How The Neverwinter Nights 2 Review Happened
So how does a bad review get through the editorial process, leading to it's very public retraction? I'm not talking about a review of a bad game, but a review of very poor quality?

"Neverwinter Nights 2: What Happened" - Jeff Green, editor-in-chief of Computer Gaming World (Now "Games For Windows"), explains the sequence of events leading to their editorial blunder, and why they decided to pull the review.

Personally - well, I discussed it a little bit last week. And Tycho has a great post about it today at Penny-Arcade (the comic is funny as well...) As a rant - hey, I love a good rant. Even if I disagree with it - which I did. Rants promote discussion. But in this case, it was a rant masquerading as a review of a cover-story game, which had little to do with the game itself and was more a rant against the genre in general. Of which there are a legion of fans. A legion that wanted to know more about - you know - the game they were considering buying, rather than a diatribe about why they are so stupid for liking those kinds of games in the first place.

It's fun to read Jeff Green's take on it, since it sounds like it was ultimately his call, both to run it and to pull it.

MY biggest concern on the whole thing is the fact that the same reviews will be appearing both in print and on the website. If Games For Windows is simply going to be recycled content previously available on the web, why bother buying the magazine? Well, besides being more convenient for bathroom reading...

So, Jeff Green.... sell-out, or showing integrity?

The new Games For Windows: Will it be worthy of bathroom reading, or not worthy of being used as toilet paper?

UPDATE:
HERE is a really well-thought-out review by Kieron Gillen that expresses the same feeling - that the design is feeling kind of tired - without turning the entire review into one big rant. That's how it should be done.

Labels: Mainstream Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 12:34 PM (Permalink)