Open Letter to Duke Nukem PR

[hansari]

I don't think anyone should be suprised by this...in fact ever since the Kane and Lynch controversy it should be obvious that its a constant heavy presence in this industry...

Though one thing that did make me *rolleyes* came from the blog link Pitts posted. The point being made is correct but the writers vision of this situations end game...

I can envision a future in which games reporting is conducted by mainstream outlets like NYT and CNN, who are too big to influence

I mean that makes me LoL...like they are above the influence

 

[PureIrony]

Thank you, Mr. Pitts, for once again proving that sarcasm and irony are the best counters to bullshit.

 

[derek_smart]

Wow, that was just beautiful Russ. If it wasn't for the fact that I was eating something spicy for lunch when I read that, I'd have attributed the tears in my eyes to the emotions that your missive invoked in my otherwise battle hardened persona.

Have a nice day.

ps: R.I.P Duke

 

[Sabrestar]

Oh man, I hope your sarcasm isn't lost on your target. PR people everywhere ought to learn a lot from this debacle.

 

[Withard]

To be honest, I think it's a little stupid that anyone expected anything other than immature human and a mind numbing shooter.

What were you expecting from Duke Nukem, exactly?

I understand the game is flat out bad, but the complaint that it's immature is a really, really stupid reason to shoot down the game when it's just basically making fun of itself.

Bulletstorm managed it. So.....the immaturity and the "mind numbing (This is good?) shooting" is supposed to excuse the game for being crap?

Bulletstorm was immature, had swearing, RIDICULOUS but NOT mind numbing shooting and creativity in its set pieces and approach to beefing up the standard shooter. A breath of fresh air.

Seriously if you added Duke Nukem voice over to Bulletstorm you may cry at the opportunity thats been wasted.


Bulletstorm = Immature, Violent, Dakka Dakka! Has the best boot kick ever! VIOLENT!!! Sweary!

Duke Nukem = TRIES the above...becomes boring through trying so hard (Bulletstorm goes out its way but does it in a cartoonish format)...NO innovation in shooting and even Dukes kick has been bested...I mean WTF!!


Oh and before we go you could only carry a certain amount of weapons in Bulletstorm but they were all HELLA fun!

 

[Susan Arendt]

I think it's cute when you guys talk about honesty and trust in reviews, but give Dragon Age II a perfect score.

I'm not saying Duke Nukem's good, I'm saying it's not like the "honest opinion" of this site means a whole lot anyway.

We didn't say it was perfect, nor do we say that a 5/5 means a game is perfect. I don't claim to speak for the other reviewers here, but I've yet to play a perfect game, but I've certainly handed out a few 5/5s.

Those of us who played Dragon Age 2 genuinely did enjoy it that much.The review reflects Greg Tito's opinion of the game, and of course your experience with the game may not match his. "Not in agreement with your opinion" does not equate with "dishonest liars."

 

[Russ Pitts]

Wow, that was just beautiful Russ. If it wasn't for the fact that I was eating something spicy for lunch when I read that, I'd have attributed the tears in my eyes to the emotions that your missive invoked in my otherwise battle hardened persona.

Have a nice day.

ps: R.I.P Duke

Thanks, Derek. Coming from you that's ... man, I'm kind of flabbergasted here. Genuinely.

I mean, we'll still ban you from the forum from time to time, but I appreciate the kind words.

 

[MirrorForTheSun]

I think it's cute when you guys talk about honesty and trust in reviews, but give Dragon Age II a perfect score.

I'm not saying Duke Nukem's good, I'm saying it's not like the "honest opinion" of this site means a whole lot anyway.

We didn't say it was perfect, nor do we say that a 5/5 means a game is perfect. I don't claim to speak for the other reviewers here, but I've yet to play a perfect game, but I've certainly handed out a few 5/5s.

Those of us who played Dragon Age 2 genuinely did enjoy it that much.The review reflects Greg Tito's opinion of the game, and of course your experience with the game may not match his. "Not in agreement with your opinion" does not equate with "dishonest liars."

