IGN’s Greg Miller has no idea why his Dead Space 2 review sucks

gamejournos: Have you read IGN’s review of Dead Space 2, published at the tail end of last week? If you haven’t, allow me to offer my appraisal of the work: It’s a terribly-written, poorly-constructed mess of a review that, as many have pointed out, reads like it was penned by nine year-old with a marketing degree.

[GSpartan777]

This picture basically points out what Reddit was trying to tell IGN's reviewer about his Dead Space 2 review - http://i.imgur.com/cFm8Q.pn...

Despite the good score, it was a pretty poor written review.

[SasanovaS1987]

funniest thing is, majority of these journalists are a waste of oxygen, yet the review scores are taken so seriously. why, i will never know

[toaster]

He replied to Reddit btw.

http://www.ign.com/blogs/Gr...

[Mmmkay]

i don't care about the reviews. i play what i like.

[lociefer]

lol fuckin grammar nazis, give the guy a break , every1 is subjected to errors , even crappy sites like ign

[ExplosionSauce]

The level of Grammar Nazism is even bigger than his errors.
I read the review and looked past these since everything written made sense. I didn't have to go back and reread a sentence because of how bad it was, because really, it wasn't that bad.

This
http://i.imgur.com/cFm8Q.pn...
looks like it was made by one of my old teacher, buy with a demeaning sarcastic tone.

[ChrisGTR1]

so now were getting people that are reviewing reviews? some people just have too much time to spare.

[edhe]

"lol fuckin grammar nazis, give the guy a break , every1 is subjected to errors , even crappy sites like ign"

You'd think that someone who composes words *for a living* would actually do it right, no?

[nix]

but IGN DOES SUCK... Greg!!!

@toaster: thanks for the link. q; you should read the first comment there. he gets killed right there! BAAM!

EDIT: i wonder where HHG and the kinds rank here in this debate! i hope they are keeping a close look here.

[Kleptic]

Ok...So this entire situation is based on the 'community' finally firing back at a reviewer...and the reviewer there by being 'confused' as to what wasn't liked...

I get that...and guess it needed to happen...but I read this review the day it came up...and watched the video review (which actually gives the reader/viewer the same overall 'gist', but in a much better fashion imo)...and even though it was poorly written; this was hardly a prime example of how gaming journalism has become little more than a joke lately...

The biggest point is just don't take these things seriously...There was a time where gaming journalists had the amounts of credibility needed to properly justify their opinions...a case of 'they might know about this shit more than you do'...not the case anymore...its their fault, they blew it, leave it at that...and simply stop taking them seriously...They won't irritate you...at all...if you take that approach...

and to me...the best sites for getting game info are from the guys that actually talk about how ridiculous their own jobs are...I listen to Giantbomb's bombcast pretty often, and while each dude on there can have some pretty scathing opinions about certain titles and franchises that I actually enjoy...they are always the first to point out how often they are wrong...plus they read hate mail...

[Baka-akaB]

Lol the "anti-grammar nazi" brigad is maybe precisely why that kind of writer still thrives .

As long as guys like that dont care and represent the majority , they'll be successful .

But yeah he's hardly the worst offender . At least the content made sense . A big + compared to the usual crap

[Motorola]

@GenoZStriker Who ever made that picture should have circled "Follow Us on Twitter" and said, "If you tweet as well as you write reviews, no :)"

[Kurt Russell]

I agree the writing is shit. But I don't understand why anyone gives a shit... If a crap program on TV comes on, I change channel.

[PS3pwnsyou]

English isn't even my native language but the correction from Reddit has a typo, it says "paragraph begains" instead of "paragraph begins" lol

I guess if you're gonna rip apart another writer your correction should be 100% perfect, so LMAO PWNED HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA

[nveenio]

I think it's stupid to expect a video game journalist to write a Pulitzer...

[jeseth]

Some people need to step back and look at some of the things they waste there time complaining about.

This may be the low of lows.

What's next?

"The game sucked but the 'A. Author' had yet another AAA review! IGN pwns all others reviewers"

Seriously guys and gals...is there that much of a gaming drought? The constant complaining is getting pathetic.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

when your job is being a reviewer and writing reviews there should be some professionalism.

[wsoutlaw87]

The point though, is that it isn't just the grammar, the review itself is also very poorly written. It's more about how he enjoyed it and played it more than once, than the game itself. He also set up his review like a kid in school who is writing his first paper. "I’m going to write about..." is straight out of the 4th grade handbook along with "My paper was about..." for a conclusion. If the only problem with the review was some grammar mistakes he would get a few comments about them and people would move on. This review however made everyone wonder if this was actually written by someone who considers them self a possessional journalist and reviewer.

[HappyGaming]

Will someone review the review of IGN's review?
Maybe we should even give the review of the review a score so we can have more things argue about on N4G.

[ReservoirDog316]

Haha, I think....you guys...are overreacting...just a bit. It wasn't terribly* written. Probably not a guy with a major in english but whatever. I'm sure anyone that writes lol or brb or btw or anything like that can live after reading it.

edit: On topic (or possibly off topic?), Dead Space 2 sounds really good. And I didn't even play 1.

[smashman98]

lol jesus christ these are video game reviews, not economical crisis articles

I personally like the unprofessional ways of ign i mean seriously we play games for fun and when it comes to video game reviews i just wanna know if its good or not in most cases.

