Editor’s Letter: Polygon, The Developing Story of Being First

The point of developing stories is to keep you abreast of the news as it happens - the president has been shot; he has been brought to hospital; he's fine, it was a BB gun. It make sense as it ensures you are as informed as possible as soon as possible. - PSLS

[knifefight]

Yeah Polygon seems to have figured out what makes people mad, then rageclick. Then they rake in all that sweet sweet rage money and do it again next week. Readers need to wise up to their game.

If it's not rage (like with their reviews), then it's confusion and bad reporting (like with the news that this article is talking about). The whole site is a mess. People need to ignore it.

This is a great article exposing the details. I'm gonna pass it around whenever I see people talking about anything on Polygon.

[adorie]

I'm not mad, I'm disgusted. Also, I have learned long ago to not feed the trolls, and in this instance, Polygon. I'd rather see them starve than receive a click from me. I'd slap my own hand if I should ever click their site by mistake. >:/

Terrible website and personnel.

[Wenis]

Everyone is upset with Polygon for their reivew of TLOU, but did anyone actually read the review? There was nothing 'disgusting' or fanboyish about it. It just sounded like a guy who didn't think the game was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I mean seriously, its like some people only want to hear, well, what they want to hear, and get all pissy and moany when someone doesn't roll out the red carpet and give the game a proverbial blowjob. And hell it was a 7.5, its not like he gave it a 4 or something.

[PockyKing]

@Wenis

Did you read the review? Reviews are not supposed to be focused on your opinion of the game. You're supposed to review the quality of the game as a professional reviewer. Opinionated stuff is for personal blogs, not a professional website like Polygon.

His arguments were outlandish. Too violent? Are you joking? The M rating is there for a reason. The game made him feel like he was a bad person. Uh, since when has another game gave you an emotion like that??

I could honestly care less about the score, aside from the fact that Metacritic can affect peoples pay, but even so, I don't think Sony would really bother with a site that is funded by Microsoft to affect the score.

TL;DR - His review was marred by his opinion of the game and his content didn't match up with the review. And a site that is known to be funded by Microsoft, giving a game that practically every other publication on the net is giving high appraisal a low score is bound to turn heads and I'm sure they knew that.

[Wenis]

Pocky, again, have YOU read the review? Directly after he claimed it was 'violent', he said "The Last of Us' graphics, animation and sound design are some of the best I've ever experienced". He was being sarcastic, and by saying how violent it is, he was praising the graphics/animation etc.

Whatever though, the game has been mostly getting 9s and 10s across the board which is usually a sign of a great game. But don't realistically expect everyone to hold the same opinion as each other, that's just having a herd mentality.

[PockyKing]

No idea how you read that as sarcastic..

[NewMonday]

Polygon are using every sleazy trick a website can.

I don't remember a gaming website rising so fast to infamy

Polygon want's your clicks, don't give to them

don't go to their website to complain or rage, that's why they troll in the first place.

just downvote them in N4G, and hopefully they disappear and fail.

[theDECAY]

Agreed!

[3-4-5]

A lot of people aren't that intelligent. They don't realize it though, so they don't comprehend that they are being tricked and need to smarten up.

They actually already think they are smart, which leads them to being tricked in the first place.

[ElitaStorm]

well people do nasty stuff for money..

[JonnyBigBoss]

I'm glad people are standing up to this. I detest such wicked journalism.

[ElitaStorm]

this article put a smile on my face.

Yesterday i got really pissed off about the TLOS review and again it was no about the score it was about the person that reviewed it, he was trying so hard to hate the game and his focus was mainly on the things he was bad at, aiming for instance.

and he said it was too violent, i guess he forgot to look at the game rating(The Last of US is rated 18 btw)

[andron]

Funnily enough I hadn't even heard of Polygon before this "debacle". Won't be a regular at that site...

[SOULJER]

I've never heard of this site. Until they gave The Last of Us a weak review. I guess in their minds mission accomplish.

[HebrewHammer]

I'm glad an actual website like PSLS will call them out. The article I submitted about them silencing the PlayStation community was removed earlier today after gaining traction.

[saintsudden]

I don't get the polygon hate. TLOU review was someone's opinion and was a well written review. He doesn't like the gore or the depressing story, I like that stuff so I'll buy it. Maybe they should of had someone else review the game that was more into that stuff, but personally I like hearing different opinions of games. About the early article, Polygon was probably checking sources and trying to make sense of what Microsoft posted and getting all their facts right instead of posting false info like Kotaku. Also this is not new IGN doe's the same thing.

