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No Mafia III Review Copies Ahead of Launch

On that note Angry Joe seems pretty impressed.
As someone who's looking forward to the game and will be purchasing it, his "favorable" impressions seemed terrible and i wouldn't put a lot of stock into it.

He seemed like was was having that "typical" open world fun where your entertained by the fuckery the open world presents. He mentions gta multiple times in this vein. It did very little to show why mafia 3 in and of itself is potentially a fun game rather than being another open world game where funny things happen

It doesn't help that they played terribly the entire time.
 
I really hope this gets some good reviews.

Some parts of the game look rough but I could look past them if everything else is spot on.
 
As someone who's looking forward to the game and will be purchasing it, his "favorable" impressions seemed terrible and i wouldn't put a lot of stock into it.

He seemed like was was having that "typical" open world fun where your entertained by the fuckery the open world presents. He mentions gta multiple times in this vein. It did very little to show why mafia 3 in and of itself is potentially a fun game rather than being another open world game where funny things happen

It doesn't help that they played terribly the entire time.
I couldn't believe how many times they took to interrogate that dude.
 
Can't help but wonder if this has more to with some of Mafia 3's subject matter than its merits as a video game. After all you're playing as armed-to-the-teeth black male in the South during the 1960s. Even if the game is great, and avoids being sloppy or cheap or exploitative with the things it's tackling(big if) it will still be incredibly divisive and spawn an untold number of conversations & controversies. How could it not, especially with all that's been going on? I can see why they'd want to get the game out ahead of a potential whirlwind they can't control or predict.
 
Can't help but wonder if this has more to with some of Mafia 3's subject matter than its merits as a video game. After all you're playing as armed-to-the-teeth black male in the South during the 1960s. Even if the game is great, and avoids being sloppy or cheap or exploitative with the things it's tackling(big if) it will still be incredibly divisive and spawn an untold number of conversations & controversies. How could it not, especially with all that's been going on? I can see why they'd want to get the game out ahead of a potential whirlwind they can't control or predict.

What do reviews have to do with that? Even if for example Polygon would praise the game for XYZ progressive stance in their review - the people who as a reaction wouldn't buy the game weren't gonna buy it in the first place, I think.
 
Why? You like investing money on games that you view as bad?
I was joking. I have no idea how this will turn out and I don't think review code availabilty is a particularly useful indicator of anything. It's got obvious jank but so has almost literally every other open world game in history. Could wind up either way.
 
Can't help but wonder if this has more to with some of Mafia 3's subject matter than its merits as a video game. After all you're playing as armed-to-the-teeth black male in the South during the 1960s. Even if the game is great, and avoids being sloppy or cheap or exploitative with the things it's tackling(big if) it will still be incredibly divisive and spawn an untold number of conversations & controversies. How could it not, especially with all that's been going on? I can see why they'd want to get the game out ahead of a potential whirlwind they can't control or predict.
Yes, we all know how conservative the video game press is.
Wait.

The only place you'll find any "controversy" about this game is 4chan
 
Moving the goalposts, it seems.

Okay I will bite, again. How about NBA2K17.

But let me guess. This is also a bad example, because of reasons.



Nope.
Nope, good example. I stand corrected about GTA.

Also, moving the goalposts? How the hell can you compare ports of old games to reviews of new releases? Come on now
 
Yes, we all know how conservative the video game press is.
Wait.

The only place you'll find any "controversy" about this game is 4chan

You don't think there'd be any blowback from the gaming press if the game bungles how it handles race, for example?
 
Yeah, about that.

It's obvious that one of the requirements from 2k was "don't point out bad things", otherwise they would have said something.
Don't know about Joe, but in all my years of doing this work, I've never seen such an agreement or NDA. The only thing they embargoed (and not even legally, they never made me sign anything), was footage containing what they deem story spoilers.

There is no such thing as PR telling us that we should be positive. It's based on trust. I could totally spoil some major things about the story, but they trust us not to do that, because if we do, they won't work with us for I don't know how long. And we trust that they are truthful about their game and the information. Because if it turns out it was all lies, they'll get slammed for it.

That's how it works. Can't imagine Joe is paid off or anything.
 
