IC Forum Archive

Jesse · Posts: 214

A link to Fenky's great blog (and great site, in another life) has been sitting in the "games" folder of my bookmarks for years here at work. He stopped updating the blog sometime in 2005, I think. Now it is nowhere to be found.

I could've sworn I read something about IC people hanging with him at E3 this year. Is he alive? Did he die under a pile of Gamefans?

Pijaibros · Posts: 968

I always he thought he became obsessed with his ferret(s) and just sort of wandered off.

leroyhacker · Posts: 8

Mag Weasel

He also has a column at GameSetWatch.

I miss Video-Fenky.

Pijaibros · Posts: 968

leroyhacker wrote:

He also has a column at GameSetWatch..

Seems everyone has a column at GSW nowadays.

Nice to know he's still around doing his thing though.

FortNinety · Posts: 4591

Video-Fenky was my second real dose to the world of game blogging, and it still stands as one of the best examples.

From what I understand, he's just writing more about anime and manga instead of video games.

Persona-sama · Posts: 1145

Alright, someone has to tell me who all these people doing columns for Gamesetwatch are!

The only ones I know are Frank and Shaper!

TOLLMASTER · Posts: 1977

His GameSetWatch articles are kind of scary.

I mean, they usually have a picture of this HUGE collection of gaming mags he has, and ferrets. I'm afraid someday he's going to disappear, and months later GSW will report that police found him buried under tons of torn-up paper, in which ferrets had started an entire colony.

I had a neighbor with like 60 cats once. It doesn't smell as bad as you think it would, but it's still pretty bad.

Also, wasn't fenky the guy who had some crazy rant about how the DS was going to fail, and how the PSP was everything that every gamer wanted? I think he said he had quit his job and thus was able to speak his mind on the issue, or something like that.

This post was kind of negative. He's actually a good guy, though! His GamePro stuff was actually competent in a world of incompetency, and the articles online are only second to jiji in the apparently rare art of "talking about obscure games without going LOL OBSCURE GAME I AM INTERNET AWESOME, LOL THOSE WACKY JAPS."

Shapermc · Posts: 2450

TOLLMASTER wrote:

and the articles online are only second to jiji in the apparently rare art of "talking about obscure games without going LOL OBSCURE GAME I AM INTERNET AWESOME, LOL THOSE WACKY JAPS."

I am cry ;_;

TOLLMASTER · Posts: 1977

Shapermc wrote:

TOLLMASTER wrote:

and the articles online are only second to jiji in the apparently rare art of "talking about obscure games without going LOL OBSCURE GAME I AM INTERNET AWESOME, LOL THOSE WACKY JAPS."

I am cry ;_;

Sorry, shaper. Have you been to Namakoteam? Your articles may be genius but jiji is a god.

Besides, who else can play that many D3 games and retain their sanity?

Shapermc · Posts: 2450

TOLLMASTER wrote:

Sorry, shaper. Have you been to Namakoteam? Your articles may be genius but jiji is a god.?

I have been, but just because I don't sit around the site hitting refresh to get my comment in first doesn't mean anything.

Also, I was just saying, you don't have to insult other people.

jiji · Posts: 780

hey kids don't fight over me okay :(

yellowlightman · Posts: 359

Pretty sure Kevin went to work for Animerica or Newtype USA.

My favorite part of his site was the translated Japanese exploration websites.

jiji · Posts: 780

yellowlightman wrote:

My favorite part of his site was the translated Japanese exploration websites.

Mine too. Those were creepy as all hell.

dessgeega · Posts: 3317

Pijaibros wrote:

Seems everyone has a column at GSW nowadays.

almost!

nixon66 · Posts: 19

Don't forget his early work:

http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/

One of the only decent and accurate NES pages from way back when, which he sadly stopped updating as well.

FortNinety · Posts: 4591

I absolutely love his report about the lovers who met in Final Fantasy XI and how they broke up and the messiness that insued, with the call to the cops for virtual identity theft.

TOLLMASTER · Posts: 1977

Shapermc wrote:

TOLLMASTER wrote:

Sorry, shaper. Have you been to Namakoteam? Your articles may be genius but jiji is a god.?

I have been, but just because I don't sit around the site hitting refresh to get my comment in first doesn't mean anything.

Also, I was just saying, you don't have to insult other people.

Oh shit.

If my comment was taken that way, I'm seriously sorry. I was trying to make a joke about how a lot of sites think a "review" or a "feature" is to take a quirky Japanese game and make fun of it for a few paragraphs, maybe mention the gameplay, and then conclude with a paragraph about how the people who made the game are NUTS LOL. I wasn't trying to single anyone out, I was making light of the large amount of sites out there that ignore the kind of depth jiji explores in the name of making a banal series of Japan jokes.

