Also copied from the comments section on GamerNode:
Reintype,
I'm glad you're passionate about something you care about, but there is one simple difference here. While the QUALITY of games and how they compare to one another from a critical perspective is an entirely opinion-based issue, there is no subjective component to an argument that videogames are indeed governed by a ratings board, that there ARE warnings in Modern Warfare 2 preceding the questionable scene, and that Mass Effect contains no frontal nudity. The opponents of the games industry are providing MISINFORMATION, while any bias from individual reviewers and personalities against a particular platform is only an expression of their preference.
Moving on, extreme defenses of a platform are equally as detrimental to one's credibility as extreme attacks. Your post at GT did not show up, but I'm deducing that you were somehow upset at the astronomically high score that publication gave to Uncharted 2, because you thought it deserved an even higher one. Maybe Uncharted 2 is your favorite game, but it's not necessarily the best. I was personally a huge fan of Assassin's Creed, or delving further into the realm of the 'console wars,' Too Human. Many people, in my opinion, missed the greatness of these games in their critiques, but their opinions combined with my own presented a well-rounded look at what may or may not be interesting to the gaming community as a whole. If gamers often agree with me, they can continue to read my reviews, confident that I will not steer them wrong, and if they find, for argument's sake, Shane from GT to best sum up their own opinions, then they can rely more on what he says. this is all a matter of opinion, and the divide is not between platform, but between games.
You also have to realize that the same person isn't reviewing every game. Even here at GN, where we value honesty and integrity and adhere to these tenets in the face of whatever consequences they may bring (yes, publishers have gotten mad at us), sometimes scores can seem slightly incongruous, and that is because we have different personalities reviewing different games. As the website director, I don't choose the score for every game, and nor has Brendon done so, but I will, on occasion, recommend a modification based on the words written within a review and ask the individual reviewer to reconsider. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't, but it is a matter of remaining consistent with THEIR words and our ratings guide, and not with MY feelings or the scores that might have been given for that game by OTHER reviewers (unless of course it's a team review).
I agree with you about PSN. I find its savings to easily justify the few features it doesn't have, and I feel it offers others that make it superior to $50 XBL Gold service. Unfortunately, Sony hurt themselves by failing to gain the higher install base early in this console generation, so more people play on XBL. When all of one's friends are playing together on one platform, where's that last person going to go? Sony had it rough this generation because they made one mistake after another after another. I personally feel they are just now coming into their own, 2 years later. This is my OPINION. Note that I didn't say that the PS3 breaks TVs when you attach it, or that the 360 requires gasoline to operate correctly -- that would be MISINFORMATION.
It's futile to fight to the death over opinions that have no conclusive evidence for correctness on either side. There is no way to scientifically test that one is better than the other because they are different hardware with different features and different user bases, they play different games, and they run those games via differing processing methods. If the two played all the same games equally as well as one another, offered the same online services, and had all the same features, design, and controllers, but then one company released 20 exclusive games for one of the consoles, then there would be a valid argument for that particular console's superiority... but it doesn't work that way. There are too many variables.
Finally, the PS3 is not your mother, it's a tool for you to enjoy games. If you've chosen to align yourself with one console for whatever reason (financial limitations, lingering sense of loyalty, controller preference, hatred of slot- or tray-loading drives, disc format, etc.), that's your choice. Enjoy what you have on your console; maybe one day you'll add the other one to your personal gaming world and be able to enjoy everything that IT offers, too.
As for the bias and double standards within the gaming industry, there's no article HERE because we look at things with discerning eyes and lack of any bias. What we see is a childish argument between some members of the gaming community, but little to warrant a response. Some fans forget why they play games, and are hypersensitive to criticism of things they like. Yes, I'm suggesting that you are being too sensitive about this. Relax and have fun. The PS3 isn't going anywhere (that's my OPINION again).
But if you LIE about what's in videogames to sway the opinions of a massive group of Americans AGAINST the videogame industry, we will respond, and we will respond with vigor.
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