[first1NFANTRY]

you make no sense. if you can't stomach the violence in a game then let someone else review it. it really isn't that hard.

it's like buying a cheese burger knowing you're allergic to cheese.

[saintsudden]

Sorry I thought the point of reviews is to give your opinion about the game.

[ElitaStorm]

Do you know what reviews are for from those websites that get early copy of a game? They are for to help you decide if you should buy a game or not.

and if you are telling me in a review that the game is bad because you cant aim, there is too much blood on your tv screen and you cant handle it then you shouldn't reviewing it in the first place.

[saintsudden]

Yeah and Philip Kollar is informing you in his review that there is too much gore, depressing story, and combat exploits. If you don't mind that then get the game.

Or would you like if everyone had the same review?

I agree with Hicken, I may have worded my comments wrong.

[Hicken]

The point of reviews is to inform others of the content/quality of the game, with as little of your opinion coloring that reporting as possible.

Consumer Reports doesn't review items with the reviewer's personal preference in mind. The authors of reviews in various auto magazines make it fairly obvious what parts of a review are their opinion, and what parts are simply fact. Even movie critics have a clear difference between their feelings on a movie, and the pure facts on what it contains.

Only in gaming is a bad review excused because it's "opinion."

Edit: Yes, they ARE different to some of what I said. Not so different from cars, though. Driving is, obviously, a very interactive experience.

But how can anybody decide whether or not they'll actually like a game if the person who reviewed it is full of their own bias? I don't like horror games because they scare the crap outta me, but if I reviewed one, I wouldn't let my dislike for the genre prevent me from accurately reporting on the controls, or the characters, or the story.

I'm able to separate how I feel, personally, from the content and quality of the game. The score I gave it, similarly, wouldn't be based on how much I enjoyed it, because the review isn't being written FOR ME. It's being written for potential buyers. Therefore, regardless of how I feel, my score and my review should be done with THEM in mind.

"Personally, this game is about as scary as it gets, and I'd be happy if I never even looked at the case again. But for fans of the genre, there's plenty to love, and enough content to want to give it multiple playthroughs. Again, there ARE some flaws- the sidekick being essentially useless is one of the bigger ones- but not enough to stop this from being a very good example of what the genre should look like. 8.5/10."

Is there something wrong with reviewing that way?

[oof46]

That is where game reviews and other media differ. Games are interactive media.

"The point of reviews is to inform others of the content/quality of the game, with as little of your opinion coloring that reporting as possible."

Huh? Hicken, all videogame reviews are subjective. How does one tell if a game is good or not? By how much they liked it or not. That is an opinion.

[doctorstrange]

"Polygon was probably checking sources and trying to make sense of what Microsoft posted". Then check the sources and then publish. Don't publish and then try to see if it's true, because what they pubbed was false info.

[McScroggz]

For example, I'm a very, very picky eater. So, a friend shouldn't ask me to try something and tell them if I think they will like it. Now, it gets tricky because asking somebody who is a huge fan of a franchise or genre might have an opinion slanted positively thus not the review wouldn't be entirely objective either.

I can't speak for every one, but to me Phil lauded many aspects of the game like graphics, sound, characterizations, atmosphere, etc. Quite a lot. Then, many of his criticisms seemed very hollow such as the game making him feel bad about the violence, which most people would consider an excellent quality and a good example of the game's compelling, immersive story.

Some of his other concerns I could see people having, such as the shaky aiming (which is immersive and to many a good thing), as well as possibly the Uncharted "waves of enemies" or AI issues. But even then, he described some of his problems with the game as nitpicking.

It's like he told us how many great things The Last of Us had to offer, and then took off points for everything that's wrong (many of those points arguable) to give it a 7.5. To me, the text clearly didn't read a 7.5. No game is perfect. Even superb games have flaws, yet it seems TLOU didn't get any benefit of the doubt.

Plus, Phil gave Ni no Kuni a 6.7. He wasn't the only person to rate Ni no Kuni relatively lowly, but I found the same flaws in his review style as was present in TLOU. I don't want to suggest Microsoft has an influence because of the 750k donation to help start Polygon; but I WILL suggest that at least those two reviews were poorly constructed.

[doi]

POLYGONE!

[Agent_hitman]

lol I just found out that BRIAN CRESENTE was also part of POLYGON. He is a well known Xbox fanboy, he is also a former Editor in chief and a Author for www.kotaku.com

So I will not be surprised if Brian and the rest of Polygon will spread their hate about Sony in the next gen using their stupid write-ups.