Other reports claim that it bricks immediately after the update, but apparently it only happens to those that upgraded their hdd. And that this issue only effects those who have upgraded their hard drive.

Sony has released the following statement:

"We are aware of reports that the recent PlayStation 3 system software update (version 4.45) has caused the XMB to not display on a small number of PS3 systems. We have temporarily taken 4.45 offline and are investigating the cause of the problem. We will announce when the system update is available for download as soon as possible. We apologies for the inconvenience."

It's currently unclear or at least not immediately obvious how Sony will roll out a fix for those who can't access the XMB. One option according to this site suggests that the fix will include a downloadable file to put on a USB stick or hard drive, then asking users to boot into safe mode.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON SYSTEM WARS

Sources:

[Kotaku] 
[Geeks are Sexy]
[Joystiq]
[PlayStation Support] 
[GameSpot - System Wars] 

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Things have been doing pretty good with the new gig. It sometimes doesn't feel like work because it is that much fun. Our game will be at the NVIDIA booth so if you're attending be sure to drop by to check out the tech destruction demo, currently not in the open beta. Oh, I guess the secret is out if you follow my Twitter (HWKJody. The game is HAWKEN.

Lastly, I can't believe my last blog reached over 200 comments. Thanks again for everyone's kind words. I only saw one rage quit from  the site, and even he wished me well. Also, if you don't already have me on Steam (xpcaligirl) or Raptr (CaliGirl), feel free to add me! 

And.. have a Happy E3 week full of exciting news and hype! I'll have to make sure I take a peek in System Wars this week to see what you all think about the hardware and games. <3

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NEW CHARACTERS: While the original WeaponLord only had room for seven characters, the team had plenty more ideas for other barbaric fighters. These included a spear-wielding orc, two gargoyles stacked on top of each other, and a demonic pit beast that would have been the tortured pet of Zarak. Having more dual-wielding characters was also something the developers wanted.

EXPANDED STORY: As outlined in this document, the canonical story would have Korr's long-lost brother, Kang (who was also Bane), returning to lead his brother's tribe after Korr is mortally wounded; Zarak's father, Raith, who is mentioned throughout the original game, would become a fully-fledged character; and Zorn would have also returned, however, as Goddard noted, "he would have been changed by his encounter with the possessed shield." The idea of WeaponLord 2 being able to read your save data from the original game and tailor the story based on how you played and which endings you received was also tossed around, though Goddard admits this would be a nightmare to program.

SMOOTH DIFFICULTY CURVE: This was a big issue for Winstead and Goddard. WeaponLord was a complex game, and the designers think its sequel could retain the first game's play style without being so impenetrable. As an example, they mentioned how, in Street Fighter IV, a new player could pick up the controller and start throwing fireballs and doing ultra combos without too much effort; they could feel badass right away. Then, when those new players saw combos using one-frame links and focus attack canceling, they were incentivised to improve their skills so they too could use those techniques. The original WeaponLord didn't have this; if you weren't already proficient at the game you got destroyed.

2D VERSUS 3D: The debate between making WeaponLord 2 a 2D or 3D fighting game is still up in the air. Should it be a fully 3D fighting game, like SoulCalibur, or a game with 3D character models fighting in a 2D arena, like Street Fighter IV? That decision hasn't been made, yet. In either case, Goddard is confident he could use 3D characters and still retain the same soul of the original game--while also adding in a ton more animations.

So, why hasn't WeaponLord 2 (or WeaponLord HD) happened yet? There are lots of reasons: time, money, and the fact that Namco--publisher of the original WeaponLord--still holds the rights to the WeaponLord IP. Goddard and Winstead considered trying to buy the rights from Namco after launching their joint-venture Crunch Time Games. However, when Crunch Time's first game, Shred Nebula, didn't take the world by storm, the idea of buying back WeaponLord was put on the sidelines.

A crowd-funding campaign was also considered, but ultimately deemed unfeasible as well. As Goddard explained, "In early Spring of 2012, [Winstead] and I were considering a Kickstarter to build a 3D WeaponLord that would have featured a professional fighting 3D engine that, after the project was completed, would have been open source for the community to do non-profit games with (the 3D equivalent of MUGEN, but with much easier work flow and pro-grade tools).

"However, if we were going to ask for crowd funding to build that, it was critical we be able to ship it and not run out of cash. The estimates got up to the $5 million mark and we decided that was not the right way to go. That project was very much motivated by building a fighting engine equivalent to unity for the community and the goals blew out the budget. Neither [Winstead] or I were in a position to take on, despite having built many combat engines and worked on so many fighting and combat games."

The fate of WeaponLord is still up in the air. The creators definitely want to make sequel, and it sounds like a lot you readers out there want to play another WL game as well. Rest assured that if the stars align and the opportunity presents itself, Goddard and Winstead will dive into WeaponLord 2 as soon as possible. They've learned a lot over the past 18 years, and have received a lot of feedback on the original game. "Honestly, that's the worst thing," said Goddard, "we didn't get the chance to take that feedback and do the right thing by growing the franchise into what players wanted." Hopefully, some day, they'll get that chance.

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Subsequently, a lot of people have been in touch asking what I'm up to now. The last couple of weeks have been really exciting -- I've put out the first episode of my new weekly podcast, which not only reunited me with Jane Douglas, Lucy James and Dan Maher, but also went to number one on the iTunes chart. I've also been busy writing for Wired, appearing on BBC and Sky News, and updating my YouTube channel with new videos. In the next few weeks I'll be sitting on a BAFTA games journalsim debate, interviewing Rhianna Pratchett at the Hay Festival, talking about the next Xbox on CNN and BBC, and of course heading out to E3. If you're going to be attending any of those events, please say hi, and if not, I look forward to hearing from you over on my website or on Twitter. There's loads more coming down the line, but for now, please let me know what you think! See you all again soon.

Jane, Lucy, Dan and I recording the first episode of my new podcast.

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I've been spending a lot of time pairing up characters so that they get married and then I get to meet their time-traveling  progeny. It's fun to see what characteristics the parents pass on to their kids and get an extra perspective on this doom-and-gloom future everyone is ranting on about. It's also rewarding to fill out my party with new blood; the excitement of new life offers a soothing counter to the anguish of life lost.

Today I mourn Vaike.

