So Many Ads!!!

Credibility has become a topic of much debate in the video game writing world. It is difficult to seem unbiased about a game you're reviewing when the game is covering your site with banners and ads. The problem is that video game websites want to include ads that their viewers and readers will click on to generate profit. Any gaming site can put up ads for a clothing store or a new cooking product, but those ads won't generate the revenue that a Halo 3 ODST ad or a Dragon Age ad would create. This becomes a problem for viewers of the site, do you trust the review of a game that is currently being advertised on the site? Or do you look elsewhere for an unbiased review?

One of the most famed stories in video game journalism is that of Kane and Lynch and the review it received from former Gamespot employee Jeff Gerstmann. The game, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, was being advertised by Gamespot and eventually it was reviewed. Jeff gave the game an average score of 6.5 out of 10 due to the games many bugs and glitches. Gerstmann was fired soon after and the reasons were never truly or clearly stated why. While it is ridiculous to assume that the review would be the only reason for his termination the entire process brings up a great point about credibility and integrity. Gaming sites and magazines walk a fine line between giving honest reviews to their fan base and making sure game companies still want to advertise within their pages. Giving an advertised game a lackluster score could end up leading to gaming companies not wanting to advertise for a magazine or website that won't praise the game that is bringing them revenue through ads.

However, most sites and magazines do manage to pull off the advertising and reviewing debacle very well. Whether it is through disclosures at the beginning or the end of the review, not reviewing an advertised game until the ads are down, or sometimes just reviewing the game regardless of ads. The point is that reviews are written by people who are giving their opinions on a game they have played in an often different way than how most people play games. While most people take their time to see it all and have fun on their own time reviewers run through a game and make sure they see everything a game has to offer in a short amount of time to deliver a timely review. Take reviews with a grain of salt, and if a website or magazine seems like its being a bit too biased with a certain game then go look the game up on a different website, metacritic.com is a good source for nearly every review of a game...just don't take the metacritic score to mean something, we'll talk about that tomorrow. Happy gaming.