Konami bans Joystiq

I just found out Joystiq got banned from Konami’s press conference from GameDaily.com. We had another major company ban us for a half day before they came to their senses (we will let them remain nameless since they woke up).

These simple minded PR idiots had better get their houses in order. You can’t tell our bloggers what to do–I can’t even tell them what to do!

My best advice: Be honest and fair with our bloggers because they are always honest and fair with you. This heavy-handed banning of bloggers makes you look like idiots. Bloggers are you customers… everyone who works at Joystiq is huge video game fan–they’re not there as journalists, they are at e3 because they love gaming.

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Best Tantrum – Konami
Konami banned gaming blog Joystiq from the Metal Gear press conference for not taking down some pre-show pictures. Kudos to the site for not buckling under to the pressure. As more independent voices cover E3, it’s getting more difficult for PR machines to keep the genie in the bottle.

Here’s a question: How many corporate enthusiast press sites would have shown the same fortitude? Although they’d all say they have editorial independence, not many would have done the same. Konami and other game companies still pay too many of their bills and press conference perks are often considered too much to pass up.