How to Shun Bad Video Games: Understanding the Gaming-Industrial Complex

Bukola on June 5th, 2008

Did you just blow fifty dollars on a hyped up video game only to discover that it was less then stellar? If so, here are my tips on how to shun bad video games.

Wise Up: The Sordid Relationship between Publishers and Game Reviewers

Image Credit: Videogamer.com

The business models of gaming magazines depend heavily on revenues from advertisements. With more gamers looking for compelling content online the competition for page views to drive up ad sales has intensified. The reviewers have two main objectives: First, review new games ASAP to drive traffic. Second, keep the game publishers happy with positive reviews. It’s gotten so bad that some publishers will limit what reviewers can mention or comment on. It’s even been rumored that Jeff Gerstmann, former editorial director of Game Spot, was fired after penning a critical review of Eidos’ Kane and Lynch.

Perhaps you’re wondering why the publishers have so much influence. They buy sway with reviewers through expensive ad buys, free gaming products and ‘exclusive’ access to games before the official release date. A reviewer who offers up an honest assessment of a crappy game risks being added to the publisher’s blacklist which usually means: no advance copies of the title to review. And as you know, late reviewers lose the page view and web traffic race. This is why you’ll be hard pressed to find a game with a rating of less than 7 on Gamespot.com.

Build Anticipation…. Wait Before you Buy

Image Credit: Cheatmasters.com

Wait for the real story to come out once the hype passes. I usually wait six months before buying a new title. This also saves me money as game publishers slash prices to make room for the next over-hyped game. Case in point GTA4. You’ll find that the well-known gaming sites have given GTA4 ridiculously positive reviews. I’m sure it’s a great game but waiting has given me the opportunity to hear about the it’s strengths and weaknesses from people who are not influenced by game publishers.

If You Can’t Wait, Play the Demo

Image Credit: Blogulate.com

If you can’t wait for a comprehensive review and the publisher has released a demo: go ahead and play it. This will give you a feel for the graphics, game play, and plot. After you play the demo consider when it would be ideal for you to purchase the game.

Go Indie: Focus on Independent Sources for Game Reviews

Image Credit: GameSpot

Independent reviewers tend to provide honest assessments to their readers. Remember Jeff Gerstmann? After Game Spot fired him for his critical game reviews he launched the indie game reviewing site, Giant Bomb.com

It also pays to read reviews from unexpected sources. Time Magazine reviewed GTA4 and titled it Grand Theft Auto IV: The 6.24% Review. I give them props for admitting that they only played 6.24% of the game before they wrote the review. This kind of honesty is lacking from the ‘usual’ sources.

For authentic reviews that aren’t hype-induced circle jerks you can check out the following sites:

What do you think? How do you shun bad video games?

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6 Comments:

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Christoph Malcolm
June 5th, 2008 at 11:14 pm

I read way too many gaming sites, but lately the opinions I tend to believe above all the noise come from a podcast on GameTrailers.com called Invisible Walls. It’s just a group of guys sitting around talking about the games while gameplay footage rolls in the background, and they’ve spoken openly on the show about embargoes from publishers.

My favorite standard gaming/review site is 1up.com, and I’m not entirely sure why. I’ve seen Garnett Lee co-host a lot of shows — mostly Ziff Davis stuff — and tend to like the guy. The reviews on 1up are better written than most, if not necessarily at all less susceptible to the problems you mentioned in your article.

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Tim Hinton
June 10th, 2008 at 10:15 am

I generally take advantage of Gamestop/EB Games’ 7-day return policy on used games. I’ll wait 2 weeks or a month after a new game launches, and then head down to the store and buy it used. It’s usually soon enough after the launch that I’m only getting a 3-5 dollar discount on the game, but I have 7 days to see if I like it. If I don’t, I bring it back and tell the guy behind the counter it sucks, and he gives me my money back.

The good thing about this strategy: you can do it as many times as you like, and if you’re not a complete asshole to the employees or abuse the system, you can also use the return policy as a 7-day free rental.

The bad thing about this strategy: every used copy bought is a purchase that the game developers don’t get paid for and don’t know about, which make a game seem less popular (and profitable), reducing chances of a sequel or future release from that developer. Not the most likely of scenarios, but as the secondary (used) game market continues to get bigger, it’s going to change the way data is tracked and games are marketed.

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Bukola
June 11th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

@Christoph Malcolm: I like gametrailers.com as well. I’ll go ahead and subscribe to Invisible Walls.

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Bukola
June 11th, 2008 at 12:41 pm

@Tim Hinton: I doubt your strategy is making much of a dent in the long run. Many people (including myself) would forget to bring the game back to the store :P

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Grazor
June 11th, 2008 at 2:37 pm

I never buy anything when it first comes out, I wait until a mate buys it and then borrow it! Then again, I only have a PS2 and try to avoid playing that too much ‘cos I get sucked in and end up on it for hours.

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Bukola
June 11th, 2008 at 7:12 pm

@Grazor: Lucky you. Finding friends who are willing to share their games with are hard to find!

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