XBA Credability

[Woocifer]

I'm starting to lose a lot of trust in this site. It's getting very hard to turn the other cheek, but I find that the information that I get here seems to be laden with overblown, overhyped and obsessively supported opinions.

Not that I believe that mine, theirs, yours or anyone of our opinions really matters but I have noticed a severe problem. Just recently a review for Morrowind was posted by one of the people from XBA. They gave it 5s across the board and said that this was the bar, the marker to base every game made after it. I'm sorry but how is this game perfect?

A similar thing has happened with Bruce Lee. It has got nothing but poor marks everywhere else, but not XBA oh no, we'll give a half dead donkey with 3 legs a 5/5 just as long as I can play with it!

The support here is maniacal and it is aggrivating when I come here to seek information and all I find are a bunch of drones slobbering over the same ******* praise they regurgitate towards one another. When the site starts to do this as well I tend to believe that it has alterior motives. Whatever products seem to fall into the hands of anyone around here(for free mind you) it tends to be blown out of the water as the GREATEST thing of all time.

A lack lustre product that is below the level of quality we should be asking for, is praised as being the best...nothing could ever be better right? These are the people we are looking to for our information from the industry, a guide to what is out there because we don't have the time to be neck deep in video game information everyday. It's a great service to us all. But it seems that I'm getting the same level of over loved xbox slop as I get in OXM.

Knowing that products being put out in the market are destined to fail or succeed is the nature of the industry. I don't mind some form of praise that makes sense, that backs up its claims and has pertinant reason for being barked out. But the constant melting over this Xbox system has gone so far that its caused negative reinforced reaction. Again when praising a game I agree it is a good idea to touch on the great parts of a game for as much as it should be said...but totally ignoring the bad points is just silly. It's actually irresponsible in the view of say game sites/magazines/critics to the average user to fully endorse a game when it clearly has flaws. And you cannot even begin to defend or say that it is opinion because Morrowind was filled with a lot of mediocrity and frame rate problems and draw distance problems and repetitive gameplay problems and texture quality problems, etc.

I would have understood saying yes I like this game and it is what I was looking for in an RPG, give it its praise and then for those who actually think for themselves, point out the possible flaws, the mechanical flaws, the things you encountered during the experience and other points of interest. Not out and out just lambaste the damn thing with praise until it shines as the best steaming pile of crap this world has ever seen.

I'm only pointing this out because its going overboard and it's ruined this site for me. Hell it's ruined just about EVERY site for anything. People get in there just to have a voice, don't care what they are saying, just have a voice and spread their monotonous lies all over the canvas and watch all the sheep gobble it right up.

What happens when Unreal Tournament comes out, or Splinter Cell...hell Brute Force, Project Ego or even the next Halo come out? Give them all 5's too and say yeah BEST GRAPHICS EVER! And then claim that Morrowind is anywhere near them? How is Morrowind anywhere near Halo? Halo has basically no distance draw, clean and crisp textures, engaging gameplay, great controls, interactive environments, multiplayer ability, the list goes on...and it has also sold numerous amounts of units and was one hell of a launch title and could still stand on its own as a normal release none the less. And you rank Morrowind the same, top of the heap, nothing better right?

Whatever...take your blindness elsewhere. But what ****es me off is that it was HERE that did this. I can't believe you all take your gaming so seriously and yet you frivolously throw around your praise to the next best hype. And you'll all defend the site because it has all the give aways (promotions at its best) and all your other 'bretheren' in arms??? in the console race....oh my god get over it!

I don't take things so seriously, I don't 'support' my system with 'spirit' or 'excitement' as some die hards do around here. But when I try to research a little into how well a game fairs and all I get is this windbaggage form of critique, well it ****es me off that we'd all be so careless in what we say, especially when certain people here are part of a certain industry.

Blech....

