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.
cam_manutd
To be honest this is quite the p***take. They can’t wait like everyone else they have to be “the first one in.” I trust tsa, joystiq and the only mag i read is play :)
C_S15
Sorry, but it’s not like they can change the title like you guys can. I remember you specifically, Tuffcub, making a headline saying that Black Ops had no co-op, when in fact it actually had no campaign co-op.
You were quickly put in your place and changed it, which is one of the benefits of a website over print, you can edit out your mistakes. It’s not like they can go to everybodies houses and cross out verdict and put something more “appropriate” for those who don’t understand that unless it has review there, it’s a review.
Yes, it doesn’t cost money to view TSA, but hits are important to you, and you got them through wording something wrong, so should I write something scathing about that? Nope. Because I was informed enough to know that Zombies were back and that is definitely co-op. Just as you were informed that OPM (as the great fan you are) score out of 10. If it wasn’t anymore obvious (more common-sense, really) that it isn’t a “proper review”, it wasn’t in the reviews section specifically set aside for reviewing things.
Fuss about nothing, really.
Tuffcub
You seem to be under the impression the OPSM feature was a mistake. It’s not, it’s deliberatly misleading.
As for my “no co-op” headline I agree with you 100% that It was misleading and I changed it as soon as someone made comment. But I didn’t do it on purpose.
C_S15
No, I’m perfectly aware that it’s not a mistake. I understood that it wasn’t a full-on review.
Just like your title, it was techinically correct, but not specific to what it actually was. Only difference is you can change yours.
Tuffcub
Is it technically correct though? OPSM have used the word “Verdict” when reviewing games, as someone pointed out OPS2M used the word above the final score.
What exactly is the diffence between a review and a verdict? According to the dictionary a verdict is given when you have judged something. That sounds like a review to me.
bunimomike
Accidentally doing something and doing something on purpose are two totally separate things.
C_S15
So you don’t give a verdict on your impressions in a preview?
If there’s opinions behind it, it’s a judgement, which you rightly pointed out is a verdict.
If they had said “This magazine has a score out of 10 inside” or “Exclusive review hither” then I could understand your gripe. But they didn’t.
Frankly, I think it was a clever ploy to give people an impression of the game without giving it a full review. They wouldn’t be able to give their readers a proper review by release, presumably due to an embargo, so giving it a thorough verdict/impression/, without it actually being a review was a smart move to give readers an idea if they want to purchase such a game.
Just to respond to this little cheeky ( :) ) edit: “As for my “no co-op” headline I agree with you 100% that It was misleading and I changed it as soon as someone made comment. But I didn’t do it on purpose.”
As far as I can see, they never actually said it was a review. You just interpretated (Never can spell that) their wording differently to them. Simple misunderstanding.
C_S15
And how do you know they purposefully did it? Presumably, unless you are somebody who works at OPM, you don’t know.
hazelam
future publishing in misleading cover headline, non shocker.
i could make a list but there’s a character limit on these posts isn’t there?
lets just go for their big one they do every single month in just about every one of their publications
“free disc”, the disc is free but the magazine costs a couple of quid more than any other mag?
yeah, and i’m a size 8.
wick15
That’s pretty shocking. Was in Tesco today and saw OPSM on the shelf. Almost bought it for the same reason, luckily I noticed Tuffcub’s article on it first.
gideon1451
Proper investigatory journalism.
Guyers94
I haven’t read through all these comments so someone may have mentioned it. But to be fair, a couple of pages on from the “Preview” it says what will be included in the next mag. On this page it mentions a review for Black Ops, as well as other big titles.
If you had read this you would know that their official review comes next month, and would in turn know that the FEATURE (As you mentioned it is clearly defined as is just that. An initial impression. I admit the scores were a bit cheeky but overall I wasn’t fooled into thinking it was a review. I think you’ve all made too much out of this.
Tuffcub
When – ever – has anyone – scored a preview?
And yes I did notice they plugged the proper review for Black Ops in the “Next month” page – strange it’s about five games down the list isnt it? The biggest game ever, you’d think they’d be shouting about it.
Oh they already have.
The fact that Activision have had to contact people and correct them that this is NOT a review simply enforces my point that average Joe would think it’s a review.
cc_star
Ignoring the fact that whether the scores were misleading, cheeky or a complete non-issue, the wording on the magazine cover was an issue.
OPM have basically got loads of sales through this, and then they’ll get loads of sales again next month to see the proper review. Kudos to them for that, but boo to them for ripping off some people who thought they were above the sort of tricks normally reserved for unscrupulous websites looking for N4G traffic.
Guyers94
But the argument that they got sales through this simply isn’t fair. The front cover said that they had an exclusive Verdict on Call Of Duty Black Ops. This is exactly what people got, you say it read like a review so people expecting a review from the front cover shouldn’t be disappointed.
The only possible complaint I can see is that they have effectively written a review but disguised it as a feature due to the review embargo. The only people who could complain about this are Activision, but they clearly don’t seem bothered so I don’t see what anyone has to complain about.
They bought it because of the Black Ops cover, expecting a verdict on a game they’re looking for info for. And that’s exactly what they got.
Tuffcub
Guyers94: Definition of Vedict from Dictionary.com – “a judgment; decision: the verdict of the critics.” if passsing judgement on a game is not a review please explain how you would define “review”
Guyers94
Yes but I mentioned that, you say it read like a review and received a score. So anyone buying the magazine wanting a review because of the word Verdict, effectively got one. It may have been disguised as a feature but they got the same content they would have wanted.
So a I say they practically wrote a review so people would read it, but the embargo isn’t up so they disguised it as something else. Activision should be the only people annoyed by this but they don’t seem worried. The customer who bought the mag got exactly what they wanted.
Sorry for the late reply I’ve been busy
gaffers101
Would be nice to hear what OPSM have to say themselves about this. Can’t believe that this thread hasn’t been read by them yet.
Come on OPSM, what’s your response?
SpikeyMikey23
i did tweet the link to them and asked them for a comment or to defend their actions. No reply
gaffers101
It’s up to them to defend the article or not. I think it would help them claw back a bit of credibility if they at least posted a response.
gazzagb
I don’t get what the fuss is about. They gave a preview they did a score. Big deal. It’s just a number.
And they put “exclusive verdict” on the front to attract customers. What’s so bad about that?
bigdon23
It is rediculous what these people will do to sell crappy magazines with news that you can get more accurately from TSA :) what ever happened to just having sexy females inside its covers?
doesnt this contradict the *trade discriptions act*, as you think your getting a review only to find its a preview
PoorPaddy89
Depends on your point of view on what ‘Verdict’ means. Do you use a dictionary definition, or the idea of what they usually use it for? Doesn’t matter anyway – they’d get off it anyway, that is if anyone bothered to challenge them. And you have to be one sad loser to do that.
Sympozium
heh-heh Metal Hammer….
muse88_James
Despite this, the articles in OPM are a much better read than most of the tripe on the internet.
muse88_James
And they didn’t mention that it was a review, they said ‘Verdict’, so what? They enticed people in to getting the mag to get in depth (I presume) look at the CoD. The general public don’t seem to care about reviews anyway, look the amount of preorders the games got already. People are going to buy the game no matter what the score is.
OPM just want to get a ‘verdict’ out before the game’s is, when people want to read about the game, since you know…no ones going to care one the games out are they, they’ll all be playing it.
beeje13
agree