KichiVerde said:
Reasonable said:
bobbert said:
Reasonable said:
Basically I don't agree with the whole policy of review embargos. Be it films, games, or whatever. It simply defeats the whole purpose of reviews and giving the consumer visibility to information on what they are considering purchasing.
|
OP said:
The gaming press complains about not being sent review copies...
|
They are NOT preventing anyone from reviewing it. They just have not sent out the finished product yet, just like Gran Turismo 5 has not been sent out yet. The product is still in testing and NOT finished yet. If someone really wanted to review a game, they can drive to Macy's and test it out for an hour. How are people complaining about how the kinect sucks in every other thread if there hasn't been a review yet? It's just the reviews have been on test demos. If they sent every game reviewer a kinect right now, they would still be getting a test version of the software. People are blowing this way out of proportion.
I agree, movies can be reviewed a couple weeks ahead of time because they should have finished editing the movie by then. The problem is, instead of finishing the product and then announcing a release date, they finished the hardware, and announced a release date and are producing them to be shipped right now. The software that drives it is continually being upgraded and I'm sure once it's in a near-final state it will be sent to reviewers. Even Oprah's audience was told that it would be shipped to them by November 4. The software demos everyone is using is showing off a single game that has been finalized. Not a full xbox dashboard and 17 games.
|
Sorry, that doesn't cut it for me.
A review of hardware like Kinect is a review where the reviewer has the hardware and can test it in various scenarios, not in some mall that's been set up by the supplier. That's a review. Not the reviewer queing to try it at Macy's.
Two, while I know MS are continuing to work on Kinect with one month to go the hardware for launch has to be set. Otherwise they are not behaving sensibly and risk releasing something buggy.
I don't get any need to hide Kinect though as it's been tested lots anyway and clearly the basic tech seems to work.
As for the games, that's where they seem to be playing coy and the main focus for me. Again, unless they are risking releasing buggy titles, most games should be locked in now this close to launch, or very, very close to it. In short, unless they are rushing the games to market - which I wouldn't support for other reasons - then there is no way they shouldn't be able to get reviewers copies of the games.
I actually don't think MS is looking to do much except avoid some low scores for the games in the same manner that some Move titles got, at least in the sense they won't be available at launch, but I don't like that and it simply destroys the whole notion of a valuable review.
The bottom line is they do seem to be tawdry in gettings games into reviewers hands (and by extension slow to get them the hardware, too).
|
The tech Demos have been out for a while. They are not the final iteration of the unit or games. MS appears to be really making several last minute adjustments to the hardware and interface. Not necessarily a good thing, but at the same time we can expect more at launch. To review the games now would not be a justice to the device. In any event, new consoles do not give many hands on reviews before a launch and MS is treating the launch of Kinect just like that.
|
This close to launch they're either ready - in which case they can send out release copies - or they're not, in which case they could delay the launch, right?
Look, I'm consumer not company focused. Also, seriously, it's way too close to launch for launch titles to be trying to squeeze in new stuff. Any new libraries will be for titles releasing later, not the launch titles. I'm speaking as a former programmer and someone who works for a software company here. If they are they're really taking it to the wire and risking buggy titles at launch.
There is no sensible reason any game launching in one month wouldn't be feature locked and ready for a review. Anything else isn't good for the consumer, period. I'm not saying this is just MS - heck look at at Fallout Vegas and the bugs in that, but at least the title as locked was released for review fairly.
Amyway, I'm not getting into some big back and forth on this as I've made it clear I'm already pretty convinced Kinect works and I'm pretty sure that the games will, just like Move titles, range from pretty good to awful. It's the principle I don't like and unlike many I'm consistent in that - i.e. I apply it fairly to all companies and don't have favourites.
Clearly if you like MS it's natural to want to go easy on them or apologise for their approach, same thing with Sony fans, etc. I'm not in any camp that way - I'm just calling out they really should be able, this close to launch, to have code available for review. And they should. It's as simple as that. On the other hand, I don't see it as some huge thing either - they're not eating anyone's babies, just sneakily avoiding some likely low reviews for some games or some mixed messages for the launch - i.e. they're putting their interest ahead of the customers. Most companies do, and ideally we call them out enough about it to make them reluctant to go to far - and the review process should be, ideally, part of that controlling mechanism.