Whatever helps you sleep at night. The review was full of the euphemism I've come to expect from PR firms, not "honest reviewers." Roleplaying "however you want" does not mean "Mean, nice, or snarky." However you want to rationalize it, I can't help but feel like you folks are using the opportunity of a fairly bad game that is expected by most to be bad anyway as a painless way to appear legitimate to your readers. I never called you liars, I implied that the opinions in the reviews weren't particularly honest. I understand! It's hard to cope with the high profile that comes with hosting Zero Punctuation. You've gotta make nice with the sponsors. (It's actually funny that DNF is plastered all over the site right now. It makes you guys seem like real rebels.) Just don't make yourselves out to be something you're not.

 

[Nightfalke]

Dear Mr. Pitts,

 

[icame]

Thank you for saying what needed to be said.

 

[sleeky01]

If they begin denying reviewers copies because they don't think you'll give them a favourable review, maybe you should band together with other reviewers and blacklist THEM.

While i can agree in theory, I'm unsure how feasible that is. The different reviewer websites would have to first admit that they are being denied copies. I'm not sure if they would.

 

[Susan Arendt]

I think it's cute when you guys talk about honesty and trust in reviews, but give Dragon Age II a perfect score.

I'm not saying Duke Nukem's good, I'm saying it's not like the "honest opinion" of this site means a whole lot anyway.

We didn't say it was perfect, nor do we say that a 5/5 means a game is perfect. I don't claim to speak for the other reviewers here, but I've yet to play a perfect game, but I've certainly handed out a few 5/5s.

Those of us who played Dragon Age 2 genuinely did enjoy it that much.The review reflects Greg Tito's opinion of the game, and of course your experience with the game may not match his. "Not in agreement with your opinion" does not equate with "dishonest liars."

Whatever helps you sleep at night. The review was full of the euphemism I've come to expect from PR firms, not "honest reviewers." Roleplaying "however you want" does not mean "Mean, nice, or snarky." However you want to rationalize it, I can't help but feel like you folks are using the opportunity of a fairly bad game that is expected by most to be bad anyway as a painless way to appear legitimate to your readers. I never called you liars, I implied that the opinions in the reviews weren't particularly honest. I understand! It's hard to cope with the high profile that comes with hosting Zero Punctuation. You've gotta make nice with the sponsors. (It's actually funny that DNF is plastered all over the site right now. It makes you guys seem like real rebels.) Just don't make yourselves out to be something you're not.

If assuming that someone who has a different opinion from yours is dishonest is what you need to do to sleep at night, so be it.

 

[sleeky01]

I think it's cute when you guys talk about honesty and trust in reviews, but give Dragon Age II a perfect score.

I'm not saying Duke Nukem's good, I'm saying it's not like the "honest opinion" of this site means a whole lot anyway.

We didn't say it was perfect, nor do we say that a 5/5 means a game is perfect. I don't claim to speak for the other reviewers here, but I've yet to play a perfect game, but I've certainly handed out a few 5/5s.

Those of us who played Dragon Age 2 genuinely did enjoy it that much.The review reflects Greg Tito's opinion of the game, and of course your experience with the game may not match his. "Not in agreement with your opinion" does not equate with "dishonest liars."

Whatever helps you sleep at night. The review was full of the euphemism I've come to expect from PR firms, not "honest reviewers." Roleplaying "however you want" does not mean "Mean, nice, or snarky." However you want to rationalize it, I can't help but feel like you folks are using the opportunity of a fairly bad game that is expected by most to be bad anyway as a painless way to appear legitimate to your readers. I never called you liars, I implied that the opinions in the reviews weren't particularly honest. I understand! It's hard to cope with the high profile that comes with hosting Zero Punctuation. You've gotta make nice with the sponsors. (It's actually funny that DNF is plastered all over the site right now. It makes you guys seem like real rebels.) Just don't make yourselves out to be something you're not.

Oh nice. And you accuse THEM of a bias perception?

