A few days ago Steve posted an article about the new game from EA called The Sims : Medieval. He clearly stated in that article that he got the ‘inside’ information from EA last year, and was under an NDA. He posted a short review and several in-game screenshots. As always, Steve was bending the truth somewhat!
He actually got the information and the screenshots from a hard copy of a PC magazine available to buy from many magazine outlets in the UK. Not only did he copy their review, he scanned and published THEIR screens without their permission, knowledge or consent. The PC magazine is called PC Format.
Steve wanted to be the first to announce this to the world online, so that TSR could gain all the credit and interest from the announcement, especially by beating EA to the punch. This would also prove once and for all that he is indeed in EA’s rear trouser pocket.
Things came undone when EA asked him to remove it, which he begrudgingly did, however during a TSR meeting ( in which he called EA ‘Shitheads’ 3 times ) HE decided that EA could do nothing about the article as it had already been printed in the real world, TSR was merely reporting on PC Formats article.
EA got in touch again very quickly and whatever they said to him got the article removed and he upgraded their status to ‘Wankers’ Steve was then stomping like a small child and made an ‘official complaint’ to EA about PC Format demanding they lose the right to any EA exclusives in the future. Clearly his theft of their story and pictures got him into trouble so they must be destroyed!
He then made a retraction type post on TSR, admitting he got it from a magazine, but basically blaming EA and their corporate stuff. At least he had the sense to describe their PR as “flapping” and not a “bunch of wankers” this time.
There was no mention of why he lied in the first post about getting the information from EA a year ago and signing a NDA, nor was their any credit to the magazine for the article or pictures he published and took credit for.
Steve is itching to repost when the time is right and again he will feature the article on his ‘special relationship with EA’ - A relationship so special that a UK PC magazine got the story and in-game screens first, and he had to steal, scan and republish them.
The sad thing is that other websites are crediting TSR for the article and screenshots. Full credit should go to PC Format, not to the site that stole their property.
It is also worth noting that TSR not only stole, scanned and republished the pictures from a magazine, they also added their own TSR logo to them, in a pathetic attempt to claim ownership, as seen below.
Update
There seems to be 2 versions of Steve’s initial post, the first one which was up for most of the day, and the second that appeared briefly before EA forced him to remove it again.
I was hesitant to publish the first post yesterday as EA clearly do not want either of Steve’s posts to be viewed online, but the topic here is not about EA’s alleged new game, it is about Steve’s theft of an article and pictures, so I have decided to publish. The second post only came to light today via PMBD, and I will also publish that.
Click ‘more’ to view both posts in full below:
Steve’s initial post
Here you can clearly see how Steve misleads his readers into thinking HE wrote the article and gained the information and in-game pictures from EA a year ago during a ‘very private focus group’ there is NO mention of any magazine or any scanning, and although not shown here, the pictures all carried the TSR logo giving the impression copyright is owned by TSR. This post was up for most of the day until EA had Steve remove it.
Steve’s second post
This was supplied by MissAngelica and posted at PMBD, her source was the Sims Wiki, who took it from TSR. This is pretty much the same post apart from this credit added at the end.
Steve does mention PC format here and also admits he scanned their images from their magazine, however the beginning of the post still carries the misdirection of the original and all the images clearly still carry the TSR logo. This post would have not been up for very long, I did not see it. It strikes me that perhaps the initial issue EA may have had was the theft of the article/images which could have been the real reason they forced him to remove it and why he eventually, but briefly gave credit to the owners and admitted he scanned the images.
Full post:
Removed again at the request of EA, perhaps they took offence to the first few lines.
Steve’s third and current post as I published earlier.
Steve now admits to copying the article in addition to the images mentioned in the last post, but gone is the credit to the PC format. This post remains up.
Hmm, when I first saw the article, I was wondering why they would give TSR the exclusive. Well, now I know: they didn’t.
Comment by Ajax — August 1, 2010 @ 14:12
I would say unbelievable, but it is T$R after-all…
Comment by Portia — August 1, 2010 @ 19:23
Proof again what a bunch of idiots the people of TSR is.
Comment by Christy — August 1, 2010 @ 20:14
Typical TSR. So, not content with their Featured “Artists” stealing content from free sites, they’ve now taken to stealing articles from the gaming press too? I’ve read the article (it’s four pages long with a lot more screenshots besides the ones TSR stole above – it looks like this game’s been in development for a while). Interestingly, PC Format do not claim this article as an exclusive, so there may even be other magazines out there who sent staff down to EA’s HQ to see the demonstration as well. Maybe Steve’s a bit butthurt that he didn’t get a personal invite?
PC Format/Future Publishing should sue these wankers.
Comment by uknortherner — August 1, 2010 @ 22:53
Hrm, let’s see here.
TSR’s complete disregard for legitimate rightsholders’ copyright – check.
TSR’s complete disregard for legitimate rightsholder’s EULA – check.
TSR’s complete diregard for legitimate publisher’s rights – check.
TSR’s complete disregard for supposed non-disclosure agreement – check.
Disregard for any imaginary rights, terms, or agreements with TSR – RAEG!