Look at this cocky bastard. Weird chains dangling off his neck collar like so much Ylissian bling. Can't be bothered to keep track of his axes. Refers to himself not just in the third-person, but makes himself into a proper noun: "The Vaike." No shirt, no helmet, no problem. 

But what a soldier! When he torqued those practice-hardened muscles back and uncorked a ferocious axe strike, the Risen rose no more. He was a fierce fighter and a trustworthy ally, lending unbending support and an easy smile to all his compatriots. We'll all remember "Teach" sharing his strategies and tips freely, solicited or no. His confidence, his self-assurance, and his gusto made us all better soldiers, better allies, and better friends. 

Vaike, for your rockin' hair, your rockin' bod, your rockin' attitude, and your rockin' axe, we salute you. Rock in peace.

[ Watch Video ]

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He didn't pull me from a burning building or rescue me from a frozen lake. But when I was suffering from a depression that had me constantly on the brink of suicide, he was the man who kept me on this side of the abyss. 

He was my therapist, but that word is so clinical, and doesn't accurately describe who Dan was to me. Friend? Yes, even though I usually only saw him in the confines of the office of a mental health clinic in Warren, PA. Father figure is more accurate, I suppose, but whatever you call him, he was the one that convinced me that life was worth living. His office was the safest place on the planet. It was there that I felt most vulnerable, and most cared for. He is the reason I am still here today, rather than a memory, or at very least, rather than a human husk, withering away in a hospital for the remainder of my days. 

He shared with me stories that a professional therapist shouldn't generally be sharing with his patient, and yet it was exactly the right thing to do in my case. I would record myself playing Christmas music on cassette tape and give it to him as a Christmas gift. I went to a church where he was a guest pastor one Sunday and marveled that this man could radiate such kindness and generosity. I read about his exploits with his boy scout troop, and wondered if those young men knew how fortunate they were that someone like Dan could be in their lives. 

I also know that Dan was an imperfect man. But I wasn't prepared to discover that several weeks ago, this man responsible for me being here to share this story today went missing. Vanished from his house, his wallet and keys left behind. No note, no goodbye to his wife Penny, no sign of a break in, no indication that something was wrong. He was simply gone. 

The police have searched, and the Conewango Creek and local branch of the Allegheny River have been scoured. No one knows if Dan, at the age of 69, wandered off to take his own life, or fell into the river and was washed away. Perhaps he was discontent and troubled, and decided to travel where he couldn't be found and live out his last days in peace. Perhaps he simply went for a walk to some unknown place and suffered a heart attack, and hasn't been found in spite of the exhaustive search. 

But it doesn't seem that Dan is coming back. 

The last time I talked to Dan was a few years ago. He sent me an email entitled "The real story...for those with a warped sense of humor." It was a typical viral email that people might send, this one with pictures of fairy tale princesses as they might have ended up. Snow White with her several babies and a good-for-nothing prince sitting in front of the TV. An obese Little Red Riding Hood wandering through the forest, sipping on a Big Gulp and carrying a basket full of bread. It certainly wasn't the most socially sensitive communication, but it's what I have. 

I love you Dan. I hope that you are close to God now. 

Edit: My mom shared this YouTube link with me of Dan leading vespers in 2012. http://youtu.be/dmVaCIoxeI0

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First of all, I want to thank Krystal for the respectful response to my piece, and for not tolerating comments in the blog from those who are more interested in directing personal attacks my way than in having a civil, open-minded conversation about this.

As for the nitty-gritty of my response, I want to start with something Krystal says at the end of her blog. "In no way would I ever defend it if I shared Carolyn's sentiments and thought that the game was even remotely disrespectful and offensive." That sounds like a reasonable position, but it's not really one I feel like I can afford to take if I want to be able to enjoy most video games, or even lots of movies and television. If I demanded moral perfection of the games I play, well, that would have prevented me from playing a great many of the games I love. Generally speaking, I think games could be so, so much better with regard to their treatment of women, cultural minorities, and LGBT people. But because I love games as much as I do, I'd much rather engage with games in these areas, thinking about and writing about the ways they could be better, than just throw my arms up in frustration and walk away. This is certainly the case with Persona 4. If you look through the comments on my feature, I think you'll see that a lot of people were clearly upset simply because I was criticizing Persona 4, a game that they hold dear. But here's the thing: I love it, too. I mean, I really love this game. I think it's one of the best games I've ever played. Even so, I'm not going to give it a free pass. I don't know if you've watched the first part of Feminist Frequency's Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series, but as the great Alyssa Rosenberg writes here:

"At the beginning of the video, Sarkeesian, explaining that This series will include critical analysis of many beloved games and characters, says something that everyone who loves a piece of culture ought to be required to recite five times every morning while looking in the mirror: Remember that its both possible and even necessary to simultaneously enjoy media while being critical of its more problematic or pernicious aspects. If that ability to hold two ideas in your head at the same time, to enjoy something while recognizing that it might have problems, is what the people who tried to harass Sarkeesian into silence are so afraid of, it only reinforces how intellectually cowardly and inept they are. The need for something to be immune from criticism isnt a sign that its perfect and everyone else is wrong: its a sign you cant defend the things you love. Thats a position any self-aware person ought to be embarrassed to defend."

I agree with this, that we need to be able to look at the things we admire and enjoy and accept that not all of them are  entirely above reproach. I can simultaneously adore Persona 4 (and I do) and feel that in certain ways, it could have been better. Krystal also states near the end of her response, "I don't think it was Atlus' intention to mock or shame homosexuals and transgender people." Well, maybe they did and maybe they didn't. This is beside the point. A work--be it a game, novel, film or what have you--can have meanings and messages that its creators did not intend it to have. Many feel that Kathryn Bigelow's film Zero Dark Thirty endorses torture. (This is not a view I share, but it works here as an example.) People who see this message in the film see it there regardless of Bigelow's assertions that the film does not endorse torture. Once a work of art is completed and is sent out into the world for the public to view and to contemplate, the artist(s) relinquish control over it. They cannot control how it will be interpreted by others, what meanings or values those who experience it might find within it.

Nothing makes you a better person quite like taking on the Aiya Rainy Day Mega Beef Bowl Challenge!

