Variety takes the MS money

Variety.com is unfortunately one of the sites that have taken the Microsoft money and we can no longer trust.

First the press release:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/Sep07/09-19MSNVarietyPR.mspx

Now the scores:

Variety.com the lowest score among ALL reviewers for Resistance 2 (7.0)

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/resistance2

Variety.com the lowest score among ALL reviewers for LBP (8.0)

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/littlebigplanet

Fable 2 received a 9.8 for comparison.

Gamers should be able to rely on gaming sites to provide accurate reviews. It helps us spend our hard earned money. Personally I think money influencing reviews is a disgusting business practice and hurts gamers and the customers. What are your thoughts? Do you think MS should be blamed? Do you think Variety is at fault? Do you think it's just business? Either way I won't be supporting them.

:roll:

Come back when you have evidence over blind stupid conspiracy theorys.

CreepyBacon

How is it a conspiracy theory? The very lowest scores on the entire internet for two of the best PS3 games and a press release announcing Microsoft and Variety "joining forces."

Why would it be beneficial for Microsoft to spend large amounts of money bribing reviewers from Variety? :| Do you seriously think their review will affect a game's success in any way at all?

[QUOTE="CreepyBacon"]

:roll:

Come back when you have evidence over blind stupid conspiracy theorys.

EmperorSupreme

How is it a conspiracy theory? The very lowest scores on the entire internet for two of the best PS3 games and a press release announcing Microsoft and Variety "joining forces."

Microsoft has a stake in CNET too; are gamespot biased as well?

[QUOTE="CreepyBacon"]

:roll:

Come back when you have evidence over blind stupid conspiracy theorys.

EmperorSupreme

How is it a conspiracy theory? The very lowest scores on the entire internet for two of the best PS3 games and a press release announcing Microsoft and Variety "joining forces."

Use your head. What the hell is variety? Perhaps I'm just not in the loop but I've never heard of that site, I've never seen it used in an argument on this site so I can't imagine it's a very major or important gaming website.

So why would Microsoft decide to pay a website that might be popular - but not to the gaming world, to write bad reviews for the PS3? It doesn't make sense they'd go after a bigger gaming site.

:roll:

Come back when you have evidence over blind stupid conspiracy theorys.

CreepyBacon

True, but as a metaphor for being biased, I would probably have to agree. I mean lets face it, two lowest scores for PS3 exclusive games and near highest for a single Xbox 360 game is pretty bad by any standards. There are alot of biast sources out there, Gamespot is not one of them (Yes, that's right fan boys, giving a game you like a bad score does not equate to biast under circumstances as simple as that.). I find it hard to belive though that people hardly take their jobs as critics seriously, I mean come on, it must be such a hard life playing video games and telling us what you think of them all the time. The least you could do is maintain some integrity.

OXM UK gave viva pinata 2 70 but on metacritic it has an average score of 82

and they gave fable 2 an 8.0 but on metacritic they gave an average score of 90

surely sony has bribed them :roll:

didn't Teamxbox give Banjo & kazooie a low score just recently?

you know...TEAM XBOX??

OXM UK gave viva pinata 2 70 but on metacritic it has an average score of 82

and they gave fable 2 an 8.0 but on metacritic they gave an average score of 90

surely sony has bribed them :roll:

st1ka

No, but how many PS3 games have they reviewed? None, so there isn't even a comparison. However here you can see games from both sides, and an obvious favour being shown to one of them.

OXM UK gave viva pinata 2 70 but on metacritic it has an average score of 82

and they gave fable 2 an 8.0 but on metacritic they gave an average score of 90

surely sony has bribed them :roll:

st1ka

Perhaps the bribe was given by the secret Nintendo-Sony Joint Justice Alliance of Peace and Prosperity.

yeah i noticed this too,, they are the ONLY site to give LBP below a AAA, and also gave R2 a very harsh 7.

They should be removed from metacritic,, that link about the partnership only confirmed it

they did give MGS4 a 10/10 ... so maybe they were bought out recently

Who the hell cares? Variety? They ain't nobody. :/Not-A-Stalker

to some people, 'metacritic' equals the gospel of jesus,,, and variety brings down the average considerably

[QUOTE="st1ka"]

OXM UK gave viva pinata 2 70 but on metacritic it has an average score of 82

and they gave fable 2 an 8.0 but on metacritic they gave an average score of 90

surely sony has bribed them :roll:

WasntAvailable

No, but how many PS3 games have they reviewed? None, so there isn't even a comparison. However here you can see games from both sides, and an obvious favour being shown to one of them.

yes, that means that the reviewers are bias, not that they were bought by microsoft

Whilst I do think some reviewers just may be on the take - Variety, who cares what they say ?

