Duke Nukem Forever PR Agency Threatens Sites Over Bad Reviews - UPDATED

[BlackWidower]

"too many went too far with their reviews...we r reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn't based on today's venom," he wrote on the official Redner Group Twitter feed [http://twitter.com/TheRednerGroup]. "It's one thing to not like a game, it's an entirely different thing to rate it a 2 & b completely mean spirited."

Completely mean spirited? You mean honest? Yes, we know our game is complete shit, but to give it a rating less then 5, which on average should be given to half of all games, is just completely unreasonable.

I hate people, and the odd thing is, this guy is a PR representative. He should know better.

 

[Trishbot]

"too many went too far with their reviews...we r reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn't based on today's venom," he wrote on the official Redner Group Twitter feed [http://twitter.com/TheRednerGroup]. "It's one thing to not like a game, it's an entirely different thing to rate it a 2 & b completely mean spirited."

This is what gets me. He says it's alright not to like a game, but that doesn't mean you can give it a 2? What the fuck?

Also, if you are curious, this is the exact review he is referring to:
http://www.destructoid.com/review-duke-nukem-forever-203658.phtml
Oh, I have a feeling Jim might bring this up in an episode of Jimquisition soon.

I knew IMMEDIATELY which review he was referring too. Jim did nothing to hide his outright disdain and disgust with the game and everything within it, and those that follow him know Jim is... well, I'd call him "vocal" and "blunt".

If I created something, and it took over a decade to make, and people hated it, fine... but if I had read Jim's review, I'd probably be very upset. Not that Jim is wrong; criticism isn't what the complaints were about. It was the tone. And Jim KNOWS how to get under people's skin (including mine at times).

Still, he should have acted more professionally. He did apologize, but damage done, I guess. In this industry, you just have to accept that some critics will be mean-spirited and extremely honest, or even to blow the faults and failings well out of proportion, either for humor, fanboyism, or outright trolling to get page hits, but as a professional PR guy, you just have to accept it and roll with it.

A good developer knows that ALL reviews, both positive and negative, are important. Learn from what works. Fix what went wrong. Improve as you go along. But these journalists and critics, whether professional in presenting their views or not, still took the time to sit down, play the game, and write-up a review expressing their feelings about the experience.

Thank them for doing so, even if it wasn't what you wished, and apply the knowledge towards future endeavors.

 

[masticina]

Seriously
Look this game is different and that is saying it nice. If it is for the Duke Fans but it will not earn any high praise. It just isn't a good game.. but if you like the Duke you might just play it!

Some say the game as you get is pretty much where the original developers stopped ..

In short The Duke is great but the game is really really OLD

 

[DaHero]

Also, it's freaking Duke Nukem. When did maturity ever enter the picture?

It is not "freaking Duke Nukem". It is known as real life, a place where rational thinking and maturity gets you very far than being a jerk and fuckwad.

Please show me where that has really happened...I'm not arguing, just asking for evidence.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Normally, I would agree with you, this is low, but we are talking about game journalism - the most unprofessional job on the planet.

Perhaps the problem is not with "games journalism" but with your sources. You and a lot of other people are so ready to lump it all into one big pile, but would you do the same with non-specialized journalism? Does the existence of state-controlled news agencies in China, Iran and Zimbabwe make all journalists unprofessional?

 

[Soushi]

The best way to counter a reviewer who didn't like the shitty game he just played is to stop making shitty games.

And with that, the discussion was over. There is nothing left to say.

I can kind of understand why these people got pissed off that their game was getting bad reviews, they lose lots of money. I myself will no longer be buying DNF because of the ire it is earning from the community. Still, threatening people doesn't help if anything it makes them more inclined to be nasty to you, as they no longer have anything to lose.

 

[rossatdi]

As someone how works for a PR agency this is probably one of the more suicidal moves you can make for your client or agency. Bravo, seems like the design effect of the game infected their PR agency - ie childish and poorly thougtout.

