Variety’s Ben Fritz opined in his column The Cut Scene last week that the concept of an “exclusive” review, specifically the case of IGN’s Grand Theft Auto IV review, was something he found troublesome. His entry on the matter read that Fritz seemed less concerned with the 10 out of 10 score, but that IGN securing an exclusive review—as it often does with game announcements, media and interviews—was the thing ethically troubling. (We suggest you read Fritz’s original post, lest we misinterpret it in some sort of telephone game.)
The reviewer in question, Hilary Goldstein, editor-in-chief at IGN’s Xbox 360 channel, talked to GameDaily about the GTA IV review mini-hubbub, chalking up Fritz’s concerns to a possible grudge.
It was just a few hours ago that I posted about the HD DVD group cancelling its CES press conference and now we have more news on the format war front lines. In an article in Variety yesterday, buried amongst the Warner’s announcement was one line that was very important to the Blu-Ray cause:
Warner sister company New Line confirmed it will shift allegiance to Blu-ray only as well.
Warner’s other companies which include HBO and BBC, still have not announced whether they will make the shift as well, but it seems unlikely that they would go the other way. But, time is of the essence for distributors it seems as Warner CEO Barry Meyer states:
“The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger.”
One more nail in the HD DVD coffin?
Warner Bros. backs Blu-ray [Variety]
Variety has more details on the recently confirmed undead Ghostbusters video game sequel, including even better news about the game’s voice cast. In addition to the three original Ghostbusters—Ramis, Aykroyd and Murray—Ernie Hudson, who played Winston Zeddmore in both films, and William Atherton, famous for his role as Water Peck.
According to Variety, the Ghostbusters game is coming to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, courtesy of developer Terminal Reality, with more casual-aimed versions from Red Fly Studios coming to PlayStation 2, Wii and DS. The report has plenty of delicious details on the game’s genesis and even includes a teeny, cropped screen shot.
Vivendi, Sony call ‘Ghostbusters’ [Variety]
Everyone agrees that Super Mario Galaxy is the best thing since the invention of the Goomba, right? Our Frankenreview of the Wii game is stuffed to capacity with praise. The current Metacritic review score hovers around 98, otherwise known as “universal acclaim.” But one reviewer, Ben Fritz of Variety, isn’t sold on the game. His review is positive at times, but surprisingly scathing and harshly critical of Nintendo’s hardware. Variety writes that “‘Galaxy’ makes poor use of the Wii’s motion-sensing controls and the graphics simply aren’t up to par with what players can now find on the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360.” Eep!
The review continues to point out flaws that other reviewers made nearly no mention of, writing that Super Mario Galaxy is “evidence of how bad the Wii is for third person action games”, pointing to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess as further evidence of that claim.
