Raja Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 Bethesda not giving review codes to some big EU/ UK outlets such as Eurogamer is a bit meh. Same with Skill Up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 12 hours ago, Raja said: Bethesda not giving review codes to some big EU/ UK outlets such as Eurogamer is a bit meh. Same with Skill Up The Eurogamer one is definitely suspect. Seems like Bethesda didn't give review codes to any reviewer owned by ReedPop, which is a division/subsidiary of RELX; a large UK conglomerate. Which feels like the result of some sort of weird corporate bad blood between them and Microsoft itself. But Eurogamer is big enough in the gaming space that as soon as they publicly complained someone high enough up at Bethesda/Xbox made sure to get them a code quickly. The Skill Up one makes sense though. After Fallout 76 released, he said he was going to be "hostile" to the next Bethesda release. If a reviewer has publicly said they'll be biased against you it makes sense to blacklist them from review codes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 13 minutes ago, Fez said: The Eurogamer one is definitely suspect. Seems like Bethesda didn't give review codes to any reviewer owned by ReedPop, which is a division/subsidiary of RELX; a large UK conglomerate. Which feels like the result of some sort of weird corporate bad blood between them and Microsoft itself. But Eurogamer is big enough in the gaming space that as soon as they publicly complained someone high enough up at Bethesda/Xbox made sure to get them a code quickly. The Skill Up one makes sense though. After Fallout 76 released, he said he was going to be "hostile" to the next Bethesda release. If a reviewer has publicly said they'll be biased against you it makes sense to blacklist them from review codes. It's not just Eurogamer, but other UK/ EU outlets too. Re: Skill Up - you're going to have to find the exact quote for me because I haven't read/ seen that. Skill Up's 76 reviews were good in that they correctly criticized several of Bethesda's marketing practices & the mess that that game was. I don't think there was anything 'biased' in those reviews at least. Those reviews were exactly what critics should be doing. I'm not sure about the specific quote you're talking about there, but happy to read it if you can provide it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 15 minutes ago, Raja said: It's not just Eurogamer, but other UK/ EU outlets too. Re: Skill Up - you're going to have to find the exact quote for me because I haven't read/ seen that. Skill Up's 76 reviews were good in that they correctly criticized several of Bethesda's marketing practices & the mess that that game was. I don't think there was anything 'biased' in those reviews at least. Those reviews were exactly what critics should be doing. I'm not sure about the specific quote you're talking about there, but happy to read it if you can provide it. starts at just after the 23:52 mark. The exact line is: "I've gone from being giddy with excitement for Elder Scrolls 6 to being actively hostile." Any reviewer saying they have predetermined thoughts about a future game should be rightfully blacklisted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Not Appearing Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 Thought I copied the text but I had the link and can't figure out how to delete it, so I guess you get my tweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted August 31, 2023 Author Share Posted August 31, 2023 3 hours ago, Fez said: The Eurogamer one is definitely suspect. Seems like Bethesda didn't give review codes to any reviewer owned by ReedPop, which is a division/subsidiary of RELX; a large UK conglomerate. Which feels like the result of some sort of weird corporate bad blood between them and Microsoft itself. But Eurogamer is big enough in the gaming space that as soon as they publicly complained someone high enough up at Bethesda/Xbox made sure to get them a code quickly. The Skill Up one makes sense though. After Fallout 76 released, he said he was going to be "hostile" to the next Bethesda release. If a reviewer has publicly said they'll be biased against you it makes sense to blacklist them from review codes. Eurogamer, for decades, refused to give review scores, saying they were bullshit and people should just read the review. They eventually caved, but decided to do a 5-point system to keep things simple. However, that led to games like Zelda and Baldur's Gate 3 getting 4/5s, and thus rated on Metacritic as 8/10 (since it is impossible for a Eurogamer game to be rated 9/10). That's led to not just Bethesda, but other companies apparently getting concerned that otherwise excellent games are getting "marked down" because of the limited way the system worked. Hence, no review code. IlyaP and Ser Not Appearing 