There’s controversy brewing over some obscene and insulting remarks about game review sites posted on Twitter by the QA Lead at Silent Hill: Homecoming developer Double Helix.
Guy Selga, who goes by GuyFNC on Twitter, was apparently unhappy about Eurogamer’s decision to re-review Grand Slam Tennis last week and award it a higher score. In its initial review, the site scored the game 5/10, but the second time around awarded it a far friendlier 8/10.
GuyFNC wasn’t happy. Linking to a MediaWhoreNetwork report of the review score change, he Twittered, “Eurogamer magically changes review score. All these fags are the same. F–k #Kotaku, #Joystiq, #Gamespot, etc” And while angry outbursts on Twitter may not be unusual, it’s a bit more complicated for Guy because according to his blog he’s currently the QA Lead at California-based game studio Double Helix Games.
Because of his position at Double Helix, Selga’s comments have earned some swift and negative reactions. Alexander Sliwinski of Joystiq responded with a Tweet of his own, saying, “When you’re a QA Lead at Double Helix climbing the corporate ladder, it helps not to call media outlets ‘fags’,” while Kotaku’s Brian Crecente wrote, “It shows just how far some in the industry have to go to be mature.”
The review score that got Selga so worked up was in fact changed, but according to the Eurogamer Editor’s Blog there was a very good reason for it: Eurogamer.de discovered that the Wii MotionPlus works considerably differently on “Wii debug kits,” which Eurogamer used for the review, than it does on standard retail Wii consoles. The team tested the game on a standard Wii and found a “substantial, immediately noticeable difference” in its responsiveness and thus decided to re-review it. The original review was left online, with links to the replacement, so people would be aware of the situation.
All of which seems completely reasonable and transparent, and makes Selga’s quick rant look even more ill-considered. But the real issue is far simpler: Should someone who broadcasts his affiliation with a game developer be blindly hurling obscenities at videogame sites? We’ve asked Double Helix about it and will update when we can.
