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More MCV goodness: Post positive Hitman reviews, ignore negative ones(not conspiracy)
- Thread starter chickdigger802
- Start date
Lately? They (Meaning the branch formerly known as Eidos) have been pulling PR shit since Kane & Lynch! This and the whole crap between MCV, Wainwright etc is just a continuation of this.
The fact that MCV still appear to be falling for their trap and becoming basically a shill for them is actually rather worrying, but not entirely a shock. I'm glad they've at least pulled back from this rather than throwing their toys completely out of the pram like they did before and almost did here, but still, bad form.
Man-is-Obsolete
Member
This is starting to make review threads worthless. Not that they weren't already, but this is getting out of control.
ADAM SMITH said:
Holy shit, does this guy write a lot for them?
He's awful.
The entire article is about how he hates this game for not being Hitman: Blood Money while talking about new elements that he does not like. Things he does not like: Guards talking. Frankly, we should all get equally as upset and throw twitter-fits over guards talking and not being critically received with harsh judgement.
Or, we acknowledge that the Thief series did this and we hold this game accountable to general design and not just our own petty grudges over "franchising" and the lament changes to it.
This dork can go dork his dork ego.
e; Oh, John Walker is just some guy at RPS who is upset about... the credibility of their game review among other game reviews.
who on the site pimped magicka as to be some grand, creative suite of game design when it was just combine arcane with everything after struggling to get the damn thing to even work
"THE CREDIBILITY OF GAMES JOURNALISM IS AT STAKE"
The audacity of these PR teams- unrelenting! Thank goodness he apologized; hell, he'll probably still get burned by the internet/ gamers' collective wrath.
I think Twitter is really working against some of these "game journalists" and PR people. A terrible article comes out, the writers get defensive, PR friends come to aid, everyone goes wild. It's like a horrible WWE match- who will come running to the ring next? Which career is on the line?
Glass Rebel
Member
I somehow disconnected Eidos of old from SEE. You're right though, I shouldn't be surprised.
AHA-Lambda
Member
Eh, no. I've played it in full and it just ain't that good.
I'm not defending the quality of the game, I'm attacking his obvious bias and petty reasons for his whole article dedicated to not getting exactly what he wanted, knowing he wasn't going to get exactly that, and then acting surprised while stating that it was expected or some shit.
It's an awful piece.
AHA-Lambda
Member
Gotta say I agree with his assessment from the quote you picked and, although I am disappointed it's not a proper hitman game on it's own merits too, it just ain't very good. The enemy AI is practically game breaking it's so lopsided.
They just don't care all that much. All out of fucks etc.Hah, MCV deleted all the comments, even though they still have this:
You agree that you did not want to replay a segment but then did it willingly in order to make an exaggerated point about Drinking and Sandbox design (*read in girly voice, like one coo'ing over Travolta in Grease* and how he likes to break it)?
Look, I'm sure it's awful in many respects and there are good reasons to not like the game. I don't care about that.
The review stops being about analyzing the game and becomes an author's constant reminder that they exist and are angry. Angry about something. Hitman doesn't even have to be the thing. It could be anything since the majority of complaints are not exactly "specific" to the game(ex:bad plot, invasive story) or completely disassociated with the franchise(ex:bad ai).
It's a nerd's drooling ego, and now his buddy is coming into throw a tantrum with him but this time is pointing fingers. They may not even be unfounded! However, the honesty behind the accusations is so criminally low that the whole thing is embarrassing child's play. In other words, "Fuck videogames."
Hah, MCV deleted all the comments, even though they still have this:
Crikey.
CecilRousso
Member
Hah, MCV deleted all the comments, even though they still have this:
They didn´t delete them. The article is just reposted with an url that matches the new headline.
If you change your URL you lose all your Disqus comments? That sounds like amazingly poor programming on Disqus' part, if true.