Similarly, I don't think it's especially relevant that, as Krystal says, "Japan's views of gender identity and sexuality are probably much different than they are in the US." That's certainly true, but I don't give what I see as problematic aspects of a game a pass simply because they come from another culture. If I feel a game or movie or TV show is sexist, for instance, I think that sexism is worth criticizing, regardless of where it comes from. "That's just how it is over there" is not, in my view, an excuse. Krystal goes on to say, "Couple that with the fact that video game stories still have a lot of growing to do as a whole." I certainly agree with that. It's because I feel so strongly that they can be better and because I want them to be better that I write things like this in the first place.

So, okay, let's talk about Kanji. With regard to my criticisms of Kanji's storyline, Krystal brings up the dungeons of other characters, saying, "the characters' personalities and actions do not PERFECTLY match with the personalities of their shadow selves." She gives a few examples to support this. 

"It's actually said in the game that the shadows are only one facet of the characters personality. Also, the shadows and the dungeons are very extreme manifestations of the characters' deepest troubles and fears. 

For example, Rise's strip club dungeon was the result of people not seeing the real her. Rise constantly had to be everyone's charming, cute, and most of all, perfect idol for the camera. Fed up with this fake personality she was forced to show, she left show business and went to live a normal life. But of course everyone still approached her, wanting to meet Rise the media darling, not the real her. Therefore, the whole "I'm going to strip and bare it all" was a very extreme way of saying she wanted to shed her generic idol shell and show the world the real her.

Yukiko's dungeon was a castle; her shadow wore princess' clothing, and constantly spoke of "scoring a hot stud." Her shadow, once provoked, manifested as a bird in a cage who summoned a prince to fight for her. This represented Yukiko's feelings of being trapped in a life she didn't want to pursue."

Krystal provides additional examples. too, before saying, "these are extreme and exaggerated manifestations." My feeling is that, yes, most characters' shadow worlds and shadow selves represent exaggerations of one aspect of the character's inner life, but that in Kanji's case, what we get is not an exaggeration, but a contradiction. I did not want or expect the real Kanji to be an uncontrollably lustful gay man like his repressed shadow self. Instead, I hoped that the dungeon would resolve itself with him facing his sexuality and folding it into his larger personality in a way that was healthy and socially acceptable, as others did with the aspects of their personalities embodied by their shadow selves.

We sure made a lot of happy memories together.

And now, Naoto. Krystal says that, In the west, we refer to (people like Naoto) as tomboys. But this isn't true. Naoto isn't a tomboy. Naoto has lived most of his life as a boy. Not only does he not correct others when they refer to him with male pronouns; he clearly has gone to a great deal of effort to encourage and support this perception. If Naoto were a real person at a real high school, this would mean doing things like using the boys' restroom, for instance. For someone like Naoto to be accepted as male for years and years of life would take tremendous effort and carry with it a certain amount of danger; this is not something that tomboys engage in.

Krystal says, "Also, Naoto's reason for wanting to craft herself as the hard-boiled detective did not only stem from her attachment to fictional characters. She is descended from a line of famous detectives and she intends to continue the tradition." As I said in my original feature, the idea of someone living in a gender other than the one they are assigned at birth because they hope to pursue a particular profession does not ring psychologically true. I have never heard of a young girl living as a boy for many years of her life, for instance, not because she truly identified as a boy but because she wanted to be a police officer when she grew up and thought that the male gender was more fitting for being a cop. Nor have I ever heard of a boy who lived as a girl not because he didn't identify as a boy but simply because he wanted to be a nurse when he grew up and all of his nursing role models were women. 

Some may say, "So what if it's unrealistic? You're talking about a game in which a bunch of high school students pass through television sets and save the world by fighting monsters on the other side." Well, I'd say that the one area in which Persona 4 does need to be believable is in the psychology of its characters. What really makes the game special, ultimately, isn't its battle system or its dungeons or any of those traditional RPG trappings. It's the richness and complexity of its characters and the ways in which they connect and relate to each other. If those characters start behaving in ways that we find inconsistent or false, it takes us out of our investment in their relationships with each other.

So, yes, I UNDERSTAND that, within the game, we're meant to buy that Naoto is a tomboy, that, as Krystal said, his "true intentions were to become a splendid and ideal detective, not a man." I'm simply saying that, given Naoto's behavior in life up to the point where he becomes involved in the story, living as a boy, being known as the detective prince, and so on, and given what we see in his shadow world, I don't personally buy the idea of Naoto as a tomboy. To me, it would have been much more believable and consistent with these things if Naoto were transgender.

The quaint and lovely town of Inaba. If you haven't visited it yet, you really should.

Finally, a word on why this matters so much to me. A thought experiment, if you will, and one that I hope you will take seriously and participate in with an open mind. 

Imagine that you live in a world where a group that you identify with is frequently marginalized and discriminated against. Let's call this group straight people. Now, straight people have made some progress in recent years. In some states, they have the right to get married, and there are an increasing number of straight role models in the media; famous writers, TV hosts, and so on. But in your beloved video games, straight people are all but nonexistent. Never the heroes. Only very rarely do straight people like you even show up as supporting characters. It's practically unheard of. 

Then, along comes this amazing role-playing game called Persona 4, with a rich cast of psychologically complex characters. You venture into a land that reflects one character's mind, and what you find there is a facet of that character expressing heterosexual desire. Wow! Understandably he has repressed it, you think, because straight people are often not treated very well in society, but there it is, a true part of him, yearning to get out. 

When you finally complete his dungeon, though, the game tells a different tale; he doesn't actually like girls, you see. It's just that he was so afraid of boys, because they'd been mean to him in the past. You thought you were finally about to see a well-developed straight character in a game, but alas, no. The game veers away from that possibility, and goes down a different road. 

Ultimately, the game does this not just once, but twice! 

In a world with so few straight characters in games, it's hard not to see Persona 4 twice come near the brink of giving us a straight character, and both times backing away, as really, really disappointing, especially since so many things about the game are so wonderful. To have a game come close to giving us straight characters and then in both cases run away from that, especially in a world where there are almost no straight characters in other games, sends a message about straight identities, whether the developers intended it to or not.

Maybe you can put yourself in that position via your imagination and maybe you can't. I've received a number of kind messages from LGBT readers telling me that they felt similarly about the message the game was sending and thanking me for the piece, though, and that is good enough for me.