[E Nomini Patri]

I agree. It is definitely getting out of control. People need to think harder on what is so great and what is not so great in the games they buy. Instead of just going around saying good game this and good game that. I know that I, for one, don't run around saying "I love the X-Box! It's so great! Nothing is better!" I just don't get it! Another thing that's out of control on this site is a poopload of members are joining, and then, well, not doing anything, at all. That tweaks me off, too.

On the contrary: I know people praise games like Halo and Morrowind (never played it, never will play it) for their graphics and gameplay. Then you said:

"What happens when Unreal Tournament comes out, or Splinter Cell...hell Brute Force, Project Ego or even the next Halo come out?"

People are basing their ratings on the other games they have played (not necessarily for X-Box, but for old, worn out systems), and some of them only own 1 or two games for X-Box. So that basically just cancels out future games because they are in fact, future games that they haven't played yet.

Thanks for reading this (I know it's confusing. I am now confused ).

[yall]

I, along with many prominent gaming publications, felt that despite a few minor flaws (and believe me there were alot more on the pc version) that Morrowind was as near perfect of an rpg that anyone could hope for. When a game does so many things so well, its easy to overlook a few minor problems. Why complain about it? Write your own review if you think that the general opinion being expressed is that far from center.
That being said, there is a certain amount of fanboyism on this site, but what can you honestly expect with a name like 'xbox addict'? I havent play bruce lee yet, and from what I have read about it the game could best be described as average. But if some 14 yrd old kid loves his xbox and loves Bruce lee, then let him rave on the internet about it. Anyone who knows better realizes that a review on a fan site whether it is 'gamecubelovers.com", "dreamcastdreamers.com", or even this place ought to know to take it with a grain of salt. If you dont like the user reviews of xbox games on this site, go to gamer.com, im sure 500 12 yrd old, ms hating, hacker wannabes have already given it 0's straight across the board. And there is balance in the universe.....

[maneatingcow]

Woocifer, you made some amazing points in your post, but there are a few things I feel you may be looking at the wrong way.

Adam did the review of Morrowind, and gave it straight 5's. Does this mean the game deserves straight 5's? Possibly, but someone else may give it a lower score. If you read through his review, he seems to back up his claim well with his words. Can I say I agree with his review? Maybe, maybe not, but it's Adam's opinion of the game. In my review of Jet Set Radio Future, I gave it all 5's. The game is great, IMO, but not perfect. If I could give it a 4.75/5, I would, but our scoring system does not allow it. Hell, if I were to review Halo, I'd give it a 4.5/5 overall. Why? The game is not "The Best First Person Shooter Ever," as everyone claims it to be.

Adam's review says that "The new benchmark for next generation consoles has arrived." I dont see how this is so off the mark. When the XBox launched, Dead or Alive 3 was said to be the new standard for videogame graphics. Does this mean that there wont be any games that will top it? Hell no, but this particular game is here now, and it's above all other currently released games.

Our review of Bruce Lee, on the otherhand, was perfectly fine IMO. I have yet to play that game, but based on other reviews, it deserved what Stephen gave it. It didn't get a 5 like you mentioned, but rather a 3.5.

Our review system may not be perfect, but we have been told not to praise a game just because it's new, and because other people like it, but to rather give it the review we feel it deserves.

Thats about it.

Waffle.

[E Nomini Patri]

Originally posted by maneatingcow-XBA
Waffle.

Har har! (Sorry, that made me laugh)

[UltimateAg]

Originally posted by Woocifer
A similar thing has happened with Bruce Lee. It has got nothing but poor marks everywhere else, but not XBA oh no, we'll give a half dead donkey with 3 legs a 5/5 just as long as I can play with it!

I'm not sure what reviews you've read and you obviously haven't been reading the Bruce Lee posts in this forum, because nearly everyone has given this game lousy ratings. So should the mods and admins delete every single fanboy review YOU don't agree with? Personally I don't see how XBA's credibility would suffer as a result of the USER reviews. The staff review gave it a 3.5/5 overall, which seems pretty reasonable to me. I've never played Morrowind so I can't comment. Sorry to hear you're losing your trust in XBA. It sounds to me though, like you have a problem with the gamers here rather than the site itself, since it's their reviews you have a problem with, but I still fail to see how this an XBA problem. I understand your position but I don't think you can censor people's opinions (not yet at least).

edit: oops mec already responded to the Bruce Lee review claims

[Duke]

Reading the reviews here is like going to epinions. You might not agree with all of them, but the point is that they are people's opinions.