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Forgive me for being rather cynical, but I lost all sense of seriousness in this letter when I read the phrase "honest press outlets". Seriously? There is no honest press anymore. Money is allowed to influence everything in this culture. The proof? If the game sucks so much, then for what reason(s) are The Escapist still allowing the ADVERTISEMENTS for the game you just heavily criticized to be displayed? I'll be damned if the top answer isn't money. Also, giving Dragon Age 2 a perfect score? Yeah...honest press right there...

The game sucks to you, Mr. Pitts, and I can understand that. As for me, I got the game strictly for nostalgia's sake. I'm looking forward to having some dumb fun and as one of The Escapist's employees, Mr. Croshaw, pointed out during his Dead Rising 2 segment in Top 5 of 2010, "It is rather dumb fun, but dumb people are a great lot to have around" and that is my mind set as I await to play DNF. Being tossed around between developers, I don't expect anything groundbreaking nor do I expect it to shatter any kind of record, except the obvious "Longest Game in Development". Another thing: if you are going to criticize a game in where the sexism is known to be over-the-top and known to be a series staple, then I fully expect that criticism of every other game that has scantily clad or tightly clothed women like, oh I dunno, most fantasy RPGs and shooters nowadays. Incidentally, I'd love to see Yahtzee tear this game a new one or *gasp* be somewhat optimistic about Duke finally showing up. Then tearing it a new one.

Getting back to the main topic, the comments made by Mr. Redner were his opinion as well. Were they reasonably expressed and thoughtfully worded? Perhaps not, but he made his point, however poorly his words were received "Be fair about it, don't let the hate show in the review." Though, that's kind of diffcult in this climate of gaming media. Still, Mr. Redner is entitled to his opinion.

Just like you and me, Mr. Pitts.

 

[Kuala BangoDango]

I think everyone, including The Escapist, is blowing this out of proportion. The PR guy did NOT threaten to withhold games from reviewers who give bad reviews, he threatened to withhold them from reviewers who cross the line of professionalism and are overly rude for the sake of sensationalism in their review. He even openly said he's fine with reviewers not liking the game and giving it a bad score.

There's a big difference between a reviewer saying "What little story there was took exceedingly long to get started so Story=2/5" and a reviewer saying "There's more ice on the sun then there is story in this game. My grandmother moves faster than this game does and she's been dead 20 years so out of pity for this game's decomposing corpse I'll grace it with an overly high 2/5."

Reviewers like Zero Punctuation (as an example) are expected to be overly harsh, crude, and downright mean. It's what we, as fans, have come to expect from his reviews and in fact is a huge part of ZP's appeal. However, no game company in their right mind would want ZP to review their game until long after it's release when ZP's expected unfavorable remarks can have little impact on sales of the game.

So, while I agree the PR guy over-reacted in his message and am glad he apologized I think he also has a point in what he said.

 

[lord pickle]

So why was a huge letter to Redner necessary? He already apologized and lost a valuble client because of his comments I think that is enough. Also I don't think he was being untruthful in his comments he was being emotional. I think the escapist is being a little heavy handed here.

 

[nexekho]

If they begin denying reviewers copies because they don't think you'll give them a favourable review, maybe you should band together with other reviewers and blacklist THEM.

While i can agree in theory, I'm unsure how feasible that is. The different reviewer websites would have to first admit that they are being denied copies. I'm not sure if they would.

Why not? What is there to lose? You're not getting their games as review copies otherwise without bending to their will. You send a message out to their potential customers that they're deceitful and spiteful instead of pretending all is dandy.

 

[jakefongloo]

It's dangerous but heartwarming to know certain business dealings are still done on good ol' fashion hand shaking, word giving, and pinky swears.

Also as i was reading when I was getting near the bottom I looked aside my screen to take a drink of water. When I looked back I just glanced at the very curvy bold typing (I know its a signature this is just what was going through my head in the .2 seconds i glanced at it.) and thought it said "piss citts." I lol'd.