How PS3 and Xbox 360 fanboys gamed Metacritic
Metacritic is a website which aggregates reviews, both by experts, and users, and averages them out. As well as games, movies, TV shows, and albums are listed on the site along with their scores. Unfortunately, the system is inherently flawed, and PS3 and Xbox 360 gamers have recently proved how to successfully game Metacritic.
I actually quite like fanboys of all flavors as they make my job here on Blorge a whole lot easier. Report the news, give a healthy dose of opinion and then watch the debate rage in the comments section. But I’m guessing Metacritic aren’t such fans of PS3 and Xbox 360 fanboys right about now.
The problems began when LittleBigPlanet, a game that absolutely everyone, whether they admit it or not, wants to play. It’s a PS3 exclusive and Sony are bringing it up as a major incentive for potential Playstation 3 owners to buy a console this Christmas. Which doesn’t seem to have gone done well with the Xbox 360-owning fraternity.
So, despite LittleBigPlanet not yet being out, Xbox 360 fanboys gave it very low user ratings on Metacritic, which means it’s currently sitting on the site with an average of just 6.2 out of 10. Which doesn’t really correlate with the incredibly high scores awarded to the game by gaming sites. The critical average is currently at 95 out of 100.
When this mauling took place, the PS3 fanboys weren’t just going to bend over and take it like a man. So instead, they fought fire with fire, and gave Xbox 360 exclusive Gears Of War 2 equally low ratings. The game, rumored to be the best Xbox 360 game yet, is now sat on Metacritic with an average user score of just 2.7 out of 10.
Marc Doyle, the founder of Metacritic responded to the unfairly low scores handed out by obviously jealous gamers, adding the following statement to the user comments for LittleBigPlanet.
My advice for our faithful users is to focus your attention on the Metascore for this game and not the thousands of user votes, most of which have been submitted before said users have played the game. This is a gaming community, and if people want to stuff the ballot box, there’s not much I can do at this point. When we upgrade the registration requirements for participation on the site in the near future, this type of thing won’t happen. We’ll post the full legitimate user reviews upon the game’s release. As always, thanks for using the site.
The prospect of a site redesign is good, and I have to say, well overdue. Hopefully the insistence on making users register to give a game a review score will ensure nothing like this happens again. For the time being, however, the LBP and GoW2 scores are set to stay on the site, and that could damage the site’s integrity.
While very few people are likely to base their buying decisions on Metacritic user scores alone, I do wonder if there’ll be the odd parent who’ll visit the site to check out items on little Johnny’s Christmas list and decide not to buy either of the affected games because of fanboys messing about. Which is actually quite funny.
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22 Responses to “How PS3 and Xbox 360 fanboys gamed Metacritic”
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October 26th, 2008
I don’t want to play Little Big Planet….
October 26th, 2008
Soooo. we all know what you were doing this past weekend.
October 27th, 2008
@harry
u dont wanna play LBP… fair enough
but coming from an owner of LBP, its extremely fun and innovative. its nice to play a game thats relaxing for the head once awhile, instead of playin hardcore 24/7.
October 27th, 2008
@ idiot,
It’s just not my type of game and I am not interested in it.
October 27th, 2008
Harry have you actually played LBP? or are you just spewing your opinion on a game you’ve only seen. Thats suicide here. Don’t comment on games you have never played. I for one have never played GOW,Halo etc but i won’t comment on gameplay because i haven’t played it. But i guess if your not into that genre, but you ought to give it a try. It got me hooked.
Btw the release for LBP is on the 5th right?
October 27th, 2008
that’s so funny, haha.
October 27th, 2008
@bourne
At amazon they are preparing the shipment and the order can’t be changed. Usually when that happens they ship in a couple of hours. I expect it by tomorrow.
October 27th, 2008
Harry,
Something tells me you’d give LBP a try if it were a 360 exclusive.
-Arvis
October 27th, 2008
I wish they’d ship the damn game already!!!!!!
October 27th, 2008
That at first disgusted me… The fact the Xbots would be that petty and hateful. Just because the game isn’t on there system, do they really have to resort to being that petty about it. Then I saw that the GOW rating was lower… and that made me smile.
Now I am heading over to the site to put my two cents in. Fight fire with fire is my motto.
October 27th, 2008
Like Harry Said before LBP is right up there with Vivia Piniata, a childs game. A game I have never played and I own the 360. The Only time I gave it a chance is in the demo. LPB would get the same treatment, Demo. If it showed potential then maybe but why would a grown up man like me want to play with a childs game.
October 27th, 2008
Sounds like sour beans from CAD and Harry.
You don’t have to make your levels colourful and your character adorable if you don’t want to. It’s pretty open-ended, if you read the reviews.
I’ll help you build a big manly grown up level if you want CAD, with some guns, bitches and hoes.
October 27th, 2008
@ Bourne & Arvis,
I have seen videos of it, and it just isn’t my type of game. Even if I had a PS3 (god forbid) or if it came to 360, I would have the same stance.
Console of choice has nothing to do with this. As CAD mentioned, I have no time for Viva Pinata either. I am not into gardening, and I am not into dressing up dolls. hahaha
October 27th, 2008
I must say that I’m not really interested in LBP. BUT that isn’t saying that it wouldn’t change if I gave it a go either.
It is pretty funny that when ever a Sony exclusive game comes up, the 360 boyz don’t like it, aren’t interested or just bag the crap outta it…..
For the record, I’m not insecure with my system. I would give Gears of War a go if I could
October 27th, 2008
Spideydog,
That’s not 100% true. I have always stated that I am interesed in Resistance 2. I am just not interested in LBP, at all….
And I attack Viva Pinata quite a lot, I think gardening sucks. I hate it in real life, why the hell would I want a video game about it?
October 27th, 2008
Sour beans??? Dude I have nothing to be sour about? I don’t want the game! haha
October 28th, 2008
harry sachz:
Well how are you gonna be interested in when is gonna be another PLAYSTATION 3 kicks ass must have exclusive.
I didn’t care about LittleBigPlanet at first either. Because I like better hardcore stuff like
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift
Resistance
Bioshock
But I’m still going to get it this year. And yeah Viva Piñata sucks i hate that game is awful but it looks nice. I’m so glad you interested in Resistance 2.
October 28th, 2008
Harry,
Yeah man, your grapes are so sour, they turned into beans!
Kidding, kidding…
-Arvis
October 28th, 2008
lol @ Arvis. I’ve never tried sour beans before, but they sound unpleasant.
October 29th, 2008
Fanboys are so funny.
October 30th, 2008
Console wars were a lot more interesting back in the days of Sonic and Mario since the systems actually had very different abilities. Nowadays the PS3 and XBOX360 are just two sides of the same coin.
January 1st, 2009
The statement was “LittleBigPlanet, a game that absolutely everyone, whether they admit it or not, wants to play.”
I think it is fairly safe to say that this is an overstatement. There have been many top rated games I am not interested in, simply because I do not like the genre or it’s basic theme. This is one of them. Maybe if I had no other games that interested me at the time, I would then pick this up.