Xbox 720 simply called ‘Xbox’, ‘X-Surface’ gaming tablet inbound – rumour

@49 Thanks mate, I appreciate that. It just saddens me how savage some people can be. It’d surprise them to walk a mile in our shoes to see how much a minefield game reporting can be. It isn’t easy by any measure.

All we can do when stuff like this happens is to learn from it and improve ourselves. That’s the positive light I’m taking from this anyway.

Where’s the beef? It was labeled rumour, and Dave said pretty explicitly in the body of the text that it was probably shite. That’s plenty clear in my books…

It doesn’t help that foxmulder goes out of his way to be cuntish in the way he complains.

Dave man, you don’t need to apologise all the time. I think sometimes that you’re too nice a huy for the job. I don’t know how ya put up with shite like this to be honest…

@52 I used to hear that constantly in my old job, “Dave, you’re too nice.” But that’s just me man, a softie at heart. I’ve seen how you can become if you grow too hard and cynical in this job, and I don’t want to be ‘that guy’. I love games and just want to write about them. It’s this naive honesty that keeps on getting me mauled by people.

I’ll never change on that front though. I love games too much.

Some people are taking things far too seriously.

If a simple, and fully expected, rumour like this causes so much angst then the angstee (not a real word) should find a more relaxing hobby.

It’s rumour season. This should be the fun time! Will they, won’t they, can they, can’t they… VG are just joining in the fun cos they are gamers too. They clearly label rumours as rumours so readers have no excuse.

I will consider every ranty reply as a confirmed diagnosis of sandyvagitis and prescribe a pinch of salt and a dose of chill the fuck out.

Doctor GZ in the house, y’all.

@54 is there a cure for ‘sandyvagitis’?

#55

Sure there is. It’s just an imbalance in the humors (an excess of black bile).

A course of leeches and a fat bong hit will cure just about anything, and should work just fine here.

@56 Ha!

@52 as a reader its my right to complian if I feel that it warrents a complaint and I think Dave has acknowlged that in his response , however I did also give constructive criticism where I mentioned a WEB RUMOR section rather than reports like this going under the heading of NEWS… I appreciate some people like rumor,however some people dont like it clogging up reading their news section and I personaly feel the space could be used for something that warrents more coverage .A rumor as EUROGAMER does it with verified persons etc is ok , however this completly unverified taken from another website who didnt verify it is not good eneough for me or I would have thought most readers under the NEWS section of a website ,be it this one or any website. Its in no way meant to be CUNTISH its just the way i feel and express my opionon.

@58 For the record I didn’t think you were being ‘cuntish’ personally.

I agree that this piece should have been left well alone. I’m just eager to stress that we never got the scammer’s original email. We had no contact with the guy, hence the source being impossible to verify (site’s never name their sources, never, ever) and that I did cast doubt on it in the piece.

But you’re right, perhaps the rumour label should stop being used by the press – because we all do it – as a get-out clause. What do you think?

Perhaps a new label is required, or should we just avoid unverified sources altogether, even if some of them do turn out to be true in the end?

Lets have a proper chat about this

I stand by the fact that you shouldn’t avoid or ignore rumour. Its important. As has been said its the exciting part about this time in a cycle that gets people fired up for the next round of money spending. If we’re not excited, perhaps its the wrong hobby for us.
I think clearly marking the titles as unverified/rumour is all that needs to be done, but maybe a rumour section isn’t a bad idea for those that don’t want to see it at all. You can’t please everyone all of the time so please decide on consensus alone and please the majority.

naive honesty that keeps on getting me mauled by people…. For the record I wasnt mauling you either ,my intention in writing in the first place was as a regular reader of VG247 I dont like it being criticsed in the media and considering the year video games has had last year from the EUROGAMER issue , I dont like seeing my favourite passtime getting ridiculed. My feeling is if it makes VG247 look stupid it makes me look stupid as a reader of the website, its a natural reaction.

I understand the need to report rumors,however I think unless personally verified it should be left alone, unverified rumors should be left for forums not professional journalists,however its not my website and thus I can only make suggestions about how I feel which may or may not be in the minority

@61 I appreciate your reply It’s nice to hear from regular readers like yourself on these issues as we write this stuff for you guys in the first instance.

Yeah, the Eurogamer ordeal was pretty upsetting and frankly, terrifying at the time. But I think we became stronger as a result. Our new policy is still taking time to become adjusted to, but we’re getting there. I’m proud of it, and this site. We’re always growing, and it’s nice to see.

It seems to me to be the sites that are coming in for alot of the flack, even though a hell of alot of the sperging went on over at Twitter.

Actual Professional jurnos getting silly and excited over something that was decidedly fishy from the start. All retweeting and hash tagging and getting each other riled up.

I do kinda hate the entire environment of twitter but I can still see why people use it. Its just slightly depressing.

@63 +1

@53
“if you play pussy
you’re bound to get fucked” – The Downest Nigga I Know Eazy-Muthaphukkin-Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk2rV7u6Tsg

WOW – back from the dead! From the HIV deads to be precise. He really filled up too many holes, if I may say so. And let me get this as a reminder to you: I rather f*ck you!

http://youtu.be/jU2JP0fu9ZQ

But if you can’t vet an anonymous source, then it obviously isn’t a source. It’s every bit as likely to be a random guy on the internet fucking with you.

There has to be some kind of limit to just how naive you can be.

If the guy works for Microsoft, then he should be able to prove as much without giving away his identity. Ask him to photograph his ID badge with all the sensitive information blurred out, and a note saying “Elephants are pink”.

@Dave stay as you are, no other gamingsite has this big of a heart, fun, gaming-journalism as VG24/7. Next stop Gamasutra, there you can have all the serious news, people. A bit dry also. And often way to seriously.

^ IGN does… Beyoooooooooooond!

TG +1

Keep being Dave, Dave. All is good.

I don’t see the problem with reporting on rumors from other sites. It’s not VG247′s responsibility to verify sources of sources, they’re merely reporting that other sites have been in contact with sources they trust.

It was obviously a bad call by PocketLint, and they have the responsibility here, as everyone else merely reported on them reporting it. That attention hungry idiot who sent out the mail isn’t the real culprit here, it’s the bad judgement of the PocketLint editor. As long as you mention that it’s based on anonymous sources and probably a rumour, or even choose the angle of reporting THAT PocketLint is reporting a rumour, you’re in the clear in my book. Failing to do either of them would definitively be a problem, but other than PocketLint, I still haven’t found an article that has either branded the info as fact or failed to mention PocketLint as the source.

Second or third hand news is another story, and admittedly a bigger issue in gaming journalism, even though VG247′s role as a “news hub” is appealing to a lot of people, me included.

How many rumours are based on named sources? It’s in the nature of the concept that the sources have been verified at some point, but are unknown to the messenger. It’s not hard or even confusing to make out the difference between a “real” news story and a rumour, as almost all media go out of their way to cover their back at some point in their article.