It's already been mentioned that XBA gave Bruce Lee a 3.5 and that some members gave it a 5. Read everyone's review, form your own opinion.

Eventually, you learn who's opinions you agree with and can generally trust them. Everyone will have a different experience.

After all, you can read many reviews that claim Xbox is the worst of the nex-gen consoles and I imagine you don't agree with that.

[Batman2372]

Woocifer, I'm going to agree with MEC on this one, and whole-heartedly.

What I took from your post was that after you feel that after a couple of posts by the moderators were based on hype and not on what you thought the game deserved, this website is starting to go down the toilet.

Here's my retort:

Everyone here has been given the ability to give their opinion in a review, including you. As I see it, a review is totally viable if you do two things: a) give your opinion and b) state WHY you gave that opinion. I read through just about every review that's been posted on here, and I will admit that the majority of the reviews do not have both of these parts. HOWEVER, the Xbox staff does a very good job of doing both. It would be one thing for them to give 5 stars and then under the categories say "sound rocks!", "gameplay rocks", put a period on the end and be done with it. They don't do that, so I don't understand where your anger is coming from. You're basically insinuating that the staff is lying about how they feel about the game so as to pump up the goodness of Xbox. Honestly, if I were on staff, I'd take offense to your comments. But then, you're entitled to your opinions as well.

I don't see the site going down the tubes. I think XBA is still the best site around, simply BECAUSE everyone is allowed to give their opinions. Just remember that they are exactly that: OPINIONS. Don't get your panties in a wad when you don't agree with them and start calling for fire and brimstone. Agree to disagree and move on.

[rotting]

Wouldn't two 4.5 and two 5.0 give a score of 4.75?

hmm...

I have read quite a few reviews where people say that a game does not have the graphic quality of Halo, which is fine as that is their opinion and they are entitled to it. What I don't understand is why they award the game in question a 5 for graphics anyway..?! Have these people somehow found a way through the flawed marking system and somehow managed to award Halo a 6 for graphics? Seems a little odd if you ask me.

One other thing that I do not understand is that there have been comments that the marking system does not provide the flexability to give a game a 4.75. Well, it is your site...change the code. Why not just make the marks out of 10? I know this is possible...it was written by a person in the first place so it can be changed...why not just do it. You have already admitted that it could be better.

How odd.

[Highlite23]

I also am with MEC. not because he's a mod at the site, but rather he explained his point.
That being said, when i look at reviews a good idea is to ignore reviews consisting of only " How cool" and "Awsome" and not much substance.
I am guilty of not really backing all my opinions at times, but i have realized another flaw, i used to only review the games i really was excited about. Why is that a problem, well, i think a fair number of members may do the same, scewing the final rating of a game. My low review may have brought the rating to were it belonged. I don't know...
MEC is right, it aint perfect, but ultimatlly YOU choose what is good or bad, and you should read ALL the reviews when considering a game, not just here at XBA, but any place you can and form your opinion.
Personally, unless i play a game i don't give reviews a ton of stock, it's just a guide.

[Woocifer]

I understand what everyone is saying here, but what I am trying to make a point of is this: Since XBA is a professional site with advertisements, obvious relations with companies and endorsement type deals why shouldn't I be upset when a person who should be deemed a professional critic of the gaming industry seems to score quite inconsistantly.

It may be his opinion yes, but he should scoring these titles in the best interest of his users. And in the best interest of the users, claiming a game that runs poorly, or under what you would come to expect or would like the quality to be a perfect 5 is being irresponsible.

