Metacritic: The most pathetic battleground of the console wars

Metacritic has become the latest battleground in the fanboy console wars, with user scores allowing the particularly deranged to deliberately score down a videogame. Maybe they think their penis will grow in size as a particular first party game's score lowers. It will not happen.

[Fishy Fingers]

One metacritic based article I'm happy to approve.

[facepalm]

I 100% agree with you...

This whole issue with "Meta-Scores" is absolutely preposterous. The majority of the people who use these scores as ammunition probably didn't even glance at the 2-4 page articles. They just instantly skip to the scores and either jump around in glee, praising the writer, or rush to the forums in disgust saying how much he/she sucks at their job...

No console bias, no fanboy spin, just the plain "Doh!!"

[LightningPS3PS3]

And it has nothing to with pathetic fanboys.

1. Metacritic turned Variety's no score review of LBP into an 80%.

So, I thought that sucked. If a review doesn't assign a score, then leave it that way. Especially if you're gonna give a score much lower than what the game is averaging.

2. Metacritic turned 1up's review of (B+) for Resistance 2 into an 83%.

I think everyone who went to grade school knows that a (B+) usually means 85% and above. So, that sucks. I start to wonder WTF is up with metacritic.

3. Last but not least, Metacritic turns 1up's review of (A) for Gears of War 2 into a 100%.

I thought that 100% meant (A+). You remember (A+)? it meant you scored perfect. There's nothing wrong with that, but when Gears of War 2 gets 100% for (A) and Resistance 2 can't even reach 85% for (B+)...

I mean, I feel that last one really crosses the line.

[nordberg]

IMO, not only user, but Metacritic score itself was biased.
Sample:
"Resistance 2" two lowest score from "1up" and "gamepro".
"Gear of war 2" two highest score from "1up" and "gamepro".
Strange, if a review site have easy rating than the score must be in higher range for the two games and if his rating was severe than the score must be in lower range for the two games (but IMO not a lower and higher range depending of the console reviewed, these site must not count IMO). If metacritic decide one day to remove some unfair site review than his score will be really accurate (or at least take the middle score instead of average score.).

PS: I don't know which game was better than the other but only noted some site want to affect a metacritic score and as soon as possible (first reviewer for game not yet released)

[Xelai]

Metacritic in fact asks each reviewer to send a numeric, they never make up anything.

It is fanboys who see hideen agendas and conspiranoias everywhere.

[INehalemEXI]

Have you forgoten Gerstmanngate already? Scandals in gaming sites review systems happen often. Money,hype,and marketing influences scores too thats just reality. Thats why games fly under the radar , and/or are underrated.

Warhawk for example could easily be a 95 , -5 for abandoning single player. Yet its Meta is 84... WTF. Warhawk is easily the best game of its genre IMO.

Theres also Overrated games due to hype..GTAIV for instance.

[Kuest]

Who to call? ......

I've got it, the Hardy Boys. They ought to solve your metric problem in not time; then you actually start playing games.

[ultimolu]

Exactly.
Metacritic is starting to piss me off.

[kratos-i-am]

Is it really that surprising? I remember when Peter Moore used to mention metacritic rankings against the PS3 saying "Xbox has more games over 90 than our competition."

[karlostomy]

The whole gist of it was to do with USER SCORES.
Fanboys can leave their own score for a game thereby raising/lowering the user score!

The article had nothing to do with the metacritic official reviews.
In fact, metacritic gives us a very GOOD indication of what the official review community's concensus is.

It's just the losers who vote down anything not on their beloved console of choice that are the point of this article.

*sighs*

[MiloGarret]

"Metacritic in fact asks each reviewer to send a numeric, they never make up anything."

Really? Is that true? Could you provide a link? So that I can start spamming the above sentence everytime I see some fanboy whining over metacritic scores. Please.

[Man_of_the_year]

Well if Metacritic is going to be the site now where people will no longer take serious...there is always gamerankings...and if certain fanboys find issues with that site as well then i guess we can always use the number of sales to get a better idea...if not then i guess certain fanboys will just always call foul against the numbers that they don't personally agree with...

So far on metacritic - Gears 2 95/100
resistance 2 89/100

Game rankings gears2 95/100
Resistance 2 89/100

Hmmm...I can also assure you gears 2 will also sell more than R2...Sorry guys...but 89/100 to me is a great game none the less.

