L.A. Times on Game Reviewer 'Playola'

madmancarman writes "Celebrity parties, target practice with automatic weapons, and free trips to spend the night in haunted castles are just some 'perks' game reviewers enjoy as described by this article from the L.A. Times. The reviewers say this has no effect on their reviews, but we've all heard politicians say the same thing with respect to their jobs. Maybe Ion Storm should have spent some more money on Daikatana junkets?"

Comments

Disclosure

[rat7307]

If a magazine or website is going to be fair and open about their reviews, it would be nice if there was a bit of disclosure about perks/payoffs that they are getting. I have seen (can't remember the site) situations where EMPLOYEES of game houses have written full reviews and palmed them off on gaming sites as a unbiased review.. only to be caught out by some alert reader.
Maybe too, people are going to hold back on reviews that shitcan bad products for fear of litigation (PetsWhoreHouse etc...). It does seem that a lot of big game sites tend to get more sychophantic as the years go on.. especially to the big software houses.. is that because of either a) Advertising Revenue (Biting the hand that feeds) or b) the junkets get better..

It gets harder to find objective reviews ESPECIALLY in print magazines..

But what can you do???

sigh