From Polygon Ban, to Giant Bomb Fan

I think polygon is a great site for news and feature videos/articles from the game's industry. They really put out interesting, unique content that you just get anywhere else. With that said I am not a big fan of their editorial stuff. While some criticize giantbomb for being to cynical, I think polygon is trying to be to... progressive maybe? I dont know, but for example in the Last of Us review they talk about the violence in this game in a very dark light, which is very surprising because I have heard that it is handled very well despite it being brutal. I am getting a bit ranty, but I just think they are still trying to find their personality with reviews and I dont like the way they are going.

Regardless of my distaste for their reviews, I think it's silly for you to think that they have some thing against PS3 games.

You should probably spend your time more wisely instead of writing all of this and expecting people to rally behind your cause. Welcome to the forums I guess.

btw: Ni No Kuni isn't that good so I can see why someone would give it a 6.5.

People take reviews too seriously, I did too and grew out of it. But whatever, IF your comments weren't that out of line then that is poor on their part but I doubt that is the case. And Polygon got really annoying quick for me, really enjoyed them on the verge. Now I just follow the McElroy's and stick with them alone.

Oh you already got to play The Last of Us? Nice, how was it? What was your favorite part?

If we're going to talk about intergrity and all that, how am I supposed to trust this one sided view of your story? How do I know you're not leaving out some really questionable details, like maybe one time you said all jews should be exterminated or some shit?

Seriously, they're just numbers we put on games.

Welcome to Giant Bomb. We don't really care all that much that you got banned. If we're just going to introduce ourselves by talking about about the forums we frequented before we came here, let me spin you a yarn:

So anyways, I think whining about review scores or in any way taking them seriously is dumb. I also don't particularly care for Polygon's...everything. Either way, you can say some really dumb shit on these forums and not get banned, so as long as you don't hurl racial epithets or pretend that you're a girl, you'll probably be ok.

Fucking same.

Not true Microsoft gave Polygon 800k as part of their funding, Microsoft reviews since have been getting great reviews like Halo 4 getting a 9.5 where as PS3 games are getting lower than the average on metacritic, Last of Us got a 7.5 from them which I believe is the lowest score. Could just be coincidence though, only good thing about that site is the McElroy brothers.

Are people just not paying attention? Guacamelee, which I'm fairly certain is a PS3 exclusive, got a 9 on Polygon. Gee, they sure are biased.

The number one most broken rule on the site.

You lie! haha

Also Polygon sucks and that has nothing to do with their review scores.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; People who get all uppity about reviews are idiots. Welcome to Giantbomb!

@hebrewhammer: "...and their seemingly blatant bias..."

Immediately invalidates any other comments or complaints you have. It makes me angry that in this day and age people still hold to stupid ideas of "bias" and "moneyhats". The games journalism industry isn't some big fucking conspiracy - grow the fuck up. It's goddamn 2013.

This is why we need things like RealID - so I can know with certainty I'm actually talking to a 13 year old child or a delusional adult. I don't know which would be worse.

I would have agreed with you a few months ago, but I think I've soured on the Brothers McElroy, either because of what Justin has said on the twittersphere or because I've become really tired of the "10 minutes of your 50 minute podcast being a joke promotion for a sex toy website". Oh yes, still funny, but I have a lot of podcasts on iTunes that have yet to be listened to. Also I'm tired and in a less than charitable mood.

At a forum I used to frequent they got new underaged dickhead mods who were no fun allowed, ever. Unless it was on their terms.

No place is sacred for long. But there's always replacements.

Also, weird sonyfanboyism. But I dig it.

@commandergermanshepard: I think that if you listen to them and other games writers talk you quickly come to see why it's such a silly idea. I agree that taking all that money from Microsoft was kinda gross, but that deal doesn't mean that it has actual influence over the editorial staff. Furthermore I think Jeff said it before, but these sorts of publications don't matter that much in the grand scheme of things. The reality is that the "bribe" money would be better spent on more ads or something similar. Also if you look through their Metacritic page, which let's be honest this sort of thing is bullshit anyway, you will notice there are several PS3 exclusives (I only looked through a few) that are ahead of the larger scores, so even by that flawed metric there doesn't seem to be any sign of foul play

Fucking terrifying, isn't it?

Say something bad about CBS! Bring it! Set a record on how many forums a non-bot can be banned from a website. Currently I'm on 6 but doing good so far here. Is it because I have a paid membership from day one possible?! I kid. But do I? Also not being a jerk would help.