I don't take into consideration all the other reviews that don't back themselves up, but I have responded over and over again with statements and backed up evidence that certain things in games and certain scores for games are bogus. And the whole point of this thread is the title. If this whole site is based on the opinions of people who aren't professional then who cares what people have to say and why bother highlighting a review done by a member of the XBA team? It's just an opinion anyway?

And if you say well it's his site, or your site or whichever along those lines, then yes the credability goes way down because again it has become this personal visage and personal endeavour which seems far too selfish for what the site was created for. And I'm giving more than the benefit of the doubt that the members of XBA want to present the gaming industry to their users which they adore for their support. But even MEC said himself that he thought JSRF was amazing but not perfect BUT gave it a perfect score. I don't understand that logic.

And what ****es me off even more is that people will accept everyone giving games the score of perfect, yet when Gamespot.com had lower review scores for games everyone complained that it was biased and sabotage. Sounds like a Catch22 to me.

I'm not trying to insult anyone, and if anyone is insulted maybe that's a good thing...maybe it will make everyone think themselves over before they go and do something like this.

I just don't understand how this kind of representation can be acceptable just because it's "an opinion". I'm just looking for some truth, and I expect those who are at the forefront of the industry to pass on fair information. If there were lies spread about GTA3 coming to the Xbox, and even worse posted here on XBA by a member, would that be okay? It may not be the same as an opinion on a game, but it certainly is misinformation.

I have reviewed and have played both versions of Morrowind and was disappointed because of the lack of reactive interaction. But what really bothered me was the slagging frame rate, the poor quality of textures, the draw distance, the nasty fogging, the awkward physics in movement and jumping, the lack of flare in the effects, the slow movement of the water, the chunky movement of characters in the distance, the repetative text, the inconsequencial tasks, etc.... I have overstated the obvious about the game which is why I gave it somewhere in the area of 2.5-3.5.

But I'm not upset about his opinion or stating it. I don't mind if he liked it, good on him. What I don't like is that no matter how many bad details Adam may have said about this game, he still went ahead and gave it a perfect score.

Quoted from the review about gameplay in which he gave a 5:
"The attack system is not equally impressive. It is a very repetitive system that gets really frustrating when you miss the enemy several times in a row. Another thing that gets on my nerves is when you are fighting with a creature and you push accidentally on the right thumb stick and it zooms out to third person perspective that really gets annoying."

This is bogus! Another thing...maybe you should get them to use a spell check

OR! Am I just mistaken about the XBA reviews. Are these supposed to be professionally assessed, or are you guys just doing it for fun? See if its just for fun, then nevermind any of this and stand beside every other person in here... but with the presentation you give on the home page I take it as a professional opinion. Am I wrong in believing this?

I would hold most professionals in high regard as they know what they are talking about and such. If XBA isn't a professionally run site that is fine, and if this is more of a hobby for you guys and girls than that is cool, you've had a hell of a lot of success. But if this is supposed to be a professional part of the industry up there with IGN, Gamespot or any of the other media groups then yes I've lost a lot of faith through personally opinionated reviews such as the Morrowind one.

BTW I never said Bruce Lee got a 5/5 hehe I was merely explaining that people were giving it high marks just because Bruce and Bruce's voices are in it. The graphics look horrid in this game and the texturing is really harsh. Look at the screen shots and notice how static everything looks. If Morrowind and Bruce Lee are considered graphic powerhouses then what are games like Halo, Rallisport, Hunter? Well they are the same...just like everything else is.

An explanation would help out, I just don't understand the basis of the site.

[maneatingcow]

XBox Addict is a professional looking site, with many features that people have come to enjoy. If you did not allready know this, XBoxAddict.com is a fansite, a large one at that, and the staff have all chosen to do this for fun. We do this for pretty much nothing, but if you'd like, we could become professional and charge you monthly like GameSpot or IGN All of the staff have real life jobs, problems, lives (Well, ok, maybe not myself... but others...). We work here at XBA for our love of videogames, and our love of the videogame community.