And they usually get the point across well i mean do u people honestly get distracted by these gramatical errors. u make it seem as if he wrote it like

"Deadspace2 iz da shit 4reals its badass and scary and cool and its just better than the first part which was pretty beast u know?"

when they write it like that then ill complain but for now im more than happy

[MeanOldman]

wow the mods really have it in for morg. 21-2 on the agrees an hes trollin?????????????????????

jus how is what he said trollin when he is agreein with the article? these mods is so biased it reeks. an people wonder was wrong with this place. you got people in this thread attackin other people but thas okay. morg agrees with the article but hes trollin? dont need no more proof that some people is targeted by the mods. when a competing site shows up thas fair these people here got no one to blame but theyselves.

[kancerkid]

Video games are serious business.

[ugabugaz]

Yeah, Very clearly illustrated. I'm pretty sure he gets it, he's just trying to defend himself at this point.

[SnuggleBandit]

Most reviews are written this poorly, I don't see what the big fuss is. "Professional" game reviewers have lost pretty much all of their credibility this gen.

Their waning professionalism though, doesn't just stop at their poor grammar. Just look at how many gaming controversies there have been in the past few years.

Gamespot's "too much variety" review
Destructoid's "perfect 10" review
Every single site taking advantage of "the console wars"

The list goes on and on...

[Armyless]

Most reviews are written poorly. The job requirements of game "journalism" is the breadth of game experience one has acquired through their lifetime... which is inversely proportional to the amount of time one has dedicated to studying their homework.

[saladthieves]

Let's just say that Greg's scary grammar teacher came back for payback.

[CaptainPunch]

Who cares what a no name site thinks. Whoever wrote the article has too much time on their hands. Play the fucking game.

[JTHomeslice]

I hope someone got college credit for this.

[Liefx]

Just so everyone knows, he replied to Reddit AGAIN, this time ridiculing the review of the review. I would link you but Reddit is down right now.

[SonyPS360]

Someone should make a review about his review of the IGN review.

Yeah, it's all stupid. Get off the "IGN sux!!1" bandwagon, you idiots. You all howl the same bullshit and never say why, other than some hypocritical nonsense about how they scored X game higher than Y game.

Oh and spelling errors. Boo fucking hoo. Have a day off would you?

[zeddy]

its a pretty poor written review? and what qualifies you to to say that? and what qualifies gamejournos opinion? any idiot can open up a site and say something or do a review. i've read the review i dont see anything wrong with it, then again i dont have a degree in english grammer or maybe the review wasent written for people with a degree in english grammer or maybe it was just done for the regular guy.

[Redempteur]

Soory but people have pointed out the grammar errors in the review numerous times , see one of the first posts ..

i don't care when it's one typo ..or two ... but no on the whole article .. that's his job .

I'm a programmer and yes i can make a mistake .. one bug or two .. but i'm pretty sure you won't accept a full bug-ridden program coming from me .

[Nikhil]

The guy that's "editing" clearly knows less about grammar than he thinks. He refers to the future tense as the conditional, and thinks that switching tenses from the present progressive to the present is incorrect... What a doucher. I swear, some people just get off on what they think is their own brilliance.

[Christopher]

While there are some poor parts to the writing, the image I've looked at has portions that are very heavy handed in the writing critique and a lot of it is up to opinion, not based on proper grammar. And even then, a lot of his suggestions wouldn't improve the review, and in some cases would introduce new grammatical errors.

For example: "Unlike Uncharted's Nathan Drake who can kill a few hundred pirates and never seem worn down by it, Isaac [...]"

You really don't need to qualify "it" in the sentence since the action being referenced is right there in plain site ("... kill a few hundred pirates...").

What I'm surprised is that he didn't point out the need for a comma following "Unlike Nathan Drake".

So, yes, Greg wrote a poor review, but the guy complaining did a pretty poor job of analyzing Greg's writing as well.

What I don't understand is why this didn't go through an editorial review. When I worked for IGN -- I was a site manager for a few of the Vault Network sites -- we always had editorial reviews of everything that went up on the site. There was a specific message board where you would submit new articles and people would review the content prior to it ever being posted. Has IGN done away with this concept entirely?

Also, I love the complaints people have about long sentences. I remember reading The Metamorphosis and seeing sentences that almost spanned half a page.

[Zinc]

I agree with you. Generally, sentences can be just about any length, as long as they make sense and are properly constructed. There really isn't any hard and fast rule about their length, even though some teachers might have personal preferences. That's why commas and semi-colons (compound) exist, to make sentences have logical pause points, so the ideas and concepts being conveyed don't become lost in a stream of consciousness.

I know some people think that between 20 or 30 words is about where you want to stop at, but again, it's not some 'must follow' rule. There are sentences that are properly constructed, that go on for 70+ words.

Hell, some people don't think you can call one sentence a paragraph. However, technically one sentence and even one word paragraphs are perfectly okay.

Ultimately, we all make mistakes, but I think the gripes are really about his sycophantic and overall simplistic writing style. But, I suppose if he is appealing to a certain type of person or audience, maybe he intended to sound that way.

[Man In Black]

I'd probably feel sorry for him, if not for his flamebait article a while ago in which he tried to claim that his opinion of Mass Effect 2 being better than Uncharted 2 was a fact.

[TardcoreGamer]

I'm so BEYOND this now haha. check out reddit now. they are basically turning against themselves now. with editing the edits!

