The Eurogamer Scandal

Rewiredmind writes:

A week or so ago, a Eurogamer writer by the name of Ed Zitron reviewed the new MMO Darkfall Online. The boy Zitron wasn't impressed, giving it a measly two out of ten. That was just the beginning.

[TrevorPhillips]

2 out of 10 do u know how to rate games

[Chris399]

I'm really surprised that a bigger deal hasn't been made of this. A major gaming media site caught - red handed - posting uniformed, biased nonsense.

Calls into question the credibility of their entire site really. The suggestion by the author of this article that Eurogamer was somehow in the right with how they handled the situation is ludicrous. They mishandled the situation to start with and simply compounded the mess that they had made by "standing behind their review" (but offering to re-review). You simply cannot review an MMO in 2 hours. Can't be done. You can't create a character, form parties, enter instances, pvp and explore an entire realm in 2 hours. And forming an opinion based on such a limited playtime is unprofessional. And if it's not unprofessional (according to Eurogamer), just what are their review requirements for OTHER GAMES? Console games, let's say, which clearly don't have such demanding time investments as MMOs.

Pop it in, watch the intro, play 5 minutes then write a review? Or maybe download a gamesave and watch the ending first, ya know, for a THOROUGH review. Pathetic really. Any other media industry and they'd be laughed out of the room.

Trash site really (Eurogamer). They're like the GS of Europe.

[Chubear]

ALL review gaming sites are like this.

Hell, I know of a reviewer that rated a game ridiculously low because while at a show, the developers of company got mad with them cause they were trying to get a peek at something the company had said can't be show to them at that point.

So they got mad and actually threaten them right there that 'they'll see who's 'crazy' when their upcoming game launches'

Editorial reviewing is just utter BS nonsense and I look forward to the day that gamers understand that it's all become revenue building business and they really don't give a toss if they give accurate info to the community.

I long for the day gamers have a secure system for rating and informing other gamers about our games (kinda like an N4G for game reviews) so we don't have to solely rely on editorial reviewers anymore. I've had an idea for this for 5 years now and I hope Sony or somebody takes the idea and uses it.

Editorial reviewers are full of poop and you're dumb if you let them dictate what games you play or not play.

[Perjoss]

Not played it myself but I've seen gameplay movies, the game in question looks like a proper heap of steaming cack. EG has already said that the logs are not correct and that the reviewer spent more time in the game than the Darkfall devs are claiming. I think they said he spent around 10 hours and not 2 like they claim, 10 hours is still not a lot of time to review an mmo, I agree he should have spent more time playing it, at least the game is getting a re-review from a reputable reviewer.

[SL1M DADDY]

If this is what it took for many of you to see how pathetic Eurogamer has been in recent years with their reviews, then you have all been living int he dark. This is only a small representation as to what is actually happening with reviews across the board. Nearly all major publications are posting up uninformed and )what I would call) illegitimate reviews these days.

The only true review is your own.

[Bluemayhem]

before spouting the same nonsense as the devs of this abysmal game you should actually check the whole build up to this. Frankly for a development team to go in to the comment section and start mouthing off against reviewers shows what pathetic morons these guys are. reminds of Dennis Dyack and Too Human.
Besides it has been said already several times that the playtimes from the alleged reviwers account, provided on the Darkfall forums, are not true.

The guy said he had at least 9 hrs of playtime with this which I admit is not a whole lot more, however enough to show that this pile of dung is not worth your time or effort with far better MMORPG's on the market.

Really hope that the new reviewer is going to give this game a 1 out of 10 considering the childish hissy fits of this developer.

Eurogamers credibility is not really hampered if a couple of sad fans from this site and the incredibly lonely cellar dwelling darkfall geeks mouth off about this.

BTW, i am not from Eurogamer staff however love their reviews as they certainly have some of the wittiest writting especially when it comes to reviews of crappy games.

[Chris399]

Post an "impression". Post a preview. Don't post a review. There is something dubious and unethical about that sort of behavior and Eurogamer was caught doing it.

And I don't find them humorous at all. It's the same sort of pedantic head-speak that Edge employs. I'm looking for accuracy in my news, not snobbery and snide remarks. Writing something to be satirical isn't as effective as writing something factual. We have enough bloggers and vitriol all over the net, without the "professionals" acting like as$holes and fanboys themselves.

