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Driv3r Reviews. Were PSM2 & XBW honest? (Part II)
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jamiej
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Someone from PSW????
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KKLEIN
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jamiej wrote:
Someone from PSW????

Who?
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've
Quote:
finally stopped laughing.

Right. *Cracks Knuckles*

Nick, this isn't aimed directly at you. These decisions were made above you, by people who have sent you here to get a kicking in their place because they are spineless t*ssers afraid to speak for themselves. Why isn’t your editor here? You're not responsible for this mess. Where’s your publisher?

So, I'm sorry.

Oh, and I AM expecting Future types to delete this post, so read it quick.

nellis wrote:
First off I'd like to totally refute the suggestion that magazines, and specifically XBW, take bribes - monetary or otherwise - to inflate review scores.


Good one. You don't take bribes, I agree. Bribes are in brown envelopes. THIS is called business, and it's all agreed and above board, and rife in the games mag industry. I was in games mags when you were crawling so I know how this works. "So we get the first review, exclusive cover art, and several pages of premium Atari advertising, and all we have to do is fool our readers? What a deal!"

nellis wrote:
Further to this, the allegation that there is some grand conspiracy between ourselves and Atari - 'you give it a nine, we'll lob a sticker on the box and a page in the manual' - is again wrong. The sticker was agreed on only after the review had been written and sent to press.


Yes and Atari agreed to give you the first review regardless of the score you gave the game too I expect?


nellis wrote:
So to Driv3r. It's a great game and we stand by the review.


That’s a lowdown dirty trick and you know it. It’s the best of two bad options isn’t it mate? Admit that you knowingly lied to your loyal readership while chugging Satan’s fat one, or say “We stick by it” when you know that you don’t stick by it at all (you’re actually crying inside aren’t you?). This excuse is usually followed at some point by the “it’s all subjective” line…

A few years ago Paragon’s “64 Magazine” uttered the classic “Mission: Impossible – better than Goldeneye!”. The response was much the same then. Everyone went “Eh?”. But instead of admitting that they had an arrangement with Infogrames (well now, isn’t that interesting?) they simply “stood by” one of the insanest statements I’ve ever heard until the mag eventually closed up shop!

Even EDGE has apologised on occasion (funnily enough, for not giving GoldenEye a 10), and they lost no credibility in the process. Be a man fer chrissakes.


nellis wrote:
Because of the long lead times for magazines and the fact that it was an exclusive review, the code we reviewed from was not final.


This sentence makes no sense to me. I don’t understand. Did you judge The Order of the Phoenix by that snippet that appeared in the papers? “Dumbledore sat Harry down…”

It’s a 9!

You cannot review that which is not finished. By definition this is a preview.

YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS BY NOW. Shame on you.

nellis wrote:
We were made aware of some bugs in the game and were promised that these would be sorted by the time of release.


Oh My God. You are an Dep Editor in a games mag. Are you 12? Have you been doing this job for a week? No. In which case you have come up against this age-old PR trick time and time again over your months or years doing this job have you not? Saying you believed them doesn't justify your stupidity. Of course they said the bugs would be sorted out. THEY ALWAYS DO. And they always lie. Especially Shitari, as well you know. When was the last time they released any game that was any cop? If you discount Transformers and the UT series, there's been nothing in their catalogue, FOR YEARS, that was even worth touching. And they're one of the biggest publishers around? Why? Because of YOU and people like you. Ubisoft (for example) have released more great games in the last six months than Atari / Infogrames have since the company was fomed. And then there's Reflections. Driver was good enough. But Driver 2 was unfinished twaddle! Stuntman was unfinished twaddle! Why did anyone ever believe that Driver 3 would be anything other than unfinished twaddle?

nellis wrote:
we will speak to Atari.


Aaaaaaahhhh ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa. You going to tell them off are you? Chide them? Sorry I'm laughing again now. You're their bitch, NOT the other way round.

nellis wrote:
Perhaps.


Just stop being an obstinate git and retract it will you?

nellis wrote:
3 or a 6 would suggest that the game is fundamentally broken


And you have a problem with truth do you?

And you'd give a fundamentally broken game with little enjoyment value a 6? Oh my.


nellis wrote:
At the end of the day, Bob, much of this is surely down to personal opinion and taste.



