Drivergate Returns

J Nash · Starting Member Joined: 12 Apr 2008 Posts: 1

Hello everybody. I am J Nash, whilom contributor to AMIGA POWER, PC Gamer and other magazines, not all of which closed immediately I arrived.

Recently I stumbled across some Games Radar pages I'd saved in an archive of random things and as a result have become intrigued by that ancient yet perpetually relevant scandal of legend, Drivergate.

As you may recall, the June/July 2004 improbity, chiefly involving paid publicists Babel Media posing as ordinary fans of the game to advertise Driver 3 on forums, etc, was broken by the astute investigation of mod bod Eighthours who in turn had all his research nicked by news sites while Games Radar itself exhaustively discussed the affair in several popular and lengthy threads -- an excellent example all round of iNtERacTIveMEdiA and a justifiable source of pride for Games Radar folks.

Tragically, for undisclosed reasons Games Radar owner Future then efficiently deleted all Driv3r threads, punished a few contributing participants and prohibited all further discussion. Now, not quite four years later, Drivergate is largely forgotten except as an in-joke one-liner; Google's helpful only if you know what you're looking for in the first place and even then the few online sources nearly all just link to the original long dead Games Radar threads.

Accordingly, I'm putting together a follow-up thing. This is not for a mag or something, it's just to provide a more easily accessible record of an important scandal. (For instance, I'm diligently converting the incomplete Explorer-only "MHT" archive from S Campbell's article to ordinary everything-friendly HTML and adding the new pages I've disinterred.) To that end, as it all started here, I'd be tremendously pleased if you could help.

-- As I say, I've unearthed some new pages to add to the archive, but large gaps remain. If you have ANY pieces of ANY Games Radar Driver 3 thread -- MHT, HTML, scraps of text, anything -- I'd love to see them. For example, if you posted to the various discussions, perhaps you saved those posts. As far as I know, the main threads were "Driv3r Review. Were PSM & XBW honest? (Part I)," "Driv3r Review. Were PSM & XBW honest? (Part II)" and "Atari People Infiltrate Gamesradar," but bits from any others as well as these gratefully received. "Infiltrate Gamesradar" is a particular prize, because nothing appears to have survived from this catalysing expose except the intro and then only because a Dutch site quoted it.

-- If you were around at the time and could answer some impertinent questions, or just want to lob in your war stories, that also would be exc.

If you're understandably reluctant to post here openly, you can PM me or (if you'd prefer to avoid official channels altogether) I'm also available at drivergate.returns@falsebit.gmail.com (remove the falsebit). Names and sources won't be blabbed if you'd rather remain romantically anonymous, perhaps in some kind of hat. I might also add that, in the interests of rigorous impartiality and SCIENCE, I have now played through Driver 3 after purchasing a copy. It is a remarkable game.

Thank you for pointing your eyes. Your wasted time may be reclaimed by chit.