The highly controversial website Variety which gave Resistance 2 and LBP 7 and 8 respectively compared to a 9.8 given to Fable 2 is actually a subsidiary of Microsoft. An alliance for distribution between the 2 companies was formed in 2007

"MSN® is joining forces with Variety.com to bring even more entertainment information to the site's visitors. The distribution relationship will provide Variety with an avenue for reaching an even wider global audience and at the same time offer MSN a broader range of information on television, movies, music and Internet deals.

"For decades, Variety has set the standard in reporting on the entertainment industry," said Jeff Dossett, executive producer and general manager for MSN. "We've seen a growing appetite on MSN for Hollywood information, and this collaboration will help us continue to offer our audience the best source for what's happening in the entertainment industry. "

http://www.n4g.com/industrynews/News-227359.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/Sep07/09-19MSNVarietyPR.mspx

Shame on Microsoft. paying reviewers to give bad scores to good games on  other platforms but thats typical MS for u

what a shame??

The alliance was formed in late 2007 in case anyone is wondering

I honestly don't know what to say,,,,that is a dirty practice in the business.and we do know what MS is famous for.

does any one really care about variety? I thought it was just a gossip hollywood magazine, and i only know that because I watch Entourage.

Oh seriously, man up, is all I have to say.

Who cares about Variety, I'm with bbsin, I've only heard about it from entourage.

Ari Gold once said: "Who cares about variety? they're like the high school newspaper, an outlet for people to bitch about the popular kids"

Does it impact gamerankings scores? nope.

Would 95% of the forum have known about these review scores if the PS3 fanboys didn't bring it up? NOPE.

Also, I'm pretty sure variety would post alot of positive press about SONY because IT DOES HAVE A FILM COMPANY YOU KNOW, ZOMG Sony must have bought them out now! OH NOES...

Perhaps the people at variety are 360 fanboys, but last time I checked, THEY were the ones who wrote the reviews, not Microsoft and if they are fanboys, that's probably because they feel MS is providing them with a better console.

So leave the mud slinging to the companies people.

Look

MS pays that site to give PS3 games bad scores that hurt review averages

Resistance 2 is 91% at n4g meta and 89% at metacritic because of that one score

LBP got the worst score from that site too

why would MS play so dirty?