810°

Bioware Employee Caught Reviewing Dragon Age II

Bioware, EA, and Dragon Age II have met with a lot of scandal over the past week, from accusations of SecuROM, to forum banning, and now to a Bioware employee supposedly inflating the user scores for the game on metacritic.

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vividgamer.com
TheLiztress4794d ago

Oh, wow... The only way they can get a great review is to have a staff member review it? Do we know if he did it on his own or was paid by EA/Bioware to do it?

josh143994794d ago

Sadly the game is actually great and people are judging the whole game on the demo which even i didn't like much.

TheLiztress4794d ago

I still haven't tried the demo. Regardless of how bad it might be or the deal with SecuROM, I do plan on getting the game at some point. But it's not going to be a PC purchase. I'm going to get it for the same system I got Dragon Age: Origins on.

TheDeadMetalhead4794d ago

"Sadly the game is actually great and people are judging the whole game on the demo which even i didn't like much."

Sup Bioware.

dc14794d ago (Edited 4794d ago )

I finished the game - Played every side quest.. Right around 68hrs. (I took my time and looked around.. trying to pull every little piece of positive aspect out of it.. I wanted to like it.)

Sadly, The game is a half backed RPG and deserved a 7.5 out of 10 at best standing on its own.
Most folks (including myself) view it in light of Dragon age Origin with pushes the 7.5 down to 6.5. (Most folks who follow the DA world and hung on Bioware’s every word associated with this project was asked to do just that!)
Let me be clear. I love Bioware
- I was compelled to platinum Dragon Age Origin
- I was compelled to platinum Mass Effect 2 (played it through 3 times)

Unfortunately, DA 2 comes across as a washed down rush job that looks like it took every bit of a year and a few months to put together…..

im-12-years-old4794d ago (Edited 4794d ago )

Many people are judging it on the actual finished product. Imo, it's a mediocre RPG at best, not a 9/10.

End of line

LunaticBrandon4794d ago

Whats a demo for? If Bioware/EA made a bad demo for a good game they deserve all the lost sales they get.

MaxXAttaxX4794d ago

Too many false positives/negatives.

LeGenDx4794d ago

da2 is freaking awful an this is coming from a person WHO LOVED DA1, such a downgrade man.

pixelsword4793d ago

"Conspiracy Theory" is thrown around a lot, but few people realize that a theory is basically an assumption based upon facts.

Senden4793d ago

Well isn't that the idea of the demo, to give people a playable advertisement? It seems to be a common thing with EA demos lately letting people down then fans coming out saying the full game is much better. That's on EA to make the demo accurately represent the demo in a way which makes the game appealing to potential buyers.

EVILDEAD3604793d ago

Like 'USER' reviews mean a thing on Metacritic. 90% of the people who review the extreme high or love reviews never even played the game. Some of the fan kids don't even own the system let alone the title they reviewed. So if a reviewer felt that way about his own game then so be it. It's his opinion on a website with anonymous users.

Still can't wait to get around to playing DA2

Evil

hay4793d ago

This isn't really something new. When you have soft dev companies making apps, features or whatever, among first reviews there will ususally be fake ones written by the workers. It's common practice.

Anon19744793d ago (Edited 4793d ago )

We're talking about an employee who offered his opinion of the game in the USER reviews. You know the user reviews, the section spammed by malcontents, 80% of which haven't even played the game?

A place where useful, thoughtful reflection on the game itself is replaced by "0 out of 10! The worst 60 dollar pile of junk I've ever purchased. Cannot believe how bad the role playing is, and how meaningless the dialogue. Voice overs are pathetic, with no inspiration what so ever. This is a sequel? Hack and slash only, what a waste!" Wow. Thanks for that insightful review.

This is much ado about nothing. If some Bioware employee opened up a website posing as a gaming mag and then put up a review, that's something. An employee offering his opinion in the user section - this is much ado about nothing. One employee review isn't going to suddenly boost the overall score from the 4.2 or wherever the hell it is right now.

undercovrr4793d ago

I completely agree, I'm loving the game.

+ Show (10) more repliesLast reply 4793d ago
Beefstew4u4794d ago

Nothing wrong with being proud of a product you worked on.

Neckbear4794d ago

It's an actually prohibited practice in America, for one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

TheLiztress4794d ago

I agree. But writing a review for the very game you worked on is going to be a biased move. Of course, you're going to give it a great score and review.

