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[Chuck Norris]

Hello, all.

This is my first post on NeoGAF, and whilst I'm not generally one to deal in internet speculation, I have to put the record straight with regard to Pete Dodd's comments above.

Everything he has said with regard to myself and Driveclub is incorrect. It's also libellous.

As Putty (who is a personal friend of mine, and has been for about 25 years) suggests, I left Evo in February for personal reasons. The personal reasons being that my son, who is 4 years old, has been diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome, which is a potentially life threatening condition. I live 220 miles (4 hours drive) away from Evolution Studios, and was away from home 5.5 days a week. Given the circumstances, I could not continue to work there.

Driveclub is a great game, and the direction hasn't changed since my departure. This has been confirmed by SONY in various press releases over recent days.

I have no problem in dealing with very large projects, as I've been working in the games industry for the last 19 years, and have worked on some very prestigious titles, so there is genuinely no truth to anything posted by Mr Dodds at all. My departure (and indeed the setup of my 'indie' operation, BigRedSwitch) is 100% driven by family necessity, not some professional failing on my part.

I left SONY on very good terms. There is no animosity there, and I was absolutely nothing to do with the recent redundancies - in fact, the news of those redundancies was probably linked on here before I knew about them.

The games industry is a tough place at the moment. My circumstances with my son mean that I've had to leave secure work in order to try to make my own way in the world. This may entail getting another job. With people who obviously know nothing about the situation blackening my reputation for the sake of internet 'fame', this could be made much more difficult. It's nothing less than trolling.

I've contacted Mr. Dodd on his email address on his site. Due to the factual inaccuracy of his statements, I've informed him that he needs to remove the statements and apologise for the damage they have caused, as posting incorrect information and claiming it's true is quite simply libel.

I'm sure you can all appreciate just how difficult things are for myself and my family at the moment. I'd genuinely appreciate it if you can take my statements as word from the origin, and realise that there has been no big cover-up when it comes to my departure from SONY/Evo.

Thanks, all.

Col.

Shows how nothing is black and white in this world, and if you are losing track of the people involved to play an uninformed console war then you need to take a long hard look at yourself. Thank you for speaking up, rumours can stick like a bad smell. Best wishes to you and your family.

PS I don't think Mortimer is a bad guy, but sometimes you need to wonder if its worth posting things you hear when it involves people

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

Oh jeez that's like one of those things you tell to your mom when you get in trouble and you hope she loves you enough and believes in you enough to let you get away with it.

I haven't tried to do something like that since i was, what, 13?

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

http://doddscientifics.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/a-bit-of-clarity/

Honestly, I believe this. never known Famous to be malicious nor be above apologising.

But I still contend that he allowed things to progress to this stage when he should of packed it up a long time ago. Thats on him.

 

[The Llama]

It happens all the time though. Every major departure is speculated upon on GAF and enthusiast sites. I can recall Richmond, Hennig, Stig, Rodgers, and Corrine Yu off the top of my head. Even without the facts people like to talk. As you said it's always going to be that way.

Its a fine line, though. Its one thing to speculate "I wonder if X was fired because game Y is terrible." Its another to say "X was fired because game Y is terrible."

 

[nomis]

"I just had a heart to heart with someone's friend about how I might have damaged their career, now's the time to be cheeky, right??"

This isn’t a plea to get my GAF account back

Literally no one would have read into a sincere and to the point apology in that way. But hey, reverse psychology works sometimes.

 

[IAmRandom31]

http://doddscientifics.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/a-bit-of-clarity/

Boy. What a mess.

This is the world today though. Everything is expected to happen RIGHT NOW.

When we hear news about, for example, TLOU coming to PS4 as a leak from some dude in another country that works for Sony, we expect there to be an official statement as well as some new gameplay footage RIGHT NOW.

When we hear about resignations. We expect the absolute complete details to spill out about the situation RIGHT NOW. When we hear about people getting laid off, we expect there to be a breakdown of why each employee was laid off RIGHT NOW.

