New Year, Same Controversy

So a few months back, Gerstmann-gate, turned the rock over showing the ugly side of the review industry.

Well, the story doesn’t seem to go away. The Escapist is reporting that the head of Maxim who employed a movie reviewer that appeased the movie industry, moved over to Game Spot, before Gerstmann was to be fired.

So what can we make of all this? Maxim employed a shill of a film reviewer in Peter Hammond, who wrote meaningless drivel to get his name (and Maxim’s) plastered on every movie poster in Hollywood, and acceded to distributor demands to alter the content of his reviews. In October, the head guy over Maxim moved to Gamespot, where a game reviewer, Jeff Gerstmann, was fired, allegedly for not being willing to act like Peter Hammond.

In the world of sports games, apparently, Sony Sports Division will not allow their games to be reviewed by EGM/1UP. (Thanks to Kotaku for the link.) Sony Sports currently produces MLB The Show and NBA The Life.

What perks my ears, isn’t the EGM/1UP reviews of these two games but it’s the other big sites scores on NBA, The Life. According to Metacritic here are the scores given by EGM or 1UP for NBA The Life and MLB The Show since the 06 versions.

NBA The Life 06 (PS2)
Overall: 63
1UP: 40
EGM: N/A

NBA The Life 07 (PS2)
Overall: 63
1UP: 50
EGM: N/A

NBA The Life 07 (PS3)
Overall: 63
1UP: 65
EGM: 55

MLB 06 The Show (PS2)
Overall: 83
EGM: 55
1UP: 90

MLB 07 The Show (PS2)
Overall 83
1UP: 85
EGM: N/A

MLB 07 The Show (PS3)
Overall: 76
1UP: 55
EGM: N/A

So their NBA The Life reviews were in-line with the averages but the MLB versions raked the game. It’s not an issue of math because both 1UP and EGM use 10-point with decimal system.

You would have to assume the Sony contacted EGM/1UP to get clarification why their game was reviewed so poorly and even working with the company to rectify the issues with the review. Let’s face it, their NBA game wasn’t very good and the scores show that. But the scores for MLB The Show, seem to be harsh.

According to the article above, the publisher will comment on this action by Sony Sports and two other game companies. More to come…