The Variety writer states that he doesn't personally trust any review labeled "exclusive," pointing out "reviews are entirely subjective, so if a critic is being influenced inappropriately in any way, the whole thing is worthless even though we as readers can't prove there's anything 'wrong.'" The piece concludes by saying that any self-respecting publication with a GTA IV review should have run it the minute IGN released its review. It's a lovely thought, but the last thing any review outlet wants is a reputation with PR firms for breaking embargo. In a worst case scenario, if any of these outlets signed legally binding non-disclosure agreements for these reviews, they'd have to face the possibility of being sued.
(Page 1) Reader Comments
I do believe Ive caught the vapors....
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Next thing you know some retailer will be getting payola to pimp failing franchises.......
Like 1120x630 ?
No? Good... ;)
"The graphics have been redone, the music is different, there is a slew of new weapons, the mission structure is a bit more complex, and the city feels a bit more alive. But at its core, GTA2 is the same old game. 68/100"
I wonder what score they'll give this time around.
But who in their right mind only trusts the review from a single site? Look at what the other guys have to say and then make up your mind!
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Look at Matt Cassamassina and how he used to get all this exclusive Nintendo info, once Perry Kaplan was gone, he got the door shut in his face, no more exclusives, no more insider, and he always said his wife was his mole, sure like everyone and the janitor knows what Nintendo is developing...
That's why there's the number 9. the number 10 has been used to qualify something as excellent, not 11. anything less than perfect is a 9, no matter how these guys explain otherwise to not be considered ASSKISSERS.
now, if they adjusted to a more even scale, where 20% and below represented the "absolute shit, avoid at all costs" zone, then at the higher end you could see varying degrees of awesome, and the degrees that would separate GTAIV's 100 from Halo 3's 100 from Super Mario Galaxy's 100
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The exclusivity does seem fishy, but when you look at it in context the score isn't so off-putting.
"Why is that most automatically think a 10 means it's the best thing ever made? Many reviewers have stated multiple times that a 10 represents an excellent game that pushes boundaries, not a perfect game because a perfect game will never be made, yada, yada, yada."
That's why there's the number 9. the number 10 has been used to qualify something as excellent, not 11. anything less than perfect is a 9, no matter how these guys explain otherwise to not be considered ASSKISSERS.
It's that fucking black page ad, it's very disorienting
Play, and Don't Play. 0 and 10, if you go by the IGN scale. GTA4 is a 10, go ahead and enjoy it.
Who cares if a game is a 9 vs a 10. From the sound of it, both deserve to be played. Who cares if one is rated one point higher?
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end of story
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My concern is with the pandering, scaredy-cat way games journalism acts towards developers.
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Clearly.
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And I think a good example of a perfect 10 would be that picture you got there... is that you? you are one sexy cat!
;)
Move on nothing to see here.
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Although considering corporate greed in the industry extends as far back as Atari's oppressive tactics that inspired Activision to take wing as a bastion of freedom in the industry (time makes fools of us all)
The press has already decided long ago that GTAIV would be considered a good game. The same thing has happened before with Bioware's, Bethesda's, and Blizzard's games, to give a few examples.
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As for Bethesda, to give the obvious example of Oblivion, it had retarded AI that was not what was promised to be, three voice actors for a cast of 100s of characters, superficial combat, a shallow world of fetch quests, and an enemy leveling up system that effectively broke the gameplay. However most, if not all, of the game's reviews failed to even mention all these glaring faults, and instead gave us such blanket statements as "Bethesda's much-anticipated fantasy action RPG Oblivion is every bit the game it promised to be" or "The most captivating first-person role-playing game yet" or even "The scale the game's open-ended world is unprecedented" which is a blatant lie.
I for one put a lot of weight in reviews when I'm buying games. A game is very rarely a lock for me until I've read through its Metacritic (not just the numbers, the words too) and I've found this very rarely betrays me. I really don't know who all you people are that say game reviews are 100% untrustworthy and a "crock", because if they were, how would it be such a thriving business?
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Seriously I love GTA and I'm sure IV will be fun and all but I doubt its a 10. Thats just my personal opinion.
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As if IGN has some kind of reputation to protect...
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It doesn't matter whether Grand Theft Auto IV deserves a perfect 10 or not. It doesn't even matter if IGN took money from Rockstar.
This is unethical journalism. It's as simple as that. As a journalism major, this is a perfect example of taking gifts from those that you are supposed to be objective about. If a newspaper gets a package of food from a politician, even if the politician doesn't explicitly say "I'm giving you this in exchange for you promoting me" it's still unethical.
Go ahead, ask Joystiq. Why do you think they have all these giveaways? Companies send them things, and even if they don't ask for anything in return. At least Joystiq does the ethical thing and doesn't keep the prizes themselves, and hands it out to their audience. But in the process of giving away this 'Joyswag' they still get in a few words of praise for the company. Look at this praise for Ikaruga:
"Treasure's Ikaruga holds a special place in our hearts. If you're like some of us on the Joystiq crew, today's Xbox Live Arcade release will be the third time you pick up this classic shooter. At only 800 Microsoft Points ($10), this HD re-release is quite a bargain -- but, thanks to Microsoft, we're able to give three Joystiq readers a free download of the game."
This is still not too bad, because at least Joystiq doesn't review these titles. But even IGN doesn't directly get any money from Rockstar, they still are getting web traffic because of the exclusive review. Web traffic=more money. Even if other forms of media do it, it's still wrong.
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As for complaining about the number, who cares? The numbers are excessively uninformative unless you're running averages. Frankly, I find out more about a game from a bad review than, more often than not, a good review.
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PS/ anyone noticed that the flash clip player on the bbc website goes up to 11? That is cool.