Maybe We Should Start Issuing More Press Releases

" @oldschool said:

" @Trilogy said:

" @oldschool said:

" @Trilogy said:

" Nintendo fanboys... thanks for the laughs. "

You are espousing the same simple minded nonsense you perpetrated on the other thread.  This isn't about Nintendo, this is about Jeff's bad and very childish attempts at journalism, that wouldn't get printed in your hometown newspaper because it so void of intellect.  The Nintendo aspect is completely irrelevant. "

Maybe for you it is but I have no vested interest in this article at all.  I just think it's hilarious to see all of the nintendo fanboys come out and condemn Jeff. Fanboyism = Simpleminded.  You're a pretty damn good example of this. Therefore, you make me laugh. Therefore, thank you. "

Oh yes, you got me good.  Me and my 360, Xbox, 2 x PSP, PS2, PS1, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master System, PC and assorted Nintendo consoles are such fanboys.  Again, show me how I mentioned Nintendo in any of the replies or stop talking out of Jeff's arse.  All I have read here is simply about the worst kind of journalism perpetrated by the stupidest thread any staff member here has made, and that is saying a lot. "

I'm not trying to "get" you. This isn't an argument between me and you really and I'm not about to defend Jeff. He's a grown ass man and he can defend himself if he wants to. 
 
All I'm saying is that fanboyism is pathetic. I mainly play games on a 360 but I also game on my pc, my ps2, my Wii and other various systems. That being said, you don't see me getting upset if somebody takes a a big fat verbal dump on the 360 or microsoft  because I'm not a fanboy. I don't get defensive and call out the integrity of game journalists when they don't agree with me. Fanboys do.
 
 Lets face it, if this article was about an official sony magazine doing a special on the next major ps3 exclusive, you wouldn't be upset. "

Well, to be honest what else have they got to review? Fuck all probably. Picross? Wait, don't tell me. NEXT MONTH: 10 PAGE REVIEW OF PICROSS 3D! THE ONLY REVIEW THAT MATTERS. Fuck off. Future are just shit in general. I know how all these "official" magazine's are supposed to print good quality stuff but seriously you can't really expect a bad review of a Nintendo game when the mag is called "The Official Nintendo Magazine". Heck, they might even be employed by Nintendo. And also, for anyone in the - check out FirstPlay on the PS Store. It is ultra-shit, despite it's amazing pedigree,"from the makers of the Official Playstation Magazine". Sounds more like the Official Corporate Blowjob Magazine to me    

" The day that Nintendo Official Magazine gave Red Steel a 92 out of 100 score was the day I stopped buying Nintendo Official Magazine. "

" @CookieMonster said:

" The day that Nintendo Official Magazine gave Red Steel a 92 out of 100 score was the day I stopped buying Nintendo Official Magazine. "

Wait, Red Steel 1?  Yeah that's pretty unacceptable. "

Keep this up Jeff and Giantbomb is going to fire you too.  [face_badjoke]

" @Olivaw said:

" @CookieMonster said:

" The day that Nintendo Official Magazine gave Red Steel a 92 out of 100 score was the day I stopped buying Nintendo Official Magazine. "

Wait, Red Steel 1?  Yeah that's pretty unacceptable. "

Actually, it gave it a 91, so we need to be accurate, and let us also remember that NGamer, an unofficial magazine, gave the game a 90 and Play gave it an 85.  You can't just isolate one game score and pretend that this is representative of everything.  I don't own the game, so I have no view. "

Well if I'm buying a game on the 360 the only reviews that matter are ones from OXM. What the point of the review at that point. It sounds more like a 10-page guide or information about the game for people super interested in Mario for some reason.

" @oldschool said:

" @Olivaw said:

" @CookieMonster said:

" The day that Nintendo Official Magazine gave Red Steel a 92 out of 100 score was the day I stopped buying Nintendo Official Magazine. "

Wait, Red Steel 1?  Yeah that's pretty unacceptable. "

Actually, it gave it a 91, so we need to be accurate, and let us also remember that NGamer, an unofficial magazine, gave the game a 90 and Play gave it an 85.  You can't just isolate one game score and pretend that this is representative of everything.  I don't own the game, so I have no view. "

I have played the game for a significant length of time.
 
