This week, Adam got a little angry on his Soapbox. Not angry in a screaming way (although he did a little bit of that), but angry is a "frustrated to the point of exhaustion" kind of way. You see, he's been noticing that a lot of you have been noticing that sometimes we don't get the review of a game up until after it's hit store shelves. This is often not any fault of our own and a result of the publisher not sending us a copy of the game early so we can have the review up in time for when it's released. Why does this happen you ask? Press play and find out.
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incantator
Adam, there is a fairly simple way for you to do something about this problem: form a reviewers trade organization. If a group of reviewers go to the publishers and request that all members of their group get equal access to review copies, the publishers will be unable to say no (or at least they will not be able to discriminate). As the Editor in Chief of the largest TV-based video game review program, you are one of the few individuals who has the power and influence to start such an organization.
crocodilius
cowards.
agamerinside
/signed
Totally agree Adam.....those publishers must know their products are sub-par and dont want people to know till after people buy their tripe....G4 RULES!
AngelsandDemons
The reviews on ign and gametrailers are more thorough and objective anyway...not surprised the game developers short change g4...disagree?...remember Abbey's Metroid tirade...nuff said.
sloth92
adam keep your pimp hand up!
TheMilkMonster
@BoydofZINJ
Well, game developers don't finish a game the week before it's released, especially console releases. It takes longer than that just to print the games and ship them to retailers. The point is, most games (MMORPG's excluded) can be reviewed thoroughly within a week. Developers have more than enough time to send out a copy to the press. And hey, if there are still minor bugs to be worked out, tell the reviewers, I'm sure they will be forgiving and ignore the bugs that will be accounted for before release day.
My main curiosity now is which game publishers aren't releasing games to the press for these selfish reasons? I feel like as a consumer, it's something I have the right to know. Not to put anyone on the spot, but could you drop a hint?
SunriseSinner
Thanks for filing us all in Adam on the inner workings o the average Review format. I found myself wondering this and just assumed you guys hadn't put up New Vegas in advance cause its such a massive game and wanted to explore as much as you could
RPG-fan
Good Soapbox, I do see your point, Adam. This is unpopular view but it's probably best if publishers don't send copies to game reviewers at all. So reviewers would have to buy the game themselves then review the game. Less popular gaming websites seems to function just fine. We have seen in the past when publishers send copies to reviewers, it will lead to certain publishers sending their games to specific reviewers over the others in hope of getting favorable reviews. We all know that exclusive reviews that other websites had can be slanted and aren't the most trustworthy reviews.
lilmark15
i agree along wit yu all the people who r bothering g about this needs to stop its not there fault.
Angry Jessie
This man is the only reason for me to visit G4 anymore, good show Adam.
Inc0nce1vable
Hahaha! That was awesome and it's so true.
ShdwFox
That's just terrible, I think it's safe to say a good portion of us (the gaming community) had no idea until now. Sessler, I salute you for your honesty and integrity. You have every right to be angry about this and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
I find this whole issue disturbing. Especially in the case of games that might get reviewed poorly on site A, but get reviewed well on site B; and then later only site B only gets a copy. That's ridiculous, and I'd even go so far as to say it is a borderline freedom of speech issue. If the developers are proud enough to even release their game, they should be confident enough to give every review site a copy. It's rather childish if they believe professional game reviewers are going to review everyone of their subsequent games poorly just from one bad game.
Especially if that subsequent game is bad. It isn't fair to their customers that deserve an honest opinion of the video game. What aggravates me most of all is the uneducated consumers purchase these crap games. This in turn encourages the developers not only to put out yet another poor video game in the future; but also to be even more deceitful with it!
It's really too bad that some review sites don't don't get a copy of the game simply because the developers had technical issues. Otherwise, I would encourage all review sites to put out a front page news link of every single video game they don't get a copy of. That way, gamers will at least be aware of this mischief.
Darkpuppy
I've based my last couple of game buys on how much excitement I see in the Feedback or Talkabout segments, I've never felt reviews give as good an idea of how the game is as a whole, but when I see the hosts talking excitedly about having played a game then I get interested. I also never buy games at launch, well unless its Wow expansions :) The same as never seeing a movie at launch, I let others go and test the waters first, no point in everyone going and paying to find out its crap.
ph34rsome
its funny u can go to any torrent site and get a game 2 weeks b4 it comes out you would think the Game companies could get copies out to the reviewrs just as quick
crazyfooinc
Hell yeah, GO ADAM AND G4! G4 is putting out some of the only reviews I actually care about these days :-)
beesdaddy
is this a nintendo thing or an obsidian thing?
GatsuBlackSword
Yes ADAM!!!! That is very unprofessional practice's on the publishers side. I think I have heard Abby say on Feedback once along time ago that the reason she did not get a review up was because they did not send her the game and she had to go out and buy it. I might be wrong about that but I'm sure it heard her say it.
Bogues
While I certainly agree that this phenomenon is immoral and unprofessional, it's equally so to review one of these games with a preconceived bias. I'm not making any accusations, but the fact that you said "Be wary of these games" etc point towards a possible issue. If you review one of these games undeservedly poorly, your simply denying your readers a good game.
firecloud42
I haven't seen Adam this mad for some time
merivigian
I'm definitely not one of the ones perpetrating it.. I love G4.
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