So, The Blogosphere Exploded Yesterday

I don't know if you heard. But it did.

Let me explain ... no, it's too long. Let me sum up.

Kotaku posts a story about this new Sony initative called "Playstation Home." Here's the short version, as they quote their source:

Basically, you get to make an avatar for your console (like a Mii) and this avatar has a room. As you play games and accomplish certain tasks, you will receive items with which to adorn the room that are specific to the game (achievements). The kicker is that this is going to be a new requirement for every PS3 game.

Sure, they may have reported it as rumor, but Sony was none too pleased. As you can see in this email sent to Kotaku by Dave Karraker, the senior director of corporate communications for Sony Computer Entertainment of America.

So, it is for this reason, that we will be canceling all further interviews for Kotaku staff at GDC and will be dis-inviting you to our media event next Tuesday. Until we can find a way to work better together, information provided to your site will only be that found in the public forum.

So, basically, Kotaku didn't play the way that Sony wanted, so they took their ball and went straight home. I'm not going to link to this next part, but after Kotaku posted the email, Sony eventually relented.

Or so they say.

See, often times in journalism you'll become privy to information before it's to be released to the public, and you'll just have to sit on it. It's called an embargo. Sometimes companies will just drop journalists a few tips to get a conversation started, to kick up some early buzz for a game.

This information is given to the journalist with the understanding that it will not be revealed before the company wants it to be revealed. Keep in mind, of course, there's nothing preventing a publication from running one of these stories before the embargo ends ... just that they can expect never to get inside info again.

So Sony may say that they're still letting Kotaku in on the stories, but it's impossible to say. They'll never really know if they're getting tipped off as early as everyone else.

Now, is that insecurity worth beating everyone else to a story? That's something they have to decide.