Polygon gives high scores to games despite their anti-consumer aspects / DRM strategy

For as long as reviews are primarily aimed at informing purchases, DRM is fair game. If Halo 5 costs $600, you better believe that would be factored into reviews, despite it having nothing to do with the actual game.

I disagree with it because I believe it would be subjectively bound to a fluctuating point. Would they keep adjusting their reviews?

Halo 5 costs 600.
Regardless of the quality presented, 600 is too much. "8.3".

Halo 5 msrp falls to 420.
While still very expensive, it now offers an easier price of entry. "8.6".

Halo 5 used* copies costs 100.
If you have the money to dish for a used copy, it is an incredible experience. "9.1" because the copy is used*.

Halo 5 is offered through Live IGC*.
Masterpiece. "11".

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As I said, it is important to inform and wager on pricing policies, strategies, functions and overall "money's worth", but I don't believe it belongs to the review or criticism of the game on its contents, even more so when such criticism has to be tied to a grading system, hence being personally against.
 
Business reasons according to you? Their reviewer had a different experience, and the initial review shows that.
The experience was guided by a special arrangement with EA. They initially reviewed the game and gave it a 9.5 when the game depends on always-online working. EA catering to journalists reviewing the game is not indicative of the actual quality or experience of playing the game. Posting early reviews with higher scores is a cash grab.
 
The experience was guided by a special arrangement with EA. They initially reviewed the game and gave it a 9.5 when the game depends on always-online working. EA catering to journalists reviewing the game is not indicative of the actual quality or experience of playing the game. Posting early reviews with higher scores is a cash grab.

Cash grab as in clicks?
 
Transition from survival horror game to third person shooter to sell more copies? Yep!
How is this anti-consumer? Honest question, i'm curious about it.

I've beaten all three Dead Space games and felt that the horror was well intact in all of the games. At least personally i didnt feel that Dead Space 3 was a shooter compared to Dead Space 1 and 2. I actually wonder why someone feels that it is a shooter game and not also a horror game. Maybe Dead Space 3 has more weapons available, but you had to do quite a fair share of shooting in Dead Space 1 and 2 as well.

The micro transactions in Dead Space 3 are just time saving stuff, you dont buy exclusive items or anything like that. Or maybe there is an upgraded Scavanger Bot that you can buy via micro transaction (i'm not sure if you can upgrade it in the game), but all it does is perhaps gathering more resources a bit faster. But the game has plenty of resources to come by in the game, so no need to buy any of the micro transactions really, expect if you want to get things done quicker. Based on this, i wouldnt call it anti-consumer at all because it doesnt affect the game nor the consumer in one way or the other.
 
He makes a really good point about Polygon spending most of their time on twitter fighting anyone who dares to disrespect their name. Number one thing that turns me off is seeing Arthur or Justin going at people who say anything bad about anything Polygon.
Anytime i hear this name i immediately think Douche, Asshole, Prick etc.
 
Polygon...the site funded by big business gives games by big businesses big scores?

Why anyone would trust that shill site is a mystery,
 
Do some of you guys freelance as PR for EA in your spare time?

Baffles me why someone (anyone) would defend and rationalize microtransactions.
 
I can't imagine SimCity having worse problems than Error 37 and multiple-hour-long server maintenance periods on weekends.

Makes me wonder why Diablo III still has its 10.


Whatever. The Sim City review was a pretty dumb move by Polygon and they're rightfully getting ridiculed for it.
 
Those who have issue with the microtransactions in Dead Space 3 should take it up with Brad Shoemaker, as well.

He stated on the Bombcast that he felt the microtransactions had no effect on the overall gameplay or balance of the game, should you choose not to purchase them.

He also didn't even know where they were in the menus (or how to use them) during their quicklook video. Dude had like 300+ ration seals in his inventory.


Do some of you guys freelance as PR for EA in your spare time?

Baffles me why someone (anyone) would defend and rationalize microtransactions.

There's a difference between defending a practice, and not being offended by it's mere existence. Do you do PR for Naughty Dog?
 
Always online games like Sim City and Diablo 3 need the MMO type of review.

Is fuckin shit like become the norm every always online game crash in the first couple of days. The publisher never going to put enough servers, because the game do a lot of online interactions to play the single player. The publisher try to improve, but in the end only waits for the number of access be lower.
 
Or why I love Giant Bomb.

You made a long thread about reviewers who overlook anti-consumer aspects yet turn around and love a guy who thinks content clearly created and iterated on during main development that is cut out for day one DLC is okay?
 
