It’s really cool that some costume websites sell officially licensed comic book costumes, but they really don’t know how to sell them. (Particularly their X-men Emma Frost costume). Any X-Men fan could tell you that the description is WAY off… it makes it sound like Emma Frost’s power revolves around ice when everyone knows she has psychic abilities and can harden her body like a diamond. Of course when you try to tell them that no one listens… Check out the convo my girlfriend had with their CSR.

Chat InformationThank you for choosing Buycostumes.com!

Chat InformationMy name is Anne, how may I help you?

jc: Hi Anne, I’m writing because I feel that your comic book character costumes deserve better write ups

jc: The write up for your Emma Frost Sassy Prestige Adult Costume is inaccurate and poorly researched. “You’ll send chills down his body as this superhero hottie!” That implies that her power has something to do with ICE or cold, when in fact her power is psychic ability and her skin can harden like a diamond.

Anne: Hi! Thank you for that.

Anne: Anything else I can help you with?

jc: Do you guys have any plans to update your descriptions?

jc: Because Emma Frost is simply her name.

Anne: I’m sorry for that. HOwever, you may send us email for your suggestions.

jc: Perhaps something like “Diamonds are a girls best friend, especially when they can protect her during battles with other mutants.”

jc: Okay, who shall I send my suggestions to? I have a lot of ideas.

Anne: You may send it at buycostumes.com

jc: Also, and this may be nitpicking, but I wouldn’t exactly call Emma Frost a superhero… she can be quite devious and as many of the characters in X-men her intentions aren’t all that black and white.

jc: Is there a direct email I can send these to?

Anne: Yes. You may send us all your ideas and sugestions. Thanks you.

jc: I would prefer something without a character limit.

jc: Do you have a direct email address I can use?

jc: I don’t think all of my suggestions will fit in the form.

Chat InformationThank you for chatting with us. Please click the “Close” button on the top right of the chat window to tell us how we did today.

Session ended by sales rep.

=====

Chat InformationThank you for choosing Buycostumes.com!

Chat InformationMy name is Anne, how may I help you?

jc: Hi, I just wanted to follow up.

Anne: Hi! How may I help you?

jc: I sent an email with my suggestion about the Emma Frost description.

jc: I wanted to know when I should expect to see an update.

jc: It’s important in regards to my decision to buy the costume.

jc: Anne? Are you there?

Anne: If you already sent your suggestion then the department in-charge will be giving you feedback about this.

jc: Which department? Web merchandising? Are they usually receptive to this kind of feedback?

jc: I’m anxious because I’d like to suggest this website to my comic book club but they’re very particular about accuracy.

jc: There’s 37 of us, so this could be good business for you.

jc: Especially since half the group is plus size, which usually costs a bit more I think, right?

jc: Actually, more than half…

Anne: I understand. You may just check your email within this week for the feedback of your suggestions.

jc: A week huh? That’s cutting it pretty close because we need this costumes for our LARP which takes place in 2 weeks.

jc: And a lot of members realized they grew out of their costumes since their mom’s made them last year…

jc: so you see my dilemma…

jc: But I’m not going to be able to sell them on buying these costumes whith such inaccurate descriptions. We have pretty high standards.

Anne: yes of course I understand your concern about this. But as soon as the departmnent in-charge read your email they will be giving you feedback as soon as possible.

jc: Okay, is there any way to mark my message as urgent?

jc: I have a lot of other write ups to fix and I’m on a deadline

jc: Anne?

jc: I’m sorry but I don’t see why a costume site would want to alienate their comic book fans like this.

jc: Are you just in business for Halloween?

jc: Are you still there?

jc: I would appreciate some help on getting my message placed higher in the queue

jc: Hello?

Anne: Yes.

Anne: You may call at 2629012000 and you can make a followup on that.

jc: Okay, can they change the descriptions while I’m on the phone?

jc: The descriptions are imperative to our decision. We don’t want to come off as posers who buy from non-comic book fans.

Anne: I’m sorry but I canot give you assurance on that. You may call that number and discuss your concern about the description.

Anne: Anything else I can help you with?

jc: I don’t have any minutes left on my cell

jc: That’s not going to work. As I said I have a lot of suggestions.

jc: I just want a direct email address to send them to.

jc: I have about 12 pages of notes.

jc: That won’t fit in the contact form

jc: and again, I don’t have any minutes so I can’t explain it all over the phone.

Anne: I am just suggesting you may also call the number and follow up on the email you sent to buy costumes.

