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[Dyno]

The great thing about boycotting Eidos is that it isn't very painful.

AND KUDOS to Tomb Raider dot com! That's a fine burn indeed.

 

[hulot]

It's just entertainment 'journalism', why the scowls?

 

[drohne]

i wish i liked tomb raider enough to buy it in contempt of these message board huffs over the sterile independence of game journalists i can't be bothered to read

but i don't, so i'll just play MOAR MIRROR'S EDGE and assert that ANY MIRROR'S EDGE REVIEWS UNDER 10/10 SHOULD BE SUPPRESSED EVERYWHERE FOREVER

 

[FortunateSon]

You people are retarded. Did anyone actually read the Eurogamer review? Or the other harsh reviews for TR: U? Those guys are despicable. They actually diss the game more that anythinbg but honestly, holy shit. Just read the bloody review and actually play the game, it's a damn good game.

My god. Eurogamer is/always was and will still be one of the most despicable sites to me. They just do it for the sake of hits.

Carry on guys. I don't even understand how can people respect that site.

What Eidos is doing here is also wrong.

Edit: And I also think that all reviewers should just stop the whole score mentality and just write it out and actually let people read it and judge the game score themselves. Seriously, jesus.

 

[Bill Squabber]

“call from Eidos–if you’re planning on reviewing Tomb Raider Underworld at less than an 8.0, we need you to hold your review till Monday.”

Publishers do this all the time.

 

[Scrubking]

Publishers do this all the time.

Not AFTER the game is on store shelves.

 

[Baker]

I don't know how to say this nicely, but it's bothering me.

If they're trying to hide shitty impressions of the game, why did they release a demo? That turned me off to purchasing TR way before this fiasco.

 

[Wired]

I don't know how to say this nicely, but it's bothering me.

If they're trying to hide shitty impressions of the game, why did they release a demo? That turned me off to purchasing TR way before this fiasco.

Could you please edit your post and remove all references to Tomb Raider Underworld™ until Monday November 24th, we thank you for your cooperation and hope you will have a good day.

 

[fanduck]

Does the metacritic scores actually determine how much a game sells in it's opening week? Personally, the only time I pay attention to a games metacritic score is when I think it's very high, like Bioshock, Mario Galaxy, GTA IV.

 

[Wired]

Does the metacritic scores actually determine how much a game sells in it's opening week? Personally, the only time I pay attention to a games metacritic score is when I think it's very high, like Bioshock, Mario Galaxy, GTA IV.

Good question, the people who would be most inclined to be "tricked" by a move like this would have to be the "less than hardcore" gamers, who I can't imagine sits around reading through metacritic scores before buying something.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Fuck Eidos :lol

If every journalist posts their review regardless of score, Eidos can do nothing. I mean, they can decide not to give interviews or send preview copies, but then how are they going to get the word out about their game, let alone get any metacritic rating if they aren't sending review copies?

I'm hoping the gaming journalists take a stand to this so that publishers get the message loud and clear.

 

[Ethereal]

I would agree that for the most part the only people that care about Metacritic are hardcore fans, or corporate guys whose bonus is determined by Metacritic scores, as insane as that is. I refused to buy Kane and Lynch because of this shit last time, but that wasn't a game I was terribly interested in at the time. But honestly Tomb Raider holds a weird place in my heart. I hated what they did to the series as it got raped by the sequel machine and drowned in Lara's ever increasing cup size. But when the two most recent next gen titles came out that there was hope. I will reserve my judgement on this game until I get to read some more reviews. Sutner's review on 1up seems fair, and especially considering how good Uncharted was, the bar has been raised and Eidos is gonna have to try damn hard to get up to that level.

 

[Luckyman]

When asked why, the spokesperson said: “Just that we’re trying to get the Metacritic rating to be high, and the brand manager in the US that’s handling all of Tomb Raider has asked that we just manage the scores before the game is out, really, just to ensure that we don’t put people off buying the game, basically.”

:lol

I expected a more subtle answer..

 

[I AM JOHN!]

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet. Extra points for the image for the news story on GB's frontpage being a screenshot from Kane and Lynch. :lol

 

[kamorra]

Meh. Who cares about an wannabe Uncharted knockoff......

Wait. TR is a Uncharted knockoff now?

 

[Zenith]

You people are retarded. Did anyone actually read the Eurogamer review? Or the other harsh reviews for TR: U? Those guys are despicable. They actually diss the game more that anythinbg but honestly, holy shit. Just read the bloody review and actually play the game, it's a damn good game.

My god. Eurogamer is/always was and will still be one of the most despicable sites to me. They just do it for the sake of hits.

Carry on guys. I don't even understand how can people respect that site.

What Eidos is doing here is also wrong.

Edit: And I also think that all reviewers should just stop the whole score mentality and just write it out and actually let people read it and judge the game score themselves. Seriously, jesus.

talk about having an axe to grind.

 

[OldJadedGamer]

Wait. TR is a Uncharted knockoff now?

Obviously, it was a joke post.

