Bethesda directly intervening in reviews of Fallout: New Vegas?

Bethesda is allegedly forcing websites to pull unfavorable reviews of Fallout: New Vegas, according to Dan Hsu.

[big_silky]

i believe it.

[RememberThe357]

Whoever is at the bottom of this needs to loss their job. Developers bark about creative freedom then their marketing team goes and makes sites take down reviews.

[Red_Orange_Juice]

this makes me sick

[Jamegohanssj5]

I knew these reviews were too good to be true.

TGSI

[Ocelot525]

bethesda is like the BP of the gaming world

[kaos_fish II]

@Ocelot525

BP? really?...

I was thinking more along the lines of Eidos.

[Danteh]

Disgusting

I'm actually gonna say (excepcionally): PIRATE THIS GAME

We don't need corrupt game companies making unfinished games, seriously this is repulsive

[xAlmostPro]

the sites could still post the scores :/..

[HSx9]

i pirate d this game day 1

[frostypants]

Yes, Bethesda SUCKS.

But the whole "This game sucks so hard I'm gonna STEAL it!" logic is f*cking retarded.

Don't use the fact that the game and/or company sucks as an excuse for theft.

Do you steal cars that you think suck?

[DaTruth]

Damn, some people actually buy these magazines to find out what to play and you can't even trust these guys to give you an honest opinion!

[HSx9]

your argument is invalid

>implying comparing cars and games are equal.

[STONEY4]

Did no one read the article? They decided to pull it because they didn't want to risk losing revenue from the New Vegas ads until the ad campaign was over.

[JakeyBaby]

Bethesda can't make games without bugs, yet they expect glittering reviews despite this? I'm on the side with the Journo's here. Whatever happened to freedom of speech? ... Pah!

[DevilsJoker]

..And everyone takes them so seriously, letting them decide if they buy the game or not, it's an environment that's begging for this sort of thing to happen. I hope this sort of thing can somehow be stopped before it's too out of control.

[JakeyBaby]

... If it isn't already.

[Christopher]

***To clarify, the site's boss pulled that review because advertiser wasn't happy, against writer's wishes.***

Not to be rude, but not being happy doesn't mean they told them to pull the review. Looks like the person who runs the site, not the writer of the review, decided to do it on their own in order to ensure that future ad revenue would be forthcoming from Bethesday.

[PooEgg]

I agree and I am curious which sites did this, since I would say we can't really trust them if they are so worried about keeping advertisers happy, do they also rate undeserving games higher in order to keep advertisers happy?

[wsoutlaw87]

so this pretty much confirms that some cites give some games higher reviews to keep advertisers happy

[Philoctetes]

Wouldn't surprise me. It's hard to come up with any innocent explanations for why this game got any scores above an 8 anywhere. It's semi-broken and looks like it was made in 2006.

[soulzero]

Stop crying, even with bugs this game is a masterpiece.
Certainly my top 5best games ever, possibly 3. And ive played lotsa great games, but the immertion i get from fallout is unbelieveable, although that may be cause i was high as fuck playing this game, still wonderfull.

[A Cupcake for Gabe]

New Vegas is great. I'm nit defending the low scores cause the bugs are there. But this is a still must have game.

I bet COD won't get this same criticism though.

[RedDragan]

No game that crashes on the hour is a must have. If you two think otherwise then your standards are dangerously low.

[lightningsax]

@SoulZero

That's nice. Why isn't this comment (and others complaining about or defending the game) in a thread about a review? Bethesda PR did not develop this game. They're a completely different department. This news (which is short and readable, btw) is not about the game. It's about PR. Let's talk about that.

[Trizard]

Okay, I own both Fallout 3 and New Vegas and can tell you that I have never seen a single bug or crash. There are glitches like inf. exp and caps but those are patched usually in the first month. I don't understand how all these reviewers can be getting so many bugs and crashes. IMO, its a lot of hearsay and shoddy reviewing.

