Be warned this is sort of just a huge rant I have about a website I absolutely hate but still somehow visit every other day or so because I guess I'm a weak person (or perhaps I just want to be pissed off :\).
So besides BW I love to play a lot of games and I guess you could say I'm a pretty hardcore game fan (also I am going to school for game design lol). This leads me to reading a lot of game journalism and visiting a lot of game press websites (gamespot, gamasutra, IGN, giantbomb, etc). Over the years, perhaps just because I am maturing a lot, I have found it harder and harder to find good game journalism. It's so extremely rare whenever I read a game review that actually speaks to me about ANYTHING im interested in knowing about a game (and not just listing a bunch of bullet points for the game).
But now onto the subject of this blog:
I have always found IGN to be especially unprofessional and unreliable in their writings. Not only are their reviews/editorials total trash (both in how poorly written they are and by how useless/uninformative the content is), but they have some truly disgusting business practices that I guess aren't really that bad but super annoying (spreading out small articles to several pages, constantly creating pointless lists/"countdowns" every week that require you to look at 25 to 100 pages to see everything, etc).
I think my biggest gripe with the website though is just the overall tone of so many of their articles. I swear that every positive review that the site puts out reads much more like an advertisement for the game and not an actual critique/analysis of it. Read their review on pretty much any game scoring over a 9 from the last year and tell me otherwise.
Anyway today I came across this article from IGN and just felt the urge to share my anger with some people on TL, hopefully encourage them to stop trusting anything written on this site lol:
Basically just a hype article for the most hyped game of the year that they have a review about to come out for. The article is just so full of bullshit and hype that it's almost impossible to believe that no, Activision didn't write this. A 3rd party game journalist wrote this. A guy who presumably helps out consumers by judging if a game is worth your $60 or not.
Trying not to go into specific scathing, but come on!
the 1st 3 "innovations" are just the same thing (persistent character profile that ranks up and unlocks things) described differently. Not to mention that MW4 wasn't evne close to being the first game to do that, or even the first FPS (or even the first POPULAR FPS lol). BF2 had this back in 2005 (and probably FPS games before that did as well), and BF 2142 (which came out in 2006) got really in depth with the unlocking mechanic. The social network thing isn't different from a number of different services offered by other games already (FOR FREE BTW) and it's attached to a game that ISNT OUT YET. The killstreak thing I can't think of a game that did it as much as MW4, so I guess I can't fault that (although it's arguably one of the worst aspects of the series).
regardless of how much bullshit is in the article, it's just so sickening to me of how much it just FEELS and READS like a fucking advertisement I would see in a magazine or something. there's just so much of this sort of thing going on in game journalism :\. The worst part is is that I would say they are not being bought off by Activision or anything, they just either don't know how dumb this makes them look or want to please publishers to ensure that they keep getting preferential treatment (IGN always gets a lot of "exclusive advanced reviews!"). Or maybe they just have a "helping e-sports!" mentality but replace e-sports with game industry.
which reminds me of how IGN has that fucking SC2 tourney. how the fuck are they supposed to legitimately review the SC2 expansions now when they so clearly have a vested financial interest in the game selling well? How can "we" trust their review of SC2 in the first place?
I dunno, I feel like I just get trolled so hard by IGN and other shitty game "journalism" websites. Games can never grow up if so many journalists covering them are so shitty. Good games need an informed game-buying public to succeed, and shitty game journalism is getting in the way.
there are't any good gaming review site at all to be honest. but with the power of internet, you can always watch some walk through and see if the game matches your taste.
just browsing some of the comments under the article it would appear that most people seem to agree with you. i would have to agree that this article is rather ridiculous, there three points were customization, killstreaks and social media tie ins which they make out to seem like its all original and has never been tried before. i dont read much ign but i can say that if most of their reviews are like this im glad i dont spend much time on them lol
The countdowns/lists really irk me too, I can't recall how many times I've said "screw this" because I had to keep clicking through so many pages just to see what the top 5 are. By the time I've clicked 5 pages I've already lost interest.
