Fight! Fight! Fight!: Jaffe and Twit Totally Fought On Twitter!

There's no way to talk about this news item without it sounding like some nerdified version of an updated Sweet Valley High book, so I'm not going to pretend that it doesn't. The short of it is that God of War creator and all-around speaker of his mind David Jaffe got into yet another internet shouting match that has resulted in him hiding away from public view for the next few months.

The whole brouhaha almost brought attention to a serious issue facing the game industry right now (used games sales), but who wants to bother with petty things like business practices and etheics when there's twitter dirt to follow? Basically Jaffe and blogger/twit Les Jenkins (aka egg dude) got into a twitter shouting match which began with Jaffe claiming that...

Eventually someone is gonna have to provoke the wrath of [GameStop]. They can't have it both ways. Either cut game makers in on used games and rentals or suck down digital distribution.

...and...

As I've said often, it's not the consumers problem/business. But if Gamestop wants games to sell they need to play ball w/game pubs or soon the shoe will be on the other foot. Better to get in bed together now or be pushed out of business sooner than later.

While those may not be the terms I would use to describe the situation, I think that's fair to say that it had a reasonable level of polite discourse. Sadly, the exchange quickly took a sharp turn a turn for the worse...

Les: For the record I should point out that I've never sold to Gamestop myself, but I have sold stuff I didn't need anymore.

Les: [This is in response to his Customer FIrst claim] Except you just stated that you'd rather I [make babies] off than buy your game if I'm going to sell it. Contradict yourself much?

Jaffe: No I mean YOU should [censored naughty word] off- not the concept. You simply seem like an [behind opening].

Les: Why, because I disagreed with you and had the audacity to say so? You don't even know me. Great way to treat your customers.

Jaffe: No, not that u disagreed. The language you used and the attitude you used

Let's just say it got even worse from there and that I'm not entirely sure who "won," but neither party looked very gentlemanly after the brawl (hit the link below for full details). Apparently aware of this, Jaffe has gone into a hiding mode of sorts. His previously public blog is now for invited members only, his twitter profile is offline, and he has yet to reappear on NeoGAF since the spat. Maybe this is all for the best and Jaffe will use his sudden influx of free time to getting the ball rolling on showing off this Twisted Metal project for ps3. One thing is for sure though, love him or hate him (or both, like I do), Jaffe is sure to be back, giving us a piece of his mind again soon. Just don't stay away too long ok, Jaffe?

[In which I get into a Twitter fight with game developer David Jaffe.] Stupid Evil Bastard