[frostypants]

I'm glad there are others out their who see Bethesda for what they are. One of the guys in those forums referred to their games as "McRPGs". That's a perfect description.

They slap new graphics onto the same old gameplay mechanics, water everything down, and call it a new game. Furthermore, their games are ALWAYS buggier than hell.

They've been pulling this stunt for 15 years now. They haven't designed entirely new gameplay mechanics since The Elder Scrolls: Arena. Fallout 3 is just The Elder Scrolls V.

Even IF there is some fun to be had in the games they release, Bethesda's approach absolutely sucks.

[likedamaster]

Will never compare to Konami's MGS4 1UP debacle.

[mikhail_tisoy]

oh so thats why gamespot took two days to put up their review and ign giving it a 9 lawls next time dont pick a mediocore devloper

[RedDragan]

Let's be honest though, knowledgable people don't take serious notice of reviews on IGN and Gamespot.

There were never a truly reliable site for game ratings. They are all personal opinions or influenced by advertisers.

[knifefight]

Intereference or not, people score things way too high these days. But that's another topic.

[Nihilism]

Nah dude, that couldn't be more on topic. The reason the game was released with bugs is the same reason reviews are scored excessively high, and the same reason bad reviews are pulled. Corporate greed.

The lesson here is. Bargain bin, every game, always. Or GOTY edition in 12 months, still cheaper than the vanilla game on day 1.

@HeartDisease

You need a source to tell you that multinational companies are greedy exploitative monopolistic pieces of $#!+?, I don't know where you live but it's common sense where I am...on the 13th plane of hell known as earth.

[JakeyBaby]

I bet this is all because they wanted to score it a 7 out of 10. Pathetic how 7 is seen as "Bad" these days. All this Corporate greed has done is made all of us waste time shopping around review sites trying to find one we can trust.

[imoutofthecontest]

Dan Hsu?
This Dan Hsu?

[Blacktric]

Ok so he gave Gears Of War an A+ years ago. So what?

[artsaber]

Or just retarded? Did you READ the highlighted sections? LOL! I guess in your mind 2+2 = 9. A+ is the highest score he could give, but yet his written review reflected a c+ or B- at best. Companies can pay for SCORES because YOU have demonstrated that few will actually READ... you just look for the letter/average score number, etc. 50% or more of his review was nothing but outlined problems with the game, and he gave it the highest score possible.

[Blacktric]

Yeah I am actually. Thank you for bringing up to the table LOL! I swear to God this website is filled with intolerant assholes that can't contain themselves not to insult other people.

[Def Warrant]

Umm did you read the negative sentences he wrote about the game? The real question is why did he score it so high after all the faults it had?

[Cenobia]

Is this a negative comment about Dan Hsu, or a positive one?

He brings up all the bad things about Gears but still really enjoyed it. It's kind of his job to convey both the good and bad to the reader.

[Biggest]

There is NO WAY a game that has that much bad about it scores the highest possible score on their chart. The story, A.I., multiplayer, control, and immersion were all horrible according to his review. Does that sound like an A+/A+ to you?

[PooEgg]

Sounds like Dan was worried about losing advertisers support. So many hypocrites in this world, and should we trust anything that comes out of this guys mouth?

[SSKILLZ]

Omg seriously

[General Shrooms]

How else could Fallout 3 and Vegas get such high ratings and no negative ones.

[HeartDisease]

hey guys i have un-named sources that tell me bethesda is actually a devil from the 12th plane of hell. says they sacrifice children daily before tea. i cant name them or they will lose there job but ill say whatever i want because im a reputable journalist and do not need to have sources.

[PooEgg]

LMAO, funny but you just summed it up perfectly.

[Def Warrant]

This gaming gen is a joke beyond belief. So now it's come to this huh? I'm so glad i haven't bought any third party turd since Oct 2009. Gaming is going downhill with the constant politics behind the curtains.

