Comments on: The twisted relationship between game reviewers and game publishers is still going strong

By: Cyde Weys

Cyde Weys — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:00:33 +0000

All right, so this one I can’t blame on Spore. It really is my PC overheating. My graphics card’s temperature is running way above spec and I have no idea why. Rather than try to fiddle with it, I just ended up ordering an ATI Radeon HD 4850, since this graphics card is over a year and a half old. I’ve also ordered a much better heatsink/fan combo for my Intel Core 2 Duo E6400, because the stock heatsink isn’t keeping the temperatures down on it too well anymore either.

By: Cyde Weys

Cyde Weys — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:18:22 +0000

William: Incidentally, GiantBomb gave Spore 4 stars (out of 5), so it looks like, even if they aren’t beholden to advertising dollars, they’re still definitely going along with the pack on this one.

And I don’t know if it’s my PC overheating, insufficient bypassing of the DRM, or what, but Spore crashes my entire computer to a reboot within five minutes of starting up the game. I really can’t even play it anymore. I don’t think it’s an overheating issue because I can play any other game I can think of just fine for hours on end without crashing.

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:31:00 +0000

It’s not only video games but many other things too. I realised this problem the last time I went out looking to buy a laptop. I got myself into a newsagent and looked at a number of different magazines, all promising the best advice; they all had comparisons of pretty much the same laptops but their recommendations varied wildly, as far as I could see for no reason at all. Obviously, the magazines were full of adverts and I had one of those enlightenment moments. In the end, disenchanted with the industry, I decided to buy just a bigger hard drive. I’ll give them my money in a few years time when my current laptop packs up for good…

By: William (green)

William (green) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:22:18 +0000

Have you looked at GiantBomb? From what I can tell, it's a website set up by Mr. Gerstmann and some cohorts in the wake of his axing.

By: drinian

drinian — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:11:55 +0000

I guess that’s why I get my video game opinions from Penny Arcade. Besides, I like Tycho’s writing style.

Isn’t this the case in many industries? There’s a reason that Consumer Reports doesn’t take advertising or free samples. Hollywood is infamous for keeping a small cohort of no-name reviewers fed and happy in order to get positive review quotes. The only difference is that video game reviews are mostly done on the Internet, and folks haven’t found who to trust and not trust yet, apparently.