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True or False: MS is blocking reviews pre launch; "journos" helping them.

Blackace said:
Wow I started a thread without trying to..
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Yeah, but it was stated a long time before you brought it back up. It didn't cause chaos then so I guess everyone must've missed it....
 
raYne said:
Yeah, but it was stated a long time before you brought it back up. It didn't cause chaos then so I guess everyone must've missed it....
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I thought it was known already too.. So I go to work and come back to a 5000+ viewed thread...
 
OpinionatedCyborg said:
I post on a messageboard. Ergo, I know the ins-and-outs of absolutely everything -- including NDAs and the like.

BTW, I hope you realize you've cursed yourself with a sexless life since you posted after Superpac. You've also cursed "stewy" aka Greg Sewart, another Ziff employee who might know a thing or two about this subject.

FUCK GAMEFAN YO!!!
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First and foremost, the first and second line reads as though it was written by a true forum user (GAMEFAQS, that is).

Second of all, BTW is a retarded acronym that I hope dies along with ORLY and YA RLY. (I realize these are not acronyms but stupid internet "words"). Mr. Sewart is Canadian, and thus immune to my genital cursing.

I second the third line. We should start up a club here on the internet about media outlets that should be buried with those legendary ET carts of long ago (Gamefan, IGN, FOX news, etc.).
 
Blackace said:
I thought it was known already too.. So I go to work and come back to a 5000+ viewed thread...
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Well this proves you have to use your power for good...

Quick! Say something else!

:lol
 
No I just took the original wallguy photo and typed a bunch of numbers on it, like MS execs were trying to keep the bad scores back. Hahaha someone please kill me.
 
Those comments (on the register) are funny :lol :lol

it's like people could see multithread with their eyes.

now people start looking at your windows PC and tell me how many threads are running :lol
 
chespace said:
So what are you guys talking about in this massive thread? :)
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Basically about all the cash you've accepted in exchange for keeping your opinions on Xbox 360 launch titles to yourself.

You bastard.
 
monkeyrun said:
Those comments (on the register) are funny :lol :lol

it's like people could see multithread with their eyes.

now people start looking at your windows PC and tell me how many threads are running :lol
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huzza?

So what are you guys talking about in this massive thread? :)
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just me...wondering why you hate freedom.
 
stewy said:
Basically about all the cash you've accepted in exchange for keeping your opinions on Xbox 360 launch titles to yourself.

You bastard.
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Poor Greg, you're so out of the loop now!

Nintendo games are a breeze to review now because they send one of their guys over each month to drop off ROMS which they then install in our GameCube/DS/GBA lockboxes. We haven't had to eat pizza, do small talk, and hang out with a Nintendo lackey for years! But you're right, those were the days (when I had to review Smash Bros. 64 or Star Wars Episode I racing overnight for 12 hours straight).

Musashi, you're one of my favorite posters on GAF. And you bring out some very good points. But most of them have already been refuted by Stinkles and others. There's no conspiracy really... it's just that the first party games haven't arrived yet (and when they do, I'm sure there will be an embargo for launch day). We've already gotten plenty of 360 reviewables for third party games, however.

But as we cater to a hardcore audience, we know that folks need opinionated info to make the right buying decisions -- which is why we're doing opinionated previews on all the launch games leading right up to 11/22.

I assure you, there's no conspiracy. There's not even an NDA -- yet! We just don't have the games (or the debugs for that matter). To be sure, Microsoft hasn't been overlording what we can and cannot write and think about their games.
 
It may be too late for a serious reply, but I'll try.

The NDAs are a condition of Microsoft sending these media outlets early systems and games. With the NDAs, you will get reviews on launch day if not before. Without NDAs, you wouldn't get fair reviews for at least a few days after launch, because Microsoft wouldn't send the early systems and games to any media outlets. This is not a case of investigative journalism in which the first outlet to discover something gains all the glory, Pulitzers, etc. It's a matter of editorial criticism, and it's in the outlets' best interest to cooperate with the content provider (Microsoft) in order to improve coverage for their readers.