[Xelai]

@Milo

It all comes in the FAQ at their site,

http://www.metacritic.com/a...

The Vanity reviewer normalized his review with a score, when a reviewer does not do that then it comes to Metacritic to do it, BUT as it was said in one of the multiple news that have been published these days most reviewers send their own numeric values, it was in the answer that the owner of Metacritic gave concerning LBP.

And of course there is hype affecting reviews, and pressure, but that is one thing and another saying that a black hand is behind everything, in fact, not everyones black hand, Microsoft`s one. As if Sony cannot pull similar stunts, remember IGN´s Fallout 3 PS3 version correction? That was Bethesda asking for not revealing some errors. And Konami asking for not mentioning installations nor cutscene length for MGS4?

Those things happen, but not as forced nor commonplace as some people think, they are commonplace for small stuff, and mostly to rise scores or not mention errors, not bringing down the competition. But when you got 70+ reviews all between 100 and 80 you know it is a great game, and if they are 70 to 50 you know it is rubbish, end of story.

And please keep disagreeing to simple plain facts, it is amusing when it is not tiresome.

PD Thinking of the agree/disagree usage here, it makes me think that if your opinion is not the same as that of the majority, the system makes it seem as if you are not entitled to it, curious.

[ngg12345]

For having twenty stories about this fanboy garbage.

[Harri4444]

fanboys are what make the modern world go round. wether they are political, religion based or gamers.

[Snake Raiser]

@ 2.1 Sad, but true. I am glad we both see that. And metacritic is just sad people. If gamers are hardcore enough to go on there they will know that LBP getting a 6/10 is just stupid. Point is your not fooling anybody.

[vlazed]

The irony here is the blatant Gears promotion through this article. This could have easily been written when the event actually took place, but instead they wait till both Gears and Resistance are about to launch and they use the Gears logo to represent the article. They could have used a LBP or Resistance image, or any other image for that matter, and statistically there was a 66% chance they could of, but alas math loses again and 33% wins.

[hay]

It's a skull mate, which pretty much shows how writer was pissed off or added some "seriousness" to the article.
Imagine lbp picture there, whole article wouldn't be so serious. You can't translate what human may think/want/prefer into percents. It doesn't work that way.

The article is harsh and offensive but has one strong point. We all should appreciate those people who are working on great games, we should love games which give us some fun, and stop hating games we can't have or just because they are Sony or MS. It's just stupid.

If I were one of those devs which game fanboys attacked I would be pretty much pissed off to see dumbed down rating just because I wanted to make game as good as possible for gamers which can't show appreciation and boycott my work.
I work with the software and yeah, I'm sometimes pissed off when someone gives my work negative feedback without valid reason or point. Just like dumbing down the score.

[vlazed]

Sorry but you fail. This is the GeOW "COG" logo that they used. They could have used any other image to represent the article and the writers supposed frustration but they didn't. Then logically you would deduce that he chose to use one of the games mentioned in the article and this is where percentages comes into play. Choosing from 1 of 3 images to represent said games leaves each game with a 33.3% chance of being selected. Then you factor in consoles and in jumps from 66.6% for Sony and 33.3% for Ms. Point being that this was premeditated and deliberate.

[Cheeseknight28]

First of all, you aren't helping the problem. Does it really matter if Gears' logo is on the screen? No. They could've used any of the victims, but they chose to hit the one that had the lowest score. Would it change the article if they used LBP instead? Not in the slightest.

I have a fairly good feeling you were one of the ones that contributed to this garbage. Why would a pointless thing like which game the article is showing matter otherwise?

[vlazed]

I just call it like I see it. I am not trying to help anything. I am simply pointing out the fact that a garbage article has promotional dressing. This is old news and in the entertainment industry timing is everything which makes things like this seem suspect.

[MiloGarret]

Didn't read your comment properly so my comment looked stupid.

But yeah, itz all a conzpirazy! Ze Germanz are coming!

[Pebz]

Harsh but very true article.

I am actually genuinely sad for people who take their fanboyism to that level, they owe it to themselves to be better than that. Gaming is about having fun, not about ruining fun for others, remember? Please, remember.

[PooEgg]

I agree, fanboys ruin gaming and this whole fake user score thing is very childish. Fanboys need to get over themselves, just enjoy the games don't bash other systems.

