Say What? Chicago Sun-Times Prints Inaccurate Statements About Local Game Developers

The following very curious paragraph is found in an article published yesterday in the Sun-Times by Misha Davenport about the release of Wideload Games' "Disney Guilty Party" :

"It's success isn't guaranteed, though. With the demise of both EA Chicago and Midway Games, Wideload is one of two major game developers left in the Chicago area (the other, High Voltage Software, developed "Iron Man 2" for Sega earlier this year). To say that there is a lot riding on the success or failure of the game is an understatement."

There are a couple of glaring problems with this paragraph.

1. It's a major misnomer to call Wideload and High Voltage the only "major" developers left in Chicago. Neverrealm Studios is making a much buzzed about Mortal Kombat game for Warner Brothers and Robomodo is currently working on the Tony Hawk franchise for Activision. It doesn't get much bigger than that. Or how about Incredible Technologies, the suburban company responsible for the Golden Tee arcade game found in nearly every sports bar in America? Or Play Mechanix, who created the arcade game Big Buck Hunter and Aliens Extermination?

2. The implication of the last statement is that "Disney Guilty Party" will somehow make or break the Chicago game developer scene. There is a lot riding on the success of the game for Wideload Games, of course, but that's the case for every game a developer produces. I also don't think "Guilty Party" will have any sort of residual effect on Chicago's game developing community.

The Sun-Times story came to my attention while I was in attendance at the Disney Guilty Party release party in the West Loop yesterday. One of the Wideload employees I was chatting with yesterday noted that the Sun-Times story had "a couple of big errors" in it. The paragraph I quoted was the most egregious problem. The second? The Sun Times story also called Wideload's first game "Studds the Zombie" instead of the actual title "Stubbs The Zombie."

Perhaps if Roger Ebert finally changes his mind about video games, the Sun-Times could let him cover the local game scene instead.