IGN Allowed To Exclusively Publish Bioshock: Infinite Review, Gaming Media Gets Frustrated

DSOGaming writes: "It seems that this week’s “SimCity” story will be dedicated to Bioshock: Infinite. In an awkward turn of events, 2K Games allowed IGN to break its review embargo for Irrational Games’ upcoming title and post a ‘in-progress’ review of it."

[NewMonday]

gamers should be aware on any review site that depends on hit driven Add revenue.

it is disappointing Bioshock:Infinite would be a game to get this treatment, I don't think it needs it, they already got me at "Ken Levine"

[Derekvinyard13]

It will most likely score an 8 or above but from what the ign reviewer has been saying he has noted a few problems instead if kissing 2k's ass, full review comes out on the 21 prolly not gonna read it tho

[Nimblest-Assassin]

Also.. why don't journos call foul when a magazine gets to publish a review first?

Now I'm worried that other journos will reduce the score of this game simply because they got a longer embargo

After all Sess took offense to a trophy name, how do we know he won't take offense to this?

[Fishy Fingers]

Magazines obviously face challenges like publishing, shipping, release dates etc so it's very difficult to put strict embargoes on them and even when they do, it's often leaked through scans as they go through many different hands.

[GrathiusXR]

In reply to Nimblest-Assassin: I know people that work in print here in Australia and they face much greater challenges than online media.

They have strict date they need content to be finished then they have to edit, print and publish etc... They have a strict deadline they need content to be completed and when magazines need to be printed and ready to ship.

[MikeMyers]

There is definitely a conflict of interest starting to build. IGN may now be pressured into giving it a higher than normal score in hopes of further timed exclusive reviews. Do you really think 2K will grant IGN more of these if they score the game lower than average of all other reviews?

Review scores do have some impact on sales and this is just another step of blurring the lines of trusting those reviews. I tend to pay more attention to what they say in reviews than the score they give but sadly some focus too much on the numbers.

[Winter47th]

The last time I've read a written review was sometime in 2006 or something. It's been videos ever since.

[admiralvic]

@ Nimblest-Assassin

There are a number of reasons that it doesn't happen.

- Different target markets.
- Stricter demands.
- Leaks! Most times we see leaks long before the magazine is out for sale / in consumer hands. This also happens with Manga (really any JP magazine), since we will see leaks of next weeks chapter on Tuesday, usually the full thing on Wednesday and then the magazine finally hits stands on Monday.
- Some magazines don't have a lot of content. While I don't read a lot of magazine reviews, I've seen some magazines have a paragraph for the review and give you a score.

As far as review scores go... I doubt anyone will be vindictive enough to actually mark it lower over IGN publishing early. If anything, people will just discredit IGN.

[ginsunuva]

NO ONE READ THE REVIEW.
NO HITS FOR IGN

[InTheZoneAC]

prolly?

[Razmossis]

Bioshock 1 was the one of the most innovative, fresh and inspired games to come out this generation. It very well may be thee best. Completely original, atmospheric, properly story driven, proper GAME!

Now a sequal comes from the 'original' devs.
I couldn't care less about waiting for reviews, I AM GETTING THIS GAME!

[chrish1990]

This is ridiculous. Obviously money has changed hands and it's coming at the cost of the consumer.

I managed to get a hold of a copy of BioShock Infinite yesterday (living in Austria at the moment, independent retailers don't mind a few extra euros, if you know what I mean...) and I was going to wait until the day before release to publish the review, but in light of this, you can read the full review at thegamescabin.com tomorrow. Just don't expect any updates afterwards as I'll probably be in the middle of getting my ass sued.

[GrathiusXR]

You won't get sued because you didn't sign any embargo for when you can publish the review...

[InTheLab]

You can play through the game AND write a review less than 3 days?

That's why I don't care for reviews any more.

[admiralvic]

@ inthelab

I've platinumed games in less than 3 days, so I don't see the problem. Not even like every game out there is that long, like rising had people beating it in 5 or less hours. I think someone could easily manage to pull that off in 3 days and write a review.

[dirthurts]

Nothing can stop you from writing your own review, it's freedom of press.
Unless of course you signed some embargo paperwork or something.

[MattyG]

When today is it going up?

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

Not sure what's up with all the disagrees about Ken Levine. He is my peace of mind about this game being exceptional. I also never knew there were so many Ken haters.

[kupomogli]

I take it you've never played Street Fighter 4. Lots of people hate Ken because 99% of the noobs played as him and did nothing but Shoryuken.

Oh. Wrong Ken.