I still go to IGN for news though, but for all my gaming reviews I go to Gametrailers.com. They don't provide written reviews but I feel their video reviews are top notch. When I watch their reviews I don't feel like they're biased, and they do critique the game properly and thoroughly. I find their reviews (even though spoken) are well worded compared to IGNs reviews. An added plus for me is the guy's voice (and it's always the same guy) is soothing to listen to haha.
they listed facebook integration as a plus? LOL. SC2 did that back in beta and people hated them for it, how can they possibly list it as a plus.. Besides the 95 percent of noobs playing MW3 that want to post how pro they are directly to their facebook wall because being a gamer is somehow cool now..
yeah after the whole Gamespot scandel game reviewing just whent to shit. IGN's always been a sad joke even in the good old days when they had a large flash games site.
I largely agree with you. The last review I approved of on IGN was 'Bioshock', my favorite review ever. I'm disappointed with the gaming industry as a whole however, not just it's journalism.
Yeah, I think it's fairly well established that IGN is kind of terrible. I've grown more fond of them since they invested in SC2 (not that a BW fan would care), but it's true what you say that this completely compromises the integrity of their SC2 reviews of, say, HoTS and LotV
If you dont like a website, dont read it. hopefully other people wont and then change might come about. As long as you're bitching about something and generating them traffic you're only compounding the problem
On November 08 2011 15:50 Endymion wrote: they listed facebook integration as a plus? LOL. SC2 did that back in beta and people hated them for it, how can they possibly list it as a plus.. Besides the 95 percent of noobs playing MW3 that want to post how pro they are directly to their facebook wall because being a gamer is somehow cool now..
No one hated them for facebook integration, everyone hated the fact that they prioritized facebook integration over chat rooms. Facebook integration was overall a plus, however ignoring other vital things such as public chat rooms was a much larger negative.
On November 08 2011 15:52 sermokala wrote: yeah after the whole Gamespot scandel game reviewing just whent to shit. IGN's always been a sad joke even in the good old days when they had a large flash games site.
Don't know if that's referring to my post but Giantbomb.com is comprised of old school gamespot editors (Jeff Gerstmann Ryan Davis Vinny Caravella Brad Shoemaker), and their shit is still awesome.
On November 08 2011 15:41 Hyde wrote: The countdowns/lists really irk me too, I can't recall how many times I've said "screw this" because I had to keep clicking through so many pages just to see what the top 5 are. By the time I've clicked 5 pages I've already lost interest.
I still go to IGN for news though, but for all my gaming reviews I go to Gametrailers.com. They don't provide written reviews but I feel their video reviews are top notch. When I watch their reviews I don't feel like they're biased, and they do critique the game properly and thoroughly. I find their reviews (even though spoken) are well worded compared to IGNs reviews. An added plus for me is the guy's voice (and it's always the same guy) is soothing to listen to haha.
what I hate about gametrailers is there's not accountability for their reviews. their narrative guy just reads a script, and i have no idea who wrote it. not to mention they always just say really dumb shit and have baffling scores that dont match up with the review words at all. like they're good for sorta getting a sense of if a game is terrible or not, but rarely have I watched a gametrailers review and though to myself "ok all questions are answered!" or even "ok that makes a lot of sense". for instance with the BF3 review (just re-watched it for reference lol) they covered the entire single player campaign in like 4 sentences, basically just saying "it is linear, but slightly more open path that some other shooters, it has some variety, x y and y, 5 hours long" without actually CRITIQUING IT or saying why x y and z is good or bad and comparing how it works to other shooters. Or look at how it talks about multiplayer. "there are these modes. you do x in each mode. 64 players!!!!" and that's as far as it goes, without talking about how it has changed from previous games or if it's better or worse than other game's multiplayer.