[SkyCrawler]

Gotta love Reddit. Its a rich man's 4chan XD

[Maximus Corruptor]

Even his reply is poorly written..wtf? I guess him and bush went to the same college of "Retard State" and got a degree in W'ya

[Qbanboi]

He misspelled "half" in "aged 9 and a harf". lol

[JsonHenry]

I think it is funny that everyone is beating this guy up because he writes like the rest of us talk.

Big deal. If I wanted an English grammar lesson I would have went back to college. I read the review and since I don't have a stick up my ass don't give two sh!ts that the guy didn't produce an article that could have passed for a piece of Shakespeare.

[mugoldeneagle03]

And I'm not backing up IGN at all, I think most of their review process is inconsistent to say the least, but some people need to calm down.

There are so many different review tactics now a days, you can't really fault one company on a poorly written one. I mean I used to LOVE 1UP when they were hot. The blog-like review process seemed so much more personal and people really dug it. Now, at least to me, it seems like IGN is kind of trying to find a median between the two.

The review was poorly written, but he still managed to get across his likes and dislikes to me, and isn't that what your supposed to do? I don't want a fucking term paper professionally written telling me why I'd like Dead Space 2. I wan't someone who loves games, to play it, and tell me about it, thats it.

The funny thing about all this? Game journalists these days get shit on like this on a daily basis, and I STILL want to be one some day. A cool, yet challenging job as this article clearly points out.

[The Dark Knight]

I come on N4G to see video game news..Not Grammar Nazi's bitching about a poorly written review. Has this site really sunk so low that people take time to go through a review and 'spell check' it all. Just play the damn game fellas.

[zane_7849]

I enjoy Greg's reviews/articles/previews because he seems to put some genuine enthusiasm into them. Grammar or other slight mistakes don't really factor in. The review told me about the game, it wasn't meant to be an English term paper.

If anything you did for a living had to be torn apart on messages boards on a daily basis, you might not stand up to such strict scrutiny either.

[younglj01]

lol this is so funny

[chazjamie]

He should write for plasmastation

[Iamback]

this is stupid. It's a freaking review for a video game! Who cares if there are mistakes! Find a girlfriend

[zodiac909]

the 7 people that disagreed with you can't find a girlfriend ;)

[Mmmkay]

or maybe their wife would not approve.

[zodiac909]

@Mmmkay
haha they should have told their wives to get back to the kitchen ;D

[RememberThe357]

True, but if IGN are going to take their reviews so seriously then they should have a quality standard. Writing is their job and they still can't do it on a level that would pass freshman (high school) English. I'm not even a very skilled writer and first drafts never looked this bad.

[hatchimatchi]

Exactly. They are "journalists"

The review reads like it was rushed and there seems to be no thought whatsoever in what he was typing.

[radphil]

"It's a freaking review for a video game! Who cares if there are mistakes! Find a girlfriend"

So if there were mistakes on information for example, that wouldn't bother you?

I'm sorry, but the whole purpose of a review is to help inform. If he typed in leet-speak, that wouldn't go out so well. If the writers take their scores and opinions seriously, then their writing should as well.

[smashman98]

your argument to that point fails because the author got his point across and the mistakes were on the grammar not the info. on top of that he didnt do it in leet speak so theres no point in bringing it up. The review may not get an A from some university professor but then again how many university professors do u know that are gamers?

[radphil]

"The review may not get an A from some university professor but then again how many university professors do u know that are gamers?"

Check out one called Full Sail University.

Also I stated to the guy in general "Who cares if there are mistakes". I gave HIM an example, not based on the article at hand.

[LastDance]

lamback.. you realise this is a proper - go to my office cubical - job for a lot of people.

You realise these gaming websites aren't just a bunch of greased up fatties in their living room.

If you cant do something properly dont do it.

[gamerzBEreal17]

yes...clearly

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Focker420]

I don't want to waste my time reading a review written by someone that can't even put together a few paragraphs. Yes, its a review for a video game, but that doesn't mean the writing should be substandard as a result. I'd rather read a thorough and well thought out review. Instead of some sloppy trash they threw together in five minutes. Because chances are the writer that can't even put a few sentences together wouldn't be a very reliable source. It really isn't that hard to use proper grammar, and especially when you are a so-called journalist.

[sobekflakmonkey]

yeah to be honest....im pretty sure everyone who read that review did not notice ANY of the mistakes that were pointed out, only now that they have been pointed out is everyone going to bash him for it, its quite funny :P

[nix]

"By the way, about the original review, if I may weigh in...

Traditionally people review something, whether it be a movie, a play, a game, or whatever, and using their many years of experience, dissect the object, and give us a frank and honest look at what makes it special, or what makes it a failure.

In his review, Greg talks about how it felt to play it, how hardcore a gamer he is, how many times he played it, and the trend that emerged as well as the reason the review seemed weak is that too much of it was about him, and not the game.

Look how many times he uses the word "I" in the first paragraph:

"Dead Space 2 is an amazing game. I'm going to write about its scary moments, cool kills, and how much I dig the main character's internal struggle, but Dead Space 2 is about more than this. When I beat it for the first time, I sat on the couch with my heart racing and dissected the journey I had just taken. Then, I started my second playthrough, and when that was done, I jumped into a new game for the third time. Dead Space 2 is just that good."

