I know alot of you guys read Retrogamer also- but man...

cools · Post by **cools** » Fri May 01, 2009 1:49 pm

That's Stu from a good few years ago.

I believe he still has the same hair

skykid: I'd be really interested to know your opinion of him

Fenrir · Post by **Fenrir** » Fri May 01, 2009 1:58 pm

That hairdo is great

D · Post by D » Fri May 01, 2009 2:09 pm

Somebody should pcenginefan his face.
Just for kicks, no disrespect to the allmighty one ofcourse.
It should be pcef who holds the wyzorld.

jpj · Post by **jpj** » Fri May 01, 2009 2:09 pm

nice to see cools and DEL making an appearance

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Fri May 01, 2009 2:18 pm

Skykid wrote:

That pretty much says it all right there.

Zeether · Post by **Zeether** » Fri May 01, 2009 2:22 pm

CIT wrote:
Skykid wrote:
That pretty much says it all right there.

This is going to be my new avatar.

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Fri May 01, 2009 2:57 pm

He was a good reviewer back in the day, but he seems to have lost his grip on reality since then and now truly believes that he is the be all and end all of games journalism.

His descent into madness makes for good entertainment, but lets hope he doesn't turn up round here again

Post by **Icarus** » Fri May 01, 2009 3:05 pm

I'm surprised that the people in that thread don't realise that Sam Madeupname and RevStu are the same person.
Either that or they're just humoring him.

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Fri May 01, 2009 3:12 pm

The shape of his face is like a shield. Haircut doesn't exactly help his looks either

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Fri May 01, 2009 3:25 pm

Much ado about jack shit.

The n00b · Post by **The n00b** » Fri May 01, 2009 3:37 pm

I am saddened but not surprised to learn that Stu has "fans." After all it seems our era puts stupidity and attitude on a pedestal at the expense of all else. It has essentially become "cool" to not give a fuck.

Stu does not give a crap about the Metal Slug franchise. You can tell he doesn't like playing it nor does he care about RG's readership enough to actually research the article. Everything about it just screams "give me my paycheck now fuck off." As a Metal Slug fan this just boils my nuts. The fanbase and the franchise just didn't deserve this.

RG could have asked someone from the community like PCengine to do the article for free and they would have gotten a much better result. However, since they didn't give a shit, I just won't give a shit about buying any more copies of RG.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Fri May 01, 2009 4:06 pm

Thank God he's already banned from here, or probably he would show up again to defend himself or something.

If he somehow manages to sign-up here again, I think he should be auto-banned.

He's a prick, and I never saw anything special from his reviews at the time of Amiga Power. They most of the time seemed to be written by someone who barely played the game and didn't fully understand its mechanics, much like this Metal Slug Definitive thing. Yeah, since Amiga Power times it was like that, but I think we were used with lower standards anyway.

Not to mention he managed to be banned from every gaming forum I visit.

Anyone forming an opinion on him without reading a good chunk of his work (particularly all the fallout with games companies objecting to his reviews of particularly poor games)

Which most of the time was pretty stupid anyway.

Zeether · Post by **Zeether** » Fri May 01, 2009 4:12 pm

If he shows up here again I'll fucking laugh.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Fri May 01, 2009 4:15 pm

ZeetherKID77 wrote:If he shows up here again I'll fucking laugh.

I wouldn't be surprised.

Fenrir · Post by **Fenrir** » Fri May 01, 2009 4:18 pm

Let's drop a link to this thread on NG.com for teh lulz!!

...nah.

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Fri May 01, 2009 4:41 pm

Good ol' RevStu:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... t+campbell

Takes him till page 3 to wander in, but our Stu, never a man to shirk an intelligent debate, still manages to get the thread locked by page 4.

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Fri May 01, 2009 4:45 pm

<edit> Nah, I can't be arsed contributing troll-bait. His behaviour online speaks for itself.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Fri May 01, 2009 5:08 pm

That picture is from a few years ago? Are you fucking for real? He looks 17 and that haircut alongside that image is something I would see for an early 90's gaming show. What's next, he's going to ride in on a square-shaped skateboard wearing a purple and pink striped t-shirt, and proceed to shove SNES codes down our necks?

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Fri May 01, 2009 5:14 pm

Damocles wrote:It's Stuart Campbell. Does anyone take him seriously?

He himself does, obviously.

Skykid · Post by **Skykid** » Fri May 01, 2009 5:36 pm

DEL, That is indeed the man himself (referring to Herculean picture).

cools wrote: skykid: I'd be really interested to know your opinion of him

To be honest, freelancing myself doesn't make my opinion of him any more valid than yours. In hindsight, videogame journalism, as much fun as it was in its heyday of Amiga Power and Mean Machines, was of a pretty low literary standard across the board. Only a handful of journos actually had true wordsmith talent, and managed to rise above the schoolboyish tone of their peers and colleagues.

Stu's stuff was always an enjoyable read, precisely because it threw up controversial statements in a time where there was no such thing as internet forums in which to debate his views - it all happened in your own head.