[pp]

Blame the droids.

[Elvfam511]

a new name to call fanboys on the ps3 lets see patchstation3, droids, Delaystation3 what other ones you xbox 360 owners have

[lokiroo420]

pp like he said your little pp is not going to get any bigger!

[NaiNaiNai]

*considering i know i look like a big fanboy on this site *
XD im not. i just love to make people mad. but i have never went as low as to drop a games rating thats just pathetic. i got my coworker fired *at gamestop* because he was acting like a fanboy in front of customers insulting them that they bought a system and how it was weak and pathetic. that stuff earqs me. i attack consoles fairly. but people say im a idiot for pointing out the real flaws in the game. how im pathetic for ever insulting a system i love. >.> if i never said what was wrong would they ever fix it.............nope.
-nai-
*if you want to chat with me about this message me. don't waste the board space.*

[baum]

Fanboys take as an objective fact the average of subjective opinions, especially Xbox fanboys (but not exclusively). Xbox fanboys will take Metacritic's score as gospel if it favors Gears 2 over Resistance 2, even though it's a fact that Resistance 2 has more features. I'm not saying "it's better because I like it more", I'm saying it's better because it has more features and content, and that's an objective way to look at it.

I say if you want to wage a console war, at least wage it with facts (like sales, amount of games, diversity of games, features of games, features of consoles) instead of letting the press tell you which game is good and which game isn't. Use your brain, don't be a zombie.

Metacritic is not an ultimate indicator of a game's quality or success, especially since it's biased towards the highest bidder, i.e. the one that can pay more to corporate owned websites like 1up, GameSpot, IGN, etcetera. I trust the opinion of true gamers, not of fanboys or paid lobbyists.

However, I trust my opinion even more. Since I have to usually spend money to play a game though, I'll only look for reviews if they have anything *really bad* to say about games, because good things are usually subjective, but bad things are usually bad to everyone (which is why developers learn from their mistakes, not from their successes).

Reviewers do make mistakes anyway. Enter the matrix was awesome. The halo franchise is overrated, and so is GTAIV.

[NaiNaiNai]

you should know that this was started with fable II before the game came out, alot of sony fanboys attacked fable saying the game sucked and stating it wasn't AAA. so before you blabering about xbox fanboys get your facts straight. they where using Meta before GoW. Res 2.

not to mention your comments seem to gear towards insulting the xbox360.
-nai-
*tired of fanboys trying to act like gamers.*

[baum]

They started with the whole "AAA is 90+ on meta" nonsense.

[NaiNaiNai]

if i recall that was sony.
-nai-

[Sanzee]

Man Sony fans are just as much to blame as Xbox fans in this situation. It doesn't matter who started it. In the end, both sides did a little bashing, grant it one specific side had alot more fans doing it. But it doesn't matter. The fact that these clowns made meta-critic a battleground is nothing more than an indicator that Console-Obsessive Gamers have way too much free-time, and perhaps more importantly, need to get laid.

[meepmoopmeep]

fanboy extremists need real lives

[ArmrdChaos]

Most of them would have to get the score into the negatives to have a chance at anything that would remotely resemble a penis.

The sad lives of sad people. There really is more out there folks.

[power of Green]

I doubt any game this year was the first time fans have tried to throw a "USER SCORE",

WHO cares, the META CRITIC SCORE is all that matters if you're the type of fan that won't buy lower scoring games.

Kind of the 360 fans fault because they rubbed it in when the 360 was pumping out high scorers and PS3 was not, we did not have to rub it in! just because PS3 fanboys overhype PS3 games as the second comming or hype PS3 games at the 360's expense.

Despite the 360 fans rubbing it in because of PS3 fans attacks due to their console's own short commings I do beleive PS3 fans actively seek out ways to make the 360 look bad.

I just don't see 60%-80% of 360 fans/members on any given site trolling and spreading hate/missinformation about PS3 in all the sites I visit.

If we have dozons of troll spending 24/7 on ways to make the 360 look bad abusing their contributor rolls then you have to think much more has been going on.

^^Much more has been going on, I find it funny people complain about game scores when Sony and fanboys do that on the console level( even more so in EUROPE?JAPN)

It took three years for the Xbox to overcome this type of tactic and you just wan't to compalin about scores? lol.

[DiabloRising]

Again you spew biased stupidity that knows no bounds. Grow up child.

