If you’re wondering where episode 652 is, the file was completely distorted, with only one half of a conversation going. So, all the discussion about Sony’s State of Play is lost to the ether.
Episode 652: Missing Ep
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Episode 349: Better LateEpisode 349: Better Late
In this episode, Paul arrives in time for the letters, with some audio issues on his phone.
In the meantime, Jordan and Jonah cover some of the week’s news including:
- Nintendo skipping E3 media briefing again
- E.T. cartridges unearthed in New Mexico
- Sony Online Entertainment rolls out All Access Program
- Star Wars: Episode VII cast announced
- Skype group calls now free on Xbox One & PC
- Analyst: PC gaming now brings in more money than console gaming
All this and Listener Feedback.
Episode 230: Zombie Nazi MonkeysEpisode 230: Zombie Nazi Monkeys
This week, Jonah Falcon rants about the bosses in Deus Ex: Human Revolution while Jordan Lund expresses a desire for cold, rainy weather. This week’s Gaming Flashback is The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, with the following news items:
- Lord British wants to make another Ultima, EA not so much
- Crytek rebukes “unlawful layoff” claims
- Gabe Newell wants Steam on Xbox Live Marketplace
- DICE addresses console “limitations” in Battlefield 3
- Black Ops map packs hit 18 million sold
- Sony targets teens with new PSP
- Angry Birds PS Mini problems
The guys also read more reader mail, and pose this week’s Question of the Week: What was the worst game mechanic you ever dealt with in a game you liked?
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.