 

[tak]

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet. Extra points for the image for the news story on GB's frontpage being a screenshot from Kane and Lynch. :lol

:lol

 

[PolyGone]

There are two options:

1) remove any and all coverage of all future Eidos games
2) Purposely low-ball them in the scores for all future games, especially if they don't send preview copies

If Eidos doesn't submit their homework on time, they get a 10% deduction from the score for every day they withhold preview copies.

Simple, really.

 

[Baker]

Does the metacritic scores actually determine how much a game sells in it's opening week? Personally, the only time I pay attention to a games metacritic score is when I think it's very high, like Bioshock, Mario Galaxy, GTA IV.

I don't know about sales, but it affects developer bonuses.

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/05/29/low-metacritic-costs-developers/

 

[McBacon]

There are two options:

1) remove any and all coverage of all future Eidos games
2) Purposely low-ball them in the scores for all future games, especially if they don't send preview copies

If Eidos doesn't submit their homework on time, they get a 10% deduction from the score for every day they withhold preview copies.

Simple, really.

This is absolute trash - as a journalist your absolute priority is your reader, and if you're lowballing games they really should buy (like Tomb Raider Underworld) then you're doing a disservice to your reader.

you should get honest coverage to your reader first, and then worry about your own ass second.

 

[Haunted]

Woops? Looks like Future forgot to register some domain beforehand. TombRadar.com is taken, too bad they don't use it in their PR materials :lol

:lol

 

[dasupremeone]

With the economy in trouble, "drastic times call for drastic measures."

 

[Fantastical]

Woops? Looks like Future forgot to register some domain beforehand. TombRadar.com is taken, too bad they don't use it in their PR materials :lol

That's AWESOME. Eidos is such a terrible company when it comes to this stuff. How can they do this?

 

[ampere]

All the Tomb Raider advertising around Eurogamer's border is gone.

I don't like this one bit. From any perspective.

Geez. They need to grow the hell up. If they don't want low scores, they need to polish the game until it shines like Galaxy. I actually wanted this game, but because of this I'll only buy it used. Eidos isn't getting a penny from me anymore. I suggest people who are also perturbed by these actions do the same.

 

[Scrubking]

This is absolute trash - as a journalist your absolute priority is your reader, and if you're lowballing games they really should buy (like Tomb Raider Underworld) then you're doing a disservice to your reader.

you should get honest coverage to your reader first, and then worry about your own ass second.

The videogame media shouldn't determine what games people should buy. Their job is to disseminate information. Not influence your purchases or try to get you to buy certain games or consoles.

 

[Wolves Evolve]

You people are retarded. Did anyone actually read the Eurogamer review? Or the other harsh reviews for TR: U? Those guys are despicable. They actually diss the game more that anythinbg but honestly, holy shit. Just read the bloody review and actually play the game, it's a damn good game.

My god. Eurogamer is/always was and will still be one of the most despicable sites to me. They just do it for the sake of hits.

Carry on guys. I don't even understand how can people respect that site.

What Eidos is doing here is also wrong.

Edit: And I also think that all reviewers should just stop the whole score mentality and just write it out and actually let people read it and judge the game score themselves. Seriously, jesus.

Good story.

Eurogamer is a cool guy. He's trying to help you.

 

[Crayon]

I have a second to throw out a quick "Fuck You" to Eidos.

And a big ol "Fuck You" for Metacritic.

Don't trust review scores, people.

 

[Wolves Evolve]

What Rockstar did over GTA4 was absolutely wrong. But the game was kinda cool so we didn't mind. So basically, when a game company sees others doing it, they'll do it. We should get pissy every time, not just when its Eidos.

 

[YuriLowell]

This kind of shit is going to cost them more sales than any "under 80" reviews could.

Fuck that. Fuck Eidos. The game looked slick but fuck them in the ass.

When this Tomb Raider sells over a million combined across platforms, then you can say this really costed them a ton of money.

I mean it really hurt Ubisoft when they did this with Assassins Creed.

Stop living in your bubble.

 

[PSGames]

People love Drama. Anyway I'm still buying this, the demo was awesome.

 

[I AM JOHN!]

What Rockstar did over GTA4 was absolutely wrong. But the game was kinda cool so we didn't mind. So basically, when a game company sees others doing it, they'll do it. We should get pissy every time, not just when its Eidos.

I'm not sure what you're talking about. Could someone elaborate?

 

[Rekki-Maru]

i think he's talking about that sweet dlc love for 360 only. or rumors about rpckstar fucking with scores..that's probably the only reason GTA4 sold so much..

Spoiler

lol

 

[Jocchan]

or rumors about rpckstar fucking with scores..

Ding ding ding.

 

[Aselith]

You people are retarded. Did anyone actually read the Eurogamer review? Or the other harsh reviews for TR: U? Those guys are despicable. They actually diss the game more that anythinbg but honestly, holy shit. Just read the bloody review and actually play the game, it's a damn good game.

My god. Eurogamer is/always was and will still be one of the most despicable sites to me. They just do it for the sake of hits.

