We've never made any secret of the fact that we're not really journalists. We're gamers who run a website that has enough profile that we can trick people into thinking our opinions are worth something.

But we still try to do a decent job of it. Though I've been busy lately and haven't been keeping on top of it as well as I should have been, we do actually try to keep the standard of our writing reasonably high. I look through the reviews, and fix up any mistakes, spelling, grammar or content. We're never going to be a site that concentrates on a high level of journalism rather than entertainment, but it is still important to us to do as good a job as possible on what we do.

But a few things have happened recently to make me question the industry I general. Not the games industry, but journalism itself.

The most appalling example is the US conservative blogger Kevin McCullough, who wrote an article about his outrage at the immorality and disgraceful sexuality of the s...

We've never made any secret of the fact that we're not really journalists. We're gamers who run a website that has enough profile that we can trick people into thinking our opinions are worth something.

But we still try to do a decent job of it. Though I've been busy lately and haven't been keeping on top of it as well as I should have been, we do actually try to keep the standard of our writing reasonably high. I look through the reviews, and fix up any mistakes, spelling, grammar or content. We're never going to be a site that concentrates on a high level of journalism rather than entertainment, but it is still important to us to do as good a job as possible on what we do.

But a few things have happened recently to make me question the industry I general. Not the games industry, but journalism itself.

The most appalling example is the US conservative blogger Kevin McCullough, who wrote an article about his outrage at the immorality and disgraceful sexuality of the sex game Mass Effect.

Referring to Mass Effect as a "sex game" is kind of like referring to BladeRunner as a "snake movie", because one was in there briefly. Mass Effect has sex in it in much the same way as my own life does. Sure it's there, but it's incredibly rare and ultimately unsatisfying for all concerned.

Many of the accusations made by McCullough are wrong. They're not just mildly and forgivably wrong. They're outright lies. Dirty, filthy, disgracefully wrong. Libelously wrong? Perhaps.

I'm not normally pro-litigation, because that gives lawyers money, which is like giving a chip to the seagulls at the beach. But still, the question is a valid one. Are lies made by maliciously bad journalists grounds for libel proceedings? Libel laws in most countries say that libel suits can be defended by stating that not only is the statement true, but that if untrue a reasonable person may think they're true.

But how reasonable does the person have to be? If they have an agenda of moral outrage and push that regardless of trivial nonsense like "the facts" or "truth" is that OK? My view is no. I think Mr McCullough's statements are libel and not only COULD be pursued by Microsoft, but actually SHOULD be.

Journalists, at whatever level, have a responsibility to make at least some effort towards honesty. When you take up the mantle of writing you should take up some commitment to honesty and integrity, whether working for the NY Times or writing a blog. When journalists lie, and engage in a spread of maliciously incorrect information, as seems to be happening so regularly at the moment, someone needs to step in and make them realise there are consequences.

McCullough's wrong-headed crusade didn't just stop there. Unfortunately it spread like syphilis to a more prominent and widely viewed "news" source. Fox News goes to crazy town more often than anyone else but Britney Spears, so it shouldn't have been a surprise to see this video.

Geoff Keighley, a respected Canadian gaming journo, was on the panel discussing the game and did his best to wade through the tide of effluent, but even he was powerless to stop it. The most telling exchange of the "discussion" was the following.

Keighley: have you even played Mass Effect?
Lawrence: *derisive laugh* No.

Its worth pointing out that Lawrence is a developmental psychologist who has written some books which have nothing to do with the subject matter. Keighley was cut off before he could make his point properly, and the sheer volume of misinformation was staggering. This isn't the right audience to point out the flaws, as you know them as well as I do.

There's a bright side to these issues, though. They haven't just been forgotten.

It started with McCullough. Within hours of his posting his comment board got hammered by angry gamers. Some of them did the usual dumb thing of saying "I W1LL K111 U U DUM FUK", which naturally got picked out as the "voice of the average gamer". Please people would you stop doing that? You're only hurting the cause. Anyway, there were enough moderates to make McC at least withdraw part of his attack. Because… you know… he was wrong. He didn't withdraw it fully, but regardless, he at least made some effort.

Fox News, in keeping with its higher level of prominence, got a higher level of attack.

EA (as publisher now) immediately took them to task, and pointed out the factual errors made the entire thing a smear campaign. The last line of the letter is good: "This isn't a legal threat; it's an appeal to your sense of fairness. We're asking FNC to correct the record on Mass Effect."

The ECA also criticized Fox for what basically amounts to fraud, suggesting that next time they want experts they should get actual experts.

Most tellingly two people have criticized the article whose opinions make their comments interesting.

Cooper Lawrence herself has said in an interview with the New York Times that she was wrong. She didn't retract her comments fully, but she did say this.

"I recognize that I misspoke," she said. "I really regret saying that, and now that I've seen the game and seen the sex scenes it's kind of a joke.

"Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it's like pornography," she added. "But it's not like pornography. I've seen episodes of 'Lost' that are more sexually explicit."

Despite the flogging she's been given on the internet Lawrence is actually a victim here herself. She was asked onto the show as an expert in developmental psychology, and to talk about the wider research into violence and sex in gaming and its effects on children.

She was not and never claimed to be an expert on Mass Effect. I presume the person who she "asked" was part of the Fox staff, who told her the view they wanted her to have. While Lawrence's derisive laugh at the thought that a mature and educated woman would play games, and her comments later show her own outdated attitude to gaming, she's still in many ways a victim herself. She was basically manipulated by Fox to spout an opinion given to her under false pretenses.

There's one other person, who I think should get the final say on Mass Effect: Jack Thompson.

"I don't see any problem with it. The guy[sic] who shot his mouth off about it had no idea what the Hell he was talking about. This contrived controversy is absolutely ridiculous."

When Jack Thompson says you're making up controversy about video games due to your own agenda and spectacular ignorance, you've really got some problems.