It's all subjective. The problem is, although Greg may be a really great guy, he's not my friend so the context for his feelings is missing. He says the game is amazing because he played it through 2.5 times. Ok, but maybe there was something about the game that was particular to him, something that made it special for him and not for me.

For this reason, the review needs to be objective and rational, as if it were written by someone whose name isn't known.

For example:

"Isaac's internal conversations and hallucinations are among my favorite parts of this game."

vs.

"One of the more effective parts of the game was character development. Through inner monologue and a series of hallucinations, Isaac takes on a third dimension and becomes someone we really care about."

So in that example, you don't give a flying fuck about who I am, but you understand that there's more to the game than headshots.

And that's why the review sucks."

here's the link: http://www.ign.com/blogs/Gr...

[sjaakiejj]

"It's all subjective."

..That's what reviews of games, music and movies generally are.

[visualb]

yes sjaaakiejj they are subjective, as everything done by humans can be

but it still has to be done as objectively as possible

remember a review IS NOT THE SAME as a critique.

unfortunately for some of you, they can differ.

A review is RE-VIEWING, or reflecting, about the subject matter, taking in conclusions and explaining it over all.

you can CRITIQUE within a review, but it must be objective, i.e pointing out what it does well and what it does wrong -

this CAN be done objectively, i.e:

Fallout New Vegas is a buggy game = objective
Metal Gear Solid 4 has huge instal = objective.

etc.

thats why this review sucks above all...its all "I'm , me, I" which has no place in a review

maybe in an opinion piece, but a review? no

[Xander756]

People should use "I" in reviews more often just exactly for this reason. Readers are too dense to understand it is someone's opinion. Unless it very bluntly states "I think..." they go on to think this is just some objective fact when it's not.

[Ben Dover]

@ Iamback

Wow! I hope to god you will never find a job that involves a proper degree. That was, without a doubt, one of the dumbest comments I have EVER read on N4G. The guy is a freaking JOURNALIST! It's his JOB to write a proper article without mistakes and act like a professional. And then you show up with a statement like this. That's like saying "Who cares Toyota screwed up with one of their cars?? It's not like it's their JOB to make a proper car.. right??"

Seriously I can't click that disagree button of yours enough..

[chadley]

I'm sorry. Are you a writer for the world's biggest video game website? No? Your not? Well Greg Miller is. He obviously has a special spark that none of you or I have. Leave the guy alone

[Nicaragua]

Wow, i never realised Chris Crocker visited N4G.

[PrimordialSoupBase]

You're not*

Clearly that spark is the ability to appeal to readers twelve and under whose grasp of grammar and syntax is expectedly nonexistent. If you want cheer-leading instead of reviews, IGN's got you covered.

[Liefx]

To be fair, all he did was misspell the word "you're". I do that from time to time as well.

Although I don't agree with his defense.

[Baka-akaB]

Has the internet made some people even dumber (rethorical question)? Every time an article or "journalist" is criticized we get that elementary school level retort about "people not having done as well" than the guy criticized .

Again i hope those hypocrites dont even criticize a song in their life lol .

[Shackdaddy836]

IGN sucks. Basically everyone knows it. It just managed to stay on top based on previous success and talent that is no longer present.

[hatchimatchi]

I agree. All the original people who made IGN what it is have left.

[RememberThe357]

Greg Miller is a good reviewer, but his review sucked. It is what it is.

[Eamon]

IGN does have some talented reviewers.

However Greg Miller is not one of them and I've known this for years.

Go watch the Uncharted 2 video review. It sounds like he's having a nerdgasm every 2 seconds while showing no professionally integrity, if he has any.

[chadley]

Ease off gentlemen. My point is valid. In the gaming community you say the name "Greg Miller" and people will understand what you're talking about. You say the name "PrimordialSoupBase" and people will say "Who the fuck is that?" and I'll say "Some prick who thinks he's hot shit because he can make fun of IGN with a thesaurus in hand to make him sound smarter. And "You're" is a short version of "You are". You are not. It's correct. You're just a dumb fuck who just got out of his grade 10 English class hoping to correct people on the internet with his new found abilities. I do not stand for such ignorance. I'll call IGN and let them now that someone much more capable is coming there way. They shall laugh in my face, and you will look like a fool. Good morrow gentlemen.

--- King Chadley

[Liefx]

@CHadley .... wtf? That last paragraph made you look completely retarded.

You didn't say "You are not", you said "Your not", which IS incorrect.

Previous to this big ordeal, you say the name Greg Miller, I have no fucking clue who that is.

Also, I think you meant "Good day". Good Morrow means Good morning. Seeing as you were leaving the discussion, Good Day more suits the ending.

[Baka-akaB]

Oh god again with the retarded "if you can't do better shut up"

You can have such low standards if you want , but not everyone obviously will .

He is paid to at least write properly ... while you aint even getting paid to be his oblivious cheerleader .

[Eamon]

lol at Chadley's comment. What a mug.

Such a typical 14 year old response.

[gorebago]

I have a BS in Comm - journalism and my professors would have failed my paper if I handed in this article - it's rife with cliches and has no passion - rather than being the innovators, ign is part of the problem. I'll take a Jim Sterling review any day only because it's written with passion and a knowledge of the craft. Ign are hacks and it's disappointing that they're taken so seriously.

Compare it to the piss poor editorializing of fox news taken as fact by millions and the well-argued/written articles in The Nation being ignored.

[visualb]

"Your not?"

nor are you =/

either way, he could be Oscar Wilde, the review is still horrible.