By using NDAs, Microsoft also ensures that game reviewers have plenty of time with the games before any stories go to print. Otherwise, you'd have some outlets just making up stories without actually playing the games so that they can be first on the scene and score massive traffic from readers who don't know any better. NDAs also help make the process fairer for all outlets by leveling out differences in mailing times and the difference between lead times for print publications and online outlets.
 
I'm taking this opportunity to announce the "I Hate IGN+Gamefan" club! If you think Matt from IGN is a major wart on the posterior that is the Games Industry; or you think that Gamefan was the worst periodical ever to muck up a perfectly good magazine rack, then join my club and let that hate out!!!
 
They may be holding the copies. Seriously, if it's true some launch games will be available before the launch of the console, it's total gratuitious sales. If i was them i would like to make those game sell on early adopters and people without a clue, and would try to restraint as much as word of mouth as possible about the games --- like not permitting any reviews before my console launch...

Those early sales (well, has it been confirmed?) also serves a purpose of enticing more people into buying a 360. It's easier to buy a game first than a console, and when you have the game, you can't wait to buy the console. If guy X buy PD0 and it receive bad reviews, he may be deceived and sell his PD0 then not buy the console.

The only thing that is stupid is that all that sounds good in theory but how would having reviews now would really affect their sales??? I guess it wouldn't affect them much actually.
 
Wyzdom said:
They may be holding the copies. Seriously, if it's true some launch games will be available before the launch of the console, it's total gratuitious sales. If i was them i would like to make those game sell on early adopters and people without a clue, and would try to restraint as much as word of mouth as possible about the games --- like not permitting any reviews before my console launch...

Those early sales (well, has it been confirmed?) also serves a purpose of enticing more people into buying a 360. It's easier to buy a game first than a console, and when you have the game, you can't wait to buy the console. If guy X buy PD0 and it receive bad reviews, he may be deceived and sell his PD0 then not buy the console.

The only thing that is stupid is that all that sounds good in theory but how would having reviews now would really affect their sales??? I guess it wouldn't affect them much actually.
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Are you kidding, there are a bunch of people on the fence just here on GAF, much less everywhere else. The reviews will tip the scales.
EDIT: Join my club, the "I Hate IGN+Gamefan" for free, act today!!!
 
chespace said:
I assure you, there's no conspiracy. There's not even an NDA -- yet! We just don't have the games (or the debugs for that matter). To be sure, Microsoft hasn't been overlording what we can and cannot write and think about their games.
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that's really all I wanted to know. and I was just pissed that a different story was being implied. it seemed corrupt. and a lot of what you and johnnyboy say about nda's make sense. I understand that there is necessarily a grey area about the supplier of games and those that critique them, but it seemed that maybe there was some large effort to subvert that more than usual and that stunk. I appreciate your word on things as well, and accept what you're all trying to explain about it.

a big funny f.u. to those who thought I didn't want to hear it for some weird reason.
 
Musashi Wins! said:
that's really all I wanted to know. and I was just pissed that a different story was being implied. it seemed corrupt. and a lot of what you and johnnyboy say about nda's make sense. I understand that there is necessarily a grey area about the supplier of games and those that critique them, but it seemed that maybe there was some large effort to subvert that more than usual and that stunk. I appreciate your word on things as well, and accept what you're all trying to explain about it.

a big funny f.u. to those who thought I didn't want to hear it for some weird reason.
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Unrelated to the 360 situation, it really is a shame, however, that we can't really have maverick investigative reporters who aren't eventually blacklisted from publisher support in our industry. If you want early access, then you've got to play by the rules -- both contractually and politically it seems.
 
chespace said:
Poor Greg, you're so out of the loop now!

Nintendo games are a breeze to review now because they send one of their guys over each month to drop off ROMS which they then install in our GameCube/DS/GBA lockboxes. We haven't had to eat pizza, do small talk, and hang out with a Nintendo lackey for years! But you're right, those were the days (when I had to review Smash Bros. 64 or Star Wars Episode I racing overnight for 12 hours straight).
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Um yeah... I know that. It was already like that months before I ever left. I was just relating how bad it used to be, just that restrictions by game publishers are nothing new.

