So a funny story that I sometimes tell to random industry people over my years in this

rat race has suddenly become a bit relevant.

Many years ago when I was doing this website

pretty much on my own I got an email and then a phone call from a game publisher. It was a huge

deal to me, working from home, to have much of any real contact with a fancy-pants publisher.

These guys had a game in the works that was hotly anticipated for various

reasons and they knew my audience would love more information.

So the PR guy on the phone asked me what I knew about the game and if I wanted to see

it. They were willing to handle my expenses and all of that, which was indeed exciting at the time.

But then this is when things got a little funny. (See, I told you it was a funny

story!) The PR guy started probing about what kind of article I was wanting to write. What

my current impressions were of the information I had was, and so on. His probing finally got to a

point where I ended up flatly asking if I were to write an article that turned out to be

negative, would that publisher work with me again? More after the jump.

After what can be classified as a very

uncomfortable pause, the answer came back as a roundabout confirmation of my suspicion

followed by no invite. In fact, that publisher ignored Shacknews entirely for about two

years after that.

That publisher? Eidos.

I seriously doubt that anyone involved is even at Eidos anymore. PR guys at publishers

tend to bounce around every couple of years. At any rate we're on pretty good terms with Eidos these

days (although I never deal with them myself) and I have not personally borne witness to any concrete evidence

that the current scandal is even true.

I can, however, tell you guys firsthand that it would not

be a huge shock. Game coverage and preview packages are still sold together with advertising budgets

in our industry. Big business decisions are generally driven by money, not integrity.