CecilRousso
Member
Then they better tell their employees to be honest about it rather then say that they hadn´t seen the bad reviews, and they shouldn´t single out publications as grumpy when they are far from alone.
Sure. They also seemed to enjoy ostracizing Eurogamer and putting them out there as an outlier when they weren't. Even if there audience isn't retailers, that is no excuse to lie to industry people and retail buyers.
I'm sorry, but the "we're a trade site" approach doesn't work anymore - a couple years back the website took a very deliberate change of direction, putting it up against the other UK gaming outlets with stories covering everything. Before that it was focused on the biggest stories that were trade related (day 1 sales of big games helping indies, etc), and pure trade stories (disc manufacturing plant opens, for example).
Can't have it both ways when you get yourself in a jam, and by only promoting those positive reviews they're actually doing the indie stores a disservice as they may think "oh wow, that game is great, gotta get me some copies of that to sell!", when in fact the game is mediocre when all review scores are averaged, leaving the indie with stock they can't sell.
One could therefore conclude that MCV is now an outlet for the promotion of products to the exclusive benefit of publishers and PR people.
Edit: The official Twitter account is going on a tirade against the naysayers. This bit in particular is GOLD:
Are you kidding me?!
Including only positive reviews is not a summary of the facts, or a systematic gathering. Infuckingcredible!
SuicidalSteve
Member
"@MCVonline: We're sorry if people don't like the way MCV operates but please don't think we're "corrupt" or "bought"."
They are just a magazine that pushes certain games in their editorial that purchase ads that sustain their magazine. They just hire PR people that are still working with Square Enix to write reviews and previews for SE games and when called out on their image of impropriety threaten to sue fellow writers for libelous charges made against them and their writers.
Their MO appears to be acting like a corrupt, bully who uses their connections and tight relationship with industry people to bully other outlets into submission.
chickdigger802
Banned
Just woke up. What is going on?
Seriously, say what you want about this website, but why so snarky and defensive? Just be silent and do nothing, unless the writer knows he's doing something icky.
Seriously, say what you want about this website, but why so snarky and defensive? Just be silent and do nothing, unless the writer knows he's doing something icky.
GarthVaderUK
Banned
https://twitter.com/MCVonline
Reading the tweets posted above, I'd have thought she'd fit in well at MCV.
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
Interfectum
Member
holy shit
Holy fuck. WOW.
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
After all the shit that's gone down do you honestly think anyone connected to the Eurogamer group (which includes RPS) is still on MCV and their parent company's Christmas list and vice-versa?
Seriously guys, this is a tawdry spat between two big companies, neither of whom are particularly squeaky clean.
Seriously guys, this is a tawdry spat between two big companies, neither of whom are particularly squeaky clean.
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
You have no fucking clue about what's going on here, do you?
Yup, basically.
Circle Jerk
Member
what the fuck are you talking about
Ben Kuchera's got another good report on it here, with some quotes from MCV editor-in-chief Michael French.
Well whatever, the fact that we're actually getting a response that isn't "why are you being so meeeeean" is an improvement, though that's what they should have done in the first place. On the continuing saga of Lauren Wainwright:
I really don't know what else to say about this. MCV really have proven themselves to be utterly untrustworthy throughout this whole thing.
Well whatever, the fact that we're actually getting a response that isn't "why are you being so meeeeean" is an improvement, though that's what they should have done in the first place. On the continuing saga of Lauren Wainwright:
I really don't know what else to say about this. MCV really have proven themselves to be utterly untrustworthy throughout this whole thing.
Cerebral Assassin
Member
Comparing a PR pamphlet which masquerades as a "trade publication", & the Eurogamer "group" is a pretty bad comparison (so bad you could probably get a job with MCV).
Assuming they did their own investigation and assuming they came to the same conclusions, they had no choice but to let her go or risk their own reputation. It would have dogged them forever.
I hope she dusts herself off and starts anew with a different approach. I do feel sorry for her in so far as I don't think she's the only one to do what she was doing...she just was naive about it and did it so openly.
