Great OP. VNN has always been my least favourite source for anything Valve related, not just because the stuff he reports on is a rarely an exclusive scoop, but because he dresses any new tidbit of information in a ten-minute-long video I just don't have the patience to watch. That new TF2 video he put out a few replies ago heads into a tangent about Valve's work culture for some reason, and this is stuff we knew years ago. Just like the rest of his videos he tends towards a rambling stream-of-consciousness format rather than actual news reporting, so I just don't have any interest in what he produces. It's not news, just a commentary vlog.
Tyler uses the SteamDB guys as a source quite often, since they do track updates on game depots and are curious programmers who tend to be quite good at figuring out what Valve is up to. The SteamDB guys have a disdain for Tyler and mock VNN whenever he tries to make a scoop out of what they discovered and posted publicly.
Wasn't there another story related to the VNN circle where someone related got arrested over some cuck shit? It was repeated often when the leaks surfaced but I forgot names or whether it's even true. Edit: I went and dug into my copy of the source code, any idea who this someone and their girlfriend was?
full.zip is the entire Counter Strike: Global Offensive source code as of Operation Hydra and
the TF2 source code as of Jungle Inferno.
These were willingly held onto by a select few of people, (VNN, etc) and kept in a very small
circle. It was some kind of medium for them to jerk off about having secret shit
Some weird schizoid managed to grab both these codebases during his work on some 900th attempt of a HL2 VR project and his major goal was to have this circle leak it to the public and fly
to his girlfriends house (also involved in the valve community) and kill himself and her. Absolutely fucking insane, and it's something to have a beer over and laugh about with your source modding friends
Ended up getting arrested after she fleed and cops had been called.
A lot of interesting knowledge can be gained from these two codebases alone and a lot of resourceful information can come of it. Go wild!
Also, everyone in his inner circle are fags for withholding the TF2/CS:GO source code leaks for 2+ years with no intention of sharing and just circlejerking about it.
I mean he can try all he wants, but it won't work.
Even in the few interviews he's done with Valve employees, including Gabe Newell, Dave Riller, Merle Dandridge and more, he can never put aside his fanboy 'tism for one second and act professional, and instead was way too forward with his questions, asking things like "Where's HLVR?", "Where are the TF2 updates?", "The fuck's goin' on with cancelled projects X, Y, and Z". He then painted that in later videos as him being a better reporter than everyone else in that room, which 1.) even if true is still an incredibly low bar to clear, and 2.) you don't just ask those questions in a developer interview because you just can't. Game companies - especially Valve - love to be super-secretive about what they're doing, and when you ask questions like that, and then also say to your audience in a prelude before your interview that you know about some secret Half-Life news and about how HL3's never coming out: game companies - again, ESPECIALLY VALVE - won't want you back there in fear that your extreme bias is gonna cause a disaster within the company. There's a reason why people like Jason Schreier didn't immediately leak shit like the Fallout 4 script until after the game had been properly announced, and why game journalists always seem to get "secret inside info" somehow.
But I think two of the most egregious ones he's ever done were with Jeri Ellsworth and Merle Dandridge where he doesn't even try to hide his bias anymore.
Jeri's is fun in that it pretty much just reads like anti-Valve propaganda amongst rampant conspiracy theories.
For context: in the lead up to this interview, Tyler had been speculating on L4DVR/L4DAR as a project that was being helmed mainly by Jeri Ellsworth before she inevitably left the company and, because he had a hateboner towards Valve, wanted to keep sucking her non-existent dick by saying that big mean ol' Mr. Valve just didn't understand her and that AR was the true new future for video gaming as we know it.
So eventually he gets an interview with her. But instead of talking about her new project (because remember she is an ex-employee), the interview then quickly steers into rampant speculation about VR/AR as Valve's future, Oculus, the then declining health of Gabe Newell, how she got laid off by the company, speculation about how Gabe's brain-interfacing technology is an attempt by Gabe to become immortal which is just seventeen levels of insane, and L4DVR. She clearly did not want to talk about any of this but he just couldn't keep it in his pants that he finally had evidence that Valve was truly EVIL and awful and how dare they silence Jeri, this should be known to the world: all of this in a blatant attempt to try and spin Valve's reputation before the release of Half-Life Alyx. Which didn't work.