[ApocalypseShadow]

not sure if i'm responding to mart or pog.or the same person.who knows.even though your ip adress was found to be the same some time ago.but anyway....

it is the 360 fan's fault for the situation we are in when it comes to game reviews and scoring.360 fans have an obsession with numbers.as microsoft has trained you to have.they obsess with numbers and have pushed their base to do the same.

look at our attachment rates
look at our sales on xbl
we will sell 10 million by the end of the year(2006) before our competitors sell one console.
first to 10 million consoles sold by a company will show who wins
xbl is the best service out there and has so many connected gamers.
metacritic has shown that 360 has the most highest rated games
we will release the "perfect storm" of games(2007)
we have sold more software and accessories than any other next gen company.

SOME of microsoft's words.words also used by its fanbase.

attachments didn't matter as much until microsoft entered the race FIRST.microsoft would obviously have more games sold,software sold and accessories sold because they released FIRST.stuffing the channel in 2006 didn't mean they really sold 10 million before anyone else.and nintendo destroyed that first to 10 million wins crap.

starting a service before your competitor would obviously be ahead when you are known as a software company and not a hardware company.hense the RROD.more games rated high just means....AGAIN,that you released first.the perfect storm ended up with nintendo and sony outselling microsoft in console sales in 2007.wasn't that funny?no online for nintendo and sony had high prices.

and for SCORES of games,360 fans decided what was triple AAA before nintendo and sony showed up.the game:

1)has to have 300 million dollars of hype and have a soda drink.
2)has to sell 10 million pieces in the first week.not over time.nope,first week.
3)also has to have online multiplayer even if it's a traditional single player game.
4)has to score very high on metacritic.even though nintendo and sony don't USE or CARE about metacritic as a barometer of what is deemed a GREAT GAME.

360 fans warped the system by having 360s first on the market.they warped the system by excepting bribes like laptops,halo 3 swag bags and money made in site traffic and having banners and such plastered with microsoft content.go to gametrailers,gamespot,1up,etc. ,and it's filled with "green propaganda."which basically say,"buy 360 products."and that besides having egghead top brass at microsoft like greenberg and kim talking nonsense.microsoft is filled with fanb.....whoops,can't say that word.and we won't even mention microsoft's viral marketing campaign.

ps3 fans were blasted by 360 fans nonsense last year and at launch.and now that 1080p is the next gen tv standard,bluray is the next gen media format,hard drives are necessary,sony having more digital downloads that are BIGGER,games on ps3 either exclusive or multiformat are improving,hdmi being the next gen connection standard,and nintendo and sony outselling a console that had a year headstart,360 fans like you POG,now cling to the last thing left since you have been wrong on everything else.

metacritic.but you should be worrying about why game quality is decreasing on 360.2007 was okay,but now,having ninja gaiden2 fail,too human fail,banjo will fail(SORRY, it will),fable 2 not selling like gears or halo3,loss of 1st party devs,iptv nowhere,live nowhere,having to load games on the console to save the system from being loud and not working......

i'd worry more about that than numbers that should be taken as a grain of salt.real reviews are personal.play the game yourself.judge it yourself.once 360 fans learn that,the gaming community will get better again.

but what are the chances of that?

apocalypse................... ..

[Why o why]

please STFU

metacritic and the quotation of metacritic scores are synonymous with you and your mart persona.

you or one of ur mates must be a mod/owner of n4g. you help by talking nonsense to garner attention and reply's all of which gets users to reply and onlookers to join up. its clear. your like Adrian Durham of talksport radio. He'll head his show with something to rile fans of a specific team(s) up like he believes what hes saying but hes actually doing it to get people to phone in thus improving the the stations revenue. Mods have seen proof that you use multiple accounts yet they do nothing. its good for n4g i suppose cause comments like urs was one of my main reasons for signing up.

[ultimolu]

...*was about to comment but sighs, shakes her head and moves on*

Oh PoG...

You know something PoG? 360 fans are the ones who started this AAA nonsense. 360 fans are also the ones who attacked PS3 fans last year when the PS3 wasn't doing so hot. You were the ones making fun of PS3 owners for a...and I quote "A $600.00 bluray player."

Usually, when a console of choice is attacked like that, the person has no choice but to defend it, especially when every forum they've been to, they can't escape the words of "The PS3 has no games." .