Anyway, I'm gonna give the last word here to Yosuke. This is an idea that's at the heart of the game, and I think it's something that all of us, women and men, gay and straight, trans and cis, should strive to do.

Sounds good to me, Yosuke. Thanks for all the good times.

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Like we said in Friday's Start/Select, this is my final week at GameSpot.

I've had two marvellous years here, working with some of the handsomest, cleverest, funniest, handsomest people in the business we call writing about video games on the internet.

I'll be doing more of that in my next job, but here's not the place to talk about it.

As I set to excavating my desk out from under two years' worth of notepads and promo discs*, I wanted to say thanks for having me, GameSpot.

Thanks for watching and reading and commenting. Thanks for listening to the podcast (I'll do a last one tomorrow). I love what I do, but I love it harder because of people like you.You're alright, you are.

Jane

*If anyone was looking for Depth Hunter: The Spearfishing Simulator, I had it

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......all that was lingering on the remaining bits of my mind that's not digesting the holiday are these songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsj5xjoLXtE , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VccB9_fg6W0

Oh Square Enix, what happened to the good old days when you were experimenting with ethnic styles of music and art?

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The last few weeks have been completely insane. My boss left for another great opportunity and I was mentally bracing myself to help pick up the slack until we found a replacement, but I was asked to take on the role of Editor-in-Chief. (!!!) It took me a week to let it all sink in. After having worked closely with Ricardo here at GameSpot, I knew that this job was not going to be easy and that I will likely be stressed out permanently. (but I still love it!) To be honest, when I made the decision to switch careers and move into video games, I really wasn't gunning for any kind of position. I just wanted to be surrounded by games and talk about games all day. Turns out I am pretty organized and apparently management likes that I've been so incredibly lucky and blessed, and I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for the wonderful people I've worked with at GameSpot, especially Ricardo, who taught me almost everything I know. (about yelling at people mostly. lol, just kidding. No not really.)

I still really like this community and I've been a part of it for so long, it's hard to leave but I'm excited to see what my team at GR can do. I'm on Facebookand Twitterso please stay in touch, and if you want to keep up with Bailey, he's got his own Facebook page and Tumblr too.http://thingsiputonmydogshead.tumblr.com/

Even if I'm not going to blog here, I will check PMs and lurk on YOUR blogs. Those of you who have messaged me in the past, know that I will always respond

GamesRadar has a lot of exciting plans in the next year, so I hope that we cross paths again on the internets!

http://www.gamesradar.com/ping-radar-letter-editor/

xoxo

Sophia & Bailey

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So...show kick off stuff:

We'll be bringing you live stream of all of the press conferences tomorrow and Tuesday, and then the big show itself features more live programming than we've ever done before. As with previous years we have our main stage that will be running throughout the event, which will be hosted by Chris Watters and Danny O'Dwyer. Then we also have a pro gaming stage in partnership with Major League Gaming that will be running games all day each day. Finally, we'll have our Bonus Stage which I'll be hosting, which will have more of a chat-show/podcast kinda vibe, and will feature guests from every walk of the games biz; developers, CEOs, folks from other outlets, and celebrities.

This whole thing is a huge production for us, and our approach is very different than it has been in previous years. Hopefully you enjoy what we are able to bring you from the show floor, and that you'll participate with us in the comments, and on Twitter.

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NOTE: This is a letter the GameSpot news desk received from an anonymous source on January 24. I've written an editorial that references it. I can not speak to the authenticity of the letter, but the author does make valid points, which I expound upon in the editorial.

The editorial can be found here: http://www.gamespot.com/features/is-thq-on-the-verge-of-collapse-6349841/

****

To:
THQ Board of Directors
Lawrence Burstein, Uhf Incorporated
James Whims, Gigex, Inc.
Henry DeNero, Arcturus Capital
Brian Dougherty, AirSet, Inc.
Jeffrey Griffiths , Lumber Liquidators,

From:
Current and Ex-Employees, Shareholders, and The Public

Dear THQ Board,
I am an ex-employee at THQ. I saw the tweet-started headlines over the past week from an "industry expert." This expert is one who I and my friends and co-workers in the industry have never heard of after a long time in the field. I had been reading the various following articles and accounts and it generated sympathy for friends both recently laid off and currently still there. I thought it would be a good idea to send a note with their input. This note has honest facts and thoughts about THQ and the current problems there. Most of these facts are public knowledge and they have been confirmed by public records or can be confirmed by current and former THQ staff there both before and after my and their time. I am sending this note to you directly individually and have incorporated a BCC to gaming press.

I have long felt the need to explain to outsiders how this beaten-down company has wound up in this position. It is to the point where having it on your resume is not a point in your favor. And that shouldn't be the case. I'm/We're sending this note anonymously because some of us are still awaiting final checks and others know how little corporations like employees who air their dirty laundry. We feel the need to say something to combat the partial misinformation being written.
THQ had been known through the years for having a formula. They find a hot license, make a cheap game, barely advertise it, and make money. This formula worked during the Playstation and Xbox and Gameboy days and made the company a lot of cash. Unfortunately, THQ's old guard executives seem to be stuck trying to manage the company the same way they did back then and haven't realized the industry has changed.

The beginning of the end came years ago as Brian Farrell lead an executive team to acquire a large number of studios. A large amount of cash was used in the acquisition or setup of game developers with different degrees of talent. The problem was they were bought without strategic reasoning or specific plan on to use them. So after awhile another large amount of money was spent as those studios failed and were sold off and shut down. The executive team at the time were an entirely different group of people with one key exception in the CEO. The CEO/the then executive team wasted the cash that the company had built up with these massive investments and selloffs.
The studio purchase errors were not helped by the mistakes in the licensing deals that were signed by the same CEO. Millions and millions of dollars were wasted on acquiring licenses at the same time the kids, family, casual business was declining at a rapid rate. Instead of slowing those acquisitions he overpaid for more of them until again cash was wasted in paying for brands that didn't sell well anymore.