:lol:

yeah i noticed this too,, they are the ONLY site to give LBP below a AAA, and also gave R2 a very harsh 7.

They should be removed from metacritic,, that link about the partnership only confirmed it

they did give MGS4 a 10/10 ... so maybe they were bought out recently

signore

Yes, them giving PS3 games GOOD scores is not an indication that this "bought off" theory is silly, but rather that they were just bought off AFTER reviewing those games.

:|

Conspiracy theories are AWESOME.the most hilarious thing about this was how the TC acts like anybody ever bought Variety for videogame reviews. LOL.

What's next The Wall Street Journal?

[QUOTE="EmperorSupreme"][QUOTE="CreepyBacon"]

:roll:

Come back when you have evidence over blind stupid conspiracy theorys.

Ninja-Hippo

How is it a conspiracy theory? The very lowest scores on the entire internet for two of the best PS3 games and a press release announcing Microsoft and Variety "joining forces."

Microsoft has a stake in CNET too; are gamespot biased as well?

thread has been destroyed

[QUOTE="WasntAvailable"][QUOTE="st1ka"]

OXM UK gave viva pinata 2 70 but on metacritic it has an average score of 82

and they gave fable 2 an 8.0 but on metacritic they gave an average score of 90

surely sony has bribed them :roll:

st1ka

No, but how many PS3 games have they reviewed? None, so there isn't even a comparison. However here you can see games from both sides, and an obvious favour being shown to one of them.

yes, that means that the reviewers are bias, not that they were bought by microsoft

Agreed. Microsoft are a pretty dodgy company if reports are to be belived (I mean let's face it, how many law suits have they seen? It is suggested that even the original operating system they developed was essentially stolen, and that they just payed alot of cash to avoid a lawsuit. Still just a theory, but it's not exactly unusual for such an agressive company. What was it Peter Moore said about them wanting to crush Sony? They have had quite a few run ins with the orginizations designed to halt manopolisation(Is that a word? It should be!)), but even at that, paying for reviews scores is just a bit shallow. It would likely fail to make a considerable impact for the amount of money they paid in the first place, and if they were caught the penalty would be a real waste.

Variety.com is unfortunately one of the sites that have taken the Microsoft money and we can no longer trust.

First the press release:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/Sep07/09-19MSNVarietyPR.mspx

Now the scores:

Variety.com the lowest score among ALL reviewers for Resistance 2 (7.0)

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/resistance2

Variety.com the lowest score among ALL reviewers for LBP (8.0)

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/littlebigplanet

Fable 2 received a 9.8 for comparison.

Gamers should be able to rely on gaming sites to provide accurate reviews. It helps us spend our hard earned money. Personally I think money influencing reviews is a disgusting business practice and hurts gamers and the customers. What are your thoughts? Do you think MS should be blamed? Do you think Variety is at fault? Do you think it's just business? Either way I won't be supporting them.

EmperorSupreme

It's just buisness.

If your so appaled by this then really you should not be on gamespot as IMO it's pretty obvious GS takes that cash also.

Isn't that site/mag a fashion thing?

Anyway, zomg a site gave a low review score to a game zomg zomg......

manopolisation(Is that a word? It should be!))

WasntAvailable

(evidentally I caN'T link it because it says it leads to several JS exploits)

3 dictionary results for: monopolization

[QUOTE="signore"]

yeah i noticed this too,, they are the ONLY site to give LBP below a AAA, and also gave R2 a very harsh 7.

They should be removed from metacritic,, that link about the partnership only confirmed it

they did give MGS4 a 10/10 ... so maybe they were bought out recently

Ninja-Hippo

Yes, them giving PS3 games GOOD scores is not an indication that this "bought off" theory is silly, but rather that they were just bought off AFTER reviewing those games.

:|

It should also be noted that this press release is over a year old. Which obviously means Microsoft didn't need to turn in any favors until now. Nor did they mind the scathing review of Too Human. In fact, they wanted that game to perform poorly so Silicon Knights stock would drop so they can buy the studio.