[DeadlyFire]

Never trust one review site. I line up all the scores. If it averages out 8 or better its worth buying if its averaging 6 or less its not worth a purchase.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

What's wrong with a score of 6? A score of 6 is above average. If the scores average out to be below 5 then you should think it's not worth purchase.

This is another example of what's wrong with gamers now.

[DeadlyFire]

Well I personally rent most anything I have some interest in buying regardless. Your own view always trumps others.

Not paying full price for anything unless I really believe its fun and decent game.

[Abdou23]

I haven't been following IGN's-Gamespot-Gametrailer s or any other big company reviews for years now, if you want a decent unbiased review check youtube for gamers reviews like you and me, people who don't get paid or make deals to review a game.

[Blaze929]

I don't know why people still trust these big sites. I'd rather go to these smaller sites and get multiple, REAL opinions then a paid off one from someone who's probably not even a fan....or played it.

[3-4-5]

This is dumb.

Basically they are allowing a company who they know will give them a good review, to be the only people to review it leading up to the game.

That way, all the news about the game can only be good and not bad until people have already made the purchase for the most part.

This leads me to believe that there is something in this game people are not going to like at all and they don't want you to know about it until they have your money.

It's shady and I just lost a huge amount of respect for them, for what it's worth.

* They are trying to censor the truth.

[bunt-custardly]

Look at it this way. The game is obviously good enough and will get high praise across the board anyway. This was probably determined during preview stages a while ago.

This deal simply means, 2K are confident in their product and its potential reception to grant one media outlet first dibs on publishing a review.

What is interesting is how IGN are posting slightly negative elements before review is published to avoid being tarnished with the "bought review" brush.

IMO IGN didn't need to say anything and have just made themselves look worse.

Idiots.

[joab777]

Who cares? So many ppl today are journalists and get to play this game early. The embargo will be lifted ahead of the release so who cares? Most ppl already know that they eitber will or will not buy the game day 1. I am. I knew it last year. So, IGN wants to be the place ppl go to first...cool. Then, i may visit others when their review goes up. This isnt like simcity at all.

[Mariusmssj]

IGN has to make money one way or another

[Ezio2048]

hahahaha....roflmao! *choking in tears*
Nice one, bro. :P :D Bubble for you.

Though I presume it was 2K who proactively approached IGN for the earliest embargo since IGN has some of the highest clicks in the video game journalism.

[torchic]

wouldn't be surprised if this was the case. Levine said that the cover of Infinite is the way it is to appeal to the casuals, dudebros mostly. as we all know these people don't visit gaming sites but when they do for a review or what, it's IGN.

2K & Irrational just doing what they need to do to sell copies I guess.

[N0S3LFESTEEM]

2K games "Just make sure it scores over X amount"
Ign *Wipes it's mouth while raising it's head up* "You got it"

[majiebeast]

I hate IGN as much as the next guy but god Arthur Gies of Polygon needs to stfu. This is the last guy who should talk about integrity, what a joker. Same for Dorrito's pope Keighley and Sessler is a guy who deducts poins of a game for a trophy name. Now that they are on the other side of the fence they start complaining bunch of hypocrites.

[overrated44]

I honestly can't agree with you more, Arthur Gies has always "rubbed me the wrong way" simply due to his necessity to push his opinions on everyone else. He may be the reviews editor at Polygon but his reviews are also the only write ups that I refuse to read, everyone else on that site is fantastic. And Geoff Keighley? Do we REALLY need to bring up the Halo 4, Doritos, and Mountain Dew fiasco? Probably not. Adam Sessler I've always had respect for, even if he did work at G4 while it was being torn apart from the inside out. All of this being said though, are ANY of these journalists really going to come out and say that they wouldn't take that review exclusive if it had been offered to them? Fuck no, they all need to take a Midol and shut the fuck up. Sorry if this was too long.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

I know right i read this on gaf yesterday. Sessler should stop whining like a bitch.

[Rampaged Death]

Expecting 9 and 10's for this game.

[first1NFANTRY]

Lol wow so now we have exclusive reviews? How pathetic. There's no such thing as games journalism. Oh well let these retards f%ck each other over.

[RTheRebel]

Hypocrite Reviewers mad when they themselves sold out, *cough Doritos Keighly, god the gaming media is a joke truly it is. Now I'm having second thoughts on buying Bioshock cause of this move. The Last Of Us it is then.

[SAE]

I'm gonna get both. Journalists can't stop me from buying good games. I advice you to do the same because bishock looks really fun ..

[RTheRebel]

This vid explains how bad IGN really is.

