Holier Than Thou Rant
As you saw, Todd posted a mind blowing workaround by 2K Sports for MLB 2K6. Remove the fucking hard drive? Are you fucking nuts? I have a workaround: don't play or buy this garbage!
Now, this brings me to a rant -- videogame sites and reviews. They are now officially on my pissed off list.
1. Many of you might have heard/read about the discussion about the Official Xbox Magazine's "Perfect" review of Fight Night Round 3 for the Xbox 360. While that line is pretty funny in itself, what's even worse is the Starforce-like defense of the review. To which the EIC says "Is the game perfect? No." Well then, it definitely deserves a perfect score. In the words of George Bush, "Francesca Reyes, you're doing a heckuva job." The EIC of OXM is someone who's been in the industry for a long time, albeit part of the Imagine (*ie PC Gamer, Official Dreamcast Mag, etc) family.
Folks this is why videogame reviewers and the industry are treated like shit in the world of journalism. I wonder why Entertainment Weekly dropped all coverage of videogame reviews (actually relegating it to a Listen2This insert for subscribers who request it)? There really aren't any David Browns or Owen Glibermans when it comes to videogame reviews. I'm sure they take their lumps too but you can mount a passionate defense of a videogame the way you can mount a passionate defense of a movie. A replay of "deal with it" really manages to destroy what little integrity this business had in the first place.
Recently Bill Abner had the gall to criticize a game (MLB2K6) at Operation Sports...the thread was pretty hysterical with people just telling him to get over it. I'm so sorry that people like Bill have the audacity to play a game through 15 seasons and think that someone leading the league at the end of the season with 12 HR's is a problem!
Then I have another bone to pick. Did you notice that all the first day reviews of MLB2K6 neglect to mention the crashing problem on the Xbox 360? That's because reviewers for the big sites DON'T PLAY THE RETAIL COPY OF THE GAME! They play "golds" which are supposed to be the retail but for play on a debug console. The only problem is that they aren't a retail console and shit like this happens. Although many people will say "well, that's rare", I've seen it enough to know you shouldn't review a gold master. Seriously, you give a game a 7, but there's a critical failure of the game? Is that still a 7? I think not.
Okay, I'm done ranting. Back to normal programming.
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Dan:
April 18th, 2006 - 07:14
While I disagree with the reactions, I completely understand what compells the sort of reaction Bill gets over at OS. A lot of sports gamers are kids (some of those kids are in their 40′s like me) and somewhat fanatic. They put a lot of time and effort into thinking about and waiting for the next big sports game. And let’s face it, when a big sports game is released, there is a point before it is removed from the shrinkwrap when it happens to be the best sports game every released. It is the most current, the most technologically advanced and has the most potential. Once the sucker is popped into the console, it is all downhill.
But fans don’t give up that easily. It is one thing to see your team lose on Saturday. It is there in black and white and can’t be disputed. But when it is something like NCAA 2006 or MLB 2K6, there is plenty of room for dispute. Sure, it may not be doing it for you yet, but that’s only because you have not found the perfect slider combination!
Nobody wants to hear Bill Abner come along and tell people that the only new MLB baseball game that they will be able to play on the xbox/360 this year is a piece of crap. People need the illusion that the game is only a good set of sliders or a fix-all patch from being the game that they hoped it would be. Throw logic out the window. When someone comes along who actually knows what they are talking about and has put the time and effort into playing the game comes along and crushes their illusions……well, let’s just say dreams die a hard death.
As for 2K games – I am sick of the apologists out there who are defending both 2K and MS QA. Whatever those folks are doing, it ain’t working. If they are not finding problems with their test machines, then it is time to start doing a round of tesing on real world consoles that have other game saves and make sure that things still work.
Having a broken copy of MLB 2k6 on the heels of a patch that broke College Hoops and made it unplayable is beyond irresponsible. Like I have said before, EA and Sony must be laughing their asses off at this point.
April 18th, 2006 - 08:11
Kevin,
I agree with your logic about the root of reactions to criticism, but that doesn’t make it okay to shoot the messenger. Critics and fans of a title have equal right to space on a public message board. If either side can’t deal with an opposing view, grownup or snot-nosed kid, they shouldn’t be up there. Debate is good, even when heated, but this is still gaming and there are people taking it way too far. (No big surprise there.)