Anything above a 60, maybe a 65, cannot be justified.  So I'm perfectly willing to say that those NGamer and Play reviews are also unacceptable. "

I used to read Nintendo Official Magazine back in the N64 days. They basically promoted the fanboy attitude with a section of the magazine devoted to fan drawings of Mario killing Sonic in gruesome ways, while their features constantly put down Sega and Sony. 
 
I was suckered into the hate in my young mind until I discovered these same writers and editors worked on multiplatform magazines, as well as Playstation magazines...  
 
Yeah, don't trust "Official" magazines, people.

" I heard Jeff's review of this review is mentioned in that review so we can't read Jeff's review and trust it 100% because he's mentioned their review in his review of that review. Or something. "

" @Olivaw said:

" @oldschool said:

" @Olivaw said:

" @CookieMonster said:

" The day that Nintendo Official Magazine gave Red Steel a 92 out of 100 score was the day I stopped buying Nintendo Official Magazine. "

Wait, Red Steel 1?  Yeah that's pretty unacceptable. "

Actually, it gave it a 91, so we need to be accurate, and let us also remember that NGamer, an unofficial magazine, gave the game a 90 and Play gave it an 85.  You can't just isolate one game score and pretend that this is representative of everything.  I don't own the game, so I have no view. "

I have played the game for a significant length of time.
 
Anything above a 60, maybe a 65, cannot be justified.  So I'm perfectly willing to say that those NGamer and Play reviews are also unacceptable. "

I don't doubt that it is a 60 for you, but all reviewing is just personal opinion and in a way, all scores are correct.  The thing here is that ONM is the target here, yet, in all cases of a highish score for ONM, you will find several comparable scores from other sites as well.  That just makes ONM another magazine, no different to others.  Again I repeat, I read NGamer, not ONM. "

My only problem with this article is that implying bias at an Official Game Publisher Magazine is kind of like making fun of a clown's ridiculously large shoes.

" By the contrary, I repeatedly pointed out that it would be just as pathetic if it were about a high profile game on either the 360 or PS3.  My commentary is console neutral.  I am not in the slightest bit upset.  It is just another confirmation for me that journalism here is a sad and pathetic joke, not that it needed more confirmation.  You need to try and separate commentary about bad journalism and game console preference.  They are distinctly different things.  Every time someone criticises poor journalism on a Nintendo product it is too quickly slated as fanboyism and it is far from it.  The Nintendo users here don't really care who dislikes the Wii, they are too busy playing it and having fun.  However, if they see studity in any form, like this thread, then they are entitled to call "crap journalism" when they see it.  Just for the record, I never came close to finishing Super Mario Galaxy as it both made me sick and didn't really excite me (it did look good though) and I am in no hurry to buy SMG2 (I haven't even bought NSMB yet), so it isn't even as if I have some vested interest in the game.  This is not new news, as I have that position clear several times before. "

wow... what is this world coming to :]   .. good thing that they did not create over 300 magazines with different pokemon on it ;]

I have one or two copies of the Official Nintendo magazine in my collection and let me tell you something, it's a joke.
 
They just seem to be giving high scores to games that have no business of being called great, it just seems they get back-handers slipped to them by Nintendo. 85 for Red Steel? Fuck off. The magazine is also a little skint on content. How many good Wii games are released every month? Not too many it seems.

Jeez, bet all this good press for this game was totally unsolicited.

The difference between ONM and NGamer though is the "official" moniker.
 
Trying to pretend that you are no different from anyone other games journalist when you are being paid and funded by the people who made the game you are reviewing is nonsense.
 