[QUOTE="CreepyBacon"]

:roll:

Come back when you have evidence over blind stupid conspiracy theorys.

EmperorSupreme

How is it a conspiracy theory? The very lowest scores on the entire internet for two of the best PS3 games and a press release announcing Microsoft and Variety "joining forces."

It's a distribution deal regarding Variety produced entertainment and celebrity news for MSN.com. Not Variety "joining forces", "taking MS money" or whatever it is you want it to be.

Or maybe it's just a cover for Microsoft's secret plan! To bribe this well-known and influential force of the industry into writing what Microsoft wants them to. But only one year after the devious deal was first struck, and after Too Human. Around the time when Variety gave LBP and Resistance 2 lower than average scores.

It's a distribution deal regarding Variety produced entertainment and celebrity news for MSN.com. Not Variety "joining forces", "taking MS money" or whatever it is you want it to be.

Or maybe it's just a cover for Microsoft's secret plan! To bribe this well-known and influential force of the industry into writing what Microsoft wants them to. But only one year after the devious deal was first struck, and after Too Human. Around the time when Variety gave LBP and Resistance 2 lower than average scores.

InsaneBasura

Hmmm..... That's a good point. Maybe it's not MS that's bribing them as much as Variety being MS fanboys for taking their money. The facts still remain that they are taking MS money and giving out the lowest reviews on the internet for PS3 games while still rating X360 titles very high.

[QUOTE="InsaneBasura"]

It's a distribution deal regarding Variety produced entertainment and celebrity news for MSN.com. Not Variety "joining forces", "taking MS money" or whatever it is you want it to be.

Or maybe it's just a cover for Microsoft's secret plan! To bribe this well-known and influential force of the industry into writing what Microsoft wants them to. But only one year after the devious deal was first struck, and after Too Human. Around the time when Variety gave LBP and Resistance 2 lower than average scores.

EmperorSupreme

Hmmm..... That's a good point. Maybe it's not MS that's bribing them as much as Variety being MS fanboys for taking their money. The facts still remain that they are taking MS money and giving out the lowest reviews on the internet for PS3 games while still rating X360 titles very high.

[QUOTE="EmperorSupreme"][QUOTE="CreepyBacon"]

:roll:

Come back when you have evidence over blind stupid conspiracy theorys.

CreepyBacon

How is it a conspiracy theory? The very lowest scores on the entire internet for two of the best PS3 games and a press release announcing Microsoft and Variety "joining forces."

Use your head. What the hell is variety? Perhaps I'm just not in the loop but I've never heard of that site, I've never seen it used in an argument on this site so I can't imagine it's a very major or important gaming website.

he should use his head?

Variety is only one of the, if not the, oldest and most reputable entertainment rag in the US. founded over 100 years ago. has far more credibility than ANY internet publication IMO.

[QUOTE="EmperorSupreme"][QUOTE="InsaneBasura"]

It's a distribution deal regarding Variety produced entertainment and celebrity news for MSN.com. Not Variety "joining forces", "taking MS money" or whatever it is you want it to be.

Or maybe it's just a cover for Microsoft's secret plan! To bribe this well-known and influential force of the industry into writing what Microsoft wants them to. But only one year after the devious deal was first struck, and after Too Human. Around the time when Variety gave LBP and Resistance 2 lower than average scores.

diped

Hmmm..... That's a good point. Maybe it's not MS that's bribing them as much as Variety being MS fanboys for taking their money. The facts still remain that they are taking MS money and giving out the lowest reviews on the internet for PS3 games while still rating X360 titles very high.

What's there not to believe?

MS partnered with Variety: FACT

Variety rates Resistance 2 the lowest of any site on the internet: FACT

Variety rates LBP the lowest of any site on the internet: FACT

I'm willing to listen that maybe MS didn't have nefarious intentions, but that doesn't change the fact that Variety.com are a bunch of X360 fanboys and their reviews clearly are extremely biased & they shouldn't be trusted as accurate source for reviews.

[QUOTE="diped"][QUOTE="EmperorSupreme"][QUOTE="InsaneBasura"]

It's a distribution deal regarding Variety produced entertainment and celebrity news for MSN.com. Not Variety "joining forces", "taking MS money" or whatever it is you want it to be.