[Optical_Matrix]

I couldn't agree more. There's just been so much fucked up politics, in fighting and all sorts of snide this gen. Companies bad mouthing each other, reviewer corruption etc etc But tbh man it's to be expected. Gaming is getting bigger and what with the rise of twitter, facebook and online journalism, the door is open to all sorts of sensationalism I'm afraid.

[thesithfreak]

shows bethesda's integrity. i think ever since the elder scrolls lead designer left, the company is heading downhill. fallout sucks, all the games they've published like WET and rogue warrior sucks, and they probably want elder scrolls 5 to be an MMO, which is pointless and will suck. people need to see the trend, most MMO's that are not World of Warcraft do poorly or get canned after release. until the old republic, or possibly guild wars 2, MMO space is WoW territory, definitely don't make a medieval fantasy mmo, thats a for sure fail. hopefully two worlds 2 takes the reign and steam away from bethesda. fact is, they dont feel they have competition in their genre, and its making their games stale, buggy and unfinished

[NYC_Gamer]

this would explain the high reviews for something full of bugs/glitches

[MarcusGv]

I suspected that Bethesda was controlling reviews when no one was allowed to publish reviews until the game was out in the US. I suspect that this was due to the bugs in the game. As long as they fix it I don't care.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

I personally don't care. I have the game already and my review of it stems from the 2 days I have barely got any sleep and missed two days of graduate classes. Minus the glitches that we all knew was coming this game is fun as hell.

Any fan of the fallout, and morrowind games should have known glitches are in this game. And just like the past, a patch will be released to fix them. Don't act like we didn't know what was coming and now play like your in shock and awe.

[MicroSony4Life]

TBH I would rather take your word than most of these high named review gaming sites (No sarcasm).

I enjoyed Fall out 3 and I was ok with the bugs being that it was my first Fall Out game that I played but that does not mean that developers have the right to release a game knowing that bugs and glitches are in it. Have some respect for your fans and give them a game that they can enjoy and not worry about there console freezing or some mission getting stuck because of development issues.

[visualb]

its a bethesda game

its a fallout game

to expect it to be glitch free is unrealistic.

and since its not a multiplayer game, I think glitches are fine. its not broken (not on my side anyway, maybe consoles are) but the few glitches it has are outweighed by the awesome action, loot, RPGness and dialogues/story - I agree we need to demand more from developers, and this is not acceptable for €60/60$, but if that really bothers you then don't buy the game! vote with our money!
+ who said the story is crap? its super epic!

it feels like Fallout world meets No Country For Old Men meets a Scorsese movie! It dodges the traditional "from the vault into the world searching for your dad/water but I love thaT! its different but it works =D

tbh, first impressions are good =) its not better than FO3, probably not even as good (since FO3 has the whole "new" thing to it)

but its def. close =)

[AssassinHD]

The people who are disagreeing with him might just have an issue with his priorities. He stated that he missed two days of graduate classes to play a video game.

I don't mean to come of as judgmental mind you. It is his life, and he can live it however he wishes. I am simply explaining why some people may have clicked the disagree button.

Oh and to be clear, I did not disagree with him.

[PooEgg]

I agree, I am really enjoying this game after two days of playing and have not yet encountered any bugs that are bad enough to ruin it for me.

Not sure what to think of this supposed 'blackmailing of game reviews', not sure if it is true and if so I am actually more troubled by the reviewer who pulled their scores for advertising dollars.

[divideby0]

is it to much to ask for making a good (wont even say great in this case) game, which is not ridden with bugs

Ques to developers, why did you release the game so bug ridden and if you didnt realize the problems, why didnt you test it out better.

I didnt buy the game this week do to all the problems, my personal friends are having. Also all the stuff on the net didnt help out

[LeShin]

I've never known a series so full of bugs to get so many high scores. If it was a new IP from a new developer, it would get slaughtered! It's really hard to find a videogame website reviewer I can trust and I'm not even talking about the final score games get. If a game has a ton of bugs (especially big ones which actually freeze the bloody game and console) I want reviewers to bitch about it and let me know how bad it is so I can make a better decision.