Sure, other people probably have the same opinion somewhere, but they are not being paid by Nintendo to express it. Unless it's under the table. We don't know! This conspiracy could go to the very top. (joke) "

" In all fairness, OXM (offical xbox mag) used to do this type of stuff, too.  Okay, not 6 different covers, but they would have a few to choose from on newsstands and an additional one for home subscribers.    But, it's actions like this from publications that highlight the sentiment that the games press is just another arm of game marketing.  In this case, Official Nintendo Magazine might as well have a cubical right next to the PR department at Nintendo HQ.  Hype is one thing, shameless adoration is another.    Still, there are economic reasons for this as well.  Chances are the Nintendo faithful will collect several issues if they like the covers, plus people who don't normally buy gaming magazines might pick up a copy if it has lots of coverage and secrets to this latest installment in the Mario franchise.  Every issue sold validates a print magazine's existence. "

" @Olivaw said: 

The difference between ONM and NGamer though is the "official" moniker.
 
Trying to pretend that you are no different from anyone other games journalist when you are being paid and funded by the people who made the game you are reviewing is nonsense.
 
Sure, other people probably have the same opinion somewhere, but they are not being paid by Nintendo to express it. Unless it's under the table. We don't know! This conspiracy could go to the very top. (joke) "

 I beg your pardon?  We are not paid by, or funded by Nintendo. At all. Our license gives us early access to games and that's all. ONM is a Future Publishing magazine (as is NGamer) and we are employees of Future (as are NGamer). We are NOT on Nintendo's payroll, and the examples I gave in my initial post of low review scores for Nintendo games indicate this. Why would Nintendo pay us to say WarioWare Snapped doesn't work or that Mario Party 8 isn't fun? There's giving an opinion, and there's making completely wrong and offensive claims. I didn't spend four years at university getting my degree in journalism to be told what opinion to give.   By all means have an opinion, but please use the truth to back it up and not complete lies. We are not being "paid and funded" by the people who make the games we review, because if we were that sort of corruption wouldn't have us on the newsstands for long. "

" @ChrisONM said:

" @Olivaw said: 

The difference between ONM and NGamer though is the "official" moniker.
 
Trying to pretend that you are no different from anyone other games journalist when you are being paid and funded by the people who made the game you are reviewing is nonsense.
 
Sure, other people probably have the same opinion somewhere, but they are not being paid by Nintendo to express it. Unless it's under the table. We don't know! This conspiracy could go to the very top. (joke) "

 I beg your pardon?  We are not paid by, or funded by Nintendo. At all. Our license gives us early access to games and that's all. ONM is a Future Publishing magazine (as is NGamer) and we are employees of Future (as are NGamer). We are NOT on Nintendo's payroll, and the examples I gave in my initial post of low review scores for Nintendo games indicate this. Why would Nintendo pay us to say WarioWare Snapped doesn't work or that Mario Party 8 isn't fun? There's giving an opinion, and there's making completely wrong and offensive claims. I didn't spend four years at university getting my degree in journalism to be told what opinion to give.   By all means have an opinion, but please use the truth to back it up and not complete lies. We are not being "paid and funded" by the people who make the games we review, because if we were that sort of corruption wouldn't have us on the newsstands for long. "

Perhaps you should consider changing the name of your publication to something other than "Official Nintendo Magazine," then.   And, having taken a job at a publication with such a moniker, you should be totally unsurprised that the general public would come to the conclusion that you are on the Nintendo payroll, and respond with something other than emotional indignation when presented with that reality. "

 @ChrisONM said:

" @Olivaw said: 

The difference between ONM and NGamer though is the "official" moniker.
 
Trying to pretend that you are no different from anyone other games journalist when you are being paid and funded by the people who made the game you are reviewing is nonsense.
 
