This is a personal blog and the opinions below do not necessarily reflect those of TheSixthAxis.
Yesterday, whilst scouting the internet for gaming news, I saw that a couple of sites had reported that Official Playstation Magazine UK had the world’s first review for Call of Duty: Black Ops. I had a quick read through the news items and as expected the game had scored very highly – but OPSM seemed to have changed their scoring system this issue as the game was rated as five stars, not an out-of-ten score.
I had been expecting someone to bag the ‘exclusive’ first review of the game and it made sense it would be a high profile publication like OPSM. They are a well respected magazine with strong ties to all publishers.
Now this is may come as a bit of a shock to you all but I do have some morals and I decided if I were to quote OPSM magazine in a TSA news item about their review I really should buy a copy of the magazine rather than just take the quotes from another gaming site. A quick stroll to Sainsbury’s and there’s the magazine on the shelf, the cover featuring the Black Ops guy sitting down with “EXCLUSIVE VERDICT!” in nice big red letters on the front. I dutifully pay my £5.99, throw the useless Blu-ray in the bin and sit down for quick read.
At this point I make a schoolboy error and one that we regularly discuss on TSA – I ignored the text and looked straight at the score, or in this case, scores as OPSM have rated the game on three separate aspects: Technical, Online and Campaign. I am confused and flip to another review and it has the usual OPSM out-of-ten score. I guess they decided that as Black Ops is the biggest game of the year they decided to give it a special scoring system. Fair enough, but lunchtime is over and I have to do some work so the magazine gets jammed in a jacket pocket and I think nothing more of it.
Later that evening I decided to read the magazine properly whilst waiting for dinner to cook. The Black-Ops feature confuses me. It’s laid out differently to a review and has gushing quotes from the games designers and those three separate scores are just odd for a…
Wait.
Backtrack. What did I just read in the top left hand corner of the page.. Feature? FEATURE?! This is a Black-Ops FEATURE and not a review? Why the hell has it got scores? Why is written like a review? Why the hell does the front of the magazine have ‘EXCLUSIVE VERDICT’ on the front?
Then it clicks.
Black-Ops is still embargoed and OPSM have not got an exclusive review, at least not in this issue. They have a preview with scores. They’ve put it on the front of the magazine and boasted about their ‘Exclusive Verdict’ to boost their sales and coax the unwitting public – including me – into buying their magazine.
What is really galling is that in the latest OPSM podcast in which they discuss this very issue they have the nerve to discuss and condemn websites that go “hit whoring” by posting sensational headlines. Pot, meet Kettle.
I feel betrayed by OPSM, a magazine that I have read and trusted for many years. Well done chaps, I will not be buying your magazine ever again and Firstplay can take a running jump too.
I’m sure you are going to claim the writing was never meant to be a review but if it’s got feathers and quacks, it’s a duck. Official Playstation Magazine has Black Ops on the cover, the words “Exclusve verdict” emblazoned on the cover of the magazine and scores for the game.
Quack.
As I mentioned earlier many sites had made exactly the same mistake as myself and read the OPSM feature as a world exclusive review. Activision PR have now contacted these sites and informed them “that the content from Official PlayStation Magazine UK in question was not a review but an extended preview ‘verdict'” and asked them to change any headlines to reflect this.
colmshan1990
Consider me shocked.
I always had a high opinion of OPSM, consider it under serious pressure now.
Heads should roll.
Ne0N_420
the only people who should be bothered or upset by this news should be the journalists and opsm customers, >> NOTICE<< if this isn't you why are you? botherd
SpikeyMikey23
what about tuffcub(among others), who (if im correct) isnt a customer but bought the magazine especially to read the review
Ne0N_420
maybe customer was the wrong word i meant consumer
Tuffcub
Don’t you think there is dangerous precedent being set when in the space of a week to “reviews” with scores turn out to be previews?
bunimomike
The press massage the truth, tell the truth, lie like hell. They use morally and ethically sound methods to get their points across. They also sell their souls to improve readership and sensationalism. This time around, OPMS used a fairly underhanded tactic to dupe unsuspecting folk into thinking that they’d reviewed the new COD game. It’s not illegal just a bit dirty. For this reason, and this reason alone, many of us are unimpressed.
hobgoblin
Have to admit I was quite surprised as well. I subscribe to this mag (worked out at £3.95 a month when i subscribed), and I was expecting a glowing, nothing-wrong-with-this, raises-the-bar etc “review”. I scoured the pages looking for the inevitable 10/10 mark and felt quite cheated when there wasn’t one, and it was in fact a “verdict” (or opinion).
Sympozium
10 for Cod? *checks planet
moshi
Thanks for saving me the money, was curious when I saw it in the shops but thankfully I was a few quid short from buying it. Where will it end , previewing storyboards or Dev’s Tweets
Ne0N_420
&1 more thing, hasn’t this happend before with another future publication? im sure it made the telly
hannes_truce
This has made me sick. I’m very happy that I don’t work on this particular part of Future’s portfolio
Ne0N_420
how has this made you sick, how has this affected you?
cc_star
Future Publishing employee, annoyed at the below the belt tactics.
Ne0N_420
i was replying to hannes_truce cc_star
Ne0N_420
i dont see why your all getting mad, these tactics have been used hundreds of times let it b & quit advertising it
moshi
its not advertising its called raising awareness over misleading statements
MegaBonez
I don’t read OPSM or get FirstPlay, it’s a waste of money in my opinion, just to get news, info and videos you can find on the web anyway! I’d rather get my info from a free, and unbiased service, like TSA!!
pitchforkdisney
Yes – calm down everyone. It’s not such a badly writen Feature/Preview/’Verdict’ and hey – all it really shows is print media’s getting a little bit sly in trying to keep our attention and cash away from places like this.
They don’t have the advantage of being able to publish the second the ’embargo’ is lifted. And at least the writer has had a prolonged ‘hands on’ of the game.
Ah ‘Truth’ I remember that old fashioned idea.
SpikeyMikey23
lol your name is ideal for this thread! got your torch ready?