The mistakes in decisions and cash losses triggered wave after wave of layoffs. In the most recent wave, about 40 people lost their jobs this past December through no fault of their own. The reason why is the chronic and constant mismanagement of their company. The fact is that the CEO and executive committee were so focused on trying to hit an unrealistic financial goal that they bet everything on an extremely risky proposition in the uDraw tablet. When they lost, they further displayed their lack of management skills by not having a contingency plan. Three weeks after the game launched, an entire business unit was wiped out when it didn't meet its goal due to relying on that one product to hit an unrealistic target.

After the layoffs many ex-employees walked around shell-shocked and trying to figure out who was responsible. They came to the understanding that most of us do after leaving the company. The issue with THQ has never been one of lack of staff creativity, intellect or business intelligence. It all rests of the failure of its management team and you the Board of Directors.

This Board has allowed the Brian Farrell, the CEO, the ongoing ability to take a cash-rich profitable company and drive it from a $30 share price down to around $.70 without acting despite numerous mistakes that even for those lacking business training, could see were errors. Even without glaring mistakes how can the same CEO stay in charge after a 99% share price loss? Aside from the board, who is responsible for the current situation and who is accountable for the current and future job losses at the company? When you ask the recently departed who are a good source of information, you get the same answers. This uDraw failure is the largest and most recent one in a string of them that were hushed over and hidden. The answer aside from the Board is the current executive team that allowed this uDraw implosion to happen.
Brian Farrell, CEO with a 2011 salary of $1,289,558, for a lack of business intelligence or fiscal accountability. A vocal inside group pointed out the mistake of trying to launch a year-old product that received almost no software support in the last 12 months. Instead of listening and having a back-up plan, he went ahead and invested a ridiculous amount of money in the manufacturing and advertising of the product and failed miserably. It is passed time for him to go. We are wondering what is taking so long for you to act. We have been wondering this same question for a long time.

Martin Good, EVP and head of Kids, Family, Casual with a 2011 salary of $1,198,023, for bringing no strategic thought or business sense to the role. He was brought out from Australia sales to replace an outgoing head of the business unit and rapidly displayed a complete lack of leadership skills, vision, and any sort of analytical sense. Looking at his compensation package, he is an excellent negotiator as his salary is higher than anyone's except for the CEO. On the plus side he lost his job with the rest of those laid off. On the minus side, he will be floating down on a golden parachute while the rest of the former employees scramble to look for jobs in this challenging environment. Most of those jobs will be at studios in other parts of the country, so they will be forced to relocate their families in the middle of their childrens school years. It is incredible that he made this level of income while doing such a poor job, but it serves as a reflection of the lack of Brian Farrell's ability to staff well and manage.
Paul Pucino, CFO with a 2011 salary of $674,855, for not planning for this possibility and having a safety net or a plan to cover THQ just in case of failure. We have a line of credit that we likely used to buy the plastic that is not selling to customers. It is like taking a cash advance to buy THQ stock and just as worthless of an investment. Paul is known as an absentee executive who is missing when business situations gets complicated. While he was in the loop at the point of the risk, with the following failure he has been clearly unavailable. It is another example of Brian Farrell's inability to staff.

Ian Curran, EVP and head of global publishing with a 2011 salary of $1,037,047, for not flagging an unrealistic sales goal to the CEO or the Board when a big part of the corporation felt the numbers were unrealistic. He blindly held up an unachievable target and didn't act when multiple people told him he was aiming to high and out of step with the marketplace. If a sales executive's job is to anticipate the market, he has done a poor job of it. Another example of Brian Farrell not being able to find the right people for the right job.

Ed Kauffman, EVP of Legal and Business Affairs who clearly was signing bad deals on licensed products, not factoring in the changes in the business and being more critical with financial terms with partners. uDraw by itself cannot possibly explain the companies poor financial health. It is a combination of that product and a string of bad licensed deals that the company took on against better judgement. While Brain Farrell would logically be the final decisionmaker for deals, Kauffman is either unpersuasive in his arguments to not do them or supported them. Either situation equates to another example of poor staffing choices by the CEO.
uDraw was failure and the only people to blame are the people listed above. THQ and its current financial situation is also their responsibility. And they were paid around $4.5 million dollars for their poor decisions. If there is any doubt we would recommend talking to current and former staff to get the straight story. Don't read this note as bitterness on their part, but more as long overdue truth.

So, Board, it is time. Passed time for you to act and passed time for you to do something about the mismanagement that has gone on for too many years. We've watched the stock from the outside and read the comments and the reason why the company is valued so low despite its sales is because of this underqualified management team.
Board it is time for you to act before your names are added to the list above of things that must change.
Sincerely,

The Formerly Mismanaged

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Hi everyone. You may have noticed that GameSpot is starting to look, sound, and feel different these days. GameSpot's content group is actually being reorganized to focus more on video and to explore new directions, and as it turns out, I'm not going along for the ride. As of today, Friday the 11th, 2011, my job has been eliminated.

Up until today, I was the managing editor of GameSpot. But it began for me in January 1998, all the way back from when GameSpot was a small startup company based out of a cramped two-story San Francisco building that used to be a travel agency. For 14 years, I've been covering PC games, console games, handheld games, and game hardware through reviews, previews, newsletters, customer service, news developments, press conferences, trade shows, video shows, special features, op-ed columns, and strategy guides, among other things. During those 14 years, I never took a step back. Not in the good times, not in the bad times, and not even in the weird and scary times. To make a long story short (too late), I did everything I could to make contributions that were valuable, useful, and even crucial to the site's prosperity, its editorial integrity, and in some cases, its survival. Anyone who says otherwise either doesn't actually know anything about GameSpot, is a liar, or both.

So you may be wondering why you've never heard of me, but as a programmer might say, that's working as intended. Let me explain, and even less briefly this time.

I signed on at GameSpot at a time when anyone could get rich by buying any old stock in the market or by "doing something with the Internet." As you might expect, with people everywhere starting to get rich, they also started getting a little big for their britches. Everyone outside the game industry, and also in it, considered him/her/itself to be a genius, and proclaimed their greatness to the heavens. Game magazines and Websites scored juicy exclusive stories on upcoming games by gushing not just about the games, but also about how awesomely awesome the developers were. You know--stroke the old egos a little bit. It often worked. Then the year 2000 came along. The year of the Tech Wreck, when the bubble burst, etc.. Advertising budgets, particularly for Internet companies like ours, dried up seemingly overnight and sites like GameSpot really started feeling the pinch. With the American economy already contracting going into the following year, we then had a certain series of events happen on September 11 of 2001, which made having a job writing about video games seem trivial and petty, and also not very practical or stable, what with the stock market also tanking and everybody on the TV claiming the end times were upon us.

