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Video Games and the Bad Wikipedia Articles About Them

O

Orayn

Member
Have you ever wiki'd a game and come across some page that was just off? Whether short and poorly thought out, way too long, incoherent, or just crappy to read, low quality Wikipedia articles about games exist in huge numbers. While some would just roll their eyes and look for info on a game elsewhere, I like to pick these oddities apart.

Some are overly detailed trainwrecks that were obviously written by a single dedicated fanboy. (Holy summary, Batman!)

Others have been "vandalized" by someone making unfavorable comparisons to similar games and wind up being either very repetitive or just pedantic in their criticism. (DOWNGRADED DOWNGRADED DOWNGRADED DOWNGRADED)

So let's find some of these, GAF! I'm not much of a Wikipedian, so fixing them isn't exactly my strong suit, but gawking at the weirdness the gaming community dumps on an "official" source like Wikipedia is always good for a laugh or two.
 
The best are unquestionably the super detailed biographies of people who are relatively unknown and obviously written as an autobiography. Like when some game developer has the story of their marriage proposal and kids birth written in. LOL

Wish I could find an example...
 
Dragoon En Regalia said:
Dr. Muto's a good game, but its Wikipedia article is bad stuff. Seriously: useless information about items, lackluster plot synopsis, a general lack of quality overall. I think it reads like the insides of a game manual, which isn't a plus.
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Perfect example of someone who tried to do a nice, clean bulleted summary style article and wound up loading it down with pointless detail. If anything, that's the most common way in which game articles go bad.

Also, I'm kind of noticing that 2000-2005 is a "golden age" for stuff like this.

Dragoon En Regalia said:
Is that really you, Orayn, in the avatar? Neat.
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Yes, I'm real-pic-July-ing!
 
Orayn said:
Perfect example of someone who tried to do a nice, clean bulleted summary style article and wound up loading it down with pointless detail. If anything, that's the most common way in which game articles go bad.

Also, I'm kind of noticing that 2000-2005 is a "golden age" for stuff like this.



Yes, I'm real-pic-July-ing!
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I can do better than that, my friend. Check this out: a bad Wikipedia article about SEGA Touring Car Championship! It ticks a lot of marks—lack of information about the game itself, unnecessary and spoiler-ific car information, and a lack of sources (the main reason I'd go to Wikipedia for business matters).

It's all about the J events. I learned about the Js from Dale Cooper, anyway.
 
One time I stumbled upon the Mario Sunshine wiki page and someone changed all the review scores to perfect 10's and in the critical reception section claimed the game was considered the best of all time and had eclipsed Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time. I laughed my ass off.
 
Dragoon En Regalia said:
Speaking of I-Ninja articles: I just witnessed the gem that is this entry about Argonaut's last game, Malice. The low quality of writing, template, and style should be apparent at first sight.
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Sounds like the article was about as much of a trainwreck as the game itself.

Despite loving the King's Field series, the current article for KF IV/The Ancient City has a rather masturbatory section about how Agetec renamed several characters after people from their forums. I'm pretty sure it's the single longest part of the article.
 
linkratos said:
One time I stumbled upon the Mario Sunshine wiki page and someone changed all the review scores to perfect 10's and in the critical reception section claimed the game was considered the best of all time and had eclipsed Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time. I laughed my ass off.
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lol, Would be funny.

Trying to rack my head and come up with more examples. Argh.
 
Orayn said:
Sounds like the article was about as much of a trainwreck as the game itself.

Despite loving the King's Field series, the current article for KF IV/The Ancient City has a rather masturbatory section about how Agetec renamed several characters after people from their forums. I'm pretty sure it's the single longest part of the article.
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Before the release of the game as King's Field: The Ancient City in North America, there were a number of fans of the series using what is now called a Yahoo.com "Group".
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This cracks me up
 
The_Technomancer said:
image.php
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Orayn said:
image.php
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wtf_is_this_shit_Very_Disturbing_Childrens_Book_RE_We_dont_say_ampquotGermanampquot_in_America-s400x297-59009.jpg


When did you change y'all's avatars? And most importantly, WHY?
 
Orayn said:
I'm not sure whether to be enraged or amused at the comically serious and detailed story summary that clashes with the rest of the article.
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It gets a good amount of the basic information correct, but there aren't any sources cited, and the actual meat of the article is just pathetic to behold.

Seda: I can barely grow sideburns. He'll know what he wants to do with his follicles!
 
Wikipedia articles can be downright painful for games. I usually just go to Hardcore Gaming, and to a lesser extent Racketboy to read up on random games. I like those sites a lot better for that sort of stuff.
 
Mr Nash said:
Wikipedia articles can be downright painful for games. I usually just go to Hardcore Gaming, and to a lesser extent Racketboy to read up on random games. I like those sites a lot better for that sort of stuff.
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QFT. This should not become the subject of debate. HG101, in particular, is a site filled with interesting articles on games from all walks of the industry. Even if the articles have flaws in them, they're still more meaty and worthwhile a read than most articles on Wikipedia.

That said: Wikipedia is a great source of sources, and an accessible way to look up information on specific games.
 
BigJiantRobut said:
"The reception was mostly positive. Gamespot gave it 6.3 out of 10"

you don't say, Vexx fans
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And the way the review contains
The setup is so straightforward and predictable, it might as well not even be there. Thankfully, the game gets much of its exposition out of the way before you start the first level. There's you, Vexx, out to save the world and fulfill a personal vendetta against Yabu, evil wizard and oppressor of the dark fantasy realm of Astara.
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when the Wiki page makes it sound like Lord of the Rings
 
I remember when Wikipedia had to close down the Nintendo Wii wiki page because of how many people kept editing it before release.

God, I need to look for something. This was years ago, but I recall a wiki page on Big Rigs: Over The Road Racing pertaining to the game being a modern classic and riveting tale backed by a false science-fiction backdrop and symbolic values. I don't remember if it was the official wiki or not, but I got a good laugh out of it.
 
plagiarize said:
you should edit the wiki page for it, and link back to your post here as a source, and put it right at the top of the page.
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It lasted only four minutes, but for a brief moment in time wikipedia was truly a source of video game fact and science.
 
The only thing that slightly annoys me about videogame pages on Wikipedia is when people put the katakana and translation of it after a game's title in the first paragraph.

"Theatrhythm Final Fantasy (シアトリズム ファイナルファンタジー Shiatorizumu Fainaru Fantajī)" for example.

Just don't need it, this isn't the Japanese Wikipedia.
 
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