I've never played the game (Darkfall). It could be utter trash. But that doesn't change the fact that the review process was in many ways violated and no one seems to care. It's unethical. Remember that news reporter a while back who lightly falsified a news piece? What happened to him? Oh, right he was fired and likely shamed for the rest of his years. That's a NORMAL reaction. Not: "Oh, well the game sucks anyway".

[BulletToothtony]

the way i see it. Eurogamer loves getting attention by giving out low scores.. specially on the ps3 games..

Worse of all Wii games get scores of 8 and above ALL the time.. It's almost as if they had a 45 y/o grandma reviewing games..

They say they have high standards and yet they gave halo 3 a 10.. Eurogamer loves attention and it's simply not a website that a TRUE gamer would rely on to look at reviews..

[TheTwelve]

Blue Mayhem, the reviewer did not play the game. Period. Eurogamer is known for giving low-scores in order to garner attention, but it's a whole other evil when you give a low score while only logging in 2 hours or so into a game.

Eurogamer did wrong here---only reason why this hasn't blown up (yet) is because the game they screwed over is a very niche one.

12

[Bluemayhem]

I get your point completely but at the same time you are getting ahead of yourself by using words such as "ethical". Ethics have no place in "journalism" and that is a fact. It has been ,long known and will become even more apparent.Look at the current state of journalism in this world, starting from Iraq war to Afghanistan to Georgian-Russian war, the Winter gas scandal between Russia and Europe.
Come on mate that is a game reviews site if it would not have any factual information on the game salted/ peppered with a little bit of humour I would not go there. Fully disagree with your statement about satirical writing being less effective then factual. Again thats not a news report on the 9/11 tragedy.
In fact, factual information with satirical writting on top of that the reviewers personal emotions being put in the review makes for an awesome read.

I fully stand behind the reviewer more importantly Eurogamer and if a game after 9 hrs fails to impress someone who reviews games, it is not deserving of a good score. There is no scientific formula for reviewing MMO's i.e. sit for 30 days in front of your screen in order to get to the "good parts".

[Chubear]

Good lord, I don't even want to know what world you live in.

[Chris399]

We NEED to have credible journalists, with "ethics" and "training" and all those other words you seem averse to. I'm not saying that the news media is without it's flaws, but again, these people follow procedure and have training. And if they did something to the equivalent of what Eurogamer had done on prime time news, they would have been fired. And by your reasoning, because there are areas of the news media that are corrupt, it is therefor alright that the gaming industry is also corrupt?

The gaming industry is essentially fueled by marketing dollars and run by fanboys. And you don't see a problem with that? You think it's alright to write a scathing piece on a game that you've barely even touched?

And have you even PLAYED an MMO before? And to quote you: "sit for 30 days in front of your screen in order to get to the 'good parts' ".

That's precisely the formula for an MMO, even power leveling it'll take you the better part of a month to get to end game content in WOW, any MMO for that matter. Most intelligent reviewers post previews of MMOs followed by a full review some while on after launch. So yes, Eurogamer broke protocol, and yes, they appear unethical (and I really don't care what you think of the word, it applies here). Deal with it.

[Bluemayhem]

ooh please mate "True Gamer" thats the last word that anybody on this webiste here should use. In any case matey dont think you have even the slightest idea of who you can call a true gamer or not.

What reviews do you actually read: let me guess IGN,Gamespot,HHG??

Chubear: care to ellaborate?

[TitanUp]

blue check this out

Darkfall developer writes-
When we read the hostile review by Ed Zitron, one thing became apparent: he had not played the game at all. Eurogamer readers and Darkfall players are posting bullet lists of factual errors in the story. The reviewer hadn't even figured out the very basics of the game before he wrote about it. We checked the logs for the 2 accounts we gave Eurogamer and we found that one of them had around 3 minutes playtime, and the other had less than 2 hours spread out in 13 sessions. Most of these 2 hours were spent in the character creator since during almost every one of the logins the reviewer spent the time creating a new character. The rest of the time was apparently spent taking the low-res screenshots that accompanied the article. At no point did this reviewer spend more than a few minutes online at a time.

http://www.n4g.com/News-323...
http://forums.darkfallonlin...