It is almost impossible for us to review a game "in the best interest of the users." It's not that we are trying to get you to buy this company's game, so they will support XBoxAddict, it's because everyone's gaming interests are different. I for one hate racing and sports titles, so I dont review them. If I were to review them, the score would be weighted against the game. Not because the game is bad, just because I dont enjoy the game.

The only difference between a staff review and a normal user review is that Staff reviews allways go in depth. We allways look a bit deeper than the average "This game sucks" review. The best way to get the MOST out of our review system is to find a staff member or a normal member that likes the same titles that you did. I enjoyed JSRF alot, so someone that enjoyed it the same may check out some of the games I have reviewed. This way you may be able to find some games that you would have otherwise overlooked.

Done... for now...

Waffle.

[maneatingcow]

Motoko, next chance I get i'll suggest a "Report Review" option on review pages. That way, we can easily find bad reviews.

[Fixxer]

Morrowind is great, but it doesn't deserve a 5/5... If it wasn't so buggy then yes, its a awesome game, but there's nothing that brings you out of an imersive game more then a crash/lockup. It just pathetic how many times this game crashes.

[Rancey]

I have only played Morrowind on the PC, so I can't comment on the graphics for the Xbox version, but on my friend's GeForce3 Ti500 the game looks amazing. The water is breath taking, and the best I have ever seen. The weather effects are incredible and also the best I've seen. Granted the environments can become repetative, but I wouldn't expect to see anything else really. If the Xbox version has anything on the PC version played on a high-end cpu with a graphics card that can do AA I would have given it 5 myself. But as I said, I would need to play it on the Xbox first, so I'll reserve judgement until I do that. As far as the frame rate goes, I play this game on my p3 450mhz with a GeForce4 MX 440, by no means does this machine have anything on the Xbox...yet I have only encountered slight problems and couldn't see the Xbox version having the same problems. As far as the draw distance goes, I will really need to check this out for myself....on my pc I play this game with a low (and yes, annoying) draw distance...so I could see it possible that it would be a problem. But on the other hand, some people don't notice and/or care about the draw distance...I know the draw distance in GTA3 on my PC doesn't bother me on the lowest setting, so that can also be left up to personal opinion. As far the gameplay, this is obviously going to be opinionated, it can't be helped. And lastly the sound, I think this definetely deserves a 5, sorry if you don't agree but that's my feeling. So personally, I could see a score of all 5s being a feasible.

As for my reviews, if you have a problem with them, let me know. I'd probably prefer if you Emailed me however Although I am always open to criticism, and if you have a problem with, or think I can improve my review Email me (jason@xboxaddict.com). As MEC said, everybody has their opinion, and unlike him I prefer Halo to JSRF, it's that simple. Do what he said, find a reviewer you agree with, and if you do you might find yourself somebody who you can trust. And as somebody pointed out earlier (sorry for forgetting your name in my long rant) people tend to review games they like. If somebody likes racing games, they are going to go buy PGR, and regardless of whether or not you like racing games they will probably review it higher than the average person. This means all games will tend to get a higher scorer than what they possibly deserve. There is also the fact that people tend to prefer writing about games they like, I know I don't like writing about something I didn't like.

In conclusion, opinions are opinions, what bothers you might not somebody else, and vice versa. If you have a problem with somebody's review, don't look for their's later on...just find somebody who shares the same opinions as you.

[UltimateAg]

Originally posted by Woocifer
This is bogus! Another thing...maybe you should get them to use a spell check

Maybe your "credability" would increase with a spell checker as well.

[RudedogX]

When has XBA ever claimed to be a professional site? They don't, they are a fan site through and through. For that, they are one of the best (if not the best) fan site there is for XBox related material. When you read the reviews, you can tell that those people reviewing these games are not there judging every aspect against every game ever created (like true critics do), but they are reviewing the game for how it plays and what it is trying to be (like a true fan of videogames does). Sure there are a lot of bogus reviews on the boards that don't belong there, but there is an easy solution to that, it's called the scroll bar! If you are ever lucky enough to win a game from XBA, you will see a flier that accompanies the game stating that XBA is not affiliated with any company directly, so they do not have any direct ties with the companies. That statement says it all, XBA has no affiliations, so they have no reason to praise a product if it is a truly poor excuse for a game. Each person is going to have their own opinions, and that is what makes XBA great, you're able to get an overall feel for a game from the reviews of the users as well as the staff. There are not many sites out there that do that for you.