Or maybe it's just a cover for Microsoft's secret plan! To bribe this well-known and influential force of the industry into writing what Microsoft wants them to. But only one year after the devious deal was first struck, and after Too Human. Around the time when Variety gave LBP and Resistance 2 lower than average scores.

EmperorSupreme

Hmmm..... That's a good point. Maybe it's not MS that's bribing them as much as Variety being MS fanboys for taking their money. The facts still remain that they are taking MS money and giving out the lowest reviews on the internet for PS3 games while still rating X360 titles very high.

What's there not to believe?

MS partnered with Variety: FACT

Variety rates Resistance 2 the lowest of any site on the internet: FACT

Variety rates LBP the lowest of any site on the internet: FACT

I'm willing to listen that maybe MS didn't have nefarious intentions, but that doesn't change the fact that Variety.com are a bunch of X360 fanboys and their reviews clearly are extremely biased & they shouldn't be trusted as accurate source for reviews.

right... a subjective review for a print publication = bias. the oldest and most respected print entertainment magazine is 'a bunch of X360 fanboys'.

and what the hell is an accurate subjective review? care to explain that little pickle to us friend? i was under the impression that subjective things were *gasp* subjective.

never understood why people get so upset over low scores. and i don't get why you compare print reviews from broad entertainment print publications to a GAME FAN SITE THAT ALWAYS REVIEWS HIGHER THAN PRINT.

get some perspective mate, this is getting a bit out of hand.

[QUOTE="WasntAvailable"]

manopolisation(Is that a word? It should be!))

BumFluff122

(evidentally I caN'T link it because it says it leads to several JS exploits)

3 dictionary results for: monopolization

Sorry, didn't have a dictionary handy. I could have searched, or just used a spell checker, but I'm just being lazy.

[QUOTE="diped"][QUOTE="EmperorSupreme"][QUOTE="InsaneBasura"]

It's a distribution deal regarding Variety produced entertainment and celebrity news for MSN.com. Not Variety "joining forces", "taking MS money" or whatever it is you want it to be.

Or maybe it's just a cover for Microsoft's secret plan! To bribe this well-known and influential force of the industry into writing what Microsoft wants them to. But only one year after the devious deal was first struck, and after Too Human. Around the time when Variety gave LBP and Resistance 2 lower than average scores.

EmperorSupreme

Hmmm..... That's a good point. Maybe it's not MS that's bribing them as much as Variety being MS fanboys for taking their money. The facts still remain that they are taking MS money and giving out the lowest reviews on the internet for PS3 games while still rating X360 titles very high.

What's there not to believe?

MS partnered with Variety: FACT

Variety rates Resistance 2 the lowest of any site on the internet: FACT

Variety rates LBP the lowest of any site on the internet: FACT

I'm willing to listen that maybe MS didn't have nefarious intentions, but that doesn't change the fact that Variety.com are a bunch of X360 fanboys and their reviews clearly are extremely biased & they shouldn't be trusted as accurate source for reviews.

deal was made in 2k7 over a year a go : FACT

variety gave mgs4 a 100 : FACT

[QUOTE="InsaneBasura"]

It's a distribution deal regarding Variety produced entertainment and celebrity news for MSN.com. Not Variety "joining forces", "taking MS money" or whatever it is you want it to be.

Or maybe it's just a cover for Microsoft's secret plan! To bribe this well-known and influential force of the industry into writing what Microsoft wants them to. But only one year after the devious deal was first struck, and after Too Human. Around the time when Variety gave LBP and Resistance 2 lower than average scores.

EmperorSupreme

Hmmm..... That's a good point. Maybe it's not MS that's bribing them as much as Variety being MS fanboys for taking their money. The facts still remain that they are taking MS money and giving out the lowest reviews on the internet for PS3 games while still rating X360 titles very high.

Yes yes. Variety is being bias out of good will for Microsoft for providing them with money. They probably hope to get on Microsoft's good side so they'll be making more deals with them in the future. This is all according to Microsoft's devious masterplan. Later they'll probably unleash this tactic on more sites and publications. Soon everyone will give good scores to Microsoft games. In fact, look at Gears of War 2. It's at 93 at Metacritic, only four below 90, clearly a direct result of foul play on Microsoft's behalf.

[QUOTE="diped"][QUOTE="EmperorSupreme"][QUOTE="InsaneBasura"]

It's a distribution deal regarding Variety produced entertainment and celebrity news for MSN.com. Not Variety "joining forces", "taking MS money" or whatever it is you want it to be.

