I have been hearing rumors about Jeff Gerstman being fired from Gamespot. That's not surprising. He gave a controversial score of 8.8 to Zelda: Twilight Princess while other publications gave it a 10, and a score of 9 to Bioshock, which seemed to be related to him being a bit unclear about the the best way to defeat enemies. Overall he was notorious for giving lower reviews to games then most. Still, in a sea of biased and payed off reviewers, he stood strong and refused to give way to the standard template.
It's no surprise. Gamespot let him go. But the circumstances of this seem... Fishy, to say the least. If you have looking at their site, they have ALLOT of Kane and Lynch: Dead Men advertising up. Jeff gave Kane and Lynch a 6.0 out of 10, which supposedly enraged publisher Eido's, causing them to cancel hundreds of thousands of dollars of adverting in the future. This cost poor Jeff his job. Harsh.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wii first impressions (part 1)
Well, as announced in this post's title, I now have a Wii! It's not exactly mine, my Dad payed for it (unlike my 360, which took about a year of saving) but I can still use it. I have had it for a few weeks now, and my impressions are mostly mixed.
The main flaw is the games. Third party's seem to be focused more on spamming the console with games then creating a solid title. I can't blame them though, as the Wii has a very large installed user base. And that use base is rapidly expanding. The nature of developing for the Wii is very different. The controls tend to be on the extremes. So moving might work, but anything else you might end up throwing a controller. And there seems to be a sort of balance in implementing motion controls. Have 3 or 4 that are used fairly regularly, and your game will be plagued by those controls rather then enhanced. Likewise, pure motion control schemes don't fair very well either, unless they are uniquely suited to that particular game. But motion controls can be a powerful tool of creating immersion when used correctly, as evidenced by Red Steel. It's controls take a bit of getting used to, but they do the job and greatly increase immersion. Unfortunately, everything else was either generic or just plain bad.
But motion controls are at their best in Nintendo's games. In Super Mario Galaxy, the Wii-mote is shaken to execute an attack. This is an ideal setup, as they are not used for much else and constantly tie you into the game. On a side note, Super Mario Galaxy rocks, and go get it. A review will be up sometime soon.
And they are also on display at their finest in Zelda. Also used for attacking, they are effective but not as good as in Galaxy, as they carry out different attacks with similar motions.
I'm running out of things to type now, so I'll make this a two part. Or more. Anyway I will try update tomorrow.
The main flaw is the games. Third party's seem to be focused more on spamming the console with games then creating a solid title. I can't blame them though, as the Wii has a very large installed user base. And that use base is rapidly expanding. The nature of developing for the Wii is very different. The controls tend to be on the extremes. So moving might work, but anything else you might end up throwing a controller. And there seems to be a sort of balance in implementing motion controls. Have 3 or 4 that are used fairly regularly, and your game will be plagued by those controls rather then enhanced. Likewise, pure motion control schemes don't fair very well either, unless they are uniquely suited to that particular game. But motion controls can be a powerful tool of creating immersion when used correctly, as evidenced by Red Steel. It's controls take a bit of getting used to, but they do the job and greatly increase immersion. Unfortunately, everything else was either generic or just plain bad.
But motion controls are at their best in Nintendo's games. In Super Mario Galaxy, the Wii-mote is shaken to execute an attack. This is an ideal setup, as they are not used for much else and constantly tie you into the game. On a side note, Super Mario Galaxy rocks, and go get it. A review will be up sometime soon.
And they are also on display at their finest in Zelda. Also used for attacking, they are effective but not as good as in Galaxy, as they carry out different attacks with similar motions.
I'm running out of things to type now, so I'll make this a two part. Or more. Anyway I will try update tomorrow.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Game Informer = Biased
Your probably wondering why I am now saying that game informer is biased. Well, it's for a number of reasons. And they are not biased in general. They almost always pick the person that likes the game the most anyways to do the review. This, more often then not, resutls in a higher score due sheerly to personal preference. And, there is one more, rather large, factor: Gamestop. Game Informer is sold exclusively through Gamestop and Eb games. And even then only subscription only. So they raise the scores to sell games. Also, ever notice how the previews never match up with the reviews? They tend to minimize the flaws while beating you over the head with positives, even they are not in playable form.
Now, Game Informer is still one of the best magazines for gaming. It packs alot of content, and their reviews for big games are not too far off. But if you plan on buying a game that get's something as bad as a 6.75 from GI, make sure to check a few other sites. Anyway, I just checked their site for Blacksite: Area 51 and they gave it a 7.5, ignoring the fact that other places gave it 6. Now, I'm not trying to get everyone to boycott Game Informer. Just don't trust their review scores without a little extra homework.
Oh, and on a side note, Official X-box magazine is the most biased peice of junk ever. Only buy if you really want some bad jokes and a demo disc. Same thing with official Playstation magazine, but without the disc.
Now, Game Informer is still one of the best magazines for gaming. It packs alot of content, and their reviews for big games are not too far off. But if you plan on buying a game that get's something as bad as a 6.75 from GI, make sure to check a few other sites. Anyway, I just checked their site for Blacksite: Area 51 and they gave it a 7.5, ignoring the fact that other places gave it 6. Now, I'm not trying to get everyone to boycott Game Informer. Just don't trust their review scores without a little extra homework.
Oh, and on a side note, Official X-box magazine is the most biased peice of junk ever. Only buy if you really want some bad jokes and a demo disc. Same thing with official Playstation magazine, but without the disc.
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