If we do not get our information RIGHT NOW, we will speculate. We will then turn that speculation into half-truths. Here at GAF, where people in the industry do actually come in and speak with the community a bit, it is even more heightened because we know there is the possibility of someone coming in right then to explain the situation. Do we all feel obligated that these companies come in and explain themselves with every situation and do it directly? I dunno. Some people seem to act that way.

It was the same situation with Amy Hennig. The entire thread is nothing but half-truths and speculation because the real story never came out about why she left and under what circumstance. So the speculation turned into a freakin internet Meme about Druckmann being an evil bastard that is forcing people out of the studio because of possible creative differences. All without a single shred of actual evidence or truth behind it. People will laugh about the meme at first, but then it takes a life on its own where some seem to take it as actual fact and will use it everywhere with every Sony story. Including the story about the director of DriveClub.

And here we are.

A mess indeed. But hopefully something can be learned from it all.

 

[SniperHunter]

looks like famous finally got another tag

 

[Interficium]

Now playing on Mort's computer:

 

[Vinc]

Best of luck to you, your son, and your whole family, Col. I'm glad this has been cleared up. This whole situation is very unfortunate. I wish you well and will definitely check out what you've got coming next.

Boy. What a mess.

This is the world today though. Everything is expected to happen RIGHT NOW.

When we hear news about, for example, TLOU coming to PS4 as a leak from some dude in another country that works for Sony, we expect there to be an official statement as well as some new gameplay footage RIGHT NOW.

When we hear about resignations. We expect the absolute complete details to spill out about the situation RIGHT NOW. When we hear about people getting laid off, we expect there to be a breakdown of why each employee was laid off RIGHT NOW.

If we do not get our information RIGHT NOW, we will speculate. We will then turn that speculation into half-truths. Here at GAF, where people in the industry do actually come in and speak with the community a bit, it is even more heightened because we know there is the possibility of someone coming in right then to explain the situation. Do we all feel obligated that these companies come in and explain themselves with every situation and do it directly? I dunno. Some people seem to act that way.

It was the same situation with Amy Hennig. The entire thread is nothing but half-truths and speculation because the real story never came out about why she left and under what circumstance. So the speculation turned into a freakin internet Meme about Druckmann being an evil bastard that is forcing people out of the studio because of possible creative differences. All without a single shred of actual evidence or truth behind it. People will laugh about the meme at first, but then it takes a life on its own where some seem to take it as actual fact and will use it everywhere with every Sony story. Including the story about the director of DriveClub.

And here we are.

A mess indeed. But hopefully something can be learned from it all.

Very true. I hope we can all reflect on that and learn from it.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Titanfall show never happened.

This show didn't happen?

I heard there were mishaps, but it still happened.

Amazon is working on a streaming box/dongle that will be announced Wednesday.

He was 100% wrong. Bookmark it.

You mean the deal, that he said was still in its infancy, didn't happen?

"The latter isn't even close to done. If it gets finished at all"


Yeah, the first tweet in that series is incredibly sensationalist, but the very next tweet/sentence he says it may not happen, and it's only talks. Like I said, pin him for something that was completely off-base.

 

[bobot]

The pitfalls of social media combined with the realities of the human psyche.

People inherently love to gossip. The gaming media are really no better. Just a bit savvier.

Best o luck col, life should always be about family first.

 

[freenudemacusers]

Yeah I think we are done here on this subject.

Col_Rodgers said its all good as well,I see no reason to continue this.

nah

 

[GrayFoxPL]

I hope that Mr Richmond son will get better soon. Best wishes to him and his family.

 

[Ricky_R]

I wonder if famous's post was just wrong info he got or just came straight out the nucleus of his ass.

I'm going with the latter.

 

[dude819]

https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/448653157497724928/photo/1

It took me 5 seconds to check Goeff Keighley's twitter account.

He claimed there would be a live show. Like they had for the console launches.

I assure you that did not happen.

 

[Hitokiri03]

Talking about apologizing.

Did IGN apologized for accusing Druckmann and Straley on Hennig’s departure from ND?

 

[okayfrog]

Literally no one would have read into a sincere and to the point apology in that way. But hey, reverse psychology works sometimes.