Anne: We tahnk you for the suggestions. The department concern will also be giving you feedback, but I don’t have the exact information if when it will be.

jc: Yes, but I need a direct email address.. Otherwise I have to split it up into parts through your contact form and I fear that it might end up out of order and you’ll miss details about Wolverine’s claws having been part of his skeleton afterall which we discovered after Magneto ripped the adamantium from his body in X-Men #25, 2nd series.

Anne: That is whre you can email your suggestions.

jc: If the details are emailed in pieces your staff may have difficultly sorting the correct order

jc: I’d prefer not to use your form for that reason

Anne: Thank you for sending us email for the suggestions. I’m sorry, I still have to assist other customers. You may give a call to the number I gave you for follow up or may look for the department in-charge for your concern.

jc: Thank you but I just want an email address…

Anne: You may email your suggestions to the one I gave you. I’m sorry, but I need to assist other customers. Thank you.

Chat InformationThank you for chatting with us. Please click the “Close” button on the top right of the chat window to tell us how we did today.

Session ended by sales rep.

Svenn: Disney bought Marvel? wtf?

me: I’m gonna effin cry – I’ve been a Marvel fan since I was a kid

I even stuck with them through the Blade movies

It’s like loosing a family member

Stage 4: Depression

……. oh well, I’ve still got DC – Batman FTW.

Stage 5: Acceptance

First up, the concept of adding warning labels to games because they cause obesity is absurd. Games don’t cause obesity, a lack of exercise, and bad dietary habits cause obesity. The article in question suggests that the video game industry should follow the standards set by the tobacco and alcohol industries, and label games as causing inactivity and obesity. The argument holds no water. Consuming tobacco can can lead directly to health problems such as lung cancer, and consuming alcohol can lead directly to liver and kidney problems, as well as making out with people you wouldn’t normally be attracted to at parties.  There’s a direct cause and effect relationship between the product being consumed, and the dangers the label warns of.  There’s no direct link between video games and obesity. Gaming is just one of many activities people enjoy when they could be working out. If you want to label video games as causing obesity, then here’s a list of other items that should also carry an obesity warning.

• food
• chairs
• TV
• books
• cars
• productivity software
• web browsers
• couches
• DVD’s
• beds

My second problem with this story is the high level of attention Game Politics is giving this story. The blog in question currently has an alexa rank of over 3 million, meaning that they likely get less than 20 hits per day – in other words, until GP drew attention to them, no one was reading their nonsense. By drawing undo attention to their argument, GP has given it weight. As a respected site in the video game community, I expect better from GP than to publish the opinions of any uninformed douchebag that happens to mention video games in their writings. Journalistic integrity is not limited expressly to printing the truth, and only the truth. Journalistic integrity also means that you know which stories to run with, and which ones are just inflammatory for the sake of being inflammatory and NOT running them. GP dropped the ball here, and I sincerely hope the gaming community doesn’t let them off the hook for it.

I will remember Farrah Fawcett as the woman who discovered the weighted companion cube.

Here’s a step by step guide to getting just a little more enjoyment out of an already fun game.

Step 1: Hop on into any ranked Free for all playlist.

Step 2: Wait for someone to say “Hey guys, wanna do achievements?”

Step 3: Reply “Sure, everyone meet in the middle of the map and crouch”. Note: This works best on either Guardian or Epitaph.

Step 4: As soon as the match starts, run toward the center of the map. As soon as you see the circle of crouching douchebags, start hucking grenades into the center of said circle. Once the first grenade goes off, the jig is up – open fire with whatever gun you happen to be carrying at the time.

Step 5: Wait patiently for your rep to go down due to complaints of “unsporting conduct”.

Sure, maybe it’s griefing, but hey, those d-bags where trying to exploit the achievement system. The way I see it, I’m doing a public service to all of XBL by disrupting their efforts.

Nope, it doesn’t. This chart is just full of lies. Let’s examine just a few of these, shall we?

Developer Tools

Oh, I’m sorry, did IE become open source while I wasn’t looking?

Reliability

IE crashes like a drunk teenager on prom night while Firefox runs without interruption.

Compatibility

IE is compatible with more sites on the internet…. that’s just stupid and I’m not going to dignify it with a response.

Keep at it Microsoft, you’re helping to populate my blog with amusing content, so I hope you’ll continue your media push for IE 8. Would it be too much to ask for you to release a video of some sort that I can make fun of?

No Microsoft, I’m not going to use IE. Not even for $10,000. When your browser stops trying to “fix” every webpage accessed with it, send me a check for $10K, and we’ll talk. Even then, no promises.