 

[Denamic]

I'm not sure I would hire that particular PR agency.
I'd prefer good PR.

 

[EvilRoy]

-_-

Oh Gearbox... what did you think you were getting into.

You should of figured out the game you decided to finish was the combined mess of ten years of many developers.

Don't blame the reviewers and don't say you will not support the sites that gave it a bad reviews, who are basically half your marketing (as shown by Duke sticking his gun in our face over to your left). People haven't forgotten about Kane and Lynch and Gamespot, doing that against the entire internet won't make you friends.

It wasn't Gearbox... That was the Redner Group. Which is related to 2K. Randy Pitchford hasn't stuck his oar in yet, as far as I know.

That's what I don't get... Why would a PR agency get peeved about bad reviews? Whether or not the game sucked that is really not their department. It's not like the Redner Group actually had a direct hand in the development of this thing. If it sucked it's seriously not their fault, or even their problem.

... Unless there's something about this situation, or company setup that I don't understand. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, as having considered the topic further left me pretty curious about this.

 

[Fursnake]

Moral of the story, don't get butthurt when you spend almost a decade and a half making a mediocre game and it is thus reviewed as a mediocre game. Frankly, I would think it would get the same mean spirited reviews if they spent half as long making it.

Seriously, 14 years later and all we get is a mediocre game that is supposed to be the herald of a new age for the franchise...shame shame Gearbox.

Also, their "PR" guy is about the worst example of PR one could ask for hehe.

 

[KanHanderan]

I saw one response: "Game developers are acting like three year olds." Following that, not only reviews are subjective-individual opinion is as well. If Gearbox had the opinion that they were making this game for the fans, then they shouldn't have been affected by negative reviews.

 

[koroem]

Any gamespot reviewers get fired this time? (Remember Kane and Lynch?)

So Duke finally releases and this game was SO BAD that game reviewers actually had to be HONEST so what LITTLE CREDIBILITY they have left doesn't go out the window.

The response to this is a PR firm coming down and saying THOU SHALT NOT REVIEW GAMES BADLY OR WE SHALT NOT GIVE GAMES TO REVIEW.

So the "hand of god" blackmails and blacklists game reviewers for being honest.

And yet people still think Metacritic is reputable. Game reviews are trash, the economy that drives them is corrupt.

 

[danhere]

2K hasn't commented because it's too embarrassed by its poor investment.

 

[TheDooD]

Duke Nukem: Time to Kill and Land of the Babes some of the greatest PSX games I've played and they're much better then Forever. When it takes 10+ years to make something don't make it so it seems like an overblown fanboy game. When it just a stain on the series track record. Duke Nukem games always been decent to great games for their time. Yet forever just fails overall of what made Duke Nukem games fun. Looking back at "Time to Kill" and "Land of the Babes" the games made fun of itself with Duke's in game banter. Also you had that wide selection weapons and locations to explore to look for secrets. Which Forever pretty much took out. These guys knew that DNF was gonna be a bad game because it was hyped to being something revolutionary. Yet with Duke games they always stuck the a standard and made fun of it completely.

 

[DoctorPhil]

It's their own fault for daring to defy The Duke. Always bet on Duke.

 

[SageRuffin]

Everybody calm down. The man jacked up, he realized it, and apologized, which is a lot more than you can say for any amount of people in the game's industry (and community at large, if the comments in this thread are any indication) in this day and age.

So let us let him be, and we all can go about our respective business.

Addendum: I should add: he made an ass out of himself, and apologized. We can give him that at least, right?

 

[Alon Shechter]

""It's one thing to not like a game, it's an entirely different thing to rate it a 2 & b completely mean spirited.""

Yeah, its called liking it even less than just not liking it, moron.

Games have emotions, dude.
I bet the Duke is depressed and will start cutting himself soon, and will blame all the world for his misfortunes just because he is "different".