I went into this thinking, "Oh come on, it can't be too bad"
Wow. I don't know what to make of this
It's not earth-shatteringly bad but jeez. Made me cringe and a bit embarassed for some reason. Whatever, people say all sorts of things, whether it be on TV or off. Can't be fazed by such things at this point in my life.
fuck that guy. That did not belong in a game review, and it sounded more like nationalist chest-beating than any sort of critical analysis of Homefront's story.
i think he should be fired for being an annoying douche in the first place. How desperate were they when they picked up that prick. The rant just came across as if he should have ended it with, "amirite, guys" and a lonely hand up for the high fives that will never be. Whenever i see'im he comes across as trying too hard to be funny and/or trying too hard to fit in.
Korea, as a single piece of land, is not a race. It's a country. People who come from there are Koreans, which are (if you want to be picky) Pacific Coast Asians (since Asia is really fucking big and encompasses a wide array of races).
Yes, I have this nagging issue with everyone that claims racism when another insulting a state. It's like me being called a racist for insulting Great Britain when I'm American.
" @StaticFalconar: Korea =/= Race Korea, as a single piece of land, is not a race. It's a country. People who come from there are Koreans, which are (if you want to be picky) Pacific Coast Asians (since Asia is really fucking big and encompasses a wide array of races). Yes, I have this nagging issue with everyone that claims racism when another insulting a state. It's like me being called a racist for insulting Great Britain when I'm American. "
He said South Koreans would let their children die while they play Starcraft.
" Holy crap. That was the very definition of "Whoa, not cool." Of course, I'm sure all of the 3 people who still watch this show found it hilarious. "
I wish only three people watched it. I hate how edgy they try to be on that show. "
To be fair, it's not like G4 has much going for it as a channel. Not unless you enjoy all day marathons of Cops and are a frat boy. At least, that's my understanding of G4's demographic.
But no, I don't think the guy should be fired, just not have another of these reviews green-lit.
I don't think he has actually played the game - Kim Jong il isn't the leader at the time that Homefront takes place. Other than that, I'm not actually that offended. Kim Jong il's North Korea is an extremely weak country (it barely has enough food to feed it's own population, and has so little food that it can longer train its army for fear of running out of rations if a real war starts) and China is the only reason that nation has avoided an outright collapse. China doesn't want the US to disappear anytime soon, so it would stop N.Korea from invading the US.
Apart from the "starcraft" jibe, there wasn't anything really wrong with the review. Still, it isn't cool. A hint of racism? Maybe, maybe. But should he be fired? I'm not sure. At the very least, he should be told not to do it again.
No. It's not. If anything, it's prejudice toward Koreans. Not racist. I have said enough on the topic and shall stop after this. Not because I don't want to "defend myself and point," but because this neither the forum location, or topic where it should be discussed.
" 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. "
He has the freedom of speech. I also have the freedom to think it was an inappropriate thing to say. The complaint isn't against his RIGHT to say it, but WHAT he said.
It's lame, inappropriate, off-topic, unfunny, and a generally shitty thing to say.
That said, I don't think dude should get fired for it any more than anybody else at X-Play who allowed that segment to be aired. Reviews are opinion pieces. Shitty, overtly nationalist opinions are still opinions.
" @JasonR86: No. It's not. If anything, it's prejudice toward Koreans. Not racist. I have said enough on the topic and shall stop after this. Not because I don't want to "defend myself and point," but because this neither the forum location, or topic where it should be discussed. "
Well, you're gone but I'll add something to this.
You are right, racist may not be the right word. But whatever word you would like to use, it was inappropriate for a review.
I'm more insulted by him saying that John Milius isn't a very creative guy.
Look, the dood may have said some sarcastic and attempting-to-be-funny-but-no-one-laughed quips, but it's not like they are inaccurate. North Korea is vastly incapable of invading Rhode Island, let alone the entirety of the United States. Teaming up with South Korea would help them, but even then, we would seriously thwart that threat and stack Korean bodies a mile high. The quip about South Korea being nothing but StarCraft players leaving their babies to die in the other room is generalizing an entire nation in a shitty way, but at the same time, South Korea runs fucking esports shit for StarCraft and the majority of the nation goes apeshit for it. Again, it's not a wholly inaccurate statement.