I hope she dusts herself off and starts anew with a different approach. I do feel sorry for her in so far as I don't think she's the only one to do what she was doing...she just was naive about it and did it so openly.
funkystudent
Member
Maybe the EiC should step down.
MCV seems to be mostly staffed by young writers who dont know any better and given the utter lack of professionalism from the site during all of this I think the blame has to land of the guy who makes the calls and who makes sure the things that go on the site are up to snuff ether by vetting there potential writers during the hiring process or by simply reading over something before it goes on the site.
Young writers will make mistakes but you need a strong senior editor to be the filter. Someone who knows their stuff and who can show these young people the proper way to do things and clearly MVC need someone better in that role.
There response to criticism has also been really unprofessional by first threatening another publication and now by posting about a staffers firing over twitter and by just looking REALLY desperate.
If a young writer is controlling that twitter then they should probably be told to stop and never given access to the account again. If its a higher up person like a editorial director and EiC then they should be fired because clearly they have no sense of professionalism and what the outside world thinks.
MCV seems to be mostly staffed by young writers who dont know any better and given the utter lack of professionalism from the site during all of this I think the blame has to land of the guy who makes the calls and who makes sure the things that go on the site are up to snuff ether by vetting there potential writers during the hiring process or by simply reading over something before it goes on the site.
Young writers will make mistakes but you need a strong senior editor to be the filter. Someone who knows their stuff and who can show these young people the proper way to do things and clearly MVC need someone better in that role.
There response to criticism has also been really unprofessional by first threatening another publication and now by posting about a staffers firing over twitter and by just looking REALLY desperate.
If a young writer is controlling that twitter then they should probably be told to stop and never given access to the account again. If its a higher up person like a editorial director and EiC then they should be fired because clearly they have no sense of professionalism and what the outside world thinks.
Yea, MCV needs to give control of it's twitter account to someone with better judgement.
Even if MCV felt the need, for whatever reason, to publicly tweet the status of Wainwright's employment with the site, they could've easily left out the bit about her not passing probation. Just simply state she doesn't currently write for them and leave it at that. Without any details, it would be plausible that she decided to leave of her own accord (i.e. lesson learned, and she has the desire to write for a site that isn't a trade rag). Nobody needs to know the specifics of her departure.
Even if MCV felt the need, for whatever reason, to publicly tweet the status of Wainwright's employment with the site, they could've easily left out the bit about her not passing probation. Just simply state she doesn't currently write for them and leave it at that. Without any details, it would be plausible that she decided to leave of her own accord (i.e. lesson learned, and she has the desire to write for a site that isn't a trade rag). Nobody needs to know the specifics of her departure.
Not really when both are trash and neither should be taken as credible sources.
RPS writer throws twitter fit because eight negative reviews (four from PC exclusive websites) were not included in their review roundup that is to influence how much physical stock should be bought up by retail stores.
Internet goes on to claim that retail chain store number influencing is videogame coverage on par with actual videogame journalism, continuing to slog down the idea that Games and Gamers should be taken seriously.
There is nothing more pathetic than this debacle caused by Dork Egos.
teruterubozu
Member
This. Your publication is only as good as your EIC. And a majority of gaming publications involves a bit of babysitting.
Ben Parfitt thinks their only mistake is not taking trolls seriously
https://twitter.com/BenParfitt/status/270555076203008000
https://twitter.com/BenParfitt/status/270555076203008000
Kuchera's reporting throughout this whole journalism scandal has been great. Someone actually willing to do some investigation and pose tough questions. Hopefully him and the others (John Walker, Stu Campbell, etc) keep doing what they're doing.
Nope, evidently you still don't know what you're talking about.
WeylandxYutani
Member
Nicely reinterpreted. Sarcasm perhaps?!
Then explain what's going on, grandmaster.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
:lol I think this is called 'banter'.
LOL!!! What the fuck.