Sure, other people probably have the same opinion somewhere, but they are not being paid by Nintendo to express it. Unless it's under the table. We don't know! This conspiracy could go to the very top. (joke) "

 I beg your pardon?  We are not paid by, or funded by Nintendo. At all. Our license gives us early access to games and that's all. ONM is a Future Publishing magazine (as is NGamer) and we are employees of Future (as are NGamer). We are NOT on Nintendo's payroll, and the examples I gave in my initial post of low review scores for Nintendo games indicate this. Why would Nintendo pay us to say WarioWare Snapped doesn't work or that Mario Party 8 isn't fun? There's giving an opinion, and there's making completely wrong and offensive claims. I didn't spend four years at university getting my degree in journalism to be told what opinion to give.   By all means have an opinion, but please use the truth to back it up and not complete lies. We are not being "paid and funded" by the people who make the games we review, because if we were that sort of corruption wouldn't have us on the newsstands for long. "

Man, that cinematic really was good. Hopefully the game is half that good

This site seriously needs more Nintendo news its sad the first page can go back to January when so much has come out on the Wii in that time frame.

" This site seriously needs more Nintendo news its sad the first page can go back to January when so much has come out on the Wii in that time frame. "

"

Do the people at Future just take rounds sucking Miyamoto's dick?

"

Only a few games I can think of that warrant a 10-page review; Final Fantasy 13 comes to mind as you need a minimum of 10 pages to talk about how crappy it is, and many reasons you should avoid it. Of course, the review wouldn't actually start until the 9th page.
 
It is unfortunate what gaming has come to. There is a reason why others will never take gaming seriously and it is because people just can't grow-up from the same, rehashed Nintendo games.

Now someone needs to review this review of a review, then someone needs to offer constructive feedback on that.

I don't know if this has been brought up yet, but i think you misinterpreted their "only review that matters". I think what they meant by that is that, that's the only game review in that issue that is of importance. But still stupid advertising ploy nonetheless.

The nintendo fanboys on this site make me ashamed to love my wii.

" Official Nintendo Magazine has the definitive verdict on the latest and greatest Mario game "   
 
Since it's apparently the greatest Mario game to date, judging by their Super Mario Galaxy 1 review , giving it a 97, we at least know it's greater than that. 
  
I'm gonna take a wild card and bet at 98.  

" I don't know if this has been brought up yet, but i think you misinterpreted their "only review that matters". I think what they meant by that is that, that's the only game review in that issue that is of importance. But still stupid advertising ploy nonetheless. "

NEVER?

" @oldschool said:

" @Olivaw said:

" @oldschool said:

" @Olivaw said:

" @CookieMonster said:

" The day that Nintendo Official Magazine gave Red Steel a 92 out of 100 score was the day I stopped buying Nintendo Official Magazine. "

Wait, Red Steel 1?  Yeah that's pretty unacceptable. "

Actually, it gave it a 91, so we need to be accurate, and let us also remember that NGamer, an unofficial magazine, gave the game a 90 and Play gave it an 85.  You can't just isolate one game score and pretend that this is representative of everything.  I don't own the game, so I have no view. "

I have played the game for a significant length of time.
 
Anything above a 60, maybe a 65, cannot be justified.  So I'm perfectly willing to say that those NGamer and Play reviews are also unacceptable. "

I don't doubt that it is a 60 for you, but all reviewing is just personal opinion and in a way, all scores are correct.  The thing here is that ONM is the target here, yet, in all cases of a highish score for ONM, you will find several comparable scores from other sites as well.  That just makes ONM another magazine, no different to others.  Again I repeat, I read NGamer, not ONM. "

The difference between ONM and NGamer though is the "official" moniker.
 
Trying to pretend that you are no different from anyone other games journalist when you are being paid and funded by the people who made the game you are reviewing is nonsense.
 
Sure, other people probably have the same opinion somewhere, but they are not being paid by Nintendo to express it. Unless it's under the table. We don't know! This conspiracy could go to the very top. (joke) "

On the first skim through this article I thought you get six limited edition covers for the game with the magazine, which I thought was pretty stupid. Then I realised it was saying the same issue of the magazine is available in six different limited edition covers... that's all the way stupid.

