Before You Read Those Glowing Previews & Reviews…
There’s probably a good reason IGN was so hyped about what’s expected to be a very positive Sonic Generations preview released later today, and why we should expect at least a couple other ones that similarly glow.
A report in the latest UK based MCV magazine, relayed to the Internet by Sonic Wrecks, says Sega will be spending a fair amount of advertising dollars in the lead-up to Generations‘s launch to promote the game. That budget will include a three month sponsorship of The Simpsons on SKY Television in the UK starting this Saturday, October 1st. But it will also include other game tie-ins, including one planned for December on the UK’s Cartoon Network, and other “takeovers” on several websites. IGN, Eurogamer and Gamespot are among the reported advertising targets.
Why should you care? It sets up the perception such positivity has been bought, and should any version of Generations fall short, especially in the case of Gamespot, it could make for an awkward if not messy situation. Consider the case of Jeff Gerstmann, now of GiantBomb.com. Gerstmann was a more than 10 year veteran of Gamespot when, after delivering a poor review of Eidos’s Kane and Lynch, he was fired by parent company CNET in 2007 without rhyme or reason. Rumors swirled that Gerstmann’s termination was due to Eidos exerting pressure on CNET, as they had a lucrative advertising deal with Gamespot. Four other Gamespot editors resigned in wake of the scandal.
Given that the 3DS version of Generations is still on shaky ground with most, we could see a situation where that edition, if not both, see inflated scores they may not deserve. On the other hand, if one or both see poor scores on the aforementioned sites, Sega could use the almighty dollar to cry foul. We may be telling you this for naught in the end, but already, something doesn’t smell right.
Loading ...
I swear, some of you idiots act worse than a 3 yr old punched in the face.
Who gives a shit on what this game scores, the real review is made by the player, not some group who will give any game with bazookas or dudes in red hats and overalls a score over 7.
(EDIT – Inflammatory -T)
eh. big advertising doesn’t always mean big bucks. just look at the disaster that was Duke Nukem Forever. :/
Besides, 9 out of 10 times, a good game WILL sell well. the reason 06, sold poorly was because it sucked. with unleashed, it was the were hog. and with sega all stars racing, it was that people tend to ignore the spin offs in a series. generations is actually 100 percent good (assumption), therefore it SHOULD sell well, and shouldn’t have to be advertised as much as games as Gears of war 3. when people hear a good sonic game is coming out, and not a mediocre/bad one, people WILL notice. just look at the new mortal kombat.
@Goodman
You’re so right. They do that in commercials too. lol
They’re like “Called best movie of the year!” and I’m like “Didn’t the preview of the that other movie 2 minutes ago just say the same thing?” lol
Personally, I don’t think it’s necessarily a lie. It’s just it’s meaningless. They’ll say it’s the best movie of the year if it’s bad, but they’ll still say it even if it’s good too.
Meh, Sega will pull through. Does Generations really look or play like it will fail? No. It plays fantastic, and I can’t wait to see what’s next
@Gooch don’t forget they gave Free Riders an 7.5
Listening to an IGN podcast lately, they talked about how the reviewers aren’t even updated on what ads are currently running on the site, in fact, the company tries their best to keep that kind of information away from the reviewers. Brink was all over the front page when it got a mediocre review.
Gears was advertised when it got a 9.3 or whatever it got. It really depends on the game’s quality and not the advertising.
Ha. Some idiots giving a rat’s behind about some random dumbass’ opinion on a video game. Not interested in reviews, good or bad.
Goodman so has the right idea…
Tristan what are you talking about. I can go find you about three Sonic Colors commercials right now if you would like. Oh, and I can go find some from Unleashed too. Lol youre too funny ;p
The drama…. this is hilarious…
I am laughing so hard right now.
@Chillidogz
Fair point, although my main point is still valid. People who think IGN have it in for Sonic, is old news… Its been old news since Sonic 4/Colors, when they gave both games glowing recommendations, so theres no reason to be suspicious about them being enthusiastic now, not when SG actually looks much better than both these games.
Lots of knee-jerking “IT’S TRISTAN, OF COURSE HE’S STIRRING UP DRAMA” going on the comments in here.
Despite the fact that, you know, this kind of bribery has been an issue in games press for a while. Tristan cited a clear example, even. Dude got fired because he provided a review that was not “on-message” with what the advertisers wanted.
Other examples have even come up here in the comments, about Sega only wanting to partner with us as long as they could control our message. Tristan told them no, and now there’s a few people at Sega PR who don’t like us anymore because of it. The whole PLAY Magazine deal comes to mind, too – in exchange for the “exclusive first review” of Sonic 2k6, Dave Halverson had to give the game a good score. Yes, he’s publicly said that Sega lied to him and told him the game would be fixed, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was provided exclusive content – something that would drive sales to his magazine – in exchange for passing Sega’s lies on to the reader.
