XBox 360 News

Geoff Keighley speaks about the FOX News debacle

By Stevie Smith Jan 25, 2008, 9:53 GMT

Lone videogame representative on the contentious Mass Effect Live Desk item, Geoff Keighley speaks. Credit: ViewImages.

The FOX News vs. Mass Effect media train wreck continues to smoke ominously today with videogame journalist and host of Spike TV’s ‘GameHead’ Geoff Keighley speaking out about the aired discussion (or rather lack thereof) FOX News afforded BioWare’s epic RPG while incorrectly asserting the game was littered with interactive nudity and graphic sex.

Keighley, who appeared on the Live Desk segment to defend Mass Effect, was wholly outnumbered and cut short by host Martha MacCallum and a panel of ‘expert’ critics, whose venomous attacks against the Xbox 360 game were only matched by their obvious ignorance regarding the complexities of Mass Effect, the videogame industry, and the ESRB’s software ratings system.

Speaking with online gaming publication GameDaily, Keighley notes that he had some reservations about appearing on the FOX News item, but decided to brave the expected onslaught in an attempt to "at least try to set the record straight," with regard to the continued barracking Mass Effect is receiving from certain sections of the media.

Outlining his disappointment that mainstream media sources such as FOX News persist in their efforts to show videogames in a strictly negative light, Keighley also points out that potentially contentious videogames are the only industry offerings that get air time, and that coverage related to the genuinely amazing advances in gaming are all-too often ignored.

In a related letter dispatched yesterday to Live Desk producer Terri VanHorn, Electronic Arts’ VP of communications Jeff Brown intimated that major media players such as FOX were in the habit of portraying videogames negatively based on gaming’s emergence as a fast-growing and influential interactive media that is consistently taking audience figures away from traditional TV broadcasting.

In light of EA’s letter to FOX, which outlined a host of inaccuracies and misrepresentations made against Mass Effect during the Live Desk piece, FOX News has issued the following (bullet dodging?) statement:

"Fox News Channel has extended several invitations to EA through a company representative to appear on Live Desk With Martha MacCallum to discuss Mass Effect and the segment which aired on Monday. We have received no response."

Keep an eye on GameDaily today, as it will be running a more in-depth article containing further post-Live Desk reaction from Geoff Keighley.