I like the "wot I think"s from rock paper shotgun. They aren't reviews but just an editor talking about how he felt about a game or what was fun or not to him. even if I don't agree with him at least he gave an opinion. games are art and need to be critiqued like art, not treated like a fucking car and sold on how many features it has.
also I used to really like GT before they teamed up with spiketv and stuff lol. man I hate geoff keighly and all the other douches they hired lol. just the worst personalities ever and them being hosts of a tv show about games is an absolute insult to anyone who plays games lol. NOT TO MENTION gametrailers also does really dumb shit like the top 5 thing but in different ways, my favorite example being ripping 3-second animations off of the SC2 website back in the day and putting out like 12 different videos of those lol.
On November 08 2011 15:52 sermokala wrote: yeah after the whole Gamespot scandel game reviewing just whent to shit. IGN's always been a sad joke even in the good old days when they had a large flash games site.
Don't know if that's referring to my post but Giantbomb.com is comprised of old school gamespot editors (Jeff Gerstmann Ryan Davis Vinny Caravella Brad Shoemaker), and their shit is still awesome.
I love giantbomb's quicklooks, but their reviews are sorta meh. greg kasavin was the true game journalist hero, and ever since he left gamespot went downhill (for about a year before gerstmann got fired). the giantbomb guys are really likeable and funny, but I dont think their reviews are really that great at all (so many of them are super fucking short and shallow).
On November 08 2011 15:52 sermokala wrote: yeah after the whole Gamespot scandel game reviewing just whent to shit. IGN's always been a sad joke even in the good old days when they had a large flash games site.
Don't know if that's referring to my post but Giantbomb.com is comprised of old school gamespot editors (Jeff Gerstmann Ryan Davis Vinny Caravella Brad Shoemaker), and their shit is still awesome.
I love giantbomb's quicklooks, but their reviews are sorta meh. greg kasavin was the true game journalist hero, and ever since he left gamespot went downhill (for about a year before gerstmann got fired). the giantbomb guys are really likeable and funny, but I dont think their reviews are really that great at all (so many of them are super fucking short and shallow).
I don't read the reviews really, scan them and watch the QL. What they say there and what I see of the gameplay is more than enough to inform my purchase (or non purchase) of a game.
Speaking of Greg Kasavin, he's doing a 12 hour marathon of Skyrim (like his Oblivion marathon) on the site. You might need a premium membership though, not sure. $5 bucks for a month or $50 for a year. Not usually into Let's plays or gaming marathons but I love Greg and the shit he does, so I'm definitely watching it (probably after the fact though, since I wanna play without spoilers)
On November 08 2011 15:41 Hyde wrote: The countdowns/lists really irk me too, I can't recall how many times I've said "screw this" because I had to keep clicking through so many pages just to see what the top 5 are. By the time I've clicked 5 pages I've already lost interest.
I still go to IGN for news though, but for all my gaming reviews I go to Gametrailers.com. They don't provide written reviews but I feel their video reviews are top notch. When I watch their reviews I don't feel like they're biased, and they do critique the game properly and thoroughly. I find their reviews (even though spoken) are well worded compared to IGNs reviews. An added plus for me is the guy's voice (and it's always the same guy) is soothing to listen to haha.
what I hate about gametrailers is there's not accountability for their reviews. their narrative guy just reads a script, and i have no idea who wrote it. not to mention they always just say really dumb shit and have baffling scores that dont match up with the review words at all. like they're good for sorta getting a sense of if a game is terrible or not, but rarely have I watched a gametrailers review and though to myself "ok all questions are answered!" or even "ok that makes a lot of sense". for instance with the BF3 review (just re-watched it for reference lol) they covered the entire single player campaign in like 4 sentences, basically just saying "it is linear, but slightly more open path that some other shooters, it has some variety, x y and y, 5 hours long" without actually CRITIQUING IT or saying why x y and z is good or bad and comparing how it works to other shooters. Or look at how it talks about multiplayer. "there are these modes. you do x in each mode. 64 players!!!!" and that's as far as it goes, without talking about how it has changed from previous games or if it's better or worse than other game's multiplayer.
