EGM editor Dan Hsu talks about 'blackball' editorial

Does that rhetorical question make sense? It's been a long day.

Im glad Dan stands up for integrity. Ive been a long time EGM subscriber, and an still glad I am.

i don't trust you Dan Hsu and he is the one who make that trouble he talked some times like not is against Sony for example and didn't say good point i didn't forget when he say " Kill Zone 2 Worst AI and HALO 3 is The best"
where did he see Kill Zone 2 to make that decide?!

someone tell Dan he's wearing a 12 years old girls t-shirt.

Hsu reminds me of all the baseball players denying vehemently they never took steroids. Then we find out they did. Dan doth protest too much about not bowing to publisher desires. One of EGM's reviewers gave Assassin's Creed a 4.5 (the other two gave it a 7.0 & 6.0), which is probably one reason for Ubisoft's anger.

I like Hsu's opinion on the companies attempts to make EGM give them favorable reviews. After 13 years, I still favor EGM over any other videogame magazines.
Have you ever read Game Informer? There's so much brown nosing in each issue, it's not even worth getting a free subscription when you go to GameStop.

I think the score they gave Assassin's Creed was just. The control scheme was great but the sword fighting was disappointing and the AI was pretty damn stupid.

One must have integrity before it can be compromised. Hsu does one thing well...he can agitate the Angry Nerd faction into making a lot of noise for EGM. Controversy means more people reading that poor excuse of a magazine, and that means more money for them. Well played. The magazine is still awful, but well played nonetheless.

while i'm a supporter of egm as a whole, I dont believe that they're entirely bias free or corrupt-free. That is, unless Hsu can give me a convincing reason how halo 3 can be tremendously weak in one aspect and strong in another and that somehow equates to a perfect 10. The fact that he was already a hardcore halo fan wouldn't have even a little to do with it...right?

I'm glad he spilled the beans and named names. In retaliation, I will not buy anything from those companies anymore and add them to my dangerous black list. Game-reviews cred has been in the latrine for years because of companies like the ones whistle blowed by "Dan" Shu Hsu, making game reviewers deceive the gaming populace with high scores for run of the mill cookie-cutter games or they loose advertising $$. A product of such deceitful manipulation is that anyone doing serious research on a title must read about fifteen reviews to try to read between the lines, compare and dissect disparities between reviews and arrive at a purchasing decision. All courtesy of companies like the ones mentioned on the article. For years these shady companies have been trying to manipulate the genre and psychologically train gamers to not expect much in the form of progression and/or expansion when buying/upgrading games...( this moment's exhibit 'A' is brought to you by...=EA) . And we arrive here on brand new 2008, in the 21st century, on the outer edge of the Milky Way galaxy, where a fact of life is that game publishers dial-a-great review or heads roll, games are more expensive and generally shorter. So Who's getting played here? You decide...

I have to applaud Dan Shoe for taking a stance against the BIG companies like Ubisoft and MK team!! If a game sucks then the reviewers should say it sucks. A perfect example of this is Sean Bentenhusen of EGM, he is such a Sony fanboy that the guy goes to great lengths to turn a 5.0 PS3 game into a 8.5 just so he keeps getting his PS3 games for FREE!!! I think that Shoe is a pioneer in his feild and again I support him. Unfortunately money talks and you know the rest. Not everyone on the EGM staff is as honorable!!! Way to go dan!!

Don't talk so loud,my integrity hates loud noises.

Isn't this just EGM stepping into the reviewer integrity drama? There are probably several videogame sites that expierence their issues with advertisers that they can resolve, I don't think EGM needs to be patting themselves on the back for doing what is expected as the minimum standard of journalism.

"You hear that, EGM writers who value paychecks over integrity? Get out while you still can!"

oh they already have, didn't you hear? they're working at Cnet now...

There's an unwritten rule in game journalism that you don't talk negative about a game until it's released. I'm not sure all game journalist understand this, but I can tell you that all game developers, and publishers do.

"Why can't game journalist talk negative about a unreleased game?"

This is sort of a benefit of the doubt area. Most games are pretty much the same a few months from release, and don't see too many dramatic changes. Rarely though you do have games that just click right at the end, or some minor tweak turns everything around at the end of production. As a means of respect game journalist should give the company the benefit of the doubt. Integrity or not you don't complain to the chef until your foods finished cooking.

I was a subscriber back when the Capcom incident happened. It was 93-94, somewhere around there, when EGM had the nerve to rate Super Duper Hyper Street Fighter II the Geriatric Turbo AADD Champion Challengers Edition a mere 7.5 or so.

Capcom threw a hissy and threatened to pull their advertising, EGM called them out on it in the editorial. I didn't support Capcom for quite some time over that.

I don't think this is a big idea at all. EGM is far inferior when compared to other cross platform mags, Game Informer especially.

"There's an unwritten rule in game journalism that you don't talk negative about a game until it's released."

Only bad and corrupt journalists would follow a ridiculous rule like that.

Kyle said: "give opinions on them without bias".

Aren't opinions biased? After all, they aren't fact.

Sorry Kyle.

FAIL

again

I enjoy this so very much, the legacy of Gertzman is alive and strong. Never mind the companies might have the right idea never mind HSU is the only one I hear talking it doesn't matter because the media and the net has already deemed him journalisms champion. All just another reason you can't trust media anywhere. The fact that gamers believes this happens only in gaming is mystifying, the only difference is we are giving them praise like a parent with a toddler who just crapped in the toilet for the first time.

I have read EGM the massive spreads given, to certain games, the verifying of games that will be good before they come out, but hey HSU named names, lets ignore what we actually see in the mag. All in all I would like to shake this man's hand, most journalist would have shook this off told their people get back to work and explain this changes nothing. Mr Hsu saw good publicity where it was needed and ran with it, like a cat with its behead prey meowing proudly on its masters bed he held his head high receiving the praise due to a man of his integrity.

I stopped visiting gamespot because of the gertzman controversy. Integrity is important in game reviews. I can goto the game developers website for information, but I know I will read nothing but high praise for their game. I want honesty based upon similar criteria you use to review all your games. Dan "Shoe" Hsu, thanks for blogging about your current run in with these companies, and for pledging to keep integrity above all in your game review, because of that, I will use your site for game information...

GameSpot could learn a lesson or two from this guy.

Yes, you knew someone was gonna go there.

SG