IG holding game back?

[Kc7mxo]

Most every store says 2/25, so I'm inclined to believe that.

Which means it taking a whole month and a day to go from gold to store.

[pmaura]

You know EA did the same thing with command and conqueror some store actually had the game in there back but were not allowed to put it on shelves until EA told them to.

[Lo Rez]

28th of feb for me, but then its been that way for ages

i still hope i'll wake up in the morning and find it on my doorstep =)

ooh sometimes the preorders get shiped early, so here's 2 hopeing

[Comrade Tribune]

Well, I have a simple theory about that:

The game is crappy, and they have every reason to be afraid of the reviews.

Therefore they try to sell as many copies as possible everywhere at the same time within a small window of opportunity, before the reviews come out (and before the wave of angry complaints rolls over forums like this one.)

[rhofman]

If that were the case they would not have given advance copies to reviewers. If you look for reviews now you will find them.

[Sammual]

Not only that but the reviews have been danm good.

In chatting with the Beta Testers and some of the reviewers the more they play the more they understand and the better the game is.

That does not sound like a bad game to me.

Sammual - Master of X Fanatic

[Comrade Tribune]

I am more interested in the reviews of non-commercial sites (that don´t get any advance copies). I have often heard about the commercial mags being bribed someway or other. And Advertising is their life blood, after all.

[rhofman]

If they are blatantly false reviews those places will not last long. Nobody will bother reading there next review. Time will tell very soon if your theory is valid.

[Lee Johnson]

I have often heard about the commercial mags being bribed someway or other.

Well, what you heard is wrong. In the six-plus years I freelanced for Computer Games magazine, I was never told what to write for a review or edited in any way that distorted my opinion of a game. This notion that the magazines are somehow in the pockets of the publishers is complete and utter bulls**t.

[MitchDev]

'cept when it comes tme to get advance copies to review, then a bad review has you on the blacklist not to get the latest game to preview\pre-review...

The web has killed most gaming mags, and the rest will soon follow. Page counts are down, Ad counts are up, magazines have a lead time that leads them to be behind the times with any kind of news or info...

[Corentor]

Originally posted by MitchDev
'cept when it comes tme to get advance copies to review, then a bad review has you on the blacklist not to get the latest game to preview\pre-review...

The web has killed most gaming mags, and the rest will soon follow. Page counts are down, Ad counts are up, magazines have a lead time that leads them to be behind the times with any kind of news or info...

On the whole, I would tend to disagree. Gaming sites are usually unafraid to give games bad scores. While big titles usually score well, I have seen sites slam big titles as well.

I still remember when Tiberian Sun got roundly flogged.

On the other hand, sites and mags have been known to recieve huge amounts of pressure from publishers.

[MitchDev]

Yeah, sorry, I forgot to specify primarily magazines in the first paragraph, but I'll believe "Real People" on the web before "reviewers" and their "official" brethren...

[Craig P.]

Barry whatsisname from IGN said in the IGMOO thread on his review that he's been kicked out of a couple of places for refusing to alter his review score to suit the request of an editor. Unless it's all one big snow job (which I kinda doubt, he'd have no reason to go to IGMOO in that case), I think you can believe that his score is honestly given.

[viciouscycle]

And it's not just the computer industry with gaming reviews. Cars, bikes, sporting goods, movies, books, etc. all can be readily influenced by advertisers, marketers, produces, etc. Will the internet change this? Maybe.

With so many people able to write reviews on products, you will invariably run across those who give both positive and negative reviews based on brand loyalty, popular opinion, and pure whimsey. It can be difficult to wade through the waves of bad information on the internet to find the good.

[MitchDev]

Yeah, but once the game's access is limited to just the "priveledged few", the sheer number oif reviews wil allow people to check many reviews and by comparing the various reviews, get the true skinny on the game.

Infogrames sucks, and I hate them, I wish Quicksliver had found a more reputable distributor for their baby...

MoO3 has entered the "bargain bin" phase for me, I won't pick it up until I can get it for less than $30 at this point.