He also didn't even know where they were in the menus (or how to use them) during their quicklook video. Dude had like 300+ ration seals in his inventory.




There's a difference between defending a practice, and not being offended by it's mere existence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope
You made a long thread about reviewers who overlook anti-consumer aspects yet turn around and love a guy who thinks content clearly created and iterated on during main development that is cut out for day one DLC is okay?

When did he say this?
 
Video game review site relies on video game publishers and their pr companies to facilitate their reviews. News at 10.

Until we have a company that reviews games on their own without any sort of input from pr companies we'll never have completely unbiased reviews.
 
fair points - also i thought Wario had one here earlier, do these get updated way later when servers inevitably go down? what exactly is the cutoff date for a "living" review, and what part of that exercise isn't vanity when the metacritic score is unaffected anyway?

Going by what Gies said, they'll probably wait it out until there's no queues, then put the score back up, then never speak of it again, which is the stupidest thing ever and why it doesn't matter what they did.
 

I think you don't understand what this means.

A slippery slope argument states that a relatively small first step leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant effect, much like an object given a small push over the edge of a slope sliding all the way to the bottom.

Your argument implies that the few of us not being bothered by microtransactions in DS3 is somehow going to lead to the death of the industry as we know it. All we're saying is "hey, the implementation THIS PARTICULAR TIME is not as offensive as we thought it could have been"
 
I think you don't understand what this means.



Your argument implies that the few of us not being bothered by microtransactions in DS3 is somehow going to lead to the death of the industry as we know it. All we're saying is "hey, the implementation THIS PARTICULAR TIME is not as offensive as we thought it could have been"

Complacence towards the idea is exactly what EA wants. You'll slowly succumb to accept more and more bullshit from them as if it's a normal every day routine and something that comes with the good and bad of games.

It doesn't have to be this way.
 
It was a joke.

Irony that was lost over your thick skull.

The problem is that there was no incongruity between your continued implied argument against microtransactions in this entire thread and what a slippery slope argument actually is.
 
Complacence towards the idea is exactly what EA wants. You'll slowly succumb to accept more and more bullshit from them as if it's a normal every day routine and something that comes with the good and bad of games.

It doesn't have to be this way.

And here is the slippery slope argument you have been championing stated clearly.

"All it takes is for you to accept it once and it's all down hill from there"
 
I think that Polygon review has the policy to give score for the fun of game. It is fine, but when the game has possible problems, like microtransactions and post launch server issues, drm etc, the original review become less critical than the rest of Polygon site seems to fit.
 
What's wrong with game journalism?

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I don't know if it will get worse or not. Assuming it will is paranoid hyperbole.

Assuming it won't is equally insane. What Vire describes is not a slippery slope argument in the first place. A slippery slope fallacy would be to say: "Acceptance of microtransactions in paid $60 will lead to the end of gaming."
 
I can't imagine SimCity having worse problems than Error 37 and multiple-hour-long server maintenance periods on weekends.

Makes me wonder why Diablo III still has its 10.


Whatever. The Sim City review was a pretty dumb move by Polygon and they're rightfully getting ridiculed for it.

Polygon posted Diablo III on the Verge before their own site launched.

Also, Arthur Gies still thinks that Diablo III was perfect at launch and that Blizzard's massive overhauls, rebalancing, and apologies were all just Blizzard making a perfect game even better.
 
Demonstratively in what way?

In that plenty, plenty, plenty of budding designers, active and retired developers have been influenced by it, and that the games serve as examples of how procedures convey meaning when discussing and analyzing the formal (ontological?) elements of digital games.

Using videogames to express "meaning" is pretty misguided in the first place. If he is trying to get some political idea across (activism games lol) he would be better off (or at least more honest) writing it out clearly (although he might become less noteworthy if his ideas are nothing special).

Read either Unit Operations (esoteric work) or Persuasive Games (exoteric work). You don't seem to understand the topic.
 
What can I say? I choose not to live in fear of a future I can't predict.

All the more power to you, but ignorance is bliss.

You can either

A. Choose to accept it

B. Complain about it

I'm choosing the later.

I'm not saying gaming is doomed, great games will continue to be made. I'm saying, this is beginning of anti-consumer bullshit that will annoy us from here on out.
 
Reviewer should automatically deduct points for always online DRM.

They should treat this kind of feature like a game breaking bug, bad framerate, etc.
 
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