[peeps]

perhaps he played so little cus it was so bad (hence the 2/10 score)

I'm sure playing for a lot longer would bump up the score, but still, if a review only plays for a short period of time and gets bored to death of the game? perhaps it deserves such a low score?

Anyway the Reviewer should have spent more time on the game to give a better over all review, but i also feel the developer should stop crying because a 'critic' has given negative feedback. What happens if the game gets poor scores from a number of review sites, are they going to complain to each one saying that they are not 'proper' reviewers.

I'm not saying the reviewer shouldn't have made more of an effort with this particular review etc but really the developer should learn to take criticism when someone doesn't like their game

[Bluemayhem]

"Darkfall developer defending his unfinished bore fest" Shocker
(No offense)
Have already seen it mate.

[TitanUp]

When we read the hostile review by Ed Zitron, one thing became apparent: he had not played the game at all. Eurogamer readers and Darkfall players are posting bullet lists of factual errors in the story. The reviewer hadn't even figured out the very basics of the game before he wrote about it. We checked the logs for the 2 accounts we gave Eurogamer and we found that one of them had around 3 minutes playtime, and the other had less than 2 hours spread out in 13 sessions. Most of these 2 hours were spent in the character creator since during almost every one of the logins the reviewer spent the time creating a new character. The rest of the time was apparently spent taking the low-res screenshots that accompanied the article. At no point did this reviewer spend more than a few minutes online at a time.

logs at 2 hours i could see a bad review for a mmo at 9 hours like blue stated but for just 2 hours with an mmo thats just barely hitting the surface of what the game offers.

[peeps]

i haven't got time to read the review atm but a quick scan seems to be that there are a lot of problems with the game (making it hard to play) e.g. i noticed 1 screen shot they talk about how the ui sometimes doesn't load. another point they mention that when you die it can leave you sitting there before anything happens.

sounds like it was too buggy to even get into reviewing the game (which underneath could be good)

[Bluemayhem]

Known for giving harsh scores? For what PS3,X360,PC?
halo 3 10 wrong score
gta 4 10 wrong score

What else is there MGS 4 a 7 I do not know as
have not played it yet.

Do not see them doing anything out of the ordinary from all the other reputable sites, plain and simple. Only ones having a problem with their reviews are the ones pledging allegiance to a piece of plastic.

[kittoo]

That you play the game for 2 hours and give it a 2 when the game developers poured their blood and sweat over the years in making the game. True, it can be really bad, but at least the developers deserve fair chance in getting reviewed.
Game making is a really hard and taxing process, the least journalists could do is giving them fair chance.

[Jdoki]

Bad journalism. Eurogamer stinks if this is true.

I've been visiting their site for a long time, but their reviews have become more and more outlandish over the last year or so.

Looks to me like the contributor they used for this review has been busted, and they are now trying to dig themselves out of a hole.

If they believed in the review they wouldn't need to get someone to re-review it for them (conflict of interest anyone??), as other reviews from the thousands of gaming websites would be all the justification they would need.

It doesn't matter if the game is universally slated by reviewers, Eurogamer have shown they don't have much integrity when reviewing games.

[syphenlimit]

Eurogamer responds to criticism, even as shaky evidence is presented for the publisher's opinion, that their game has been ill-served, in the review process. The site offers several reasonable remedies, which Aventurine decline all, under paper-thin reasoning.
Aventurine continues sobbing croc tears in the corner, occasionally glimpsing over their shoulder for cue to stop, because no-one's looking anymore.
They're opportunists, looking for any attention for their underwhelming product, in the cheapest of ways.

[Jdoki]

Well, on one hand you have the devs saying 'we have logs showing the person played for 3 hours, come and check them out', and on the other we have a reviewer saying 'I played for 9 hours, honest'.

Neither seems to have a particularly solid case.

Does the game not have a /played command! :)

EDIT: On a side note, do you honestly think that 9 hours spent in an MMO is enough time to honestly review a game? Even if the controls are horrible, the way the reviewer skimmed over the nuances of the game did not strike me as a thoroughly researched piece of journalism.

