Variety Accused of Pro-Sony, Anti-Nintendo Bias

[HG Revolution]

http://nsidernews.com/sony-sponsored-mario-galaxy-review-is-the-worse-experience/

No wonder I haven't seen them give a good review to a Nintendo game in a long time.

[Leviathan]

supposedly-reputable news sources having financially-enoucraged biases. Even if it's not that common, it's not all that surprising.

[Simpler Simon]

While the 'sponsored by Sony' tag at the top doesn't help anything, I think this is being blown out of proportion. There will always be people who just don't get the wii and feel the need to measure graphics capabilities by the PS3. And if the guy can't get the wiimote to work that's his problem, and that's too bad. The only really stupid criticism is to single out the "bad two-player experience" when that was never really a highlight of Galaxy anyway.

Otherwise he does point out some of the game positives like art design, and some of his highlighted negatives do make sense (the lack of story). But yeah, let's just blame everything on a big sony conspiracy. That's much easier.

[HG Revolution]

(the lack of story)

Mario games were never about story. It's like going to March of the Penguins and saying it lacked special effects.

[Peter Paltridge]

Variety is already taking flack for being heavily "pro-studios" in its writers' strike reports; this isn't gonna help.

[Gokou Ruri]

Most of his complaints are accurate, honestly; bribed or not.

[Simpler Simon]

Mario games were never about story. It's like going to March of the Penguins and saying it lacked special effects.

Exactly (of course some diehards might claim Paper Mario has a story, but still). It was a throwaway comment from the original Variety reviewer to launch into what makes the new installment unique - the space adventuring and gravity-defying physics. The NSider article has chosen to take it out of context and blow it up into some blasphemy. Similarly, it's not as if other, more reputable gaming sources haven't called Mario a "little Italian stereotype" which the NSider article seems to underline in red like it's the end of the world.

[Mynd Hed]

I took the liberty of altering the thread title-- "Variety Has Been Bribed!" seems a tad inflammatory, as well as being inaccurate insofar as any bias is purely speculated.

[WrenchNinja]

I've read the article before. It's not really downplaying the game at all. Just the reviewer saying somethings could have been done better in SMG. He even goes on initially that the game is still excellent. Nsider seems like it's trying to over blow it, and it's not like there's a fan bias there either. Heck they're using the NP Italy review as evidence for why the game should not be criticized. :yawn:

[Eidan]

If anything NInsider comes off as the most biased. Really now, some chump gives the game an "unprecedented 11 out of 10" and it's now above criticism? Jesus, shut the hell up. I hope this isn't blown out of proportion like that 8.8 fiasco last year.

[Yash]

If anything NInsider comes off as the most biased. Really now, some chump gives the game an "unprecedented 11 out of 10" and it's now above criticism? Jesus, shut the hell up. I hope this isn't blown out of proportion like that 8.8 fiasco last year.
No one likes it when you do the troll, to be honest.

I'd say most of the complaints are rather petty. Like, how the reviewer states that star bits aren't integral to the gameplay. In many instances, they're your main method of attack. Or how at the end, he essentially knocks the game because it's on the Wii, and goes onto plug Ratchet.

I'm not saying all of the cons in the review are unfounded, though I don't necessarily agree with them (I subscribe to the "story doesn't make a game" camp, personally). The problem is that its point of view is almost entirely negative, scraping the barrel for problems, and it feels more like he's using the game as a scapegoat to judge the Wii rather than reviewing the game itself (for example, when he brings up Twilight Princess).

It isn't as bad as that review where the guy starts out by saying that he loves gory shooters, at least.

[Shawn Hopkins]

If anything NInsider comes off as the most biased. Really now, some chump gives the game an "unprecedented 11 out of 10" and it's now above criticism? Jesus, shut the hell up. I hope this isn't blown out of proportion like that 8.8 fiasco last year.

I agree with you that fanboys blow review scores way out of proportion. Something gets less than a 9.5 and they're calling for a Congressional investigation. I also agree that the Nsider commentary is whiny and biased. It's also filled with so many obvious spelling errors it appears to be written by a chimp. It has all of the legitimacy of a Gamefaqs post, so I'm surprised people on this board are willing to take it as ironclad proof that a major magazine is guilty of a huge breach of trust and ethics.

Finally, I read the Variety article and I don't really see anything wrong with it, unless you're the kind of gamer who just can't accept criticism of the Wii of any kind. Ratchet and Clank does have more advanced graphics, I've seen them. He didn't say it played better. I guess he just doesn't like the Wii. He doesn't have to.

As for the sponsored by Sony Ad, it doesn't look great, but how do you think videogame magazines get their money? They have ads for all of the companies they deal with and the games they review and preview, usually in the same issues as those games are covered. In fact, it's pretty easy to find an ad conveniently close to a preview of a hot game in most of them.

[TKnHappyNess]

Sony's desperate. That's why one of those morons from Insomniac said that the PS3 is better because they're Sony-exclusive.

[Eddy]

While some of his complaints are quite petty (not every Wii game needs to make major use of the motion controls, folks), if you actually read the review he doesn't say it's a bad game. He still says it's good, he just thinks it could have been better.

Don't get me wrong, I love Galaxy and would easily classify it as Game of the Year. But, yeah, I think some of you are taking this too seriously.