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

[Grunt_Man11]

I believe in the "review the review" philosophy. It helps weed out the self-entitled fanboys who zero-bomb a game they haven't played on Metacritic from the actual real reviews. It also helps weed out the 10 out of 10 ass kissing reviews done for a fat bonus from the truly informed reviews.

However, this philosophy is not a green light to go bully a reviewer because his review of a game was unfavorable. Threatening a reviewer, or getting a reviewer fired, because they didn't lavish your game/movie with praise is not acceptable.

A lot of these developers who do this crap forget one thing: A good developer/writer/film maker are their own harshest critics.

 

[radioactive lemur]

This reminds of the time I threatened a teacher over bad grades. Oh wait, that never happened, because I'm not a whiny crybaby jackass. Take notes Redner.

 

[Alucard788]

So the juvenile developers of a juvenile game act juvenile when that game isn't well received?

We're surprised?

Not only immature, but have some seriously disturbing issues with women...like severely disturbing...like the really should talk to someone about it.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2011/06/duke-nukem-forever-review-barely-playable-unfunny-and-rampantly-offensive.ars

This one of my favorite verbal skewerings of the game so far.^

 

[MasterChief892039]

So the juvenile developers of a juvenile game act juvenile when that game isn't well received?

We're surprised?

Not only immature, but have some seriously disturbing issues with women...like severely disturbing...like the really should talk to someone about it.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2011/06/duke-nukem-forever-review-barely-playable-unfunny-and-rampantly-offensive.ars

This one of my favorite verbal skewerings of the game so far.^

That's another thing. So many people got their panties in a bunch about the whole "capture the babe" and woman-slapping, and their public relations and supporters put a great deal of effort into convincing the public that the game wasn't misogynist... And then what do I see in Russ Pitts video supplement? A bunch of big-titted, bound, tortured, writhing, women hanging from the ceiling, and disembodied slappable tits.

I mean, it's one thing to have a couple hot school girl twins give your character a blow job. Sure, it's trashy, but it's also kind of funny, and not necessarily misogynist (though definitely a little sexist). But I take serious issue with presenting tortured women as sexy. Women in pain are not "hot", nor should they be. That's fucked. And disembodied slappable tits? As if women aren't already reduced to mere body parts often enough.

The part in the article you linked about impregnated women promising to lose their baby weight before being killed or exploding sounds pretty classy too.

 

[Alucard788]

So the juvenile developers of a juvenile game act juvenile when that game isn't well received?

We're surprised?

Not only immature, but have some seriously disturbing issues with women...like severely disturbing...like the really should talk to someone about it.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2011/06/duke-nukem-forever-review-barely-playable-unfunny-and-rampantly-offensive.ars

This one of my favorite verbal skewerings of the game so far.^

That's another thing. So many people got their panties in a bunch about the whole "capture the babe" and woman-slapping, and their public relations and supporters put a great deal of effort into convincing the public that the game wasn't misogynist... And then what do I see in Russ Pitts video supplement? A bunch of big-titted, bound, tortured, writhing, women hanging from the ceiling, and disembodied slappable tits.

I mean, it's one thing to have a couple hot school girl twins give your character a blow job. Sure, it's trashy, but it's also kind of funny, and not necessarily misogynist (though definitely a little sexist). But I take serious issue with presenting tortured women as sexy. Women in pain are not "hot", nor should they be. That's fucked. And disembodied slappable tits? As if women aren't reduced to mere body parts often enough.

Exactly! Not to mention the entire hive with sexual moans overplayed with the sounds of crying...on and the exploding pregnant women.

It's not gallows humor..it's not Silent hill horror...it's not even Amnesia style disturbing...it's just plain sick.

 

[Chri625w]

Compared to most of you i actually liked the game

/flameshield

 

[gring]

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?

Please tell me you're not that naive? American journalism is the same way, Andy. Just not in the same fashion as the countries you've mentioned. I've known this for a long time, thanks to these people.




When it comes to these kind of influences, it isn't a huge leap in logic to see that it can, and does, happen in all forms of journalism.

As far as reviews, I don't pay attention to them anymore. They're meaningless, all of them. Even The Escapist's. It's all opinions, that's all they are. Now, if you follow addages, you'd know about the whole "opinions are like assholes" thing. In the case of reviews: if I wanted to hear from an asshole, I would have farted. Then I'd say it was either genuinely shit, or rather pleasant. And would probably do some reading in the closet later on.

Just wanted to say this was a good post. I already knew everything you're talking about but its nice to see some down-to-earth sanity every now and then. Thanks for that.