[Bathyj]

Apocalypse Shadow
Great post. I'd buy you a steak dinner if I could. You just nailed, everything.

[mirroredderorrim]

/facepalm9001

[MiloGarret]

/facepalm9002

[WeaseL]

It would be funny if the Wii fanboys started it, then sitting back having a laugh while PS3 & 360 fanboys duke it out.

[INehalemEXI]

wii fanboys exist?

[robotnik]

Never heard of it, there are, however, Nintendo fanboys that only buy Nintendo consoles because they are way too cool to buy any other system.

[yanikins111]

i think all reviews need to be out of 10. reviews are really too subjective to be allocating %'s. i mean a review is just an idea. i mean we all agree that no game is perfect. so why not use

1- do not buy
2- buy if you programmed it in primary school and want a copy for nostalgia
3- nearly passable as entertainment
4- severely flawed
5- severely flawed but with some good moments
6- good but with some problems
7- good
8- good with stand out moments
9- outstanding but with minor issues
10- genre leading/defining, massive quality, great fun, very few minor issues

[NaiNaiNai]

good idea. but that still leaves biased reviews. those can't be stopped.
-nai-

[yanikins111]

yeah but i think the fact that reviews are subjective is more reason to implement a /10 system across the board. no ones opinion is worth that much in my opinion to worry about whether they think something is a 10 or a 9.9. its just the reviewers having a circle jerk and acting like their words carry more weight than a collapsed star.

Metacritic on the other hand should be /100 as it uses hard numbers. Even though those numbers are obtained subjectively, metacritic is simply an average of these numbers and a larger scale would give a more precise reading of what the entire gaming community thinks.

[ApocalypseShadow]

because delusional fans like yourself can't see past what happened and what is happening.just look at your above post.no retort.just name calling to make yourself feel better.that's why it won't go away.

i could google all my proof on laptops,swag bags,marketing dollars over development dollars,etc.

microsoft spent more money MARKETING halo3 than MAKING halo3.yet,the game has been outdone by COD4.the game had framerate issues,jaggies,low rez textures,poor animation......but got 10s.but if those same issues were in a ps3 game,that game would get lower scores.

but you can't see that.your mind is clouded without an objective view.not saying all ps3 games should have scored higher,but there are games on ps3 that didn't have those issues and got a lower grade for some ridiculous reason.hense the gamespot's review of ratchet.lowering the score for....

"TOO MUCH VARIETY."

how do you lower a score for having too many good things?1up lowering warhawk's score for being only multiplayer.and they said so themselves.when we all knew the single player portion was cut before release.judge the final game.not what you knew before about the development of that game.

360 games that use unreal engine 3 have poor texture load in-pass
360 games like halo3,forza2,mass effect,etc,have jaggies-pass
360 games like bioshock were fps.but again,get a pass for not having multiplayer.but ps3 traditional single player games get knocked for not having it.i could name more but what would it matter?

you're blind.just like gamers like POG.if he really is a gamer.or just a paid viral fan.

apocalypse................

[Why o why]

bubble+

some refuse to believe even though the evidence is right there in front of them. All it took for me to really acknowledge the bias were the comments of former 360 only guys who picked up ps3's, played the so called mediocre games only to find that the games were actually great. Sony was always against the media this gen.

Some people didn't like Mohamed Ali you know

[RememberThe357]

Speaks volumes.

[MiloGarret]

The comments here even more so (not yours...).

[Sanzee]

Gamers, remember this day.

We need to understand that the fanboys inolved in the metacritic-bashing were born without the ability to think logically. They are completely devoid of common sense. Light a candle for the fallen fanboys of your console. For though they remain alive, they are dead inside. As this day comes to a close, let us not forget those who fell at Metacritic Mountain. Though they died as retards, they faught for their consoles, even unto death... of the mind. May God have mercy on them.

RIP:
Fallen Fanboys - Battle at Metacritic Mountain - War of Consoles

In the year of our lord, 2008.

Amen.

[robotnik]

Nobody cares, really.

[yamamoto114]

Note: 25% of the above commenters don't get the f***in' point.

[MiloGarret]

d-oh, wrong post.

[ElementX]

I don't see why people dislike Metacritic, they simply give users a glimpse at multiple reviews from different publications and websites. If you want to hate something, hate the individual sites' reviews.

I do hate users lowering scores though