Exclusive game reviews ethically troubling? - bit-tech.net Forums

CardJoe · 28th Apr 2008, 11:52

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/04...ly-troubling/1

In a recent article, Variety's Ben Fritz has called out games journalists who offer exclusive reviews as 'ethically troubled'.

bowman · 28th Apr 2008, 11:56

Games reviews are usually almost worthless in any case. I only trust independent user assessment and demos.

DXR_13KE · 28th Apr 2008, 12:14

i usually wait until there are enough reviews on the web so that i can clean the high scores and the low scores and have a mid score.

cjoyce1980 · 28th Apr 2008, 12:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by bowman

Games reviews are usually almost worthless in any case. I only trust independent user assessment and demos.

semi agree, there are some good pubicans out there still, but i do tend to look at about 3 or more reviews about a game.

p3n · 28th Apr 2008, 12:23

Anyone who buys a game off the back off a review has more money than sense, especially when the scale is out of ten. Most people could argue anything over 7/10 would be 'worth buying'... so bar video reviews where you can see for yourself I dont think they sway me much.

oasked · 28th Apr 2008, 12:26

I would agree that IGN's review could be a little biased, but then you look at all the other reviews for GTA IV and they all say the same thing - i.e. 95%+, so I think their integrity remains intact.

Baz · 28th Apr 2008, 12:55

Ive seen before where mainstream magazines have given out highly suspect review scores for exclusive reviews (*cough* PC ZONE *cough*). Whie i can appreciate the commercial value of an exclusive review, it does tend to create feelings of suspiscion about the impartiality of the publisher.

Saying that, I recall PCGAMER had the exclusive review of Hellgate London, and gave a very balanced review, and eventually awarded the game a 77%ish grade - about right for the game, so not all exclusive reviews are tainted in the same way.

Mentai · 28th Apr 2008, 13:45

Back in the days of gaming on the Gamecube, no where in my town had games to rent, so most of my purchases were based entirely off reviews. When you're spending $130NZD on a game once every several months it's kinda important that the reviewers opinion hasn't been bought. But then with nintendo it was always safe to get the zelda, metroid, etc.
From what I've heard about GTA IV, a 10/10 is reasonable, so the exlusivity/ethical thing isn't really relevant.

Bauul · 28th Apr 2008, 14:10

Simple, obey Bit-Tech on all fronts and ignore everyone else.

Following the God-Joe is the only true way to gaming redemption.

CardJoe · 28th Apr 2008, 14:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bauul

Simple, obey Bit-Tech on all fronts and ignore everyone else.

Following the God-Joe is the only true way to gaming redemption.

Example: The Secret of Monkey Island is better than Doom.

Flibblebot · 28th Apr 2008, 14:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bauul

Simple, obey Bit-Tech on all fronts and ignore everyone else.

Following the God-Joe is the only true way to gaming redemption.

...and I am his disciple

I would make a comment about bowing down on your knees before The Mighty Joe, but I wouldn't want for it to be misconstrued

Xtrafresh · 28th Apr 2008, 15:14

This might be a hard one to explain to the politicians:

"no sir, the game the game that gives extra points for decapitating police officers with a chainsaw is not the problem. The problem is the exclusive review! it's unethical!"

I do agree with the main point of this though, these reveiw sites are rotten and biased.

Faulk_Wulf · 28th Apr 2008, 16:13

[EDIT: What, no delete function?]

Jordan Wise · 28th Apr 2008, 17:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bauul

Simple, obey Bit-Tech on all fronts and ignore everyone else.

Following the God-Joe is the only true way to gaming redemption.

90% of the time that applies, but he was way off on the witcher. That is the single most dull game i've ever encountered. Yahtzee hit the nail on the head with that one

Vash-HT · 28th Apr 2008, 18:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jordan Wise

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bauul

Simple, obey Bit-Tech on all fronts and ignore everyone else.

Following the God-Joe is the only true way to gaming redemption.

90% of the time that applies, but he was way off on the witcher. That is the single most dull game i've ever encountered. Yahtzee hit the nail on the head with that one

Really, I enjoyed the Witcher quite a bit. This is why I find reviews worthless, its the opinion of one person, possibly one person with very different taste than your own, so take it for whats its worth, don't act like they forced you to buy the game by giving their opinion on it.

Jordan Wise · 28th Apr 2008, 19:09

don't worry, i don't, i only bought it because i had a £20 voucher for GAME and a free afternoon, i wouldn't have gone out of my way to get it

Cavedweller · 28th Apr 2008, 20:45

There is only _ONE_ review site on the net i trust, and that is gamerevolution.
They don't take crap from anybody, and even take their time to bring the occational insider slant blog.
As a rarety they once in a while bring up a real article, like when they wrote about how violence and games are more and more in the media focus, even though youth violence has never been lower.

CardJoe · 28th Apr 2008, 20:45

Having gone back and read The Witcher review again, I think it's pretty fair. It's a game for the hardcore, which I don't laud too highly or damn unforgivably. I had a good time with it myself, but recognised the game as average to bad in the eyes of many others unaccustomed to the style.

PhenomRed · 28th Apr 2008, 23:38

reviews can never be trusted as being an accurate impression of the game, there are games i thought were quite good but they've scored something like a 6 on gamespot.

Mentai · 29th Apr 2008, 06:46

I'm really enjoying the witcher, but probably wouldn't be bothered with it had it scored lower. I do think it's a good game post prologue, but it's definitely aimed at a specific audience. Would probably give it about an 8/10 with the patch on it.
Over rated for me would be audiosurf, I can not get into games like that, but that doesn't mean I think the score Joe gave it was wrong.

