Support NeoGAF

[Tieno]

-Like other publishers, Eidos put up some quotes and scores from reviewers on the official K&L website to impress and persuade visitors.
-Eidos took quotes from previews of Kotaku, Gamespy and GameInformer. Even though they used the quotes for a website (and not a box cover).
-The actual reviews and scores of said websites/publications weren't very positive
-Eidos put 5 stars above each quote, implying that's the attributed score and that the quote is from the review. And some of those publications don't even rate in stars.

Source: Kotaku

It's not like the relationship between **** & ***** and review scores wasn't messy enough. But now this? Visitors to the game's official site will notice, once the page's flash intro is done, that two review scores for the game are flashed for your perusal. One from GameSpy, one from Game Informer. Both look positively glowing! Both give the game a very encouraging five stars! Thing is, both are...well, not real. They're fabricated. Lies, if you will.

GameSpy did not say "It's the best emulation of being in the midst of a Michael Mann movie we've ever seen" in their review of the game. They said that in their E3 2007 coverage. In other words, a preview. They also did not give the game five stars. They gave it three.

As for Game Informer, same deal. The highlighted quote does not appear in the review of the game. Nor do they give it five stars. It's not like the relationship between **** & ***** and review scores wasn't messy enough. But now this? Visitors to the game's official site will notice, once the page's flash intro is done, that two review scores for the game are flashed for your perusal. One from GameSpy, one from Game Informer. Both look positively glowing! Both give the game a very encouraging five stars! Thing is, both are...well, not real. They're fabricated. Lies, if you will.


To assist you in correcting your error, Eidos, and you in procuring all the necessary facts, dear reader, attached below are how the two review selections should appear.


+

With review integrity in crisis, who can you trust? Not those score whores at Kotaku, that's for sure. Not only did they give **** & ***** a glowing endorsement (read: "**** & ***** makes Grand Theft Auto look like the cartoon it is") in their exclusive review, they went and gave it a perfect five star rating! Or, least Eidos seem to think so. For those curious, the quote actually comes from Joel's hands-on time with the game at E3. In July. Where no stars were handed out. Not even one. Oh Eidos.

 

[Superblatt]

This isn't going to be good.

 

[pulga]

Eidos is shaping K & L up to be the most hated videogame in the history of the industry based on extremely poor marketing fuck ups.

Put a fucking bullet through this game already.

 

[Link648099]

Why dont' the publisher's just create their own fake sites if you are goignt o go that far?

 

[bryehn]

Classy. Very classy.

 

[Scrow]

:lol

 

[Baker]

You have some text copy and pasted twice in the middle.

Just trying to help...

 

[Mac the KNife]

I have a feeling that years from now, K&L won't be known for it's graphics, gameplay or plot.

 

[JdFoX187]

Technically, they're doing nothing wrong. Those statements were actually published. I think the problem here lies in how previews and hands-on impressions are done more than how a publisher uses them. How can a game get such glowing praise in previews and then completely bomb in reviews? Lair is a perfectly good example.

 

[Crushed]

The only way this can get worse is if K & L's package contains lead from China.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

That's not exactly limited to K&L and Eidos though.

 

[flipping_heck]

hope someone from eydos's marketing department gets fired for that.. this is pathetic..

 

[pulga]

Technically, they're doing nothing wrong. Those statements were actually published. I think the problem here lies in how previews and hands-on impressions are done more than how a publisher uses them. How can a game get such glowing praise in previews and then completely bomb in reviews? Lair is a perfectly good example.

According to you, there's nothing wrong in saying that your game got a fucking perfect score when it really got an average rating?

 

[disappeared]

I believe there have been instances of this happening before, and not just by Eidos and not just for a video game. But still, that's pretty low.

 

[SovanJedi]

It's like going from bad to worse for them.

Seriously, don't try and pull the wool over the eyes of the Internet like this, especially in our day and age where every discerning eye on your work has as much of a voice of opinion as the professional reviewers do.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

hope someone from eydos's marketing department gets fired for that.. this is pathetic..

Why? It's brilliant. The quotes are real, and the stars could be argued to symbolize pretty much anything. If anything, he/she should get a nice fat bonus.