And not only did it not work, it was later revealed by Valve themselves that while Jeri was laid off, it wasn't because they were evil, it was because from the period of time between 2012 to 2019 (The Valve Dark Ages as some call it) they had wasted all those years spatting about AR development while the VR department was working with Oculus at that time. Unfortunately, when Jeri got laid off because her project wasn't going anywhere, not only did she take all of her past work with her, but this was also around the time the VR department just broke up with Oculus as well, with Oculus essentially stealing Valve's technology, hence the later partnership with HTC and the Vive. This was all even in an earlier story that Tyler himself covered as well, so why he thought this would be a win for him, I'll never know.
Merle's? Not so much. It's kind of a lot worse in how much it swings his anti-Valve bias, to the point where Merle has to constantly dodge questions and try to get him to talk about her new stuff in order to keep her job.
Tyler's Valve bias kicks into overdrive as the entire interview just feels uncomfortable to listen to. In it, he words his questions in such a way that he's trying to get Merle to side with him when discussing her relationship with Valve. Asking things like:
- Doesn't it suck how they recast you as Winter Wyvern and other heroes in Artifact and Underlords and you didn't know about it?
- Aren't you sad that you're not playing Alyx again?
- Did Valve ever tell you that you were being replaced or did they leave you in the dark like always?
Notice how none of these actually pertain to positive experiences she had with the company, it's only "Boy Valve sure does suck, doesn't it?" questions. And originally when the video came out people were pissed that he was doing that. Unfortunately most of the responses are buried now, but I did find this one comment from then because Tyler actually responded to it. View attachment 1283435
And everybody ate it up that Valve were big stupid horrible monsters that didn't know what they were doing.
Come to find out: had Tyler just kept it in his pants until the game's release, he'd know that there was actually a reason Valve didn't recast Merle as a younger Alyx, and it wasn't because someone there hated her, or because they thought she couldn't do the voice, or just because they wanted a younger personality. It's because of how HL:A ends: Merle actually DOES voice Alyx in the game, the older version of Alyx from the end of HL2:E2. And because younger Alyx decided to actually stop the Advisor that killed Eli, she inevitably changed the future and this version of Alyx was put into stasis, while the other "alternate" timeline version of herself (the version from HL2) got taken by the G-Man: the Alyx you follow in HL:A is not the same one we saw in 2, hence why they needed to recast her, and hence Valve setting up for her return in Half-Life 3. They pulled an Igor from Persona 5 on everybody.
So now this interview has no point to it anymore, and only serves to make Tyler look like an even bigger egotistical "journalists".
This isn't even getting into him pining over wanting to be Valve's PR guy instead of the lady they have now in videos and in streams, and how he has a massive jealousy streak against her, but this post is already long enough as is, so I think I'll leave it there for now.
EDIT: I may link the other videos I mentioned in here later for added context but for now, just Google "Valve News Network AR" or "Valve News Network Jeri" and you'll come up with the same results/videos I did. As an unrelated aside, I'm surprised OP didn't mention how Valve originally tried distancing himself with VNN by changing his channel name to Tyler McVicker, couldn't, changed it back, and then wondered and sperged out, questioning why his metrics went down.
If I could put this all in the OP I would. Excellent post and helps give a lot of promise to this thread because this kid needs accountability for his buffoonery. I started feeling really upset about this kid with his HLVR videos and once he went into this "Valve R bad" bullshit he started doing with these interviews. His latest was with Mike Shapiro (voice of Gman, Barney) but I haven't wasted the time to check it out and probably never will until there's a tldr summary of it.
But I love how Tyler talks up the shitty tech demo of L4D in AR like it was Valve's missed opportunity that would have shook the world. Like bruh. Sure AR tech is neat and all but let's be real that shit fucking sucks for videogames (hence why it got scrapped along with Jerri's shit). I don't think he even saw the demo, just heard about it from Jerri (who has a whole 25+ year career full of way more interesting shit he could have asked her about, along with Tilt5). It's so disrespectful to have wasted these people's time with his hate boner for Valve bullshit agenda and I don't think he'll ever have a proper grasp of why talking bad about a former employer is something smart people don't do. He's too rigid and autistic to know what having a real job with a real earned income is like and probably won't stop doing it until it's either too late or he's told to (probably by getting yelled at).