[littletad]

Wow, I've never seen such poorly written work. And yet, done on such a "respectful" site as IGN. Greg, I'm sure you're an intelligent guy, but the review looks like it was done in 20 minutes or less. The only thing used, clearly, was spell check.

[WhiteNoise]

I'm with lambjack. Video game reviews are about a medium that NO ONE takes seriously.

If you said to anyone of importance in media ( be it a musician or actor ) that you just watched the spike TV awards...they would blink at you like they should; like you are an idiot.

VIDEO GAMES CONSOLES ARE SOLD AT TOYS 'R' US!!!!!!

If you like games, good, if you like games enough to critique reviews of games, then you are one sick sorry little beast.

Move out of the basement.

[LastDance]

They sell monopoly @ toys - r - us...and basketballs..baseballs...socce r balls...footballs...

I guess nothing is serious?

[WhiteNoise]

You realise they are all considered toys...

If you want a professional grade baseball bat or soccer ball, you don't go to toys r us.

[gorebago]

While true, the editors and writers can go above the percieved notion and make something worthwhile. They don't.

[StarScream4Ever]

Where does IGN get their writers from. Its not even worth calling it gaming journalism if the word 'journalism' represents this quality of writing.

[Apotheosize]

I dont mean to defend IGN..but this guy is just a video game journalist for gods sake. Their writing is laughable..why even take them so seriously? Last time I checked IGN or any video game journalist for that matter never said their writing rivals Shakespeare or something, so why hold them to such a high standard? Its video games bro, chill.

[Shackdaddy836]

It doesn't matter that much but he still shouldn't write like he's 14.

He should be happy so many people are calling him on it. It might be a wake-up call and persuade him to take some classes to become good at his job.

[Ultraplayerxp]

The guy is a professional, his writing should reflect that.

[Obama]

The thing is Greg called Reddit out, saying how reddit didn't explain how his review sucks. The redditor is simply honoring his request.

[MiloGarret]

This article is the saddest thing I have ever read. Seriously, if you care this much, kill yourself.

[RememberThe357]

Read the comment above you. Greg called them out and they replied. No one should kill themselves over something so stupid. If it really is that sad than I think you care too much.

[sp1deynut]

...the irony that this guy wrote an entire article, slamming an IGN reviewer for poor grammar...and exhibited plenty of it himself. So pathetic. :o

[etowntwo]

EXACTLY what i was thinking.

[soundslike]

He's too busy playing DCUO. Probably wrote it in between arena queues.

that said, I still read it in his goofy voice, and the section by section format of ripping it to shreds was pretty funny.

[KaiokenKid]

More IGN hate, hurp de durp.

[Shackdaddy836]

Its kinda funny cus no one would know about the comments if Greg didn't decide to comment back. I didn't even know about reddit until these articles popped up

Its also funny when you look at him reply to reddit on IGN, you can still see some grammatical errors. You would think he would be careful. lol.

[linko18-1990]

I'm pretty sure this happened because. He's still horrified with what he saw in Dead space 2 that its has gotten to the point where he can't even think straight now. :D lol

[floetry101]

I think it's about time someone highlighted Greg Miller's poorly written reviews.

[MrBeatdown]

"I know many game critics get excited about the prospect of seeing excerpts of their review on the back of the box, but they usually stop short of writing their own blurb for the game in the reviews."

Translation: Don't ever give your readers the slightest clue what the game is about!

"I haven’t played the original Dead Space yet, and now I don’t have to. IGN - Every Little Helps."

Translation: Don't ever assume people interested in your review of a sequel have at any time during the past two and a half years have played the original. They are probably just doing the logical thing and reading the review of the second game before even bothering with the first game. Also, "Every little helps" is an expression!

"He’s losing his mind and having his sanity torn apart. Those are two very different, very distinct things!"

Translation: Pretend two sentences mean the exact same thing, even though the second one elaborates! Who cares if you're wrong, just as long as it backs up your point!

"You misspelt “bestest”."

Translation: When you can't quite articulate how to criticize a sentence, say something stupid!

"Skip to the end… I’m starting to think that Greg’s understanding of the English language is somewhat limited."

Translation: You can't criticize the narrative of a game and then recommend it! It's not like this GAME has anything other than the STORY that would make it worth buying!

Yeah, fail article is fail.

[Mr Tretton]

On top of it, Greg Miller is the head editor for the PS3 team

But ultimately, who cares. I don't see ign making articles about other sites. Like'em or not, they're a big dog, and little dogs yap the most.

[femshep]

its easy he's just jelly that he can't comprehend a master piece like we do

[floetry101]

wut

[femshep]

well dead space is a master piece
he gives it bad review
he dosen't have taste in real games

[Miiikeyyy]

He gave it a good review, just wrote it like a 10 year old

[madara0sama]

Badder than my high school grammar skillz.

"I'm going to write about its scary moments, cool kills, and how much I dig the main character's internal struggle, but Dead Space 2 is about more than this."

Are you serious? lol

[Alpha_Gamer]

Meh, it wasn`t exactly an excellent review but I like Greg Miller, seems pretty likable. Whoever wrote this needs to get over it, Greg has a lot of good reviews, previews and more, not every review is going to be some masterclass piece of writing. The funniest part is that it was a good score too.

[dktxx2]

He gets paid to write reviews. They should all display at least an eight grade grammar level.

