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.
This week’s episode is the final episode before E3, and next week, an outtakes episode filled with Dr. Who and Game of Thrones discussion will run. After that, we’ll have some serious E3 2013 discussion, especially about what happens with Microsoft and Sony in particular.
If you’re looking to get into a new guild of über casual gamers,
@Pachter predicts $349 for PS4, $399 for Xbox One
Interesting. I don’t see this happening though, the hardware behind them is basically identical. And for the same stuff, Sony has a history of running higher prices.
@World of Warcraft movie
*sigh* … why the hell not … I’ve seen Mario, Prince of Persia, so why the heck not. I mean it’ll have a ton of CGI, so does it really matter the origins of the story/script? For all it’s worth being “made after WoW” will most likely be used as a marketing tool to get more people in the cinema.
@Robert Bowling’s Robotoki raided by LAPD, mistake COD figure as armed intruder
… really? I blame the dev who pressed the panic button.
Jonah, Ghost is wielding an M4 with an M203 under-barrel grenade launcher and a red dot reflex sight. Not sure what to make out of the sound suppressor though.
@Documentary seeks to unearth 3.5M E.T. cartridges from landfill
… waste of time if you ask me. But hey, they have money to spend, the contractor has people to pay.
@Oculus Rift developer Andrew Scott Reisse, 33, killed as bystander in police chase
Manslaughter. That’ll be the verdict.
As for Andrew Scott Reisse, R.I.P.
@Shadow of the Eternals Kickstarter fundraising struggling
So I remember that at one point we were wondering when we’ll get the first failure on kickstarter. Now if I remember correctly, what we wanted was a project to meet the goals, but then to not deliver. This one doesn’t quite meet the requirements but still, it is the first project that could fail while still being under the spotlight.
@EEE
Didn’t watch any conferences. They were all at some awkward time; 12pm pdt is the worst time to have any conference. It’s middle of the night in Japan and workday in US and UK. Only suitable for Chinese where consoles are banned. Regardless, the news was all right. It’s surprising to see the console battle so one sided. PS4 definitely plowed Microsoft. I am genuinely surprised to say this but Sony seems to have learned from it’s mistakes and is doing what the gamers want. As opposed to Microsoft, whose vision of the living room seems to be inconsistent with our own. That said, I will probably be getting a PS4 on release. That and Battlefield. Glad to see that some very good MMOs are coming to consoles.
@Xbox 180
Composed the post above a week ago. So much has changed. I have never seen Microsoft so humbled in its entire existence. Bill Gates is rotating in his grave. And he ain’t even dead yet. From one side they slapped themselves in the face hard by going back on their “vision of the living room”. On the other hand, it speaks volumes that they take PS4 as a serious threat and a more appealing console. Which means they still have time to turn things around. Still, I am set on the PS4 but will eventually get an Xbox. Once the price is right.
@WiiU
I am currently taking bets on if the WiiU collapses before the core Nintendo titles come out. Since my Lovefilm subscription ran out I haven’t even touched the thing. And not really planing on doing it any time soon. I am tired of Nintendo feeding me promises.
PS: I love the fact that Microsoft is ripping of Playstation plus, but considering that the first 2 games available are Halo 3 and Assasin’s Creed 2 are a joke. Here in UK Halo 3 costs a pound and practically every person who owns an Xbox has it.