[syphenlimit]

But, a reviewer doesn't review for themselves. They review for their readership, to prevent them from wasting their investments of time and money, and being disappointed.

If the game was found to be frustrating, poorly put together, difficult to get going in the first place, and generally not presenting a good experience, and that would remain apparent after time taken to see if aspects of it improve (if you could grow into the gameplay and some of its faults become more tolerable over time) - 9 hours I think being a fair time for determining whether the reviewer's at fault, or the game.

What was found on first impression, could not have been seen as anything other than unsatisfactory, and a lot of people reading that review, in reality won't get beyond that, THEY wouldn't even give it a single hour, let alone nine to give it a chance - they're not required to. He, as the reviewer ought to endeavor to present a fair assessment of his experiences, and that's where the 9 hours come from. Imo, that is the time set aside to give the game any chance to redeem itself.

[GameGambits]

A 2/10 would literally mean unplayable. 1/10 means the game actually is in the shape of fesces. :)

Seriously though a 2/10 to ANY game at this point is outlandish. A MMO project has a ton of time invested into it and while I'm sure the game isn't the WoW killer to say the least, I doubt it earned a 2/10. How's the soundtrack? Is there a story? Races? Character customization? Classes offered? Balance? PvP? RvR? Instances? Loot drop rate? Soloing vs. partying up? Fun?

I mean there's a LOT to take into consideration in a MMO vs. a normal game since they are actual universes/worlds you have to form for players to play in that will keep evolving.

2/10 shows to me an immature brat who got a cool job. Hey Eurogamer I'll take over his gig and start giving you back some rep by oh I don't know, DOING MY JOB BETTER THAN A CHIMP. Since after all I heard 9/10 of their staff got lower test scores in school than chimps. The 10th guy however was a chimp. :(

[xg-ei8ht]

And that's the terrible thing in gaming these days.

Who do you trust.

Wasn't anything i was concerned about years ago, you read the magazine, and bought the game.

These days, theres to much of the wrong kind of information getting out, knocking games for the most stupid things.

I do think maybe back in the day when i think about it, sega's dreamcast, why did it get knocked so bad. Graphics were sweet, games were very good, my friend had one. It was excellent.

Maybe the support network, i/e MEDIA. Just didn't want it, kinda like what they have tried with the playstation 3. But failed this time.

[syphenlimit]

But, there's also the question of how it compares to other MMOs to take into account. I haven't played DarkFall - but I suspect not at all favorably, in terms of design, accessibility, and ease of use.

You mention all those aspects, zlatko that you claim the review doesn't detail. But, it does.

quotes from the review: "From the grubby textures and grammatically incorrect quest text to the anarchic control system, any attempt to glean joy from this torrid husk of an entertainment product is met with disdain. It's almost as if Darkfall doesn't want you to play. But nevertheless, a job is a job, and play I must."

and another bit, on the points you raised:
"The world is bland in the extreme, with no definition in areas except those where you spawn as a newbie - and even they echo with a distinct lack of life. It doesn't even have the basic features that make up even the most lackluster and dull cookie-cutter MMOs, such as a simple experience system, or some form of tutorial.

Darkfall even lacks the basic lore that even the worst games have. There are wolf people, orks, humans, elves, and dark elves. There hasn't even been an attempt to construct a faux-story - you pick a character, and you're dropped in a drab town with a leaf-blade and 20 fewer Euros in your pocket."

[N4realGMRZ]

All this eurogamer hate cause of MGS4 review almost a year ago.....lol.....fanboys shame on you!

[Giorgos78]

why do magazines rate games afterall???

why reporters give theyr personal opinion for a game.
do this men know what reporter means?
reporter reports.
Saying the facts, what hapen , what he have seen with out personal opinion
this is a clear system for them to earn extra money from companys under the table

[poeo]

that's why it's called a job, you have to review even the games you hate thoroughly.

otherwise it's just a hobby.

i've defended Eurogamer before but not this time... if the accusations really are true. i dont care about Darkfall, but i do care about their right to get their game reviewed as fairly as any other game, even if it sucks.

[olLANDSHARKlo]

The picture included looks like a ps3 fanboy when they find out every month that the 360 sold more consoles.

[poeo]

wow.

