When A Press Release Lies

It’s  an onslaught. At this time of year game critics receive a hundred emails daily — at least.

Review me! Review me! is the cry.

I look at absolutely everything I receive, sometimes admiring the prose of a j-school grad now in the PR game, sometimes laughing at the balderdash that is spin.

Regarding the latter, yesterday I received an email touting the accomplishment, “Video Games Live Album Debuts at #8 on Billboard!”

As a guy who used to review music for Rolling Stone and the Village Voice, I thought, Wow! What an accomplishment. Let me check this out.

So I went to the Billboard Hot 200 CDs. It’s not at number 8 at all. Emimem’s Recovery is.

Maybe it’s on another Billboard chart. It probably is. But I couldn’t find it.

We all love Tommy Tallerico and his live show featuring the stirring music of videogames.  He provides transmedia at its best for hungry gamers.

But sending around a press release that reads “The CD version of Video Games Live: Level 2, the latest release from the worldwide concert phenomenon known as Video Games Live, has debuted at #8 on the Billboard Charts” isn’t right.

In fact, it’s deceptive.

Just tell us the truth. We’ll appreciate Tommy’s heartfelt work and long-term accomplishments even more.

-Harold Goldberg

 

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