February 12th, 2011

How To Screw Up Like IGN

92 Comments

Here’s a simple guide to A-class journalism at IGN:

1. Say that the Virtual Console will be available on day one.
2. Say that Pokemon Black and white will have 3DS-exclusive functionality.
3. Retract both of these statements, *hours* after publishing them in a Nintendo 3DS launch guide.
4. ????
5. Profit!

So yeah, that sucks. The Virtual Console will not be available on day one:

> “It’s important to note that some of these features will not be available out of the box, and will need to be downloaded from a Wi-Fi connection. Nintendo has revealed that a worldwide update, scheduled for late May, will enable some of this functionality, most notably the eShop (including the Virtual Console) and DSi-to-3DS data transfer.”

…and IGN have removed the part about Pokemon Black and White having any enhanced functionality. I know I make mistakes too, but come on, at least I don’t consider myself a journalist.

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  • TheGrapeTyphlosion

    facepalm nice going ign

  • Axl_abe

    EPIC FAIL XP

  • lolign

    And once again, it’s proven that you can’t spell ignorance without IGN.

    • Schultz38

      Hahaha xD It is true.

    • http://bobzco.webs.com Bobzco

      ^THIS.

    • some1n

      lol

      Well played sir.

    • http://yahoo.com knight_dAniel

      nice name . epic true ,

      xD LOL. C:

    • http://www.joelsevere.wikia.com J. Severe

      LOL!

    • Dani Handel

      rofl hahahahahahahahahahaha cough hahahahahahahahahaha cough hahahahaha

  • skywardsword

    IGNorant

    • kevin

      lol

    • kevin

      nice one.

    • anonomous

      i see what you did there.

    • Paul

      :)

  • SuperLegendBro

    Bummer!

  • jgn17

    IGN f………k

  • Atomix26

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

    • anonomous

      me TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

  • Lockjaw

    David, you left out the second to last–not to mention most important–step!

    1. Say that the Virtual Console will be available on day one.
    2. Say that Pokemon Black and white will have 3DS-exclusive functionality.
    3. Retract both of these statements, hours after publishing them in a Nintendo 3DS launch guide.
    4. ????
    5. Profit!

    fixed. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

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  • rod

    . . .
    If my family weren’t here i would be CRYING!! F* YOU F YOU F* YOU F* YOU IGN!!!
    I will never listen to those guys ever again. Oh god i knew i should have listened to those people when they said take this with a grain of salt!! Dx
    WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY

  • http://sylverstone14.tumblr.com Sylverstone Khandr

    Way to go, IGN.

    Dick move there, trying to play the fanbase.

    I knew there were some holes and I even tried to patch them.

    Gah, you disgust me. >.<

  • http://aldowynsmusings.tk abujaffer

    Uh and I had my hopes up so high, yet I had to get let down. It was too good to be true.

  • ethan

    isnt it possible that they were told these things from nintendo but they had to retract them from the article because nintendo told them to

    • David Turnbull

      Maybe. I’m leaning towards them being incompetent though.

    • Atticus

      Yeah, I just can’t see this being something that Nintendo went “HEY NO” about, rather, they went “hey idiots, we didn’t say that”. They also listed the Japanese and Australian release dates incorrectly, so it seems to me that the person writing the guide didn’t fact check as much as they should have.

  • Rich

    the level of fail that ign has reached should be illegal.

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  • Esposch

    I told you so. :P

  • dsiderreck6

    this some bull. i was counting on the virtual console on day 1. ugh! xD

  • aRt

    nothing beats nintendo 3ds blog info!!! |m|

  • BlooShroom

    dear ign, i hate you, and you’re stupid >:(

  • Komali100

    I hate to say it, but I saw it coming. It was just TOO good to be true. Way to jump the gun IGN!!

  • rod

    Oh yeah,#4 is make crappy reviews.
    ^_^

  • SparktehFox

    This is why I stopped listening to “journalists” a long time ago. They’re all so screwed in the head that you can’t believe anything they say. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go play Castlevania Judgment on my wii and Splatterhouse on my friend’s Xbox.

    • SparktehFox

      If you don’t get the joke it’s that publishers like IGN said these games suck yet tons of people thoroughly enjoy these games, including me. And because of these journalists, people without a mind to think for themselves easily say “that games sucks because they said so” without actually trying it or asking people who’ve played it.

    • Kevinskye

      Exactly, sites IGN is starting to become a conspiracy….

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  • cobanermani456

    Wow, I was so excited about the Virtual console. This just shows that you can’t spell ignorance without IGN. :P

  • Vizardvalor

    Its always good to take a grain of salt before IGN news so things like this are expected…

  • kylehyde

    Nice way to ruin my weekend ign.

