nazo
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Post by nazo on Mar 11, 2022 8:10:21 GMT
I don't think it works like that anymore. EG burned bridges by calling shit games / companies shit and don't get as many review copied. Pubs have also realised that giving advance copies to GamesWhore99 along with some free pens and other stuff gets them more positive coverage and because people are stupid they trust these lone voices more than 'mainstream media'.
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Post by elstoof on Mar 11, 2022 8:37:21 GMT
Surely they can afford 50 quid on a copy of a game they want to play anyway
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Post by dfunked on Mar 11, 2022 9:15:20 GMT
Yeah, think I'd rather just play a game in my own time rather than being paid minimum wage to play through a 40 hour game a couple of days to meet a review deadline.
Totally understand why they're cutting down on review content, but on the flip side I find myself visiting much less now as I'll usually have seen the latest news on Reddit etc.
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JonFE
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Uncomfortably numb...
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Post by JonFE on Mar 11, 2022 9:20:53 GMT
MolarAm🔵 I used to read EG reviews back in the day, mostly to confirm my pretty much made-up mind over some game releases. TBH, I don't recall a review changing my mind over a game, though, unless it was a brand new IP that I had no preconception about...
Edit: On the other hand, being in my early 50's, it's hard to change my ways. I used to read several magazines a month since my early teens, so reading reviews is kind of a habit I cannot kick (still subscribed to Edge); cannot stand video reviews and all that hipster trends 
...and I agree with Lukus, there's no actual need to finish a game to completion in order to write a review on it... You can get a pretty good feel of a game, its systems and whatnot in about 8-10 hours and then describe that accurately in a hands-on review with a disclaimer, especially when you've made the decision to ditch review scores... |
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Post by Phattso on Mar 11, 2022 10:19:33 GMT
It's telling that Digital Foundry can get more hour-long videos - with accompanying articles - out there on the latest games than EG even do reviews for. If it's too expensive and time consuming for EG, then change up the format. If you've basically binned reviewing as a primary activity then just start doing First Impressions on all the games instead. The ones that warrant it can then get a bit more love. Basically what they did with fucking Destiny for the better part of two years.
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Post by elstoof on Mar 11, 2022 10:27:10 GMT
Yeah, think I'd rather just play a game in my own time rather than being paid minimum wage to play through a 40 hour game a couple of days to meet a review deadline. Totally understand why they're cutting down on review content, but on the flip side I find myself visiting much less now as I'll usually have seen the latest news on Reddit etc. Forget the review deadline, just write a review the game you played at your own pace? And publish it? Not everyone buys the game on day one, if the review is a week later than launch who cares |
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Mar 11, 2022 10:32:24 GMT
Completely invented statistics but I suspect that reviews published after release date get diminishing views to the point of just not being worth the electricity it costs to host it.