As for 2k. Man, this stuff can’t be a pure matter of QA. I know for a fact that there are games that ship in which the test team has found any number of bugs, but the publisher makes the call to ship it anyway. Yuo can’t pin that on QA. They can’t make a publisher take the time to fix bugs.
(Which was the central point of my post on 4/17.)
April 18th, 2006 - 08:26
OS has gotten so bad lately (with their Gestapo moderators), that I’ve simply stopped going there for my sports video game news (which is tough, having been registered for over 3yrs).
Thankfully, I can read real opinions here and at other forums/blogs though.
Bill – thanks for saving me $60 on NOT buying 2k6 for my 360. Keep on keepin’ on.
April 18th, 2006 - 10:48
Oh where have the golden days of High Heat gone?
Personally, I can say nothing of any of these newest Baseball games as there are none to play on the PC and I’m a PC-only gamer… Not having any baseball to play this year has been a very tough pill to swallow. In fact, the decline in quality sports games in general is rather disturbing. Can someone please explain how this came to be?
April 18th, 2006 - 11:56
Very simple, really. The big fators include:
–Console sports games sell about 8 times the number of PC sports games. There’s a lot of reasons for this which I dont have room to go into here but would make for a very good essay.
–The entire gaming industry is consolidating to where you only have a few really big $$ publishers left in the biz.
–Exclusive licenses are evil.
I personally feel that this will turn itself back around at some point. Maybe not the big budget games but smaller, indie developed games that aren’t just text will appear at some point.
April 18th, 2006 - 14:17
Some of you guys are so far up Bills ass it’s funny. I’m sure it makes him feel important though.
SOme of us actually play video games for fun. Did Bill complain that the Red man hit more HR’s than the Blue man in Atari baseball ?
If he wants to be a beta tester then do it. Get a job at one of these companies or make his own damn game. Hell, his own book had so many misspelled words. Pretty funny from someone who does nothing but find things wrong with every sports game know to man.
April 18th, 2006 - 15:32
I wouldnt know Abner if was sitting here next to me but I do know the three guys running this Blog saved me $60 on a bad game. Other than making a fool of yourself….what exactly have you done, Mike?
April 18th, 2006 - 15:48
“Pretty funny from someone who does nothing but find things wrong with every sports game know to man”
TYPO!
So Mike you read the book? First off, thanks for the purchase. I really do appreciate it. To which mispelling are you referring? I’m certainly prone to typos, as are we all, and sometimes they slip through the multiple edits that we do — but I would like to see that they’re fixed. Care to elaborate?
April 18th, 2006 - 15:50
Not that I don’t want to get involved in the Bill/Bill’s ass debate…, but I was just going to offer up that I tend to prefer the game reviews as they are done at wargamer.com — Instead of a score or grade, the last paragraph says, “if you like…{insert comparable game, play style, etc.} then you’ll like this.” Much more applicable than some score, and it allows for commmentary on the pros/cons to be just that, and not debated as a 0.1 deduction or a 2.5 deduction.
April 18th, 2006 - 16:07
Pretty funny Jim… “Abner saved me $60″ that is exactly what I am talking about. Can’t form an opinion for yourself so you let Abner think for you. I guess you never buy a game until Abner says it’s okay. LOL…………..quite a few people really like the game including me. But you will never know because Abner said it sucked.
April 18th, 2006 - 16:16
Pete, that is an interesting thought, but we do live in a world of grades, be it at school or otherwise. We judge performance on a scale relative to everything else in that genre.
I would be curious to see how wargamer would do sports games. I mean you’ll like Madden 07 if you liked Madden 06? You’ll like MLB 2K6 if you like Front Page Sports Fooball Pro ’99?
Mike, I don’t think that a game that drops games from 162 to 10 in the following season could be considered ‘fun’. It’s one thing when a game has great gameplay in single player exhibition but sucks at franchise or career. I would ding the game, but not fail it. (Fight Night Round 3 for example. I enjoy playing this game, but seriously the career mode is total ass. I’d probably give it a B- if I reviewed it).
Any game that requires you to ‘remove your hard drive’ to play the game is an automatic F in my book. It is literally broken! I can’t believe that anyone else doesn’t get this??!
April 18th, 2006 - 16:40
Mike, no one ever said anyone’s opinion was better than another’s — however, I was wondering — do you have the Core Xbox 360 system or the Premium Xbox 360, or are you talking about the Xbox original version?
The Xbox 360 version is damn near unplayable. Literally. I have experienced it myself.
