Today many game reviewers received an early Christmas bonus. Electronics Arts in what I can only assume is either an attempt to build hype for Dante's Inferno or bribery mailed out checks for $200.00 to various reviewers. While I'm all for a marketing campaign that feeds into a hype wagon. Is sending people that affect the sales of your game ethical?
Of course it isn't, it's the farthest thing from. In a perfect world Publishers would have absolutely no contact with reviewers except for providing review copies of games. This happens all the time though, Publishers shovel free swag at reviewers all the time to get them to play nice. Usually it isn't this blatant though. I mean cmon....a check?
Here is EA's spin on the deal...
"In Dante's Inferno, Greed is a two-headed beast. Hoarding wealth feeds on beast and squandering it satiates the other. By cashing this check you succumb to avarice by hoarding filthy lucre, but by not cashing it, you waste it, and thereby surrender to prodigality. Make your choice and suffer the consequence for your sin. And scoff not, for consequences are imminent."
WTF are they talking about, of course they are going to cash the check and probably dance a jig all the way to the bank. Not only that but they will probably have the warm and fuzzies about how cool it was for EA to make their car payment for them this month when they are reviewing Dante's Inferno. That was a story EA, this is the real world and in the real world you are bribing people that we are supposed to be able to trust for the truth.
EA, while the most blatant is far from the only guilty party. Remember Kane and Lynch? Gerstmann lost his job over what was an honest review. Since Eidos was paying the bills that month though his review was modified and he was fired. Which worked out well for him and the guys over at giantbomb.com. So who can we trust to give us honest Video Game journalism?
The answer is that you can not trust anyone, hell how do you know that Activision did not pay me to write this solely to slam EA. You don't know and that's a problem. The best option for a gamer at this point is to get as informed as possible on certain games that they are interested in. Check out what the studios have developed in the past, stick to smaller gaming websites to get your info, things like that. It's time to kick the game journalist whores and their publisher pimps back out to the curb where they belong!
I would really like to see a list of how many people cashed the check and how long it took them after they got it.
http://www.gorillajumpers.com/news/ea_check.htm
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WOAH,.......several other sites have picked up on this too now
DISGUSTING!
