Episode 535: Short Ep

This week’s episode is kind of short because there’s really nothing big to discuss. There is news, however, which includes:

  • Wavesplitter to be blocked on PC and Xbox One in Destiny 2
  • Borderlands 3 cross-platform multiplayer “is something we’re looking at closely” according to 2K
  • Enter the Gungeon adds dog petting after being called out on Twitter
  • A real-life political lobbyist has been banned from EVE Online for corruption

Let us know what you think.

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Episode 532: Devil May CareEpisode 532: Devil May Care

This week’s episode takes a look at the excitement caused by Devil May Cry 5, as well as some more discussion about upcoming games.

The news includes:

  • Halo: The Master Chief Collection on PC might have just been leaked by Microsoft
  • Microsoft’s ‘Xbox One S All-Digital Edition’ leaked
  • Government official wonders how Steam can ‘get away with this kind of stupidity’ after rape game is removed
  • Rainbow Six Siege‘s next operator will be invisible to cameras, leak suggests

Let us know what you think.

Episode 267: Do the RobotEpisode 267: Do the Robot

This week the guys relax after the hecticness of E3, and get on to some of the major post-convention news. As Paul S. Nowak struggles with connection issues, Gaming Flashback returns with the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.

This week’s news:

  • Microsoft unveils new tablet
  • Rumor: Leaked doc claims 720 launches in 2013, 3D Kinect in 2014, OnLive acquisition
  • May 2012 US sales down 28% over last year despite Diablo III
  • Australian gamers get adults-only R18+ classification

All this and Reader Feedback. This week has no Question of the Week – just ask the crew some questions.

Users Pwn MetaCritic Review SubmissionsUsers Pwn MetaCritic Review Submissions

Although we’ve found Metacritic a userful resource for game reviews, many folks have gone on a user submission rampage to discredit games that haven’t even launched yet. Their first attack was on LittleBigPlanet followed by Resistance 2, now their hitting Gears of War 2.

While Gears of War 2 has a Metacritic score of 94/100 the user’s have reviewed it to be a 3.5 out of 10, with a bright red box around the user review due to its low nature we’re sure. Although users are free to give their own honest representation of the game from their perspective, Gears of War 2, as of the review dates, hasn’t been released yet – these reviews are bogus.

This style of attack was popularized in Spore, when Amazon got nailed with poor reviews of the game because Spore’s “Draconic” DRM made people angry. However, it’s more reasonable for people to voice their opinion on a known issue with a game; Gears of War 2 review spamming is just mean.

We use Metacritic as guidance when we do our gaming podcast to understand what games are rated in the industry, but we don’t use user reviews as our main guide. There are plenty of folks out there that may utilize these reviews in more seriousness because they may feel journalists reviews are tainted by advertisers or “the man” and want the common gamers opinion.

The common gamer cannot possibility be reviewing Gears of War 2 before the title has arrived. This is bogus. Metacritic has this to say:

“My advice for our faithful users is to focus your attention on the Metascore for this game and not the thousands of user votes, most of which have been submitted before said users have played the game. This is a gaming community, and if people want to stuff the ballot box, there’s not much I can do at this point. When we upgrade the registration requirements for participation on the site in the near future, this type of thing won’t happen. We’ll post the full legitimate user reviews upon the game’s release. As always, thanks for using the site.” (1up)

So, to those looking for holiday gaming gifts, keep this in mind while you start hunting down games you’ll want to buy.