That's when it dawned on me...there might be something to that old saying about pride coming before the fall. I've never cared for selfishness or self-importance, but it became very clear just how many people were making it their mission to seek out the spotlight, and how there didn't seem to be enough people driven to build something that was useful or substantial. I made the conscious decision, there and then, to go the exact opposite way, to double down on what I felt was truly important: Holding myself and anyone who worked with me to a higher standard of writing, and doing whatever I could to ensure that GameSpot's content was as good as it could be. To try to help build something that actually was great, rather than stand around talking about how great I was or wasn't.

If self-aggrandizing bloggers with diarrhea at the mouth were the problem, I wanted to be part of the solution. I wanted to share the most interesting games, and the most interesting aspects of these games, with the readers of GameSpot, so that they could discover games they might otherwise have missed, and so that they might share these games--which were, you know, only for losers who live in their moms' basements--with new people, and maybe have these new people discover that video games aren't just for loser basement-dwellers. That these so-called "video games" are actually pretty cool. And the whole time, I wanted the games themselves to be front and center. I wanted the games to be the stars. Because it wasn't about me. It's never been about me.

At this point, I'd like to shift gears and comment on the current state of the game biz. You could say it has some problems right now. Publishers who produce retail products are at war with retailers who sell used games. On the one hand, several game publishers are now offering preorder "bonuses" (such as day-one DLC) that effectively penalize customers for not buying new games, while resellers continue to grow fatter and fatter by buying used/trade-in games at $20, then turning around and reselling the same used game for $40-50 and pocketing the difference. As a result, digital distribution is clearly the future, except that digital services keep getting hacked and spiraling bandwidth costs are making widespread distribution of large digital files seem increasingly untenable. (Don't take my word for it. Ask Netflix.) Or maybe the real future is in social, free-to-play, and mobile games, except that many of these games nickel-and-dime their customers to death with microtransactions that are baked directly into the actual design of the games themselves. The only common thread here is that paying customers lose. Want to get this new game? You either pay full price+ for it, or you pay slightly less for a "used" version lacking content and often with crippled online capabilities. Go social/mobile/free-to-play and enjoy a new breed of games that are specifically designed to be mind-numbing unless you pay money to make them less so.

Sadly, I don't have any good solutions to these problems off the top of my head, other than to point out that smart customers will really appreciate it when game companies present their products in a way that doesn't burden said customers with these problems. (Hint, hint game companies. Also: Hint, hint, customers.) However, if you, like me, work, or worked, in the actual game industry and have begun, like me, to wonder exactly what you've been fighting for, let me point out that there are still good people writing about and covering games, and that there are still great development houses out there looking to make games that are actually enjoyable as games, and also that the barrier to entry on actual development has never been lower for those thinking about crossing that line themselves.

I'd also like to remind my brethren (or, former brethren as it were) that even though games are increasingly being considered a "business" in the sense of being cash cows to exploit, they've actually always been a business. Your hard work, professionalism, integrity, and willingness to contribute to something that's bigger than yourself are not only what got you here--they're what made the game industry so successful, and they're what will continue to ensure that you, and games, thrive. You writers and reviewers and news reporters, you video producers, you graphic designers, you programmers, you testers, you producers, you game designers, you artists, you musicians, you sound technicians, you voice actors, you product managers, you community managers, you publicists, you Web page builders, you copyeditors...each of you is an important part of this business. And there's no shame in being part of a business, especially one that's produced so much enjoyment for so many, and for so many years.

The very best people to do business with are knowledgeable, productive, detail-oriented, solutions-focused, considerate, easy to work with, and always learning. I've met countless people who evince these great qualities and I'm sure there are many more in this industry out there that I simply haven't met. These are the qualities that will serve you in good stead, regardless of whether everyone is making tablet games now (or "freemium" online RPGs now, or big-budget first-person shooters now). These qualities are what give you real value, both as a creator and as an employee/employer. These qualities are what will give you staying power out there, even when times are tough, and when it seems like the whole world's gone crazy, and that there are no opportunities and no real hope. Regardless of whatever irrational decisions come down from on high or whatever unfair market forces try to cut you off at the knees, there will always be a place for people with your skill, creativity, talent, drive, and relentless pursuit of self-improvement.

I think I've said enough at this point, so I'll be signing off now.

Goodbye and good luck to all of you.

-Andrew

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Howdy folks,

I suck at good-byes, so I'll just lay this out fast and then dress it up some: Today is my last day at GameSpot. Crazy, I know. This place has been home for 12 years. But all good things come to an end, and this has most definitely been a good thing for me. Before I sign off, I've got a lot to cover, so hopefully you will indulge me on a zigzagging trip down memory lane with a nerd detour or two.

First nerd detour: blog title.

As a Star Trek nerd, I felt compelled to steal the title of the final episode of Deep Space Nine, the absolute best Trek there has ever been. I loved what that show turned into, and it was awesome to see a person of color as a captain. After doing some research on the quote that inspired the finale's title (all good writers who steal do their homework), I found the original line from Pericles, a respected Greek statesman, that went like this:

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."

And that really hit home for me as I look back on my time at GameSpot. In my case, I'm not leaving behind any stone monuments--just some data on the Internet--but the sentiment is the same. I hope that my time here amounts to more than just the content I produced and winds up being more about what I've been able to contribute to GameSpot, the industry, and the people I've worked with. First and foremost is my team here at GameSpot. Over the years I've been able to put together the most diverse team of individuals you'll find anywhere to cover games. I may be a little biased, but to my mind, you won't find a smarter bunch of great writers anywhere else.

Beyond my team, there's the content that GameSpot has produced over the years, which is going to require some looking back, something I rarely do. I've always had a weird hang-up about being self-indulgent, but if not now, then when? My time at GameSpot has been rewarding in too many ways to count because I got to come here and play with an amazing group of phenomenally talented people. And man, we had a blast. After this much time I could lay out a scroll of great memories, but I'll be a little selective and hit the stuff that has left a lasting impression. Sorry if it's list-y, but this is the Internet, and everyone loves lists, right?

