We Want Media

And to think, it all started out with such an innocent rumor.

Gawker Media's Kotaku, a blog on video games and related media, reported on a rumor yesterday that could be a unique blend of a digital avatar concept popularized by the Nintendo Wii and combine that with basically every video game coming out for Sony's Playstation 3 system.

But Kotaku was quick to add:

While the rumor seems to make sense, keep in mind while reading through it that it came from an anonymous source and that the half-dozen development studios we spoke with hadn't heard a thing about it.

Indeed, Kotaku goes on to reference Newsweek and Next Generation Gamer to show there could be some truth to the rumor. However, it was not confirmed, nor did Kotaku ever claim so.

Then, Sony responded. While trying to confirm the story, Kotaku was told to not run the story, or else.

That "or else" came from Dave Karraker, the senior director of corporate communications for Sony Computer Entertainment of America. An excerpt from his e-mail:

I am very disappointed that after trying to work with you as closely as possible and provide you and your team with access and information, you chose to report on this rumor.... I can't defend outlets that can't work cooperatively with us.

So, it is for this reason, that we will be canceling all further interviews for Kotaku staff at GDC and will be dis-inviting you to our media event next Tuesday. Until we can find a way to work better together, information provided to your site will only be that found in the public forum.

As Peter Rojas pointed out to us, he was sent the first pictures of the XBOX 360 via a MySpace page as a rumor that was slightly confirmed by a source at Microsoft.

Fellow gaming blog and Weblogs Inc.-owned Joystiq responded, "This doesn't appear to be an issue of cooperation at all. It's an issue of control. A major corporation is lashing out at a news platform where it is unable to pull all the strings and directly exert influence."

By the end of the day, though, Sony seemed to see the error in their hypocritical response to an unconfirmed rumor. Kotaku has been given its original status back at a conference this week, including interviews that were originally taken away.

But still, in an atmosphere where rumors run rampant and where companies use such rumors to whet consumer appetite, what is going to happen when they decide how much of a rumor they'll allow? Further, this entire display merely confirms Sony's plan--and it also shows the schizophrenic nature that major companies still have toward blogs.