" I don't know if this has been brought up yet, but i think you misinterpreted their "only review that matters". I think what they meant by that is that, that's the only game review in that issue that is of importance. But still stupid advertising ploy nonetheless. "

" @oldschool said:

" By the contrary, I repeatedly pointed out that it would be just as pathetic if it were about a high profile game on either the 360 or PS3.  My commentary is console neutral.  I am not in the slightest bit upset.  It is just another confirmation for me that journalism here is a sad and pathetic joke, not that it needed more confirmation.  You need to try and separate commentary about bad journalism and game console preference.  They are distinctly different things.  Every time someone criticises poor journalism on a Nintendo product it is too quickly slated as fanboyism and it is far from it.  The Nintendo users here don't really care who dislikes the Wii, they are too busy playing it and having fun.  However, if they see studity in any form, like this thread, then they are entitled to call "crap journalism" when they see it.  Just for the record, I never came close to finishing Super Mario Galaxy as it both made me sick and didn't really excite me (it did look good though) and I am in no hurry to buy SMG2 (I haven't even bought NSMB yet), so it isn't even as if I have some vested interest in the game.  This is not new news, as I have that position clear several times before. "

If that is how you honestly feel then perhaps I hold the slightest morsal of respect for you over some of the obvious fanboys in this thread. That doesn't mean I agree with you but hey, that's the nature of the internet. In my opinion, an official magazine's review of a game that company makes is pretty pointless. That doesn't mean that the magazine itself is pointless. I used to play games on nothing but nintendo as a child and I loved reading nintendo power. Today, I have the understanding to raise an eyebrow to any review of an official magazine. Likewise, I wouldn't trust giantbomb's reviews if it was employed by Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft and I hope you wouldn't either. I have an honest question for you. Why do you still come here? If you don't trust the journalism here then why be a part of the community that supports it? I mean, if you enjoy complaining about articles then so be it, stay and complain. I can't help but wonder what the point is. Are you hoping to get a response from Jeff? I mean, at this point you have pretty much insulted Jeff by stating how much of an idiot you think he is and how poor you think his journalism is. Therefore, I can't imagine that you are looking to get through to him. Perhaps you stay for the other staff members? It's an honest question without any undertones. I'm just curious. "

" On the first skim through this article I thought you get six limited edition covers for the game with the magazine, which I thought was pretty stupid. Then I realised it was saying the same issue of the magazine is available in six different limited edition covers... that's all the way stupid. "

" @Newten said:

" On the first skim through this article I thought you get six limited edition covers for the game with the magazine, which I thought was pretty stupid. Then I realised it was saying the same issue of the magazine is available in six different limited edition covers... that's all the way stupid. "

This isn't something unique to ONM.  Hell, it isn't even unique to games magazines.  It is a marketing ploy to sell more copies.  Some people believe it or not, will collect them all (why I will never understand).  NGamer (not official) did it with LEGO Batman and had over 10 different covers I think, plus there were other magazines who are multiplatform that have done exactly the same thing.  If it is stupid for one, it is stupid for all.  It is however stupid to criticise this simply because it is a Nintendo magazine.   "

" @oldschool said:

" @Newten said:

" On the first skim through this article I thought you get six limited edition covers for the game with the magazine, which I thought was pretty stupid. Then I realised it was saying the same issue of the magazine is available in six different limited edition covers... that's all the way stupid. "

This isn't something unique to ONM.  Hell, it isn't even unique to games magazines.  It is a marketing ploy to sell more copies.  Some people believe it or not, will collect them all (why I will never understand).  NGamer (not official) did it with LEGO Batman and had over 10 different covers I think, plus there were other magazines who are multiplatform that have done exactly the same thing.  If it is stupid for one, it is stupid for all.  It is however stupid to criticise this simply because it is a Nintendo magazine.   "

I don't think that anyone is doing that.  I think we would all be saying that it's pretty dumb if it were a Microsoft magazine talking about the next Fable game with ten different covers and devoting ten pages to saying it's great. "

" @oldschool said:

" @Newten said:

" On the first skim through this article I thought you get six limited edition covers for the game with the magazine, which I thought was pretty stupid. Then I realised it was saying the same issue of the magazine is available in six different limited edition covers... that's all the way stupid. "

