Open letter to Gamesradar

This is an open letter to Gamesradar, concerning their article entitled Full Revolution controller details finally revealed.

---

I am a tv journalist dealing primarily with games - and would like to say a few words about the little stunt you pulled yesterday.

You originally broke this story, then pulled a complete U-turn and pretended it wasn´t you. Originally you wrote:

(...) "This confirms Nintendo's new controller features just a d-pad, with two face buttons, two shoulder buttons and start and select buttons. "

(...) "So there we have it. A controller with a reduced number of face buttons and a touch screen that allows gamers to look around, move, and affect their level of acceleration, by tilting the controller."

You were completely sure you had just exclusively revealed the controller to the world. So sure, in fact, you never revealed the patent number (bad journalistic practise in itself). You simply wanted everyone to quote and link to your site. Then you rewrite the whole story to pretend it wasn´t you:

(...) "An ageing patent office document, cryptically resembling possible specifications for the controller of Nintendo’s new Revolution console, has sparked slight confusion among a small group of websites to notice the listing."

(...) "At first glance the patent document’s complicated technical jargon describes gyroscopic tilt technology and an LCD screen - features commonly mooted for Nintendo’s top-secret new Revolution controller - however closer inspection reveals that the listing is actually from technology Nintendo filed back in 2003."

Now you make it seem as if "a small group of websites" went trigger-happy on the post button.

However, to those of us who remember that it was actually you guys, it is clear from your quote "closer inspection reveals that the listing is actually from technology Nintendo filed back in 2003" that closer inspection is apparently not part of your standard routine before you post a story. You really have nothing to do with journalism. There´s thousands of blogs written by schoolkids that are more reliable than your site.

I would recommend you write an apology to your readers. Proper journalists would not have hesitated to admit their mistake, albeit one that ruins your reputation completely. I have known people working for Future back in Germany, when it existed there. They were dedicated journalists and they were all made redundant. You should really be ashamed of yourselves.

---

To all readers: Why don´t you drop Gamesradar a line to make them know how you feel about this?