Incase you haven’t heard game review sites have lost their ability to pass themselves off as impartial reviewers of games. Thanks to Gamespots recent firing of Jeff Gerstmann which has been depicted here at Penny Arcade.
I’m not sure why Gamespot was so upset if EA only decided to cancel their Kane & Lynch advertising campaign. I mean if they’d looked at the game and realised it was a steaming pile of shit, wouldn’t they have then realised that the EA marketing department had been living in a negative feedback loop. Thus it was only a matter of time before it popped when exposed to the real world and they canned the whole advertising campaign without limiting themselves to Gamespot anyway?
Sadly I doubt thats the world we live in. EA probably knew their game was a steaming pile of shit. They launched their massive hype campaign in the hope they’d be able to see a massive number of title sold before the general public woke up and realised that it was a horrible game, didn’t even come close to the hype and should have been fished out of the bargain bin in a few months time if at all.
Anyway all this means is that if game review sites are bought and paid for then it adds further legitimacy to copyright infringement being consumer insurance against poor quality products. Or perhaps the need for a 30 day money back guarantee. Or I suppose a look at how advertising works with journalism because right now all I’m seeing is propaganda in it’s place. Thats not limited to game review sites either.