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Rooster Teeth berate Jeff Gerstmann/Giant Bomb's Fallout 4 review while...

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alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
jeffwinendutg.jpg
 

Haunted

Member
Not a good look for these folks.

I know that riding the line for these major Youtube influencer channels can be tough once they pass a certain viewership threshold. Between still trying to appear as "regular fans", Youtube personalities that got big for just having fun and shooting the shit - yet simultaneously being on the corporate payroll with exclusive access, [often undisclosed] advertorials and sponsored content etc

They seem to have gone full shill for Fallout 4. Whether the money was just that good this time around, or maybe they're certain that their audience isn't old enough to know better and they're calculating that they can get away with stuff like this (hey, it worked for the Yogscast people), I don't know. But they've crossed the line into flatout shilling territory with this and it's just not a good look for them, especially since they seem to covet that journalistic legitimacy and peer acceptance like so many other personal Youtube channels turned media companies.
 

Visceir

Member
Picking Gerstmann as a target for this kind of criticism seems extremely weird and dumb, he is one of the most legit and respected veterans in the industry.
 
It's not *just* the fact that they had a problem with Jeff or his review in particular. It's that given their reach and audience, they're perpetuating this ridiculous idea of reviews needing to be similar and that people can't have differing opinions on games. According to them, EVERYONE needs to like Bioshock Infinite and EVERYONE needs to like Fallout 4.

Well, yeah. Video games are objectively good or bad and all review scores need to reflect that.
 
I don't see how lowering the score by one star due to technical issues is "giving it a low score on technical issues alone"

He cleared noted that the deduction was for technical issues, allowing those who don't care about those things (like myself) the opportunity to factor that into their purchasing decisions. Seems fair to me.

One star in a five star system is huge. If he felt the game was a four he should have given it a four and said if all these technical issues bother you then it's not for you.

It's all personal preference on how you view review scores. No real right or wrong. Because I am a gamer that rarely gets bothered by technical performance all I care about is to know how good or bad the game is. Bad frame rate doesn't bother me, bad gameplay does.
 
what exactly would RT fans have to be upset about?

Well, most sane RT fans realize that a lot of the people at RT are borderline shills. I watch their Let's Plays mostly, so I avoid their opinions of most popular games. Funniest part of this whole thing is that of all of the RT guys that I watch, Ryan is the only one who ever calls out Microsoft. Seeing him say stupid shit like this is certainly making me less of a fan.
 
People go apeshit and throw equivalent hissy fits once their darling games are scored lower by an outlet, see every Naughty Dog review thread and the like.
Exactly!! Dont see why they do the same as any forum or Reddit user, but are being criticized here. But hey, if its not Giantbomb, it sucks right... They do seem enthusiastic for Fallout, so most here must be conflicted. "They praise Fallout but criticized Jeff, what do I do, its like choosing between two things I love, who to attack/defend."

I'm not familiar with the specific review in question and I have no idea if the Rooster Teeth comments were off base in this circumstance, but I'm glad to read that someone is publicly taking Gerstmann to task in some form. The guy is a stick-in-the-mud blight on games media that's treated like a messiah for giving one shit game a mediocre review a decade ago. He has zero enthusiasm and only cynicism for gaming -- and it shows in both his writing as well as his podcast. He should just switch over to writing about wrestling or something that he actually enjoys.
I agree completely.
 

conman

Member
Never heard of these people. I'm no fan of Giant Bomb of of Jeff Gerstmann, but you know Rooster Teeth must suck if they devote so much time and energy to bad-mouthing their peers in the industry. Do your jobs. If people like what you do, they'll listen to you. It's too easy to earn fickle, sensation-hungry viewers by indulging in gossip and pot-shots. Sounds like these blowhards have been taking cues from the Fox News playbook.
 
Seems like a stupid and petty thing to get upset over. Does Rooster Teeth even do game reviews? They always struck me as just entertainers, not journalists so why are they talking about this at all?
 
This a really sad situation, I'm a fan of Giant Bomb and Jeff's work and think him to be one of the realest people in the industry and about as impartial as they come. So seeing people who are questioning the journalistic merits of his review (remember the same buy that got sacked for giving Kane and Lynch a bad review even though GameSpot had a big marketing deal with the publisher) because he "reviews it low to get page hits" is just really messed up.

Plus having the gall to question anyones integrity while wearing their $120 Pip-Boys and making Bethesda sponsored Fallout 4 videos is just insane. This whole situation really puts Rooster Teeth into a negative light, not only does it make them look like fanboys but it also shows how tone deaf they can be when it comes to responding to criticism.
 

Curufinwe

Member
Fallout merchandise or not, I've always found Rooster Teeth speak from the heart and I can't say the same about Giant Bomb. 'Wine and cheese' might be a bit much but I think the general gist of what she said is spot on about them.

I love when shills tell me everything is awesome!
 
Its funny to read this thread on the same day as the Kotaku thread (getting blacklisted by Bethesda and Ubisoft). Quite the study in contrasts.
 

libregkd

Member
One star in a five star system is huge. If he felt the game was a four he should have given it a four and said if all these technical issues bother you then it's not for you.
Which he did, there is a 4 Star review of Fallout 4 on the site if you don't think technical issues are a problem.
 