[KillrateOmega]

That was actually a pretty interesting video. I'll be making sure to check out the other videos in this series of his.

[InTheLab]

That video was hard to watch. IGN is horrible but you cannot compare the scores of two different critics and expect people to listen to you.

Now, I agree that previews have been looking like paid advertisements for games for the last two generations and it's only getting worse.

And his comment about the PS4 came off as fanboyish considering MS still has no date set for it's event and has yet to acknowledge the existence of the 720. Why should they have equal coverage. He also says something about the 3rd place console..which is pretty impressive since the thing isn't on sale yet. If he meant the PS3, he's still wrong, as it passed the Xbox months ago. Now going by his logic, there should be wall to wall coverage of the WiiU because "it's the first place console" /facepalm.

[VideoGameJimmy]

This video doesn't do anything but further prove the how pretentious the hate IGN-circlejerk is.

[LordHiggens]

Sony being last in the market sure is news to me...I thought they surpassed the 360 in worldwide sales...

[MattyG]

I couldn't watch half this video. This guy seems like the kind of person who likes to get on his soapbox when he's in his room, but if confronted in real life he'd piss his pants and run away. It was painful to watch this kid bash IGN with a metaphorical sword made up of half truths, assumptions and bias. Get a life kid, realize that business is business. IGN is there to make money, but if every game got a good review off of advertising alone there would be far more 10/10s.

[MASTER_RAIDEN]

i mean, of course IGN would jump at the opportunity- what gaming review site wouldnt?
Extremely disappointed to see this type of thing come from the guys behind such a great series. im sure the game is beyond awesome...no need for such a slimy move.

[MattyG]

You realize that Irrational doesn't set this kind of thing up, 2K pr does, right?

[pompombrum]

Come on.. an exclusive review rights equals good score regardless of how the game actually is. Not that I trust IGN scores anyway but still, this is ridiculous.

[knifefight]

Exactly.

What are they gonna do, give it a low score and say that it was a disappointment? Yeah right, because there goes any chance of another exclusive review in the future.

The credibility of this review just went down, and it hasn't even been published yet. -_-

[GrathiusXR]

Unless we get another Gamespot Kane & Lynch scenario where the review of the game gave it a decent score and got fired for it. :D

[Ezz2013]

i wonder why some people still trust Gamespot after this

[Crystallis]

Precisely. This game with get high 9's or even a 10 from IGN. I can almost guarantee it which is sad.

[die_fiend]

Yeah, and it will have nothing to do with the fact it's actually immense. What did IGN give the first Bioshock? That's right, a quality score.

[csreynolds]

Videogames journalism is such an incestuous affair nowadays; if you're not sleeping with the publisher, you don't get no love. This is not how things should be.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Here's the thing...

I would almost never trust a site exclusive review.

Too many back room deals.

[nutcrackr]

IGN of all sites, they can't review to save their lives. Who cares about quality when you are the biggest.

[rajman]

they gave GOW Judgment a 9.2/10, a game that has a 5 hour single player campaign lol

[morganfell]

IGN gave GTA IV a 10. When referring to graphics they said they gave the 10 not because it was perfect but because it pushed boundaries. Think about the games that were out then. They are saying GTA IV broke ground beyond what those games were capable.

I remember when that review came out. I was going through Uncharted for the 3rd time, a game to which they gave a 9 for graphics.

Until the public gathers itself and puts an end to clicking on these sites this will never end. People want any news about a title so badly they can't stop themselves. Youtube has put a hugedent in what would have been an otherwise hopeless affair. This is why I often post Youtube links in articles which have proprietary video - just to prevent people from going to some worthless site where opinion is the order of the day. Direct revenue driven versus indirect.

Does no one remember when gaming journalism had a much greater degree of objectivity and reviews were not strictly personal opinions?

[despair]

@morganfell

Funny how you failed to mention the 9.5 they gave UC2(10 for graphics) or the 10 they gave UC3 (all 10s in different categories).

[Plagasx]

When will you fools learn? It's not about the length of the game that counts, it's the quality.

[Ezz2013]

@rajman

Gears of war J have 79% metascore
which only show why you should never trust sites like IGN

[Jamiex66]

Least they don't make me wait 30 seconds before I can get to their story ;)

[rezzah]

Forget objectivity, it's all about popularity.

[KingKevo]

I've always been kind of defensive of IGN, but I'm worried that their review will be objective. But as always, people should wait for more than just one or a handful of review. But I'll get the game one day one anyway. Why? Cause it's BioShock.

[ShiftyLookingCow]

With all this hate for gaming journalism, don't expect things to get better.