I mean come on, starting it with "I am going to write about"? A college professor would throw a student out of their class if they did that.

[ZombieAssassin]

Damn Grammar Nazis...

[despair]

I got annoyed about halfway through reading this. I stuck out to the end only to find out the writer is a bitchy, whiny, pretentious brat, people who see me post here know I don't usually attack people but this guy just annoys me. The sad part is he actually has a point on Greg Miller's review for DS2 but they way he brought it up and his arrogance actually shone through the writing here.

I dislike poorly written articles and reviews like what Greg Miller did, but I equally dislike people who feel superior in rubbing people's shortcomings or even ineptitude like this, making a spectacle of it.

If you make your case in a proper and civil way then maybe what you have to say would be beneficial to both reviewers and readers but when you do it like a circus show and turn it into flamebait with many petty instances mentioned and unnecessary snide and asinine remarks then you are hurting the industry and disrespecting your own readers the same way as the person you're writing about.

All this does is antagonize people on both sides of the problem, riling people up to the point where everyone looks stupid. Also the whole "we need to expose them and get angry to change them" argument which I'm sure someone wants to say doesn't work, its just an excuse to make a scene.

Learn how to properly analyze and critique a review yourself before attacking others, you know the saying, people in glass houses and all that...

[tinman]

I could not agree more.

[ArchangelMike]

It just shows the total subjectivity of reviewers. No objectivity at all. When reviewers write themselves in to the review, you know it's a FAIL right there. And then when the use of grammar also sucks, you know that they are in the wrong job!

[pushergreen]

Whats this, a review of a review?

[Valkyre]

Grammar Nazis UNITE!!!

[tinman]

“Have you read IGN’s review of Dead Space 2, published at the tail end of last week? If you haven’t, allow me to offer my appraisal of the work: It’s a terribly-written, poorly-constructed mess of a review that, as many have pointed out, reads like it was penned by nine year-old with a marketing degree.”

Pro-tip: If you’re going to write a critique of someone else’s writing, make sure yours is flawless. At least in your critique.

Also, the subtle irony contained in this sentence tickled me:

“I’m starting to think that Greg’s understanding of the English language is somewhat limited.”

I think the word you’re looking for is “command”. He never "misunderstood" anything. It is his “command” of the language which prevents him from articulating his thoughts well, not a lack of understanding.

Although I will concede that the two are related, they are not identical nor are they equivalent in this context.

I’m starting to think that your command of the English language is not as hot as you would like us all to believe.

And finally, I’m not sure if you were being facetious with the use of “doesn’t” in the following paragraph:

“Of course, that you doesn’t get what the problem is after having people explicitly tell you in no uncertain terms suggests to me that you’ve either a suffered serious head injury or that you are, and I don’t want to mince words here, stone cold retarded.”

If you were not, then MIND BLOWN.

[Figboy]

It's definitely a poorly written review, but grammar Nazis annoy the FUCK out of me.

I'm pretty positive my reviews have all sorts of grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors. Then again, I'm not being PAID by a "professional" gaming website to write reviews, and Greg Miller is.

As a supposed gaming journalist, he should be ashamed of himself. The editor of the review should also be ashamed of himself. I mean, did anyone proof read the review?

In the rush to get these reviews out "before everyone else," the readers are subjected to sup par quality reviews and gaming coverage. That's simply unacceptable. And it's not just Greg Miller and his Dead Space 2 review, but a LOT of web sites are so hit hungry that all they want to do is get the review out there.

I've read more than my fair share of Miller's reviews, and he's most certainly better than this review. Maybe he had a lot of games on his plate to review, and phoned this one in. Who the hell knows. All that matters in the end is that this review was rather average as a source of information concerning Dead Space 2. It wasn't particularly enjoyable to read, and maybe it's just a result of this current "net speak" generation, but it certainly came off as amateurish.

I'm far from a grammar Nazi, so I let a lot of things like this slide, but it does irk me that many individuals, including myself, are currently unemployed and struggling through life, while IGN seems just fine with hiring reviewers that are poor writers, and often aren't very good at the games they play (see the recent LBP1/2 level showcase video, in which the "professional" game players, of which Greg Miller appeared to be one, was sucking REALLY bad at the game, and we're expected to take their opinions on games seriously, and they can barely play them).

[WithMyLastBreath]

Although he could have used more active words throughout the entire article, it wasn't that bad. THIS article is doing way more than nit-picking, it seems the hate train for IGN is still in full force. Why reddit or w/e site is doing this is grabbing at straws is beyond me. Like I said, the main thing I thought the IGN review should have done was use more active voice.

[Optical_Matrix]

As much as the review is written relatively badly, the stick he's getting is rather stupid and quite pedantic on behalf of the people nitpicking the fuck out of it. Not gonna lie.

[dannybohy]

Surely he is just writing for 95% of the IGN/N4G audience?.

[teething]

This.

Good writing is written for and understood by the target audience.

The target audience is not grammar nazis.

The IGN article could be better, but this article criticizing it was just childish.

[mrmikew2018]

Yea I agree, the author is just some lame trying to get some attention.

[TKCMuzzer]

I think your wrong, bad grammar just encourages laziness. It's important, especially when your getting paid for the privilege that you spell and at the very least construct your sentences to a good level.
By implying this is alright, you to are treating everyone like a child. I am an adult and would like the video game industry to be taken more seriously.
You are trying to say that everyone excepts this. I don't, the guy is being paid to be a journalist no matter who is target audience is (mainly older people who can afford games). He should at least show some signs of being educated in the field of journalism.

