EGM REFUSES TO BOW TO PUBLISHER PRESSURE, GAMERS APPLAUD
In the February issue of Electronic Games Monthly (EGM), Editor-in-Chief Dan "Shoe" Hsu announced that EGM had effectively been blacklisted by a few companies for publishing what amount to less than glowing reviews of certain games.
"Except with some game publishers, of course. Less-than-totally-positive previews don't sit well with those who are used to those press-release rehashes. Combine that with our candid reviews, and you can imagine the consequences that we have to face constantly.
For the time being, you'll get little, late, or no coverage of the following products: anything Mortal Kombat (they didn't like our reviews), anything from Sony's sports department (ditto), and now, anything from Ubisoft (it seems our coverage of Assassin's Creed was the last straw). So in case you're wondering why you're seeing so little of these games in our magazines and on our websites, now you know." – Dan Hsu
Now before you think that the above statement is EGM punishing those publishers for their stance, it's not. Hsu does say the the magazine will continue to cover affected titles as much, and as fairly as possible, but that previews and such will be hard to come by while being essentially blacklisted.
Now the whole review thing has certainly been getting out of hand of late, what with the Gerstmann firing over at Gamespot and now this. It's one thing to invite the media in and give them a snow job about your product, show them it's best features only and try to get them excited about it, but when you start attempting to influence the final review by methods of coercion, that's another.
These publishers need to realize that review sites are in the business of reviewing a product, not working as an extension of a company's marketing department. The bread and butter of any good review site is that people know they can trust the reviewers to tell them what they honestly thought about a title. When a magazine or site compromises on that, they either become a laughing stock or people just stop paying any attention to them – either way, it's not good for business.
In short, I'd like to congratulate Dan and the rest of the EGM team on sticking up for journalistic integrity on this one and not caving in to external pressure. Way to go guys – it makes me proud to be an EGM subscriber. Keep telling it like it is, and I'll keep renewing.
Dan's entire editorial has also been reposted over at 1up.com, so check out the link below for all the details.
FREE GAME MAGAZINES
Saw these listed over at Kotaku this morning, so I figured I’d share. For the cost of your e-mail address and a bunch of spam, you can get a free years subscription to EGM, Computer Gaming World and the Official Playstation Magazine.
I know the EGM one works, as I signed up for it a few months back via an e-mail offer and got my first issue last week. I also received the Computer Gaming World link via e-mail this weekend, and it’s from the same place as the EGM offer, so it should work as well. I’m not familiar with the Official Playstation Magazine offer though, so no guarantees.
One last thing, I’m sure they’ll spam the crap put of you in return for the mags, so be sure to use your “bulk e-mail” address if you have one set up.
- Click here for the Computer Gaming World sign up
- Click here for the EGM sign up
- Click here for the Official Playstation Magazine sign up
Enjoy the bathroom reading all!
NYLatenite's Gamer's Paradise 