    For reasons like that is really hard to believe in notes of this site, most of the rumours that then were used against the 3DS came from that.

  • SwagMonster

    Once again david, you make me chuckle.

  • Monsieur

    I think YOU screwed up cause you directly published what IGN published whithout any kind of verification, too bad you can’t assume that.

    Can’t really blame IGN for a mistake it rectified afterwards, don’t try hiding under false modesty, whether you’re a journalist or not you too made the same mistake so stop blaming others in such an imature way as you’re doing right now !!!

    • David Turnbull

      That’s not really true though. IGN is a large corporation with paid writers, editors and recently had direct access to Nintendo to ask 3DS-related questions. It’s not exactly abnormal to assume they’ll provide accurate content in their launch guide. And while they did rectify their mistakes, they didn’t exactly call attention to the fact that they’d made a mistake.

    • Dave Brzozo.

      @Monsieur
      Dude dont be such a dick. Its not Davids fault ign is a incompitent website. Your being the immature one by acting like a five year old throwing a tantrum.

    • Atticus

      ..huh?

      The point of this blog is to inform us of every piece of officially confirmed news, as well as every reasonably plausible and exciting rumour that the N3DSBlog team finds/is informed of. It’s goal is not to be right 100% of the time, rather, to inform us of every little detail about the 3DS.

      He didn’t make any mistake by posting this, he was doing his job (well, I don’t know if it could be called a job, I can’t see him making great money off of this). Where was he supposed to get verification? Emailing Nintendo or IGN would’ve taken days to get a response, if any at all. By then, we would’ve all known this news, and I’m sure you would’ve complained that he took to long to post it.

      tl;dr SHHHHH.

  • STEELFLEX

    well this sucks but I did hear that pokemon black and white is getting enhanced features a long time ago I cant remember where I just know I did idk if its true or not though

    • Komali100

      It does, you can use the inner camera for video chat. (sarcastic woo hoo) You can also do that with the DSi. So it is pretty much a camera enhanced feature.

  • BSteinOH7

    hahahahaha is the
    “4. ????
    5. Profit!”
    a reference to the episode of south park about underpants gnomes?

  • Dave Brzozo.

    Honestly kinda saw this comming. I mean how could they have virtual console without having an actual e-shop.

  • Boba2007

    This is why I absolutely hate and never trust IGN. It’s also why I say — GAMESPOT FTW :p

  • Phillip

    Well F•••k you IGN!! I always did like machinima Better.

    • Phillip

      Gamespot too… Actually Gamespot more than machinima now that I think about it.

  • Meesho

    You’re a journalist! Just a special kind.. a speculative journalist. And IGN got me even more excited for the 3DS since I thought I’d be playing some classic Zelda on day one. Dammit IGN.

  • Monsieur

    “I’m pretty sure IGN simply mixed up their information in this instance.” that’s what nintendo everything wrote on the subject.

    YOU rather went on “How to screw up like IGN”

    That’s the difference between a respectable website and YOU.

    • Dave Brzozo.

      Troll.

    • http://EliteFortress.net Rift

      I hate to break it to you Monsieur but David is not to blame here. Me and a bunch of other Pokemon related and Nintendo related website owners also posted the info. When we figured out that IGN removed the statements we were somewhat surprised because well… like david said “IGN is a large corporation with paid writers, editors and recently had direct access to Nintendo to ask 3DS-related questions.” So yes IGN did screw up and as a very large (supposedly reliable company) everyone expected their info to be real. It is their fault and you should stop insulting David and everyone else. Thank you

    • David Turnbull

      I’m not sure what you want me to say. I felt IGN handled the situation poorly and I called them out on it.

      Edit: Also, I feel it’s silly to use flowery language. IGN screwed up. Saying something “At this particular time IGN has had a lapse in judgment and failed to comply with acceptable standards in journalism” or whatever is a load of crap and the main thing I hate about being journalistic. I write this blog like I’d explain things to my friends.

  • Monsieur

    @dave brzozo, dude don’t act hyphocryte cause there wasn’t anything to add…

  • David

    well they’re better than xplay i hate those guys IGN FTW XD

  • Peter

    Nintendo and IGN you made me mad again!!!
    IGN for your false hopes and Nintendo for your STALLING!!!

  • Komali100

    They also neglect to mention that it is not backwards compatible with DS software requiring the use of the GBA slot.

    • Blake

      But isn’t that kinda obvious, since they haven’t had the GBA slot since the DSi launched back in April ’09.

