Sore Thumbs - Latest Comments in From the perspective of a game publisher

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

learn.hypnosis — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:01:59 -0000

Frankly, it's rare for a bad game to get good reviews, or vice versa. I understand the criticism levelled against Too Human; what's the counter-argument, that people should try harder to learn its controls and get into it more? Well, learning curve is part of a review. If people played that game for 25 hours and never really got how to play it, is that really the hallmark of a fantastic game?

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

abc — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:00:07 -0000

And aren't all games pretty much reviewed by the same publications, the same people? Does one game really suffer from the things Anonymous is talking about, while others don't? Does one game have all the publications' FPS guy reviewing a racing game, or isn't this a problem that EVERY game probably faces in the internet's myriad sea of (largely incompetent) reviewers?

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Beyond Mega Pixels — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 03:27:33 -0000

We live in an age were many millions of people get away with stealing (6 million in the UK alone) . And they think nothing of it. They get all their entertainment for free. They download games, music and films at will.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

SEO Submission Services — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:49:20 -0000

No doubt that it is a good food. My question to you, then, is if there are any examples in your industry of critics that are able to rise above all these shenanigans and still be accomplished and retain the access that they need to keep their outlet(s) in the black?

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

buy youtube views — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:28:46 -0000

I don’t see the contradiction there because he’s talking about two different sets of people. In the first quote, he’s saying that it would be disturbing for a reviewer to have to consider that if he writes a bad review the developer won’t get paid as much. I can’t imagine anyone disagreeing with this sentiment.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

tany — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:22:42 -0000

thanks for the article.i like it very much

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

age of conan gold — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:13:21 -0000

thanks for the post . i like it very much

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

scam — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 04:56:52 -0000

Whats also worth noting is that this year saw another 50% marketshare increase for mac.

And these new machines? These are beasts. I'm running a 12" powerbook (rev D), and if the MacBook Pro is 4-5x faster then jesus... thats going to be a powerful machine.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Father Boy — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:49:10 -0000

In that case you've got a crappy game, a 'journalist' who is so unprofessional he judges a game BEFORE it is even playable (and makes up things that aren't even in it), an editor who wrote a favorable preview after he played the game (if he actually thought it looked like shit, at this point he would be unprofessional too), the 1st unprofessional guy crapping all over a final game he doesn't understand (and making up things that aren't even in it), and some ranting fanboy who thinks his grandma and puppy were raped by a movie-licensed game.

It's like watching your mom on my wang, but even uglier.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

fgg — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:44:48 -0000

thoughtful analysis about games

hahah YOU only want 8 score or better

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Shifty_Pete — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:07:23 -0000

It really doesn't matter how hard developers work on a game... that's not what's being reviewed. The GAME is being reviewed, and should be scored on it's merits only. If the developers work hard but put out a mediocre or outright bad game, then the game deserves that mediocre or bad score. If a developer half-asses a game that turns out great, the game deserves a great review.

Games journalism isn't an outlet for congratulating developers on their work, its a way for consumers to see if a game is worth their hard-earned dollars. Journalists need to write honest, accurate reviews, and gamers need to read beyond the score into the text of the review to get the full story on the game. If a journalist does not complete a game before reviewing it, or any of the other abuses you detailed, they need to be called on it. Not by barring that publication from reviewing games any more, but by public disclosure, so we the gamers can adjust how much trust we place in the journalists in question. The process needs to be MORE transparant to the consumer, not less.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Zarkon_GT — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:26:11 -0000

Do they? Really?

Is that why Madden NFL routinely outsells everything else? Because it's the best game on the market?

Or is it because EA aggressively markets it, and has a huge fan base that buys (essentially) the same game every year for little tweaks, a few new features, and roster updates?

Our goal as journalists is to inform the customer, because as it stands now, most customers are ill-informed sheep, which is good for the publishers, but not so good for gaming itself.

After all, if your comment was true? Beyond Good & Evil would have outsold EVERYTHING.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Zarkon_GT — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:22:19 -0000

The problem with this is....and I use myself as an example: I'm more of an RPG/Turn-based Strategy/MMO person. However, I've been in situations where I've reviewed RTS games, FPS games...all kinds of stuff.

One of the games I reviews was the expansion to one of the Age of games. I don't recall the title off the top of my head, but I was up front in the review, stating that I don't normally do this genre, but here's what I thought.

When a reviewer tends to write about (and like) certain genres of games, they gain experience in the inner workings of the genre, and tend to be more knowledgeable about them. Having them work outside of their genre generally leads to a less polished and less informed review, in my mind.

