1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

News Splash Damage: Metacritic is a strain on devs

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 20 Jan 2009.

  1. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

    Joined:
    3 Apr 2007
    Posts:
    11,346
    Likes Received:
    316
  2. Narishma

    Narishma What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    21 Feb 2008
    Posts:
    134
    Likes Received:
    0
    I think he has a point. You may do things differently here at bit-tech and a couple other websites use the full range, but it doesn't matter much if everyone else only gives 7-10 scores.
     
  3. shigllgetcha

    shigllgetcha Minimodder

    Joined:
    3 Mar 2008
    Posts:
    2,031
    Likes Received:
    87
    is it not that a game that would score under say 5/10 wont get reviewed? i mean i dont want to see a review of a piece of tat that would get say 3/10 and i dont think reviewers would waste space reviewing a game that would get a very low score
     
  4. Blademrk

    Blademrk Why so serious?

    Joined:
    21 Nov 2003
    Posts:
    3,988
    Likes Received:
    86
    That depends on whether said piece of tat was a highly hyped up game that every-one and his dog had been looking forward to playing which then turns out to be rubbish. I know in which case I'd appreciate a review in order to avoid it.
     
  5. Goty

    Goty Minimodder

    Joined:
    13 Dec 2005
    Posts:
    411
    Likes Received:
    4
    Aren't metacritic scores from end-users instead of reviewers? If that's the case, then I don't have a problem with basing a financial package on the scores, since it's essentially a measure of how good your game was overall instead of how good one person thought it was. (Sorry, Bit-Tech, I still love you! =P )

    On a usage note, shouldn't it be "affect" in the tagline?
     
  6. Bladestorm

    Bladestorm What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    14 Dec 2005
    Posts:
    698
    Likes Received:
    0
    I have very mixed feelings on this, on the one hand anything that gets publishers interested in increasing quality is good, whilst on the other using metacritic and review scores as a measure of that is a bit silly.

    The bit about percentile scores seems .. biased, maybe. I mean if a developer needs to score 7's or 8's to hit a royalty level and they get 69 or 79 I'm sure they'd be extremely annoyed as in the /10 system those would have probably rounded up, but it does let reviewers have a bit more granularity in review scores, especially when as he himself points out, most sites/magazines won't use anything less than a 6/10 or 60/100 anyway.

    The blame shouldn't really be put on the reviewers though (for putting pressure on devs anyway, the 6/10 problem is mostly there own) as they are just doing there job, it's the publishers making the crazy deals and the devs accepting the contracts.
     
  7. UrbanMarine

    UrbanMarine Government Prostitute

    Joined:
    7 Aug 2008
    Posts:
    1,135
    Likes Received:
    19
    Sponsors :: cough ::
     
  8. Mentai

    Mentai What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    11 Nov 2007
    Posts:
    758
    Likes Received:
    1
    Why aren't bit tech scores listed on meta critic?
    And with the bonuses related to scores instead of sales, GOOD. Movie tie ins don't deserve anymore money than they get, but sometimes critically acclaimed titles slide under the radar of most gamers.
     
  9. skpstr

    skpstr What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    9 Feb 2004
    Posts:
    119
    Likes Received:
    1
    Wasn't there a recent bout of metacritic scores being screwed about with by groups with specific agendas?

    **cough** Fanboys!
     
  10. Veles

    Veles DUR HUR

    Joined:
    18 Nov 2005
    Posts:
    6,188
    Likes Received:
    34
    So it's not really a problem with Metacritic but with the entire rating system in general.

    It's stupid how there are web sites say they are out of ten, but because they use decimals all the time and rarely give out a whole number it's actually a 100 scale.

    No, they have both, the score they display next to every games name is the critic score, they take scores from loads of sources and average it. Then there's the user score which is displayed next to the critic score when you open the page for the game.
     
  11. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

    Joined:
    3 Apr 2007
    Posts:
    11,346
    Likes Received:
    316
    Because we have to be either gaming-focused or do something like 12 game reviews a month. With just me and Andy doing reviews and with us not really reviewing all the Wii and DS crap that comes out, that's pretty hard work.
     
  12. Tulatin

    Tulatin The Froggy Poster

    Joined:
    16 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    3,161
    Likes Received:
    7
    I have to love how developers whine and cry over reviews that they can't bully into an "acceptable" score. Metacritic, at least they can be truthful. While not EVERY review is accurate, if a game is holding a solid 37% it probably deserves it.
     
  13. Phil Rhodes

    Phil Rhodes Hypernobber

    Joined:
    27 Jul 2006
    Posts:
    1,415
    Likes Received:
    10
    This has been an issue at least since the days of the Amiga. Venerable jape-fest Amiga Power famously insisted on using the entire percentage range, which other magazines of the day - even those from the same publisher - weren't doing. This contributed to at least one major bust-up with a developer, who refused them review copies ever after. The interesting thing about it was that, on average, that developer had actually done fairly well out of AP reviews.

    Egos, it seems, are still easily-bruised.
     
Tags: Add Tags

Share This Page