I was working on a faulty computer today that just wouldn’t run the DVD drive for more than a few seconds before powering it down. After some trouble shooting, and a lot of swearing under my breath I determined the problem to be a faulty IDE cable. When I removed the offending cable and examined it closer, I discovered that, along with the usual vlotage and temperature ratings, the words “Space Shuttle – C” were also stamped on the bottom of it. Is it from space? Was it meant to go into space? Should I return it to NASA? If anyone knows what this cryptic tag means please fill me in – I’m dying to know.

Have you ever gone to your favorite blog only to find that the author had written a glowing endorsement for a substandard product? There’s a good chance the author was paid for that article. It’s called word-of-mouth marketing, and thanks to the “wild west” nature of the internet, a lot of companies have been getting away with it for some time now. Behind closed doors, companies will often approach popular bloggers and offer cash or products in exchange for the blogger making some mention of the product (positive or negative) on their site. Unfortunately, many bloggers don’t have the decency to make any mention of the fact that they were paid for the post. The FTC has finally decided to step in on this issue. They plan to have paid blog posts governed by the truth in advertising guidelines they have set forth which would require the blogger to make it clear that they have been paid for their post. While I agree witht he FTC in principle, I want to see the fine print.

Let me be crystal clear here, I completely support the idea of having paid posts identified as such. What I’m concerned about here is the FTC’s definition of a “paid blog post”. Let me give you an example here. Let’s say I write a glowing review of inFamous for the PS3  (great game by the way), and every instance of the word “inFamous” in that article is an Amazon associates link. Now, neither Sony, nor developer Sucker Punch has offered me any money or freebies in exchange for this imaginary post, but I still stand to profit from it, so does that mean I’m in violation of the truth in advertising guidelines? Am I now subject to the wrath of the FTC?

From the FTC’s current guides concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising:

When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product which might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience) such connection must be fully disclosed. An example of a connection that is ordinarily expected by viewers and need not be disclosed is the payment or promise of payment to an endorser who is an expert or well known personality, as long as the advertiser does not represent that the endorsement was given without compensation. However, when the endorser is neither represented in the advertisement as an expert nor is known to a significant portion of the viewing public, then the advertiser should clearly and conspicuously disclose either the payment or promise of compensation prior to and in exchange for the endorsement or the fact that the endorser knew or had reasons to know or to believe that if the endorsement favors the advertised product some benefit, such as an appearance on TV, would be extended to the endorser.

In my imaginary scenario, the affiliate link could very well affect the weight of my endorsement – after all, if a lot of people click on my Amazon associates link and do some shopping, I stand to make money. The  place where this all gets muddy is the sentance “the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience”. Personally, I expect that any link to a place to buy a product is an affiliate link of some sort. My mom on the other hand, doesn’t even know what an affiliate link is. So where does that leave us? Which audience is this based on? What exactly constitutes the phrase “reasonably expected”? There’s enough gray area here that I’m not comfortable with these rules governing blogging in their current state. It’s also worth noting that, if affiliate programs were governed by these rules, most affiliate programs would have to change their TOS, as currently, most companies don’t really want you pointing out your ads to your visitors.

Let me run another scenario by you. A while back, several months before the launch of Metal Gear Solid 4 for the PS3, Konami (the publisher for those not in the know) invited a select group of journalists to spend the weekend at a lavish mountain top hotel in Japan previewing the game, and spending some quality time with Hideo Kojima, the man behind the Metal Gear franchise. Those jouranlists came back, and wrote (mostly favorable) previews of the game. Some of them made mention of their time in Japan, some stuck strictly to their experience with the game. While the time in Japan wasn’t specifically offered up in exchange for favorable previews, I’m certain it was understood by all parties involved that preview articles would be written. Konami never made a press release or any other public mention of this media event, and I never would have known it happened if some of the journalists present weren’t publicly open about the experience. While I’ll admit it’s a stretch, under the wrong circumstances, an event like this could be problamatic under the current guidelines governing truth in advertising.

I’ve mentioned the PS3 twice in this article….. prove that I’m not a Sony shill. These guidelines will be almost completely impossible to enforce, as the internet provides a very high level of anonymity. To enforce these rules, the FTC would be almost completely reliant on whistle blowers, and that could very well lead to a lot of false accusations by any given blog’s competition.

Like I said at the beginning of this article, I whole heartedly support the FTC in their quest to thwart word-of-mouth marketing, but the potential for collateral damage is just to great to ignore. Some very serious and specific revisions need to be made to their guidelines before I can fully support their sudden interest in the blogosphere.