No. Instead expect micro-transactions.

Do you want to compare the different console versions? $1

Unlock critical review sections of the game whose ads are plastered all over the site? $3

and so on.

[XishikiX]

I'm not a fan of this. Imo the ME3 where one of their employees was featured in the game was more of a conflict of interest.

But, it doesn't seem new to me. I remember magazines getting World Exclusive reviews and things like that and it stating that on the cover before the internet was big.

I don't agree with it in either case.

[PirateThom]

I think it's safe to say, regardless, the IGN review is next to worthless. Same as any exclusive review.

However, the sites and people complaining cannot say they wouldn't have taken it had the opportunity come up. Hypocrites and opportunists the lot of them.

Regardless of what reviewers say, it's hard for me to take a review seriously when your site is covered in ads for that same game or you're getting exclusives for that game.

[Braid]

For the last couple of years, I started reading/watching reviews only AFTER I beat the games so gaming journalism can go kiss a duck for all I care. I only use internet media to hear about the news before magazines come out.

[barb_wire]

Game is already available on the PS3 and has been for a few days.. read about it on NeoGAF

[pecorre]

Back in my days, in-progress reviews were simply called previews and nobody made a controversy over them.

[KillrateOmega]

Exclusive review, huh? I'm sure they will be as objective as possible... /s

[Philoctetes]

This is just an extreme illustration of why I don't trust reviews from gaming media. If I'm on the fence about a game, I always wait a week or so for user reviews to roll in. Those are much better.

[fsfsxii]

So...Irrational games aren't sure of their game???

[Mithan]

Who gives a shit. None of this matters. Manufactured crisis.

[Upstate8987]

It's not a manufactured crisis, imo. It's true. I emailed 2k yesterday, specifically pointing out that IGN had their review up and we would like to review it for our site also. My response, "We're all out of copies sorry". coughcough, bullshit.

and my site gets 670k uniques per month, so its not like we are a nothing site.

[csreynolds]

What's your site, out of interest?

[die_fiend]

670k per month? How do you think that compares to IGN?

[Upstate8987]

Of course its not close to IGN. But, the point is that it isn't just a pushover site

[whamlollypop7]

You gotta pay to play looks like IGN ponied up the most revenue. That site sucks a dick anyway.

[KrebStar]

Sessler must have bought a new house on the beach, because it seems like lately, he's got quite a bit of sand in his...shoes.

[honkayjeezus]

As a Ken Levine fan, this is pretty fucking depressing.

[refocusedman]

Please this is lame and misleading. Its not a full fledge review, it a very short preview of their review in progress. Ign maybe a little shady at time but if tge author decides to write an article abt it a least be accurate.

[PooEgg]

I suppose it simply means that IGN sucked up better then Game Informer or Gamespot this time. There really should be some rules in place to protect the consumer, but since it is what it is, we simply have to keep in mind that the larger websites cannot be trusted, since they are all just a little too cozy with the companies making the games. Keep your dollars in your pocket until the 'real' reviews come out.

Personally, I cannot seem to shake the overwhelming feeling that Bioshock Infinite is going to be a total let down, but hopefully I will be proven wrong.

[Sketchy_Galore]

I agree with you about staying wary of the big sites but I would also point out that many if not most of the smaller sites are not to be trusted either. They may be either intentionally giving a 'shocking' score to a game to get attention and the hits they desperately need or they may simply be immature kids who set up their own website without learning the basics of writing a professional review, such as overcoming their own silly biases and judging a game on it's own merits.

Which is not to say you should disregard all review scores completely, we should leave that to people who get butthurt when a game they want to like gets a poor score. The only thing we can really do is look at as large a selection of reviews as possible, take into account the flaws and biases of every different kind of reviewer and our own tastes and I think it's then easy enough to tell whether or not a game is worth picking up.

[PooEgg]

Excellent point. I totally agree.

[gamingisnotacrime]

but will get it anyway. Levine has proven himself so i take his word for it

[arsg]

Bribe 10 forthcoming.

[EbeneezerGoode]

the first game was overhyped beyond belief and turned out the gameplay wasn't that great. I am wary of this new bioshock, and this stunt sounds more like they want to PAY a site (or get them traffic) in exchange for a 10/10 review to garner pre-orders before other sites/users can attack it.

IGN has been the most non trust-able source of reviews for sometime, shit games getting great reviews while their pages are soaked in advertising revenue for said game.