Overall, though, it was a bad review anyways. There was little about what genuinely made the game good or bad. "The multiplayer is good. You can control RC things. You can shoot stuff. The maps are pretty cool." Okay, so what makes it good? Low lag? Good hit detection? Varied gameplay? As for the single player: "It's kind of short. You shoot stuff. Helicopters are made of rubber."
" 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 wouldn't really say fire worthy since this guy couldn't really be considered review worthy. Maybe be deemed as "Don't let this guy near a mike for a very long time" sounds about right.
HAHAhaha what a weird thing to put in a review. It doesn't even-- why would-- what??
@august
said:
"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. "
Come on--" The South of Korea is too busy playing StarCraft 2 to invade the US, and the only problem we'd have is where we'd pile their cold dead bodies" is pretty racist.
Very disappointed this got aired. Blair's probably not going to be fired over it, but whoever wrote his on-air review (as opposed to whoever wrote the internet review) probably should be.
For one, generalizing South Korea as a country without clout simply because they take a video game seriously seems to go against the entire mission statement of a show like X-Play. It's like they're writing for nerds who hate other nerds or something. Obviously, the personal attacks on Kim Jong Il's physical appearance were rather uncalled for as well; the man is completely insane and has done ridiculous things over the years, so I don't understand why there was a lack of comedic material in a fairer venue. The comment about the demoralization of the Korean people is maybe more fair, but seems incredibly hostile.
The story of Homefront is flawed. The unification of North and South Korea as a communist nation would not go unchecked by the U.N., and even in a crisis the aggression necessary to invade Japan over two years would not go unnoticed by the rest of the United Nations (say, Russia or China?) But that doesn't mean you get to spout gross racial propaganda.
No. it was mean spirited , and the first I heard of babies starving in the next room was in the US over WoW. I think he is tired of a bullshit premise, but being real like saying china, or take a chance and postulate a flipped and nuclear armed India in the future has problems, too. Obviously.
I have no real problems until the bottom of the barrel is reached and racial epithets , maybe borrowed from the Vietnam war, are thrown out. PPl. on the net are too quick to want someones reputation or hide, when it is the worst place after all to risk those items. PPl. (some ppl.) sometimes arn't much better than the person they are attacking, and perhaps worse.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with making fun of that creep Kim Jong Il, and all he said about South Korea was a Starcraft 2 joke. Hardly anything to get worked up over.
I'm more surprised there're still shows about video games on G4. Usually, they're too busy showing reruns of "COPS" or "Cheaters," because that's obviously what our demographic prefers to watch. G4 is about as much about video games as MTV is about music. I have to admit, that parkour competition show is pretty cool, but I honestly liked G4 a lot more when it was almost solely focused on video games and not on... well, douchebags.
More on point, I agree that his weird anti-Korean rant was pretty stupid and unnecessary. It basically amounted to schoolyard name-calling, like "Hey! Look at this guy! He's short and ugly! Why would anybody follow this guy?" If you're going to go on a rant about how a united Korea would not be able to defeat the American military, at least provide some significant evidence rather than simply saying that the leader is a "buttery-faced dwarf." And it's not like America doesn't have its share of idiots who have committed miserable acts because of or due to video games.
Remember when G4 used to air shows like "Game Makers," where they'd give the history of some of the game industry's most prominent people, developers, and franchises? That was the G4 I liked.
No because he didn't actually write the review. The actual text review was done by Jason D' Aprile which was then butchered by a G4 producer and handed off to Blair for recording. Shocking as this might sound just because you hear Adam Sessler, Morgan Webb, or in this case Blair Herter in the video review doesn't mean that they are the ones that actually reviewed the product. They were just the ones chosen for the segment.
Think of it like how GameTrailers has one guy do all the recordings for every review. You don't honestly think that one guy plays ALL those games right?
It would seem, based on the majority of posts here, that many of you have never even heard of Kim Jong-il. He has consistently ranked among the world's worst dictators (if not the worst).
That was fucking ridiculous... Yeah, I'd say a good firing is in order. But it's also X-play, and just about anything G4-related is already pretty fucking lame
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