What would N4G be without some scurried-together article duct-taped to a low-rent server by a third-world quality website scouring the far corners of NeoGaf for a bit of “insider” info? Well, it would probably be about as popular as MySpace following the rise of Facebook, or about as favorable to the average reader as Bing is to the average search-engine user.
The reality is that inside information fuels an otherwise secretive, highly protected and very monetary-oriented multi-billion dollar industry; fronted up by suit-wearing executives and product managers with about as much creativity flowing through their bones as honesty is a trademark of banking on Wall Street. Well, the fun us gamers have with inside info – at the expense of someone else's professional integrity, no less – is something that Halo 5's developmental director, Frank O'Connor, doesn't take lightly.
Total Xbox, the new frontier of all things Xbox, captured quotes from the Halo 5 director responding to a comment on NeoGaf. Frank O'Connor had this to say about some of NeoGaf's most infamous (and respected) insider(s), writing...
"Breaking embargos is not prophesy, nor does it require any particular skill or insight. Ultimately [CBOAT] is taking or being given information and leaking it, illegally and often erroneously.”"And he isn't doing it for some noble or worthy reason. He's doing it for attention. People, including nice people with kids and families and stuff, work super hard on this stuff and wake up in the morning to find some of their effort blown up.”
I think I'll take some cream with that milkshake... it already seems to have plenty of salt in it.
Now look, I get what O'Connor is saying, and in some regards it does make sense. However, leaking information was never about nobility or a worthy cause. I have no idea where Frank is getting that from.
It's simple: people enjoy leaking information because gamers can't wait to know more about games they can't wait to play.
If no one cared about the game then no one would care about leaking the goods. More than anything, O'Connor should feel privileged that anyone cares enough about his product to want to leak it. Unless, of course, he's a little perturbed that no one bothered to leak information about his games? In that case, don't worry Frank, just ask Microsoft to hype Halo 5 to the stratosphere like EA and MS did with Titanfall and eventually someone will want to leak stuff for it... maybe.
Anyway, Halo 5's developmental director put in his favorite Justin Timberlake song and cried a textual river to NeoGaf's inhabitants about gaming's growing trend of leaking big news about big games (and events), saying...
"It's not fun, and for what? So you can have a mildly interesting surprise 8 hours early and lacking context? Or get hyped or disappointed disproportionately? Or get someone fired or someone innocent yelled at? Ok. But it isn't prophecy, nor ultimately even important. It's annoying.”
Annoying? Really?
I'm sorry but the leaks that occurred earlier this year for the Xbox One's firmware and software road-map was a heaven-send (which supposedly ended the leaker up in some hot legal water). It restored some faith in the future of the Xbox brand and forced Microsoft to react by actually getting off their butts; putting Phil Spencer in charge and trying to get the brand back into the good graces of the community with a Kinect-less bundle.
What part of any of the former is annoying or “disproportionately” disappointing?
You want to talk about disproportionately disappointing? How about not having noteworthy exclusives ready for a $500 paperweight that doesn't have a day-one patch installed? How about launching a device with a $75 accessory where the only good point has been its ability to provide a free form of amateur porn for the voyeuristic fellows at the NSA? How about wasting the entirety of the console's debut on television media that's already been outclassed, out-priced and out-functioned by a $99 device? How about allowing a collection of numbskull ideas to get implemented following consecutive DRM fallouts that resulted in having to pull more 180s than a car chase in the Fast & Furious movies? Or how about the only way gamers knew about the whole Xbox One DRM fiasco was because of a leaky little hacker? How about that, eh?
“Disproportionately” disappointing? No, O'Connor. I very much disagree with that greatly.
More than anything, the “insider” information saved the Xbox brand from the poor decisions put into place by the Mattrick administration. Then again, maybe I'm overshooting the eagle on this one. Perhaps O'Connor is still peeved the Xbox One isn't the DRMbox One? Who knows.
Anyway, Frank makes it known that he's no friend of the “insiders”.
So long as they offer us gamers something to stay excited about without getting too ridiculous, it appears as if the majority of gamers have no qualms with insiders.
Now when are we going to get some more Halo 5 leaks?
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