  • David

    Everyone makes mistakes, no-one can be perfect.
    Anyway you are one to talk :P

    • David Turnbull

      Which is why I said in the article that I make mistakes. ;) But I also am very clear about when I make mistakes. As far as I can tell IGN simply removed the statements without any clarification.

  • fte

    I read the IGN article with a hint of scepticism in my head… IGN has done this before and as this information was nowhere else to be seen than IGN website… I chose to not get my hopes up.

    But I’m still bummed

  • nboy22

    @ Monsieur there are some things you should get mad over and some things you shouldn’t. you act as if these two bits of information explain life’s unfairness. Why are you becoming angry at a blogger who, in compliance with normalcy, BLOGS. Who, in all seriousness, cares about incompetence when it doesn’t affect anything in a significant way? We all just want to have fun playing games and people like you ruin the fun.

    @ At everyone (Including David) – It’s terrible when I sit here and have read through a bunch of garbage that makes a medium, which is supposed to contain the essence of fun, completely and unnecessarily serious. David didn’t mean anything to become a serious topic, as you can tell with the “non” flowery language and subtle sarcasm.

    Everyone, for the lack of a better term, needs to chill the **** out, and enjoy the upcoming arrival of a videogame system we all want. I’m tired of people taking the fun out of everything. I guess it’s for attention.

  • f♭57i「zu0※∴±♪

    Nooo, I want Super Mario Land on day one! ;-( Yesterday I ask me how it is possible to download VC stuff without a e-shop!? Nevertheless I cant wait for the N3DS (and the e-shop) !! ÷]

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  • KirbyMarioLink

    Wow this sucks monkey BALLS. I thought the Virtual Console was coming on Day 1. Thanks a lot IGNorant, you ****heads, and I got the IGNorant thing from skywardsword.

    • http://aldowynsmusings.tk abujaffer

      What about @lolign he said it first!

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  • flaboy909

    I knew IGN always gives false info. This is the place where people get unconfirmed specs for the 3ds and deem them as true when Nintendo hasn’t even released the specs as of yet :P. Smh people…

  • David

    Sheesh David you seem to be getting the popularity of this site to your head.
    You gain alot of Trolls that way.
    I think it’s best not to complain about anything or you are going to get some trolls and some fights in the comments.

    • David Turnbull

      Coincidentally enough I just addressed this over at gbatemp.net

      Will try to be less of an arrogant d’bag in the future. :-)

  • samuel

    wait, dont you have the same two stories posted on your blog?

    • David Turnbull

      They’re posted on the blog because I’d sourced the information from IGN. I’ve updated both posts with this clarification though.

    • samuel

      oh ok gotcha

  • http://epickirby.blogspot.com choochoo

    I don’y know why everyone’s getting hyped for, I’ve always like the controversial/informal nature of this blog. Its different and that’s what’s kept me reading for so many months.

    Anyways, that is a bit sad to hear that the VC won’t be available at launch and I don’t get why IGN even said that in the first place, personally I find that more unprofessional than anything David’s done, lol.

    • http://facebook.com/bryanpenkala Silvee

      I second this, i’m a little disappointed with the launch games and hearing that VC was going to be available day one was huge for me. /crushed/

  • http://aldowynsmusings.tk abujaffer

    Wait a second… Bold italics
    Just trying it out.

  • http://facebook.com/bryanpenkala Silvee

    I think they were right about the 3D functionality of those 3 games, but retracted the statements to avoid revelation of anything Nintendo may or may have not told them.

  • http://bit.ly/swaglin David Lin

    Aww, I was so excited that the Virtual Console will be available on day one. Oh well. At least I still have DOA.

  • http://www.joelsevere.wikia.com J. Severe

    So, no Virtual Console on day one, and no enhanced functionality for Pokemon on 3DS? Well… ******************! Whew, glad I got that out of my system. What’s next, no Pokemon Gray?

  • sammaster9

    NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! damn you ign!! daaaaammmnnnn yyyoooooouuU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( my family is now wondering why i am screaming)

  • http://travel.letmego.com Adrian Farenheights

    That’s why I never use IGN. I only trust GameSpot.

  • drwill439

    DAMN YOU IGN!!!!!

  • Tails the Foxhound

    ? I thought Nintendo themselves confirmed Black & White had some features that would be improved when playing on 3DS. I guess ‘enhanced’ is completely different than ‘exclusive’ but that’s really just semantics. My info is based on (Japanese) pre-release, so maybe just nixed that all together?

  • Jared

    lol its class-A journalism silly

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