Most big game review sites now are like WWF - all for show, there's so little integrity left. The only review that coutns to me is MY review and I'll be cautious before buying this game and will try it out if possible first

[VideoGameJimmy]

You may "hate" gaming journalism, but sitting on the computer complaining about it isn't going to change it. It's amazing how many people think reviews can be objective when they themselves give subjective reviews to friends about movies or music or television shows. No other entertainment medium's review industry suffers the same scrutiny like games journalism does, although that's not saying it doesn't happen. Reviews are subjective no matter how you look at it.

Here, Destructiod wrote up an objective review for Final Fantasy XIII: http://www.destructoid.com/...

Now here is Destructoid's subjective review for Final Fantasy XIII: http://www.destructoid.com/...

The gaming community consensus is that FFXIII is a poor admission to the Final Fantasy series. The game received a 4/10 from Jim Sterling, did it deserve it? I don't think it did. I certainly didn't like the game but what I loved Sterling didn't, as showcased in his review. If more people read the reviews instead of jumping straight to the score, they'll see why the review is justified in giving it that score. The catcher is you don't have to agree with it; the wonders of personal opinion.

Stop complaining about games journalism. Then again if you just absolutely just hate games journalism, read user reviews... those are bound to be "real" objective.

[dennett316]

Great post mate.
There are problems in a system that allow publishers so much power over review and preview content. Reviews are supposed to be consumer advice, not tools to promote the games (though that can be an element of it).

Anyone with any sense knows that reviews are subjective, so long as they argue their case well and in a relatively factual manner based on the content of the game, you can't really argue about any score.

The system needs an overhaul though, and this granting of exclusive review status is one of the things that has to go, because you do wonder if that review can be trusted.

[DonFreezer]

Who the f*** cares about reviews?Weren't they the ones who gave Silent Hill Downpour one of the few horror games that has stayed to it's roots a 4.5?

[MakiSaad2]

HAHAHA I hate Adam Sessler keep it up IGN keep him MAD

[stumpa]

Bioshock was excellent
Bioshock 2 was very very good
Chances are this next bioshock is going to be very good but review embargos are never a good thing and more often than not mean the game is gonna be shite if it was any other game i would be worried this was the case but the pedigree in question is so good i reckon this game will be very good

[TechOne]

I see what you're doing, IGN.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/...

[dennett316]

Despicable practice that needs to be phased out to protect the interests of consumers. For too long have the publishers used the reviews process for their own ends...it's supposed to be consumer advice. There should be no exclusive reviews, there should be no review embargoes, there should be no blacklisting of review sites or individuals for daring to speak negatively of a game or publishers business practices. It's disgusting to me that they're allowed to get away with this nonsense, and more upsetting that so many gamers are willing to accept it and even help the publishers by complaining about review scores not being high enough for certain games.

This industry needs an enema....it's rotten to the core. There are good guys in there, but the entire process is biased so heavily in favour of the publishers it's ridiculous.

[ceed911]

95% of gaming news site are glorified blogs and people who WANT to be in the gaming media.

This is only a big deal to 5% of sites, other people are just gamers who want to be taken seriously.

[Bobby Kotex]

DO NOT PREORDER THIS GAME. Try to play the game, or get word of mouth feedback. IGN is definitely one of those sites that you have to take with a grain of salt.

[00]

Game "critics" have become nothing but advertisers for the publishers this gen or useless sensational shit.

the only way to get a proper review is from people who actually bought the game, because "professional" reviewers just want more freebies.

[RockmanII7]

DAE HAET IGN

[Gigglefist]

Exclusive review = not to be trusted
It depends, but I tend to not trust major review sites (Gamespot, IGN, etc.)
I'm not being crazy when I say you can pay for a good review.
I've LOVED plenty of games with poor reviews, and hated games with 9+

[dennett316]

That's got nothing to do with reviewers getting paid...that's down to your personal taste.
I've hated games that were critically acclaimed, doesn't mean that those who gave the games good scores were bought, it just means I didn't agree with their opinion. It takes more than disagreement to highlight a crooked review. You need to actually look at the content of the review and find if it's lacking or clearly just thrown together by glancing at a press kit - like the EGM review of Aliens Colonial Marines was.
Exclusive reviews are not necessarily a sign that a reviewer will be dishonest, but it may indicate they will be easier on the game than they should be, neglecting to mention flaws etc.

[Gigglefist]

Point well made

[jcnba28]

Hey guys sign and share this petition for SEGA to re-release the original Bayonetta on the Wii U eShop:

http://www.change.org/en-GB...

[yeahokchief]

You are all childish and petty.

Who cares. Get real jobs.

[Whitefox789]

How does holding anything exclusive help anyone?

[SonyAddict]

This game has won 85 global awards!, nuff said.