I like the "wot I think"s from rock paper shotgun. They aren't reviews but just an editor talking about how he felt about a game or what was fun or not to him. even if I don't agree with him at least he gave an opinion. games are art and need to be critiqued like art, not treated like a fucking car and sold on how many features it has.
also I used to really like GT before they teamed up with spiketv and stuff lol. man I hate geoff keighly and all the other douches they hired lol. just the worst personalities ever and them being hosts of a tv show about games is an absolute insult to anyone who plays games lol. NOT TO MENTION gametrailers also does really dumb shit like the top 5 thing but in different ways, my favorite example being ripping 3-second animations off of the SC2 website back in the day and putting out like 12 different videos of those lol.
I can agree with you that there really isn't any accountability for who reviews the games. What are some of the dumb things they say though? Or do you just mean obvious things? As for the other things you wrote, all I can say is what you're looking for in a review is totally different from mine, I guess this may stem from you studying game designs and wanting that extra analysis. For me GT reviews provide sufficient information for to determine whether I want to invest any time in the game. Especially when I don't know jack about the game or haven't heard any new information about it/don't keep up. I don't really look too much for the "they did X which is better/worst than what Game Y has done". They go through enough of the good and the bad for me to make a choice, which is ultimately what I like. (Also they had two BF3 reviews, I wasn't sure which one you saw)
I don't watch any of the shows on GT, just their reviews and any video game footage they might have on their site during E3, TGS, etc So I can't really say anything about that.
Anyway maybe you can do some indepth reviews and post them up on your blog, wouldn't mind reading some of your thoughts about some modern games.
I only have a PC so I generally only go to Rockpapershotgun with occasional visits to PCGamer.
IGN reviews are mediocre, mostly gushing praise for established franchises on consoles, they do have very nice game guides though, helped me through DX:HR quite a lot.
I'm amazed that no one have talked about BlisteredThumbs. They might not be the most professional reviewers out there, but they're gamers... and they complain... hell yeah, they do. Angryjoeshow <-
On November 08 2011 18:43 ToDieFoR wrote: I'm amazed that no one have talked about BlisteredThumbs. They might not be the most professional reviewers out there, but they're gamers... and they complain... hell yeah, they do. Angryjoeshow <-
People that still do the "Look at me swear and scream at games" are just riding on the game of the avgn. Reviews like that are always just nitpicking.
The writers have been out of sync with the community as the gamer developers. Practically everyone can label themselves gamers nowadays. Only difference with these people is that they are journalists as well.
I doubt any of you could do any better, and if you did attempt to there would be a huge wave of people bitching and moaning about your reviews to. The internet is a big place and mostly filled with critics (I blame anonymity)
not to mention they do more for e-sports than any of you do.
Take a deep breath and try to think of something constructive. Flinging shit at everyone seldom helps a cause
On November 08 2011 22:35 prplhz wrote: yea i never read game reviews either, all sites suck. no exceptions.
Youtube, for game trailers.
I don't know about anyone else here but I have never had much of a problem being able to figure out whether or not I'll like a game based on a ~2 minute gameplay trailer and a short paragraph with a description of the game. Except Fable III, that game was trash. I even tried to like it.
Might be because virtually every game is a sequel though and/or fits firmly into a genre I have experience in. E.G. Gears of War 3, CoD, all those other 'modern' FPS games, Starcraft 2, etc.etc.
If it's an Xbox game there's usually a free demo you can try it out on as well. I played Mirror's Edge's demo like 5 times before buying it lol, and I tried to give Dante's Inferno a chance as well but it was so awful omg.
Sadly the only reviews I ever take seriously are the ones from Zero Punctuation. It's the Jon Stewart effect- the whole news culture is so hopelessly fucked that the only credible sources are ones parodying news/reviews.
