can someone confirm this from their web site. gamespot wtf nobody coul give a rip. do the world a favor. don't review mgs4
In reviews land, we at GameSpot have been put in a really tough position by multiple developers and publishers of late. We refused to cater to one of these whims last week, in regards to the review code provided to us for Ninja Gaiden II by Microsoft. In case you weren't aware, code provided to American review outlets was not final, and frankly, did not perform well (oddly, the European press was given retail code. The discrepancy baffles us as much as it baffles you). Microsoft announced that many of these problems, such as loading times and framerate issues, would not be present in the final version. Some outlets published a review early and noted the potential differences. At GameSpot, we chose not to give you a review that isn't based on the same software, frankly because we think that playing along with this publisher-enforced mind game (and therefore enabling it) is unethical and does a disservice to our readers.
The more recent mind-boggling publisher requests have come from Konami regarding Metal Gear Solid 4--requests that clearly cross the line. The first involved an event that we wanted no part of. The majority of the American press was recently flown to Japan for a so-called "boot camp," where reviewers spent two and a half days playing Metal Gear Solid 4 under the watchful eyes of the development team, socialized and dined with them, and then provided focus group-type feedback on the final day. We flatly refused this request, because we believe that an environment like this is contrary to the impartiality required to review a game--particularly a major game such as this one. We believe that journalists should not have to adhere to such demands, and that doing so puts them in an unethical and awkward position. In our eyes, it would be inappropriate for us to socialize with developers during the reviews process. And we think reasonable people would agree.
It has also been widely reported that Konami blatantly asked the press not to mention two pieces of pertinent information in their reviews: how long the cutscenes are, and how long the installation process is. Publishers routinely ask reviewers not to publish certain story points because they are considered spoilers. That's fair, and we've never resisted requests of that nature. However, cutscene length and installation length are pertinent subjects within the context of a review, and speaking on a personal level, I believe it is flat-out wrong for any publisher to request that pertinent information be left out of a review. The journalist decides what information is most important for the review--not the developer or its publisher.
These are mind games that put us in an awfully awkward position. Of course we want our reviews to be timely and competitive, but never at the expense of accuracy and objectiveness. As reviews begin to trickle out from other publications, our audience complains that we're "late," and by securing exclusive reviews and playing along with these unreasonable publisher requests, some publications foster this idea that the reviews process is a race to publication. Publishers create this environment--but many press outlets enable it, without questioning it, because it brings them all-important traffic. I, for one, am more interested in a review that isn't haunted by these specters, and I think you would want the same.
As of this writing, we are unsure if we will have a Metal gear Solid 4 review published by the game's release date. We have not received review code, and the earliest Konami is willing to provide it is on the 9th, three days before release. It's unfortunate that publisher politics have reached this point, where refusing to meet these unreasonable demands means that we and our readers are effectively punished. Please understand this much: We will bring you a review of Metal Gear Solid 4 when we've played the same code on the discs you buy, and played it in an appropriate, unbiased environment. We think you'll agree that this is the only real choice.
sorry if this is old news.