April 18th, 2006 - 18:45
“Can’t form an opinion for yourself so you let Abner think for you. I guess you never buy a game until Abner says it’s okay.”
Looks like your reading skills have a major “bug”, Mike.
Here’s what I said… “but I do know the three guys running this Blog saved me $60 on a bad game.”
That’s three different opinions by my count with one of them actually listing the game’s problems. I dont do the the buy-try-return thing, so I read up on games hoping not to get stiffed with a rushed out the door product.
April 18th, 2006 - 21:00
Mike -
Gee, it’s such a novel concept. Read a review by someone’s opinion that you respect, then make a decision on said item based on that review. Duh.
I guess you’ve listened to Roger Ebert review a movie and decide NOT to waste your $10 going to the movie theater? See, I’d rather not waste the money and 2hrs of my life watching a terrible movie and will read some reviews BEFORE buying a ticket or renting the DVD. Same deal here… read some reviews from authors that think like you do (and not a bunch of fanboy posts in forums where people just bought the game for $60 and have a hard time admitting a game is flawed) and then make an educated decision.
April 18th, 2006 - 21:07
Actually, If Roger Ebert say a movie sucks, that usually means it’s pretty good. Of coure they are on TV and that is their job, unlike Abner who does it for god knows why.
Sure 2k6 has bugs just like EVERY game ever made. I think Abner goes to sleep crying every night with High Heat tucked under his pillow.
Which by the way had some of the buggiest games of all time.
April 18th, 2006 - 21:40
Well, as an older gamer about to turn 30 in a little under a month, these days, I just prefer to sit down and enjoy most sports games for what they are. I’m not expecting football, basketball, baseball games to the the perfect simulation of the real thing. I don’t think we’ll ever see that. Now, for the most part, MLB 2K6 does suck, however, it’s not the worst game i’ve ever played. As a matter of fact, I hate 2K baseball, always have, always will. I have not experienced any freezing.
The thing that annoys me is when you have guys that analyze, dissect, pick apart, critique, etc. the games we all use as an escape to get away from the stresses of being an adult. It appears that for every new release nowadays, the first thing the these “QA Testers” want to do is sim 30 years to see what happens. What difference does it make if the homerun leader has 2 hrs in 2018? Me, I lose interest pretty quickly once all the stars of today retire off into the sunset.
I do everything I can to stay away from bugs/glitches/just plain wrong threads on message boards. I’d rather discover something weird on my on. I don’t want to be looking for bugs. I still am not familiar with the Madden Run/Pass glitch but i’m sure most of you are. That ignorance led me to enjoy that game much longer than those who know about the glitch.
More and more today we have “reviewers” turning into QA Testers. When it gets to the point to where you’re miserable playing new sports games and where you are testing them to see if it works as it’s supposed to, why even bother? One may need to find another hobby.
April 18th, 2006 - 21:56
“Of coure they are on TV..”
TYPO!
“Abner who does it for god knows why.”
Same as Ebert: Money and free drinks at the Copa.
I actually go to sleep crying that we only have two mainstream publishers of sports games, aside from Sony and its very good baseball game, and no new games on the PC and therefore the public is forced/duped into buying incomplete products like MLB 2K6. If you like it, hooray! It’s your money and your time. Enjoy! I think it’s a mess. I’m not alone in this view, but even if I was alone I wouldn’t care too much. I think this is shoddy software. There are more glaring and inexcusable bugs in MLB 2K6 than in High Heat (patched), MLB ’06, MVP NCAA, and MVP ’05 combined.
Troll says yummy. *gulp*
Oh, and just kidding about that whole crying thing. I actually sleep rather well. New house smell and all.
April 18th, 2006 - 22:13
Hysterical. A GAME DOESN”T EVEN FUCKING WORK ON AN XBOX 360 and this is a ‘minor issue’.
I’d love to hear your take on Front Page Sports Football ’99.
“Come on with some sliders this would be a great game…”
Looks like NCAA2004 has a new name.
April 18th, 2006 - 22:14
Well Reggie I understand where you’re coming from. I really do.
Here’s the thing, though:
If a developer is going to add a feature, and tout that feature as a big part of its feature set, why is it not ok to expect it to work properly?
If a guy sees that a baseball game has a deep franchise mode, complete with salaries, rookie drafts, scouting, trades, free agents…the works. This same guy plays a season — maybe he plays 1 game in each series and sims the rest, maybe he plays a shortened season to get more seasons in — whatever.