On the Spot: Back in 2004, GameSpot's founder, Vince Broady, asked Ryan Mac Donald and me to put together a weekly live show. While it may not sound like much to ask now, back then, when no one was doing anything like that on the Internet, it was an ambitious request. Since Mac and I didn't know any better, we just did it, kicking off with a live show from http://www.gamespot.com/shows/on-the-spot/?event=on_the_spot20040624">EA's Tiburon Studios.It was totally insane to pull off at the time, but it laid the groundwork for the live content that became core to what we've done better than anyone else.

E3: We have always attacked this show with a passion that has resulted in some of the coolest stuff we've ever done. 2005 was a personal highlight, because GameSpot basically jacked everyone and scored the exclusive on Sony's E3 press conference. I should note that it was the first and last time anybody got an exclusive of that nature--sorry everybody! Besides press conferences, E3 quickly became about our live stage shows. Over the years we've debuted the best and the brightest from the show, with some killer firsts like Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Street Fighter x Tekken, Twisted Metal, Mortal Kombat, Tomb Raider, the PlayStation Vita, and the Wii U. The show started as 15-minute segments at the top of every hour during E3 in 2002 and grew to run every hour the show was open and, most recently, into the evening. My favorite stage show is probably 2007, E3's modest year, when we rented out a restaurant on the Santa Monica pier and had people head over from Barker Hangar to be on our show. We closed out with Alex Rigopulos and the Harmonix posse going nuts with the original Rock Band. My overall favorite E3 is 2006 for two key reasons. First is the picture below:

That's Eiji Aonuma, Vince Broady, me (with the beginnings of my enormous hair, which almost blocks out Brad), Bill Trinen, and Ryan Mac Donald posing together after the boys came by to do a demo of Twilight Princess live on our stage show, which, given how protective Nintendo is, was like having a sasquatch ride a unicorn onto our stage. We also had Reggie on for a chat with the Game Boy Micro (remember that thing?), which made the show extra awesome.

Second is that I got the chance to hang out a bit with Vince, which, considering how high up he was at the company, was a big deal since we didn't get a chance to see him as often. I took him around a bit on the show floor and got him into one of Nintendo's after-hours presentations, which was awesome since I got to see him geek out like the rest of us, because, in his heart, Vince loved games just as much as we did.

Events: With everything we learned from On the Spot and our E3 stage show, we started flexing our muscles at events to try to give the folks at home, who couldn't be at game launches or other special events, a taste of the action. I remember going to Japan in 2004 with Ryan and Jeff for the Japanese PSP launch (it was also the trip where Mac and I snuck off to see Godzilla: Final Wars in a Toho-run Japanese theater, which was the best thing ever). Then there was 2006, an insane year where we got our exclusive Tokyo Game Show and X06 event coverage on Xbox Live. (That was the trip where Brian Ekberg and I flew from Tokyo to SFO, stayed in the airport after customs, and then caught a flight to Barcelona. It was also the trip where Vinny broke his finger between Japan and Spain o_0). As if that weren't crazy enough, in November of that year we went to New York and did two back-to-back webcasts for the PlayStation 3 and Wii launches. (Favorite memory there is Mac asking Charlie Murphy to do a shout-out for the site and things going slightly off the rails: go to the 1:38 mark.) In 2007 we hit PAX and did a live show where Mac hosted a demo of Haze and the developer from Free Radical parsed himself a brand-new swearword live on the air. Most recently we've broken ground at San Diego Comic-Con, where we did our stage show, had Colin and our backpack camera roaming the floor, and brought you uncut panels from the convention. This year we had fun with our launch coverage of the 3DS in Japan--Shaun, Takeshi, and I went to Akihabara and went live from Yodobashi Camera and our hotel room to show off Nintendo's new handheld. All that stuff is a challenge to be sure, but we've all loved doing it for you guys.

Tokyo Game Show: While this could technically fall in with the rest of our event coverage, I had to do a special call-out for this show because it's probably dearest to me as a game geek. I grew up in the era when Japanese games were the heart of gaming, and I've always had a soft spot for them. The first chance to go to TGS well over a decade ago was mind-blowing for me, but the chance to meet the developers who made the games that had a profound impact on my gaming life is really indescribable. Over the years I've gotten to know a lot of the guys from Sega, Capcom, Tecmo, Treasure, Nintendo, Sony, and a host of other developers, and it has been amazing and humbling. To top all that, I've come to have a very deep affection for Japan. It was the first place I'd ever gone to overseas, and it surpassed my lofty expectations. So when we've covered TGS we've always tried to showcase how awesome the show and country are by having fun. My best memories there are tied to and unsurprisingly revolve around cosplay, from Brian Ekberg's infamous "Stitch" run through the show to Shaun's "Luigi-V" shenanigans.

Spotlighting the Industry: At heart, I've always had an artistic/creative streak that has led me to be fascinated by the creative process and the people who make games. I've always believed that games are an art form like movies, television, and music, and over the years I've made it my mission to showcase them in one way or another. Big picture, there's Behind the Games, a spotlight on developers that shows a different side to these talented individuals. It has done me proud to see Sophia be inspired by BTG and dive into all aspects of music and audio in Sound Byte. Video Game History Month is another little passion project I was happy to see come to life to spotlight the fantastic and diverse history of our industry. On the smaller front, there are things that a site like GameSpot can do to highlight games or developers that we feel you should be keeping an eye on. One of my happiest memories in that respect was in 2004 when we helped get the word out on a fledgling developer called The Behemoth and its little game called Alien Hominid. The guys wound up doing pretty OK for themselves, as talented people do, and it has been fantastic to see them come so far. Then there's the spotlight we put on games like Demon's Souls, Bayonetta, Vanquish, and Catherine, to name just a few. We've always felt it's our responsibility as one of the big players in the industry to try to bring you a balanced diet of the blockbusters and the smaller, interesting stuff.

And that's just some of what I'm proud of here at GameSpot. I could go on a lot longer, but I've got some people to thank. I've been very blessed to have encountered some fantastic mentors over the years, and even though you guys probably don't know many of them, they deserve some public thanks.

Michael Brown: The big boss at CNET Gamecenter, where I had my first editorial job in the biz. He taught me the importance of setting the tone for your team.