Actually, I did.

 

[Dreamgazer]

It happens all the time though. Every major departure is speculated upon on GAF and enthusiast sites. I can recall Richmond, Hennig, Stig, Rodgers, and Corrine Yu off the top of my head. Even without the facts people like to talk. As you said it's always going to be that way.

Which is sad, cause as a community we're pretty much just going to ask for something like this to happen again.

Until we force someone to break their silence.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Boy. What a mess.

This is the world today though. Everything is expected to happen RIGHT NOW.

When we hear news about, for example, TLOU coming to PS4 as a leak from some dude in another country that works for Sony, we expect there to be an official statement as well as some new gameplay footage RIGHT NOW.

When we hear about resignations. We expect the absolute complete details to spill out about the situation RIGHT NOW. When we hear about people getting laid off, we expect there to be a breakdown of why each employee was laid off RIGHT NOW.

If we do not get our information RIGHT NOW, we will speculate. We will then turn that speculation into half-truths. Here at GAF, where people in the industry do actually come in and speak with the community a bit, it is even more heightened because we know there is the possibility of someone coming in right then to explain the situation. Do we all feel obligated that these companies come in and explain themselves with every situation and do it directly? I dunno. Some people seem to act that way.

It was the same situation with Amy Hennig. The entire thread is nothing but half-truths and speculation because the real story never came out about why she left and under what circumstance. So the speculation turned into a freakin internet Meme about Druckmann being an evil bastard that is forcing people out of the studio because of possible creative differences. All without a single shred of actual evidence or truth behind it. People will laugh about the meme at first, but then it takes a life on its own where some seem to take it as actual fact and will use it everywhere with every Sony story. Including the story about the director of DriveClub.

And here we are.

A mess indeed. But hopefully something can be learned from it all.

The Druckmann stuff needs to stop. Unless we hear something, it shouldn't be floating around.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

Between all the lay-offs at Sony and all the insiders dropping like flies I think this proves Demonite to be a demi-god for surviving two apocolypses.

well, to be fair DemoNite is more than an 'insider'. He's an actual Sony employee, as I'm sure you know, and he's very careful/smart about what he posts. That's the difference.

Guys like Mort were glory chasers. He flew too close to the sun.

 

[IAmRandom31]

Talking about apologizing.

Did IGN apologized for accusing Druckmann and Straley on Hennig’s departure from ND?

I don't think so lol.

Which is why I will never give that site another click. I rarely went anyway, but that was just a nail.

 

[WetPotatoBread]

Titanfall show never happened.

Amazon is working on a streaming box/dongle that will be announced Wednesday.

He was 100% wrong. Bookmark it.

Literally took me 5 min.

if you won’t be in Austin, we don’t want you to miss the special celebration, so we’re building a special Twitch live broadcast just for you. Tune in to our Twitch live broadcast at twitch.tv/xbox or on the Twitch app on Xbox from 10pm-2am CT on March 10 for incredible gameplay action, special appearances from Vince Zampella, Abbie Heppe, Yusuf Mehdi, the legendary team from Rooster Teeth Productions, Xbox Live Gamerscore and achievement leader Stallion83, Xbox’s own Major Nelson, GameTrailers TV and Spike TV host Geoff Keighley, Twitch’s Jon Carnage and many, many more.

http://news.xbox.com/2014/02/games-titanfall-sxsw-and-twitch-celebration

 

[RadarScope1]

Yes it was pure bullshit but that's not how he presented it. It's not too hard to find the original post you know.

No, not at all.

Well, I'll take your all's word for it. And the mods have the last say. I've read the post 3 or 4 times now (and I remembered reading it when it was posted a day or two ago) and I don't see anything in the post itself that says "I have special knowledge about this." I fully realize he positioned himself as an insider overall, and maybe that's the context in which people read that particular post. But just the post itself seems like nothing but speculation to me. Speculation countering other people's speculation. Round and round we go.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

He claimed there would be a live show. Like they had for the console launches.

I assure you that did not happen.

But... it did.