He notices weird things are going on. The schedule for next season is now 152 games. Rookies that he counted on to take over next year aren’t improving at all. In fact, none of them are across the entire league.
So now what does he do? Start over and play another season? What if he *wants* the feature he bought the game for to work like it should? He’s SOL.
Reggie just because you get bored with a game when the stars are gone, which is a perfectly fine thing don’t get me wrong, doesn’t mean that the guy across the street feels the same as you.
And just to be clear, this isn’t a hobby for a lot of critics. It’s a job. If I played 10 games of MLB 2L6 (or whatever) and said, “Yeah, pretty fun. 5 stars!” I’d be doing a serious disservice to the people that read the website/magazine that I work for.
It’s important to understand that what you may think makes for a great game may not be the same as me. All I can do is try to lay it out, lay out my reasons why I feel the way I do about a particular game. If I do that, regardless if you feel I’m being overly critical, if I can lay that out and allow you to make the decision on your own whether or not my gripes are important to you…then I’ve done my job.
April 18th, 2006 - 22:16
Sorry one last thing. Reggie, you aren’t an older gamer (yet) at 29. You’re still under the median. Most gamers are in their early to mid 30s.
April 19th, 2006 - 00:56
I enjoy playing MLB2K6 also. I havent ran into the 10 game schedule bug, or any of the freezing. If I do, then I may change my mind, but tweaking the sliders has made the game very enjoyable for me.
To each his own, who cares what anyone else thinks about it. Silly debate.
April 19th, 2006 - 06:50
Yeah, it is a silly debate only in that we’re being forced to have it. Do a couple of you really get how much we don’t care if you agree with our opinions or not?
For the record, that’s not directed at our regular readers who make valuable comments here that contribute to the level of debate instead of aiming to drop it to the floor. For those people, well, you’re commenting on our blog, so there’s an extent to which we have to answer back to your criticism and that’s fine. But if you think we walk around all day going, “What to do, what to do? Mike doesn’t like us!!! Run! Run for your lives! Moving day is here!!!” Well, then you’re just flat out crazy.
(Bonus points to those of you who catch that “moving day” reference.)
We’re not asking for a show of hands and we’re not asking for anyone to agree or disagree. Bottom line, if nobody agreed with how we comment on sports games then nobody would read this blog and that’s fine.
But frankly, the bulk of “published” game reviews drink the Kool-Aid for any large game property. Or better yet, I particularly like it when they dump on good games that didn’t come from a flavor-of-the-year publisher, which happens all the time in the 2K Sports vs. EA Sports circles (and has nothing to do with 2k bug problems).
Believe it or not (you people in Mike’s camp), there are plenty of sports-oriented gamers that read this blog because they get opinions in line with their own that don’t ignore a game’s good points or its flaws. If you’re not among them that’s fine. But don’t come here and act like we’re doing something socially unacceptable because we don’t see the landscape the same way you do.
And while I can’t speak for Bill and Dan, I know if I weren’t writing my dreck here and I’d just be saying the same stuff to strangers on the street. That’s just the way I am and it doesn’t require anyone’s consent or approval. Don’t like it, don’t read it. I could really care less.
April 19th, 2006 - 09:03
“Yeah, it is a silly debate only in that we’re being forced to have it. Do a couple of you really get how much we don’t care if you agree with our opinions or not?”
You’re contradicting yourself. If you REALLY don’t care that others agree/disagree with your opinions; which is a rather self-centered, egotistical way to approach anything IMO; then why are you being FORCED to debate this topic? If you really didn’t care then you wouldn’t bother defending what was initially posted.
I see this from both sides of the fence. I’ve played MLB2K6 on the 360 and have experienced freezing in 2 out of 20+ games. That’s better than most, but still not unnacceptable from 2K Sports. When the game isn’t freezing, I’ve enjoyed it. It’s a fun game that does many things right – and many things wrong. Typical 2K Sports. Those of us with only an Xbox 360 and looking for a baseball game don’t have much of a choice at this point.
April 19th, 2006 - 09:19
Of course you have a choice, Jimmy. Do you really need to play a “new” baseball game so bad that you’ll pay $60 for a game that does ‘many things right and many things wrong’ and freezes even 10% of the time you play it? Is the urge to play mediocre videogame baseball that bad?