Well yeah. If you actually believe ign/gamespy etc then we are in a golden age of gaming and crap like unchartered 3, red dead redemption and mgs4 are perfect 10/10 games that can be improved... RIGHT.
Anyways they give out too many 9+ reviews these days.. what happened to when HL2 the most influential shooter of a generation couldnt get over a 9.7 they would prolly give that to a fucking halo sequel these days.
I've never read IGN for that reason. After a few articles I was just disgusted by their business model. Innovation in MW3? Oh please... They're worse than I thought.
On November 08 2011 22:26 MulletMurdoc wrote: I doubt any of you could do any better, and if you did attempt to there would be a huge wave of people bitching and moaning about your reviews to. The internet is a big place and mostly filled with critics (I blame anonymity)
not to mention they do more for e-sports than any of you do.
Take a deep breath and try to think of something constructive. Flinging shit at everyone seldom helps a cause
so much wrong with this post
goddamnit
1) I don't make money writing reviews, so it doesnt matter if I could do better. nor do I claim to have a reasonable opinion on games that other people should know of before making game purchases (whereas these guys do).
The words innovation and Call of Duty in the same sentence makes my head explode.
If you want good gaming journalism, read PC Gamer (there's a minority that claims bias, but I don't see it), or read The Escapist. IGN is pretty blah unless you need hard and fast raw info, like release dates and stuff like that.
On November 08 2011 15:50 Endymion wrote: they listed facebook integration as a plus? LOL. SC2 did that back in beta and people hated them for it, how can they possibly list it as a plus.. Besides the 95 percent of noobs playing MW3 that want to post how pro they are directly to their facebook wall because being a gamer is somehow cool now..
No one hated them for facebook integration, everyone hated the fact that they prioritized facebook integration over chat rooms. Facebook integration was overall a plus, however ignoring other vital things such as public chat rooms was a much larger negative.
On November 08 2011 22:26 MulletMurdoc wrote: I doubt any of you could do any better, and if you did attempt to there would be a huge wave of people bitching and moaning about your reviews to. The internet is a big place and mostly filled with critics (I blame anonymity)
not to mention they do more for e-sports than any of you do.
Take a deep breath and try to think of something constructive. Flinging shit at everyone seldom helps a cause
I think the problem is that people who consider themselves "professional reviewers" really shouldn't. I'm not specifically talking about any one website, but just in general there is such a huge saturation of journalists that a lot of reviews/articles are shitty. I don't agree with a lot of the reviews that happen on IGN or any of the other huge websites (Destructoid, Gametrailers, Gamespot, etc.), but I do think better of IGN because of IPL. Its kind of odd really, how games generally have inflated scores, while movies are criticized very harshly in some circumstances.
Giantbomb and Rock Paper Shotgun are my only sources for reviews.
The majority of the bigger sites take bribes from the publishers/developers to give their games a good score. That's why the rating scale is so fucked up these days, and you could tell they're taking bribe money just by reading the actual review (because who the fuck actually thinks Modern Warfare 3 is revolutionary, whether it's good or not).
On November 11 2011 07:35 LoLAdriankat wrote: Giantbomb and Rock Paper Shotgun are my only sources for reviews.
The majority of the bigger sites take bribes from the publishers/developers to give their games a good score. That's why the rating scale is so fucked up these days, and you could tell they're taking bribe money just by reading the actual review (because who the fuck actually thinks Modern Warfare 3 is revolutionary, whether it's good or not).
I think this link illustrates your point very clearly.
I gotta agree, I stopped reading mainstream review sites 5-6 years ago and it was bad even then. The difference back then was there were still old school journalists that reviewed games for systems like the dreamcast and still had the balls to give scores lower than a 7 with enough seniority that they wouldn't catch flak/get fired. I'm guessing the industry also didn't have the hands so deep in mainstream's pockets.
I feel it's just part of the sequel phenomenon, mags/sites know that if they give CoD 10 a bad review there's a chance they'll be shut out of CoD 11,12,13, and 14 beta/first playthroughs and won't have exclusive interviews and as much content so they'd rather not risk it.
