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Welcome to the 21st episode of SourceCast. With the NX unveiling coming sooner rather than later, we thought it’d be interesting to have a discussion on rumor reporting itself. Joining PushDustIn and Nantendo will be gaming journalists Liam Robertson and Daan Koopman. Liam Robertson’s main focus is uncovering lost and forgotten games that never made it to the public eye however he has also found himself in the spotlight numerous times as he has broken several rumors over the past few years. Robertson has contributed to NintendoLife, Unseen64 and other publications when detailing the intimate details he discovers behind the development of video games. Daan Koopman is a prolific Nintendo-centric journalist who has contributed to several sites and has covered rumors for several years. He is a regular contributor to GoNintendo, Nintendo World Report, Nintendo Force and more.
The focus of this podcast was to talk about the process in which a rumour should go through before making it out to the public. How does one fact-check a rumour before reporting on it; why would inside sources possibly risk their jobs in order to leak this information; what are the difficulties in one would face when reporting on the rumour and how do you deal with the feedback from those who hear the rumours? During this SourceCast we also talk about two case studies in particular, a rumoured Metroid-pitch by the company MecurySteam and the various big NX rumours that have been about. So without further-ado I hope you enjoy!
Relevant Articles:
- Straight from the Source: Liam Robertson by Liam Robertson, PushDustIn, Source Gaming
- Unseen64 — Marvel’s Cancelled Daredevil Game by Liam Robertson, Unseen64
- Why Sites Shouldn’t Report Every Rumor by PushDustIn, Source Gaming
- Approach to Handling Rumors and Leaks by PushDustIn, Source Gaming
- Tracker_TD Discusses: Sonic Rumors by Tracker_TD
- Exclusive: MercurySteam Has Been Working On A Metroid Prototype For Wii U And 3DS by Liam Robertson, Nintendolife
- Castlevania Dev MercurySteam Denies It Ever Pitched A New Metroid To Nintendo by Damien McFerran, Nintendolife
- “We got caught in a s***storm” by Wesley Yin-Poole, Eurogamer
- Nintendo NX is a portable console with detachable controllers – Tom Phillips, Eurogamer
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Good stuff. I enjoyed the look into rumor reporting and the process involved. I can see why some people who’ve been involved in it don’t want to even bother anymore; you need to dig for a solid source, corroborate that with other sources, secure the source’s safety, check what bits are safe to say or not, and at the end of the day, people will just complain to you. Seeing how much is at stake, I’m not surprised people connected to the NX aren’t talking (especially if the NDA is as crazy as some people are saying).
I remember the Splatoon thing. I didn’t believe it because all I saw was a few users on Twitter. Whichever guy made the comment about exploding the internet should work in Nintendo’s PR department. I kind of learned my lesson with Gematsu and Rayman. Its difficult to put stock in things as much anymore.
I’ll explain why I believe Liam about that Metroid pitch in detail but I don’t want you guys to think I am copying you here. You’ll be very aware I have been planning this for some time but doing it now interferes with my set up on YouTube. That is why I didn’t cover it yet.
I have foreshadowed everything I’m working on either in my videos or on my Twitter.
I wasn’t really involved in the Smash community at the time a lot of rumors or leaks were being tossed around, so I never got to see the full brunt of it. Heck, I remember seeing that gif of Omni turning around in his chair and wondering “what does this have to do with Smash?” It is a shame that people take this stuff too seriously, but looking past the anger, I can sort of understand the disappointment when a rumor or a leak turns out to be fake. You obviously shouldn’t be calling the house of the person who started said rumor, that’s just a terrible overreaction.