I guess that’s also a basic difference between some gamers. We all talk about ‘having lives’ and ‘wasting time’ testing these games, but I’m the type of person that (outside of assignments) doesn’t want to waste my time playing games that are merely ok and that don’t do the things I want them to do. If I’m going to dedicate my time to playing a baseball game, it needs to be damn good. Not ok. Not decent. But very, very good. Otherwise I’ll just do something else with my free time.
If I do like the game I tend to play it fervently for months, though. There’s very little middle ground. NCAA ’04, NHL 2K3, High Heat ’02, OOTP 3 through 6, College Hoops 2K5 and 2K6. I played the hell out of these games. But I just don’t want to waste the time in playing a game that I personally feel is average at best be it MLB 2K6, Fight Night Rnd 3, NCAA 06, whatever.
April 19th, 2006 - 10:17
“You’re contradicting yourself. If you REALLY don’t care that others agree/disagree with your opinions; which is a rather self-centered, egotistical way to approach anything IMO; then why are you being FORCED to debate this topic? If you really didn’t care then you wouldn’t bother defending what was initially posted.”
Jimmy, I think you missed my point. Let me recap just so I’m clear.
1. I said, “For the record that’s not directed at our regular readers who make valuable comments here that contribute to the level of debate…” I like it when people who read this blog have something to say about what we write. I don’t like it when someone comes in just to troll around and stir shit up.
2. I also said, “there’s an extent to which we have to answer back to your criticism…” with regards to the kinds of posts I was referring to. That’s why I replied. You don’t go spouting off about us on our front lawn without drawing a reaction from us.
3. To sum up: I didn’t say that no one’s opinion mattered to me. I value the opinions of most of the people who read and comment on this blog. What I don’t give a flying fig about are the trolls that come over here purely to stir up trouble because they don’t share our opinion on any given topic.
It’s not ego that drives me to say I don’t give a shit if people disagree with me or not. You can’t take to heart every person’s opinion, especially when you have no idea what kind of person is on the other end of that keyboard. I mean what possible reason could I have to care what “Mike” from god knows where thinks about what any of us have to say? For all I know he’s typing from an elementary school library, a mental institution or worse, the White House. Regardless, though, he’s typing it here and it merits a response. That was my point.
I like well-mannered debate. It’s healthy and it’s fun. But bear in mind that none of us have told anyone they’re not allowed to like MLB 2k6. But there are people in this thread who are getting off on telling us we’re either not allowed to dislike the game or that we’re ruining their experience for saying that we dislike it. To me, that is what’s egotistical.
April 19th, 2006 - 10:55
“Sorry one last thing. Reggie, you aren’t an older gamer (yet) at 29. You’re still under the median. Most gamers are in their early to mid 30s.”
Sorry, maybe “older”, according to you is the wrong term, however, my first video game experience is with the Atari 2600. I’ve owned just about every major console since then. Maybe you’d prefer if I used “experienced” gamer, Bill.
April 19th, 2006 - 10:57
I wasn’t trying to imply anything by that. I just think people on the whole would be surprised that most gamers are in that age bracket.
April 19th, 2006 - 11:02
“I guess that’s also a basic difference between some gamers. We all talk about ‘having lives’ and ‘wasting time’ testing these games, but I’m the type of person that (outside of assignments) doesn’t want to waste my time playing games that are merely ok and that don’t do the things I want them to do. If I’m going to dedicate my time to playing a baseball game, it needs to be damn good. Not ok. Not decent. But very, very good. Otherwise I’ll just do something else with my free time. “
In other words, gaming is no longer a hobby for you, it is truely a job. If it isn’t very, very, very, very good, then you have no time for it. I guess that’s why people perceive you as today’s Sports Gaming Grinch always looking to dissect, test, critique, the game instead of looking to enjoy the game first and foremost.
April 19th, 2006 - 11:20
Reggie
Playing games of any sort is by no means a job for me – if only it was. What Bill means (I think) is that most people only have a relatively small amount of time to use playing games, because their real life activities, be they family, job or even other leisure activities, all take up time that is available.
Once these thing have whittled my time down to a small number of hours, I don’t want to spend that time taking out my HDD, loading up three other games or replaying games that froze in the 9th inning, or wondering why I’m being punished for actually playing a game for more than one season by watching teams get rid of all their top players for peanuts (a big HI to EA Sports FIFA Manager 06 at this point)
That doesn’t make it a job for me. It just means that if I plonk down 30 of my hard-earned pound sterling, and invest some of my limited free time in something, that I am entitled to a product that works in the manner described…in this case, as a true representation of the sport that it purports to be.
