The Splinter Cell Essentials Marketing Fracas 35
Videogame Media Watch has a breakdown on a developing story, yet another example of the sometimes less than stellar relationship game reviews/previews have with game marketing. In essence, Ubisoft used language from a GameSpy preview in their marketing, combining words to get the result they wanted. From the article: "As the 1up article notes, the UbiSoft ad probably does need an ellipsis to note where words were removed from the GameSpy preview. This is hardly the main issue, though, as the difference between 'one of the best games on the PSP' and 'one of the best games we've played on the PSP' is not all that important. A somewhat more salient question: how can a game turn from '...one of the best...' on a system to a 2 out of 5 review in a matter of two-and-a-half months between preview and review? "
Because all the games are shit? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Because all the games are shit? (Score:3, Insightful)
Got Untold Legends, load times from hell, hard as hell to see and generally just not fun.
Got Metal Gear Acid, it wasn't Metal gear but some weird ass card game.
Got Rengoku boring as hell after 20 minutes of beatin on the same damn robots over and over...
Got Lumines
Re:Because all the games are shit? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Because all the games are shit? (Score:2)
No arguement about Lumines it was a good game.
Untold Legends just could not hold my interest and Like I said was too dark for me to play effectively even with the brightness all the way up.
Haven't Played Legend of Heroes no comment.
I own most of the games on the Capcom Classics library already on various systems including original arcade hardware. So re-buying games I already have just doesn't do much for me.
Re:Because all the games are shit? (Score:1)
FTR: That Dick's shot is from their site... my visit in February was predictably rainy (and windy, just to add some variety)!
Re:Because all the games are shit? (Score:2)
Re:Because all the games are shit? (Score:2, Informative)
Sucker born every minute. (Score:5, Insightful)
Take this for example:
"The main-chase scene in Matrix 2 is the best I have ever seen; it's too bad the rest of the movie couldn't keep pace."
Spin enabled: "...Matrix 2 is the best I have ever seen.."
Anybody with half of an education should know this stuff.
Demo the ****ware, if you like it buy it!
Re:Sucker born every minute. (Score:2)
You make good points, but not everything can be demoed. I personally hate paying $7 for a game rental at blockbuster and haven't really gotten into the whole rent by mail craze because I really don't watch/play that many movies/games a month to make it worthwhile. As for PC games, a lot of games started giving multiplayer only demoes a few years back and I hated that too. Actually, I think the best sour
Re:Sucker born every minute. (Score:2)
I am in the same boat, but I'll tell you what - gamefly has really allowed me to play alot more games. I pay for the one game plan and play 3 games a month, and I really have a limited amount of time. I get to feel a game out, and enjoy (or suffer) the gameplay. Most games don't hold my interest, but I
Re:Sucker born every minute. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Sucker born every minute. (Score:1, Informative)
"This movie was amazing in its level of awfulness. I still find it shocking how bad every single aspect of this movie was. Even the audio was garbled in a couple of scenes, it's simply unbelievable that it came from a major studio."
Then you see the trailer, quoting the review:
"...amazing..."
"...shocking..."
"...unbelievable..."
Re:Sucker born every minute. (Score:3)
"Gene Shalit gave us a lukewarm review on the Today show," Camp recalls. Shalit closed by saying, "It's a wow for kids, a bowwow for dogs, and (breaking for a commercial) I think it's time for this message."
"I knew the picture worked," Camp says. "But how was I doing to get people into the theater?"
That day he rented a billboard outside Shalit's NBC office in Rockefeller Center in New York. " 'Benji -- I think it's time for this message.' -- Gene Shali
Re:Sucker born every minute. (Score:1)
"...with a gag-to-laugh ratio that's even higher than the original." -- said about "Ace Ventura 2"
If the gag-to-laugh ratio increases, wouldn't that mean that there are fewer laughs per joke (gag), or that the reviewer gagged on his popcorn more than he laughed -- to a greater extent than he did when watching Ace Ventura 1?
Re:Sucker born every minute. (Score:3, Insightful)
For example, if you pick up an SF book with words of praise on the back cover from Anne McCaffrey and Marion Zimmer Bradley, then you might just want to put it down and walk away quietly before anybody sees you. Those two were the most pathologically nice people in the industry, and would have found a way to describe The Eye of Argon [pale.org] as "Delightful" and "Breathtaking". On the other hand, seeing a back cover quote from Orson Scott Card really mea
Re:Sucker born every minute. (Score:2)
"The main-chase scene in Matrix 2 is the best I have ever seen; it's too bad the rest of the movie couldn't keep pace."
Spin enabled: "...Matrix 2 is the best I have ever seen.."
Anybody with half of an education should know this stuff.
Hey, so what if it's actually in the title of the game??
One of the stranger game covers I've seen is the original European release of Grand Theft Auto: http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/images/games
"...Grand Theft Auto..."
Somewhere, at some time,
Better yet (Score:1, Redundant)
"It's [an] amazing...piece of...work...that keeps...you coming...back...for a long, long time. Ten...out of...ten...two...thumbs...up."
Original Text:
"It's amazing anyone would buy this piece of crap. It's not like I already work my ass off for barely enough cash that keeps the bills paid. Ubisoft, I watch you coming out with this trash every year. I'm returning this game back to the store where I got it, and won't be recommending any more Ubisoft games for a l
It is kind of hard to preview a game... (Score:1)
Re:It is kind of hard to preview a game... (Score:1)
Blog triumphalism! (Score:2)
This horrible, horrible error might have only been noticed by a few bloggers because maybe, just maybe, no one gives a crap. It's about an ad that few see for a game few want on a system few own.
You want to fix game media? Ditch "new games journalism," stop playing the stupid "everyone is a hater"
It's a matter of selling the magazine (Score:2)
Re:It's a matter of selling the magazine (Score:1)
The first thing i'd do with any new issue was look for any horribly low scores, and hope that I'd get a gem like this:
From Swamp Buggy Racing (Google cache) [72.14.203.104]
or this:
Re:It's a matter of selling the magazine (Score:1)
I just want you to know that you aren't alone. I do the same thing and if it is especially low scoring I will even read it out loud to my wife who usually finds it equally funny. Sometimes I feel it was worth having another terrible game released into the wild simply because of the pleasure the scathing review gave me.
I'll just say this (Score:2)
Re:I'll just say this (Score:2, Funny)
"I never tire of [...] killing people." -- bogie
Don't mean to be offtopic but... (Score:2)
Repeat after me... (Score:2)
A company doesn't offer a prerelease version of a game to a website without some expectation of softball consideration. Websites know this so they tend to talk up the good points and play down the bad points (because, after all the game isn't finished yet).
"One of the best games we've played on the PSP" is exactly full of the kind of weasel words they use in previews. Low and behold Ubisoft ends up removing some of the weasel words in order to make a more compelling quote.
Meh. That's w