HolyOrangeCows4794d ago (Edited 4793d ago )

LOL, oh Bioware. As if making a shorter game, filled with cutscenes and scarred with a more tedious combat system weren't enough.

You had to take it to the next level; censor criticism, add SecuROM, and now....

....break business ethic laws!
Achievement Unlocked: Reach New Low. -100000 points.

@Panda
"Well, Bioware is a Canadian company. Different set of rules?"
It's an American owned company; they probably have to answer to American ethic codes or else EA could be charged.
....wait a minute...who care? They're trying to spread BS by pretending to be a customer. Who cares if it's legal or not? They're being dishonest.

banjadude4794d ago

@ Neckbear

I did not know about that. Thanks for the link/info.

Pandamobile4794d ago

@Neckbear

Well, Bioware is a Canadian company. Different set of rules?

radphil4793d ago

@Pandamobile

The point coming across is that it's shady.

Beefstew4u4793d ago

@Everybody
Not much worse than the average N4G fanboy rating console exclusives as either flawless 10 games, or horrible 0.1 pieces of crap.

Biggest4793d ago

That depends. Is the N4G fanboy an employee of a development company?

Beefstew4u4793d ago

@Biggest
Probably not, but it still doesn't change the fact that user reviews on metacritic are almost always biased and useless. If you want a credible review of a game, go to a professional gaming website.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 4793d ago
xAlmostPro4793d ago

Makes me where else employees might have reviewed their own game COD maybe lol

BDSE4793d ago

Sadly most companies employ people to go on those sites and on forums to post positive comments about their products. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo all do it.

Vherostar4793d ago

Don't need to do this though the only reason its getting bad scores is the PC version isn't as good as the second game was made with all 3 systems in mind rather than consoles being an after thought. So PC gamers are hitting out at DA2 and it's a shame as it's just as good as the first and the fact its a little different I like as it doesn't feel like an expansion like every shooter released each year.

mobijoker4793d ago

Just checked the metacritic user reviews.It seems that the users who are giving it 10/10 have got only one review and that is of DA2.Check out on metacritic.Out of 10 positive reviews,DA2 is the 1st review for 9 reviewers.Too much to be a coincidence.

Perjoss4793d ago

That's interesting info, but i dont think anyone pays attention to the user reviews, do they? in the past its been proven that fans of certain consoles will intentionally down rate a game just because its an exclusive on the 'opposing' console. I think this has happened with both ps3 and 360 games. Similar to perfectly good games getting rated down on amazon due to DRM.

killershadow1174793d ago

You should probably get it on PC since the console scores are actually bringing the game down, they are alot better than the first dragon age on the console but the PC is still far superior to it.

RatherHavaBigGirl4793d ago

this is nothing new. if companies have the same access to forums as the consumers what makes you think they wont use it to give their products good reviews? peep game folks

SonyPS3604793d ago

It was an engineer, not a developer or a publisher.

Overblown news as usual.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 4793d ago
josh143994794d ago

I don't see anything wrong with this he is probably upset that people are saying bad things about a game he was involved in making and wanted to try to get people to give it a chance. The game isn't that bad everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon of hate even though they have only played the demo.

TheLiztress4794d ago

I can understand if he felt that way. But I think what hurts this theory is all the news going on around about the game. Good intentions or not, this was a bad way to try to make people want to give the game a try. He could just as easily posted comments on some of the more popular reviews out there.

My thoughts anyway.

rrquinta4794d ago

I have been playing the game and haven't been terribly impressed so far, but haven't played enough to form a full opinion. Still, he should have disclosed who he was.

GuruStarr784794d ago (Edited 4794d ago )

yeah, it's a USER REVIEW. anyone can put those up..... it wasnt the first and surely won't be the last done by someone with direct interest in a game's success....

this dumbass just got caught....almost seems like he tried to get caught though, like he's not really affiliated with EA Bioware and someone's trying to sabotage them.....

Who cares though? Dragon Age 2 will still go multiplatinum, even if it was worse than it actually is, which in my opinion, so far it's pretty good, not the greatest of Bioware's work, but better than most games out there.

people do this stuff all the time....hell, there's people on N4G that make separate accounts so they can agree with themselves, bubble themselves up, and approve their own stories.....these types of systems are very easily manipulated......think about it....if someone wanted their story to hit 1000 degrees, they could have themselves and a few friends create multiple accounts, and hit the hell out of a story....voila! your story is at the top of N4G!!!