If you thought I was trying to make fun of your article series on GSW, that is totally not the case. In fact, I believe they're constructed quite well, and GSW should be proud to have you onboard.

Again, if I upset you, I'm incredibly sorry.

108 · Posts: 2600

TOLLMASTER wrote:

His GameSetWatch articles are kind of scary.

I mean, they usually have a picture of this HUGE collection of gaming mags he has, and ferrets. I'm afraid someday he's going to disappear, and months later GSW will report that police found him buried under tons of torn-up paper, in which ferrets had started an entire colony.

I used to think that guy was alright.

And then once I saw him jumping on some bandwagon thread and spreading this LOL rumor about how when he was working for GamePro "Tim Rogers totally applied for a job there," and I realized . . . I don't know.

I just looked at this GameSetWatch website for the first time, and . . . shit. Oh, fuck. Fucking hell. Fucking shit.

I look at Fenky's thing on here, and then his website . . . I witness Mr. Simon Carless's writing about Parappa the Rapper 2

the vinculum gate · Posts: 2868

are you fucking retarded or what?

108 · Posts: 2600

yes and no

Mr. Business · Posts: 1530

Ah, but which game will it be is the question.

the vinculum gate · Posts: 2868

108 wrote:

TOLLMASTER wrote:

His GameSetWatch articles are kind of scary.

I mean, they usually have a picture of this HUGE collection of gaming mags he has, and ferrets. I'm afraid someday he's going to disappear, and months later GSW will report that police found him buried under tons of torn-up paper, in which ferrets had started an entire colony.

I used to think that guy was alright.

And then once I saw him jumping on some bandwagon thread and spreading this LOL rumor about how when he was working for GamePro "Tim Rogers totally applied for a job there," and I realized . . . I don't know.

I just looked at this GameSetWatch website for the first time, and . . . shit. Oh, fuck. Fucking hell. Fucking shit.

I look at Fenky's thing on here, and then his website . . . I witness Mr. Simon Carless's writing about Parappa the Rapper 2

it's still darn neat, and actually an under-rated game, in our opinion

god DAMN man, you can say "I" at least once or twice in an article and not get fucking arrested!! Holy shit!!

Listen to me:

There is a problem with this world. It's hard to define what the problem is, precisely.

There are times when we humans feel good. There are other times when we don't.

The name of this problem is "Why Don't We Feel Good All The Time?"

I will allow you to, for a moment, imagine this problem has a human shape.

Naked, bare-handed, and filled with adrenaline and desire, what do you do?

Do you punch the problem in the face?

Or do you get on your knees and bite its ankles?

I've just about had it up to here with god damned ankle-biters.

. . . I'm going to write a review of a videogame.

. . . After I eat lunch. I'm not even fucking kidding.

do you even know what any of this means??

Mr. Mechanical · Posts: 1890

I'm sure he knows. Does anyone else know, is the question. To which I'd feel safe in replying "Probably not.".

108 · Posts: 2600

There was a situation at my job last week where I felt very tempted, for the first time in a long time, to punch someone in the face even though they'd made no violent effort toward me.

The person happened to be thousands of miles away from me at the time.

Hell, I'm not going to hide it. The person was Simon Carless. He sent an email to an editor of a publication I write for, explaining to them that he didn't believe it was ethical and fair that they allow a person (myself) who works for a Certain Videogame Company to write articles about videogames without disclosing up-front that I work for said videogame companies. He said,

108 · Posts: 2600

also, for clarification's sake, i never applied for a job at gamepro

the vinculum gate · Posts: 2868

tim do you feel e-persecuted

also he kind of has a point. i mean real journalists have to disclose the parent company of their particular publication when reporting about things, why shouldn't you :(

James · Posts: 1735

You've got a vested interest that pays you a regular sum, and you've released plenty of viral stuff for Sony in your threads (like the PS3 froth thread, when pretty much everyone was shaking their heads and lamenting your paymasters).

You have absolutely no right whatsoever to get hurt and pissy when someone who does actual journalism calls you on it. None at all, so get over yourself. I'm sure your emailed responses were very witty for a period of five seconds inside your own head but who cares? Get a livejournal. Another livejournal. Your third livejournal.

Psiga · Posts: 3990

Look guys, his reviews cannot be biased. It is technically impossible, and I'll tell you why: He's making shit up as he goes along, anyway.

Remember that Astro Boy review? Case closed.

Dark Age Iron Savior · Posts: 3148

I'm still thinking about the problem.

Does it have a gender? Although....that would probably be rape, yeah.

Shit, this is hard.

the vinculum gate · Posts: 2868

also guys remember cavia pays him for good press too!

LegatoB · Posts: 1546

Yeah, the phrases "Tim Rogers" and "journalistic integrity" go together about as well as "penis" and "meat grinder."