This is a thing that happens, people. You may not like it, but you’re probably not supposed to like it, which is why it’s usually kept a secret. And it probably needs to stop, some way, some how. But it won’t until you stand up and pay attention.
OH. And Tristan, why wouldnt SEGA spend lotsa money advertising this game? It IS the 20th anniversarry after all.
@Tristan – Hey, Sonic Stadium doesn’t get their news in a week late or 2. Its rare. Sometimes TSS is ahead of you guys, and sometimes TSSZ is ahead of TSS. Who cares?! If you want world peace like you said Tristan, then don’t go off saying TSS is a ‘behind’ site. The main poster, Shadzter sometimes gets things in late, sure, but he has a life. Don’t think that all TSS does is look up Sonic stuff all day, because they have lives too. So do you Tristan, you have a life too, and shouldn’t work yourself up too much. TSS, Retro, TSSZ are ALL wonderful sites. Don’t hate.
The funniest part about this is that Tristan simply gave us some extra details that could POTENTIALLY insinuate foul play. He never really outright accused anybody.
Now who’s being overly dramatic?
@ChaoticFox
It’s true. I observe more than comment here and I’ve noticed ppl will jump the gun and bash someone or something they’ve grown bias against despite what’s in front of them. Like when IGN said they were excited for Sonic Generations, somehow that got negative feedback just because it was IGN despite them saying something GOOD about the game.
Made this comment over at Stadium but Sega extended the embargo so the IGN preview isn’t coming today.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEJnmpsNQ_I
IGNentertainment’s Channel.
@sonichedgehog
its like of odd that Gamepro released its preview but IGN is still under embargo.
@Ryan Bloom: Control your message? Are you referring to the occasions when Sega wanted you guys to drop the articles that pertained to leaks and you guys refused? Because I didn’t think that was a particularly crazy request.
dl316bh: We’ve had other situations.
-T
@Tristan Oliver: Fair enough. I’ll take your word for it.
@mike
Unless there’s new gameplay, I don’t see why the embargo is still put.
@ricardo:
That one reason i think that Tristan is a prick. Like you said if Tristan wants peace then why should he deserve it if he shake with one hand while having a knife at the ready in the other hand. And once again he writes an article to stur up site hits and rage in the fandom/community
I also agree with darkgomugomu,Sloth, and crazee’s comments. Fully. Also especially Bystander comment about if it gets good review its because Sega paid them to do it and if it gets bad reviews its because it deserves it. Does that sound like tristan is a true sonic fan.
Yeah I know that this message might not even make it cuz Tristan will see it and delete it but I have my right to my opinion.
Well there’s still the beautiful video of Sky Sanctuary
I can’t believe how dumb some people are.
@ChaoticFox
Why can’t I just look away from it!
@ChaoticFox
Does that include me?
@sonichedgehog: Probably not. He’s talking about the people getting pissed at Tristan over this article. So I imagine you’re in the clear.
@dl316bh
It’s quite ironic because in other cases, all of these ppl here would be the ones accusing IGN of doing exactly this. Mostly because they dislike IGN so much they even when they say something good they want a reason to hate on them. (Regardless of if IGN actually did this or not)
The point is, with that behavior I’m suprised everyone just wants to fit in and backfire at an article that doesn’t need it. lol
Wow Tristan, you’re an idiot.
Has anyone ever considered, that MAYBE the reason that Sega is going so heavy on the advertising is because it’s being released in the same month as a bunch of OTHER A-list games
Uncharted 3
Assassin’s Creed: Revalations
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Super Mario Land 3D
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword *25th anniversary btw*
Elder Scrolls V
Saints Row: The Third
Need for Speed: The Run
and others
Specifically, Generations comes out the exact same day as Uncharted 3, so i’m not really seeing an issue with wanting to promote a game for such a heavy release month.
@kiegoNiwa:
Right I completely agree with you, especially the first few sentences. Assassin’s creed was a big title that sold last year so Generations has to have big name advertising for it in order not to be run over by the bus loads of titles that are coming out November alone. The 3DS version has Super Mario 3ds to content to it along not to mention that december might be difficult as well cuz of Mario Kart 7. So I say let them advertise all they want.
@Keigo
See, THIS is the ignorant stupidity I’m talking about. The issue is NOT that the money is being spent on advertising, it’s WHERE that money is being spent. It’s going toward websites that have special “previews” going on – sites that will ultimately review the title and thus determine, in some part, it’s critical and commercial success. If the same amount of advertising dollars were being spent on other sites WITHOUT a potential conflict of interest, there wouldn’t be any cause for suspicion.