I’ve not had enough coffee today to make sense of that.
Comment by Cardinal Fang — August 2, 2010 @ 00:49
It’s possible Steve didn’t copy the stuff from the magazine directly, but when he saw what the magazine printed he didn’t see why he shouldn’t publish the equivalent info he had already got from the preview? Can anyone verify the article and screenshots Steve posted are the exact same words and images the magazine posted?
Reply: Yes. Steve can verify this for you!
Image cropped from a post provided on PMBD by MissAngelica, source: Sims Wiki, who sourced from TSR.
Comment by Inge Jones — August 2, 2010 @ 05:00
I’m loving the pics with TSR logo. I’ve never seen anything so pathetic and hilarious at the same time!
Thanks Coconut for new updates.
Comment by Katija — August 2, 2010 @ 08:06
I wondering what PC Format would have to say about all this. I mean we’ve heard EA’s side and T$R’s side, but what about the mag that was ripped off?
Anyone know?
Comment by Anon — August 2, 2010 @ 16:31
I’m wondering what PC Format would have to say about all this. I mean we’ve heard EA’s side and T$R’s side, but what about the mag that was ripped off?
Anyone know?
Comment by Anon — August 2, 2010 @ 16:32
How low can they go. But to be honest, it doesn’t seem a surprise to me that they’d do something like this. Cancelling TSR membership today!
I’m all for EA on this one.
Comment by Rachel — August 2, 2010 @ 21:19
Just an additional note on my original post: PC Format actually *do* claim their Sims Medieval article as an exclusive – It says as much on the front cover (shows how much attention I pay to magazine covers!), which means that PC Format/Future Publishing alone had the right to publish that article, and certainly not TSR.
Reply: Thankyou for that, is there any chance you could scan the front cover for me? – Coconut
Comment by uknortherner — August 3, 2010 @ 02:24
TOTALLY FAKE! whoo! cant believe i got sucked into this one! steve, did you write those comments yourself?? O.O
Comment by kimberly — August 3, 2010 @ 07:57
@coconut: Yep, no problem. I’ll scan the cover and post a link on the submit & expose page.
Comment by uknortherner — August 3, 2010 @ 17:55
I wonder if Steve’s little scam made EA rush out their announcement a little bit earlier, to dispel any notion of TSR’s being involved in any way.
I bet the suits at EA are not very happy with TSR, or Steve-and I hope this wakes them up to the entire outfit’s less-than-stellar reputation-if they don’t already know about it. Wouldn’t it be great if EA finally cut all ties with them that remain after this debacle?
As for the magazine, last time I checked, plagiarism is not a crime, but they could sue the shit out of TSR for reproducing their content without permission. Perhaps they will, if someone clues them into it.
Comment by MaryH — August 4, 2010 @ 04:31
I don’t think an NDA stops applying when someone else is granted an exclusive interview. Steve might be getting himself into real legal trouble!
Comment by LizJ — August 4, 2010 @ 08:02
LizJ, there was no NDA. Steve made it up. He can’t get into legal trouble for ‘breaking his NDA’ because there was none. The only legal trouble he can get into is for plagiarism and reproducing content without their permission.
Comment by Ajax — August 6, 2010 @ 03:46
I love that Steve is proven to be a liar yet again. I don’t believe anything that man says because he does nothing but lie, and I’m amazed that he even has credibility with some members of the community. Maybe those people will wise up someday and realize that they can’t believe anything that comes out of his mouth.
Even more, I love how Coconut pwns Inge’s pathetic attempts at deflating his/her credibility and at finding out his/her identity. It’s an amusing thing to see with my morning coffee. :p
As always, thanks for exposing all of this Coconut, and welcome back!
Comment by CoconutFan — August 6, 2010 @ 05:09
@#12: No, Steve did not write any of those comments in the original posting. They are lifted word for word from PC Format magazine, minus for Steve signing his name on them of course.
He attempted to cover his ass a bit by adding that halfassed ‘credit’ in the last paragraph in his second posting. However since it is not at all clear where the Editor of PC Format’s writing ends and Steve’s begins, or even that Steve is quoting another source in the first place, it was pretty worthless.
Comment by Motoki — August 6, 2010 @ 07:01
About Inge? It’s most probably another case of Team TSR making a few ’suggestions’ in some chat, ‘indirectly’ influencing her to post about it. Inge is not stupid, but she probably thinks she did it 100% on her own initiative.
Comment by About Inge — August 8, 2010 @ 04:32
God, I hate T$R so much…
Comment by Callie — August 13, 2010 @ 23:30
I sent an email to the mag to see what they have to say about it. Linked to TSR and to this post, waiting for their response.
Comment by Heather Darknessa — November 7, 2010 @ 12:14
[...] TSR would have had an amazing ‘exclusive’ but Steve’s scanner broke much to the relief of PC format. [...]
Pingback by Paranoia will destroy ya! ( Updated 5th April ) « THE TRUE FACE OF TSR — April 6, 2011 @ 21:15
Why don’t you ask pc format directly?
http://pcformat.techradar.com/
Comment by mysteriousguest — April 10, 2011 @ 04:40