[strickers]

I'd choose reading Greg Miller over most of the stuck up,inflated losers on here.
He's a good guy,who loves games.He would be first to admit his not the best writer on the staff,but he brings plenty to the table.He entertains and gives an honest opinion every time.If you question his passion for games,you clearly know nothing about him.

[DarkFantasy]

lmao i found this part funny

"One of the hot Reddit topics of late has been "DAE think a middle school kid reviewed Dead Space 2 for IGN?" If you missed it, I reviewed Dead Space 2 for IGN and am not in middle school." LOL I'M NOT IN MIDDLE SCHOOL! D:!!! hahaha

[jay2]

Haha!!!!!

[Tigan]

Something tells me this author is bored out of his tree. I got the message that the game is good and that's all i care about. I couldn't really give a rats ass about how poorly or how well written his review was.

[BabyTownFrolics]

its come to this

single tear

[Angels3785]

Archer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Laeto256]

sorry but since IGN wants to say its the biggest site and call themselves journalists, as such their grammar better be professional otherwise it's insulting. yes this article is dumb but the message is true HIGHLY unprofessional by IGN, it's insulting to journalists.

[elbeasto86]

Honestly, who cares how the guy writes? As long as the game is good right?

[Kemicalbeliefs]

Go on then, I bet this moaning sod sent him an email and said to him 'you're review sucks, owned lol' (the you're is a joke for those that will say it is your not you're)

Plus what do you mean sucks? Sucks what?

This article is pretty much a 'I don't like IGN' article. There are some points but I took them as excitement. The 'it's so good, it is good' just tells me the guy really enjoyed it and the average age group will read it.

[JonnyBigBoss]

I guess I wasn't the only person who noticed the review was dry.

[ginganinja]

So, i guess the chap who wrote this blog doesn't understand writing for an audience.
Having heard Greg on podcasts and reading other pieces of his work, this review fit his style, and more broadly the style of IGN.

If you want a philosophical, high-brow interpretation of the game, why the fudge would you be going to IGN in the first place ?
I, personally go there to read news and such delivered in a light, entertaining manner.
If I want something deeper I'll go elsewhere.

[hazardman]

Honestly a waste of my time. I wish whoever posted the story just put a link up to the original review. That was a bad read, and I'm not only talking about the review part....Oh yeah and why care about some review when you can review the game yourself by playing the demo. Obviously its not the full game but it gives you a chance to feel out the controls and what the atmosphere of the game is gonna be like. Anyway, happy gaming to y'all!

[RyuCloudStrife]

reminds me of that article Hip Hop Gamer made that was so heavily criticized... is someone getting paid for this?

[anasurimbor]

The IGN review is indeed a complete joke, but yeah, this guy isn't much better.

I don't think there's anyone that takes IGN seriously anymore anyway.

[The_Zeitgeist]

I think it's sad that this guy has made a site dedicated to pointing out other people's grammatical errors, while at the same time, not pointing out his own.

[Kluv]

he didn't spoil anything, the fact that the girlfriend dies on the ship is the opening to the first game.

[kewlkat007]

Who cares...there is more things important then fn writing errors. That's how bad gaming has got...a review getting stupid, not needed attention.

[TheLig32]

you sir should get a real job, and stop venting your envy of game journalists with your garbage.

[CGMagazine]

The problem with rushing a review out early, sometimes the editors do not give the written copy the editing it deserves! The review has some good points but is muddled with a love of the title that takes it away from a review and makes it sound more like a fan letter. An editor should have cleaned that aspect up.

[bobrea]

This is a joke and one of the reasons I can't stand gaming journalism. You should be ashamed for making this article.

[RyuCloudStrife]

all negative feedback for the guy who wrote this article, no criticism for the writers bad grammar.... hmmmm should i bring back the Hip Hop Gamer's "bad grammar article"?

http://n4g.com/news/668302/...

[Mikey Mike]

It is a sad day when people defend Miller for his work. IGN and Miller need to realize that they are guilty of dumbing down society. This is not the first time he got busted for a terrible review. His writing is horrid, yet he somehow manages to stay employed. The funny thing about the whole issue, Miller is in denial and is defending his work with, "I'm having a bad day" routine.

[ginganinja]

I find him, and IGN, entertaining. I appreciate it's not to everyones taste, but there's plenty of other sites out there.

I don't go there for deep, intellectual debate, but it has its place after a long day at work and you just want to catch up on the news for the day.

Gaming is supposed to a fun hobby, not quantum physics. I, personally, hate the way some sites seem to think counting pixels and frame rates is more important than the total experience - and for all their foibles, the staff at IGN do seem to enjoy playing games.

[WhoBurnedMyToast]

This article is a waste of time. I'm getting tired of this game journalist suck that and this reviewer sucks this rants. (yes that's my childish description). I don't know whether it's jealousy or just boredom for some people. If you think the writing for the review is crap than go out there and show them how its done by doing it better and with better grammar skillz. Oh snap I just used a Z!

You also must realize that they also have to write for a younger audience as well and the people writing these reviews have jobs where they are busy with other responsibilities.

Someone said it best above. Why are people reviewing the reviews?