I don't know whether they are shills for Fallout because of money/swag or just gigantic emotional Fallout fanboys, cause that's the reaction you get when you go on a GameFAQs message board and say something slightly negative about a popular game.
 

Bsigg12

Member
Fallout merchandise or not, I've always found Rooster Teeth speak from the heart and I can't say the same about Giant Bomb. 'Wine and cheese' might be a bit much but I think the general gist of what she said is spot on about them.

That cold hard cash speaks so well from the heart.
 
It got weirdly personal when they went to mentioning Jeff's mixlr. It's existence is rarely brought up in both the site and the podcast. Jeff's response pretty much sums it up.
 
One star in a five star system is huge. If he felt the game was a four he should have given it a four and said if all these technical issues bother you then it's not for you.

It's all personal preference on how you view review scores. No real right or wrong. Because I am a gamer that rarely gets bothered by technical performance all I care about is to know how good or bad the game is. Bad frame rate doesn't bother me, bad gameplay does.

He split the scores based on platform: 4 for PC, 3 for consoles. Also, if it's all personal preference on how you view review scores, why go into how you think he should have scored it? Should technical performance not factor into how good or bad he thinks the game is?
 
This is approaching HipHopGamer levels of nonsense. Never say anything bad about any game because then you might jeopardize your YouTube sponsorship dollars. "Games are really hard to make, every game should just get a high score because they tried real hard!"
 
It got weirdly personal when they went to mentioning Jeff's mixlr. It's existence is rarely brought up in both the site and the podcast. Jeff's response pretty much sums it up.

Yeah, the tone of the mixlr comment made it sound like Meg had some weird, deep personal investment in this.
 

Rated-G

Member
Seems like a stupid and petty thing to get upset over. Does Rooster Teeth even do game reviews? They always struck me as just entertainers, not journalists so why are they talking about this at all?

Yeah they don't actually do reviews, they talk about industry news that interests them, games they're currently playing or excited about etc. The Patch isn't a terribly formal podcast. It's kind of weird how much people assume they've been paid by Bethesda too, considering at least in the cases of Gus and Meg, the two wearing the pip boys in the video, they bought their own, and didn't get freebies. I know some of the people at the company did get early digital access to the game, but I think the only game that's officially sponsored Rooster Teeth content recently has been Rock Band 4, and they've been very open about that.
 

VanWinkle

Member
Absolutely ridiculous. I OFTEN disagree with Jeff Gerstmann, but I've never once got the vibe that his low scores are him looking for attention, or just wanting to be different. I actually just feel like he's a really cynical guy when it comes to games lately and he generally doesn't enjoy playing them anymore.
 

Seventy70

Member
I'm not familiar with the specific review in question and I have no idea if the Rooster Teeth comments were off base in this circumstance, but I'm glad to read that someone is publicly taking Gerstmann to task in some form. The guy is a stick-in-the-mud blight on games media that's treated like a messiah for giving one shit game a mediocre review a decade ago. He has zero enthusiasm and only cynicism for gaming -- and it shows in both his writing as well as his podcast. He should just switch over to writing about wrestling or something that he actually enjoys.

We need more people like Jeff reviewing games. He reviews it for what it is and isn't affected by the Bandwagon Effect. Are you telling me that a year from now people are actually going to give a shit over a couple of points for an decent game? No, they will be busy hyping up the next game like it's the second coming.

It's telling that someone who rights a sensible review gets this kind of reaction. Maybe people need to stop getting carried away in the hype.
 

zsynqx

Member
Yer, not a fan of Rooster Teeth to be honest. I would put them in the same boat as Machinima and Funhaus in terms of integrity and legitimacy when it comes insight into the industry. They do have a loyal base of fans, but I assume that has more to do with the personalities and their "hilarious antics" rather than their critical eye.
 

Hoo-doo

Banned
I didn't even know this company existed.
ZxnKUQf.jpg

But yeah gaming review sites like to shit on each other and call each other out all the time. I don't think there is any actual hate or bad intentions

Is big head mode activated on this dude?

Rooster Teeth making a mockery of themselves here.
 

KarmaCow

Member
Yer, not a fan of Rooster Teeth to be honest. I would put them in the same boat as Machinima and Funhaus in terms of integrity and legitimacy when it comes insight into the industry. They do have a loyal base of fans, but I assume that has more to do with the personalities and their "hilarious antics" rather than their critical eye.

Funhaus is actually part of Rooster Teeth and they were part of Machinima before that. :p
 

Breads

Banned
4/5 on PC, 3/5 on console.

Which I'd agree with.

Same.

5/5 should be reservered for the rare magnum opus and 4/5 is reserved for exceptional games. FO4 has writing, gameplay, quality of life, technical, and graphical issues so 3/5 console/ 4/5 PC is more than fair. And I say this being a huge FO4 fan who hates the main character's story, is still not conviced by Bethesda, but has nonetheless played FO4 for 100 hours giving up a week of vacation and an entire night of sleep in order to play it.

But no instead fanboys (in a broader sense, not specifically FO4) will only accept their games being rated at a 7-10 point scale where anything below are joke scores with absolutely no granulation.
 
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