Gameplay, story...hell even graphics are all subjective...

...bugs and glitches are facts!

[bakagaijin78]

"If it was a new IP from a new developer, it would get slaughtered!"

My thoughts exactly.

[Philoctetes]

Even worse, imagine if this was a PS3 exclusive. Like, let's say Resistance 3 comes out and looks identical to RFOM, except that it freezes your console every couple of hours and occasionally corrupts your save data. Oh, and it constantly hiccups whenever you're walking around in an open area.

I'll bet we wouldn't be seeing many reviews talking about how awesome the story is and handing out 9s.

[TheHater]

If it was a IP from a low profile developer it would have been slaughtered. Just look at Sacred 2 for example. That game have all the same performance problems of both Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas and was criticize having those problems. Fallout 3 and New Vegas are getting a free pass because it from a high profile developers.

[Tdmd]

The sad thing is that with news like this, we (gamers) don't know whom to turn or trust. And, to make matters wrost, isn't every developer who publish demos on the psn, so buying a game these days is almost like gambling. Shame on you Bethesda! ¬¬

[artsaber]

Trust ONLY in your rental! Renting is KEY to saving you money from bought review scores, etc. Since we can no longer trust gaming sites for the lack of balance and fairness and complete lack of integrity, your best option is to have a game pass with the provider of your choice. My Blockbuster game pass has saved me hundreds of dollars. And I only activate during months where two or three "SUPPOSEDLY" good games come out. Check out the new titles one by one up to a month. Then if you loved something, go buy it. If the campaign was too short, then take it back. If the reviews just flat out LIED, then you aren't stuck trying to sell. This is my method since I complete distrust in reviews since Halo3 and GTA4.

[PooEgg]

That is actually good advice. Because everyone has different tastes so if you don't know if you can trust the reviews but are still interested in the game rent it first.

[Jdoki]

I guess when your bonus is attached to a metacritic rating, a couple of harsh reviews could mean a big difference in your pay packet!!

The industry as a whole - from the manufacturers to the journalists and everything in between - is turning in to a bit of a joke really

[monkpunk1]

seems naughty, i was seriously about to go into town and buy this 10 mins ago... hearing this though has stopped me. yikes

[EscoBlades]

How sad.

[Der_Kommandant]

Bugthesda

[gypsygib]

These types of practices assure me that Kinect won't be reviewed poorly - no one will risk losing a part of that 500 million in advertising. Shame on any company that does this and even more shame on the review sites.

[LiquifiedArt]

UMM.. Am I the only consumer that "CARES" about the quality of a product. Are you idiots brainwashed? What the heck is this world coming too?

You should demand High quality. Its YOUR MONEY. For 99% of the people in these threads (The peasents of the world), you'd think they would have some sort of value for their hard earned cash. geez.

A game should not Freeze, Glitch and Bug the hell out all the time. Sorry. It needs more Testing before it goes Gold. That goes for ANY GAME on ANY PLATFORM.

[Tdmd]

Let's hear an amen to that!

[TheBand1t]

I sunk over 300 hours into Fallout 3, bugs, freezing and all, and I imagine I'll do the same for New Vegas.

It's a diamond in the rough, and I love the game alot, up there with Uncharted 2 and Dead Space in my affections.

Sure it's not as polished as the other two titles, but it has so much more to do and see, with alot more choices in how you go about things. Just because the game isn't completely bug free doesn't make it not quality.

[lightningsax]

This isn't the place to talk about whether or not Fallout 3 was a good game. This is a place to talk about whether Bethesda's PR department is being a team of complete jerks, and whether or not higher-ups in review outlets are caving under jerk pressure or not.

(Edit: Oops, this should be in the Liquified thread, not a reply to TheBand1t.)

