Okay, lets take another swing at this.
Eipok Kruden said:
Can you please explain it? Because I thought you were saying that reviewers only compare PS3 games to other PS3 games, not every game on every console.
The first two paragraphs I wrote examine both possibilities because I wasn't sure what you meant when you wrote, "When someone reviews an exclusive game, they don't just compare it to other exclusive games, they compare it to
every game."
Paragraph 1 said:
If by "every game" you mean "every game from every platform" you're certainly off. Many reviewers give different ratings on the same game on different platforms, not only because some ports are worse than others, but also because they're basing it on the relativity of other games out for that platform.
In this paragraph, I consider that what you're saying is that "reviewers compare PS3 games to every game on every console," to which I reply, "you're clearly off" and go on to explain some examples.
Point 1: "not only because some ports are worse than others"
The quality of different ports of games cross-platform necessitates a different rating if a reviewer is being truly objective. For example, if the Playstation 3 controller doesn't handle well a game developed for the XBox 360 controller, there should be an adjustment in the score. When there isn't a score adjustment, it's often because they didn't spend the necessary time and effort.
Point 2: "but also because they're basing it on the relativity of other games for that platform"
An experience reviewer knows from demographics that a console owner is unlikely to own other consoles or a PC, and consequently attempts to frame their review criteria from the perspective of a person who only owns that console. (Again, when this isn't done, it's usually a choice of lack of time and effort towards this.)
For example, nobody would blink twice if a Real Time Strategy game is made for the PC, but the RTS genre is relatively rare for a console, and so RTS are given a little bit of leeway -- unless the interface just plain makes the game painful to play.
There's many other tangents involved as well. For example, if a cell phone game were compared to an XBox 360 game, the poor cell phone game is going to be incredibly outclassed - the very best would be lucky to score above a 2.0. However, this is not the case.
(If you consider each example a point, we're up to about 6 counterpoints so far.)
Paragraph 2 said:
If by "every game" you mean "every game on that platform" then that's exactly the point I was making when I said the frame of reference is distorted by port jobs. Most of the games you're going to see on the Playstation 3 were optimized first for the XBox 360. Often, the developers won't make the time to make sure the Playstation 3 plays it as well, because a lot more time was spent play testing and tweaking it on the console it was originally developed for.
In this paragraph, I consider if perhaps what you meant was cross-platform games on the PS3 were considered in the same light as same-platform games exclusively developed for the PS3.
I say that's "that's my point" because, if they are considered in the same light, then the fact that the cross-platform game is a less optimized clone will naturally make an exclusive seem better.
I won't elaborate far on this one, because your later posts seem to clarify that this was not your intended interpretation.
The final two paragraphs bring the two disperate intro paragraphs together into understanding what I was talking about earlier in terms of establishing a "frame of reference" in which an exclusive could be judged. Clearly, there is not a very clear one, regardless of what "Matt" in "AUGamers" says.
If it still doesn't make sense, well, I'm sorry. For life to make sense, you're going to have to try to meet it half way, or else swear off the literal definition of intelligence entirely. Maybe save this thread and come back in a few years or something. I'm not a television: I can't just blare the information right into your input hopper in consumer-friendly terms.