100°

Why So Many Games Score 7 and Above

With so many games, movies, and TV shows releasing every week, it makes sense to focus on the biggest and the best known.

Petebloodyonion305d ago

I'll just point this out from the article
"When it’s not obvious that something is a big deal, like a Grand Theft Auto or an Avengers movie or a Game of Thrones-level show, we use metrics like traffic on IGN for news, trailers, and previews to see if the wider audience is interested. We also use publicly available tools like Google Trends and YouTube. Did a lot of people check out the trailer for a new movie? It’s a safe bet they’ll be interested to know more. Did just a few thousand view it on YouTube? Maybe it’s just not clicking with IGN’s audience and a review would suffer the same fate. When those raw numbers leave us uncertain – or even sometimes when they tell us most people aren’t interested, but we are – we often take a chance on something we think is special and should be highlighted, even though it probably won’t do a lot of traffic for us. That’s when you’ll see smaller things make it onto our review list."

Nyxus305d ago

I have noticed before they tend to skip a lot of smaller games, which is kind of unfortunate, because those are the ones that need the exposure the most.

RauLeCreuset304d ago

"When you consider the main purpose of a review is to answer the question of whether something is actually as good as it appears to be in ads and previews before you decide to spend your time and money on it, there’s no greater waste of everybody’s time and effort than telling people that something they’ve never heard of isn’t good."

Their argument is built on a false premise.

BandarHub304d ago

IGN is one of the worst review sites I have ever come across. They have no passion for games, it's more of a business for them.
Remember when there was a person who plagiarised Boomstick Gaming Review. They may have fired him but before it was brought up IGN didn't care about the quality of the review. Now imagine how many other reviews were plagiarised and that we don't know about.
I also recall the Dark Souls 2 DLC review...where the reviewer could not finish the game because it was too hard. How do you even write a review if you can't even beat a game? Somehow that person did.
Now they are being political about things such as the JK Rowling situation. You can easily imagine the game losing points because of this some nonsense reasons. All that for political points.
Gamers need to stop putting these so-called gaming Jornos on a pedestal. Their voice isn't the gospel, every time we see them give a score for a game, no matter how high or low they are should be ignored.

KyRo304d ago

You're are right. I feel bad for the hosts on YouTube who I always feel are acting how they think gamers would like. They are like NPCs from Watchdogs 2. No one talks or acts how they do in real life. It weren't always like that but it's unbearable now.

JEECE304d ago (Edited 304d ago )

Unfortunately most of the game critics/journalists still at larger old sites (IGN, Gamespot, Polygon, Kotaku) seem to fall into two categories: those who really just want to be at a "real" news/culture site like Huffpost, Vice, or Vox, but couldn't get the position, and those who are into gaming but only care about one or two (usually live service) games. Arguably the latter is better because at least they kind of care about games, but if you are really just super into the minutiae of Genshin Impact or Apex Legends, your opinion on Dead Space or Hi-Fi Rush is almost as irrelevant and useless as if you don't know games at all.

Obviously there are exceptions (I think IGN has at least one Xbox writer who still has a decent history in and understanding of the industry), but by and large the people who actually have a breadth of knowledge on games seem to have spun off into their own YouTube channels/Patreon networks by now.

Demetrius304d ago

I agree all the way reviewers gave biomutant, days gone trash reviews but I ignored em they are 2 of my most favorite games

FinalFantasyFanatic303d ago

Does anyone remember the journalist who struggled to get past the Cuphead tutorial? No? What about the guy that played Doom 2016 and moved like molasses in the first stage after starting the game?

Anyone play Neptunia V where the first trophy for the intro chapter is "Ooh, looks like you started a new game! Think any game reviewers won't get this one!?"

I don't expect any of them to be hardcore super gamers, but I expect them to be competent enough to complete the game or at least a very significant portion of it, I don't think the majority of them even like games. I generally end up on MetaCritic or Youtube reviews when it comes to deciding if I'm going to buy a new game.