[kaveti6616]

However, this is not an uncommon situation. Many game reviewing sites give PS3 games lower scores than they deserve. EG gave MGS4 a 7, so you can imagine there is bias. However, that being said, a lot of people usually pick one or two game reviewers to bash. Up until the review of Infamous, many PS3 fans were unhappy with IGN's reviews of Killzone 2 and Uncharted. Apparently a 9.4 for KZ2 just was not enough, and a 9.1 was also an insult for UC. I personally think that IGN and EG and EDGE balance each other out. IGN often gives much leniency to games whereas EDGE is very severe and critical. EDGE gave Killzone 2 a 7 because it said that despite the technical prowess, the games was too cliche'd and what not. I agreed somewhat with that review, until EDGE gave FEAR 2 an 8 and then I concluded that EDGE has it in for PS3 games.

Still, Darkfall is most likely a 5 at best, and what appears to have happened is Zitron was having a crappy day and really didn't like the game's more gaping issues so he decided to rip it a new one. Obviously, he has hurt his integrity and the integrity of EG, but that doesn't mean that I am going to stop reading reviews from them because I don't have the cash to blow on games that I have no idea about. Plus, EG did offer a re-review and the developers refused for no good reason. If the game was re-reviews it probably would have fairly deserved a 5 or something so I bet the developers did not want that to happen because then they would criticized for defending a game that clearly is still mediocre. They would rather the gamers think that Darkfall is one of the most awesome games ever and was wronged by the media, so then gamers will be duped into going out and purchasing a mediocre game.

And to the guy who said EG sucks cuz they gave Halo 3 a ten, I don't even know what to call you. Halo 3 is about as full-fledged as the orange box. It has Forge, Theater mode, 4-player online co-op, a superior Multiplayer component, and a decent campaign. So pretty much Halo 3 is an awesome package and even though the graphics were underwhelming it still was a great game and a great deal. Maybe it deserved a 9, MAYBE. But a 10 was appropriate for me because after I played it for possibly 900 hours I can safely say it's a good game.

[kaveti6616]

I defended Halo 3s score and a Sony Fanboy didn't like it. hey guy, whoever is the one who put the disagree, you are worthless.

[Anon1974]

The disagree (not mine, by the way) could have just been someone who played Halo. I thought Halo 3 was fun, but that game was not a 10 in my opinion. It was more Halo 2.5 for me. Nothing changed, multiplayer was the same - single player was fun but on the short side and the storey wasn't any better than 2. It was a solid 8, maybe a 9 but not a ten.

[kaveti6616]

Overhyped games are getting pretty good reviews nowadays. I don't want to sound like an MS fanboy but I think MGS4 was overrated by IGN. It's not a perfect game because even though it does everything perfectly it suffered from being repetitive in the Boss battles, and I think there was not enough gameplay. So, both Halo 3 and MGS4 were overrated in my opinion. And GTAIV, as well.

[Jonelo]

Is very simply , a conjunction of factors

- Small Norwegian/Greek game developer and publisher - What ? Where is this ? In East Europe ?

- a hardcore MMORPG

- there not is a big marketing or a big publisher with a big publicity in the webs

- A bit of ethnocentrism , prejudices - what ? a distant countries videogame without tradition in videogames ? XD , like many british journalism - . In Eurogamer is funny , because the name is "Eurogamer " , in theory for all european gamers - From Portugal to Vladivostock -

- a pathetic boy , like this Ed Zitron XD .

Examples

Eurogamer scores

- Mafia PC - 4

- Mafia PS2 - 5 - the best version ! LOL , patethic

- Call of Juarez PC - 6

- The Witcher - 7

My message not is a proclamation against the English journalism. The same goes for any country - the ethnocentrism , the prejudices agains some videogames , the influence of the big publishers or console manufacturers etc with the publicity in the webs etc . But in the case of Eurogamer.uk the impact is large, because is read around the world . Eurogamer has other editions , but the british edition is the most read in Europe, even from across the continent.

And another patethic side is the great Eurogamer fanboy base , with a lot of comment to favour of Eurogamer in all discusions and cases .

And another pathetic side is the great fanboy base of Eurogamer , with a lot of comment to favour of Eurogamer in all cases . God, this zitron only was playing the game 2 hours !