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Not Appearing Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 9 minutes ago, Werthead said: Eurogamer, for decades, refused to give review scores, saying they were bullshit and people should just read the review. They eventually caved, but decided to do a 5-point system to keep things simple. However, that led to games like Zelda and Baldur's Gate 3 getting 4/5s, and thus rated on Metacritic as 8/10 (since it is impossible for a Eurogamer game to be rated 9/10). That's led to not just Bethesda, but other companies apparently getting concerned that otherwise excellent games are getting "marked down" because of the limited way the system worked. Hence, no review code. That actually makes a lot of sense. At least match the score template of the accumulator or we'll consider not giving a code due to your inability to produce a nuanced score. IlyaP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted August 31, 2023 Author Share Posted August 31, 2023 Damn damn damn. Volition have been shuttered. Descent. Freespace. Red Faction. Summoner. Saint's Row. A killer line-up of franchises, and Freespace 2 at least was a God-tier all-timer game. They also did D&D tie-in meme videos a good decade before everyone else got in on the act. Week and Durckad 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 Embracer ended up being left in the lurch when Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund pulled out of a $2 billion investment, and the shuttering of Volition (and other studios) is the consequence as Embracer restructures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 5 hours ago, Werthead said: Eurogamer, for decades, refused to give review scores, saying they were bullshit and people should just read the review. They eventually caved, but decided to do a 5-point system to keep things simple. However, that led to games like Zelda and Baldur's Gate 3 getting 4/5s, and thus rated on Metacritic as 8/10 (since it is impossible for a Eurogamer game to be rated 9/10). That's led to not just Bethesda, but other companies apparently getting concerned that otherwise excellent games are getting "marked down" because of the limited way the system worked. Hence, no review code. This is so infuriating. Eurogamer, for example, wrote probably the only honest review of Baldur's Gate 3 out there, and got slagged for giving it anything other than a 10/10. The whole numerical system is so goddamn pointless. ART IS NOT MATH. Arakasi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 I wonder Chris Roberts is livid that Starfield is out but Star Citizen is still vaporware? (Does anyone even *care* about Jank Citizen anymore?) https://www.pcgamer.com/star-citizen-studio-denies-reports-of-layoffs-as-crowdfunding-campaign-sails-past-dollar600m/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 10 hours ago, Fez said: predetermined thoughts 76 was rightfully panned by a lot of critics given the dubious market practices by Bethesda and also the terrible state the game was released in; approaching the next release with skepticism makes perfect sense to me and there's no 'bias' in that. Though I guess I understand Bethesda staff being miffed about Skill Up coming out with that review - but I think the proof is really in Bethesda's response to Eurogame - as soon as Eurogamer made it public that 1. They did not receive review codes 2. That is unprecedented for Eurogamer and hasn't happened to them in a long time and how that's bad for transparency & reviewing of games Once that article was made public, Bethesda released a review code in 2 hours for Eurogamer, which tells me it's just not great behaviour from bethesda and once the optics didn't look great they decided to release the code to them immediately ( It's also not just these two, there are quite a few other outlets that haven't received codes) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, Raja said: 76 was rightfully panned by a lot of critics given the dubious market practices by Bethesda and also the terrible state the game was released in; approaching the next release with skepticism makes perfect sense to me and there's no 'bias' in that. Though I guess I understand Bethesda staff being miffed about Skill Up coming out with that review - but I think the proof is really in Bethesda's response to Eurogame - as soon as Eurogamer made it public that 1. They did not receive review codes 2. That is unprecedented for Eurogamer and hasn't happened to them in a long time and how that's bad for transparency & reviewing of games Once that article was made public, Bethesda released a review code in 2 hours for Eurogamer, which tells me it's just not great behaviour from bethesda and once the optics didn't look great they decided to release the code to them immediately ( It's also not just these two, there are quite a few other