It is VERY concerning to me that EA asks reviews to change grades. What do you think?

[swaldo]

Quote: Originally Posted by rheerun

I've worked at various software companies my entire career... this is a pretty common practice ... particularly at larger companies that have lots of dollars invested in prod mgmt and marketing. We didn't ask people to change their scores directly, but we would follow-up if it was a bad score to make sure we understood what the problem was, what led the reviewer to have that stance etc. More often than you might think, there are misunderstandings about certain features, certain settings etc. And, I've seen numerous occasions where the follow-up leads to more clarity in which case the reviewers actually apologize, thank us for the clarification then update the score as appropriate. I'm not saying that's what happened in this case... just that its not as surprising to me as it might be for others...

Is it possible they were trying communicate with or get clarification on issues prior to the review score but EA shut the door on them?

"Gaming Trend? Who the hell are you? Go away."

Is that what he means by "The devs gave us more access?" So after seeing the poor review score all of a sudden EA's like "Hey Gaming Trend - you're our buddy remember?"

[Netherscourge]

I love it.

Now EVERYONE is gonna read that site's review and they'll get more web traffic then they ever thought they would.


EA is just stupid.

[sois]

Quote: Originally Posted by Netherscourge

I love it. Now EVERYONE is gonna read that site's review and they'll get more web traffic then they ever thought they would. EA is just stupid.

I don't know why EA just couldn't ignore this site. It's not like they need more positive reviews, there are tons of them out there.

Guess the old saying applies: pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.

[ScoobySnax]

Quote: Originally Posted by JAYMO76

The conversation went something like this: EA: you scored the game to low Reviewer: I think I gave a fair, objective review EA: PLEASE CHANGE THE SCORE!!! Reviewer: no, that goes against my morals EA: what do you want? Reviewer: an invite to Madden 11 community day EA: done Reviewer: and your new score is...

[bigsmallwood]

This is a very bad move publicly on EAs part...it looks like they are trying to buy a high mark on their game

[swaldo]

There is only one way Gaming Trend could make this respectable in my book. If they change the review score they should...

1. Make it clearly noted on the site there are two reviews and make both reviews available for perusal.

2. In the new review they should make note why changes were made and be very specific as to why and how the changes were made.

3. Any changes should be black or white, no grey area. In other words how are you going to change the fact someone doesn't like the gameplay? It's subjective and those aspects should not be changed. Don't BS us and say "Oh we spent more time with the game and like it better now." Changes should only be made where mistakes were made and can be confirmed legit by readers.

Still after all is said and done I say just leave it. EA gets plenty of over-inflated scores so they shouldn't lose sleep over this.

[roadman]

What's wrong with asking to re-review the review?

The gaming site could turn them down or re-review and say their review still stands.

Sorry, but 62 in game play really sticks out for me.

That's a D score in my book, nearing the F mark.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Quote: Originally Posted by ubernoob

"Troof" not "Truth", for what it's worth.

I thought he was a chubby chaser