And, for the umpteenth time, NO ONE IS SAYING that there is any confirmed definitive evidence of bribery… just that the potential is there, and it’s something to be aware of. This article is merely a caution to maybe take these sites’ comments with a grain of salt and perhaps encouraging people to form their own opinion of the game, rather than simply swallowing these upcoming previews as wholesome truths that are in no way biased by advertising dollars.
I don’t think you’re stirring up drama, Tristan.
But unintentionally this is what happened… it wasn’t unexpected people’d get mad as hell man.
Good luck.
@Bystander
“If it gets 8.5 or higher its probably due to bribery and not the games own merit. If it gets less than an 8.0, then the game itself is lacklustre and didn’t deserve any good scores.”
Based on that statement, the only reason why Sonic Colors and Sonic 4 got a (mixed-to*) positive critical reception from major gaming websites was likely because Sega bribed all of those websites (even though both games got little to no advertising, according to one post I saw here), and not based on their quality. And if the game gets a 7.5 or lower, the game automatically sucks, even though a “7″ means good and a “6″ means OK in reviewer terms. Oh, I forgot, gamers now believe that if a game gets less than a 8.0, it’s automatically garbage.
*: for Sonic 4
Seriously, if you think the game’s gonna fail, why the hell are you here in the first place (unless you want to troll / be 100% pessimistic)? The back button’s on the top-left of your screen.
@ChaoticFox
The only OTHER place they could have advertised without there being a conflict of interest would be Gamestop.com, because of large amount of gamers check that site for release dates *sorta* and pricing details. I highly doubt that gamers would actively and routinely check best buy or walmart for their video game information, so the next best thing would be review sites like IGN and gamespot, because there are more of those than there are retail sites for video games.
Also in reguards to:
“This article is merely a caution to maybe take these sites’ comments with a grain of salt and perhaps encouraging people to form their own opinion of the game, rather than simply swallowing these upcoming previews as wholesome truths that are in no way biased by advertising dollars.”
THIS should be a practice for ALL reviews!!!!! So regardless of if you view this as accusing, slanderous, or just a warning, it’s still utterly pointless article.
@Keigo
It’s not pointless admonition if it isn’t common practice already.
And it isn’t.
Obviously.
@Keigo
Or, you know, TV and shit. Facebook. Kotaku. And other nerd website. Places to get the message out to the people who might not already KNOW about the game because they spend all their time on gaming websites where the information is already prevalent.
The fact that gamers are checking these sites for gaming news PROBABLY means they’ve already been made aware of Generations existence, so the extra ad dollars there are kind of like preaching to the choir.
Also, it’s not just the fact that these are review sites, but sites being given special treatment with these “first look” previews – it all ties together. And, like I said, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but it should at least raise questions. And considering the stupidity I’ve seen in these comment sections, most people could use a healthy dose of realism and take a more informed look at the way this industry functions.
The problem with the bribery that goes on with stuff like Kane & Lynch is because video game reviews are taken with more faith than other media. There is a lot of critical dissonance in other forms of entertainment, but simply put, there are fewer Fridays and Transformers 2 among games.
I’m sure this is due to the higher price of each individual game and from it being the medium under watchdog eyes, the latter causing people to look more into a game before buying one.
It’s also the medium with a lot of pre-orders, so previews are crucial to major releases like Sonic Generations. It convinces people to pre-order the games, which means early sales.
On the flip side, either Nintendo doesn’t do this or it hides it very well. Nintendo doesn’t need to bribe anyone anyway.
Wow. Tristian… Im not gonna jump and sta\rt insulting you, but Im having this feeling that your trying to kill off any excitement I have for the game. But I have questions and I sincerily hope you reply.
1: You probably wrote the article because you felt a genuine dissapointment, but why would you feel the need to put it in such a way as to say if Sonic Generations gets great ratings, It’s down to SEGA paying reviewers?
2. Even so, why would you let that stand in between you and the game? I mean, why should what SEGA, the PUBLISHERS, do stop you from playing a great game?
I cant help but feel you overreacted, just like most of the guys who commented. You need to relax and get over it. Wait to review day, before making accusations like this. You probably will say “Im not saying that…” But you are very heavily impling it. I await your reply.
Nice hater article you got going there Tristan, are you bored?
Sega probably did the same for Sonic 4 hence those glorious but very deluded early reviews by IGN etc.
“Sonic is back baby??” anyone?
But Sonic Generations looks pretty good so who knows?
But either way Segabots back off the OP…..he knows how the industry works more than you do
Zamio: I’m not trying to kill excitement, but you do need to know where the money’s flowing. That’s all. If the game’s great…then great.
