Why was Duke Nukem "critically" panned?

[MrEco]

Was it really that bad?

Yes.

thinks Halo has amazing level design.

Personal opinion.

Did Gearbox forget to bribe them like every other company?

That doesn't actually happen.

Any comments on the issue?

I'm gonna file that under "Not an issue."

[MrPopo]

Did Gearbox forget to bribe them like every other company?

That doesn't actually happen.

Except for the part where it does.

[MrEco]

Did Gearbox forget to bribe them like every other company?

That doesn't actually happen.

Except for the part where it does.

I'll admit that the bosses of a company might tell the reviewer "You have to give the game at least X score." But the reviewers themselves are never actually bribed. And even then, it's a lot less often than people make it sound.

[CFFJR]

Except for the part where it does.

I'll admit that the bosses of a company might tell the reviewer "You have to give the game at least X score." But the reviewers themselves are never actually bribed. And even then, it's a lot less often than people make it sound.

Did you miss the linked article on the first page discussing the rather blatant bribery surrounding Call of Duty reviews?

Just asking.

[MrEco]

Except for the part where it does.

I'll admit that the bosses of a company might tell the reviewer "You have to give the game at least X score." But the reviewers themselves are never actually bribed. And even then, it's a lot less often than people make it sound.

Did you miss the linked article on the first page discussing the rather blatant bribery surrounding Call of Duty reviews?

Just asking.

Those kind of things (Free trips and gifts) are pretty standard. Most game publishers do that in one form or another. Game reviewers learn pretty damn quickly to separate the glamour from the actual game, partly because it happens to them so often that it stops being impressive.

Listen to Talkradar sometime. They always bring up the free shit they get in their podcast and then proceed to talk about how shit the game was.

[Niode]

I'll admit that the bosses of a company might tell the reviewer "You have to give the game at least X score." But the reviewers themselves are never actually bribed. And even then, it's a lot less often than people make it sound.

It's still a corrupt system. If a publisher threatens to pull their ads because of a shitty review (this is a constant threat from publishers, just look at the Jeff Gerstmann/Eidos debacle at Gamespot in 2007) that, whilst not being a bribe, is still a form of coercion. "You give our game a shitty review? We pull your ad revenue". Since these websites live and die on their ad revenue, a lot of reviewers are forced into giving less honest reviews. The only solution is to not give a shit about reviews as they are just one person's opinion of a game, it's not everything. I like a lot of critically 'shit' games. I still enjoy playing them, do I care that other people think the games I'm playing are shit? No, because I'm having fun. That's all that should matter.

Also regarding reviewers themselves, there's a lot of anecdotal evidence in favour of them getting quite a lot of bribes. This happens in the commercial world. I have a friend who reviews beer in his spare time, and has a big big following on social media. He gets free stuff like you wouldn't believe. Because keeping him happy, means more positive reviews and most of all, more people liking your product. If you want more examples, go listen to the Podcastle, Jim Sterling and John Kershaw (Wardrox), quite a few times over the series mention the bribes and the 'positive encouragement' they were given prior to certain reviews of high profile games.

Sticking your fingers in your ears doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It does. That's the nature of the business you're either naive/ignorant to the fact that most big name sites are corrupt, or you just know they're corrupt and read reviews for some subjective bias in making your own decisions about a game, or ignore them entirely.

[MrEco]

The only solution is to not give a shit about reviews as they are just one person's opinion of a game, it's not everything. I like a lot of critically 'shit' games. I still enjoy playing them, do I care that other people think the games I'm playing are shit? No, because I'm having fun. That's all that should matter.

Duh. But last time I checked that's not what the OP is about.

Sticking your fingers in your ears doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It does. That's the nature of the business you're either naive/ignorant to the fact that most big name sites are corrupt, or you just know they're corrupt and read reviews for some subjective bias in making your own decisions about a game, or ignore them entirely.

I'm not "sticking my fingers in my ears."

But people blow it way out of proportion. At least when it comes to the video game industry. There are actually reviewers out there that have some pride in their work.

[Erik_Twice]

Those kind of things (Free trips and gifts) are pretty standard. Most game publishers do that in one form or another.

That's what a bribe is!

bribe
   [brahyb] Show IPA noun, verb, bribed, brib·ing.
noun
1.
money or any other valuable consideration given or promised with a view to corrupting the behavior of a person, especially in that person's performance as an athlete, public official, etc.: The motorist offered the arresting officer a bribe to let him go.
2.
anything given or serving to persuade or induce: The children were given candy as a bribe to be good.

So, as you said, bribes are "pretty standard" and most publishers do it.

Game reviewers learn pretty damn quickly to separate the glamour from the actual game, partly because it happens to them so often that it stops being impressive.

If you actually care about your reviews you do not accept a bribe in the first place. And if you are a decent guy you will probably tell your readers what the company tried to do.

If you want to trust reviews made by people actively trying to decieve you for their own personal gain that's your prerrogative but it's pretty damn stupid.