Rumour: Gamespot Editor fired over review - bit-tech.net Forums

CardJoe · 30th Nov 2007, 10:14

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/11..._over_review/1

Inital evidence suggests that Gamespot may have fired it's editor of ten years after a review of Kane and Lynch upset advertisers.

quack · 30th Nov 2007, 11:29

Pathetic. Another company that can't take criticism.

Jamie · 30th Nov 2007, 11:32

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/11/29

They are quick off the mark.

Neat69 · 30th Nov 2007, 11:47

It's a shame, this kind of thing happensa a lot in the games industry these days and as a by product its why you see all review scales only going from 7 to 10.

One day we might have reviews we can trust again.

P.S: an average game should get 5 not 8

(I'm afraid your guilty of this too Bit)

Tim S · 30th Nov 2007, 11:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neat69

P.S: an average game should get 5 not 8

(I'm afraid your guilty of this too Bit)

our average is somewhere between 6 and 7 - six is defined as below average, seven is just above average, but I see your point.

cjoyce1980 · 30th Nov 2007, 11:53

maybe it just wasn't his type of game, or just maybe the game was bad.... and after wasting my money i can actual say that the game is poor when compared to hitman

AlexB · 30th Nov 2007, 11:53

Agree with Neat69's P.S mark.

Naberius · 30th Nov 2007, 12:01

I would say he was quite kind, especially compared to the 1600+ users who have given it an average score of 4.1!

You can't just fire the guy for not being too keen on one game.

mikeuk2004 · 30th Nov 2007, 12:03

Ok, they want action because of the low score and threaten to take their business elsewhere ie advertising.

So if the magazine gives in and sack the reviewer in order to keep the money coming in. Isn’t that fixing the review scores. I mean I wouldn’t bother reading reviews done by them as they will have inflated scores because they are getting paid and to keep their advertisers happy.

This will do GameSpot more harm because you cant trust their reviews anymore.

fev · 30th Nov 2007, 12:07

the game is crap and zelda. All Zelda's.. that's right pure crap.

jezmck · 30th Nov 2007, 12:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim S

...six is defined as below average, seven is just above average, but I see your point.

So what's the average IQ now? 120?

LeMaltor · 30th Nov 2007, 12:17

The game is crap, 6/10 is a fair score.

Neat69 · 30th Nov 2007, 12:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim S

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neat69

P.S: an average game should get 5 not 8

(I'm afraid your guilty of this too Bit)

our average is somewhere between 6 and 7 - six is defined as below average, seven is just above average, but I see your point.

So average for you guys is 6.5? I understand why you do this though, as everyone else does and you need to keep things comparable, but it means to many games get high scores and makes it tough to chose between them.

At the end of the day, the whole reason of reading a review is so you can decide if you want to buy that game, or get game A or B, how do I do that if they both have 9.0 scores they don't always deserve?

Bungle · 30th Nov 2007, 12:31

Well making games is big money now, can't say I'm surprised this sort of thing happens. As to what weight his reviews carried and hence what "damage" it has done to the title we can only speculate. Surely a slapped wrist would have sufficed. Firing the guy, especially after such long service seems disproportionate to the "crime". I suspect there are other internal issues which have contributed to this. Have to wait and see I guess.

perplekks45 · 30th Nov 2007, 12:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neat69

So average for you guys is 6.5? I understand why you do this though, as everyone else does and you need to keep things comparable, but it means to many games get high scores and makes it tough to chose between them.

At the end of the day, the whole reason of reading a review is so you can decide if you want to buy that game, or get game A or B, how do I do that if they both have 9.0 scores they don't always deserve?

Rent 'em, try 'em...

Anyhow I too think bad games deserve bad reviews. And setting 6-7 to be average doesn't feel right to me. I'd say if it sucks tell the people it does.
Just out of curiosity what was the worst score you ever gave a game here at BT?

lukasj3di · 30th Nov 2007, 12:35

This is bad!

