The PS4 Will Kill the Influence of Reviews

"Gamer-rider.com writes-- So what does this potentially mean for reviewers? It’s simple really; its common practice nowadays for reviews to unfairly bash a game,(certain exclusives anyone?) using all sorts of double standards, and the exact opposite scenario is just as prevalent. But being able watch and play the game first hand will cut through all the BS biases that we get from our current gaming media, after all “seeing is believing”. A lot will depend on the ecosystem that Sony will have to create in order to sustain a thriving community where real gamers will do the recommendation of games you might like and let you try them, as opposed to some reviewer with an agenda trying to convince you why this is the worst or best game ever made. Thus changing the power structure we currently see in play."

[Sandmano]

Dont care for reviewers unless theres a general disdain from critics and gamers alike, thats the only way I will be swayed by them...

[GalacticEmpire]

Reviews had influence?

[MooseWI]

With the general public maybe.

[r21]

Huh, didnt think of that. With the PS4, I could just watch someone's livestream or ask if i could play for a while then buy a game base on that. Essentially, making demos redundant. And here i thought, the PS4 could not get more enticing :D

[Mr_cheese]

Your right! there are so many possibilities we haven't thought about and so many more that haven't been released yet.

[elm]

I think Sony said all games will have trial versions, try before you buy via Gaikai. Only pay for what you like! so said Mr Perry anyway.

[r21]

They said that? I must have missed it. Sony is just pulling all the right moves to make us buy a ps4, arent they?

[FamilyGuy]

He forgot to mention sony's try before you buy approach that exist now (for PS+ subscribers) but was also mentioned in the conference.

They plan on having every PS4 game on the store and allowing us to try them out, like PS+s 1 hour game trial, before we make a final decision about buying them

I also didn't think about this in regards to the influence of reviews, This article was very insightful compared to most of the other articles that have popped up since the conference was held.

[NateCole]

Now that i think of it. Yes. Great insight.

I think it will limit the power of reviewers and put more power to devs and gamers which is always a great thing.

No there will be a bigger chance of great devs getting reward for their efforts and not getting cheated because of biased reviews.

Also those devs/publishers with little marketing capability will greatly benefit from this feature with the PS4.

[00001]

well its going to add complete transparency for gamers and game developers. you can advertise and hype a game all you want, but when i can sit and watch someone play it or try it out for myself. im no longer as reliant on reviews or even friends opinions.

[WorldGamer]

This is a great concept. I usually go on youtube and watch a few minutes of a walkthrough to get a sense of a game before I buy it if possible.

The problem with reviews is that each person has a different sort of taste. Not to mention, sometimes the people they choose to review games leave me scratching my head. If someone HATES mayo, why would you have that person review how good a potato salad dish is? On the same token, if someone hates FPS, why would you have that person review Halo or KZ. Sadly, some sites have done just that, with predictable results.

At the end of the day, this feature will empower the consumer. That is always a good thing all around. Can't wait.

@ matgrowcott - I agree with you that there are good writers out there, my point was more to the fact that nothing usually beats seeing something for yourself. Reviews can be accurate, but at least being able to watch someone you know and trust play something and give you feedback real time might create more accountability to the hit seeking sites, and games that would otherwise be overlooked a fair shot regardless of bogus reviews. I think we were both saying the same thing in the end.

[matgrowcott]

A good reviewer will give a fair score regardless of personal taste. If you find a site that doesn't do that, stop giving that site hits.

There are hundreds of great writers out there hungry for hits who DO do the right thing and write unbiased reviews. Problem is, those are the reviewers you probably only hear about when they give a potential GOTY 6/10.

[Christopher]

What would really do well with this is taking the 1-hour demo concept they have with PS+ users and making it open to all users for all games.

[matgrowcott]

I think this is going to really start with Gaikai. I don't know whether Sony perhaps thought people wouldn't want to download GBs and GBs of data for an hour long demo (whereas PS+ members can download automatically), but it was always a weird thing to keep locked up. It never seemed like a feature people would be willing to pay for (if it didn't come packed alongside all the free games).

[Christopher]

Remember, they're doing the whole 'start playing with only the most basic of assets downloaded' thing, so it might not be GBs of data necessarily. But, I'm not sure Gaikai will help too much as it may, dependent on Internet connection, give a poorer impression of the game.

[matgrowcott]

That's a good point, and I do sometimes wonder how much of these demos are more "this is how far they might get" and shared assets, as opposed to stuff an average gamer might see. Better control of downloaded assets for a demo will make a big difference.

Still, OnLive did a good job of scaling down a game based on connection. When I interviewed Perlman and Warren Buckley (BT's managing director of customer service), he reckoned a 2GB connection could, theoretically, be strong enough for cloud gaming. I never saw evidence of it (the opposite, in fact), but I'm almost certain Sony and Gaikai have found a way to compress assets even more, so that anybody with a passable connection will be able to make use of it.

Add in legal - "this represents the game streamed via the cloud on your connection and not a fully downloaded product" - and I still think Gaikai is likely to be the way they go.

[DigitalSmoke]

Reviewers should explain whats in the game excactly, and then keep their opinions to themself, most of them a really simple people trying to come across as deep or tech savy.

99% of them are not worth the time needed yo hear them out.

They really suck.

[MasterCornholio]

" A lot will depend on the ecosystem that Sony will have to create in order to sustain a thriving community where real gamers will do the recommendation of games you might like and let you try them, as opposed to some reviewer with an agenda trying to convince you why this is the worst or best game ever made. Thus changing the power structure we currently see in play."

Wow sounds like it could be bigger than Mii Verse.

[StreetsofRage]

I only read a small handful of sites/mags for my reviews. Amazon personal reviews are fantastic. Games like splatterhouse get great reviews on there.

[BLAKHOODe]

I don't read reviews or "opinion" pieces that are posted here on N4G.. 2 reasons, "one man's trash is another man's riches" and you never know if the review/opinion is legit sincere or "bought".

[Half-Mafia]

I said this yesterday.

http://n4g.com/news/1181828...

very exciting.