28th Apr 2008, 11:52	#1
CardJoe Player Character bit-tech Staff Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 7,945	Exclusive game reviews ethically troubling? http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/04...ly-troubling/1 In a recent article, Variety's Ben Fritz has called out games journalists who offer exclusive reviews as 'ethically troubled'. __________________ this is joe's non-bit-tech blog

28th Apr 2008, 12:14	#3
DXR_13KE Madeira's banana is the best!!! Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Madeira ; Portugal Posts: 6,469	i usually wait until there are enough reviews on the web so that i can clean the high scores and the low scores and have a mid score. __________________ *Renegade X - 0.40 Release!* <---- CLICK!

28th Apr 2008, 12:26	#6
oasked Stuck in the Mud Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Bromley, Kent Posts: 2,551	I would agree that IGN's review could be a little biased, but then you look at all the other reviews for GTA IV and they all say the same thing - i.e. 95%+, so I think their integrity remains intact. __________________ Intel i7 920 @ Stock \| 6GB Corsair DDR3\| Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 WD640 AALS \| POV 8800GT \| Lian-Li PC65 \| Enermax 600W SLI \| Dell 2408WFP

28th Apr 2008, 14:10	#9
Bauul Sir Bongaminge Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Godalming, near Guildford Posts: 1,553	Simple, obey Bit-Tech on all fronts and ignore everyone else. Following the God-Joe is the only true way to gaming redemption. __________________ Pentium 4 CPU 3.4 Ghz \| 1Gb + 2x512Mb Corsair DDR2 667 Mhz Sapphire Radeon HD 4770 512Mb\| WD Raptor 36Gb, Seagate 300Gb \| Asus P5LD2 SE Ibanez RG 470 Japanese Edition \| 1991 Japanese Lo-TRS Tremolo \| V7 S1 Custom V8 HSH Pickups

28th Apr 2008, 15:14	#12
Xtrafresh Blame it on the Boogie Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Nijmegen, Holland Posts: 1,909	This might be a hard one to explain to the politicians: "no sir, the game the game that gives extra points for decapitating police officers with a chainsaw is not the problem. The problem is the exclusive review! it's unethical!" I do agree with the main point of this though, these reveiw sites are rotten and biased. __________________ AXGS Blog: A fresh look at P55. Fresh Fusion: Unfinished \| FFF: Name change and text update 19-11

28th Apr 2008, 11:56	#2
bowman Multimodder Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 249	Games reviews are usually almost worthless in any case. I only trust independent user assessment and demos.

28th Apr 2008, 12:23	#5
p3n Hypermodder Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 735	Anyone who buys a game off the back off a review has more money than sense, especially when the scale is out of ten. Most people could argue anything over 7/10 would be 'worth buying'... so bar video reviews where you can see for yourself I dont think they sway me much.

28th Apr 2008, 12:55	#7
Baz Benchmarketeer bit-tech Staff Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Ruislip Posts: 584	Ive seen before where mainstream magazines have given out highly suspect review scores for exclusive reviews (cough PC ZONE cough). Whie i can appreciate the commercial value of an exclusive review, it does tend to create feelings of suspiscion about the impartiality of the publisher. Saying that, I recall PCGAMER had the exclusive review of Hellgate London, and gave a very balanced review, and eventually awarded the game a 77%ish grade - about right for the game, so not all exclusive reviews are tainted in the same way.

28th Apr 2008, 13:45	#8
Mentai Supermodder Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: New Zealand Posts: 492	Back in the days of gaming on the Gamecube, no where in my town had games to rent, so most of my purchases were based entirely off reviews. When you're spending $130NZD on a game once every several months it's kinda important that the reviewers opinion hasn't been bought. But then with nintendo it was always safe to get the zelda, metroid, etc. From what I've heard about GTA IV, a 10/10 is reasonable, so the exlusivity/ethical thing isn't really relevant.

28th Apr 2008, 16:13	#13
Faulk_Wulf Internet Addict Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: USA Posts: 280	[EDIT: What, no delete function?] __________________ -- Faulken S. Wulf "Under the Willow, he sleeps and dreams, of Heaven." Attempting to post intelligently since the year 2000! Last edited by Faulk_Wulf; 28th Apr 2008 at 17:37. Reason: Really ignorant post.

28th Apr 2008, 19:09	#16
Jordan Wise Baby called to see the boss... Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Newcastle Uni Posts: 597	don't worry, i don't, i only bought it because i had a £20 voucher for GAME and a free afternoon, i wouldn't have gone out of my way to get it __________________ Favourite Max Payne quote: "He was trying to buy sand for his hour glass, and I wasn't selling any" Steam ID:jordanwise

28th Apr 2008, 20:45	#17
Cavedweller Minimodder Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Denmark Posts: 24	There is only _ONE_ review site on the net i trust, and that is gamerevolution. They don't take crap from anybody, and even take their time to bring the occational insider slant blog. As a rarety they once in a while bring up a real article, like when they wrote about how violence and games are more and more in the media focus, even though youth violence has never been lower.

28th Apr 2008, 23:38	#19
PhenomRed Multimodder Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 235	reviews can never be trusted as being an accurate impression of the game, there are games i thought were quite good but they've scored something like a 6 on gamespot. __________________ Asus M2N-E SLI, Athlon X2 6000+, 3 GB DDR2-533, Radeon 4850 512MB, 1.8TB HDDs, Windows XP Pro

29th Apr 2008, 06:46	#20
Mentai Supermodder Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: New Zealand Posts: 492	I'm really enjoying the witcher, but probably wouldn't be bothered with it had it scored lower. I do think it's a good game post prologue, but it's definitely aimed at a specific audience. Would probably give it about an 8/10 with the patch on it. Over rated for me would be audiosurf, I can not get into games like that, but that doesn't mean I think the score Joe gave it was wrong.