Yesterday, FOX News ran a story on Bulletstorm and got pretty much everything wrong. Thatâs not the real story, though. They real story is how they got everything wrong: they did it on purpose.
Yes, we know, itâs FOX News, but still, how the media outlet steadfastly refused to consider both sides of the argument in this piece makes for interesting reading.
You see, in preparing the piece â in which it was claimed outrageously that upcoming shooter Bulletstorm can help encourage rape â FOX sought comment from authors, psychologists and video game experts.
The psychologists got their turn, and performed as expected. But other experts and commenters were not so adequately involved.
M2 Researchâs Billy Pidgeon, for example, was quoted alarmingly out of context, as PC site Rock, Paper, Shotgun showcases. Scott Steinberg, a respected industry veteran, was also contacted. He sent us his repsonses in full, because, well, FOX News didnât use any of them. Why? Maybe because, as he rightly points out, Bulletstormâs violence is a satire. And that didnât fit with the angle FOX was so intent on pushing.
As John Walker over on Rock, Paper, Shotgun points out, whatâs of interest here isnât FOX per se, but how it serves as a wonderfully detailed example of the short shrift games are given in media that doesnât normally cover, well, games.
You can read both menâs full, unedited responses to FOXâs questions at the link below, where youâll also find FOXâs delightfully loaded questions reprinted in full.