ThePsychoGamer4794d ago

Might not be to try and sabotage Biowarre, EA said in an article earlier to day that contriversy is helpful to games,

and a lot of the time it works. Example, Yakuza 3, despite how good it was, probably wouldn't have sold half as many copies if not for the cut content fiasco.

pixelsword4793d ago

We did give it a chance when we played the demo.

Devs need to make better demos.

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theherp804794d ago

i bet a lot of companies do this at sites like amazon i know they do it for books that are sold there so wouldnt shock me if companies did it with games as well.

jack_burt0n4794d ago

50% of n4g posts are made by marketing companies/employees etc.

AntiHeroComplex4793d ago

did you know that 72.35% of all statistics are made up on the spot ?

jack_burt0n4793d ago (Edited 4793d ago )

"69% of replies to my comments aren't funny or accurate."

-Jack Burt0n, N4G Official Quote.

rrquinta4794d ago

Yeah, I have known people who have worked for ad or PR companies that part of their job is to write user reviews. I know one company recently got in big trouble for having their employees write reviews for their products in the Ap store, and then they got found out. Of course the company claimed that the employees had written the reviews on their own time and out of their own volition, but it still caused quite a stir.

CaptainGreece4794d ago

Bioware is really looking crazy lol.

gcolley4794d ago

who really cares. just the internet making a mountain out of a molehill again

CaptainGreece4794d ago

You have to admit it is a little sad. If the user score is low deal with it.

PandaJenkins4793d ago

I would be pretty annoyed when a lot of people are acting like babies over some changes.

saumer4793d ago

@Panda - What is funny is that DA2 is basically mass effect 2 with a high fantasy setting. ME2 is hailed as a masterpiece and DA2 is being called crap.

I completely understand the changes bioware made based on how ME2 was received. I dont understand the user reaction at all.

tommyth3cat4793d ago

@saumer
It stems from the fact that most PC gamer elitists are childish babies, and ME was already light on the RPG so it was less of a surprise when ME2 came out. As much as people complain about sequels, that is all most people want, exact carbon copies of the game they fell in love with.

I'm 12 hours in on DA2 and yeah it's not Origins but its still fun and honestly Nightmare is twice as hard on DA2 as it was on Origins which I think scares a lot of PC gamers as well because they actually have to use tactics and not just have a perfectly min/maxed party.

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70°

EA Made Dragon Age and Mass Effect DLC Free On PC By Retiring The BioWare Points System

Immersed Gamer writes: "In order to replace the oppressive BioWare Points system, EA is making a large portion of the Mass Effect and Dragon Age DLC catalogs free for PC users.

For those of you blissfully unaware, EA and BioWare employed a payment system called BioWare Points on PC to pay for DLCs for titles like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. While PC gamers have been struggling with BioWare point’s unfair conversion rates and extremely scarce and cost-detrimental sales.

Console players have been allowed to purchase content in pieces through the appropriate Sony and Microsoft shops. For real money, and not BioWare monopoly bucks. In turn, console players missed out on some DLC content, such as Mass Effect 2 pre-order bonuses that have been repackaged into a DLC pack."

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immersedgamer.com
TinkerNation652d ago

Great response to Ubisoft and their disgusting behavior. Ubisoft decide to take away DLC from people who paid for it, while EA give it for free to everyone when they realize their system sucks. Who would have thought that EA of all companies would be showing Ubisoft how it should be done (even if this is EA fixing their own mistakes as well).

Mobis-New-Nest652d ago

What goes around comes around and I promise you, Ubisoft will see their actions blow back on them when their diminishing sales numbers and stock taking a hit downward. That's the only way a company learns when they decide to be reactive instead of proactive.

160°

All BioWare Games Ranked from Worst to Best

BLG writes: "There was a time that BioWare games were the biggest deal in gaming. The Canadian developer’s legacy of all-time classics is well known. Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic, and Baldur’s Gate are some of the biggest names in gaming.

While BioWare’s quality has fallen off lately, there’s no denying the quality of titles in their portfolio. That’s why we’re going to dive in and rank every BioWare game from worst to best. By every, I do mean every BioWare game, even the ones you completely forgot about!"