April 19th, 2006 - 11:52
Yeah dave that’s certainly part of it.
Reggie I dunno if you think you’re upsetting me about that whole Gaming Grinch thing, but I’d much rather be known as a curmudgeon than a vanilla ice cream cone.
I like to do a lot of stuff, much of it having nothing to do with video and PC games. Playing with my daughter, spending time with my wife, reading books, watching movies, walking the dog, playing boardgames and role-playing games with my buddies, playing golf and basketball, or just listening to music. Lots to do and a very finite time to do it. Why should I spend my free time playing mediocre videogames?
Even as a hobbyist, why would you spend that hobby time with (what you perceive as being) inferior products? It’s like you’re saying you’re only a *real* gamer if you spend that time playing the stuff that you don’t find compelling or interesting. That’s not a hobby. That’s an obession.
I see games as a mirror of most other forms of entertainment: most of it is forgettable, some of it’s good, and even less of it’s great — it’s the great stuff that I want to devote my time to and I think that’s a healthy way of looking at it — be it a job or just a hobby.
April 19th, 2006 - 13:27
There just seems to be a pattern to every game
1. Get excited over release
2. Buy game
3. Find something wrong
4. Deem it “unplayable”
April 19th, 2006 - 13:56
Mike, I honestly can’t tell if you’re trolling or simply don’t read the blog or my stuff regularly and are really wanting to get into a discussion about this. Or maybe a little of both.
But your list really just isn’t true.
1. I rarely get overly “excited” about a game release anymore. Anxious to see it, yeah, but I save real excitement for important stuff.
2 I don’t buy a lot of games. Job perk.
3. I don’t go looking to find things that are wrong in a game, the games themselves do a good job of showing them all on their own.
4. Rarely do I deem a game “unplayable” unless it’s terribly buggy and broken. I may not LIKE a game, but that’s just one guy’s opinion.
However, you’re glossing over (or are ignorant to) the fact that I have given a lot of games, sports or otherwise, very good reviews. College Hoops 2K5 and 2k6? What about those? Loved those games. MLB ’06 The Show? NFL 2K5? OOTP? EHM? NCAA ’04? NCAA MVP 06? Fable? Civ IV? Oblivion? Gal Civ II? World of WarCraft? All great games that I played (and some that I still play) quite often. So to say that I hate all things gaming just isn’t true. I just like what I like. Just like you or the next guy.
April 19th, 2006 - 14:36
“I don’t go looking to find things that are wrong in a game”
Really?
What about,
“I tested into the 5th season and the league is a total meltdown”
“I just verified what another guy posted.”
“I simmed 5 years and took a look at some of the prospects.. none went up more than 3 points.”
“When I tested the player progression the teams….”
The games are not broken, you are. You don’t play games, you test them looking for things that are wrong.
You ruin sports gaming for the many people on the net that are not smart enough to think for themselves.
They read your beta test reviews and think the game might not be fun b/c you found that the guy in the third row
of a Raider/Charger game was not stabbed without enough force to actualy make him bleed when the gamer would have
never found this on their own. Then this is proclaimed as a GAME KILLER!
I bet you have not played a game in years. I suggest you find a new career as you have ruined your hobby and are on the way
to ruining the hobby of many others.
April 19th, 2006 - 15:35
Ahh an OS guy with an axe to grind. I see. Wow Jon, there’s a real bitterness and anger there.
Good, good…let the hate *flow* through you. For a guy to get that mad about one guy’s opinion of a sports videogame just so he can validate his own opinions–don’t go into any public places, particularly if armed.
To the point, I should have said that I don’t go looking for problems in games that I don’t review. As for games that I DO review, you’re damn right I’m looking for things that are wrong. Just like I look for things that are right. If I didn’t, it wouldn’t be much of a critique, eh? Or should I use the Jon Jones methodology of game reviewing: play for a few hours and slap a stamp of “cool” on it? Man that would be SO much easier. I bet I could get through 10..12 games a month that way. I’d be rolling in freelancer loot!
Even more to the point, let’s say I write a review of MLB 2K6 without doing any statistical fact checking at all. I write my review and a guy who bought it wants to know why I didn’t mention the fact that the stat engine sucks and the trade AI is 100% shit. I’d rather try to cover the fact that several asects of the game are fubar rather than try to appease the people who actually like the game. Sorry Jon. No sale.
