Did any of you guys see the Metal Gear Solid 2 trailer up on Gamespot for its behind the scenes story? Man, that thing is amazing. The guy sounds like the real movie trailer voice.

How can IGN need to charge for its review of MGS2(9.7/10) but Gamespot afford to goto Tokyo to make a movie trailer? Do you think Konami pays all the expenses? IGN and Gamespot are so far apart now. Look at Halo. IGN charges for the text review and Gamespot has a free video review

The presentation of that movie trailer was just about the most pretentious thing I've seen in the games press industry, like, EVER. The whole way it was cut, the dramatic music, the voice-over guy... it was like they were trying to make it sound like the most important, momentus, earth-shattering thing you're ever going to watch. It wasn't even a clip of the actual Behind the Games interview or anything, it was a TRAILER for it.

I mean, I'm sure it'll be interesting in that "Behind the Games is excessively reverential" sort of way, because those articles ARE typically all-access and have some fairly interesting bits of info in there. If you're a total game geek. But come on now...it's a game company. It's not like they're showing you how some crack scientists found the cure for cancer. =)

Speaking of charging for stuff - I agree that it's lame for IGN to charge for the reviews (though they'll put them up "free" a few days later), but Gamespot has just started a pay download service as well. Think FilePlanet's personal server and you get the idea... you get crappy throughput for free or good throughput for a fee. They're charging $10 a month or $4 for one day if you just wanna mooch half a dozen files real quick but not "subscribe."

"The presentation of that movie trailer was just about the most pretentious thing I've seen in the games press industry, like, EVER."

Funny you mention that, I had the same thoughts while watching it. Definitely over the top in an Iron Chef sort of way. I expected to see Geoff Keighley with a Fabio hairdo, dressed in a black silver lame embroidered vest, taking a bite out of a red pepper.

"Gamespot has just started a pay download service as well"

Yeah, the online world is going to hell in a handbasket. Bandwidth costs are turning out to be the limiting factor for many net ventures. Pretty stupid, but there it is. Then again so many ridculous online ventures were predicated on the "bandwidth will flow like a river" theory, both in terms of broadband adoption and in server throughput. Well-- that ain't necessarily so. On either end.

"How can IGN need to charge for its review of MGS2(9.7/10)"

Hah! Still not as good as Tony Hawk 3. ;)

Just to clarify before the righteous indignation kicks in-- I'm kidding. I think it's totally absurd to give games ratings, particularly numeric ones with degrees of precision for christ's sake. Is 9.2 better than 9.4? Or 10.0? Or 8.5? This is the stuff that comedy is made of.

Of course, readers seem to throw a hissy fit if every review isn't properly "rated". 1 to 5 star ratings are probably a necessary evil.

Myself, I'd prefer a simple thumbs up or thumbs down with the reviewer's list of personal pros and cons for the title. The true value of any review lies in determining how much you have in common with the reviewer.

I love the thumbs up, thumbs down idea. Steve Bauman made a case for that a long time ago when I was still writing at Evil Avatar *shudder*

It's the best way to give the reader a "should I buy or not" review IMO. Just like Siskel and Ebert would give you that kind of film recommendation. Either it's worth playing or it's not.

I think the nature of Gamespot's system is predicated on this idea that a "technical product" needs a "technical review". That's crap. Just because we enumerate all the programming, design, genres, etc. in technical discussions doesn't mean a review needs that kind of perceived precision.

--Dave

OMG!

That trailer is the funniest thing I've watched since Mariah Cary's "Glitter". It has everything: the ticking clock, the steadicam shot, the dramatic cut to a man's eyes, the explosion over the title. Someone had fun putting this together!

I hope you didn't pay to see Glitter.

What do you mean? I laughed all the way through it. Glitter was the best $5.00 I ever spent at a movie theatre. It is easily the most entertaining film of the year. You just have to be in the right frame of mind to watch it.