RTS fans can quote chapter and verse about unit builds and strategies, while MMO fans are all about loot tables, mob timers and class builds. Sports gamers can get deep into recruiting/drafting and building the best team. The knowledge sets can be quite different. Sticking to a journalist/gamer's strengths tends to give for a better review.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

blitzchamp — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:20:02 -0000

You've made many valid points, it still doesn't excuse trying to buy people off, but makes me sympathize a little more with developers. I know I'd be pissed if amateur journalists tore apart a good game and kept people from playing it. However, journalism will always vary in opinion, and there will always be amateurs, and be those ridiculous newpaper reviews that know nothing about games, or magazines that aren't even about games, telling people what games to buy.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Cassandra — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:58:52 -0000

I hate to say it, but if the developers are so upset with what journalists who work outside of their realm are saying, why don't they just write previews/updates/reviews themselves? No longer would we have to worry about publishers cramming ad and threats down magazine's throats because they could have people inside the company do it. While that would put a lot of people out of commission (gaming journalists, mags and Web sites) and PR people, we (the readers) would no longer have to worry about publications giving up their dignity and journalistic integrity to get information or worry about the miscommunication that goes on between the various companies that make up the sector of "gaming journalism."

**NOTE: This comment is a bit rushed and only serves as a quick fix to all the current problems in the gaming journalism industry.**

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Serpent-SVK — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:42:35 -0000

I think this letter does have a point but I always read the review and don't look at the score.
I decide from the content not from the score.

P.S. excuse my english(i'm from Slovakia)

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

HokeyCokey — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:47:00 -0000

I was susprised at how bad the review score for Too Human were. Gamespot gave it a 5.5, but from the video review you can clearly see he had no idea how to play it: he didn't repair his armour, didn't roll out of the way of enemies, didn't use any of the more advanced move like finishers and juggling. In short, he sucked. So his opinion of the game sucked. That's not to say the game doesn't have its issues, of course. But 5.5? I've already played for 100 hours - this game is deep.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Syrionus — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:57:07 -0000

Good statements! I personally believe the score system needs to go away. Go to something like a suggestion, like "Buy/Rent/Avoid." If I had not played Too Human before the reviews had come out, I would probably have not bought it. Playing the demo for about ten hours sold me on it no matter what the reviewers said.

98% of the reviewers, reviews sounded like they wanted to stick it to Denis Dyack and itreflected in their reviews. I believe there are good and bad journalists and after playing Too Human and looking at the reviews, it is easier to tell who is who. Those bad journalists reviewed the President of the Company and not th game.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Nathan — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:43:27 -0000

Journalism school is not the answer, not even close. All it'll do is stratify the lense through which gaming is viewed and provide endless fodder for academic harranguing rather than focusing on the change and betterment possible from gaming. It's a mistake. Again, a convenient thing to argue for on providers' behalf, but an incredibly bad idea.

What's needed is someone to trash shit critics and show them up with _real_ criticism of the games and most of all ambition for moving things forward. And no that's not a rare thing. Everyone has ideas they'd love to see happen, and talking about them, focusing on that, rather than needless introspection and hyperarticulation _about_ the games, would be a far healthier climate.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Steven Miles — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:38:42 -0000

Ok. Where does the entitlement come from on the press side. On 1up FM readers asked how to get into the games press, and their only advice was to write and write and write. How about try and make a game, so you can have some humility when approaching a product. I despise when the press makes suggestions, it is one of the absolute worst parts of the industry, and it happens all the time. I've seen members of 1up pitch games to developers, and then have the gall to put that stuff in their released media. It makes it look like what devs do isn't such a big deal to the press. But its hard not to blame you. I've heard multiple stories from PAX about the games media being treated like stars instead of just gate keepers to information. It is a industry structure problem that will hopefully continue to change and evolve.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

TwoBacks — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:27:10 -0000

There is no correlation between reviews and sales.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Mr. Boy — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:02:05 -0000

Speaking hypothetically, what if the previewer were Sharkey, the game happened to be Superman Returns, and the preview was embargoed by EA until the start of E3? At which point the game -still- looked like shit?

It sucks when someone kicks your favorite baby down the stairs just for the hell of it, but sometimes your kid was just stupid enough to fall down on his own while other people had to watch.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Dan "Shoe" Hsu — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:35:19 -0000

I don't know much about that one....haven't heard anything myself. Will look into it, though.

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Dan "Shoe" Hsu — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:04:47 -0000

They weren't fine...I complained about your posts from the start and asked you very nicely and calmly to chill moving forward. I gave you three chances, my man. :) But after that, you were still being bitter, sarcastic, and being a general a-hole to everyone and talking about your hate for us all rather than adding to the discussion, so....

Re: From the perspective of a game publisher

Manilla Killa — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:52:15 -0000

Here's one for you: How about a story on critics who use pseudonyms to sell reviews to multiple sites? I've never seen anyone cover that harmful practice, which I'd imagine sways the metacritic average quite a bit.