Defending IGN: Why the IGN hate is unneccesary and overexaggerated.

People hate IGN. Almost every review that they make gets some kind of backlash from gamers. I've never seen some gamers despise game reviewers as much as IGN before. However, I'm here to kind of defend them.. to a certain extent. The short version, gamers hatred of IGN is unnecessary and overexaggerated. I can admit there has been some B.S. moments in some of IGN's reviews. They also can be a little too brief and contradictory.

"You can't spell ignorance without IGN". This is the main phrase uttered when people are dissapointed by IGN's reviews. This phrase does not make any sense whatsoever. Ignorance means lacking information or knowledge. ( Being generally unaware of something ) This can't be possible since over half the time, IGN plays and reviews the game before we get our hands on it. So if anything we are the ignorant ones because we haven't played the game yet. They also have better insight into the gaming industry than we do. I've also heard some conspiracy theories pertaining to companies possibly paying game reviewers to give them a high score. Until I see solid evidence instead of reckless speculation..We're just being even more ignorant. Oh, and we're also ignorant for not using ignorant in its proper meaning.

I asked someone what exactly is his problem with IGN. He stated they overrate and overhype games such as Mario, Grand Theft Auto, Halo, COD, etc.Yes video game journalist from IGN has a tendacy to overhype or overrate certain games. But, we gamers do it too when it comes to a game we like. As a matter of fact we gamers do the same thing reviewers do. We can be nitpicky at times. We also contradict ourselves when it comes to alot of the things currently happening in the video game industry. Here are just a few things going on in the industry that we contradict ourselves on.

~ We say graphics aren't that important, yet when comparisons come up we treat it like that by comparing pixels, shadings, and textures.

~ We hate COD, yet its one of the highest selling franchises of all time

~ We say there are too many sequels.. Yet when it comes to a game we like we want more sequels

~ We say we want original games but when a game comes out that tries something different it doesnt sell that much and our opinionated thinking tenadacies rise.

~This is probably the MOST important since it's closely related to reviews. We say we shouldn't care about reviews but if a game we like gets a "mixed" or "bad" review there is RAGE in the comment section shortly after. If a game gets a good review then only good things are said and some people flock to the store buy the game. So basically it's okay to buy a game because of a good review. But it's not okay to not buy a game because of a bad review?

Guys let's face it, we all pay some kind of attention to reviews in general. Otherwise we wouldn't be watching the review in the first place. When it comes to IGN, if you hate them that much then don't watch their video reviews. Nobody is forcing you to. When it comes to giving thought about a game review we watch them to find out new information and details and get a general feel on the game. I hope you don't watch them just to rage your dissapproval in the comment section. But for some of us, we do weigh our final decisions on that game review. When doing that, try not to pay too much attention to the score. ( More than enough gamers do that already ) Just listen to what the game has to offer. Also, try to take it easy on IGN once in a while will ya? They've made mistakes but they're only human.

After all, most people's dissaproval is due to their own opinions getting in the way of what the game actually has to offer.

[iamnsuperman]

Maybe the reviews are bashed no matter what but there image is ruined by crappy articles. I remember one about the xbox while the PSN was down. It was well disgraceful. You have to wade through the rubbish to get to the good stuff. Certain reviews do not make sense but some do. Its just they have too many journalists who are rubbish and not many good journalists.

[teething]

I find that more often than not, IGN's reviews are insightful, and when it comes to Metacritic, IGN tends to be spot on with their ratings.

People just like to bitch, and IGN is the biggest fish in the pond... so it is an easy target. The same gamers that bash IGN read it religiously.

So I too defend IGN.

That being said, I did find their Catherine review to smell of rotten. It was reviewed before anyone else, by someone who admitted to loving anime. Of course it got a great review. Then still before release, they had 5 writers self-select themselves (thus they all would like the game) to give glowing second opinions. All of this before the game was released to the public. I wonder how much that type of promotion cost? I doubt writers were bought out, but I am sure their selection was biased to find people that would shed a good light on the game.

Mind you, that happens on many gaming review sites. You are never fully honest... biting the hand that feeds is not a good idea.

Independent websites are the alternative, but they tend to be poorly written by disgruntled fanboys with a chip on their shoulder, trying to write something provocative to get hits on N4G.

Pick your poison.

[SilentNegotiator]

Their articles are....well, to go with the old adage, IGNorant.

Their reviews are instant 9+ for most games. If there's any site being influenced by the ad revenue that comes in, it's IGN. And of course, Gamespot as well - never forget Jeff G; that incident split open what was once considered paranoia and brought light upon the fact that publishers were using money to bully sites into high scores and brought us into this 7-10/10 review system that we have today.

