Preview Bias in Portable War Coverage? 100
KaiEl writes "Is Nintendo being penalized in the press for releasing their Nintendo DS before Sony's PSP? That's the quesiton I ask in a recent post on The Video Game Ombudsman. While DS games are being held up to the harsh standard of hands-on reviews, PSP coverage is mostly rosy glow previews and lofty PR promises. Readers comparing the two very different types of writing might notice a "preview bias" that seems endemic to video game writing. Is this a serious problem, or am I just expecting too much from what is simply a preliminary review?"
Whodawazat? (Score:3, Insightful)
One thing that may throw you is that a lot of the reviews took their time hypothesizing what a certain feature could be used for. The idea of a dual screen is nothing new, but the idea of a dual screen with a touch pad is.
If there is a bias, it's probably not 'against Nintendo' as much as it is 'for Sony'. By that, I mean that it doesn't seem that people are going out of their way to attack Nintendo, but they are doing so to boost the PSP.
In the end, though, I personally don't care. I'm more than happy with my GBA SP.
DS vs PSP (Score:1, Insightful)
He's also coding one of the release titles for the PSP
The verdict is that the PSP will definatly be the better of the two, not only in hardware but also in games released. He's not writing the DS off totally, but the PSP will probably be the most popular. And this is just his opinion, he could be completley wrong.
Could it be the market? (Score:3, Insightful)
The tough treatment of the Nintendo DS could also be the game industry itself knowing its most profitable market, somehow channeling this wisdom through reviewers? Reviewers appeal to die-hard gamers by being harsh on what's current while oggling everything in the future. Preorders ensue and the cycle repeats itself. I remember the previews for Beachhead 2000 being plated in gold, while the game itself was one of the worst of the year. This is SOP in the industry.
Re:Just waiting for the inevitable Nintendo Blunde (Score:5, Insightful)
Right, like the GC was a huge money sink hole, losing hundreds of millions a year. and the GBa and GBA sp were horrible paving the way for the N-gage to steal market share....
As far as I know, the GC is doing better world wide then the xbox, doing almost the same as the xbox in North America and is both makign money and havign a steady stream of hits. If my blunders are half as successful, I'd be more then happy with my life.
Just the natural order of things (Score:5, Insightful)
Apparently, somebody isn't familiar with the typical cycle of game reviews:
DS games have had hands-on reviews, while the typical PSP title is still enjoying the butt-kissing that comes from a well-orchestrated demo to the TGRSs.
what else is new? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Just waiting for the inevitable Nintendo Blunde (Score:2, Insightful)
Nor does Pepsi complain about being #2 to coke in sales.
Previews are ridiculous. (Score:5, Insightful)
up until recently, I worked at a place making an FPS, and I was always astounded at howpositive, or at least "neutral" the previews were. We'd cut them a build and think "Oh man, this is so shit" and we'd get back reviews that say things like "This game shows a lot of promise!" or "We can't wait to see the finished game!!" and other such BS previews. Half of the material in there was marketing crap as well.
So. Yes, I agree it is a problem. While we still suffer from IGN-style reviews (their rating system goes from 9.0 to 10.0 I think), the previews are even worse.
If the previews were bad, they wouldn't get all the nice free crap from game companies, and they wouldn't sell as many ads.
i don't know what my point was.. but previews are definitely waaay too generous.
No big surprise (Score:4, Insightful)
2. The DS isn't worth writing about right now due to a lack of interesting games. How many screenshots of Metroid Hunters do people really want to see? Until Nintendo and third party developers start pumping out software don't expect much more than "ho-hum, Mario 64 is just as cool as it was in 1996, BFD."
3. Adult gamers got burned with the Game Boy Advance software lineup being almost entirely of horribly designed, unplayable children's games with TV and movie tie-ins. Because of this, most game magazines relegated Game Boy news to the back of the magazines. EGM even gave Seanbaby a column to mock all those crappy Game Boy Advance Games. Readers have responded well, so why wouldn't the press be fine assuming that reader's don't really care about the DS?
It's already been mentioned, but (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Previews are ridiculous. (Score:2, Insightful)
The journalistic difference between previews and reviews is that the former often requires a special relationship with the manufacturer, while the latter has stuff that can be bought off the shelf (even if it is sent in advance to journos). To get the previews, the editors need to put on the lipstick and the kneepads. Write a bad preview, and you'll not likely see any goodies from that company again. Stop seeing goodies, and nobody buys your magazines.