You probably deserved it. I'm also pretty sick of hearing this "Polygon is an MS shill" garbage. Newsflash...Ni No Kuni WAS NOT a great game. It was okay. Forza Horizon, a game that reviewed well most places, was given a 6 there. A harsh anti MS piece even went up today. But hey keep on rocking that tin foil hat.

I never go to polygon and the only reference I have for them is listening to Arthur Geise on Rebel FM. So I can't speak to any troubled opinions or biases they might have. I also don't have any idea how you came across in your arguments. If you were really a dick who whined about a review of a game you haven't actually played, then don't expect to act like that here and be welcomed. But If they really did treat you unfairly and didn't allow for any constructive criticism, then I welcome you to this fun loving community.

Just one last thing to say. Don't be too much of a Dick and you'll be fine.

Eh, you deserved it. Doesn't matter though, everyone gets banned at some point or another. I had two permanent bans at Gametrailers and that wasn't even the thing that stopped me going there.

Welcome to the site. Please check out our rules to ensure you don't suffer a similar fate here at Giant Bomb.

Anyways, if you truly believe that polygon is "a concoction of our industry's best and brightest journalists. And despite our falling out earlier today, they continue to be precisely that in my eyes", surely you trust their journalistic integrity? If you don't trust that, and believe they are biased against the Playstation, I don't know how you can honestly believe that they're good journalists. That would make them awful, biased journalists. I don't see how those two opinions - the opinion that Polygon are some of the best journalists around, and the opinion that they're biased against Sony consoles - can go together.

Not sure what's odder. A person who feels like they're in a noble struggle for their Democratic rights because some of their deliberately vitriolic comments on a website were taken down, or the site itself that goes to such creepy nannying lengths as to have a dude stay up until 1 AM to make sure their comments section are a lovely safe place where people just hug each other and giggle.

I sometimes get frustrated with Giant Bomb's love for the dumb, but man, this shit is just not, that, serious. Video Games!

You would help your case if your views weren't completely nutty paranoia. I'm all for freedom of expression but your kind is poisoning rational discussion on a lot of gaming sites.

Giantbomb doesn't sound like the place for you. The reviews are much more subjective, usually depending on the reviewers own tastes and fanboys (which you clearly are) tend to be driven off pretty quickly. You're not going to find any sympathy for trying to push an agenda.

The reactions to this topic make me proud to be a member of this site. Good on you folks.

@truthtellah:

Why? Jeff was originally fired from Gamespot because the shady Gamespot of the time didn't want to give up the Eidos money.

Yeah, Jeff has said that the people in power at that time weren't used to pressure from game companies and thus made a rash decision. Though, that's still different from the allegation that the people doing reviews purposefully gave better reviews to some companies and reduced reviews for others thanks to being on a game company's payroll. The GameSpot fiasco was an issue of bad management betraying their editorial staff, not a corrupt editorial staff.

In the years since, Jeff has continued to be critical of the many gamers who recklessly throw around allegations that outlets and specific reviewers are corrupt, and I doubt he'd entertain the suggestion here that a few average scores from an outlet mean they are just biased puppets for game companies.

If everyone got banned for severely bitching about a review score then Giant Bomb probably wouldn't exist.

I never said that I agreed with the notion that Polygon is corrupt, but merely pointed out that it isn't so far fetched that some outlets would be willing to give up editorial integrity for the smell of dollar bills.

@tycobb said:

Just went through your images. Are you sure you aren't just a tad biased towards Sony?

oh my fucking god if I reach that level of nerd please kill me.

@tycobb said:

Just went through your images. Are you sure you aren't just a tad biased towards Sony?

holy crap. That right there is dedication.

Welcome to the site, @hebrewhammer

Don't hammer me with hebrew, but this is a pointles topic. Who gives a flying fuck about you getting banned...especially when it appears to be your own fault ? You had your 15 seconds of fame, now let's move on shall we ?

I'd still say that's a bit far-fetched to suggest that an editorial staff could be on a game company's payroll. Though, on the other concern that big game companies could pressure an outlet to not give more negative reviews, I'd say that is an idea that's at least worth some concern. The Jeff incident did show that the pressures are there. Despite that, those concerns are still a long way from a whole staff being on the payroll of a game company, which commisar123 rightfully suggested was ridiculous. It's an allegation thrown around far too frivolously.