This isn't something unique to ONM.  Hell, it isn't even unique to games magazines.  It is a marketing ploy to sell more copies.  Some people believe it or not, will collect them all (why I will never understand).  NGamer (not official) did it with LEGO Batman and had over 10 different covers I think, plus there were other magazines who are multiplatform that have done exactly the same thing.  If it is stupid for one, it is stupid for all.  It is however stupid to criticise this simply because it is a Nintendo magazine.   "

I don't think that anyone is doing that.  I think we would all be saying that it's pretty dumb if it were a Microsoft magazine talking about the next Fable game with ten different covers and devoting ten pages to saying it's great. "

" This site seriously needs more Nintendo news its sad the first page can go back to January when so much has come out on the Wii in that time frame. "

 I don't know if this has been brought up in the discussion (too much shouting in the previous comments and I just tuned out), but I think the point of Jeff's article is not about bias, but how a video game review is handled by everyone in the gaming press (either officially-sanctioned by a company or an independent third party). ONM practically gave away their selling point (the review itself) for free by letting the world know that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is "a Miyamoto masterpiece" in the press release. At that point, unless I want to collect SMG artwork which can be obtained on the Internet anyway, why should I buy the magazine anyway? ONM should've at least tried to hide their excitement and tease the magazine buyer about the SMG2 review on their cover(s).
  
Personally, if the cover of the magazine tells me how a product will be reviewed, whether positively or negatively, then it's pointless for me to buy it. I'll be like "Hey, it looks like this game is awesome; instead of using this money to buy the magazine, I'll use it to buy SMG2 right now." (Or something like that.) But hey then again, the typical ONM buyer is probably gonna buy the magazine anyway. From an outsider's (non-ONM buyer's) perspective though, it just seems strange.

" @oldschool:  Yes, because lowest common denominator journalism consists of criticising the practices of others pre-judging games as 'masterpieces' thanks to advertising dollars and the worst kind of pandering to one's audience, something Jeff has had a little experience combatting in the past. Being positive about a game when you have zero integrity is valueleless, without criticism this shitty industry will never change. You're right, I don't think this has anything to do with Nintendo, it has to do with the general standards of the industry, which are abysmally low - this is an excellent example of it. I have yet to see anything that extreme in my time with magazines, 'official' or not.  If game reviews are to reach the same level as literature and film, then nonsense like this has simply cannot be tolerated. As for those of us who have moved beyond childish opinions about console preferences, it doesn't matter what console this is aligned with, the magazine is despicable, and they're doing Nintendo fans a disservice as well. "

" @oldschool:  Why is he in a glass house, as his site is not licensed and afaik has no allegiance to any gaming company as opposed to OHM? It would be a fairer criticism if he was still at Gamespot, but he's not. I think if more people were called out like this they might be shamed into putting out better journalism. Articles like these need to become more widespread not less, so at least criticism could be mounted without endless petty snark and ad hominem attacks. Unfortunately, it's the emotional fragility of fans and sensitivity to any perceived criticism that leads to virtually no criticism and a persistently low standard. I can see where you're coming from though, as they tend to ignore the marketing excesses of for ex. Halo, with its incredibly overblown legendary collector's packs, etc., which is unfair. They could be more damning of the HD consoles and their failings. "

" @oldschool:  Why is he in a glass house, as his site is not licensed and afaik has no allegiance to any gaming company as opposed to OHM? It would be a fairer criticism if he was still at Gamespot, but he's not. I think if more people were called out like this they might be shamed into putting out better journalism. Articles like these need to become more widespread not less, so at least criticism could be mounted without endless petty snark and ad hominem attacks. Unfortunately, it's the emotional fragility of fans and sensitivity to any perceived criticism that leads to virtually no criticism and a persistently low standard. I can see where you're coming from though, as they tend to ignore the marketing excesses of for ex. Halo, with its incredibly overblown legendary collector's packs, etc., which is unfair. They could be more damning of the HD consoles and their failings. "

im actually surprised why everyone is blowing their top over this article...if it hrts ou, ignore it and move on.

You people be treatin' the internet like it's muh'fuckin' rap beef!