Wasn't there another story related to the VNN circle where someone related got arrested over some cuck shit? It was repeated often when the leaks surfaced but I forgot names or whether it's even true. Edit: I went and dug into my copy of the source code, any idea who this someone and their girlfriend was?
I did a few basic Google searches and outside of the news about Counter-Strike's co-creator being arrested on kiddie diddling charges, the HL2 leak, and a break-in which might or might not be related (link; someone broke into Valve's offices in 2018, stole some shit, was arrested several months ago, and also had 6 other active warrants at the time), I didn't find anything concrete.
I'm guessing if that theory holds any truth to it, then it might be the guy who did the break in, or my speculation is just as retarded as Tyler's. I do know that, despite what the initial commotion was saying, it was a different person then the one from within Tyler's circle who releaked it.
I did a few basic Google searches and outside of the news about Counter-Strike's co-creator being arrested on kiddie diddling charges, the HL2 leak, and a break-in which might or might not be related (link; someone broke into Valve's offices in 2018, stole some shit, was arrested several months ago, and also had 6 other active warrants at the time), I didn't find anything concrete.
I'm guessing if that theory holds any truth to it, then it might be the guy who did the break in, or my speculation is just as retarded as Tyler's. I do know that, despite what the initial commotion was saying, it was a different person then the one from within Tyler's circle who releaked it.
Fucking hell. I didn't know Jess Cliffe was a paedo. Guess that's why I hadn't heard about him in a while.
Honestly it just makes the infamous radio voices even funnier.
Fucking hell. I didn't know Jess Cliffe was a paedo. Guess that's why I hadn't heard about him in a while.
Honestly it just makes the infamous radio voices even funnier.
Then get called a biggot when the trannies have a chimp out and you say you warned them from the begining not to let trannies in. They ruin any community they are a part of. But you're not allowed to even think that. No, this is one of the "based, rational" trannies. You're just being paranoid. You just have to watch as the trannies are made moderators and start abusing their power. Like they always do. And guilting everyone into agreeing with their inane bullshit about socks and weeb shit. Then banning people who are uncomfortable with them sexually harassing people. Till you just leave for the "based" community refugees so the cycle can repeat.
Also there's speculation Jackathan leaked the code in a tranny rage and Tyler did gay ops to cover his tranny friend's arse. But it's just speculation.
This is one of the best reads I've had in a while and I completely agree and understand all of this, as my appreciation for him has only dwindled as these events have unfolded. I'll throw my two cents in even though it might be a reiteration of this thread. He's a disgusting slob who likes to burp loudly into his stream, and looks pretty greasy and probably doesn't have very good hygiene, but that's just part of "him" I guess. He recounted a story where he was slumped over a computer because he was such an obsessive autist while datamining Half-Life: Alyx that his whiny girlfriend forced him to get off of his computer by dragging him off. How can anyone live with someone like that? He is compulsive. For example, in his circlejerk file sharing faggot community he *somehow* obtained early beta builds of HL: Alyx. He then went on a stream and showed an unfinished animation from the files, and then ended the stream. Not explaining what the hell he was doing. This got him in a bunch of legal trouble and Valve essentially forced him to delete the builds he had. Because of his compulsiveness, a beta build is no longer existing (in the general public). His "sources" need to stay away from this guy, as though a few of them may be legitimate, this guy is NOT the guy you would want to divulge information too at all. On the other hand, he'll act snobby and secretive with certain information he gets probably because it inflates his ego and the whole "I have it, you don't!" mindset. This guy is a major obsessive autist who won't leave things alone. I almost feel glad his early beta builds got leaked. A little blow to his ego.