outlets that haven't received codes) Fallout 76 is hot garbage, especially in it's release state. But "skepticism" is not the same "actively hostile" when thinking about a potential future game. Edited September 1, 2023 by Fez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 (edited) 17 minutes ago, Fez said: Fallout 76 is hot garbage, especially in it's release state. But "skepticism" is not the same "actively hostile" when thinking about a potential future game. He's talking about his feelings when anticipating the game as opposed to his actual review of it - that's not 'predetermined thoughts' about the game , especially when you consider that no one reviews games ( or anything) from 'neutral', whatever that means. Bethesda getting precious about releasing a hot garbage game & being called out about it by reviewers is meh. As an aside, just started with starfield and the combat feels really good and is miles ahead of the other stuff bethesda has done - wish it had leaning though, that would have made it perfect Edited September 1, 2023 by Raja Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 Not a handheld guy per se, but surprised this doesn't have bluetooth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 @IlyaP I doubt Roberts cares. I'm still waiting patiently. I've cruised around in the alpha before and it's ridiculous how good it looks, but also just how ambitious it is -- feature creep on feature creep, adding more bugs on bugs. Will it ever end? I do not know, but if they jut get Squadron 42 out, I'll be happy enough. I pledged when the original fundraising campaign started, and that's all I've really been interested in, I'm not that much into multiplayer. @Ser Not Appearing Putting your stream on now and laughed at your son's bloodthirsty response on what he wanted to do. Good start to proceedings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartofice Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 I’m not convinced by Starfield, reviews do look pretty bleugh right now and even if 76 was bad, Fallout 4 was a bit of a mess too in reality. I did actually end up putting a lot of hours into the game and I like the ambition but so much of it felt thrown together and lacking in cohesion. I’m happy to stick to BG3 for some time! Anyway, I got the DLC for Warhammer 3, despite the controversy, and its not really very good. The lack of content is noticeable and none of the campaigns seem especially fun. The Kislev Lord doesn’t have access to Kislev units for ages which means you are basically stuck fielding spiders for pretty much the entire game. Makes for a very boring play through. Oh dear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argonath Diver Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 Very excited that Steam is letting me download this colossal Starfield installation. It came free with my recent video card upgrade, and I'll certainly try it to push this 6800xt hard. Good lord, 87gb?! Also, I'm 37 gigs in already - good lord our network speeds these days are bananas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 6 hours ago, Heartofice said: Anyway, I got the DLC for Warhammer 3, despite the controversy, and its not really very good. The lack of content is noticeable and none of the campaigns seem especially fun. The Kislev Lord doesn’t have access to Kislev units for ages which means you are basically stuck fielding spiders for pretty much the entire game. Makes for a very boring play through. Oh dear. This is a winter steam sale for me after watching some reviews for it. The price is definitely too high for the content. I fully intend to get Starfield unless overall reviews say it's a buggy stinking pile. In the meantime I'm currently playing Baldur's Gate 3 so that's a lot of hours of entertainment. And if reviews are decent enough, I might get Total War: Pharaoh in October. So Warhammer 3 is on a long pause for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Not Appearing Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 9 hours ago, Ran said: @IlyaP I doubt Roberts cares. I'm still waiting patiently. I've cruised around in the alpha before and it's ridiculous how good it looks, but also just how ambitious it is -- feature creep on feature creep, adding more bugs on bugs. Will it ever end? I do not know, but if they jut get Squadron 42 out, I'll be happy enough. I pledged when the original fundraising campaign started, and that's all I've really been interested in, I'm not that much into multiplayer. @Ser Not Appearing Putting your stream on now and laughed at your son's bloodthirsty response on what he wanted to do. Good start to proceedings. Hahaha It was an interesting stream filled with my inabilities, plus Dad duties. Streaming more now and ... similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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