Recently, I have noticed an uproar in the gaming community over inflated review scores for GTAIV and Konami's upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4.  GTA4 currently holds a solid A-score on metacritic's weighted average while MGS4 has been getting 90-100% scores before even being released to public.  Interestingly, GTA4 has an "only good" B-score for user submitted averages.  This shows that professional gaming editorials are handing out scores higher than what the general public may agree to.  Many gamers are afraid that the same thing is going to happen with MGS4:  Getting a 100% rating is highly unusual and people will point to editorial-publisher relationship ethics; this is a whole different issue altogether.  What I want to delve into is the fact that Nintendo seems to be immune to these allegations.  I have heard the argument that GTA4 does not deserve an A+ score because while it is a solid game, it doesnt really add anything new to the formula.  Well geeze, have you played the latest Pokemon or Mario Party?  It's pretty much the same thing as the previous iteration except with some tweaks and a new paintjob (and in the case of pokemon, it barely even improves on graphics).  If that isn't the very definition of milking a franchise, I don't know what is... and Nintendo commits this act on ALL its franchises.  Somehow the fact that the new Mario Kart adds support for motion control (which is horrible compared to a traditional gamepad might I add), it is innovative enough in the eyes of nostalgic nintenboys to hunk over $40 for the same game you played 3 years ago.

Sony is often cast in the light as the big evil corporate entity that steals your hard earned money with over-priced hardware.  Well, no one is forcing you to buy a new limited edition PS3 .  However, I see people plunker down cash year after year for another revision of the gameboy (an ingeniously milked design btw: gameboy pocket, gameboy, micro, gameboy advance vs sp? come on now) or the 20 different fruity colors of the DS and Wii.  Apparently its okay to be nickle and dimed when you have a smile on your face while day dreaming of your childhood playing duckhunt. 

Now, don't get me wrong here, I am a firm believer in the classic adage: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."  I eagerly looked forward to every reincarnation of Super Smash and thoroughly enjoyed saving princess Zelda from Ganon for the 30th time.  I am just saying that if you are going to be critical of an inflated review score for GTA4, then you gotta use the same metrics in judging games from your favorite 1st party developer.  I don't think GTA4 deserved a 90-100% score, but I could also say the same for a handfull of titles with the word "Mario" in it. 

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written by Ben , June 06, 2008

don't hate cuz ninty rules!

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