:

@MonetaryDread said:

@Doctorchimp said:

All I know is David Jaffe let Stephen Totilo know everything he thought about Kotaku, and that's good enough for me.

Damn that was a great listen. Go David Jaffe.

What was all of that over? I need a little context here. I'm so out of of the loop with all this Kotaku stuff since I never visit their site.

I would also like to know what they wrote about Jaffe

From what I recall, he said something stupid in the heat of the moment on Gametrailers during the lead up to Twisted Metal's release along the lines of "If your girlfriend beats you at TM, you'll be getting a blowjob for sure" (really paraphrasing there), and a new reporter at Kotaku called him a misogynist, and then in a follow up story where he tries to apologise and say how he fucked up, she basically cut up a bunch of the quotes. I'm a bit hazy on the details, but I remember that comment getting totally blown out of proportion.

There was some twitter war stuff between him and Leigh Alexander where she drunkenly tweeted that if she had worked on the game, she'd pretend she didn't out of embarrassment (not based on his blowjob comment, but on the game itself) which ended up getting pulled into the misogyny shitshow.

Kotaku is a piece of shit so this doesn't surprise me.