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Post by Aunt Alison on Mar 11, 2022 10:49:24 GMT
Yeah, think I'd rather just play a game in my own time rather than being paid minimum wage to play through a 40 hour game a couple of days to meet a review deadline. Totally understand why they're cutting down on review content, but on the flip side I find myself visiting much less now as I'll usually have seen the latest news on Reddit etc. Forget the review deadline, just write a review the game you played at your own pace? And publish it? Not everyone buys the game on day one, if the review is a week later than launch who cares I don't think most people care about games after the hype/release window, which is when YouTubers are pushing it and then they'll move on to the next thing
Why bother writing a review after you've casually played the game at your own pace for a game most people have by that point already bought based on YT or reviews from a dozen other sites? What's the USP for that? |
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Post by elstoof on Mar 11, 2022 11:09:28 GMT
I guess I’m just not the typical games consumer, I’m interested in what a journalist has to say about something. There’s a few games I’ll be day one for, and I don’t really care what the reviews say because my mind has been made. There’s games that've been out for a while that gradually build up hype, things like Sifu which gets good feedback here. That’s pretty much enough to make be decide, but I’d still like to read an actual review of it too. I just quite like reading well written reviews of things I won’t even buy, I read motorbike and cycling reviews just to live a little vicariously but I suppose games journalism doesn’t work the same way
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Post by elstoof on Mar 11, 2022 11:17:40 GMT
It’s not as if they’re doing anything better with their time anyway, judging by the shit they’re publishing
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Post by Aunt Alison on Mar 11, 2022 11:17:41 GMT
I think it's in part because most of us grew up when gaming was still pretty niche and a passion interest but it's just a mainstream flavour of the week medium now for the most part and I doubt many of us have a clear grasp of what 'gaming' actually is now. All that stuff we hate and complain about sells by the bucket load. We're outsiders
I think wanting to read already puts you in a minority
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Post by Aunt Alison on Mar 11, 2022 11:19:28 GMT
It’s not as if they’re doing anything better with their time anyway, judging by the shit they’re publishing I do wonder what they do all day, you know. They must be doing something and those articles can't take that long to 'research'/'write' |
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Post by Jambowayoh on Mar 11, 2022 11:46:59 GMT
I think it's in part because most of us grew up when gaming was still pretty niche and a passion interest but it's just a mainstream flavour of the week medium now for the most part and I doubt many of us have a clear grasp of what 'gaming' actually is now. All that stuff we hate and complain about sells by the bucket load. We're outsiders
I think wanting to read already puts you in a minority
It seems gaming is more about the culture that surrounds it rather than the actual playing of the games so to speak. It is what it is but it's definitely more skewed to a younger audience and their interactions with it and by younger I mean late teens to early twenties. I think some it is interesting but some of it is deeply fixated with outrage culture as well really overtly sexual that in another light can come off extremely problematic and creepy but seems to be given a free pass as talking about your kinks in regards to gaming us empowering or some shit. Here I'm directly referring to an article posted by EG about the tall vampire lady in Resi 8 which was fucking weird. |
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Post by Aunt Alison on Mar 11, 2022 11:52:11 GMT
I think it's in part because most of us grew up when gaming was still pretty niche and a passion interest but it's just a mainstream flavour of the week medium now for the most part and I doubt many of us have a clear grasp of what 'gaming' actually is now. All that stuff we hate and complain about sells by the bucket load. We're outsiders
I think wanting to read already puts you in a minority
It seems gaming is more about the culture that surrounds it rather than the actual playing of the games so to speak. It is what it is but it's definitely more skewed to a younger audience and their interactions with it and by younger I mean late teens to early twenties. I think some it is interesting but some of it is deeply fixated with outrage culture as well really overtly sexual that in another light can come off extremely problematic and creepy but seems to be given a free pass as talking about your kinks in regards to gaming us empowering or some shit. Here I'm directly referring to an article posted by EG about the tall vampire lady in Resi 8 which was fucking weird. Money is also a big factor - it's all about that, even games are made to generate more money in them. That's just what happens when something hits mainstream. Obviously money has always been a factor but I think the passion was also there for the people making them and it was a shared thing. Like id making Quake to be easily modded and promoting community stuff. Carmack put up a Ferrari as a competition prize. Publishers rule everyone now, especially the games media. It was all just less cynical back then
/wipes away tear
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Post by snackplissken on Mar 11, 2022 11:53:07 GMT
This is why I subscribe to Retro Gamer. Made by actual gamers.. you know the ones who wrote articles back in the day that we all enjoyed in magazines/websites.
The current culture of streamers and sounding off their shitty opinions.. I got no time for it.
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Post by Aunt Alison on Mar 11, 2022 12:01:47 GMT
They did actually put up a timely review for Triangle Strategy, which I imagine isn't going to be a huge pusher of content/views. It's good though, you should play it. The game, not the review. I didn't read it
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Post by dfunked on Mar 11, 2022 12:10:18 GMT
Oh, a Malindy review. I wonder if she'll get her soapbox out for th...