 

[Tieno]

Technically, they're doing nothing wrong. Those statements were actually published. I think the problem here lies in how previews and hands-on impressions are done more than how a publisher uses them. How can a game get such glowing praise in previews and then completely bomb in reviews? Lair is a perfectly good example.

Yes they are doing something wrong technically.
1)They're fabricating a score.
2)By putting up the score next to the quote they're implying and suggesting that the quote is from a review and not a preview.

 

[I AM JOHN!]

Cripes, how much money was invested into this game that they needed it to succeed this badly?!

 

[GameGamer]

So why don't the review sites just cut themselves off totally from the publishers and developers.


Because they CAN'T.


This is really getting silly. This kind of thing is older than your great grandfathers.


Don't go to review sites, just forums.

 

[davepoobond]

if you've ever actually tried to search for the quotes they use on boxes, its almost impossible to find, usually.

this is not just Eidos.

 

[acklame]

oh eidos :lol

the quotes are fine, but the 5 stars above them, uhh no.

 

[svenuce]

Wow. Just wow. I work in the industry and I don't think I've ever seen anything like this.

 

[A Link to the Past]

Technically, they're doing nothing wrong. Those statements were actually published. I think the problem here lies in how previews and hands-on impressions are done more than how a publisher uses them. How can a game get such glowing praise in previews and then completely bomb in reviews? Lair is a perfectly good example.

:lol

Yes, blame the people who made the statements, not the people who misused them.

 

[Pureauthor]

*facepalm*

Yes, Eidos. This is exactly the sort of shit you should be trying to pull.

 

[Geezer]

alliwantforxmasis****and*****.com

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

Wow. Just wow. I work in the industry and I don't think I've ever seen anything like this.

What? Barring possibly the use of stars, this is standard procedure.

 

[JdFoX187]

It's just like how Web sites like Rotten Tomatoes rate movies. Does a reviewer actually put "Fresh" or "Rotten" on their review? No, that's up to the Web site to determine from the content of the review. That's what Eidos did here. Like I said, it's shady, I'll admit that. But it's not illegal. As I said, this has more to do with the glowing previews of a shitty game rather than Eidos fabricating quotes.

 

[lastendconductor]

1)They're fabricating a score.

Actually they are not. They could argue the stars are there just for decoration. The purpose is obvious though.

 

[BlazeHedgehog]

I can only imagine this is exploiting a loophole. I'm sure if confronted with it, Eidos will simply claim that the "star rating" isn't actually a rating at all but is instead a visual accent for the quotes themselves, etc. etc.

Besides, this practice isn't exactly new. Movie studios have been using out-of-context film critic quotes in commercials for over a decade now. I've even heard rumors of studios hiring people to pose as film critics just so they can give their movie a good review.

However, I think that this should be used as a glaring example of where such practices can come back to bite you in the ass. No doubt this website was set up weeks or even months in advance and now it's come to people's attention at probably the worst possible time. Massaging the truth is bad, kids. Besides, the only people who trust quotes like that probably would be dumb enough to buy your game without your influence.

"Jack Fergesson of the Brighton Chronicle says it's good?! I don't know who that is, but if he likes it, here's my $8! Two tickets to the movies, please!"

 

[Flesh Into Gear]

What? Barring possibly the use of stars, this is standard procedure.

Eh the quotes are fine but the whole stars thing is fucked up. Thats a very shamless tactic.

 

[Madman]

So I take it that 1 month ban on Eidos games will be carried out, and possibly extended. That's some deceitful shit right there.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

facepalm indeed.

 

[StoOgE]

wow.

your allready under the microscope.

no words.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

Eh the quotes are fine but the whole stars thing is fucked up. Thats a very shamless tactic.

Marketing in itself is shameless. What is this, fucking Cocoon?

 

[Onemic]

Somehow I think everyone within a week or so outside of gaf will simply forget about the eidos, K+L, and gamespot debacle, and will continue viewing their sites and buying their games(eidos) as normal. If this happens then the gaming industry will surely go into a downward spiral of deception since any publishing company will simply think that they can get away with this kind of bullshit.

 

[fistfulofmetal]

Wow. That's pretty unbelievable.

