Coffee 'n Cameras 'n Q&As: 09/04/2014

A few things to keep in mind before watching this video.

• In testing a new audio setup, it goofed the first few minutes and I couldn't fix it. I know what went wrong, though, and it shouldn't be an issue in the future. It fixes itself in time.

• Yes, I'm aware of the big ass pimple on my head. Such is life.

• I talk about some of the recent week's events. Be cool in the comments. Message me in private if you're not sure if you should post it. Moderation ain't gonna mess around.

Couldn't help but instantly notice that NES in the corner.

Good talk about the realities of (game) coverage and closeness between media and developers/publishers.

Ahh, good ole Audio Sync Issues!

I'm never ready for whatever Tumblr has!

@patrickklepek: Continuing to get zits as a 30 year old is the only part of adulthood my education didn't prepare me for. D:

@patrickklepek As a 25 year old whose skin has mostly cleared up from my teen years, I feel your pain. I too get the random massive annoying zit at the most inconvenient of times, just a reminder that maybe I'm still a kid.

Good stuff @patrickklepek Thanks!

I kind of hate that this is a premium video, because I want to share this with all of my friends that aren't members of this site. A lot of what you're saying is so important. Keep up the great work.

@patrickklepek Nice...is there a new camera setup as well? Maybe it's just me but the lens quality looks better, bit of shallower focus and bokeh effect on the background. Makes a significant difference.

If you haven't should you definitely see twin peaks. It starts slow and the quality fluctuates wildly but the shows unik mix of soap-opera, whodunit and horror makes the experience well worth it.

"I'm ready for whatever you've got, Tumblr" - famous last words.

Sigh... What I wouldn't give to hear Ryan's take on Guardians of the Galaxy.

Yeah, I bought a Sony N6 a few weeks back to step up my video setup. It only records in 30-minute chunks, which you really only run into for stuff like this. But I'm hoping to move away from webcam stuff when I can.

I bet he'd love the jams! :)

It will only happen before you need to be on camera or speak publicly. Pimples are evil. Anyways I'm really looking forward to this. :)

EDIT: Well said, throughout, Patrick. Great stuff.

Put this video on the list of best video thumbnails on Giant Bomb.

@patrickklepek: What is your audio setup for using the Sony N6?

Point well made about all the drama Patrick. Whether you think Sarkeesian comes across as having an axe to grind or Phil Fish is 'playing to the camera' or whether what you think you know about Quinn's personal life doesn't sit well with your morals, or any other thoughts you have about people or behaviour you don't like in the industry; insulting people, threatening people, publishing private information about people is much more damaging to the industry and much more abhorrent than the things you're complaining about. However much you dislike or disagree with Phil Fish, Anita Sarkeesian or Zoe Quinn, they deserve, at worst, polite criticism of their mistakes.

Also Patrick it's a bit rich talking about full disclosure when you've obviously received something from Sega for that Alien: Isolation advert, it's written on your face.

I'm just annoyed that there's a group of people attacking individuals when there's obviously a big nepotistic problem in the indie-development and press scene.

While you may not think it's the "biggest issue" Patrick, it's still what's being highlighted right now by everyone, and while there are assholes doing nefarious shit (which doesn't interest me and I'm sorry and annoyed that they do that), some of the things that have been brought up regarding the IGF NEEDS to be addressed as the evidence - at least from someone observing all this BS from the outside, like myself - is piling up.

I think a lot of the amped up hatred would settle down a bit if someone, ANYONE with some amount of respect and integrity in the industry actually investigated those claims instead of defaulting to the "misogyny!" part.

There's a huge crowd of us left behind with a ton of questions, but those with the answers are only responding to the hatred, not the valid points.

Great video Patrick. I had the same issue with Twin Peaks. After listening to Jeff and Ryan talk so longingly about the show I gave it a shot. I was 2 episodes in and it just didn't grab me as much as I hoped it would. Might be time for a second go-round.

Keep up the great work!

Annoyed? We're talking about people whose home addresses have been publicly plastered on Twitter, with death threats lovingly attached. It's not possible to be "sorry" about that. That angle of this discussion has taken over, and it's impossible to have a discussion about the other. That was my point. If you seriously think any concerns about nepotism or issues with the indie scene's clique-y nature are worth talking about as people are being driven from both the industry and their homes, I don't know what to tell you.