Or maybe it's just a cover for Microsoft's secret plan! To bribe this well-known and influential force of the industry into writing what Microsoft wants them to. But only one year after the devious deal was first struck, and after Too Human. Around the time when Variety gave LBP and Resistance 2 lower than average scores.

EmperorSupreme

Hmmm..... That's a good point. Maybe it's not MS that's bribing them as much as Variety being MS fanboys for taking their money. The facts still remain that they are taking MS money and giving out the lowest reviews on the internet for PS3 games while still rating X360 titles very high.

What's there not to believe?

MS partnered with Variety: FACT

Variety rates Resistance 2 the lowest of any site on the internet: FACT

Variety rates LBP the lowest of any site on the internet: FACT

I'm willing to listen that maybe MS didn't have nefarious intentions, but that doesn't change the fact that Variety.com are a bunch of X360 fanboys and their reviews clearly are extremely biased & they shouldn't be trusted as accurate source for reviews.

They're clearly very supremely, extremely biased to the supermax ultramega. They rated two games lower than the average after all. As has been proven by random fanboys since the dawn of man, whenever a source rates a game for their platform lower than expected, that makes them bias. Two games, now that's just undeniable proof. They should have their reviewing license revoked. Because they're all one person.

[QUOTE="st1ka"][QUOTE="WasntAvailable"][QUOTE="st1ka"]

OXM UK gave viva pinata 2 70 but on metacritic it has an average score of 82

and they gave fable 2 an 8.0 but on metacritic they gave an average score of 90

surely sony has bribed them :roll:

WasntAvailable

No, but how many PS3 games have they reviewed? None, so there isn't even a comparison. However here you can see games from both sides, and an obvious favour being shown to one of them.

yes, that means that the reviewers are bias, not that they were bought by microsoft

Agreed. Microsoft are a pretty dodgy company if reports are to be belived (I mean let's face it, how many law suits have they seen? It is suggested that even the original operating system they developed was essentially stolen, and that they just payed alot of cash to avoid a lawsuit. Still just a theory, but it's not exactly unusual for such an agressive company. What was it Peter Moore said about them wanting to crush Sony? They have had quite a few run ins with the orginizations designed to halt manopolisation(Is that a word? It should be!)), but even at that, paying for reviews scores is just a bit shallow. It would likely fail to make a considerable impact for the amount of money they paid in the first place, and if they were caught the penalty would be a real waste.

To be fair, sony are just as dodgy. You dont get to where Sony and MS are by helping old ladies across the street. It's a dog eat dog world, and these massive companies are the biggist of dogs.

nothing to see here folks..just buncha made of facts

It's a...

" Variety.com is unfortunately one of the sites that have taken the Microsoft money and we can no longer trust. "

Is it just me or am I the only one who has never heard of this site. I mean who cares what a no name site gives games.

because MS would benefit from some score on a website :roll: cowsDante2710

Lol this made me laugh but dont you know Everyones out to get the Cows:roll:

I don't even understand why Variety have been counted in metacritic. I don't consider them a gaming site/magazine.

They might as well add every newspaper that have a half page which they dedicate to show a few game reviews.

Variety.com is unfortunately one of the sites that have taken the Microsoft money and we can no longer trust.

First the press release:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/Sep07/09-19MSNVarietyPR.mspx

Now the scores:

Variety.com the lowest score among ALL reviewers for Resistance 2 (7.0)

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/resistance2

Variety.com the lowest score among ALL reviewers for LBP (8.0)

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/littlebigplanet

Fable 2 received a 9.8 for comparison.

Gamers should be able to rely on gaming sites to provide accurate reviews. It helps us spend our hard earned money. Personally I think money influencing reviews is a disgusting business practice and hurts gamers and the customers. What are your thoughts? Do you think MS should be blamed? Do you think Variety is at fault? Do you think it's just business? Either way I won't be supporting them.

EmperorSupreme

I smell PS3 fanyboy jealous that hsi games got such bad scores over a competitors game... I bet you're a mac fan too, sicne you probably hate MS to the core and never liked Windows.

Whats Variety? i've never even heard of the place...

Oh my gawd, these conspiracy theories are just getting to be too much.

Sony, MS, and Nintendo pay everyone off. Can we just say that and let it go, since the real truth seems to be too bland for everyone else....