Zurechial · 30th Nov 2007, 12:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neat69

So average for you guys is 6.5? I understand why you do this though, as everyone else does and you need to keep things comparable, but it means to many games get high scores and makes it tough to chose between them.

At the end of the day, the whole reason of reading a review is so you can decide if you want to buy that game, or get game A or B, how do I do that if they both have 9.0 scores they don't always deserve?

I can see your point, but do you really decide whether to buy a game or not merely on a score out of 10?

Honestly, I don't pay much heed to scores out of 10, percentages, etc.
I'd rather actually read the review and get the detailed opinions of the reviewer about various aspects of the game so I can decide for myself - and I'd imagine you're much the same, as are most people.

As far as I'm concerned, scores out of 10 and the like are just a formality that reviewers have to go through to adhere to the norm, but it's the opinions presented within the review that count.

Tim S · 30th Nov 2007, 12:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neat69

So average for you guys is 6.5?

We don't have a truly "average" score, as we only score from 1 to 10 (with no halves). We do this because it keeps things simple and secondly it's rare that a game (or product for that matter) is truly average... I think the tipping point is that 7 is something we think is worth considering, while 6 is something that we don't.

Quote:

I understand why you do this though, as everyone else does and you need to keep things comparable, but it means to many games get high scores and makes it tough to chose between them.

You're right, it's not that we don't want to start at five and work upwards... we're kind forced into that in some ways by other sites. We started out with seven as an average, but decided that was too high, so now we classify seven as above average.

Quote:

At the end of the day, the whole reason of reading a review is so you can decide if you want to buy that game, or get game A or B, how do I do that if they both have 9.0 scores they don't always deserve?

I hear you, but the reason we kept it simple is because how do you tell the difference, as a writer, between an 8.7 and an 8.8? Personally, I think scoring out of any more than 10 is overcomplicating things and it'd be even worse if we started going down that route with the hardware reviews too, because it's often incredibly hard to score a product even out of 10 - we spend a lot of time coming up with our scores and most of them are usually discsussed, or at least put out there by the writer and then they have to be able to defend why it deserves that score if one of us doesn't agree.

lukasj3di · 30th Nov 2007, 12:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by quack

Pathetic. Another company that can't take criticism.

This is not something new. There's another example: this year, Vadim Computers lost the Dream PC2007 award (SCAN won it). The two guys who built the machine from Vadim Computers were fired a few days after that.

indigo_prime · 30th Nov 2007, 12:45

I would hope that someone will pick up this guy and give him a job. Someone with 10 years experience of the industry and who gives an honest review should be seen as an asset, not as a risk.

Unfortunately advertising revenue is a big part of keeping sites rolling. This guy had the balls to tell it 'how it is' from his perspective in the review. The ones without the spine are the people who have bowed to external pressure and sacked him.

If the average user is only rating it as a 4, then perhaps they should be grateful that he gave them a 6. I fail to see in other comments how a 6 can be described as below average and 7 as above average. On a 1 to 10 scale, 5 is and always has been the average!! Anything less than 5 is below average. Basic maths guys!!

The best reviews I see are ones where they rate cost, playability (SP and MP), graphics, performance etc individually and then give the final score as the average of them all. BF2 SP for me is about a 3, but MP is about an 8 which would give an average of 5.5 over those two things....see where Im going?

30th Nov 2007, 10:14	#1
CardJoe Player Character bit-tech Staff Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 8,010	Rumour: Gamespot Editor fired over review http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/11..._over_review/1 Inital evidence suggests that Gamespot may have fired it's editor of ten years after a review of Kane and Lynch upset advertisers. __________________ this is joe's non-bit-tech blog

30th Nov 2007, 11:29	#2
quack \o/ Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: England Posts: 5,222	Pathetic. Another company that can't take criticism. __________________ Denying Rights to Music lovers. Denying Rights to Movie lovers.

