Pack your bags! Australian game reviewers offered hookers

33 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski Mar 28th 2007 9:59PM
Filed under: Culture, Business

When hookers are offered to game reviewers for better scores ... well, the game industry just got a whole lot more interesting! Official Australian PlayStation 2 Magazine's former editor Richie Young says he was offered sex, money, gifts, overseas trips and advertising support to influence game review scores.

Well, let's see, the advertising support is a common practice. So are the trips and gifts (those are just called junkets). The money is interesting -- but hookers? In Australia? Imagine what the American game reviewers get offered. EGM Editor Dan Hsu's now classic editorial spoke to this issue, but to this day he hasn't stepped up to the plate with a follow-through.

A lot of issues dredged up in Young's post are just the truth of what happens. It's dirty and it's sad. None of it is anything the magazines and review sites don't have to deal with every single day ... it's just the hookers that make this story over the top.

[via ScreenPlay, thanks Flyingdoormat]

Tags: australia, game reviews, hookers, junkets, numbers, pr, scores

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Diman: Mar 28th 2007; 10:04PM

Waiting for someone to spin this off...

Rubang B: Mar 28th 2007; 10:09PM

Australian Hookers kick ass.

aaron: Mar 28th 2007; 10:11PM

I'm sure Dan Hsu since his editorial was told to shut it by higher ups, i.e. executives that want to keep their jobs in the publishing business. That's not to say that what Hsu wrote was wrong.

Stef Geiger: Mar 28th 2007; 10:31PM

NOW I understand why games like Halo get such good reviews!

I know, flamebate. I'll probably be black-holed from this server in an hour.

Anonymous: Mar 28th 2007; 10:34PM

How sweet is it if the people behind a game like Gears of War or Zelda decided to get you a whore. You were already going to rate the game highly anyway, might aswell take the free whore while you are at it.

This is just as scummy as people blogging good reviews for gadgets (for money). Search for any new device now and you can find 10 nearly identical "Review" sites, with nearly identical reviews and scores, all for the same product. It's things like this that bring the credibility down a peg.

silkylove: Mar 28th 2007; 10:52PM

Prostitution is legal there. Offering hoes is just another bribe like free trips or dinner. I hope you all don't think that the rest of the world is free from this type of corruption.

konajinx: Mar 28th 2007; 10:52PM

All right, I'm obviously living in the wrong country doing this job. Time to move.

uclatommy: Mar 28th 2007; 10:59PM

I don't want a hooker.. are you kidding? might as well send me a box full of aids.

john: Mar 28th 2007; 11:01PM

It's regulation Prostitution in SOME australian states like brothels.

NeverSage: Mar 28th 2007; 11:06PM

So does this mean when anyone says the PSP has no good games, the fanboys will stop using the "But the PSP has more top rated games than the DS!" line?

(jk, btw)

silkylove: Mar 28th 2007; 11:11PM

@8

Newsflash. Not every hoe has AIDS. Also not every person who f*cks a hoe gets AIDS. If that were the case then every tourist who ever went to Rio would have AIDS. And every marine who's been stationed outside of the US for more than 6 months would have AIDS. Also there would be an AIDs mini-game in GTA.

silkylove: Mar 28th 2007; 11:13PM

BTW,

I say "hoe" instead of "ho" because I feel like it:p

Anonymous: Mar 28th 2007; 11:19PM

@10
PSP has a treasure trove of games. Unfortunately for most, all the good games come out of Japan (and most people are too dumb to import).

Oh and I'd take my free prostitute right the hell now, even if it means rating Superman 64 a 10/10

c_squared: Mar 28th 2007; 11:30PM

Actually Hsu kind of has followed his editorial up. Look at his latest blog post: (http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=7922461&publicUserId=5379799)

"I can't tell you how much grief we go through with game companies each month because they are so used to so many journalists kissing their asses and doing what they want."

Savok: Mar 28th 2007; 11:35PM

"that corruption is rife in the Australian gaming press"

Correction, corruption is rife within ALL press in Australia. Between the agendas, conflicts of interest and out and out vindictiveness, the whole thing needs a purge.