108 · Posts: 2600

James wrote:

you've released plenty of viral stuff for Sony in your threads (like the PS3 froth thread

Okay, look -- I'm not a fucking viral marketer. Do you realize how fucking retarded it is to assume I'd choose insert credit dot com's forums as a place for viral marketing? I mean, first of all, you're people who talk about viral marketing, and know what it is. Second of all, I wouldn't dare let anyone in this community have any clue whatsoever where I work if my job was fucking viral marketing.

Also, if I were a viral marketer, I'd probably choose a bigger forum.

And probably not one that I . . . made.

If I had to turn in a daily quota of places I'd infected with marketing viruses, and if I had to turn in a weekly list of what I considered to be astounding successes, and if not doing this meant perhaps not getting paid at the end of the month, in a world where not getting paid means not being able to pay the rent -- if my money required secrecy, do you really think I'd drop a single hint about where I work or who pays my bills?

If I was a viral marketer, I would run away immediately and never come back after a single indication that I like my company's products and I think you should, too. Notice I haven't done this yet.

The truth is, my job requires absolutely no public projection whatsoever. I have been hired to be a person of the same opinions as I was before I was hired. If you think for a second that this is not possible, then I suppose you couldn't do my job!

There's so much more I could say about this, though I don't expect you'd care. I could say things like "I wouldn't have taken a job at a company if I didn't like what that company did," though you'd misinterpret that, again, as "viral marketing."

Also: I . . . actually really do want a PlayStation 3. Mostly just because I . . . like new electronics? Maybe I've never come across as being this type of person before, though I reckon before I just didn't have the money to buy these things.

As for cavia -- what the fuck! Why the fuck can't I like cavia? I seriously like their games. Fucking hell. Who the fuck pays you to like what you like, huh? Who paid Gamefan to hype Treasure games?

Who the fuck is paying all these magazines to give every Zelda game a perfect score?

Who the fuck is paying people to wear blue jeans?

Who the fuck is paying all these gay people to be gay?!?!

Who the fuck is bribing all these Japanese people to make them eat slimy fermented soybeans?!?!?!

Who the fuck is paying people to drink beer?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

What the fuck is the deal with vegetables?!?!?!?!??!?! What about fucking cauliflower?!?! Are the farmers slipping the supermarkets a little cash to carry that bullshit?

Who the fuck paid off all those people who eat lobster?!?!?!? I mean, they're big, red, fucking creepy-looking insects of the sea!!!

God damn it!!

It's really getting kind of annoying. This "viral marketing" thing. You're like a bunch of second-graders playing with toy guns. "I shot you!" "No I have a bulletproof vest!" "Well, I shot you in the head!!" "No, I have a bulletproof helmet, too!!" "Then I shoot you in the leg so you fall over and then shoot you in the neck where your helmet doesn't touch your body armor!!"

". . . I have a forcefield!!"

I can give you one thing -- saying "No, I'm not a viral marketer" when accused is one way of saying "YES I'M TOTALLY A VIRAL MARKETER." What if I say it twice? What if I say it three times? Will the tides of trend turn, and soon viral marketers will all be people who stick around attempting to earn trust long after having been ostracized by a community, just because such a thing is something viral marketers would never do?

Plus, is viral marketing not something that targets the brainless and helpless? Is viral marketing not like telemarketers who call up elderly people and scam them out of their credit card numbers?

"Seeing through" someone's position as a viral marketer must be some newfangled way of showing your internet street cred.

Though in the end, isn't everyone a viral marketer, anyway? Anyone who buys a DS Lite just before the shortage hits -- you whip that thing out in a fast food joint, and someone's going to see it and want one. How does that make you feel, to carry a gadget with a hip appearance? Do you not realize you should be ashamed?

What are you trying to prove by talking about videogames on the internet? Why tell people at all, if you like New Super Mario Bros. or are excited about the Wii? Maybe you're the viral marketers; maybe the next wave of viral marketers will be consumers themselves, infected with the virus by mere screenshots, photographs, or objective descriptions of what products can do?

"This MP3 player looks like THIS and can hold THIS MANY songs"

Maybe the next wave of advertisement method will involve, at last, allowing sometimes-violently-biased word-of-mouth between persons unconnected to sellers and distributors to carry all the responsibility?

Fuck, I don't know.

Psiga wrote:

Look guys, his reviews cannot be biased. It is technically impossible, and I'll tell you why: He's making shit up as he goes along, anyway.

Remember that Astro Boy review? Case closed.

Isn't that kind of the point?

I consider my greatest review ever to be the one of Romancing SaGa for PS2. I gave it half a star, and I fucking love that game.

Posted that one between two earnest reviews of other games I kind of liked.

