SNK’s game isn’t dirty: blog issues and fact-checking

Over at DS Fanboy, Alisha posts a very interesting entry about the SNK Playmore game known as Doki Doki Majo Saiban, which we’ve mentioned in passing here. The reason behind its internet fame, or infamy, is due mostly to how bloggers have presented the work in a certain light. In this case, the fame or infamy has spread as a result of Photoshoppery.

Ah yes, the magic word once again. It has taken down and humiliated many a news outfit, from our humble blog to industry giants. The game itself is harmless enough by certain standards. You’re trying to find witches posing as human beings, and by a certain degree of logic, you will have to physically touch characters with the DS stylus to help determine whether they’re witches or humans.

Alisha presented two problems here. The first was Nintendo’s reputation as a kid-friendly enterprise. Supporting a game on the DS that involved touching people (girls, specifically) seems counter to that particular view of the company. The second is where our main problem lies. To quote her, “the second problem comes in when armchair designers leaped on the first screens from Doki Doki Majo Saiban, creating new ‘screens’ that looked real, but took the action a little further, and with much younger-seeming characters.”

Our responsibility, indeed that of every blog that talks about news and current events, is to find out what is fact and what is fiction in news articles, and to report the truths of the matter as best we can, perhaps with an opinion of our own. As Alisha writes, “In fact, considering the wildfire speed with which rumors spread across the tubes of the Internet, we perhaps have more of a responsibility even than journalists.”

While we aren’t perfect, and you can be sure that some of you out there probably know more than we do on some topics, we do our best to get you the news (or rumors or stories or videos of Power Rangers dancing). Believe us when we say that in light of Alisha’s article, our responsibilities to you are strengthened, and we will let you know if something doesn’t sound completely believable to our sensibilities.

Over at DS Fanboy, Alisha posts a very interesting entry about the SNK Playmore game known as Doki Doki Majo Saiban, which we’ve mentioned in passing here. The reason behind its internet fame, or infamy, is due mostly to how bloggers have presented the work in a certain light. In this case, the fame or infamy has spread as a result of Photoshoppery.

Ah yes, the magic word once again. It has taken down and humiliated many a news outfit, from our humble blog to industry giants. The game itself is harmless enough by certain standards. You’re trying to find witches posing as human beings, and by a certain degree of logic, you will have to physically touch characters with the DS stylus to help determine whether they’re witches or humans.

Alisha presented two problems here. The first was Nintendo’s reputation as a kid-friendly enterprise. Supporting a game on the DS that involved touching people (girls, specifically) seems counter to that particular view of the company. The second is where our main problem lies. To quote her, “the second problem comes in when armchair designers leaped on the first screens from Doki Doki Majo Saiban, creating new ‘screens’ that looked real, but took the action a little further, and with much younger-seeming characters.”

Our responsibility, indeed that of every blog that talks about news and current events, is to find out what is fact and what is fiction in news articles, and to report the truths of the matter as best we can, perhaps with an opinion of our own. As Alisha writes, “In fact, considering the wildfire speed with which rumors spread across the tubes of the Internet, we perhaps have more of a responsibility even than journalists.”

While we aren’t perfect, and you can be sure that some of you out there probably know more than we do on some topics, we do our best to get you the news (or rumors or stories or videos of Power Rangers dancing). Believe us when we say that in light of Alisha’s article, our responsibilities to you are strengthened, and we will let you know if something doesn’t sound completely believable to our sensibilities.