30th Nov 2007, 11:32	#3
Jamie bit-tech Staff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 7,621	http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/11/29 They are quick off the mark. __________________ bit-tech hosted by tsohost.co.uk twitter \| flickr \| last.fm \| moot \| PSN Jayseeyou

30th Nov 2007, 11:53	#7
AlexB Web Nerd and WC Addict Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Hants, UK Posts: 1,310	Agree with Neat69's P.S mark. __________________ Whenever I smell asphalt, I think of Maureen. That's the last sensation I had before I blacked out; that thick smell of asphalt. She said she'd fix my bike. Free. No strings attached. I shoulda've known then that things were never that simple. Yeah, when I think of Maureen, I think of two things: Asphalt, and trouble.

30th Nov 2007, 12:03	#9
mikeuk2004 What you Looking at Fool! Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Sheffield, UK Posts: 3,052	Ok, they want action because of the low score and threaten to take their business elsewhere ie advertising. So if the magazine gives in and sack the reviewer in order to keep the money coming in. Isn’t that fixing the review scores. I mean I wouldn’t bother reading reviews done by them as they will have inflated scores because they are getting paid and to keep their advertisers happy. This will do GameSpot more harm because you cant trust their reviews anymore. __________________ -\|- Xfire - Mikeuk2005 -\|- Xbox Live - Mike UK 2006 -\|- Playstation Network - Mikeuk2004 -\|-

30th Nov 2007, 11:47	#4
Neat69 Modder Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Berkshire, UK Posts: 68	It's a shame, this kind of thing happensa a lot in the games industry these days and as a by product its why you see all review scales only going from 7 to 10. One day we might have reviews we can trust again. P.S: an average game should get 5 not 8 (I'm afraid your guilty of this too Bit)

30th Nov 2007, 11:53	#6
cjoyce1980 Supermodder Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: UK Posts: 344	maybe it just wasn't his type of game, or just maybe the game was bad.... and after wasting my money i can actual say that the game is poor when compared to hitman

30th Nov 2007, 12:01	#8
Naberius Multimodder Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Posts: 193	I would say he was quite kind, especially compared to the 1600+ users who have given it an average score of 4.1! You can't just fire the guy for not being too keen on one game.

30th Nov 2007, 12:07	#10
fev Corporate Whore Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Tesco - On Beanbag, Games Playing Office Posts: 2,886	the game is crap and zelda. All Zelda's.. that's right pure crap. __________________ I know what I'm doing... do you? Follow me on Twitter..go on

30th Nov 2007, 12:17	#12
LeMaltor >^_^< Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: No. Posts: 1,397	The game is crap, 6/10 is a fair score. __________________ Welcoming the riff-raff since February 2009.

30th Nov 2007, 12:31	#14
Bungle Rainbow Warrior Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Hampshire, England Posts: 999	Well making games is big money now, can't say I'm surprised this sort of thing happens. As to what weight his reviews carried and hence what "damage" it has done to the title we can only speculate. Surely a slapped wrist would have sufficed. Firing the guy, especially after such long service seems disproportionate to the "crime". I suspect there are other internal issues which have contributed to this. Have to wait and see I guess. __________________ The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense. " Tom Clancy

30th Nov 2007, 12:35	#16
lukasj3di What's a Dremel? Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 2	This is bad!

30th Nov 2007, 12:45	#20
indigo_prime Minimodder Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Heerlen, NL Posts: 29	I would hope that someone will pick up this guy and give him a job. Someone with 10 years experience of the industry and who gives an honest review should be seen as an asset, not as a risk. Unfortunately advertising revenue is a big part of keeping sites rolling. This guy had the balls to tell it 'how it is' from his perspective in the review. The ones without the spine are the people who have bowed to external pressure and sacked him. If the average user is only rating it as a 4, then perhaps they should be grateful that he gave them a 6. I fail to see in other comments how a 6 can be described as below average and 7 as above average. On a 1 to 10 scale, 5 is and always has been the average!! Anything less than 5 is below average. Basic maths guys!! The best reviews I see are ones where they rate cost, playability (SP and MP), graphics, performance etc individually and then give the final score as the average of them all. BF2 SP for me is about a 3, but MP is about an 8 which would give an average of 5.5 over those two things....see where Im going?