This is one of the best reads I've had in a while and I completely agree and understand all of this, as my appreciation for him has only dwindled as these events have unfolded. I'll throw my two cents in even though it might be a reiteration of this thread. He's a disgusting slob who likes to burp. He recounted a story where he was slumped over a computer because he was such an obsessive autist that he was slumped over his keyboard while datamining Half-Life: Alyx and his whiny girlfriend forced him to get off of his computer. He is compulsive. For example, in his circlejerk file sharing faggot community he *somehow* obtained early beta builds of HL: Alyx. He then went on a stream and showed an unfinished animation from the files, and then ended the stream. Not explaining what the hell he was doing. This got him in a bunch of legal trouble and Valve essentially forced him to delete the builds he had. Because of his compulsiveness, a beta build is no longer existing (in the general public). His "sources" need to stay away from this guy, as though a few of them may be legitimate, this guy is NOT the guy you would want to divulge information too at all. On the other hand, he'll act snobby and secretive with certain information he gets probably because it inflates his ego and the whole "I have it, you don't!" mindset. This guy is a major obsessive autist who won't leave things alone. I almost feel glad his early beta builds got leaked. A little blow to his ego.
Wish I did but I would rather not go through all of his streams to find the specific moment, sorry. Though, for the unfinished animation, this is the specific clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9-7yoW08ec
And it turns out this is an HL3 beta cinematic from the 2013 attempt of the game that was revealed by the schizo contractor at Valve. This guy can't keep his mouth shut for shit, can he? But then he turns around and acts all cryptic about other stuff.
I do like him and his vids, but I still find him funny to make fun of and laugh at the idea that he could get sued by the company he reports on for a living. He's also larps as a serious journo too often so it just makes him come off as that Incredibles pic OP posted. Also, the reason I came here was to post some funny shit I saw happen on Twitter in April 2020 of him pulling a MundaneMatt.
This is one of the best reads I've had in a while and I completely agree and understand all of this, as my appreciation for him has only dwindled as these events have unfolded. I'll throw my two cents in even though it might be a reiteration of this thread. He's a disgusting slob who likes to burp loudly into his stream, and looks pretty greasy and probably doesn't have very good hygiene, but that's just part of "him" I guess. He recounted a story where he was slumped over a computer because he was such an obsessive autist while datamining Half-Life: Alyx that his whiny girlfriend forced him to get off of his computer by dragging him off. How can anyone live with someone like that? He is compulsive. For example, in his circlejerk file sharing faggot community he *somehow* obtained early beta builds of HL: Alyx. He then went on a stream and showed an unfinished animation from the files, and then ended the stream. Not explaining what the hell he was doing. This got him in a bunch of legal trouble and Valve essentially forced him to delete the builds he had. Because of his compulsiveness, a beta build is no longer existing (in the general public). His "sources" need to stay away from this guy, as though a few of them may be legitimate, this guy is NOT the guy you would want to divulge information too at all. On the other hand, he'll act snobby and secretive with certain information he gets probably because it inflates his ego and the whole "I have it, you don't!" mindset. This guy is a major obsessive autist who won't leave things alone. I almost feel glad his early beta builds got leaked. A little blow to his ego.
Didn't he delete the beta stream specifically to make people more interested in it?
He's a contemptible little turd who would do anything for publicity. I see him going the same way as Lowtax but in a much shorter timeframe
This guy has been trying to make the game look dead for the last year in his videos. All just so he could advertise these servers(or he just hates the game and wants to take advantage of this team)
There was some drama on the team behind the servers last week. One of the server operators was being harassed by a troon and had enough, shut down the website service and game servers but gave all the necessary info to keep the project going to the head of staff. Apparently even with donations they were short on cash and the operator had to put in his own money to keep the servers afloat. He went on the TF2 General on /vg/ to talk about everything.
Later that night Tyler states that he's going to take over the team. He's previously acted like he was in charge of the team and has tried to remove staff over the smallest of things, however he was only the social media manager. I guess that wasn't enough for him. The next day he went on stream to answer any questions about the new management. He ends up calling the former staff member racist for not wanting to implement a chat filter. About 20 minutes in he's playing TF2 and starts to have a mental breakdown over the whole situation while trying to dance it off. It seems like it's a regular thing on his streams with how the chat is acting