Carry on guys. I don't even understand how can people respect that site.

What Eidos is doing here is also wrong.

Edit: And I also think that all reviewers should just stop the whole score mentality and just write it out and actually let people read it and judge the game score themselves. Seriously, jesus.

I like how you screech about Eurogamer not scoring Tomb Raider properly for 3 paragraphs and then begrdugingly admit that Eidos might be wrong too in the last paragraph. Clearly Eurogamer is fucking slime because they didn't score inline with your own internal projections. But, Eidos? Eh. Maybe a little wrong...whatev

 

[tahrikmili]

I was never gonna buy an EIDOS game again, now I'll DEFINITELY NEVER EVER buy an EIDOS game EVER AGAIN.

 

[Rei_Toei]

Everyone considering a 80% score should give it a 79% just to piss Eidos off.

 

[Haunted]

Thats because we have "raised and trained" everyone to just look at a review score immediatly. Hell even I fall for it. I remember looking through Play Magazine one day, and I turned to the review pages and started scanning for the score. Granted I read the articles anyways but becaues I couldnt just look and see that 8.5 or 4.5 on the review, I was sorta annoyed. Yet it would be so much better if games didn't get scores and we just learned what was good and bad about the game and then make our own call on the game.

Wait a sec, aren't you the guy with the one sentence reviews? Which basically only consist of the score and nothing else?

Just sayin'

Spoiler

Don't worry, I thought a couple of those were pretty amusing.

 

[Iain Howe]

You know, what if there were more gaming sites which review games, but not give out any scores. So the gamer would have to, actually read the review and decipher whether it was worth their time or not, rather than looking at a number and comparing it to other, totally unrelated games.

Sure, the publisher couldn't put a "90% from IGN" sticker on the box, but they won't have to fear the "holy" metacritic score being pulled down either.

When I'm reading reviews of my own games, I tend to read the score first, process it and then read the content of the review separate from the score itself. That's because, whilst I understand that there's so much politics with the score, I expect a professional games reviewer to be able to slap a metric on the experience. With other people's games I still often skip to the score first, and read the review in context with that score.

I view the number as being an easy way for us to keep Games Journalists basically honest. If we have 7.0 for Bioshock and 8/10 for Fallout 3 then that should tell us that this reviewer says that both games are above average, but Fallout 3 has just that little extra that hit the spot (for him).

Without that number games reviews can become little more than blurb, an extension of the Marketing Campaign or the publications image. Essentially, reviews without a metric are a tale of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

 

[`Moe Joe.]

56k warning

http://i35.tinypic.com/29vckzl.jpg

- Uh oh.

Spoiler

The advert in the middle

 

[BishopLamont]

I don't know why this is big news.
This isnt like the K&L thing.

This happens all the time with every industry. It's simply an embargo till launch day on reviews. This isn't entirely news. It's not like they are blocking the review, just asking early reviews till be held out till product not on shelves.

Why does Hollywood not get shit on for not prescreening movies for reviews anymore?
They only invite "select" critics see the film before release.
Same thing, different tactic.

Do you work for Eidos? I don't see how anyone can defend this move unless they work for them.

 

[DCharlie]

can anyone who i like give me a quick summary of how TR:U actually is?

don't all 3 of you rush at once!

 

[freethought]

I don't know anyone who visits metacritic or even knows what it is.

I know a guy who will refuse to buy a game he was excited about if the metacritic score isn't high enough. Conversely he'll buy a game he had zero interest in if the metacritic score is high enough.

That's a bit harsh. He does read reviews as well, but he puts way too much stock in the scores. I keep trying to tell him that the entire enthusiast press is bought and paid for but he just won't listen.

 

[Nathan Rain]

can anyone who i like give me a quick summary of how TR:U actually is?

don't all 3 of you rush at once!

If the demo was any indication the camera was broken, but they finally are starting to grasp what makes 3D adventure games fun.

Too bad the other issues hold it down too tightly.

 

[X26]

Awww, Eidos thinks they're relavant. Outside Tomb Raider, what do they have that they can withhold from sites that don't review their turds the way they want?

 

[DCharlie]

Awww, Eidos thinks they're relavant. Outside Tomb Raider, what do they have that they can withhold from sites that don't review their turds the way they want?

don't they have one of the huge excel spread sheet random application thingies Football Management games?

(i like football management games, please call off your dogs!)

 

[Amir0x]

Tomb Raider Underworld is rad as hell, but this practice is terrible. Fucking Eidos.

 

[snoopers]

Come on now. It's quite usual to have reviews on hold until a game's out, with only the better scores allowed to be released a bit earlier. Why the drama ?

 

[pilonv1]

don't they have one of the huge excel spread sheet random application thingies Football Management games?

(i like football management games, please call off your dogs!)

They have Championship Manager in name only. The data, developers and engine went with Sports Interactive to SEGA as Football Manager. ChampMan is now fucking shit.

and fuck you xboat, I love them as well

 

[Scrow]

so it's official. lower than 80% is a critical flop.

the scale from 1-10 has been between 7-10 all along.