The truth is, I have too little respect for anything, really, to be a viral marketer or a critic.

Also, Psiga, did you know I'm dating a model?

the vinculum gate · Posts: 2868

posting in a tim rogers internet breakdown thread

108 · Posts: 2600

Dark Age Iron Savior wrote:

I'm still thinking about the problem.

Does it have a gender? Although....that would probably be rape, yeah.

Shit, this is hard.

I just think of the problem as looking almost exactly like Frieza from Dragon Ball.

108 · Posts: 2600

posting in a thread where someone's lying about something

Mister Toups · Posts: 4943

For what it's worth, on one of Tim's first articles for Next-Gen the blurb they ran mentioned that he works for Sony.

And he's mentioned it a few times in the column.

I... assume that's what Carless was talking about right? The Next-Gen column?

108 · Posts: 2600

James wrote:

You have absolutely no right whatsoever to

You know, absolutely no one has any right whatsoever to tell anyone they have absolutely no right whatsoever to do anything!!

Also, perhaps you shouldn't use the words "real journalism" without quotation marks and maybe italics.

the vinculum gate · Posts: 2868

hey tim how is that being a less interesting musician than john tesh thing going

(personal attacks ITT please don't sic rud13 on me)

108 · Posts: 2600

Mister Toups wrote:

For what it's worth, on one of Tim's first articles for Next-Gen the blurb they ran mentioned that he works for Sony.

Yeah, they did that.

I guess Carless wants them to do it on every column?

I challenge him to start disclosing at the top of every blog post he writes "DISCLOSURE: SIMON CARLESS, WHO WROTE THE BELOW WORDS, WHO WILL USE 'US' AND 'WE' EVEN THOUGH HE'S TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF, IS GETTING PAID TO DO THIS, AND PROBABLY FEELS A LITTLE GUILTY."

108 · Posts: 2600

the vinculum gate wrote:

hey tim how is that being a less interesting musician than john tesh thing going

it's going great

how's being an internet nobody with a handle inspired by a popular videogame going

the vinculum gate · Posts: 2868

it's pretty fun. at least i have my integrity!

edit: also i have been called an internet nobody by someone who is only slightly less of an internet nobody than me and is around 8 or 9 years my senior!

Mister Toups · Posts: 4943

Also, for as long as I've known Tim he's pretty much liked every game/piece of hardware that he's come across. It's hard for me to take any of these viral marketing accusations seriously because I have a hard time imagining him saying bad things about nearly any thing that isn't kingdom hearts.

James · Posts: 1735

Was... was that a hissy fit? I have no response. But I do have a song!

Tim Rogers gotta leather jacket but he can't rock
Got a fictional girlfriend And no cock
Post-modern sex life in the fifth dimension
All timmy craves is attention

All it needs is someone to mutilate the same chord while looking meek and singing it over and and over while a man politely hits drums like they might hit back if he plays too hard and you have the feelgood hit of the youtube summer, homes.

108 · Posts: 2600

the vinculum gate wrote:

it's pretty fun. at least i have my integrity!

the thing is you have to risk your integrity to ever boast about having integrity

the drunken samurai · Posts: 4645

. . .

hi tim

108 · Posts: 2600

James wrote:

Was... was that a hissy fit?

it might have been!

James · Posts: 1735

Hey tim tell us more about your mary sue fanfiction, I mean proposed beat-em-up

Mister Toups · Posts: 4943

108 wrote:

Mister Toups wrote:

For what it's worth, on one of Tim's first articles for Next-Gen the blurb they ran mentioned that he works for Sony.

Yeah, they did that.

I guess Carless wants them to do it on every column?

I challenge him to start disclosing at the top of every blog post he writes "DISCLOSURE: SIMON CARLESS, WHO WROTE THE BELOW WORDS, WHO WILL USE 'US' AND 'WE' EVEN THOUGH HE'S TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF, IS GETTING PAID TO DO THIS, AND PROBABLY FEELS A LITTLE GUILTY."

Well, two things:

1) I would imagine the most likely scenario is that he's only read a few of your columns and never saw those columns where you make mention of it in particular.

2) Either way I don't think his stance is all that unreasonable, though I guess I can't blame you for getting pissed off about it. Were I in your position I'd probably feel the same way.

I don't think it's too much to ask that next-gen to put a brief blurb at the end of your article saying "Tim Rogers is a freelance journalist who works for sony" or something like that.

The larger point of whether or not it matters is up for debate. I'm inclined to think that it only matters if you're interested in holding up the veneer that videogame journalists are anything more than PR-spewing industry lapdogs.

the vinculum gate · Posts: 2868

integrity challenged by a guy who exchanges positive reviews for cash ITT

Wilkes · Posts: 1603

you make a great mod and a terrible poster.

isn't that strange?