I am only bumping this because I cannot yet make a thread of my own.
I was in San Francisco today and decided to take Painuser, HD, and catspajamas up on their offer to visit the IGN office. They invite the community to come in on almost every broadcast of IPL. I was greeted by confused looks from the receptionist when I arrived and explained why I was there. She ran and got AJ from e sports and he assumed it was some reddit post that I was basing my visit off of and rudely told me to leave.
I am a true fan and only wanted to see where IPL was cast. They treated me like a crazy bum who had no basis for being there. They have forever lost a fan. So if your planning on going for a visit..... Don't .
On February 03 2012 05:38 NoobKing55 wrote: I am only bumping this because I cannot yet make a thread of my own.
I was in San Francisco today and decided to take Painuser, HD, and catspajamas up on their offer to visit the IGN office. They invite the community to come in on almost every broadcast of IPL. I was greeted by confused looks from the receptionist when I arrived and explained why I was there. She ran and got AJ from e sports and he assumed it was some reddit post that I was basing my visit off of and rudely told me to leave.
I am a true fan and only wanted to see where IPL was cast. They treated me like a crazy bum who had no basis for being there. They have forever lost a fan. So if your planning on going for a visit..... Don't .
lol tell the receptionist to fuck off and then say you're going to go flame their forums, ez out
While I do feel bad for you, I can't imagine that it went down the way you're writing it. What seems more reasonable is that you came and the receptionist had no clue what you were talking about (I'm sure whoever the receptionist is doesn't watch IPL and has no idea HD/PainUser/Cats said that), and ofc it's a work day so I doubt they'd let someone just show up unannounced and go into a place of work.
I think you took them way too literally (altho I don't know their wording on broadcasts so I can't say for sure). If someone says "ya stop by and check out the studio," it probably doesn't mean just show up randomly and expect a tour. Usually companies are more than happy to give tours of their facilities, but generally there are procedures one must follow, register in advance, etc.
I'm sure they'd be more than happy to assist you in the future, prolly just shoot them an email in advance next time. Don't think you should judge IPL based on this one situation
On February 03 2012 07:12 Xeris wrote: While I do feel bad for you, I can't imagine that it went down the way you're writing it. What seems more reasonable is that you came and the receptionist had no clue what you were talking about (I'm sure whoever the receptionist is doesn't watch IPL and has no idea HD/PainUser/Cats said that), and ofc it's a work day so I doubt they'd let someone just show up unannounced and go into a place of work.
I think you took them way too literally (altho I don't know their wording on broadcasts so I can't say for sure). If someone says "ya stop by and check out the studio," it probably doesn't mean just show up randomly and expect a tour. Usually companies are more than happy to give tours of their facilities, but generally there are procedures one must follow, register in advance, etc.
I'm sure they'd be more than happy to assist you in the future, prolly just shoot them an email in advance next time. Don't think you should judge IPL based on this one situation
It's like Xeris said.
I apologize if I came off as rude, I was merely inquiring about where the idea that we freely give office tours came from.
We do not give office tours or allow people to visit freely without prior notice given. There are dedicated times for such events such as IPL Fanfest which was held a couple months ago as well as First Friday (First Friday of every month you can sign up for an office tour. Contact /IGNJobs on Facebook or Twitter).
Especially now, as we gear up for IPL4 and our other programming, there is a lot of sensitive information being discussed and passed around our offices. Whenever we give tours, we make sure that we let our staff know about it in advance to ensure that information isn't released accidentally.
Again, I apologize that we were not able to give you a tour of the IPL office.
Interesting that this was recently bumped considering they just published an opinion piece on COD stating how stale it is and how much it needs to change .
lol, ign has been like this since back when I was little playing Yu-Gi-Oh! for my gameboy advanced. Oh how I loved to go to my friends house and get new card codes so I could have the best deck to beat no one but the a.i's with
EPT
Brutal 
. 
