SOS Coverage: An Explanation And An Apology

It is very rare you see me apologize for anything–despite the mouth I have, many know how stubborn I can be.  This is different.  This involves stories we hoped to bring to you, our readers, and unfortunately through circumstances beyond all of our control, stories we cannot deliver.

You may have noticed through late last week and through the weekend that we were touting a presence at this year’s Summer of Sonic convention.  Indeed, we had a correspondent, Megan, at the show–who battled the onset of some illness while there, I might add.  But due to what can be best described as a communication error, to no fault of us or the organizers or Megan, we are unable to bring you our planned coverage from this year’s show.

We are just as disappointed as you, because among that planned coverage was a sit-down with both Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka.  SOS organizers Kevin Eva and Svend Joscelyne went out of their way to ensure this and other community sites were afforded the opportunity to ask questions of both.  Given how they’ve both been subjects of…less than flattering stories here in the past, this was something they absolutely did not have to do, and I personally commend and thank both of them for the opportunity.

But as one can imagine on the day of the event, things got hectic on all fronts, and Megan was on the receiving end of some confusion, again, to no fault of the organizers.  When that happens, there tends to be a domino effect, and with our correspondent having to balance both trying to enjoy the event herself and getting things together for us, something had to give.

I’ve assured Megan she did nothing wrong; that these matters can happen at any number of events and instances.  Both Eva and Joscelyne have apologized to us as well–also something they did not have to do.  I’ve assured them I am not angry or upset at how the chips fell; I understand that with only so much manpower, execution won’t always be perfect.  Nevertheless, I had been plugging our SOS coverage all weekend and before, and while I was being deliberately vague partially to promote surprise in the event our interview did go as planned, it was also to not raise expectations over the moon in the event something went wrong.  It did, and we are empty-handed for it.  For that, I apologize to those who were anticipating what we had in store.

It is, I think, our first major blemish when it comes to event coverage; we’ve otherwise had Shayne Edwards cover Sonic Boom for us, I’ve covered the past two New York Comic-Cons, and Danny Russell was our eye on the floor of the Tokyo Game Show last year, a tradition we hope to continue.  In many of these instances, many of you depend on us to bring you information from these events in your absence; you expect us to be your eyes, and when we make a commitment to cover an event, I do everything possible to ensure both my time and the team’s time is spent bringing you more.  In this instance, I failed to deliver, and I take responsibility for that.

I hope you, our reader, can accept this apology, and I along with the entire team hopes you will continue to read, enjoy, and interact with our Sonic and Sega news coverage, in events season and beyond.