Article:: Gamespot sacking - the story continues

[HEXUS]

Games-review site, Gamespot, is once again the centre of attention of the unwanted kind as news reaches us of two more resignations apparently over how the site is run. But is that all that's going on there?

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[Wyoming]

This whole situation is very unfortunate, in that it has given clout to my fears for some time that any non-objective review I read should be taken with a pinch of salt. But I just worry that the same sort of thing might be happen in the printed press as well and that not just advertising but expectation influences a reviewer.

I agree with the interpretation of the actions of these latest two journalists. If I was at Gamespot I'd want to get out quickly. At the moment the journalists seem like glorified advertising people.

I'll stick to Hexus thanks - at least I know that the team here will slate a product if they don't like it (UT3 and Alienware are the examples I can think of).

[Nick]

I'd suggest that the print titles, with their much higher costs, are more susceptible to pressure externally from advertisers and internally from their ad sales teams.

In fact, I've overheard several conversations at games shows, (normally in the bar after a few pints have relaxed tongues), where sales guys, editors and even reviewers have agreed to influence reviews favourably on the basis of the space in the mag bought by an advertiser.

It happens in the PC component world too...

Buy yourself a PC mag and have a look see who's advertising and what scores their products get in the same issue... sometimes it's as blatant as a full page advert right next to the very same product receiving a glowing review. Other times it'll be more subtle, such as the same company but a different product... Group tests are a really good indicator of who bought a lot of space, or paid the highest price, for the adverts that month.

Of course, it might just be me being a cynical bast.

[Wyoming]

Well I have a subscription to Custom PC - but I get it for the guides, tutorials and articles rather than the reviews. I only read reviews to learn about features and read technical benchmarks.

And I have seen a motherboard in there get 38% with a full page ad for that board right next to it.

But I would agree that the temptation for foul play is far greater in the world of print in general.

[Bob Crabtree]

What's also very interesting is to compare reviews of products with which you've gone hands on.

I was recently trying to explaining to a client about not buying simply because of a glowing published review - what she was interested in was anti-nasties software.

I had a link on my memory stick to a review on a very big technology site - okay, CNET actually, of Norton 360, where the product received a score of 8/10 from the site's reviewers but a very unflattering 3.8 average from well over 200 of the site's visitors.

And, I reckon, that if you want a bench-mark for judging a big technology site's credentials, its score for Norton anti-nasties apps is a good one.

As with McAfee, many users quickly come to the opinion that the programs are bloated and far from effective but that doesn't seem to stop publications on the web and in print giving them good scores - and the cynic in me keeps on asking why?

[Wyoming]

As with McAfee, many users quickly come to the opinion that the programs are bloated and far from effective but that doesn't seem to stop publications on the web and in print giving them good scores - and the cynic in me keeps on asking why?

Because for a non-power user, it does its job very well without hassling the user and with regular updates. I have it installed on my parents PC and they don't notice the difference. Ultimately it provides good protection and is very easy to use. It performs its function well.

[Bob Crabtree]

If you and your folks are happy with it, that's great. It's also nice to hear that they find its use transparent.

However, in my experience, Norton and McAfee are almost virus-like in terms of how hard they are to dig out from a PC (harder, in truth than most real viruses or trojans) and are greedy of resources and don't do as good a job as many lesser-known programs - including some freebies.

Because for a non-power user, it does its job very well without hassling the user and with regular updates. I have it installed on my parents PC and they don't notice the difference. Ultimately it provides good protection and is very easy to use. It performs its function well.