The problem is there are lots of talented games journalists now and the caliber is much higher. Stuart's problem is that he's wholly unprofessional in so many respects, and that's not what the modern industry is known for (exactly the opposite actually - media pressure means you need to be whiter than white these days.)

As an advocate of old-school gaming and employed freelancer, he should be allowed to express his views - but shouldn't then ravage forums to back them up. His general demeanour when responding to topics involving his work is at best, horrific. I cringe for the guy when I read his responses.

Having experience in the field is one thing, but using language like that when addressing your own reader base is frankly appalling.

But the most unbelievable thing I've seen yet is this attack on another game journalist at Eurogamer, bollocking him over his score of Metal Slug 7 in the review comments section.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/metal ... w/comments

It was at this point that I actually realised Stuart is not about riling forums up for fun, it's about an experienced journo who simply cannot control himself when expressing views he considers to be mightier than everyone else's. It's like listening to a console wars argument being waged in a playground of the early nineties.
Considering he's 41 years old, he conducts himself like a child, and is unnecessarily abrasive. And if he keeps stepping on people's toes, his behaviour will see him ostracized from the entire industry. I'm sure Simon Parkin at Eurogamer is no fan.

I hope he gets it together before then.

DJ Incompetent · Post by **DJ Incompetent** » Fri May 01, 2009 6:09 pm

hm. Well written, Skykid.

Anybody know of a thread anywhere where Stuart and icycalm e-fight?
I'd read that one cover to cover, but would feel ashamed searching so actively for such a disease of character.

jpj · Post by **jpj** » Fri May 01, 2009 6:18 pm

this would be easy to orchestrate

DJ Incompetent · Post by **DJ Incompetent** » Fri May 01, 2009 6:22 pm

I would have thought so too. But how did it never happen on its own all these years?

Maybe *gasp* they'd actually agree on everything or some bizarro shit.

jpj · Post by **jpj** » Fri May 01, 2009 6:29 pm

all you would have to do is mention and link one of their reviews to the other person, let them criticise it, then let the author of the work that was criticised know about the other person's criticisms. the main problem is they would have to argue on somewhere other than icy's website because he would ban stuart before he really got rolling

that thread on n-g is ridiculously long now

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Fri May 01, 2009 7:01 pm

DJ Incompetent wrote:Anybody know of a thread anywhere where Stuart and icycalm e-fight?

Whoever wins, we lose.

Post by **Icarus** » Fri May 01, 2009 7:09 pm

Udderdude wrote:Whoever wins, we lose.

Now, who is who...

Skykid · Post by **Skykid** » Fri May 01, 2009 7:09 pm

Udderdude wrote:
DJ Incompetent wrote:Anybody know of a thread anywhere where Stuart and icycalm e-fight?
Whoever wins, we lose.

UD = Best avatar ever.

cools · Post by **cools** » Fri May 01, 2009 7:19 pm

Skykid: thanks for the response

Therein lies the difference - in my opinion the modern industry is faceless, and the output utter drivel. Your review of KOF excepted (I've not read any of your other stuff, but the KOF review did the job, made me want to play the game even though I generally find the KOF series dull), it fails to engage me in a positive way when speaking about games I've not played, and in a negative way when I wholeheartedly disagree with the reviewer on a game I love.

I want to be challenged or thrilled by a review enough to go play the damn game. If it's one I've not got that gets a good write up, I want the review to make me want to buy it. If I already have it, the review needs to make me want to play it again. Stu's writing does this consistently. Sure, if he slates a game I don't have - I might take a look at it sometime, unless I see another review that goes against his opinion AND does the same thing with my emotions.

The MS7 reviews (and comments) in point - I completely agree with Stuart, the reviewer did a poor job. Calling everyone who likes MS3 a tasteless moron was however lacking in tact, but I know precisely where that attitude comes from.

Mass-media in all its forms needs people like Mr Campbell to write for people like me. The late John Peel is a good example. His late night shows, though I didn't listen religiously, were about the only thing I could tolerate listening to on Radio 1. Now he's gone I'll tune in occasionally, hear the crap being spouted, and turn back to Radio 4 again. I rarely agreed with his music selection, but I'd listen regardless because he was so passionate about it.

Although where Peel was polite and courteous, Campbell is outspoken and abrasive.

Though I always had the feeling if John Peel was forced to play music he hated, as opposed to music he'd personally chosen, there'd have been a massive bust up live

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Fri May 01, 2009 7:58 pm

jpj wrote:this would be easy to orchestrate 8)

Don't you dar...wait, do proceed.

Skykid's response is very informative and thoughtful btw. That's stuart in a nutshell - I like the guy's stuff but he's not meeting many of the modern standards. In my opinion, however, at this point it's impossible to separate his personality from his deliberate attempts to buck the trends. I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing and just doesn't give a damn - unfortunately for him not many other people can stand it. Bashing people isn't winning people over to his cause.

Basically:

Death to IGN and the (in Skykid's great phrase) "whiter than white" games journalism, and to "new games journalism" - yes please.

Causing distress that doesn't further the goals of the movement - no thank you.

Octopod · Post by **Octopod** » Fri May 01, 2009 8:45 pm

Man he has bad taste in music.