[Spaztic]

Originally posted by maneatingcow-XBA
Woocifer, you made some amazing points in your post, but there are a few things I feel you may be looking at the wrong way.

Adam did the review of Morrowind, and gave it straight 5's. Does this mean the game deserves straight 5's? Possibly, but someone else may give it a lower score. If you read through his review, he seems to back up his claim well with his words. Can I say I agree with his review? Maybe, maybe not, but it's Adam's opinion of the game. In my review of Jet Set Radio Future, I gave it all 5's. The game is great, IMO, but not perfect. If I could give it a 4.75/5, I would, but our scoring system does not allow it. Hell, if I were to review Halo, I'd give it a 4.5/5 overall. Why? The game is not "The Best First Person Shooter Ever," as everyone claims it to be.

Adam's review says that "The new benchmark for next generation consoles has arrived." I dont see how this is so off the mark. When the XBox launched, Dead or Alive 3 was said to be the new standard for videogame graphics. Does this mean that there wont be any games that will top it? Hell no, but this particular game is here now, and it's above all other currently released games.

Our review of Bruce Lee, on the otherhand, was perfectly fine IMO. I have yet to play that game, but based on other reviews, it deserved what Stephen gave it. It didn't get a 5 like you mentioned, but rather a 3.5.

Our review system may not be perfect, but we have been told not to praise a game just because it's new, and because other people like it, but to rather give it the review we feel it deserves.

Thats about it.

Waffle.

yeah I would give JSRF a 2.0/5 that game sucks a big dong! opinions are like a-holes everyone has one! Kids that save for a month and finally get a game are always going to give it mad reviews even if it sucks! Just rent the games dude! When I look at a review, I look for the bad things only, if someone just praises the holy b-jesus out of a game you know they are full of it because games ALWAYS have faults in them!

[Woocifer]

I'm not going to respond to every comment here because half of them seem like they are just a bit angered by what I've claimed and I don't have enough tissues to go around. And it has been said that this site is not a professional base for the game industry. That is perfectly fine. Now that I know this I will consider the members of the XBA team to be on the same level as everyone else, resepctively mind you.

This wasn't anything personal on any one persons part. It was more of a commentary on the level of review bloating. I could care less what most of the users say on this board because I don't expect them to have a clue about the industry or have a professional commentary on the happenings in the game industry. So believe me I always make sure I have an entire box of salt beside me whenever reading the newest fanboy rant hehehe

I thought XBA was more than a fan site, which in fact is a credit to what it actually is, as you said MEC, a fan site.

Oh well...c'est la vie

[rotting]

Originally posted by Woocifer
I'm not going to respond to every comment here because half of them seem like they are just a bit angered by what I've claimed and I don't have enough tissues to go around. And it has been said that this site is not a professional base for the game industry. That is perfectly fine. Now that I know this I will consider the members of the XBA team to be on the same level as everyone else, resepctively mind you.

This wasn't anything personal on any one persons part. It was more of a commentary on the level of review bloating. I could care less what most of the users say on this board because I don't expect them to have a clue about the industry or have a professional commentary on the happenings in the game industry. So believe me I always make sure I have an entire box of salt beside me whenever reading the newest fanboy rant hehehe

I thought XBA was more than a fan site, which in fact is a credit to what it actually is, as you said MEC, a fan site.

Oh well...c'est la vie

"resepctively" huh? I give your response a 5/5. There is no possible way that this response could better. 5/5. Best response ever. I would have sex with this response if I could, but I can't, so I am going to have sex my Xbox instead. Sex. 5. Best. I'm going to have sex with the number 5.