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bosslevelgamer.com
Orbilator811d ago

Ranked from worse to even more worse more like, they been on free fall for a fair few years now and I personally don't think any of there earlier games have aged well

autobotdan811d ago

Wow to think at one point in their history they made a Sonic the Hedgehog game..crazy

chicken_in_the_corn811d ago

Anthem is crazy underrated. I really enjoyed it. ME1 is Bioware's best imo

810d ago Replies(1)
Michiel1989810d ago

I actually put quite a bit of hours into Anthem but i dont think its underrated. It was a huge mess, server issues, gameplay issues, crashes, no endgame loop, too few different enemies, uninteresting gear. too few dungeons.

It for sure had potential and if they could have managed to keep the same gameplay of the classes but without the rest of the issues, this game could have been huge, but in the state in which it launched it was such a letdown. They partly fixed some of the issues, but it took too long. A grinding game like this needs to hook players from day 1.

170°

'Dragon Age' and Why It Sucks to Play Cult Favorite Games

Delving into a well-loved game or series years after its release, when it already has an enthusiastic and devoted fanbase, can be incredibly difficult. People can be casually mean on the internet without intending to, and that happens a lot when you say you don’t like something they do. Fans of the franchise take their love of the game very seriously. They’re fervent and devoted, which has its charms, but it can also feel like you’re disappointing them when you decide their thing is not your thing.

Snakeeater25934d ago

All dragon age games are terribly boring

Kerppamaister934d ago

Why'd you play DA2 if you thought 1 was boring?

Snakeeater25934d ago

Because of the reviews, I thought they could do better specially gameplay wise and the third one was even worst

spss11934d ago

I've never been able to complete a Dragon Age game. They always felt too rigid in design. I eventually think "why am I playing this over Witcher 3?" or pretty much any other rpg.

arkard934d ago

The same reason you read a different book, or watch different movies. Different world, characters, lore and story.

jeromeface934d ago

Idk, because maybe you completed the witcher 3? Not all of us like repeating a game over and over just because its the best in genre.

spss11934d ago (Edited 934d ago )

@arkard
Never found the story or lore of DA interesting. Inquisition was just generic evil dude with demon army wants to conquer world and you're the chosen one.

@jeromeface
I've played through Witcher 3 once, at the same time I was playing DA Inquisition. Hence the example. I never finished Inquisition and went on to complete Witcher 3.

Yui_Suzumiya934d ago (Edited 934d ago )

Well the first bored me but I loved 2 and 3. I could never get into The Witcher or Elder Scrolls but I enjoyed those as far as medieval themed RPG's go.

SegaSaturn669934d ago

I played inquisition and thought the story was pretty well done. Voice acting as well.

Lost interest when i found an ultimate weapon that could only be wieldable postgame. Like wtf would they let me even obtain it for?

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 934d ago
phoenixwing934d ago

Is it really a cult following if it's in the millions?

IanTH934d ago (Edited 934d ago )

lol Definitely a fair point. When a game is made and published by one of the largest video game companies on Earth, has at least 12 million sales between DA:O/DA2/DA:I, DA:I noted as being BioWare's most successful launch, and made EA enough money to greenlight a 3rd game? I'm thinking it's tough to argue that's niche :-p

If you take cult following on the face of it - a group of people who are highly dedicated & passionate about something - the author wouldn't be wrong. But they have to know that term is most widely associated with the group being small/the object being obscure, so it can't really apply here.

melons934d ago

Yeah, in what universe is a series with three games, a fourth on the way that's sold millions and is published by EA a "cult favorite"? Next you'll be telling me The Witcher 3 is a plucky and underrated indie.

IanTH933d ago

I've heard about this hidden gem called GTA V...

jznrpg934d ago (Edited 934d ago )

Cult favorite? It’s well known and sold fairly well and they are making a fourth game . I don’t see it anywhere near cult favorite status . I really enjoyed the first game and the third was pretty good (with failed mmo faults you could notice) but the second game was lazily made garbage .

Yui_Suzumiya934d ago

Second was the best game which is the biggest hot take I've ever had, lol

ElvisHuxley934d ago (Edited 934d ago )

Loved the first one, second was pretty good. Couldn't even get through the third one. Don't have high hopes for 4, but hey, nowhere to go but up hopefully.

moomoo319934d ago (Edited 934d ago )

DA: Origins was cool, but I got Mass Effect 2 at the same time and goddayum there was no comparison imo.

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