All really really well said. As usual, you respond intelligently and with tact and honesty. I can't speak for all but I will say thank you for addressing all this stuff. I trust you, Alex. Please come to PAX South in January. Definitely want to hang out if you guys are there. :)

@patrickklepek I have a Spotify playlist of music for working to which you might find interesting - c.8000 tracks at the moment of wordless, mostly beatless stuff which I find is pretty good for concentrated working with words (I work in book publishing so I'm reading in a fairly concentrated fashion most of the time)- I tend to just put it on shuffle when I'm working and it tends not to get boring Ambient/Drone/Kosmische/Electronic/Neo-classical music for working to

Not sure when it was added but I really like the new "Premium" graphic. Props to the artist!

@patrickklepek: Hey Patrick. I liked your point of view a lot on the hate going on right now. Like many people, I think it would help to have an open stance on it, on the website, that everybody can see, not Premium.

I know it might not be that simple and most of the team has been pretty vocal on twitter, but still.

Loved the video, keep up the good work !

I guess I just hope that one of these days our society evolves to the point where reasonable, nuanced discussions can take place among the moderate majority without being completely taken over by the obnoxious, hateful, and extreme folks that reside on the fringes.

It just seems like every topic, whether it be politics or social issues or now gaming journalism, gets corrupted into this ugly monstrosity of a shouting match between people who don't represent the way most of us feel.

@patrickklepek: I haven't watched the video yet so I don't know the specifics of your comments, but I'll just say that I think speaking out against the stuff that's been going on in the past few weeks probably shouldn't be behind a paywall. (Or in a long video that people can ignore, for that matter.)

A lot of people are tweeting at Alex right now that this should be addressed on the front page. Hopefully you're thinking the same thing. Hopefully, editors at other major sites also have that idea.

Good on you boy, can be a real fucker when that happens its tempting to just shut yourself indoors until it clears up, kudos.

@patrickklepek said:

I'm annoyed at the people who're doing what you just said because they're ruining any chance of a proper discussion being had about the issue - again, as you just said.

From what I'm to understand, the hatred and vicious attacks against women in the community have always been there, but are now ramped up drastically because they - as shitty as it sounds - now feel that they have something to back up their beliefs. Until someone gets the answers, I don't think the attacks will stop as the people doing it will continue to have a "purpose" to do it.

I'm not in any way defending those people, but even if their actions are vile and unwarranted, it's important to understand why they do it. Otherwise you're going to be screaming against a wall for eternity.

In response to the recent events, I'm just tired at this point. I want to have real conversations but it's been completely co-opted. I'm tired of seeing people get harassed and people I respect judge and bully an entire group of my peers based on the negative actions of some.

I think one big issue here is my complete lack of trust in games journalists as a consumer. I can only trust the GB crew because I know what to expect from you guys. I know each of your tastes, I know none of you will feed me lies and BS, and I know you won't publish some silly poorly researched call to action.

I think we (consumers and press) need to stop focusing so much on the cult of personality, inside baseball junk, feeding the constant hype train, and trying to make everything a crusade and just focus on the games and having fun. I think GB does a pretty good job in that regard. That’s just my opinion though, everyone is entitled to disagree.

Definitely watch Twin Peaks, amazingly weird but entertaining show. I also recommend the movie the made for it, a prequel. It is not great, but it helps answer some of the questions left over from the show.

Putting "journalists" in quotes will certainly endear you to the journalist who is monitoring these comments.

And if there's really an issue with corrupt games journalism, and how they're all friends with developers and whatnot, does anyone want to talk about the lengthy Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2.0 Edition) segment in the most recent GB PAX panel? No? People are just going to go after Jenn Frank, huh? Alright.

I would love to envision a world like this as well.

On topic of the video, I was very much impressed with the diplomatic tone you took on talking about this entire issue, @patrickklepek. Thank you for addressing it, I can't imagine how difficult it must've been. Keep up the good work!

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who found the lengthy infomercial during the panel to be a little strange.

