Sometimes the gaming industry baffles me, and today seems like it's going to be one of those days, and it's a three pronged approach to the type of journalism dragging everyone down.
Remember E3, when Microsoft showed off Forza 3 and Sony ran a trailer for Gran Turismo 5? Both looked like really nice games, right? But in a seemingly desperate attempt to grab some headlines, cnet is running a poll to establish which is the best game. "Sure, you could just get both and have double the fun, but only one can be the best," says the normally reputable site.
It's probably safer that you just jump to the results rather than getting involved - both have only really been shown on video and so any kind of judgement over which is the "best" will need to be reserved until both are on the shelves, finished and playable. Cheap stuff, cnet.
But then we move onto the Forza Motorsport forums, where Che from the Turn 10 team has been attempting to get Forza fans in on the vote with the promise of a free Unicorn (rare Forza 2 car) to everyone that votes for Forza 3. "We all know which game is [sic] we'd like to see win, so go here," he says, "and vote for Forza Motorsport 3! Afterwards, come to this thread and post a message letting us know you've done it. We'll gift you a random unicorn!"
The tactic appears to be working. Whether or not any of the 10,000 voters that have opted for Forza 3 have played the game we're not sure, but we'd imagine not. Likewise for the Gran Turismo 5 fans too, of course, who must also only be basing their voting on a brief trailer, some bullet points and a dash of blind fanboyism.
And then you have sites like PlayStationLife****who are claiming Turn 10 are "using bribes" (their words) to skew the vote. It's certainly not a bribe, more of an incentive, and we can't see the problem with that because the votes would probably still fall the same way given the sources of the traffic. The treat of a free rare car is a nice idea, and one that Polyphony might want to keep an eye on.
"What is NOT acceptable," says John Draisey of PlayStationLife**** "is when a publisher or developer uses bribes to gain an advantage. Che Chou, the community manager at Turn 10, has done exactly this, and we feel compelled to inform our readers about the dishonest tactics that the Forza Motorsport developer has chosen to carry out."
I honestly don't see why the site is so bothered about this, and we're of the opinion that if Sony did this then it would be a perfectly acceptable method of getting traffic to such a nonsensical vote. Still, with the guys from Polyphony very keen (they were hovering around Forza 3, taking notes and asking questions) lets hope GT5 picks up on at least some of Turn 10's verve.
And let's also hope that today gets a little less silly. I'm off for a coffee.
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