Atari Demands 9/10 for Early Review Code

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SPOnG news has posted an article about the Driv3r scandal at Atari. It has been uncovered that the publisher makes demands of the score of at least 9/10 in exchange for early review code. Here's a snip:

As regular readers may be aware, the row erupted in May when a posting on SPOnG’s forums read, “The culprit right now is Atari with DRIV3R, with reports coming in today of demands for at least 9/10 score in exchange for early review code. Although the build with magazines at the moment is described as being “…two or three weeks away from being final,” it has not lived up to expectations with certain press contacts. However, in order to obtain the code, a score of nine has been demanded by Atari’s PR team.”

Once again it has been proven that Atari doesn't give a damn about the customers and will not stop short of outright bribery and lie in ripping them off. How low will it get yet?

Read the whole thing at SPOnG.

 

It takes two to tango. I blame the magazines that agreed to this as much as I do Atari.

It's another reason not to rely on just one source for reviews.

 

I pay more attention to what players say about the game. I also look for demos. If the game is in a series I really like I might get it early.

This very interesting to know. I often question the reviews. At the best of times reviewers are only human.

 

heh that's why I only read free online magazines reviews. look what gamespy had to say about it http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/driv3r/525384p1.html

 

I'm not surprised. Most reviewers these days are complete scams. I generally trust avault though.

 

Game Revolution is alright as well...though not as popular as IGN etc...which is actually a good thing I suppose.

 

IGN, EA and Atari exist solely to show the public that there is corruption even in gaming these days.

 

This is not particularly enlightening news. This has been going on for years. Here recently, Omid Rahmat on Toms's Hardware did a little rant over the issue. It's the same kind of thing Microsoft does with Xbox exclusives.

All news is subjective. It's subjective not only in presentation, but in content choice. I find that some continents regard their media as unbiased, in comparison to others, but that does not disengage nor lessen said bias; it only changes it's perception, or in such case, inperception. Works the same way with benchmarks. Nvidia (and Ati these days, too) "bugs" slip into the shaders from time to time, which is why just looking at graphs doesn't give you the entire "picture".

There is something to be said for.........playing the demo before you buy the game.

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that there is something to be said about MOVING THE BLOODY CAMERA AROUND ON ME IN PRINCE OF PERSIA, and reviewers failing to mention it.