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It means to buy something without seeing it first. Most other languages have a similar expression along the lines of "buying a cat in a sack," as the expression comes from a con in the late Middle Ages where someone would sell you what they said was a pig in a bag but actually turned out to be a cat or a dog, which was not what you wanted to eat usually.

In English it became "poke" from corruption of the French word "poque."

Thank you for the explanation.
 
"Fun"

Full quote:
Mafia 3 takes everything that is fun about open world games, and manages to ruin every aspect.


**Obviously I just made that up but how is that an accurate quote?

If "fun" is one of the box quotes it's a huge red flag.

"Fun" - Open World Games

Is this supposed to be a PARODY of box quotes?

My favorite quote is "FUN"

I think so, the only site that I could find was a forum page hosting other videos

https://www.openworldgames.com/

"Open world"- Open World Games

Haha seriously. I laughed out loud when I saw that.

Come on guys, that's obviously not the full quote, there is no opening quotation mark in front of fun. If you look closely there's another word in smaller print above it, but it's covered by the "on wishlist" pop up. :)
It's probably some hyperbolic adjective, but i'm sure it's not as ridiculous an endorsement as just calling the game "fun".
 
I was joking. I have no idea how this will turn out and I don't think review code availabilty is a particularly useful indicator of anything. It's got obvious jank but so has almost literally every other open world game in history. Could wind up either way.

So they should pirate it instead? Not sure what you're saying here.

EDIT: Oh, he was joking. Though even if he weren't I wouldn't see an issue with the post.

No, "Pirate it then!" wasn't my argument. I'm just in general interested in why some people refuse to pay e.g. 50 for game X as new because they view it as bad game even when they want to play it. Then they get it from Steam Super Summer Sale 2077 for e.g. 20 without a flinch. Basically why you support "bad games" when you don't want support "bad games"?
 
lol I dont need reviews to tell me if im gonna like a game that I can see for myself I like, unless its a broken mess (which a lot of reviews dont tell you) I dont care about the review.

Only games im not sure about I check out reviews and even then if it gets a good score, I'm still not buying them at full price anyways.
 
No, "Pirate it then!" wasn't my argument. I'm just in general interested in why some people refuse to pay e.g. 50 for game X as new because they view it as bad game even when they want to play it. Then they get it from Steam Super Summer Sale 2077 for e.g. 20 without a flinch. Basically why you support "bad games" when you don't want support "bad games"?

Because to them putting down $50-$60 on a new game isn't worth it unless they know for sure it's going to be great, but that doesn't mean they won't want to play it legally in the future. When I put a game in my "wait for a sale" pile I don't view it as bad, just not good enough to be worth £40 because £40 is a pretty big deal for me. The good thing about Steam sales and the like are that you can choose to wait and eventually pay less whilst still supporting the developers (which, with used games, you don't).
 
Preordered my copy today, I generally never go off reviews. if a games genre and subject matter appeals to me I will generally play that game no matter the score. There has been loads of high scored games that just don't appeal to me I simply do not attempt to play.

I have enjoyed plenty of sub par games over the years rather than games played by the masses.
 
That is a bit disheartening.

I know Doom ended up being great, but for major titles, this typically isn't the best sign like others have said. Hopefully it doesn't fall into that camp.
 
Its very sensible for people to wait on reviews. personally, having watched a couple of hours of youtube videos on Mafia 3 and really liking what I have seen, I'm looking forward to playing day one (and thanks to Best Buy its 20% off plus an extra $10 in gift certificates)

Perhaps the lack of review copies is because of relatively poor performance - both on consoles and lower spec PC's. Since I have a high end PC I am quite confident in the game, but certainly very understandable that people want to wait until after launch.
 
Also, moving the goalposts?

How the hell can you compare ports of old games to reviews of new releases? Come on now
The discussion was about games:

what game besides DOOM hasn't been average to bad when the developer ships review copies late?

Both XCOM2 and BioShock meets the criteria. Besides, In my eyes these are valid examples just like any other game. Especially because these are recent 2K Games published titles, just like Mafia III.
 
The discussion was about games:



Both XCOM2 and BioShock meets the criteria. Besides, In my eyes these are valid examples just like any other game. Especially because these are recent 2K Games published titles, just like Mafia III.
Oh please. Ports not getting reviews is a bit different than a new game not getting launch reviews. Let's not be pedantic and pretend we didn't understand the question.
 
