Eidos is on a roll

[jmood88]

First they've allegedly gotten a guy fired, now they've been caught lying about reviews.

It's not like the relationship between Kane & Lynch and review scores wasn't messy enough. But now this? Visitors to the game's official site will notice, once the page's flash intro is done, that two review scores for the game are flashed for your perusal. One from GameSpy, one from Game Informer. Both look positively glowing! Both give the game a very encouraging five stars! Thing is, both are...well, not real. They're fabricated. Lies, if you will.

GameSpy did not say "It's the best emulation of being in the midst of a Michael Mann movie we've ever seen" in their review of the game. They said that in their E3 2007 coverage. In other words, a preview. They also did not give the game five stars. They gave it three.

As for Game Informer, same deal. The highlighted quote does not appear in the review of the game. Nor do they give it five stars. Game Informer don't even score in stars. They gave it a 7/10.

To assist you in correcting your error, Eidos, and you in procuring all the necessary facts, dear reader, attached below are how the two review selections should appear.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/kane-%26-ly...res-329529.php

With review integrity in crisis, who can you trust? Not those score whores at Kotaku, that's for sure. Not only did they give Kane & Lynch a glowing endorsement (read: "Kane & Lynch makes Grand Theft Auto look like the cartoon it is") in their exclusive review, they went and gave it a perfect five star rating! Or, least Eidos seem to think so. For those curious, the quote actually comes from Joel's hands-on time with the game at E3. In July. Where no stars were handed out. Not even one. Oh Eidos.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/eidos/did-w...ars-329539.php

[JRod]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

I don't know, I don't see this is a big deal. The movie industry have been doing the same thing for years. There's no outrage when movie promotions select quotes that say something good about the movie.

I understand what they are saying that Eidos is pushing the envelope on this but why are we shocked about it? Every company that sells anything is going to overhype their product and push advertising language as far as they can go without being liable for false information.

It's these so-called journalistic sites that are supposed to cut through the PR. In this case Gamestop succumbed to the pressure from a company.

[luv_mist]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

It's a different type of hobby though. Though the movie industry is doing this night in and night out, the video game industry is more personal to the consumer. It's a totally different type of medium in telling a story. It's wrong because the fans of video games are more serious about what they indulge in. Stuff like this has seriously opened the eyes of many. That's grimy to falsify advertising. Looks like Eidos is going to be losing a whole lot of money soon. I wonder what their stock is looking like now?

[bkfount]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

They had little to do with a gamespot editor fired over reviews. This is all them though. Funny how companies like midway and eidos are so willing to ruin any credibility they had with gamers by marketing mediocre games so heavily. Sure, they'll still get stupid uninformed purchases, but no comapny can live off those for awhile.

As for the movie comparison, movies cost like $8 a ticket. If it sucks, you aren't out as much as compared to buying a mediocre $60 game.

[jmood88]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

I don't know, I don't see this is a big deal. The movie industry have been doing the same thing for years. There's no outrage when movie promotions select quotes that say something good about the movie.

I understand what they are saying that Eidos is pushing the envelope on this but why are we shocked about it? Every company that sells anything is going to overhype their product and push advertising language as far as they can go without being liable for false information.

It's these so-called journalistic sites that are supposed to cut through the PR. In this case Gamestop succumbed to the pressure from a company.

Except when people in the movie industry talk about their scores, they are true. Eidos made up a scoring system that two out of the three sites they quoted don't even use and they used quotes from previews that happened way before the game came out.

[ac11367]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

On a somewhat related note...let's say a really sh*tty movie comes out, and on newspaper advertisement it states "...Movie of the year according to Siskel and Ebert", meanwhile what Siskel and Ebert really said was "worst movie of the year". Can advertisement disregard the word "worst" to misconstrue Siskel and Ebert's review?

[Cebby]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

What's the problem here? Disappointing games, movies, and any other medium use previews and out of context quotes all the time.

[jmood88]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

What's the problem here? Disappointing games, movies, and any other medium use previews and out of context quotes all the time.

Not really. If they had just done that then it wouldn't be a big deal but the fact that they're making up review scores is a completely different thing.

[jmood88]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

Eidos took the 5 star stuff down.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/eidos/kane-...ews-329910.php

[luv_mist]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

I wonder if anyone will be getting fired over this? I wonder who was the person who gave this title the green light and allowed it to go gold.

[jmood88]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

I wonder what's going to happen with the Kane and Lynch movie that's in production and the sequels. Does anyone know how many copies the game has sold?

[HMcCoy]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

I don't know, I don't see this is a big deal. The movie industry have been doing the same thing for years. There's no outrage when movie promotions select quotes that say something good about the movie.

There's a 53.00 difference.

Also, movie hype is more word of mouth than anything...not the same for games.

[JRod]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

There's a 53.00 difference.

Also, movie hype is more word of mouth than anything...not the same for games.

No its not. Movies that have zero advertising budget can use word of mouth to get publicity. But the biggest blockbusters are generally the ones with millions spent on advertising and cross-promotion.

I understand Jmood's point. I and think Kotaku did a great job calling them out on it. Sadly, Kotaku probably wouldn't have done this had the Gamespot thing not happened.

Advertising is pretty much the same for both industries. The biggest movies have the largest ad campaigns. Same with games. Word of mouth helps games and movies that can not afford a large media buy or any media buy.

[HMcCoy]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

No its not. Movies that have zero advertising budget can use word of mouth to get publicity. But the biggest blockbusters are generally the ones with millions spent on advertising and cross-promotion.

I understand Jmood's point. I and think Kotaku did a great job calling them out on it. Sadly, Kotaku probably wouldn't have done this had the Gamespot thing not happened.

Advertising is pretty much the same for both industries. The biggest movies have the largest ad campaigns. Same with games. Word of mouth helps games and movies that can not afford a large media buy or any media buy.

I disagree. Whether a movie is big budget or little budget, it's easier to find people who have seen a movie and discuss it at say, the workplace, than it is to find fellow gamers to discuss a game. I have 25 or so people in my dept, and there are only 2 of us gamers...wheras there are only a couple of older ladies that don't go to movies regularly. There are always big discussions after major releases where people compare notes, and talk about things they liked or didn't like. All movies are going to be advertised to some degree, those ads don't neccesarily sway someone to go see it...but hearing from 10 different people that a movie is awesome or sucks has alot more meaning. Games just don't have the same mainstream appeal.

Folks can justify spending 7 bucks on a movie based on cool commercials, but gamers looking to lay down 60 bucks plus tax are going to want a little more input before they make that commitment. Look at the OS threads. Game impressions feature a few people who got a game and alot of people asking for opinions on whether it deserves a purchase. The movie threads are almost all impressions. Not many people who are intersted in a particular movie bother waiting to read several reviews and get lots of feedback before they make the 7.00 leap.

IMO, having falsified game reviews is a much bigger offense, based purely on the bigger investment they are conning the consumer out of, not to mention the fact that we gamers rely alot more heavily on feedback and reviews to make our decisions. Not every game has a demo.

[Tha_Kid]

Re: Eidos is on a roll

Not that much different from NBA 2K8 having a quote from an IGN preview saying its the best simulation of NBA basketball while the review bashed it to a degree.