"Independent websites are the alternative, but they tend to be poorly written by disgruntled fanboys with a chip on their shoulder, trying to write something provocative to get hits on N4G"
-
IGN makes ridiculous story titles all the freaking time for cheap hits. And their "logic"....(Refer to adage in first sentence)

[Tachyon_Nova]

IGN actually give away less 9's or above than almost any other site. The most common score range from them is certainly 5.5-8.5. I will say that they give away 9's too easily for iPhone games, but generally IGN are within a few % of a given games metacritic.

[MidnytRain]

Lol, does anyone else notice that as much hate as IGN gets on this website, their articles always heat up to the top of the page? When you get that many views, I don't think you'd care what some people thought of you.

[-Alpha]

They lack professionalism IMO. Compare them to a website like Gamespot that is entirely dedicated to games and has more professional written reviews

IGN is more of a nerd-fest of things. They have a babeology section for christ's sake, and hence, they aren't taken as seriously. It's not a bad site, but some of their submissions aren't any better than what I see on N4G-- nonsense articles created for hits (the recent BF vs COD chart for example)

Their reviews are sometimes way too shallow and inconsistent in quality IMO

My only problem is people who say that they are biased just because a game they heavily hyped doesn't score the way they expected. But those sort of people who fall victim to the hype usually blame a lot of websites besides just IGN for that reason.

IGN just gets the most heat because they are the most popular site, and usually are the first to review major games (which I sometimes think are rushed to get the most hits. The quality of those reviews aren't detailed as much either)

[SageHonor]

I definitely agree with those criticisms and yes gamespot is way better than IGN when it comes to reviews. Some of the stuff I mentioned are true though. They are the most popular so some of these things get blown out of proportion.

[Ducky]

I gave up on GameSpot when they couldn't make up their mind on DevilMayCry3.

The original was too hard, and when Capcom released a special edition that gave players the option of making the game easier, the same reviewer said that the game is less satisfying. =/
Granted, I don't think that guy still does reviews anymore.

Chances are, you aren't going to find a review site that'll be in sync with your own preferences. Averaging the scores and actually reading is the way to go... sadly, most of the IGN bashing is purely towards their score, and not the actual written content.

[Thabass]

You do know that Gamespot was in one of the worst journalism crapstorms in recent memory when the Kane and Lynch review was purchased, right?

Remember, the game industry is a bit more carefree than the normal industries, not everything will be the most professional type of atmosphere as you might expect. Since IGN covers a lot of things you have different personality traits and since they are the number one, they are going to have a bit more personality than the struggling publication.

I don't see anything about IGN that's different than any other publication like Kotaku and the like. Except for the content they publish.

[JellyJelly]

For reviews I prefer GameInformer.

[BubbleSniper]

"and usually are the first to review major games"

don't you love IGN's News Corp. connections?

[Kran]

My reasons for disliking them:

1. Majority of their reviews are worse than Destructoids (AKA, completely full of crap)
2. A lot of what they say turns out to be false
3. They misjudge everything they see.
4. They cant do a "step by step" of a trailer to save their lives.

I think IGN needs to start fresh too. Literally. New logos. New intros/outros, new website look, new feel to the website and videos.

They need to start again!

[Brownghost]

how about new reviewers cause there current ones suck and dont know how to review correctly

[DeeZee]

I actually like that IGN is more than games, but the quality of some of their stuff is questionable. With that said I like them more than Gamespot because that site seems a little uptight.

[StayStatic]

Full of console / cod fanboys who think their better than everyone else ...

Ignorent Gaming n00bs FTL

[fr00ty-wizenhymer]

IGNorant

[Tachyon_Nova]

Now that is original! You know you should look into becoming a writer yourself seeing as you can come up with little quips like that all by yourself...

[fr00ty-wizenhymer]

your sarcasm hurts me =(

[Brownghost]

they used to be good some years ago but there reviews are terrible these days have you seen the ninja gaiden sigma 2 review its was less than 2 minutes also the bad company vietnam review deserved a 10 but they gave it a 9.5 for too much fortunate sun WTF? They need to update their reviews better and actually make longer video reviews also they should only use reviewers that love the series of the game like the latest bleach game the reviewer only saw the first 50 episodes but theres over 300 which was a fail reviews are still good to really know if the game is worth it but ign has failed me in quality and we need reviewers need to review things they love and know not anything new to them.