April 19th, 2006 - 15:56
You noobs are hilarious. Abner has been doing this stuff for years, has more credibility with hardcore gamers than you have pimples on your ass, and you come here to rip him defending a buggy piece of shit game that nearly EVERY WEBSITE HAS ALSO TRASHED? LOL. I hope you’re sending hate mail to every website that has given this game a bad review. Your fingers may tire from it tho.
I have been reading Abners stuff for a few years now and just recently found this blog. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don’t, but what makes him worth reading is that he always finds things to talk about that other reviewers either don’t notice or don’t care to notice.
I never base a buying decision on what Bill (or what any one person) says but I definitely take what he says to heart.
These guys are trolls bill. But i gather you already got that.
Oh, and sorry, but GO BLUE!
)
April 19th, 2006 - 16:31
There is no hate Bill. I don’t hate you as thats such a strong word. I sort of feel sorry for you though as I believe your career has ruined your hobby and has ruined games for others too.
I also think you sort of “get off” by finding things wrong with games. This might not be true, but its surely what I gather from your posts… sort of like you gather “hate” from mine.
“Abner has been doing this stuff for years”
Correct, and my posts here take that into consideration. I could could not give two rat’s poots about MLB2k. I would never buy the game as right now I would not give Bud Selig any of my money.
His(Willie’s) amateur beta testing MO has been developing for years now.
“I hope you’re sending hate mail to every website that has given this game a bad review. “
Again, its the totality of the circumstances.
“play for a few hours and slap a stamp of “cool” on it?”
No, but what about fun?
What you expect out of a game is not realistic. You expect a game to simulate a small facit of life completely and accurately while you mantain some sort of control. You will never see this as you are expecting game programmers(who happen to be pretty f’in smart people) to not only code within the boundaries of a game, but also duplicate the reasoning of many people. This is never going to happen.
April 19th, 2006 - 17:19
Well this “Noob” has been playing since Pong. Only reason Bill is full of himself is because all you guys sucking his ass. And if anyone dares say something against him, his band of ass kissers run to his defense.
“Buy my book, I’m building a house” “Please ! I am trying to build a house” WAAAAAAAAAAA And if you do buy it don’t say anything bad about it or I will make it vanish. Waaaaaaaa
April 19th, 2006 - 21:19
Mike, seriously, if you’re not on any meds, get some. Don’t wait around and think about it, just to go to a doctor and say, “I need help.”
April 19th, 2006 - 21:20
Mike, I really think you’re losing some perspective. You also seem to have this thing about people and my ass, which is a bit disturbing. What did I “make vanish” re: negative comments about the book? As for the house, thanks man. It’s a great house. We love it here.
I have tried my damndest to counter every point you have tried to make in this little discussion. Instead of discussing this stuff — about how I have given plenty of sports games good reviews, asking for examples of errors in the book that you obviously haven’t read — instead of talking about those things, you want to talk about people sucking my ass. Thank you, Mike. You’re making it crystal clear about the kind of fella you are.
Jon I don’t think I expect too much; I don’t think some gamers expect enough. This has nothing to do with the intelligence of programmers. It has everything to do with the circumstances surrounding the way sports games are made and the consolidation of the entire gaming industry. I just don’t think it’s asking too much in this day and age for a sports publisher that sinks millions and millions into development to get the basics of the sport it is trying to emulate and to release a game that is at least free of game crippling bugs. Why is that asking too much? Why is it asking too much for a franchise mode to have free agency and player development work? For the CPU not to make crazy ass trades with itself? To not have the pitcher bat in the bottom of the 7th and get pulled at the top of the 8th? It’s not asking too much for a game to get this stuff right. If you think it is, then we simply have different ideas as to what a game should and shouldn’t be, which is fine. We all have varying opinions on this. But I feel strongly about it.
As for Selig, that ship has sailed. They paid MLB a lump sum with the license fee. He has his money if you buy the game or not.
April 19th, 2006 - 22:47
Gentlemen:
To those of you flaming Bill get a life. There are quite a few reasons to flame Bill, but his review of MLB is not one of them. THE FUCKIN GAME DOES NOT WORK and ITS A CONSOLE TITLE. There is no excuse for that.
He has been a bit to critical of games in the past, but that is his MO. I mean he is just a tough critic. If you earn a 90 plus from him, you really earned it.
TO the sportsgamers blog guys, stop arguing with these guys they are trolls. Trust me I can smell my own.