[MrChow666]

bethesda sells shit and people loves it, Crapout 3 : one of the lowest moments in gaming history

[lightningsax]

Look, I'm in the camp that understood the bugs that came with Oblivion/Fallout 3 and still absolutely loved the games. In Oblivion, I lost my best suit of armor when it became wedged within a wall of the local Fighter's Guild building after not saving for quite a while (yeah, I know, what was I thinking?), and still loved the heck out of it. I'm still a bit miffed that we never got the ability to apply mods on PS3. Whatever. Still anxiously awaiting the next game, because it was hours upon hours of awesome for me.

However, these rumors look pretty bad... I mean, the corporate BS looks pretty believable here. Say what you will about Hsu's review of Gears or whatever (and seriously, who cares, this isn't a review), but the guy does have to watch out for his image for purely financial reasons. He wouldn't just be posting random unfounded stuff, this has to be at least somewhat believable to him in order to get it out there. I'm a little surprised that 1up's CEO would just run over reviewer's heads without telling them what's going on and block the release of a review... That's kinda odd. Someone in this situation is either being misinformed or not telling the truth.

[lightningsax]

Looking back on this, I think the Twitter conversation's flow made me think Hsu was talking about 1up, but it was really only Haywald that was. Hsu could be talking about any other outlet. Whoops.

[danielle007]

I'm not even bothering to look at the reviews for NV. I honestly do not care one way or the other. I'm going to love the poo out of that game no matter what. Hardcore.

I think a large part of it is that: I'm not stupid, I know how to save often, and if a game is an amazing experience, with an amazing story, and amazing places to explore, then I honestly do not care about a few bugs, and if it crashes now and then. I played Fallout 3. I know what I'm getting into, and I'm super excited about it. If I had reviewed Fallout 3, even with the bugs, I would have given it a 10. I put so many hours and it was an amazing experience. Good enough for me.

For you people saying that if anyone else put out such a buggy game, they wouldn't get as much slack.. It's because most of the time if the game is super buggy, it's done by developers that didn't try hard enough. When it's a world as huge and as detailed as Fallout 3 / NV and there's no loading when you're just wandering around.. and the world is affected by your decisions.. It's like they tried too hard, and couldn't get all the problems, because it's just too huge..

Back on topic: If the website decides to pull a review because advertisers aren't happy, then it's on them, imo. They could have stayed strong and kept their credibility intact. It was their choice.

[asdr3wsfas]

"I think a large part of it is that: I'm not stupid, I know how to save often"

you know bugs can corrupt saves if they crash while auto saving or overwrite memory right?

i think this game will rule, i loved fallout 2, hated 3, and obsidian has a lot of the fallout 2 people that worked on this game. fallout 2 was filled with bugs...it's still possibly the best rpg of all time.

[visualb]

disable autosave and 90% of problems, crashes and corrupt data files will disappear

[Motorola]

i see... i dont care about the reviews too much anyway. I like Fallout 3 and what it did. I will like this too, if it got 5s id still buy it. but removing bad reviews is low.

[The_Zeitgeist]

I agree, I loved Fallout 3 and once I get my hands on New Vegas I am sure I would love it just as much. I could careless if it's more of the same. Fallout and games like Bioshock fall under the category of more of the same is is good.

[The_Zeitgeist]

Bethesda is digging their own public relations grave if this is true. There needs to be an actual guild for gaming journalism. If there was then websites would not have to put up with having their reviews basically being boughten all the time.

[Hudahudahuda]

I don't see why they would need to. I've played around 10 hours of it and it seems just as good if not slightly better than 3. Though to be honest the game is buggy. Nothing too bad though yet.

[A LIVING LEGEND]

About 20+ hrs in,few freezes,few minor problems,just like F3.
Problems aside,FNV is great so far,deeper dialogue and moral dilemmas with deeper gameplay.
We ALL know Bethesda aren't masters of the visual craft nor are they overly adept at programming....yet both F3 and FNV have performed better than DAO,which for me was a glitchy,freezing mess with lacking gameplay.
Bethesda games are always overrated but they aren't alone.