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@JynxShot: Yeah, if I recall, they sent out elaborate guides on how to use the Sixaxis controls. In fact a google of 'Lair review guide' brings up a Destructoid piece detailing it: http://www.destructoid.com/gallery-for-posterity-the-complete-lair-reviewer-s-guide-update-contest--43062.phtml
Something worth mentioning, I think, is that (in the UK anyway) review copies very rarely come with manuals at all, so in theory the 'review guide' should just be a cheaper-to-produce form of that. Maybe it's different in the US, and Wii/DS games tend to be retail copies here so come with manuals, but if a game doesn't do a great job of explaining itself then often reviewers have LESS info than someone who purchased the game, by way of not having a manual. This can have the effect of forcing you to understand the game mechanics through experience and experimentation though, so isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Be interested to hear from Jim/another US-based reviewer as to whether the lack of manuals is a thing over there too. I'd rather just have the same manual everyone else got than a tailored review guide, personally.
Something worth mentioning, I think, is that (in the UK anyway) review copies very rarely come with manuals at all, so in theory the 'review guide' should just be a cheaper-to-produce form of that. Maybe it's different in the US, and Wii/DS games tend to be retail copies here so come with manuals, but if a game doesn't do a great job of explaining itself then often reviewers have LESS info than someone who purchased the game, by way of not having a manual. This can have the effect of forcing you to understand the game mechanics through experience and experimentation though, so isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Be interested to hear from Jim/another US-based reviewer as to whether the lack of manuals is a thing over there too. I'd rather just have the same manual everyone else got than a tailored review guide, personally.
Reminds me of the days when companies gave a shit about the quality of their manuals. They used to make such nice manuals.
While I don't appreciate the whole notion of "playing games right" (if you can't figure out how to play the game "correctly" from within the game, then the developer messed up, not you), I do think that it's pretty cool that those guys actually put a little effort into something that usually comes out as "black-and-white printouts stapled together".
It is quite a shame that most manuals shipped with games these days are just that. I miss the days when I got a game and loved the hell out of the manual. Full color. Storyline. Character description. Game mechanic description (in detail.
Now all I get is an overview of the controls and a light cliffnotes about some of the game mechanics.
It is quite a shame that most manuals shipped with games these days are just that. I miss the days when I got a game and loved the hell out of the manual. Full color. Storyline. Character description. Game mechanic description (in detail.
Now all I get is an overview of the controls and a light cliffnotes about some of the game mechanics.
Lol, the Splatterhouse guide is 100X better quality than the instruction book that comes with the game.
I wish more publishers still cared if gamers had a decent manual. I was playing SOCOM 3 yesterday on ps2. Thing has a 48 page booklet. It tells you everything. It surprised the hell out of me since these days I'm lucky if a game booklet tells me more than the control scheme. The only company I can think of that still gives out great manuals is Capcom.
Do you think the lack of quality in today's manuals could be a gentle nudge from publishers in the direction of digital distribution? Lack of a decent manual is one more reason to forgo the physical copy, after all. I would assume it's cost-cutting, but in my experience plenty of smaller games with a lower budget and exposure still come with decent, content-rich manuals (The Whispered World for example comes with a full colour manual including a partial walkthrough, the German (I think) version came with actual dice in a Monkey Island-style copy-protection thing).
Thanks for that, Jim.
I hope this crap backfires, any positive review I read of those games will be tainted by me having to assume that the marketing is at least partially responsible.
I hope this crap backfires, any positive review I read of those games will be tainted by me having to assume that the marketing is at least partially responsible.
"It's just a book... It has no ability to appreciate human emotion."
You just need to show it some more love Jim. Maybe take it out of the house every now and then to show that you really care. I'm sure it's just being coy with you. Or maybe you're just reading it wrong...sorry it was too easy.
But seriously what is the happiest review guide ever? I would guess if Katamari Damacy came with one that one would be pretty rad.
You just need to show it some more love Jim. Maybe take it out of the house every now and then to show that you really care. I'm sure it's just being coy with you. Or maybe you're just reading it wrong...sorry it was too easy.
But seriously what is the happiest review guide ever? I would guess if Katamari Damacy came with one that one would be pretty rad.
They really should have these things be the manual, given how bare-bones and shit most manuals are nowadays.
You have earned some respect from me with this video. Any reviewer that would allow those propaganda materials to affect their review score should not be jobless. Games need to be reviewed based upon the experience the consumer will have with that product.
Now... will you PLEASE get to the bottom of where Cross Game Voice Chat is on the PS3 and why we have been waiting years for an update as to its status!
Now... will you PLEASE get to the bottom of where Cross Game Voice Chat is on the PS3 and why we have been waiting years for an update as to its status!
You wanna sell them and yet you you crease the pages and smudge them :O What you trying to sell them at a discounted price or something?
Heh just playing with ya dude. But man I never knew those things existed...So yeah consider me surprised. I reckon publishers should put well designed "review guides" into boxed games rather then making bland manuals, simply as a nice filler.
Heh just playing with ya dude. But man I never knew those things existed...So yeah consider me surprised. I reckon publishers should put well designed "review guides" into boxed games rather then making bland manuals, simply as a nice filler.
Jim!!! You are notorious for not playing the games right. No wonder they are making sure you know wtf your doing. ;)
(Just teasing about a rash of games earlier in the year saying they got low scores because reviewers were 'playing them wrong', in all reality, Jim is my favoritest reviewer)
(Just teasing about a rash of games earlier in the year saying they got low scores because reviewers were 'playing them wrong', in all reality, Jim is my favoritest reviewer)
@AnotherRumpKicker
@rockstarnati
I hope that was a joke. "7.5" is literally 0.5 from a "great" score. Six being above average, 7 being good.
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Dude you are SO wrong.
The average score is 73, that is what metacritic says.
Seven is a little below average, six is a bad game and you don't see a lot of 4'5 around the internet.
http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/publication/popular
@rockstarnati
I hope that was a joke. "7.5" is literally 0.5 from a "great" score. Six being above average, 7 being good.
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Dude you are SO wrong.
The average score is 73, that is what metacritic says.
Seven is a little below average, six is a bad game and you don't see a lot of 4'5 around the internet.
http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/publication/popular
Jim, I know a lot of people don't like your tone (and while I like you as a whole myself, it does grate sometimes) but I have to say, you're why I keep coming back to dtoid. The fact that you talk openly about this kind of thing (and, yes, have opinions that don't exactly go with what developers would hope you'd say...) makes you a journalistic treasure (you can put that blurb on your biography, if you like: "A journalistic treasure! --some random bint on the internet")
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