No, "Pirate it then!" wasn't my argument. I'm just in general interested in why some people refuse to pay e.g. 50 for game X as new because they view it as bad game even when they want to play it. Then they get it from Steam Super Summer Sale 2077 for e.g. 20 without a flinch. Basically why you support "bad games" when you don't want support "bad games"?

What?

To them the game isn't worth full price, simple as that.

It has nothing to do with "support". You pay money for fun. And why does buying something have to be a clear cut? Full price or no buy at all?
 
Its very sensible for people to wait on reviews. personally, having watched a couple of hours of youtube videos on Mafia 3 and really liking what I have seen, I'm looking forward to playing day one (and thanks to Best Buy its 20% off plus an extra $10 in gift certificates)

Perhaps the lack of review copies is because of relatively poor performance - both on consoles and lower spec PC's. Since I have a high end PC I am quite confident in the game, but certainly very understandable that people want to wait until after launch.
Yes. It's always a good idea to wait if possible. And when you've seen a lot of footage and you like what you see, sure. But waiting for reviews is always a good idea.
 
You don't think there'd be any blowback from the gaming press if the game bungles how it handles race, for example?

I just don't see it. Blocking off review copies all but ensures this game will go under the radar.

Maybe Austin Walker will give it a thorough analysis, but that's about it
 
For a single player game to not have early review copies, you do have to question how confident they are in the scores. Only other reason I can think is if the game badly needs a Day 1 patch that's still being worked on and don't want anyone else to see the pre-patch version of the game..
 
No, "Pirate it then!" wasn't my argument. I'm just in general interested in why some people refuse to pay e.g. 50 for game X as new because they view it as bad game even when they want to play it. Then they get it from Steam Super Summer Sale 2077 for e.g. 20 without a flinch. Basically why you support "bad games" when you don't want support "bad games"?
Late to respond, but there's a wide spectrum between "Perfect" and "Bad". In my case, I do not buy games I perceive to be "bad", period, no matter what the price. But I tend to only buy games at full price, day one, if they're truly exceptional from a review/early impressions/personal taste standpoint. I don't have unlimited funds to immediately throw money at every single game that seems "just fine" or "good" or "rough but promising"...I'm happy to support games like that eventually if they are priced more accordingly with my expectations. Buying games is not an act of charity.

As for my earlier comment specifically, again, I was snarking about the as-yet unfounded conclusions people were drawing about Mafia III based on 2K doing a common business practice that they've done many times before using a common disparaging argument people often levy at games that don't 100% meet the hype.

TL:DR, the game could be shit, the game could be great, the game could be mediocre, but until it's out in the wild it's a big ol' case of Schrodinger's Review Scores and I don't think that review copy availability is a useful barometer.
 
I'm happy that I didn't pre-order this digitally and instead went for Rise of Tomb Raider. I might get it if it turns out good but I don't have the patience to go through yet another glitchy/buggy/half finished title at its launch.

Not saying that Mafia 3 will be one. Just that nowadays when it comes to big OW games, it's better to be more cautious about getting them at launch.
 
As someone who's looking forward to the game and will be purchasing it, his "favorable" impressions seemed terrible and i wouldn't put a lot of stock into it.

He seemed like was was having that "typical" open world fun where your entertained by the fuckery the open world presents. He mentions gta multiple times in this vein. It did very little to show why mafia 3 in and of itself is potentially a fun game rather than being another open world game where funny things happen

It doesn't help that they played terribly the entire time.

That was the charm of the video

Them fucking up a lot. But the video did showcase the dynamic location encounters at least. Which was very good.

His second part he mentions how the story took him by surprise and is to him more akin to TLOU (in seriousness I assume).

Though, I'm not sure what he expected. It is a Mafia game after all.
 
Everything about this game seems artificial, looking from the outside in. Major targeted marketing blitzes, like the massive E3 banners, but the Amazon rales rank is weak and no one is really talking about it at any given time. Think about how often a Mafia III thread is on the GAF front page....that's right, almost never. This has no pre-release hype and if Mafia II was anything to go by (although apparently the publisher considers Mafia III a "new IP"?), no one is really going to care once it is out. Them not giving out review copies just seals that deal in my mind.
 
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