Is 10 Days in Italy to Review 'Assassin's Creed II' Going Overboard?

For Assassin's Creed II, Ubisoft is redefining the review event. The San Francisco based company is flying a select number of journalists out to Italy for a full 10 days to play the game. It makes us wonder if Assassin's Creed II is simply a *really* long game or if 10 days in Italy is a bit excessive.

[RainOfTerror]

a trip to Italy .. tasty!

[thedisagreefairy]

assassins creed 2 is obviously going to get extremely high scores

im sure the game will be great bu this is worse than microsoft sending out gift bags for reviewers

[ZBlacktt]

Yeah, then comes all the review split screens of which looks better soon to follow, lol... :(

Game looks real fun this time around.

[RainOfTerror]

worse? I think it takes the cake

[chisox100]

uncharted 2 or ac2 will be game of the year

[chrisulloa]

or MW2 or Borderlands

[LinuxGuru]

I don't care what the background or history of a game is, flying 10 people (at least that's probably about how many would go) to Italy is VERY expensive and frivolous.

Also, it's obvious they're doing this to get better review scores out of people.

"Select number of journalists" = "Select number of journalists most likely to rate the game higher if we do cool stuff for them"

A publisher wouldn't spend 15,000 dollars (assuming it's 10 people or so + the cost of hotel stay) if they didn't think they were benefiting from it in a big way.

[DiffusionE]

Yeah, Ubi's really losing it. Ever since...oh i don't know....PoP: Warrior Within? Rainbow Six Vegas 2, GRAW 2, PoP(the "stylish cell-shaded" one), Endwar(using the Frag Dolls to promote it lol), HAWX, AC 1, FarCry 2 and any Splinter Cell game after Pandora Tomorrow. They're all bullcrap with over-advertising and over-hype.

C'mon Ubi, focus on the actual game content instead of plastering the ads everywhere and hoping it sells.

[sikbeta]

give them a chance

[DiffusionE]

I did, ever since Rainbow Six 3 and PoP: Sands of Time. But the last 10 major titles from them have been "disappointing" to say the least. I think it was more because of the fact that they splurged on the marketing budget rather than the dev costs.

[zagibu]

Unfortunately, investing into marketing instead of production seems to work out for a lot of businesses.

[swiftshot93]

AC2 will be awesome. Already pre-ordered it my self, cant freaking wait.

[Rocket Sauce]

This is why you can't take reviews for these hyped up games seriously - they're paid-for. I want to know who's taking Ubisoft up on this offer.

[LinuxGuru]

Yeah, we should definitely have the right to know who in the industry was part of this trip.

In fact, I think I recall reading something about a law that would possibly be enforced in America that would obligate people by law to disclose if they were given free product, goods or incentive before doing a review of any sorts.

[ozstar]

There is a law already. I guess you can still get away with it though in in game journalism.

Its not the same as flying american journalists to Israel, and putting them up at a nice hotel with a guided tour. That is actually biased.

[sikbeta]

LinuxGuru = great name maybe I have to change mine for: UbuntuMaster

[Syriel]

Going super extravagant can actually hurt the game in the long run.

After all, even if the game rocks people are still going to doubt the scores.

[ozstar]

i wouldn't be surprised if they cancel this. Its manipulation of the highest order.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

There's never an excuse NOT to go to Italy.

[HarukoHex]

Rats, and if you hate pizza and mario.

[Lionsguard]

Little do the journalists know that while on their trip, a mysterious man will be trailing their every step. Coincidentally, he'll be dressed up looking like Ezio and when the time comes, should they rate it anything lower than a perfect score, well...lets just say there will be extra seats on the flight home.

[ozstar]

lol, Yea but its not too far from the truth given what we know from previous examples rising from negative reviews.

[kbexp91]

AC2,Uncharted 2, MW2.will be the GAMES of the year!

[PoisonedTea]

Again, why would Ubisoft do this? Don't they have faith in the merits of their game without having to resort to this? Hell, if I was one of those reviewers I'd feel kinda obliged to give AC2 a good write-up because of that all-expenses paid trip to Italy.

If AC2 turns out to be a genuinely remarkable, highly rated game, then there will always be those detractors who will say THIS kind of weird behaviour is what influenced reviews. Sometimes, I wonder if these games companies have any common sense at all.

[thereapersson]

The games industry has become a joke....

[JonahFalcon]

This is a reviewer junket. Those of you who don't know what reviewer junkets, this is where a producer or publisher gives reviewers free stuff like a trip to get positive reviews. This happens all. the. time. in the film industry and is how you get AWFUL movies those positive movie quotes.

Here's a sampler:

http://www.ericdsnider.com/...

Now I'm worried about Assassin's Creed II.

[DiffusionE]

Thank you for the link. I've been hearing vague stories for years, but that one truly opened my eyes. What a bunch of morons Paramount are....

[ab5olut10n]

i don't think this is so bad. if people have a problem with what ubisoft is doing, take it up with the unethical, lacking-in-integrity journalists. you can take whatever ubi offers and still give a fair review, that would be the right thing to do. if a trip to italy sways your review, you don't belong in the business. that said, i saw da vinci code in paris and it did add a little something to it. didn't really make the movie better, just a little more interesting.

[JonahFalcon]

Dude, junkets are bad. Trust me.

[pr0digyZA]

well yes the game will get high scores but just think of the rubbish scores it will get from people who weren't chosen to go.At least we'll know who can be bought and and weren't lucky enough to be bought.