Gizmodo
Hey people who've been following the tubgirl stuff. I've been thinking about it for the better part of the day, and I'm sorry, I should have used a lesser image for the prank. Yea, it wasn't very thoughtful of the readers of Kotaku, many of which are viewing the site from work. Also, to let you know, Brian was pretty upset with me, and I apologized to him a little while ago. It's cool between us now, and no matter if you keep reading Giz or not, you should definitely keep reading Kotaku. Don't let the horseplay stop you.
On to the match. We'll be playing something like 7 games or something. Here we go.
PS, I curse a LOT when I play, so if you have sensitive ears, mute it. Earmuffs!
UPDATE: Results are in...
We won.
Game one was in Guardian, and I think for the first minute, we were pretty shocked to see how good Team Kotaku's Luke "Legendary" Smith...who works at Bungie...was. Hammer and shottie? Greeeaaaat. It was over pretty quickly at 40 to 50. I wasn't feeling confident, but I also don't think we were grouping very effectively.
From Kotaku:
BOMBSHELL. Readers we didn't lie: We will be talking on Gizmodo with Crecente, Fahey, Mark Wilson and Luke... Luke Smith. Former Kotaku writer and current Bungie employee. Giz will be bringing on former writer Travis, who doesn't work for Bungie.
But Gizmodo writers never whine (that much) and don't make excuses (that much). I was rattled, but only enough to get more focused for the next match.
Second match, we were warmed up. We played construct, and Kotaku still had really aggressive momentum, coming in with swords and rockets, and grenades. I was kind of freaked out, and started yelling...a lot. But we took at 50 to 42 by proceeding cautiously and playing defensively. Matt was warmed up, and tied Luke at 16 kills for the board. The rest of us were on par with around 8-12 each (I had last place.) It was tied 1 and 1. Confidence restored a bit.
Third match was the one that could have decided the whole tourney. Snowbound. We went for the ghost, but we totally got our asses kicked. Then we went to the back of the board and got wiped again. We regrouped on the other side of the board, and waited while they hid inside. I started aiming properly but this started to become some crazy john woo movie with matt and luke racking up over 20 kills, with matt at 22, one above Luke. They started to come in a little less organized on this board. The score? An intense 49-50.
Now, we played this board none of us have ever played, epitah. Suddenly, we're on these narrow walkways, getting nailed by hammers, maulers, rockets and brute shots. After that, we regrouped, camped out some weapons and stuck to the same room, but in different positions to flank em and stay safer from rockets and hammers. 50-44, we won, thanks to matt earning 22 kills, and the rest of us around 10. (Luke had 20). We had only one more to play and we could win. I voiced up and noted that we'd picked no boards and asked for our favorite, The Pit.
Watch live video from gizmodo on Justin.tv
Little did I know Luke was a freaking animal at The Pit with 29 kills. He'd grab rockets and cloaking and swords and just come in on top of our tower and destroy the turret and nothing we could do would pin him down. Every time I was up there, I either got sniped or someone would nade me. I don't know where the rest of the team was, but Luke pretty much destroyed us single handedly. Did they win? Yes by 11. I wasn't happy that we were beaten on our best map. I still don't know what we could have done to not lose so badly.
I was so stressed at having been taken apart by a single man this game. My stomach was in knots.
I almost had to sit in my bathtub upside down, naked, and...never mind. But it was three games to two, our advantage. If we relaxed, they'd tie it up, so everyone had to pretend like it was the final match. The map? High Ground. I freaking hate high ground.
Travis manned the ghost, and took it up. Rest of us hung back and we split up a lot. I'm confident they were ahead for a bit, but wide open spaces like this are Matt's specialty. We spread out at the beach to flank whoever came down the tunnels or center, with trees for cover, and when we went up the sides, we grouped up. At one point, we'd occupied the base and tower, and Chen got Crecente with a laser at some distance while Brian was attacking Matt. At one point I thought we had the match: we had two ghosts, but these guys had us off of them with lasers and rockets pretty fast. Once again, they were sending luke forward, but we a) knew to watch the cloak and had the cover to do it from, and b) knew to watch the laser tower. Without a lot of support, it wasn't hard to stay on top of him. We were ahead by 8 or so, but then Luke had killed me back to back, ghost and mongoose, with the laser, and a few other guys went down. It was 47 to 49. They camped in the base, waiting. It didn't make sense to go in, but Travis and I were itching. Giz alum Travis Hudson, pretty quiet and steady all game (except for the GFY battle cries), jumped in cloaked, and started fighting Luke. Luke took him out, but Travis loosed some grenades and the win was ours.
The prize? It was supposed to be unlimited posts on the other site for a day. But after tubgirl and the original prank post from kotaku, I think we'll just pass. Tomorrow's another day.