P.S. - yeah, I remember doing the overnight review sessions. Playing Paper Mario late into the night at the office and then giving the hot Nintendo rep a ride to her hotel. Good times.

Finishing Rogue Squadron in one night was a good time, too.
 
stewy said:
Um yeah... I know that. It was already like that months before I ever left. I was just relating how bad it used to be, just that restrictions by game publishers are nothing new.

P.S. - yeah, I remember doing the overnight review sessions. Playing Paper Mario late into the night at the office and then giving the hot Nintendo rep a ride to her hotel. Good times.

Finishing Rogue Squadron in one night was a good time, too.
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I was being sarcastic about N games being a breeze to review, btw. I know I certainly don't need a 15 pound GameCube in my backpack on the way home.
 
chespace said:
I was being sarcastic about N games being a breeze to review, btw. I know I certainly don't need a 15 pound GameCube in my backpack on the way home.
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Admit it, though. That's where you got that chiseled chest and washboard abs.
 
chespace said:
Unrelated to the 360 situation, it really is a shame, however, that we can't really have maverick investigative reporters who aren't eventually blacklisted from publisher support in our industry. If you want early access, then you've got to play by the rules -- both contractually and politically it seems.
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I could not agree more. Constructive crticism as well as investigative reporting will only make the industry stronger in the long run. By putting the pressure on the developers and publishers to be up front and honest about their processes, they will push themselves harder to meet the ever-increasing demands of today's gamer. Limiting access promotes uncertainty and cries of yellow journalism, and in some instances those cries are legitimate. It is unfortunate that all gaming publications often get connected to a conspiracy theory when even the slightest suspicion of a NDA arises on these boards. All I can say to EGM and to you Che is keep up the good work.

In addition, I think I can read enough between the lines in your previews to get some idea of what to purchase and what to avoid.
 
I believe I am partly to blame for this fiasco, see without journalistic credentials and integrity, Musashi is put in a position to listen to people like me, and that can lead to unruly impulse purchases of Battlefront II.

So please industry insiders, when it comes time for 360, please keep sanity and probity where it belongs...out of reach of parasitic douchebags such as myself.

;P
 
Brandon F said:
I believe I am partly to blame for this fiasco, see without journalistic credentials and integrity, Musashi is put in a position to listen to people like me, and that can lead to unruly impulse purchases of Battlefront II.

So please industry insiders, when it comes time for 360, please keep sanity and probity where it belongs...out of reach of parasitic douchebags such as myself.

;P
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I couldn't agree more. Thanks for making the push for integrity, Brandon. Let's play BF2 and let bygones be bygones. Of course, MS will be taping our conversations.
 
Gameplay>Graphics said:
First and foremost, the first and second line reads as though it was written by a true forum user (GAMEFAQS, that is).

Second of all, BTW is a retarded acronym that I hope dies along with ORLY and YA RLY. (I realize these are not acronyms but stupid internet "words"). Mr. Sewart is Canadian, and thus immune to my genital cursing.

I second the third line. We should start up a club here on the internet about media outlets that should be buried with those legendary ET carts of long ago (Gamefan, IGN, FOX news, etc.).
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WTF!? IGN's the pinnacle of all journalism. Period.
 
Y2Kevbug11 said:
Speaking of which, why was Jeremy being a cave troll regarding Kameo? Seriously, I was playing it the other day at Gamestop and people behind me were flipping out. The game is not unattractive by any means. However, since there is a lot of troll-killing in the game, I could see him being offended if that were the case. Jane wasn't much better.

You can't help but feel that perhaps the wrong people were assigned to certain games. Kameo seems to have gotten stuck with the, "maaaan, I'm not even GETTING a 360! Totally rad!" crowd. At least it reads like that.
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I dunno, I felt like Jane was digging the game. But whatever, maybe she doesn't "flip out" on it like the people behind you at Gamestop. Big deal? I guess that's our way of saying, maybe we don't wholeheartedly recommend the game at launch. It's really up to the reader to interpret that. Yeah?

Whatever the case, I don't think it's so hard to see why Kameo's aesthetics are evoke love/hate extremes.
 
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