To think K&L replicates a Michael Mann movie... wow. I think I'm going to have to go out and get it right now. I can't miss this triple A blockbuster title!

 

[Lord Error]

Can this game really end up being more maligned and hated than Lair? It almost seems possible now. Poor IO Interactive, they really didn't deserved this.

 

[Aeris130]

At least their sources actually existed. Props for that.

Spoiler

David Manning says hi.

 

[AstroLad]

It's just like how Web sites like Rotten Tomatoes rate movies. Does a reviewer actually put "Fresh" or "Rotten" on their review? No, that's up to the Web site to determine from the content of the review. That's what Eidos did here. Like I said, it's shady, I'll admit that. But it's not illegal. As I said, this has more to do with the glowing previews of a shitty game rather than Eidos fabricating quotes.

As a normative point, I think putting the stars there changes the context completely. While using preview quotes is slightly deceptive (and as you said, it's as much an indictment of fawning thoughtless previews as it is an indictment of those who would selectively quote from them), the stars give the impression not only that they represent the site's score, but also that the quotes are pulled from the same source as the score.

As far as the commonanlity of the practice, I think this would probably be a good place to discuss some of the more egregious examples (is this the most egregious?) in the industry (if we were to go outside, we'd certainly have Sony's fabricated movie reviewer and his quotes, of course). I don't really keep track of this practice too closely, but it seems that several others here do.

 

[levious]

this is no different than movie quotes and marketing. Not saying it's ok of course.

 

[pulga]

It's just like how Web sites like Rotten Tomatoes rate movies. Does a reviewer actually put "Fresh" or "Rotten" on their review? No, that's up to the Web site to determine from the content of the review. That's what Eidos did here. Like I said, it's shady, I'll admit that. But it's not illegal. As I said, this has more to do with the glowing previews of a shitty game rather than Eidos fabricating quotes.

I can't believe someone is actually defending this piece of shit.

*looks at avatar*

Oh, I guess this kinda thing is your shtick then. :lol

 

[Gigglepoo]

That first quote isn't even positive...

 

[kn4rf]

I can say for certain that I will remember this for years to come. My memory is whacked like that. I can never remember my anniversary but 10 years from now I'll look at an Edios game and have some nagging feeling that I shouldn't buy it.

 

[Talamius]

The best way to put out an already raging wildfire is to dump gasoline all over it.

 

[Tieno]

Actually they are not. They could argue the stars are there just for decoration. The purpose is obvious though.

I would say they would not be 'arguing' but spinning. It's obvious what the purpose is of those stars and it's to mislead.

 

[mollipen]

So why don't the review sites just cut themselves off totally from the publishers and developers.

Because they CAN'T.

Well, they CAN... but the problem is your average reader won't allow them to.

A site could have no connection to companies whatsoever, and strictly deal with purchasing retail copies of games. This would do a number of things: allow the site to not "bend" to any publisher wishes in exchange for making sure they get review copies, allow the reviewer to have the proper amount of time with a game to give a proper review, make sure the reviewer is only touching RETAIL code, so no examples of "we promise to fix that problem before release" come up, etc.

And guess what? Readers would bitch and moan because of how late the review scores would come in. Too many people want things both ways: they want 100% independence from any publisher dealings, yet they want those exclusive first looks, interviews, and reviews the day of or before the game is released. (The last one is such an important note - people want both ultra-fast reviews, yet demand the reviewer play through the game multiple times to experience everything, and that's such a difficult task.)

 

[ParticleReality]

Yes they are doing something wrong technically.
1)They're fabricating a score.
2)By putting up the score next to the quote they're implying and suggesting that the quote is from a review and not a preview.

What score? They're fucking stars that probably mean nothing, I can put stars on my dick but that doesn't reflect how great it is.

 

[Red Blaster]

Deceptive marketing at its finest.

 

[HK-47]

The only way this can get worse is if K & L's package contains lead from China.

Just wait...it'll cause radiation sickness or something

 

[Slavik81]

GameSpy did not say "It's the best emulation of being in the midst of a Michael Mann movie we've ever seen" in their review of the game. They said that in their E3 2007 coverage.

If they said it, they said it.