Comments
Nice to see an apology Brian!!! Especially for those who were so freaking butt hurt over this. I for one wasn't offended at the picture, I knew that it was all fun and games. I still love Gizmodo and Kotaku. Have fun tonight guys.
OK FINE
That tag bleeds contrition.
@Boy Howdy: You shouldn't be so mean to people apologizing, jackass.
My apologies. I'll show myself out.
no apologies needed. internet, like real life, if a crazy place and you just never know what's gonna happen next. people who want total predictability should stay at home and read poetry.
I still think you're a bit of a jackass, but you also manned up enough to apologize. I may not like you, but you said what needed to be said.
It's cool between us, and no matter if you keep reading Giz or not, you should definitely keep reading Kotaku.
And this line here is why I can respect this whole apology, and find myself willing to stick around. This place is good when it's actually about the gadgets, so here's hoping nothing gets in the way of that again in the future.
you fucking posted tubgirl.
on purpose.
that's fucking ass-dickulous.
and i think you know what that means.
p.s. ass-dickulous. you see what i did there?
lol
i didn't actually see this picture, but if it's /tubgirl/ tubgirl...why would you even google that, to have.
unless.....
On to the games!
I have no idea what you're talking about.
@bobdobbs: I too had no idea, then I googled "tubgirl". Do not do this. Remember the lesson Goatse taught us: once you've seen something, you can't unsee it.
Use the damn battle rifle!! It's getting on my nerves how you try to kill people from far away using only the assault rifle.
It's not horseplay. It's arseplay. And you're still an arse for posting that.
Next time, exercise a little self control. I have no pity for you.
wow, more apologies. for being funny? i might actually stop reading giz and find a website with 1) bigger cojones and 2) a greater willingness to indulge in some innocent (albeit tasteless) juvenile humor. i swear to god, i better not see another apology here or i'm gone.
@Oldmanstan
Hahaha nice.
Thanks for the apology, not that it mattered to me particularly..just looks like you guys need some sort of common sense editor..
Nice to see some perspective, B.Lam. Apology accepted.
No offense but I hope Crecente's crew creams you guys >_>
Tubgirl is like sooooooo 2002. Anybody who hasn't seen that pic by now has been living in a cave, a boring and depressing ass-fountainless cave. I applaud Gizmodo for posting it. (But negative points for the apology.)
@Imaria: you must have been hurt by this. I sympathize to an extent, but maybe you could use a little toughening up too. this was all fun and gamez till sensitive people got their panties up in a bunch over a freakin' picture. lame. weak. over.
ps Giz KICK ASS!!!
At least it wasn't Lemon Party. I'm all for some (literal) toilet humor. However, I also shop at TshirtHell.com, so my level of "being offended" is exceedingly high and has nothing to do with poo. Bravo for your general cojones.
@White:
you obviously don't have a job. There are people that work in an office where professionalism is highly regarded. Seeing that image on our computer, either by a boss or to an more extreme extent "monitored" could cost them their job, just by simply viewing a SFW webpage. Some people also have kids and don't want their kids seeing something like that. I for one wouldn't be too offended by it, but you need to be able to respect the fact that some people have restrictions in their home and work environment for things like that.
@DataScream:
What kind of fucking comment is that? "You must not have a job". I have a job, and I thought that the shit that went down today was fucking HILARIOUS. It was nothing more than a little friendly shit talking. Besides, you shouldn't be looking at the internet at work anyways, you should be working like a good worker drone. Also, anytime you log into the net, you should be ready for anything. Haven't hackers taught us this already?
Now get back to work.
I was in school when I caught that little "prank". Thankfully I closed the window right away and no one was looking but that shit is not cool. I'm sure there's someone out there who got in big shit so you could have a fucking laugh.
I guess the Gizmodo assholes ran out of iPhone stories and needed to keep busy.
Grats on the win
if you have a job, do that instead of surfing gizmodo. this site's getting so clean i might pass it to my mom for her tech news and she can help my little sisters find out about the newest ipod and the latest canon. if you have restrictions, try and have some common sense with it. honestly, if you're working a job where youre surfing giz all day at work, then following the post on giz to kotaku, your boss is NOT gonna care if an internet shock photo pops up on accident. i bet he wants to know why you get "free viagra" emails too.
Huh?
I believe the banhammer would not be out of the question in this case. I say give it to them! Ban them! Who posted it again? ..heh.
Tubgirl. classic.
Some people who read Kotaku are under age.
Just sayin'.
The tubgirl thing is out of line...but, "To err is to be human."
I'll forgive you since you did the review on the Optimus Prime voice-changing helmet.