 

[Snuggles]

Work's almost over so I don't need to kill time in this thread anymore, so I'll just say one more thing. Pete, if you're reading this, stop trying to explain yourself. No one wants to hear your convoluted reasoning. You messed up, and that's it. The best thing you can do at this point is just practice some self-control for once and log the fuck out of the internet for a long time. You need a break, dude.

 

[Vire]

Sad that Col had to even come on here and defend himself for taking care of his child.

It's none of our goddamn business really.

 

[dude819]

This show didn't happen?

I heard there were mishaps, but it still happened.


You mean the deal, that he said was still in its infancy, didn't happen?

"The latter isn't even close to done. If it gets finished at all"


Yeah, the first tweet in that series is incredibly sensationalist, but the very next tweet/sentence he says it may not happen, and it's only talks. Like I said, pin him for something that was completely off-base.

Both of these are examples of what he did all the time.

State something grand (a live Titanfall launch show and Amazon buying Xbox) and then backpedal so he could have his cake either way.

Tomorrow it will rain.... but it may also be sunny. - Weather Insider

 

[lumi7890]

Talking about apologizing.

Did IGN apologized for accusing Druckmann and Straley on Hennig’s departure from ND?

now that you bring it up. no they never did.

 

[Chamber]

What a mess. Overall, I think there's too much speculation about people like Rodgers, Richmond, Stig, Hennig and others deciding to move on from their position. All of these discussions have simply been toxic.

 

[Dlacy13g]

I honestly have nothing to say on Morts situation on GAF other than what is done is done and it was the right call.

The most important sentiment I can relay is to Mr. Rodgers. Certainly you don't know me and more than likely you won't see this but should you happen to, please know there is one more person in the world saying a prayer for your son.

 

[coolasj19]

"I just had a heart to heart with someone's friend about how I might have damaged their career, now's the time to be cheeky, right??"
Literally no one would have read into a sincere and to the point apology in that way. But hey, reverse psychology works sometimes.

You know that's not true. Then again, my thoughts about what a person may have or would think are just as ineligible as yours. But maybe it wouldn't have been posted, but someone would have thought it. It's a covering the bases deal. I've done the same type of writing and speaking when defending myself too. Chalk it down as a thought of a possibility that pecks at you until you type it down. Then you feel all better.

Regardless, whole big mess. This is really the accumulation of everything that's happened in March. From Amy to Justin. And I thought it couldn't get any worse.

 

[nomis]

Actually, I did.

I fucked up. I'm sorry for being so presumptuous about people's reactions to Pete Dodd's apology.

You know that's not true. Then again, my thoughts about what a person may have or would think are just as ineligible as yours. But maybe it wouldn't have been posted, but someone would have thought it. It's a covering the bases deal. I've done the same type of writing and speaking when defending myself too.

Wishful thinking maybe, but what I meant is that I hope people would have given a direct apology (without references to GAF and the mod's response) the benefit of the doubt. He may be backtracking, but shit, this is about a guy who quit his job to be closer to his ailing son. Dodd is a human and chances would be that he's sincere.

By lampshading his apology with "Heyyy but I'm not trying to get my account back", he's drawing far more attention to the idea than would have been there without it. I misused the phrase "literally no one" when I really meant "relatively no one" would have gotten the idea if he hadn't tried to shoot it down preemptively.

 

[Paracelsus]

I know gaf is more about "don't write checks your ass can't cash" but I still would not mind a reputation scoresheet tag for those self-proclaimed insiders.

If there is still one that hasn't been banned yet.

 

[Infinite Justice]

I hope that Mr Richmond son will get better soon. Best wishes to him and his family.

Its actually the guy who left Evolution, Col Rodgers. I assume he just posted in here since that's where most of the attention was at.

And +1 to the last sentence

 

[KissVibes]

https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/448653157497724928/photo/1

It took me 5 seconds to check Goeff Keighley's twitter account.

1) That isn't a launch show

2) It's been known since December that he was doing a Final Hours of Titanfall.

https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/416652816472473601

Here's the reality: Pete Dodd is good at taking news stories or finding pieces of information that most of us miss and twisting them into bigger tales that we all eat up because nobody comes forward to directly challenge his claims...