But honestly can you trust anyone with a haircut that stupid?

Mythor: Mar 28th 2007; 11:35PM

Australian game journalism (print media, at least) is a joke anyway. If publishers are offering hookers for poorly written and researched articles then they're fools.

What's amusing about this is that Richie is formerly from one of the "Official" console specific magazines here. The "Official" magazines are the absolute worst of the worst when it comes to biased reporting. You're basically paying to read marketing material and play demos from the respective companies.

You really need to read his pathetic whining in the correct context - he's guilty of participating in the sorts of things he's complaining about. He's just "exposing" it now to make a name for himself. It's not like these things are really some massive revelation.

polly: Mar 28th 2007; 11:55PM

it's a rough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

NeverSage: Mar 29th 2007; 12:15AM

"PSP has a treasure trove of games. Unfortunately for most, all the good games come out of Japan (and most people are too dumb to import)."

Most people don't want to struggle through the Japanese language. It's more laziness than stupidity.

Elatis: Mar 29th 2007; 12:22AM

Now IGN finally makes sense.

Kamizar: Mar 29th 2007; 12:50AM

Who wants to start a game review mag with me?

Rubang B: Mar 29th 2007; 1:08AM

I'd write a good review for a box full of AIDS. You know how much scratch that would fetch on the black market?

Rubang B: Mar 29th 2007; 1:14AM

Wait, nobody's made a joke about prostitutes using the phrase "down under" yet? I'm disappointed in all of you.

Reapz: Mar 29th 2007; 2:44AM

Well come on, who didn't already know this? (Yeah, the whore part suprised me, but still). Even the prostitutes down under is a hairy situation, (there you go Rubang) because it is legal, and it's the same as giving them $500 to write a good review and then the reviewer going to blow it on a hooker (another one for you).

It is pretty bad in Australia, everytime I open a magazine that has anything to do with games or other tech, it's rife with good reviews for bad things. This is why I take to the internet, for whore-free nerdburger news.

Rubang B: Mar 29th 2007; 3:00AM

Hey Kamizar, I want in. Let's start a gaming mag. But we have to call it Whore-Free Nerdburger News.

(The name's a joke. We don't really have to be whore-free.)

Reapz: Mar 29th 2007; 3:04AM

Sorry Rubang, but I'd have to sue you for ripping off my intellectual property.

I can't? I'll travel to America, where anyone can be sued for anything.

Rubang B: Mar 29th 2007; 3:24AM

Holy crap, how'd he know I was in America?

NoHitHair: Mar 29th 2007; 4:42AM

Yet more proof that video game reviewers are bribed mouthpieces willing to bend over for $5.

http://blog.myspace.com/nohithair

John: Mar 29th 2007; 7:42AM

That's the real reason Sonic Next Gen is reviewed poorly

Sega doesn't know where to find a good pimp

Todd: Mar 29th 2007; 9:31AM

So... wait... did he take the hookers?

OTAM: Mar 29th 2007; 10:56AM

Fucking sweet. I wish I was an Australian game reviewer.

Diamondxp: Mar 29th 2007; 11:04AM

The negotiaion must be hilarious. So if i give you an 8.25 what will that get me?

Anonymous Coward: Mar 29th 2007; 6:39PM

Pffftt… I’ve had my nose in and out of the Aussie gaming press for quite a number of years and I can assure you all that Richie Young is no saint (as, no doubt, his peers would attest if they were to stoop to his level - which I doubt they will due to the fact they're too busy laughing their arses off.) However, he’s no peer of mine so believe me when I say that Young is (was?) a junket-whore, a slacker, LOVED the free shit and he ought to be about the last one ‘exposing’ anything.
I blame Jason “Holier-than-Thou” Hill for the spread of all this elitist drivel. Stop being SO self-centred. Do your readers really want to read about you and your industry 'mates' or do they want to read about games?

Feanor: Mar 31st 2007; 9:38AM

"PSP has a treasure trove of games. Unfortunately for most, all the good games come out of Japan (and most people are too dumb to import)."

Of the top 20 rated PSP games on game rankings, only 7 were made in Japan.

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