Sunlight, Disinfectant, Etc.

June 2nd, 2008

I don’t know that we need to touch off another round of hallelujahs on this, but I’ll throw out my bafflement with the MGS review debacle, just the latest journalistic controversy in gaming.  I can’t think of a single reputable journalist that would accept the type of restrictions that were clearly imposed on MGS reviewers - disclosure or no disclosure.  And sure, I recognize the pressure to be first to market, &c., but seriously, people.  Leaving aside the ethical implications of reviewing a game you had to rush through or had no more than a handful of hours to actually experience, if you don’t like these rules, don’t play the game.  If everyone refused to give publishers what is essentially no more than free publicity to these games, companies would damn well make time to give you reviewable copies with the notice you need to actually play through them.  Get together with your friends, agree not to cheat each other, and tough it out.

I’ll give EGM some credit here, but a lengthy “discussion” is the same publicity that was hoped for from the beginning.  Not attaching a numeric ranking is weak tea.  And seeing game reviewers become coopted into essentially extensions of publishers’ marketing arms is really unpleasant for all concerned. 

Posted in Geoff, Idiocy, Journalism |



      

4 Responses to “Sunlight, Disinfectant, Etc.”

  1. Rob Says:
    June 2nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    What a bunch of crap. The only solution I can see is the creation of a trade group that sets requirements for its members.

  2. Dave Says:
    June 2nd, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    There really should be some hard and fast rules for reviewing games. For both reviewers and publishers.

    It should always be the final code…or they aren’t really reviewing the final product.

    Reviewers should have to play the whole game.

    All reviews should be spoiler free and not be released until a preset time BEFORE the launch of the game.

  3. Jeff Says:
    June 2nd, 2008 at 4:23 pm

    It didn’t help matters that what EGM was left to discuss was essentially worthless. There’s virtually no content in the strange non-review review that they included in the magazine. If the restrictions were so bad that that was all they were allowed to talk about, it makes me wonder what the hell Konami WAS allowing people to talk about in their reviews. Could they say anything other than just “Best Game EVER!”

  4. laesperanzapaz Says:
    June 2nd, 2008 at 7:20 pm

    Kudos to EGM, I support this action, even if teh ‘discussion’ worth may be questionable.

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