[clrlite]

This guy is complaining about about someones grammar, meanwhile there is a grammatical error in excerpt below the headline. I just woke up and it was obvious, so I don't think anyone else should have a problem spotting it.

Not trying to defend IGN or anything. But if you are going to write an article criticizing someone elses work, you should make sure your own article is impeccable.

BTW, I'm not saying he is wrong or anything. I haven't read the DS2 review.

[Undeadwolfy]

XongleBongle.com anyone? Lets make it XD

[Darkfiber]

Life isn't fair. People are stupid. People get jobs and money they aren't deserving of all the time, let it fucking go already.

[rumplstilts]

Most of the critique in this article was bullshit.

[deceptor]

My personal belief is that half of you are complete geeks who need to get a life. I agree this article was poorly construed. I do not claim to be perfect at grammar, actually I know my grammar sucks. The bottom line is even after reading Mr. Miller's article, I want to go out and purchase Dead Space 2. Therefore, Mr. Miller has accomplished his objective by leading gamers, such as myself down to Gamestop (or wherever) and purchasing Dead Space 2 today, a game he obviously enjoyed.

[SwampCroc]

Who cares about one review. Games have so many different outlets now it would be pointless to trust one source.

If I did care enough about reviews on a certain game I would most likely go with an overall concensus from some of the different reviews available...

Also, you just got to have the eye and know what is going to be good... it's not really that big of a deal... and it's not that hard to tell what game is the game for your praticular needs.

So everyone should just relax a little bit.

Oh, and Word of Mouth goes further than a review goes any day of the week.

[nutcrackr]

I'm far more concerned with the content, or lack of, than the grammar. Why would anybody put, "Hissy fit", in a review?

[jrbeerman11]

Wow.....
slow news day.....

[JoeIsMad]

Though you may prefer to write or read an article that looks like it was written by a scholar, you should know that the average person has a reading level only to that of a 6th year education. Greg writes reviews with excellent voice, at an above-community quality level.

It may be that you were an insulting fool on your personal site, but it becomes quite clear as to why your site is generally unsuccessful after reading this article. You may wish to consider changing your idea of a format, as your server cannot even support the load of a few tens of simultaneous hits. Buy some real hosting before you try to insult a website, and it's authors, which receives over 30 million hits in a single day.

[n1kki6]

The author of this article makes a legitimate point and you somehow try to make his post uncredible because of his website hosting, in which you point out as "format" in relation to server load.

This post almost has me to the point of providing him free hosting on my server farm that could more than support the "few tens of simultaneous hits". Do you realize that any page view from any website will create "few tens of simulatneous hits"?

[The Hillman]

Can I just say as a games journo I find this in very bad taste. There's enough issues in the industry without articles like this.

[dukenukemisyourgod]

you gotta be brain dead to think deadspace 2 is actually a good game.

no jumping=total shit.

[VenomProject]

Wow, was that a trolling attempt or are you really that stupid?

[griggsman7]

Haha! It's funny because Greg Miller is actually succesful and writes for gaming giant IGN, while this douche just sits at home in his parents basement and writes on his blog about the terrible writing of others. Sure, this isn't the best review ever written, but at least he isn't critizing others about their writing on his own pathetic blog.

[hellzsupernova]

I agree :D

[n1kki6]

How do you know what this person does for a living. He may also be extremely successful and his website may be a hobby. I have a couple blogs that tackle various topics including the career in which I am very successful.

On a site like IGN, which gets "30 million hits in a single day"(according to a post above), that the level of writing should be higher than a blog post.

Greg Miller is making fundemental writing mistakes that are unacceptable at such a "high level".

[The Hillman]

Unacceptable? Get real, no one is infallible. People make mistakes.

[VenomProject]

All of this nonsense over a review, an IGN review.

Have we no respect for ourselves? Since when do people care about the drivel IGN churns out?

[hamsterfist]

Funny thing is the critic of the review is at least ten times better written than the review itself. Genius!

[glmengel]

I will be dead before I see the ring in the hands of an elf!!

[Vesemir]

Bah, IGN sucks, that's no news.

[SeraphimBlade]

you know what? All of a sudden, I feel a lot better about the writing assignment I'm handing in tomorrow.

[spektical]

that was an epic review of a review full of lolz

[9thGenHero]

All I want to know is if he is hitting the bottle of Jack when he is playing in his office, I saw some liquor bottles in his DC Universe Online video, and it made me wonder if he worked while a bit tipsy.

[JoeIsMad]

Odds are those bottles belonged to Daemon. Greg saves his drinking for weekends.

[denero1]

I agree with all of you -_- now can i get some bubbles >.>

[DundahMifflin]

Coming from a writer - that was pretty atrocious. At least try and make the review appealing.

[A LIVING LEGEND]

So much for so little
Bring back game "A"......17 comments from random imbeciles questioning the validity of "A"...
The article was poorly written,many are.Move on

[Bits-N-Kibbles]

I agree that this style of writing is not professional and needs to be improved. It seem that a lot of people here agree, but when I post about Hip Hop Gamer not being a journalist and not a professional I get tons of disagrees.

I understand trying to appeal to a target audience, but when the writer's or broadcaster's personal "style" comes though more than the information they are trying to convey to their audience you are NOT doing your job. Leave the slang and jargon for the forums and online trash-talkers, keep it out of reviews and previews so we can butcher the English language. j00 5Lil\/l3....i pWnzors j00r b0><0r...l3ee007# !!!