Until now, that is. Where a man had to air out extremely personal matters because Dodd wanted to make shit up.

I really hope all of you that gave money to his idiotic IndieGoGo campaign plan on getting your money back. It's clear he's just a bullshitter http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dodd-scientifics

Talking about apologizing.

Did IGN apologized for accusing Druckmann and Straley on Hennig’s departure from ND?

No, because they stand by that story. Until Hennig comments on it, all we have are the studio heads taking the blame with no specifics.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I wonder if famous's post was just wrong info he got or just came straight out the nucleus of his ass.

I'm going with the latter.

Do you have inside info on that?

 

[Various Artists]

Wow, a crazy thread got even crazier. What an afternoon of posts.

 

[Zemm]

Serious question: How are his Twitter/blog posts going to be handled? I guarantee that folks will still create threads based on the info he puts out.

With what credibility?

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Both of these are examples of what he did all the time.

State something grand (a live Titanfall launch show and Amazon buying Xbox) and then backpedal so he could have his cake either way.

Tomorrow it will rain.... but it may also be sunny. - Weather Insider

Please stop moving the goalposts. You said he was wrong about something which in fact he was correct about. That's what just happened. Yes, posting development details on an early deal doesn't mean shit, but that doesn't mean it was wrong in any way.

Move on.

 

[Ricky_R]

Do you have inside info on that?

FUCK!

 

[kulapik]

vidyageim jurnalizm must be saved!1!1!1!!!

You should have smelled something when you saw that the indiegogo was flexible funding.

Can anyone tell me what things did fam get right? Not trolling, I'm really curious.

 

[Dlacy13g]

What a mess. Overall, I think there's too much speculation about people like Rodgers, Richmond, Stig, Hennig and others deciding to move on from their position. All of these discussions have simply been toxic.

I agree but would add this entire next generation launch of hardware has been toxic. Its been riddled with bizarre witch hunts, false information and just down right nastiness on a level that borderlines inhumane at times.

 

[dude819]

Please stop moving the goalposts. You said he was wrong about something which in fact he was correct about. That's what just happened. Yes, posting development details on an early deal doesn't mean shit, but that doesn't mean it was wrong in any way.

Move on.

I am not moving the goal posts

There was no live Titanfall TV show and Amazon is not buying Xbox.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

Work's almost over so I don't need to kill time in this thread anymore, so I'll just say one more thing. Pete, if you're reading this, stop trying to explain yourself. No one wants to hear your convoluted reasoning. You messed up, and that's it. The best thing you can do at this point is just practice some self-control for once and log the fuck out of the internet for a long time. You need a break, dude.

He's unemployed and working on starting up his gaming website. That isn't going to happen.

 

[ironcreed]

Good luck to you Col and I wish all the best for your son.

As for some of these insiders, I started questioning their credibility months ago when the Xbox One 'ass storm' that was supposed to occur at launch never materialized. No surprise here.

 

[March of the Crabs]

I guess this is an example of how fame can get the better of someone and make them feel more important than they actually are, even on the most miniscule of scales.
Hope everything goes well with you and your kid, Col. Really is a huge shame you and your personal matters had to be dragged into this.

 

[Loudninja]

Great, feel free to leave the thread at any time, but please don't try to shut down discussion this way.

Ah man I was not trying that at all sorry.

Sorry it came across that way,man you have to be careful in this topic.

 

[Impeccable]

Seems to be a large contingent of people celebrating his downfall merely due to his reputation for leaning towards Sony. The names dancing on the dude's grave ... is, well... expected to say the least. Ironic, too.

 

[cfresh]

I hope everybody learned something today, I know I did. Thread needs to be locked and we all should move on and talk about games. Stop speculating and gossiping like a bunch of high school girls, especially when involves people's lives and careers.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

1) That isn't a launch show

But this is.

http://news.xbox.com/2014/03/games-titanfall-sxsw-twitch-promo

The irony of defaming someone, who is in trouble of defaming someone else.