@truthtellah said:

Consider: if people keep throwing the accusation around, how pathetic is it that the gaming press has burned virtually all of its good will toward their audience? These kinds of things don't crop up without a reason. People have observed patterns and understand that people are not immune to manipulation. Especially journalists. Of course that is a far cry from outright collusion with game publishers, but to say that some form of influence is not present because game journalists are some beacon of morality with incorruptible will is just naive.

I'd say it keeps coming up because people don't understand that there is absolutely nothing like an "objective review." This has been going on since almost forever. Reviews are subjective and you're supposed to find reviewers that match your tastes and then think based off of that. Some people don't think. They look at a score, determine wether or not they agree or if it matched their predictions, and then they judge the reviewer. They don't understand how people can think differently from them so they lash out. There are probably some people out there "on the take" but probably not as many as people like to believe.

I don't think anyone here is honestly suggesting that an editorial staff is immune to pressures from companies. The incident with Jeff backs up such concerns, and plenty of companies have tried to manipulate bloggers and people unfamiliar with dealing with such pressures. That's just reality. But that's a far cry from the ridiculous suggestion that an editorial department like the one at Polygon is on a game company payroll.

-That- kind of thinking is just one example of a larger social issue wherein many people today suspect that others who don't think as they do are inherently corrupt. Corrupt or crazy. Everyone is suspect if they don't share similar feelings or beliefs. In this case, gamers see a title praised with 10s and then recoil at the suggestion that someone might think it's only "good" instead of "great", and they fill a review's comment section with conspiracy theories that an outlet is on the take. That's ridiculous, and I'm glad most people here similarly acknowledge how absurd such allegations are.

I've always taken democracy for granted, never truly knowing how bad it feels to have your voice stripped from you - at least, not until this morning. And in the unlikeliest of places, too.

This is some grade A bullshit right here. Not only you deserved the ban (which you proved yourself) but from the looks of it it looks like the ban is only temporary and you can go back after a few days. Or you were sarcastic? I can't tell.

Well, you can enjoy your stay as long you don't do shit like that here too.

I'm pretty disappointed by Polygon in general. The only good this they do is the "Human Angle" series, which I really enjoy. There have been great articles, too, but mostly by guest writers, I think.

You could always have said "Hi guys, I'm a new member on Giant Bomb". That would be enough. Unless you got banned from Gamespot in the late-07/early-08 period, this site don't care.

@hellbound: I think you deserved the ban. If you can't trust a site's integrity, you should just move on and forget them because they're not of use to you any more when it comes to purchasing advice and by forgetting them entirely you're not giving them any more ad revenue (which I bet you inadvertently just have by making this blog post and linking to their site.)

I agree that the ni no kuni review seems low, but haven't played the last of us so can't say one way or the other.

oh great, I love these posts bragging that they were banned on another site for being an asshole, so they are coming to be an asshole here.

In a few days you'll be back there talking about how much of an asshole forum Giant Bomb has because no one gave a shit.

I mean, Microsoft divisions really do practically operate like separate companies altogether, so I might be more inclined to feel skeptical if it was an ad coming out of the Xbox (Entertainment and Devices) division, and not the IE software side.

The other thing is that you mention that you know you were in the wrong on some of those points, and the ban is temporary (though a little weird that they want you to come back by begging for forgiveness). I could see it leaving a sour taste in your mouth, but jumping ship to another site for that? I mean, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the only times I feel I really need to question site content is when the site is running an ad for a specific video game while also tossing out the review.

You should calm down.

As long as you think before posting I'm sure you're stay here will be slightly longer lived.

I just found the "unlikely place" part funny. Polygon is a shitfest.

@hebrewhammer: Where would you have gone if Patrick had given the Last of Us 4 stars though!? Albeit at this point it sort of seems like a person not voting for Rickey Henderson in the Hall of Fame; almost no game ever goes over 96 on metacritic due to a scarce handful of lower reviews; thus 96 is essentially 100 for all intents and purposes. Interesting post; conspiracy theory seems silly but I wouldn't be surprised if the bias existed just inherently without corporate influence. Out of the Park Baseball 2007 is one of the best games ever made.

The just response to an accusation of corruption is to state and perhaps even show with evidence how you are not corrupt. A totalitarian response to an accusation of corruption is to spirit the accuser away where they can't be seen or heard from.

I'm not agreeing with the OP's statement that Polygon is biased. I'm agreeing with his dismay that they would respond to his statement the way they did. He's wrong about 'democracy', what he's actually on about is 'free speech'. Which is to say, I can actually state my opinion about the quality of the product Polygon is delivering without fear that whoever is in charge is going to immediately remove my ability to state my opinion.