Slow news week. Fortunately for you, we’ve got two sweet reviews. Not necessarily for sweet games, but they are sweet reviews nonetheless.
Mike Reviews The Sugar Killerz (XBLIG)
Dave Reviews Slam Bolt Scrappers
We also cover:
Cthulu Saves the World Special Edition Announced
IGN list replaced by Kotaku list on the dashboard
IGN Entertainment has acquired the Gamer Network family of digital brands for an undisclosed sum. As a result of the acquisition, some redundancies have been made across the UK-based organisation.
Well this can only mean one thing... more job layoffs even in the publication industry.
“Layoffs occuring“
Yep. IGN now has a monopoly in the gaming media.
“As a result of the acquisition, some redundancies have been made across the UK-based organisation.”
“Gamer Network's publications are GamesIndustry.biz, Eurogamer (including six local language editions), Rock Paper Shotgun, VG247 and Dicebreaker. The business also holds shares in Outside Xbox, Digital Foundry and Hookshot (which operates Nintendolife, PushSquare, PureXbox and Time Extension).”
“IGN Entertainment is the division of Ziff Davis that includes IGN, MapGenie, HowLongToBeat, and Humble Bundle. It has acquired the websites from PAX and New York Comic-Con organiser ReedPop, which initially bought the Gamer Network business in 2018.“
Surprising news, also a little sad as the magazine era is over and the website era is slowly coming to an end. But it must be said that many of the bastards who work at these places have operated as a mafia to control opinion on not only what can be said about games, but who can be allowed to talk about them, and what can be allowed to feature in them or not. As said above, redundancies are coming, Eurogamer pays the highest salaries for a team of staff who for some their output is minimal. Eurogamer also campaigned against Hogwarts Legacy and refused to review it -, the site took a hit. PAX has probably thought to cut its losses. Some job layoffs? I know of some of these people and they took pride in excluding - I will shed no tears.
All this means is a collective hive mind when reporting the news
They’ll discuss with each other how to handle topics and what kind of headlines to go with so they can fire round after round of whatever point they want to make
And the sad thing is over the many years even to the old GameGate days they love making gamers look bad as a collective. Anything for a hit piece.
Narrative control. I don’t like this at all.
Independent reviewers will be more important than ever.
"They’ll discuss with each other how to handle topics and what kind of headlines to go with so they can fire round after round of whatever point they want to make."
You say this like it will be a new thing that they didn't already do.
Yea, I had actually just seen today on Linkedin that a GamesIndustry.biz guy was talking about being laid off. I didn't read all of his post, but I bet it's because of this. That's a shame to hear. :\
Probably Microsoft's fault!
They surely gave IGN the idea.
What's next IGN Pass?
But joke aside let's hope that this makes the news better compared to some of IGN branches
Microsoft and IGN work quite closely so it isn't a stretch to say this is a move to control the gaming press to get everyone singing from the Microsoft hymn sheet. Not a good look at all. It is transparent stuff like this which is backfiring in Microsoft's face. First they want control of all the games now the media.
While there's obviously a desire to preserve add revenue and early access to review copies, I doubt there's the level of conspiracy here that you imply. I mean there's no direct link between MS and IGN right?
You're probably right!!!!
Here's MS evil plan
1) Make sure that Hellblade 2 receives inflated reviews.
2) Fire all the ppl across UK who gave Starfield the justified 6/10 reviews
3) Make sure that Game industry.biz stops giving Sony's president a tribute to spew their lies and have them talk to Sarah Bonds and Todd Howard only.
4) Control the majority of players for the GOTY award so MS wins from now on.
PPL needs to know about this!
@crazyCoconuts The world has moved on from "direct links" as companies were easily caught doing that. These days corporations can merely operate as a cartel through shared mutual interest which is not strictly kosher either but is also more difficult to prove. It's the fundamental flaw with big corporations in the US economy today and no one in power is addressing it.
Is there proof to anything you're saying?
I've never heard of anything like this or is this N4G once again make believing stuff outta thin air again?
@jing if you have proof then I stand corrected.
Otherwise it seems like more conspiratorial thinking to explain what could otherwise be explained by natural forces of market economies.
Don't get me wrong, I believe there is bias all over and unsavory influences. I just don't think it's all centrally planned by evil villains in a smoke-filled room
Oh boy! If we've learned one thing about recent news, corporate shrinkage of an industry via buyouts from those at top only leads to good things for employees and consumers!
Aloy!
Yes, good credible websites, I agree, it is a good match.
IGN is one of the most trusted gaming sites, weather you like it or not, but I know because they don't fit the N4G goofiness bubble, they can't be good.
I left ign years ago. Used to be on the ign forums all the time. I left there and found here. Not sure if you remember but this place used to be pretty bad for Sony fans. 360 was king for a few years. Anyone I don't quite remember but ign changed. Whatever the fk it was it seemed for the worse.
Ummmm not sure that’s a good thing that all these review sites are under the same umbrella. There’s no guarantee that they will maintain a non-bias opinion not paid for by the highest bidder.
You can go much farther back than that. Never forget the Kane and Lynch 2 review drama
Edit: wait that was GameSpot. Still though - don't trust these websites for anything. Find YouTubers like who's opinions you agree with and watch them instead. GaminylGames, Minimme, Digital Foundry, GMan, whatever. All better than these ad-filled "reviews" from people who are forced to play games and score with an arbitrary number
@Amplitude
Digital Foundry has lost my trust ever since they got that MS money, but other than that, I'm with you.
If I'm on the fence of a game, I wait till the reviewers that share my taste has given their opinion.
Ouch, that does not sounds good for Eurogamer.
With so much of the industry media that will more or less follow the same editorial line, it will be harder and harder to distinguish PR from actual journalism in a couple of years.
Thinking about it, may it explain their review score for Hellblade 2?
***harder and harder to distinguish PR from actual journalism in a couple of years. ***
The age of gaming advertorials.
You're right all of this is just to promote Hellblade 2 and inflate the score.
Also the why cuts are indeed coming to Eurogamer and other UK branches because they only gave Starfield an average score.
Shed the non US assets that are not favorable to Xbox keep the US assets that are. Microsoft are going to deliver crap and they are going to tell you their crap is good and you are going to buy it. That seems to be the strategy. At this point I just want them out of gaming as they are operating like cancer.
Exactly right. No more journalists. Just 1 take regurgitated & paraphrased down the chain. Smh.
Yuffie joins the party late in the game in FF7 Rebirth, but she's still a potential date partner for Cloud in Chapter 12 at the Gold Saucer. So if you've got your heart set on the adorable Wutai Ninja, here's our guide on how to Date Yuffie in FF7 Rebirth, covering everything from her sidequests, her Synergy Skills and Abilities that you'll need to use with Cloud, and what answers to give during her relationship building dialogues.
IGN Writes: "From Nintendo’s triumphant follow-up to Breath of the Wild to the hot pink perfection of Barbie and so much more, 2023 has been a landmark year for games and entertainment. Next week, join us for the IGN Awards to celebrate the best of the last year."