 

[sunburst]

Compared to most of you i actually liked the game

/flameshield

You won't get flamed for enjoying DNF. No one cares if you have bad taste. We're slightly more mature than that around here. Most of the time. Well, sometimes. Every once in a while. If we're in a good mood. So you're fine. Just like the dozens of others expressing the same opinion.

 

[Chri625w]

Compared to most of you i actually liked the game

/flameshield

You won't get flamed for enjoying DNF. No one cares if you have bad taste. We're slightly more mature than that around here. Most of the time. Well, sometimes. Every once in a while. If we're in a good mood. So you're fine. Just like the dozens of others expressing the same opinion.

I dont think i have bad taste i really enjoy almost any game.
I am extremly open minded at that point.
In threads like "games you couldnt finish because (blank)" i like almost all the games metioned.
Well those i know

 

[Formica Archonis]

UPDATE: 2K Games has now commented and it's bad, if not entirely surprising, news for The Redner Group, which is no longer employed by the company.

Well, that's one less drain on the company resources. Judging by the other news item on the performance of TTWO stock, this is likely the most value DNF will be providing the company.

 

[Agente L]

Many magazines and sites (mostly) who do reviews aren't trusted at all in the game community, outside their own fanbase. The community the rating score as corrupt, hiding using a 1-10 as a 7-9 score.

Even thought there never was a proof, rumors about paid review runs rampant, that publishers have deals that better scores = earlier copies to review.

While I also can't say if that's true or not, I'm aware that such things happens in other industries and all over the world in general. While the company was wrong making such accusations, they aren't entirely new or suprising.

 

[Ranorak]

SNIP


As far as reviews, I don't pay attention to them anymore. They're meaningless, all of them. Even The Escapist's. It's all opinions, that's all they are. Now, if you follow addages, you'd know about the whole "opinions are like assholes" thing. In the case of reviews: if I wanted to hear from an asshole, I would have farted. Then I'd say it was either genuinely shit, or rather pleasant. And would probably do some reading in the closet later on.

Yes, reviews are opinions, but that doesn't make them useless.

A good reviewer will not just say "This game sucks, don't buy it, it's totally sucky."
A good reviewer will explain why he thought it was bad. He'll point out the thinks he thinks could have been better.
Then you, or any other consumer, can use their own mind and conclude whether or not they find those flaws expectable, and buy the game regardless, or agree that those flaws would make a game bad and accept the advise.

Someone else's opinion isn't law, agreed. But it can help you judge whether or not you might like it.
I haven't played DNF yet, I was going to get it, but after hearing the negative points about it I decided I won't.
It's not because I accept Russ Pitts' word as law.
But because I wouldn't enjoy a shooter where you die every second, hide behind cover to regenerate life, can only use 2 weapons.

Because Russ told me those flaws, I can safely assume I won't like the game.

The opposite is also true.
General reviews of Darksiders weren't that praising. But I really enjoyed it because I wasn't bothered by it's listed negatives.

That's how a review should work.

 

[Aprilgold]

Well, this was obvious, working on something for 12 years to only be hated and pissed on by the masses, of course it would end with some emotions hurt, more or others.

 

[F-I-D-O]

So...
You release a game that has had over a decade of hype, with old mechanics that lost prevalence for a reason.
And you're upset the reviews weren't stellar? Shockingly, expectations played a role in someone's opinion!
Maybe you got a bunch of low ratings because the game didn't deserve higher ratings?
Did the agency that supported Superman 64 throw a tantrum when it was reviewed poorly?
Bad games=bad reviews. Sorry, we have opinions
Good of Take Two to get as far away from that agency as fast as possible. Hope this PR group will fade away after outbursts like that.

 

[Polock]

Lol Twitter.

Possibly the worst thing to happen for people in the buisness and political world.

 

[orangeapples]

I think the idea was, "just be glad the game is finally out so we can finally put an end to this stupid chapter in gaming history."

And it is true, we can no longer claim that DNF stands for Did Not Finish, or Duke Nukem (takes) Forever or even the Duke Nukem Fornever. Those jokes are officially dead. But now, for about the next month (Tops) the joke will be that Forever means 14 years.

Duke Nukem Forever is indeed a section of gaming that needs to end, and I applaud Gearbox for this contribution. The most important thing to come out of this is that the development team (for the most part) had fun finishing the game. I can at least be happy that someone out there was happy about their job. If they wanted to make a proper Duke Nukem 5, more power to them. It will most certainly be better than forever.