This. Right Here.

This is the problem with games reviewing today. Allows you cheating weasels to slime your way out of anything. This sentence is equivalent to saying "Well, the existence of our mag is pretty f*ck*ng pointless really." Doesn’t it?

On one hand you’re going “buy the mag! It will help you make the right choice! We are the vanguard of taste, we know our stuff!” and on the other you’re going, quietly “But you might have to discount everything we say as it’s all just subjective really ain’t it?”

It is your job to seperate the good games from the bad ones. This isn't music, this isn't film. Opinion matters less than in other forms of media. I like The Mars Volta - they have produced one of the greatest albums I have ever heard. Maybe you hate them (probably) but like Suede instead – whereas I think they are shite. Music is just taste. Whereas, games can JUST BE CRAP. I pride myself on being able to tell good games from bad ones whether I like them or not. A good reviewer should know the damn difference. You’re in the wrong career. Get a job in politics.



nellis wrote:
Can I point you in the direction of OXM's Shadow Ops review in their current issue? This is in no way a personal attack on Gavin Ogden (we'll leave the petty bitching to Xbox Gamer) but 8/10 is, in our opinion, a very very high score for the game.



Some more nice weaselwork. Good stuff. All you are doing is pointing out that all you mags are as bad as each other. Only EDGE and, perhaps even more so, GamesTM can really be trusted these days. I work for neither by the way.


nellis wrote:
I'm currently having a heated discussion with the boss about Leilani and whether she's hot to trot or not. She is, he's entirely wrong, I am entirely right.


It's fundamentally different mate. If her leg fell off while you were screwing her, and you'd just paid £44.99 for the privilege you'd be pretty annoyed.


So stop being a dick. XBM, PSM2, all of you. Your first priority is to your damn readers. If your reviews can be trusted, you will be bought by more people, and get advertising as a result of your reach, rather than your score massaging skills and ability to nosh a certain PR guy off.

People in this industry need to grow a damn backbone and start speaking the truth before it dies from under us. Can you imagine Atari’s boardroom right now? Full of rich old gits that don’t know anything about games, counting their money and cheering about how great they are, while the PR guy stands wafting copies of YOUR mags under their noses. No-one thinks they’ve put a foot out of line. They think they’ve made a great game and are probably planning the next (again, rushed) instalment right now. Everyone’s congratulating each other on a job well done – except it’s not, it’s another step towards the games industry crash of the early 80s happening again.

Ironically enough, that crash was caused by Atari…


Can anyone else hear the music swell??? You sir...are my hero!

Brought a tear to my eye

Quote:
Best post ever


What he said
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jamiej
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Possibly lee nutter id guess
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Cal
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really thought this was going somewhere. I had high hopes for this thread. I mean, we were all going to make history, we were going to be somebody. A real-life expose of the dirty, underhand double-dealing of the games rags... putt, putt, puttered into the ground.

Oh well. Anyone got the new EDGE? Thief: DS 7/10? I'd have given it an 8. I smell a rat in EDGE Towers.
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bm
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As a related aside, take the "gone gold" stories with a pinch of salt. They're PR puff, designed simply to get people writing about a game closer to the release. In order to manufacture a significant amount of copies, a game will be in duplication for a much longer period of time than was claimed in this case.
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Steve
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cal wrote:
I really thought this was going somewhere. I had high hopes for this thread. I mean, we were all going to make history, we were going to be somebody. A real-life expose of the dirty, underhand double-dealing of the games rags... putt, putt, puttered into the ground.


Read page 12. I'm awaiting Nick's response. Is there a comeback? It should be interesting, I mean how can Future or indeed the magazine industry dispute what is fact?
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Steve
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bm wrote:
As a related aside, take the "gone gold" stories with a pinch of salt. They're PR puff, designed simply to get people writing about a game closer to the release. In order to manufacture a significant amount of copies, a game will be in duplication for a much longer period of time than was claimed in this case.