I missed this. So what happened?
tubgirl is hot
Uh, the tubgirl thing was completely uncalled for. I was at work when scrolling through goog reader real quick and couldn't believe it.
its the internet...
people expect not to see tubgirl?
who are these people and what internet do they use!?!
i dont think i'll ever have a chubby again... evar
@Elliuotatar: Tubgirl was posted as a prank... a few readers were "offended" for various reasons... said Tubgirl pic was taken down... Insanity ensued because of said Tubgirl picture.
Post it on Gizmodo - or wait, Wonkette - and see how much the userbase likes it. I'm sure noone here would - gasp - think of looking at this generally benign dare I say sterile site from work or school.
Brian Lam, you win the ass in a top hat of the month award.
@stonefry: That's why I don't read the gamer commenters anymore. But someone has to teach them about the birds and the bees.@White: I promise.
@Brian Lam: bravo to you and not bullshitting around when wilson posted the "forfeit". i totally agree that people should stop being a bunch of pussies and let this site be what it is. don't try and sterilize it into an engadget.
giz is home to some of the most brilliant and hilarious writing/reviews in the tubes. fruch getting baked on video was one of my favorite moments, and it's that edge giz isn't afraid to have that makes it so good. if that means tubgirl on kotaku, i completely support it.
(damnshit! i did not saw the live fight! damn i was awake for the whole night and forgot bout the match because of some "racism" issues in other websites. I REGRET it... im still pissed!)
BTW
okay, brian lam apologized again sure. apology accepted.. but we can never forget.
giz, won the match?! just what i thought! COOL!
there's a rematch?! please do tell the exact time next time.. so that we wouldnt miss it or visit too earli in justin.tv while missing the argument here in your website.
everybody move on! next post!
I'm filing this whole incident under "reasons why bloggers don't deserve journalistic status". Way to move your industry forward, Brian. I'm sure your employers, advertisers, and sponsors were thrilled with your sense of humor and careful consideration of consequences.
There shouldn't be anything "reluctant" about it unless you're an idiot.
Apology - quite the right thing to do.
Getting beat on your favorite map? Pwned! Hey at least you won the war!
Why was the apology given "reluctantly". If you felt the need to apologize, surely it should have been unequivocal?
Pranks get out of hand. It happens. Move on.
A better prank would have been making all of their backgrounds on their PCs tubgirl, instead of subjecting the readers to it.
@nachobel: "p.s. ass-dickulous. you see what i did there?"
Didn't you hear? "See what I did there" died over three weeks ago.
It's buried in a lovely plot next to "don't go there" and "where's the beef".
I thought it was pretty funny, but I always laugh at tub girl.
I wonder if Tub Girl knows if she's known as tub girl?
Gosh, thanks for the half-assed apology. Unfortunately I can no longer be certain that Gizmodo will consider what they post and, as such, can no longer visit the site form work. Tell your advertisers you just lost a 32-37 year old with a household income of $75,000-$120,000 a year. I'm sure they won't mind losing that demographic. We're totally not the people who buy high-end electronics and business equipment. I'm sure BobDobs and his ilk better represent the lucrative demographic of assholes in their mother's basement that advertisers like Sprint, Microsoft, and Intel are after.
*rolls eyes* idiot
but hey, at least the more litigious amongst us now have a written admission of guilt, lets hope too many of them didn't read kotaku at work/school
Fire the sum'bitch!
Yep. Gizmodo is off my RSS feed.
Back to Engadget.
BTW, I read Kotaku at work...which is a high school.
I'm a Computer Resource Technician.
@jakemikey: You do realize that a site featuring Halo 3 grudge matches with another site might not be all that concerned with their 'journalistic status' right?
Good game, congrats to Giz.
I think I could work at Gizmodo. If all it takes is writing about iphones, playing Halo 3, and posting poop pics, I'd be in a top position in no time.
I chalk up the "tubgirlgate" incident to immaturity and inexperience on the part of the poster. Congratulations! You've had your tact cherry busted. Welcome to adulthood where childish pranks have consequences beyond a spanking and grounding.
Yeah, you go boiiiiiii! I knew Giz would win. You know all those Apple posts are good for your health, right? "And Apple a day....". I still say the Tubgirl thing was not as bad as all the tenderfoots said it was. "You play with fire you'll likely get burned". Well, Kotaku got BURNED, baby, BURNED!! TWICE in one day. AWESOME
Are these matches going to be saved and shared through Halo 3 theater or anything?? that would be sweet.
If you guys are all still pissed, the real way to go about this is to start writing to the sponsors. Many have said there is no rule that says you can't post disgusting shock material on a blog. Well, there is always the rule of the free market. Gizmodo receives revenue from advertising.
You want to send Gizmodo a message? Start writing emails. Include links to relevant posts, and explain why it's Gizmodo's fault and not Kotaku's. Threaten not to buy their products anymore. Any advertiser in their right mind will pull out from Gizmodo post haste.