Can We (Still?) Trust Major Gaming Review Sites?

[mmntech]

The problem with review sites and magazines isn't so much payola. However, a lot of publications will self censor because the products being reviewed are by the same companies buying ad space. It's how you get IGN giving the same score to that trainwreck AC Unity as they did to Pokemon Omega Ruby & Sapphire. Doesn't matter what subject they're covering though. I have a whole stack of RC flying magazines, and I don't think a single issue has a negative review in it. I'd actually put money on that.

YouTube is a pretty good source for info these days. Though there have been a few cases game companies have abused ContentID to pull down negative reviews. Capcom.

Best you can go by is user reviews or check out the forums here. And never pre-order or buy a game right at launch. That's just asking for problems these days. Ubisoft, Sony, Microsoft, EA...

 

[artemicion]

LOL @ Ubisoft tablet conflict of interest paranoia.

I mean, do you really think that a single video game journalist went through the following thought process:

1) "Hey, I got a free Nexus 7 from Ubisoft."
2) "I bet if I write a fraudulent, glowing review of Watch Dogs, Ubisoft will give me more awesome stuff, even though there was no express or implied suggestion from Ubisoft that further remuneration would be forthcoming."
3) "And I bet the suckers who don't write glowing reviews won't get any more stuff from Ubisoft because Ubisoft will keep a list of who wrote good reviews and who wrote bad reviews and only send stuff to people who wrote good reviews."
4) "Also when Ubisoft sends me my future gift I totally won't tell anyone about it because then people will find out that Ubisoft is sending gifts only to the people who write good reviews and that'd be totally disastrous PR for them."
5) "And I'm sure everyone else who writes a glowing Watch Dogs review will know to keep their thank-you gift from Ubisoft a secret, because the secrecy of Ubisoft's thank-you gift giving strategy depends on EVERYONE keeping it a secret, otherwise it'd backfire on them."
6) "WATCH DOGS WAS TOTALLY AWESOME. 10/10."

TOTALLY MAKES SENSE.

 

[tential]

LOL @ Ubisoft tablet conflict of interest paranoia.

I mean, do you really think that a single video game journalist went through the following thought process:

1) "Hey, I got a free Nexus 7 from Ubisoft."
2) "I bet if I write a fraudulent, glowing review of Watch Dogs, Ubisoft will give me more awesome stuff, even though there was no express or implied suggestion from Ubisoft that further remuneration would be forthcoming."
3) "And I bet the suckers who don't write glowing reviews won't get any more stuff from Ubisoft because Ubisoft will keep a list of who wrote good reviews and who wrote bad reviews and only send stuff to people who wrote good reviews."
4) "Also when Ubisoft sends me my future gift I totally won't tell anyone about it because then people will find out that Ubisoft is sending gifts only to the people who write good reviews and that'd be totally disastrous PR for them."
5) "And I'm sure everyone else who writes a glowing Watch Dogs review will know to keep their thank-you gift from Ubisoft a secret, because the secrecy of Ubisoft's thank-you gift giving strategy depends on EVERYONE keeping it a secret, otherwise it'd backfire on them."
6) "WATCH DOGS WAS TOTALLY AWESOME. 10/10."

TOTALLY MAKES SENSE.

You say that, yet in many other fields you'd lose your job for accepting such a gift.
Judging from the prose of your post, I highly doubt you're really the person I would want to take advice from on this matter.

 

[artemicion]

You say that, yet in many other fields you'd lose your job for accepting such a gift.
Judging from the prose of your post, I highly doubt you're really the person I would want to take advice from on this matter.

Ask the your favorite tech site journalist about the $25 gift card and jacket they got at Apple's WWDC 2014. Or ask the ones that attended Microsoft's BUILD conference about the free Surface RT and Lumia 920 they got. Or ask them what they got in their mountain of swag from CES.

Did I just destroy your trust in all tech sites? Or do you suppose all these journalists lost their jobs?

 

[sweenish]

That's not an equal comparison.

Developer conferences where even the press have to buy tickets (I could be wrong here, but at a lot of these things press don't get the swag unless they also bought a ticket), are not the same as a random show-off conference where people are put up for free and gifts are handed out. I don't know what Apple's deal is, but the swag handed out at Dev conferences are so devs can work on those devices right away. It's basically built into the ticket price.

This Ubisoft thing is also coming in out of the blue. No link, no information, nothing. You just started talking about it. A quick google came up with an 8 month old article. Why is it coming up out of nowhere in this thread?

It's just another example of how gaming journalism is a joke. Because as was said, it's an ethical violation. You are a critic of their product. An advanced look is a perk of being a critic. Being put up in a hotel and being shown a pre-determined gameplay set and/or playing the game under heavily controlled conditions and then being gifted gadgets and an NDA with a positive review clause is nothing like a $1600 developer conference ticket.

Your ability to get to point B from a grapefruit is uncanny. Also wrong.

 

[tential]

Ask the your favorite tech site journalist about the $25 gift card and jacket they got at Apple's WWDC 2014. Or ask the ones that attended Microsoft's BUILD conference about the free Surface RT and Lumia 920 they got. Or ask them what they got in their mountain of swag from CES.