Well as you work for a PR firm I'll take your word for it Razz
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bm
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 9:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Steve wrote:

Well as you work for a PR firm I'll take your word for it Razz


It's something I've never done, personally. It amazes me when it's picked up as "news".
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therockett
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 10:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

nellis wrote:
Well then. Our review score for Driv3r seems to have created quite a stir and with half of you baying for blood and demanding a response from XBW, I thought I'd brave the forums. Ulp.


Right, I'll stop rambling on now. Hope this goes someway to answering your points. I await responses with extreme trepidation...

Please note this post is speaking for XBW and not PSM2.

Nick Ellis
Deputy editor, XBW


The problem with your review, ignoring the score for a minute, was the total lack of any mention of the technical glitches with the game. If you were to just read your review, and nothing else, not see any of the forums, but instead went out and bought the game based on your review, thinking the game you are buying is a great game, with great graphics, great sound etc...well when you got home, started the game, within five minutes you'd see cars appearing out of no-where just 200 metres in front of you.

You'd see seemingly twins or triplets walk past each other without even a hello to each other. You'd see the police acting like something out of the keystone cops..You'd go into a building, shoot a bad guy, and within seconds he would disappear right in front of your eyes..I could go on...

Now imagine you do not earn very much, perhaps just get money from a paper round, you can only afford one game a month..So based on your review you go out and buy Driv3r..Just imagine how gutted you would feel seeing the game is not what your magazine claimed it is..

As a magazine, you have a responsibility to your readers to give them an accurate opinion of the games you review, you should mention the game bad points as well as the good points, give the reader all the information they require to decide whether to buy a game or not..In this case, you failed to do your job. I for one will not be buying your magazine again, at least until there is a wholesale change in how you report games, I suspect, a number of other people will not be buying your magazine again after this..
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CyberE1ectric
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 10:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It really wouldn't surprise me if this thread gets a mention on GamesCentral tomorrow, seeing as how one of the editors has played a big part already.

I'll be pitching my tent at 1:15 tonight just in case...
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 10:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

trelliz wrote:
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
OXM says "By turns, wondrous, unconventional and boring, Unique, but slow." Scores 7.6

I disagree. It isn't turn-based (if that's what they mean), and as for boring that's a matter of opinion. It takes a while to get going, but it doesn't start you off whupping ass straight away, it takes time to build up.


"By turns" means it's sometimes one thing and then the other. Just thought I'd let you know.

Great thread. I'd be right in saying that the vast majority of gamers think Driv3r is pap, and that those who reviewed the game and gave it such high scores are, perhaps, rather off the leading edge in terms of gaming knowledge? I thought you had to have a rather solid understanding of what makes a good and bad game to review it, but from these past posts, Driv3r seems to be severely lacking in comparison to other titles of the same ilk.

The only good news is that some major companies are choosing to pay out license fees to publishers based on user-score polls from the likes of Metacritic, which no doubt put the wind up certain EA and Atari chiefs.
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 10:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is far from finished. Much like the game itself.
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 11:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well surely it has to be a breach of some sort of advertising law for XBW to pass off their Driv3r story as an exclusive review as they have already admitted that it was based on unfinished code and so could not have been one.
Now imagine this:Womans way reviews the new face cream from Nivea.Nivea however has offered womans way "incentives" in order to obtain a good review of their product.Review is sent to printers with comments like"really does reduce wrinkles" and other such guff in order to excite the magazines readership.Unfortunately said face cream is in fact rubbish and causes users to grow an extra toe.When womans way are confronted about this they try to weasel out of it by claiming Nivea told them that it wouldnt do that.
If the above situation occured womans way would almost certainly be fined heavily for misleading its readership deliberatly and maliciously.Why should future get away with the same sort of behaviour?
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 11:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bear wrote:
Now imagine this:Womans way reviews the new face cream from Nivea.Nivea however has offered womans way "incentives" in order to obtain a good review of their product.Review is sent to printers with comments like"really does reduce wrinkles" and other such guff in order to excite the magazines readership.Unfortunately said face cream is in fact rubbish and causes users to grow an extra toe.When womans way are confronted about this they try to weasel out of it by claiming Nivea told them that it wouldnt do that.
If the above situation occured womans way would almost certainly be fined heavily for misleading its readership deliberatly and maliciously.Why should future get away with the same sort of behaviour?


Most. Bizarre. Example. Ever!!
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