"Triangle Strategy even talks about slavery in a measured way without resorting to modern racial allegories, which elsewhere often come out stilted when translated back to fantasy worlds."
Good old Malindy.
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Post by spacein_vader on Mar 11, 2022 12:53:33 GMT
Eurogamer is now large and too mainstream. Despite being Reedpopped too RPS seems to have been left alone a bit more. I think that day 1 reviews are less of an issue in the niche of indie PC games and reviews general are more welcome as there is less competition.
I don't know if niche websites for given consoles really exist, but they certainly exist for different genres. Check out some of the RPG/strategy/simulation focused websites if that kind of thing is your jam.
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Post by Sarfrin on Mar 11, 2022 15:19:41 GMT
RPS has more Reedpop style content now but it does still have reviews of niche indie games alongside that. They don't have a regular reviewer whose tastes intersect with mine much now though.
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Post by 😎 on Mar 11, 2022 16:26:04 GMT
I’m fairly certain that the higher level corps have contractual obligations regarding how reviews are done as well, IE minimum hours spent, and so on and so forth. Places like Kotaku get around it with “review in progress” kind of blog posts but that would be out of place on EG.
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Post by spacein_vader on Mar 11, 2022 17:35:01 GMT
RPS has more Reedpop style content now but it does still have reviews of niche indie games alongside that. They don't have a regular reviewer whose tastes intersect with mine much now though. [br Fair enough. I love Sin Vega and her latest review is an in progress one which is fairly new to RPS but I'm OK with that. |
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Post by Sarfrin on Mar 11, 2022 18:54:32 GMT
Sin's a great writer but she mostly reviews strategy, which isn't my thing. A lot of her stuff is supporter only now too, or at least has been recently.
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Post by gammonbanter on Mar 13, 2022 9:56:11 GMT
I mostly listen to film reviews on the radio or on podcasts these days and they only have to be what, 5 or 10 minutes long.
I like the discussion that revolves around games/films/books in the proceeding years after it comes out.
I suppose all you need to know day one these days is just how broken is the game?
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Gl3n
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Post by Gl3n on Mar 13, 2022 10:49:49 GMT
Did any other fellow mods get given premium after the switcheroo? Cos I sure didn't.
Sadly EG looks like garbage on Firefox mobile, so it's hard to 'enjoy' visits anymore.
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Post by Jambowayoh on Mar 13, 2022 11:11:54 GMT
Did any other fellow mods get given premium after the switcheroo? Cos I sure didn't. Sadly EG looks like garbage on Firefox mobile, so it's hard to 'enjoy' visits anymore. Is that even a thing? |
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Post by Reviewer on Mar 13, 2022 11:14:26 GMT
Just play a few hours and take a punt! You can get a good sense of most games after a day or two with them. Whack a disclaimer on there to say how many hours you've spent with it, stop trying to be all wanky with the prose, get it out. Bish bash bosh. They should do this, 90% of people probably don’t get past 10 hours into most games anyway. |
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Post by Chopsen on Mar 13, 2022 11:16:11 GMT
Also, any game that only gets good after 10 hrs of play can fuck right off anyway.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Mar 13, 2022 11:17:03 GMT
You can see it on achievements/trophies. A lot of people don’t even make it past the tutorial.
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Post by Phattso on Mar 13, 2022 14:33:48 GMT
Did any other fellow mods get given premium after the switcheroo? Cos I sure didn't. No, that never materialised for me either. Probably because of all the anti-EG shitposting that went on over here in the early days.  |
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JYM60
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Post by JYM60 on Mar 14, 2022 12:26:09 GMT
Not sure why EG don't just do a short review based on 1 hour of gameplay, and give a score which usually goes against the metacritic. The comment section would go wild.
I forgot that they actually used to do like 4 or 5 page reviews. Half of it was a pile of dog pish though.
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