German Mag Says Ubisoft Demanded Positive Assassin's Creed 2 Review [Nov 08, 2009, 3:37 pm ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
The COMPUTER BILD SPIELE Website for this German gaming magazine outlines what their current cover touts as an "Assassin's Creed 2 SKANDAL!" (hey look, I can read German!), saying they were told by Ubisoft they could have an early review copy of Assassin's Creed 2 only if they guaranteed a "sehr gut" (very good) review of the stealth/action sequel. They say they turned this "offer" down, and will review the game in their next issue, and it will only be deemed sehr gut if it deserves it. Thanks GameInformer.com via wearetheinternetz.
You assume I'm some sort of self-righteous prude?
"...and now with sports. The Cointen Spinky Whompers flumped the Floing Boing Welfencloppers, 70-fluff to 40-flabe. At the tone, the time will be 26 railroad."
like you never had thoughts about jade while watching her interviews. at least i dont pretend to be on the moral high ground.
She left the spotlight because of people like you. Can you blame her really?
"...and now with sports. The Cointen Spinky Whompers flumped the Floing Boing Welfencloppers, 70-fluff to 40-flabe. At the tone, the time will be 26 railroad."
And yeah, I was talking about Empire Earth 2. 94% according to PC Gamer.
Really? Wow, that game was terrible.
She's running the Toronto studio, she has an actual brain and not just a set of knockers 
Playing: Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Sea of Stars
Watching: Dark Winds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Our Flag Means Death
Watching: Dark Winds, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Our Flag Means Death
i give a "sehr gut" review of jade raymond anytime. where is she in all of this? the art director they featured on the latest interview looks like a transvestite. it felt weird watching a guy dressed up as a girl while talking about a video game.
Sadly, Computer Bild is part of one of the biggest publisher in Germany and doesnt really have to fear consequnces if they turned something like that down. So I highly doubt smaller ones would have turned them down because they would fear to no longer receive review samples in time or wont get any more interviews, etc.
I have given up on waiting for BIS to come back to their senses and do a real ArmA 2 successor.
PR departments are bursting at the seams with idiots.
Sadly true. The worst part is that PR and accounting departments seem to make all the decisions in game companies, lol.
If a site is being offered preferential treatment, it should expect to have to give the same in return.
After all, what possible motivation is there for Ubisoft to give any one site an exclusive? They risk slanting other sites against them in retaliation for being snubbed, etc.
Obviously we want unbiased reviews, not bought-and-paid-for ones, but at the same time we shouldn't be surprised that one favor expects another.
After all, what possible motivation is there for Ubisoft to give any one site an exclusive? They risk slanting other sites against them in retaliation for being snubbed, etc.
Obviously we want unbiased reviews, not bought-and-paid-for ones, but at the same time we shouldn't be surprised that one favor expects another.
Do you have a single fact to back that up?
Viel hat sich geändert, eines ist gleich geblieben: Wir testen hart, aber fair. Unabhängige Testurteile opfern wir nicht auf dem Altar der Aktualität. Das gilt auch für „Assassin’s Creed 2“. Der Hersteller verlangte die Notengarantie „sehr gut“, sonst gibt es vorab kein Testmuster. Deshalb kommt der Test erst in der nächsten Ausgabe – gerne mit „sehr gut“, aber nur, wenn es das Spiel verdient.
Translation
Much has changed but one thing remains the same: we try hard to be fair. We do not sacrifice our independent test results on the altar of popularity. The same goes for Assassin's Creed 2. The manufacturer wanted us to guarantee a "very good" review otherwise there would be no early review copy. Therefore our review will be available in our next issue. As far as "very good" is concerned it will only receive this if the game deserves it.
This comment was edited on Nov 9, 2009, 01:40.
"...and now with sports. The Cointen Spinky Whompers flumped the Floing Boing Welfencloppers, 70-fluff to 40-flabe. At the tone, the time will be 26 railroad."
Heil Ubisoft!
"...and now with sports. The Cointen Spinky Whompers flumped the Floing Boing Welfencloppers, 70-fluff to 40-flabe. At the tone, the time will be 26 railroad."
With Batman Eidos said you couldn't break embargo unless it was a cover story.
Really? I could have sworn it had something more to it than just being a cover, but I'll take your word for it.
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Mahatma Gandhi
This is the same thing that happened with PC Gamer and Batman AA, isn't it?
No. Not at all.
With Batman Eidos said you couldn't break embargo unless it was a cover story. Here they weren't saying you had to give a better review, just giving preferential treatment to better reviews. I see nothing really wrong with this. You were still free to give it a bad review, or give it a cover story with a bad review, you just couldn't break embargo.
According to this German mag they couldn't do a timely review, period, without promising a good review.
Very big difference, I think. One is clearly meant to sway opinion, the other was just to highlight good reviews.
-------------
Music for the discerning:
http://www.deathwishinc.com
http://www.hydrahead.com
http://www.painkillerrecords.com
Music for the discerning:
http://www.deathwishinc.com
http://www.hydrahead.com
http://www.painkillerrecords.com
Haha, yeah I'd file this under the "ultra-lame business practices". We're talking video games here...how scandalous can this possibly get?
And yeah, I was talking about Empire Earth 2. 94% according to PC Gamer.
And yeah, I was talking about Empire Earth 2. 94% according to PC Gamer.
Uh "Guarantee us good rating or we don't give you a early test sample" - What else would it be? Extorting might really be the wrong word for it.. .. in a sense its Ubisofts right to give early test samples to those it wishes under any conditions they deem fit.. so maybe its just ultra lame business practices 
This is not a case of extortion.
Perpetual debt is slavery.
I think you hit it spot-on. This is probably common practice and kept quiet (probably also why some magazines don't mention scores in pre-release tests sometimes), what the marketing guys didn't know (lack of knowledge about the German market?) is that BILD will dismantle you and your unborn when you give them ANY kind of ammo. Trying to bribe/extort them like that was the dumbest thing possible, given their reviews they'd have given it a top score anyhow... but now they are going to feed on this. A scandal causes higher mag sales, after all.
PR departments are bursting at the seams with idiots.
Uh... EE2? Is that Empire Earth 2?
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Mahatma Gandhi
I remember when PC Gamer reviewed EE2 and gave it a score up there with Alpha Centauri and thinking it was a bought review. I felt like that issue was also the first for PC Gamer to do the "ad slips" that covered the main magazine as an advertisement for a game, in that issue being EE2. Not sure if that was the first though. Anyway, it just oozed "bribed score" all over it.
On top of the Gamespot flap, and this...it really isn't surprising. Hopefully this bites Ubisoft in the ass, but I doubt it.
On top of the Gamespot flap, and this...it really isn't surprising. Hopefully this bites Ubisoft in the ass, but I doubt it.
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