[TheDivine]

IMO IGN isnt the problem its people like you (no offense). You just got mad that they didnt give bfbc vietnam a perfect 10. I see tons of ps3 fanboys cursing ign for giving a ps3 exclusive a horrible score.....a 9 LOL. People get mad their opinion is different then theirs but i find that i can generally trust their reviews. They do some stuff like pit bf3 against mw3 but we all are doing the same thing! Their topics that people say are for hits are, gamers like to argue over games lol. Theyre a good site which occasionally has a bad review.

[Brownghost]

im okay with a 9.5 but do you know whats the negative for Vietnam too much fortunate sun theres alot of songs not just fortunate sun also look at the review ofr metro it averages to a 7.4 but gave it a 6.9 sometimes we can be hateful but look at their reviews and videos they look lazy and as if they really didnt play the whole thing

[Brownghost]

anyone remember there shooter showdown and they picked cod really? Zombies gets boring to me and the rest of the package is terrible

[Tuxedo_Mask]

I've never relied too much on IGN for gaming news. They are, in a lot of ways, very unprofessional and childish to a certain extent, but that isn't that much different from a lot of gaming websites. As to the nickname "IGNorant", it seems to be based more on opinion rather than fact, and reviews are just that, opinions. Although, I suppose the majority of the negativity pointed at them stems from the fact that they are paid for their opinions and get early access because of their position.

If you don't like IGN, then don't visit their site. The success of a website depends on how many people visit it, so even though I rarely visit IGN I doubt they care one way or the other, which is exactly how I feel about their website.

[death2smoochie]

IGN just got this hate this generation. This really became evident when they gave some XBOX360 games good reviews and some PS3 games poor reviews. At that point they were labeled biased and bought off by Microsoft or Rockstar games and others.
IGN reviews imo are mediocre, however i always found it quite funny how they are always flamed on N4G saying they are pro Microsoft.
IGN is not biased. They are just mediocre and less professional than some other sites

[blackburn10]

Why are you wasting your time defending IGN? For what purpose does that serve? IGN is a crappy, childish, unprofessional site that does mostly crap reviews. What are you putting so much effort in writing a whole blog to defend IGN? There are tons of gaming sites no one likes or think are crap. Everyone hates a gaming site for his or her own reasons.

[SageHonor]

I mainly wanted to point out that we gamers criticize IGN for the things that we do too. Hypocrisy

[Baka-akaB]

except they are paid to do a job they just dont do , the general public isnt .

"This phrase does not make any sense whatsoever. Ignorance means lacking information or knowledge."

Except it does . There have been almost every year , for quite a while multiples , examples of them plainly giving us wrong infos and facts about games . Some grave ones even pointing out to a simple truth , they didnt stick very long with some game during their review ...

Your stance is too easy to defend . Plugging the head into the sand and pretending , everything is fine and people are jus being whiny and angry online as per usual .
Dig more , find those examples of very bad and unprofessional reviews , prove us wrong , and then you'll have a solid point .

I can still give a minor offense example however . Look at their review of Dynasty Warrior gundam 3 . THe problem isnt even the score being low ... the game is indeed most likely crap or average at best ... but the review is just an half page rant with no worthwhile infos .

If you were a newbie , you learned nothing about the game , other than some angry bro hates it and so should you , just because .

That's not journalism , that's sweeping obscure sh*t games reviews under the rug , while they'd waste pages on useless junk about how awesome gta or whatever big game is .

IGN aint the worst place , but it certainly isnt a worthwhile one either . Not when even a newspaper can deliver better games reviews than that

[SKUD]

" We hate COD, yet its one of the highest selling franchises of all time "

Crack sells way better then COD but that doesn't mean its good for you.

[AAWELLS09]

I hate to put it this way but most gamers are the most whiniest little brats on the planet they whine ,cry,complain,b*tch,and moan about everything. It sucks that in pretty much every websites comment section is full of complaints or just plain old b*tching it gets so old seeing nothing but negativity

[Baka-akaB]

i hope you realize the irony of your own post there .

[AAWELLS09]

Not at all. My comment above is 100% true its a disease that most gamers have and its everywhere. If you disagree than your likely one of these people im talking about.

[Baka-akaB]

you're whining about people whining . Rarely get more ironic than that .

BTW i didnt even disagree , just pointing that out . Feel free to lump me with whomever you want lol .

PS :

Get into a bunch of movies , anime , books forums too . Hell go take a hike inside any Comics books related forums or gaming community . Comes back and tell me if they complain less . Wich i doubt very much .

Most people online bother posting when they've got a complain or something to defend . That's just the way it is , whatever the medium they refers to .

[earbus]

Hate is the new black but its become more popular than cod so haters are sheep,ign is all over the 360 dashboard so its obvious ng4 fans hate them.