FinalFantasyFanatic303d ago (Edited 303d ago )

The rating system is borked, yet it's borked on many sites (that review media and products) to the point where it's almost useless. 5 Should be the standard for a game that is playable and okay, but not particularly spectacular or woefully terrible, but instead everything that's average just ends up as an 7 or 8 (in theory, bigger number should mean better, certainly not in practice though). I agree that we should just go back to a 5 point scale instead of 10, 10 point is just meaningless, do 5 and score an average game as 3, anything below as serious issues with story/gameplay/bugs/ect... While anything about 3 is above average or fresh or just outstanding in almost every area that almost everyone should play it.

cloganart303d ago (Edited 303d ago )

Sadly, there are now Premium Marketing Packages for a lot of these publications that the companies can pay for which come in with a minimum guarantee. They feature the game all across the publication site etc. It's a marketing cost at this point for the publishers.

Game Reviews are more influenced by money than we realize, unfortunately. It really doesn't lie with the developers but with the publications.

80°

Nintendo's New Contest Rules Harming Community Events

The new rules set by Japanese gaming giant, Nintendo, might threaten future content, directly impacting the profitability of many community-driven events.

Read Full Story >>
esportsnext.com
Games1st1d 18h ago

"The profit of these tournaments is directly impacted by these new rules, as sponsorships are being forbidden, maximum prize money is limited to $5,000, and food/drinks can’t be sold at the tournaments."

Why even bother.

Inverno1d 9h ago

1 thing I've realized over the years is that Nintendo likes bragging about "fun", but it's "fun" how they see fit, and they often go against their consumers for the dumbest reasons. Just gonna do this stuff underground style, who are Nintendo to stop anyone from organizing community based tournaments anyway? How does this actually hurt em?

Michiel19891d 5h ago

They've always wanted smash to be seen as a fun, casual game and nothing remotely competitive, which is in stark contrast with how Sakurai develops smash. He puts in so many little things to master for high level competitors. It's just sad, especially for the melee community. They kept the community going for 2 decades now even while all the time nintendo was trying to sabotage them.

50°

The Game Deflators E262 | Video Game Genre Fatigue + Tunic Nintendo Switch Review

This week on the Game Deflators Podcast John and Ryan discuss the PlayStation Portal, Nintendo’s adults only application in Japan, Starfield player base figures and video game genre fatigue.

Read Full Story >>
thegamedeflators.com
300°

Embracer CEO confirms TimeSplitters studio faces closure before Christmas

TimeSplitters studio Free Radical Design faces closure before Christmas, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors has privately acknowledged.

Read Full Story >>
videogameschronicle.com
Obscure_Observer3d ago

I hope those (selectively) against acquisition of studios are now satisfied.

Nitrowolf23d ago (Edited 3d ago )

What does this even mean lol, this very studio was formed out of a acquisition (purchase of the IP)

How does that in any way serve towards your comment

Not to mention the layoffs from Embracer

Obscure_Observer3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

"How does that in any way serve towards your comment"

Had Xbox acquired that studio from Embracer before gone, you know N4G would gone riot.

Nitrowolf23d ago

????
So you're making up scenarios for a studio that was created for the sole purpose of this IP, for console warring?? Where has Xbox ever said they were interested in buying them, and vice versa?

Where's this assumption that they would want to even save them? If that was the case, we would never have any studio closure.

Crows903d ago

@obscure

Wow...cant even begin to imagine the lengths you take to be so inaccurate.

This studio has barely released anything in the last decade. You think people would've rioted? The contrary. It wouldve been an investment into elevating the studio to be able to bring back timesplitters. I wouldve been grateful.

shinoff21833d ago

He's basically saying ms acquisition is good embracer bad

mastershredder3d ago

^ Obscure observer is denser than lead.
Obscure’s mouth flaps, and a whole lot of stupid comes out every freak’n time.

northpaws2d ago

@Nitrowolf2

Don't even try, Obscure_Observer has the special power to make every single news into a "XBox good, PS bad" story, powered by infinite amount of delusion, you can't win.

ocelot072d ago

He just liked to ramble and spout nonsense. Just politily nod and back away slowly.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 2d ago
Crows903d ago

Tell me how ignorant you are without telling me how ignorant you are.

ChiefofLoliPolice3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

Dude Obscure_Observer is a complete idiot. He always and I mean ALWAYS make comments and responses that make no absolutely NO sense. Trying to get that moron to learn anything is like trying to teach calculus to a drywall.

3d ago
-Foxtrot3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

Jesus

People lose their jobs before Christmas

Obscure_Observer: "BETTER USE THIS TO CALL OUT THOSE PESKY MS HATERS AND BIG MS UP"

I hope those (selectively) who wonder why you get disagreed to oblivion are now satisfied.