Did I just destroy your trust in all tech sites? Or do you suppose all these journalists lost their jobs?

I'm not thinking about the tech industry...
I think the tech industry is a joke in trusting sites like that.

You act like I somehow don't know all of this already.

I'm thinking more of the Financial and Medical industries where most of these practices were removed (or have to be FAR more subtle than they used to be. I miss the perks I got to enjoy as a kid because of them )

 

[railven]

You say that, yet in many other fields you'd lose your job for accepting such a gift.
Judging from the prose of your post, I highly doubt you're really the person I would want to take advice from on this matter.

I work in the medical field and they made it so we can't even accept pens anymore from pharmaceuticals.

I remember when I was a kid my mom (who also works in the field) would get treated to lavish lunch/dinners, her office would have complimentary coffee machines, coffee, chairs, training seminars, etc all paid for by pharmaceutical companies.


OT: With the issue of Gamergate and yada, I realized though I've been gaming for years, I don't think I ever took any review(er)'s opinion highly. Hell, to be honest it isn't until now that I actually know the names of writers and that is mostly due to the stupid things they say/do on Twitter which is being lambasted all over gaming forums by pro-GG/A-GG'ers.

I continue to live happily in my bubble knowing my budget could afford me any game (whether good or bad) and I haven't been tainted by the "entitlement" that every game I buy has to be 6/5 stars amazing.

And I'll just say I've bought some terrible games. Woof. Haha.

EDIT: Actually, I'd like to add that I mostly used gaming magazines back in the day and now websites mostly to look at pictures (then) and videos (now). I'll form my own opinion and buy what looks good.

 

[tential]

I work in the medical field and they made it so we can't even accept pens anymore from pharmaceuticals.

I remember when I was a kid my mom (who also works in the field) would get treated to lavish lunch/dinners, her office would have complimentary coffee machines, coffee, chairs, training seminars, etc all paid for by pharmaceutical companies.


OT: With the issue of Gamergate and yada, I realized though I've been gaming for years, I don't think I ever took any review(er)'s opinion highly. Hell, to be honest it isn't until now that I actually know the names of writers and that is mostly due to the stupid things they say/do on Twitter which is being lambasted all over gaming forums by pro-GG/A-GG'ers.

I continue to live happily in my bubble knowing my budget could afford me any game (whether good or bad) and I haven't been tainted by the "entitlement" that every game I buy has to be 6/5 stars amazing.

And I'll just say I've bought some terrible games. Woof. Haha.

Used to be great the perks.

The Gaming industry though is obviously much less regulated (it's gaming after all lol), but when we have low standards for reviewers then of COURSE we get things like this. When Gamers think it's perfectly acceptable to get perks, they then wonder why reviews mean absolutely nothing.

I only use reviews to know what features are in a game. Whether it plays well or not? Well like you said, you either purchase it, rent it (well those days are over), or watch some gameplay and see if you like it. I personally will never preorder a game though or purchase on launch day. I do NOT want to reward bad publishers (I don't blame the devs as much since most of the time it's publishers wanting to hit deadlines for holiday seasons.)

In the end, I blame the gaming community for being the type of community to get walked all over by just about every person in it, and be happy and say "Plis more!"

 

[artemicion]

This Ubisoft thing is also coming in out of the blue. No link, no information, nothing. You just started talking about it. A quick google came up with an 8 month old article. Why is it coming up out of nowhere in this thread?

Try reading the first page of this thread? You know, when someone brings up the Nexus 7/Watch Dogs thing?

Whatever. I mean, if video game journalism ethics is your crusade . . . ok. Cool occupation bro. I find it funny that we found out about the whole Ubisoft thing from video game journalists who reported it . . . and yet it's a sign of a lack of ethics in the video game journalism industry. Makes sense.

 

[Revolution 11]

Try reading the first page of this thread? You know, when someone brings up the Nexus 7/Watch Dogs thing?

Whatever. I mean, if video game journalism ethics is your crusade . . . ok. Cool occupation bro. I find it funny that we found out about the whole Ubisoft thing from video game journalists who reported it . . . and yet it's a sign of a lack of ethics in the video game journalism industry. Makes sense.

Lol, what's wrong with you. You continue to conflate different concepts. You basically claim that because trend X is happening, that somehow means trend Y and also proves trend Z at the same time.

Lets look at your Ubisoft example. It is the same scenario as if Anandtech was accepting payments from Apple to give favorable reviews. And then another competitor like HardOCP caught the bribery happening and reported on it. And then you pop in and say that because HardOCP reported on Anandtech's unethical behavior, there are no ethical problems in the industry.

The way you mention this is like you assume the whole industry is in one giant company and there are no competitors at all. Or that just because one (or a thousand) reviewers are corrupt, that means there is not a single honest reviewer at all.

 

[sweenish]

Try reading the first page of this thread? You know, when someone brings up the Nexus 7/Watch Dogs thing?

Whatever. I mean, if video game journalism ethics is your crusade . . . ok. Cool occupation bro. I find it funny that we found out about the whole Ubisoft thing from video game journalists who reported it . . . and yet it's a sign of a lack of ethics in the video game journalism industry. Makes sense.

Must have missed that in the first page. My bad.

It's not my crusade. Your poor logic needed to be called out.