@b0sse Are you seriously this uncultured? They pronounce "H" as "haych" instead of "aych" in just about everywhere outside of the U.S. Jesus fucking christ.
@Lost_Omega The problem isn't with monetizing video games. That's just business. And a company can't survive without profit. Even Valve "monetizes." The problem is with them monetizing without respecting their customers, developers, or properties.
Carolyn, I think you're an excellent journalist and your reviews are always informative, yet I came away from this video review not knowing why you gave the score a 7.5. Any game this is not a 10/10 has some noticeable flaws, yet you spent too much time informing us of how good the game was, without addressing what may have subtracted from your score. Not to say that your written review didn't address it more, but for someone who prefers to listen, rather than read, the review, it might be worth considering how you allocate your information in your video reviews :) I don't mean to be negative. Like I said, you're a great writer and I have a lot of respect for you, just felt unsatisfied with the review and felt like giving some constructive criticism... Not that it means anything. Oh well.
@bluefox755 Nobody, including Gamespot, "ignored" the bugs in Skyrim. Did you even read/watch the review on Skyrim or just gawk at the shiny number beside the content? The original (video) review states, and I quote, "...how amazing, then, that in spite of all the bugs, Skyrim manages to soar so high." Skyrim was not forgiven for its bugs, nor were they ignored. It was just new and good enough to offset them in balance. Dawnguard, as a single add-on, isn't capable of doing so.
@ryogapower The bugs present in the official release of Dawnguard were the EXACT same bugs present in the beta; ones that Bethesda was made aware of through their community of (lucky) testers and in-house testers and debuggers. To choose to release the game, in that quality, should not be forgiven, and nor should any reviewer review a product under the assumption it will change over time. Bethesda has done a great job updating, debugging, and adding new features to Skyrim since its release, yet it is still a bug-ridden game and many of the largest bugs fail to be addressed in the many updates that have happened in the game. So even if a reviewer were to ignore bugs in anticipation of patches, what makes you think Bethesda's would be one to do this, given their track record?
To say that military shooters are disrespectful to the military is like saying Nascar games are disrespectful to Nascar drivers, who risk their lives in racing. My brother is a recently returned soldier (one who saw combat, mind you) and he still enjoys playing CoD and Battlefied just like any other civilian. It is not disrespectful, it is just a game. Just like when you're a child playing war in your backyard with your friends using sticks and toys. Gaming is an entertainment and an artform. Art is self-expression. Self-expression cannot be defined.
Tom, you're one of my favorite video game editors. I've been aware of your stance on military games for years, and never really questioned it because you had a right to feel that way. If you don't enjoy them, you don't have to support them. You can voice your opinion, and you can refuse to play them. But when you tell an artist his self-expression is invalid and that they shouldn't do that, you are insulting the artistic value of the medium your career is based on. People, artists, developers, have a right to their own opinion and deserve the liberty to make works of art that express whatever ideas they may have, but all that you wound up getting across through your article and through this argument is that they don't. Art has a right to be offensive. It has a right to be disrespectful. But you, as an editor, have no right to say how someone else creates their game. I truly hope you will understand how unrealistically arrogant you are.
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