@lameimpala: I don't want to speak for that other poster, but I don't like that stuff. I love Johnny V, and having him hang out with the bombfellahs is fun to watch, but yeah, I don't really want them to feature his games more than anyone elses because of it. I feel like most of the time, Giantbomb does a much better job of maintaining a conscious distance between their coverage and their friendly hanging out buddy time than a lot of gaming sites/publications - they acknowledge their relationships, they're out in the open, and they're still not afraid to be honest about the games, at the end of the day. But yeah, that PAX segment made me slightly uncomfortable. I'm not saying I know what to do with that feeling, or that it should be the focus of the discussion right now, but it's there.

PR and marketing inserting itself in to every single gaming thing bothers me a lot.

Thanks Patrick. Always love these Q&A-type videos from you and Jeff. Hope you can do more of them in the future.

I found it a lot strange. I like Johnny V. and Ninja Theory... but "they flew here for this" made me go "what????"

I liked the Gamebomb.ru prank segment because it had nothing to do with self promotion or pitching a product. It involved mingling between game developers and the crew, sure, but it was based around a site meme. It wasn't Will Smith running out and schilling Tested for 10 minutes followed by John Drake schilling Sony first party exclusives. They were just out there having fun.

And hey, Johnny seems like a cool dude and maybe they were all having fun too, but it came off less like a fun part of a panel and more like advertisement for Disney Infinity Money Sink Game I Will Never Play Edition.

@patrickklepek- Where did you get that Bears shirt? I would pay for one for my Chiefs.

Whenever I hear all this complaints about journalists (be it games, MMA, whatever) I honestly wonder if people have an idea of how journalisim works. Now I'm not I'm at best a blogger but I took a couple journalisim classes in college. You're right PAtrick it comes down to trust and the other side just seems to be sooo anti-establishment and just want the pure feed.

@excast: Right, GameBomb.ru was nice and stupid and fun. Seemed like the right way to use your industry buddies in a panel that's marginally related to video games.

Unfortunately, Johnny's appearances are always tied to Disney talk. That's all we have to go by as the audience. Same jokes, same talking points. Maybe that's not what they intend, but I just see him as Disney Infinity man because that's always their discussion on camera.

With Drake or Muir or D-Leazy, they actually talk about other stuff regularly.

Holy crap. That sudden audio improvement. I think I got ear-whiplash.

I think that an important thing to realize is that we can't have the honest and open discussion that people are clamoring for if some of those who would participate in that discussion are in fear for their, and their families, well being. I am at work and haven't had a chance to view the video (boo hoo) I just wanted to point out that there are very real issues here that concern the health and safety of real, honest to goodness people. I don't think anyone's desire to talk about these issues, or start confrontations about them, overrides another person's right to health, happiness and security.

Every person deserves to feel safe in their own home, at their job and out in the world. And unfortunately a lot of good people don't feel safe because of some portion of the online community. There is no way to hand wave that away, I'm sorry. It is happening and it is more important to me as community member and a concerned human being than anything else at the moment.

If the clickiness of the games industry really bothers you it tells me that you're not well rounded when it comes to media in general.

Jay Glazer of Fox Sports is one of the best known reporters in the NFL for breaking news. It's no secret that he gets a lot of his information from being on good terms with the players. In fact he's even done business with some of them.

Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson has gotten exclusive access to cars based on long standing relationships he's had with people within the car industry. He's apparently good friends with an engineer or two at Volkswagen for example and can usually add more to the story about certain cars. Hasn't really helped with the reviews he's given. He been pretty harsh on some of the cars regardless.

There are a lot of examples of that in media and it's not too hard to figure who has preferential relations with whom. It's also not hard to realize why this happens. The reporter and the person on the inside clearly have something in common since they're interested in the same thing. That can lead to friendships. Should these be disclosed so the reporters audience can feel comfortable? 9/10 times no. I don't care nor should any of us really care unless you honestly believe it's affecting their coverage.

Any chance of providing the audio from these Q&A videos as a premium podcast? Presenting them as video doesn't really add anything to the content (for me at least) and having them available in podcast form would add some welcome flexibility in consuming them.