Microsoft: “No Reviews of Kinect!”

[Reasonable]

daroamer said:

Reasonable said:

Calmador said:

kowenicki said:

Wow... some of the reactions in here...

If people want to believe that MS are prepared to spend $500m on advertising a product that is crap and essentially doesn't work then fine.

It amazes me the lack of awareness of what is going on right now in gaming.  Even gaming journalists seem oblivious to what has happened in the last few years.

Despite what some would have you believe there ARE definitely different groups of gamers now at large (call it core and casual if you like - the title matters not).  The target audience for this initial launch of kinect is NOT your Halo, MW2, Bioshock, GT5 or FFXIII audience.  It is the Wii fit, Wii sports, Wii party perhaps even Mario Kart audience.  Review sites like this cannot help such a launch and can only harm it.  MS know this. We all know this... or at least we should know this.

MS are being smart, the best reactions for this will be from the mainstream media and from word of mouth.  The traditional gaming press will likely be very elitist about it and probably a tad negative.    

Thats my take anyway.

I agree, how can people be so ignorant?

There's no ignorance in believing a business shouldn't try and manipulate its press to be favourable. Kow's point is very weak IMHO.  It's like saying only let someone who likes cheesy horror films review cheesy horror films, or someone who likes heavy metal review heavy metal.  In a sense that's the worstapproach as it's a simple self confirming closed circle.  The whole point of general reviews is to provide different views and allow you to guage stuff outside your knowledge.

Why shouldn't I, a seasoned gamer, get to read reviews by seasoned gamers of what they thought of Kinect titles?  That's useful for me and allows me to get a feel for how I might find the titles myself.

If the games are fun then they'll get decent scores.  Will some Wii and Move titles have been panned those that are good from a more traditional gamer aspect aren't, and I don't see why MS should behave in a way to try and exlude a section of their potential purchasing community.

There are a lot of general reviews in every medium, with games being no different, and Kinect title's shouldn't be ducking them, particularly if Nintendo and Sony titles aren't.  An even playing field is better for the consumer.  And we should, as the buying gamers, be arguing for what benefits us - clear and consistent reviews - vs what is better for the business.

I want to be able to read someone like Ebert's take on Transformers as much as his take on The Third Man, and the same applies in gaming.

Thats actually how it should be done.   Not necessarily that strict but you also shouldn't let someone who only likes romantic comedies review a horror film.

I've seen complaints on this forum more than once, from fans of all consoles, that a site got a reviewer who generally hates a specific genre review a game from that genre and give it a not so great review.  JRPGs are a classic example.  How many people have said "well, it's a JPRG, all the gaming media hate them and they get lower reviews than they deserve, so I only trust the reviews of people I know who actually like the genre in the first place"?  I've seen it more than once.

It would be awesome if every reviewer was neutral but that's simply not the case.

I saw one horrible preview of Kinect where the reviewer basically said "it sucked as much as I expected it to suck".  Which means he went in already having made up his mind that he wasn't going to like it.    He was from a site that isn't exactly small yet the guy had the words "fanboy" written all over him.

I'd argue it a bit differently again.  Anyone who just loves one genre, horror movies or games, JRPGs or whatever, shouldn't be a reviewer.

To be honest I think videogames, as a new medium, has some of the least professional, inexperienced reviewers around.

But... I think taking the easy route - he likes shooters get him to review Halo - isn't the right way forward.  That's a closed loop that in the end will make reviews useless.

What we really need is to push back on poor reviewing standards and see the required change in the review community instead.

The idea of someone only suitable to review Kinect (and I guess by extension Move and Wii) titles and someone else only suitable to review FFXIII isn't very sustainable or useful.

Now, clearly there will always be some bias - I 'm sure Roger Ebert for example (using him just 'cause he's well know for good/bad reasons to gamers) must have some favourite genres, be it thrillers or whatever, but to be a good film reviewer he has to have a good ability to review everything from Transformers to Never Let Me Go.  And he does.

By the same token I'd say anyone who wants to be a professional videogame reviewer must be equally able of turning of bias and reviewing a Kinect game followed by Mass Effect 3.

The examples people are giving of reviewers talking about getting the experienced isn't I'd say proof we should have sub-sets of reviewers, it's proof that particular reviewer isn't very good at his job and his employer should be reacting to that.  I know the examples are true, and it is bad form.  But we should be curing the cause, not trying to handle the symptoms.

As a final, final on this.  If Move and Wii titles are going to get reviewed by potentially hostile reviewers then, in the interests of an even playing field of information, I'd argue Kinect titles absolutely must face that same gauntlet.  Again, I say this from a consumer perspective, in terms of being able to source reviews and opinions from multiple, fairly consistent sources across the different consoles and peripherals.