John Marrin: My boss on the console section at Gamecenter, who taught me the importance of balancing being a game dork and a professional.

William Harms: My second boss at Gamecenter, who taught me the value of humor, zombies, and "getting it done."

Vince Broady: GameSpot's founder and the smartest man I've ever met in this business. He taught me the importance of protecting a brand, business manners, how to focus my drive and ambition, how to build a team, and, most importantly, how to take care of them.

Suzie Reider: Vince's successor, who taught me about grace under pressure and sticking to my guns when things get crazy.

Greg Brannan: Suzie's successor, a brilliant man who taught me about programming, developing content, and engaging an audience.

Henk Van Niekerk: A savvy guy who taught me about engaging and serving your community.

Stephen Colvin: A ballsy dude who reminded me about the importance of being an editor-in-chief.

Steve Snyder: A veteran business guy who taught me new things about business, communication, and managing a team.

Besides the array of bosses I've had, I have to give special thanks to a handful of people I've worked with in the trenches:

Joe Fielder: Thanks for showing me the importance of leading by example and, most importantly, being authentic to who you are while doing it.

Jeff Gerstmann: Thanks for showing me the importance of balancing being a total goofball with knowing your s*** and having fun. I'm glad you're kicking ass and taking names.

Greg Kasavin: Thanks for driving home the GameSpot work ethic that makes anyone who has worked here special and for reminding me that if you're not passionate about what you're doing, it ain't worth doing.

Andrew Park: Thanks for showing me the importance of organization, thinking things through, and always having some kind of solution in your back pocket.

Brian Ekberg: Thanks for showing me new ways to be a rock in hard times and how to be fearless and for introducing me to Trailer Park Boys.

Justin Calvert: Thanks for showing me how to just get on with it when things are crazy, the importance of international coordination, and introducing me to Phoenix Nights.

And last but not least...

Ryan MacDonald. Thank you for everything. You taught me how to be gregarious, positive, resourceful, and a better person all around. We saw the world together, we did things no one else even thought of in our time together, and, a few times, we broke the Internet together. I seriously can't think of anyone else I would have rather spent 12-plus years of my life with. You are my hero. Thank you for being my coworker and my friend and for all the time.

Now, while you'd think that's damn near everybody I could thank, I've still got more gratitude to dole out. If you've been coming to GameSpot, you definitely know the public faces here--myself, the editors, and the video and community teams--but we're not all that GameSpot is. While it's true our content makes up a lot of the site you see, there are dozens of other people here in the building and across the globe who have made GameSpot what it is. So I want to thank the US, Australian, UK, and Asian GameSpot teams--including editorial, copyedit, data, tech, product, design, marketing, events, sales, and PR--for their time, effort, and passion in making this whole thing go. Even more importantly, I want to thank the boyfriends, girlfriends, partners, children, and, hell, pets of everyone who works on GameSpot. The brand couldn't have lasted this long without scores of passionate people pouring their blood, sweat, tears, and time into it. Unfortunately, that has sometimes led to missed dates, strained relations, and the assorted byproducts that come with passion and sacrifice. So my profound thanks to everyone for sharing their time and loved ones to make this brand kick ass.

I couldn't think about doing any kind of good-bye without taking a nice chunk of space to thank my staff along with the countless folks I've worked with along the way who are no longer here at GameSpot. I couldn't have asked for a better, more-supportive kickass group of friends, coworkers, and colleagues to have made this 12-year journey with. You have been and continue to be brilliant and inspiring. You've helped shape me into a better editor and human being. I only hope that you realize how grateful I've always been for your tireless work and encouragement.

I could trot out the old cliche that I love you guys more than you know, but I hope that after all these years, while I certainly may not have said it enough, you guys know how much you have meant and will always mean to me. The experiences we've shared, the tough times, the demanding deadlines, and the seemingly impossible situations during my tenure, here and abroad, are unique to just a tiny handful of people on this planet. We have been, and always will be, a family. No matter where we go, no matter what we end up doing in the years to come, know that there is that handful of people out there who understand and that I will always have your back in the good and hard times.

I want to thank the industry: developers, publishers, PR, and all the other pieces of this crazy business we work in. It's mind-blowing to think it has been this long, and it's even crazier to think I've seen so many people grow up. I can honestly say I have cartridges older than some of you fetuses! But in the end, it has been a blast to work with everyone (well, most everyone. What? I'm not going to be blunt?), and I thank you all for the support and kindness that has come my way over the years. We've all bonded in the uniquely crazy rush of events, broken embargoes, demos, leaks, missent emails, and all the other shenanigans that have made up our work lives together. I will work with you all again soon, but until then, hugs (and stabs) to you all. It has been a blast.

Finally, and thanks for sticking with this, I want to thank the readers of the site. It has been an honor and a privilege to be gifted with the time you've spent on the site, watching videos, commenting on articles, posting in the forums, or making horrible memes of us playing motion-control games. You kept us honest, and you kept us motivated. On a special side note, I want to give a shout to the folks of color in the audience who have reached out to me in person or via PMs and email saying how excited and inspired they've been to see a Mexican EIC at a video game website. Well, it has been exciting to be that special kind of unicorn in the industry, and I'm glad to have had the opportunity. It wasn't easy getting here, and once I did, it was a ton of hard, but enormously rewarding, work. I also hope I'm not the last one, so y'all reading this, get your butts through college, play games, know your stuff, and come pick up the torch! I did this, and so can you, so step to it.

And there you go...an epic sign-off. But hey, it has been 12 years since I first stepped foot into this office, so sue me.

For those wondering what I might tackle next, my first priority is...not a damn thing. I've worked 12 years straight (including most holidays! Thanks, games industry, for those pre- and post-Christmas releases!), so I think I've earned myself some time off. I've got so many friends and family I want to spend time with, and along the way I've got real life to live for a bit.

But I'm not done with games by a long shot. I'm much too passionate about this medium to be done with it. There are so many stories yet to be told and things to be done in games that I'm intent on telling and doing. In the meantime, I'll be jotting down some of my thoughts and posting pics on this Tumblr. A word of warning, though--this blog ain't getting touched for at least a month or so. I'm going to spend some time catching up on games, hibernating (8 hours of sleep?! Impossible!), and maybe even going to Disneyland.

All the best,

R

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