If it’s not, or there are widely fluctuating opinions on the game and certain sites score it higher than others…this is a good start to begin figuring out why.
-T
@Tristan
This is slightly off-topic, but do you have any idea when IGN is going to air their preview?
@Tristan: But your article is sort of pointing to if the game gets good reviews it cuz of the bribery.
@Zamio
Are you fucking blind? Tristan never made any direct accusations, nor is he at all suggesting that the game doesn’t deserve to succeed. He’s merely pointing out that there is now a reason to question certain websites’ motives when considering their upcoming previews/reviews of the game. This article doesn’t at all insinuate that SONIC GENERATIONS SUCKS AND IF IT GETS GOOD REVIEWS THEN IT MUST BE BECAUSE SEGA BOUGHT THEM.
It just says that “Hey, just so you know, Sega’s paying lots of money to the people who are about to tell you how good or bad this game is, so maybe take a step back and think about that before you start taking their site’s on-the-record opinions as ‘factual proof of the game’s awesomeness’ – be careful who you trust”.
Tristan put the facts on the table, but he’s left it up to us to decide what they add up to. You (and everyone else) are more than welcome to and capable of forming your own opinion on the matter. TSSZ isn’t a hype-generator, it’s a news site. It’s not these guys’ JOB to keep your buzz going, that’s Sega’s job. This is news. It doesn’t prove anything one way or the other, but it puts things in perspective and gives you more information to use to make your own informed opinions.
@ChaoticFox
You’ve already said this a few times, so if Zamio refuses to read the previous comments in order to answer his own questions, then I doubt he’ll be back to read Tristan’s answers let alone your more elaborated(though very truthful) summary of the article. More power to you though, it’s nice to see someone with some outspoken leaveheadedness in these comments sections instead of “Tristan you’re an idiot.” Has there been one article without that exact quoted text in the comments? It’s sad.
——
I believe this is a great article, and Ryan brought up a very good example in which an exclusive first-review for a publisher screwed over an editor. PLAY magazine got what is believed to be the first hands on with Sonic ’06, and gave it a -very- positive review. I remember reading it. It’s up in arms whether SEGA truly promised the editors that they would fix the issues before release, but the fact remains PLAY decided to publish a NON-truthful, highly opinionated, and highly influenced review due to advertising and/or exclusivity deals. Personally, I loved Play magazine, but it lost a customer after discovering the game was completely unlike its written review(just as I stopped purchasing Game Informer for their lackluster reviews of Budokai 3 and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle(I know, old games/different editors, but its stuck with me)).
Since SEGA is planning to advertise the game to its target audience through templates with IGN and Gamespot, it just seems needless and like a waste of money. The game is GOING to get a headline review for BOTH companies since Sonic is still such a controversial icon, thus the game’s reviews get a lot of hits for both websites, thus more ad revenue. It SEEMS pointless that they would fork over so much cash to advertise to gamers that will see the game on the front page anyway(referring to its previews and reviews) instead of saving it for commercial/advertisements on stations/websites with less of a ‘in-the-know’ gamer audience. That’s not to disrespect SEGA’s marketing, I’d hope they know what they’re doing..
In summary, this seems like a seed that could simply be a profitable marketing tactic for SEGA that could(and HAS) cost someone their job or cost a company to lose valuable customers. Does this mean anything to us, the gamers? If the reviews are influenced in a way to appear more beneficial to the ads, yes, it does affect us.
Lucky for me, I stopped letting reviews factor in to my purchases a long time ago, and simply read them for entertainment value.
Touché, Icehedge.
Sometimes I figure people are more likely to pay attention if you point things out to them specifically, but you’re right in that I’m honestly just wasting my time by repeating myself.
Thanks for that.
This whole thing has seriously made me start to reconsider coming here though for news. The whole principle feeling behind it all has just….
I dunno.
I didn’t think TSSZ would turn into the TMZ for Sonic The Hedgehog. I don’t like that.
@Haru
What’s the matter? Do you feel the fifteen precious seconds it took you to read the article YOU CHOSE TO READ were wasted? Were you mislead by the headline? Do you feel cheated? Get over it.
You come here because you like at least some part of the way this site operates. Learn to pick and choose what you read based on what is and isn’t of interest to you. No need to cry about the fact that not every article is catered specifically to your interests. If you have a problem with articles like this, DON’T FUCKING READ THEM. Crisis averted! …or do you have some kind of medical compulsion that forces you to click on every possible hyperlink on every site you visit? If so, then you have my condolences. I can only imagine what a hefty cross you have to bear
@ Haru
Oh boo hoo
Who cares? Just don’t read it then….no need to be an attention seeking whore about it!