The Results

So after all that, how did the Q-mann do? Well, using the rating system described above, the 88 distinct rumors I evaluated broke down as follows:

As you can see, for all practical purposes, a rumor reported in EGM is just as likely to be true as it is to be false. That might not seem that impressive—after all, even a coin flip is right half the time—but considering the wide variety of completely wacky rumors that get thrown around out there, it shows great selectiveness to publish a correct one just as often as a wrong one. While most of the actual rumors were either completely true or completely false, a significant number ended up somewhere in the middle, with some true elements and some false elements.

The numbers themselves hide how ridiculous some of the actual rumors were, on both sides. Quartermann showed amazing prescience way back in March 2003 when he said that Sony's then-unnamed portable was "not a portable PS1 and won't use CDs as its delivery medium." The January 2003 prediction that the "Xbox 2" would come out before the PlayStation 3 may have seemed like a wild guess at the time, but turned out to be very true years later. The Q-mann also predicted the May 2004 announcement of the Nintendo DS way back in August 2003, impressive even if they simply called the system an "evolved Game Boy."

On the other side, there were some rumors that turned out to be amazingly, mind-numbingly wrong. Sequels for Road Rash, Rygar, Splatterhouse, Pilotwings, and Bionic Commando all failed to materialize (though obvious sequels to Metroid Prime, Metal Gear Solid, Medal of Honor and James Bond did come to pass). The bottom fell out of the MMO market just in time to stop alleged MMOs from Square and Rare, and alleged plans for a PS2 version of Star Wars Galaxies faded away with no product. And despite accurately predicting domestic ports of a variety of Japanese anime games (Inuyasha, Ultimate Muscle and Dragon Ball Z), the Q-Mann was thankfully wrong about Ikaruga staying away from the U.S.A.

But being overly ambitious in a rumor column is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, cautiously avoiding any rumor that might possibly be wrong would likely also mean leaving out some rumors that could end up being right. Besides, most readers know that there's a good chance anything they read on the rumor page will end up being false. Now, hopefully, they'll also have some idea of exactly what kind of chance that is.

Full disclosure: Kyle Orland has done freelance writing for EGM.

Got something you'd like to see on Media Coverage? Send it to kyle.orland@gmail.com .

Kyle Orland is a full time video game freelancer based out of Laurel, MD. He has written for a variety of outlets, as detailed on his workblog. He doesn't think that dress makes you look fat.

Media Coverage is an opinion column. The opinions expressed in this column are solely the opinions of the columnist and are not necessarily the opinions of GameDaily.com.