Posted on December 18, 2011
I have been converted!
No longer do I believe GameSpot to be the better resource for all things video games. At least, not the more trustworthy one.
There was the whole situation with Jeff Gertsmann, who reviewed games for the site forever and was canned for giving an honest (in other words, “bad”) review of Kane and Lynch: Dead Men. The game happened to be a sponsor for the site in the weeks leading up to its release, and it was more than just a coincidence he was “let go” after giving the game a low score.
I let that one slide, even though it didn’t really seem fair. After all, I’m tracking my entire video game collection on GameSpot, something I can’t seem to do anywhere else.
Anyhow, a glitch was recently uncovered in the new Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword that would make the game un-finishable. By that, I mean that if a specific sequence of events occurs within the game (by trying to complete the game “out of order” from the storyline), Link won’t be able to proceed to the next objective. The player would then have no choice but to restart the game entirely
A full (mostly negative) article was posted at GameSpot, basically stating “not sure how this could happen in this day and age, but Nintendo says ‘don’t worry about it'”.
About five years ago, a slightly more aggravating glitch reared its ugly head in Zelda: Twilight Princess. I won’t delve into details, as the video below describes it pretty well!
This was a pretty serious muck-up, but I never saw a thing about it at GameSpot. Being concerned about it at the time, I looked it up elsewhere on the interwebs, and found a few websites confirming what was happening. It never affected what I ended up thinking about the game when I bought it a month or two later, but I did make sure to avoid the glitch.
The site’s sponsor for a week or two back in ’06 before its release? Twilight Princess.
Interesting… Skyrim, which I have almost no interest in, but somehow keep hearing about, has almost crippling graphical issues on the PS3 edition, yet that gets no coverage. Skyward Sword gets lampooned for a glitch that only shows up if you do a specific sequence of events.
What was GameSpot sponsored by for a few weeks last month?
Ahh, right. Skyrim. Not Zelda… I see a pattern.
I have converted to IGN-ism.
I will return to video game memories very soon! Worry not!
I really can’t stand IGN anymore. They’re design is clumsy and all over the place, though Gamespot’s not much better.
And I think the main issue between the Zelda bug and the Skyrim bugs is that Nintendo has (until today, through the Wii Channel) no way of fixing such a glitch unless you send in your save file to be repaired. In 2011, that’s absolutely ridiculous. A game-breaking glitch in a game like Skyrim (there isn’t one, though there are many, many, MANY other bugs) can be patched out rather easily, especially on PC.
Another issue is that Skyrim, on 360, works pretty damn well compared to the problems the PS3 is having. Hell, even the PC had more issues addressed in the latest patches than the Xbox version did. As a long-time fan of The Elder Scrolls, I am very much used to their bugs, and it’s been since 1996 (in TES 2: Daggerfall) since there was a glitch that actually made the main story impossible to finish. Everything else is usually just some weird bug (or a bunch of weird bugs) due to the sheer scope of the games.
Arg, I’m coming off as a “Nyah nyah, Skyrim is awesome”, but I don’t mean it that way. The sponsoring could very well be a huge part of the coverage, or lack thereof. I just know that, on a lot of other sides, like GiantBomb, Joystiq, and RockPaperShotgun, Skyrim’s glitches get as much if not more press than Zelda’s (except from RPS, who are pc-only)
Also, I hightly suggest taking a look at giantbomb.com. They do “Quick Looks”, which are the reviewers, unscripted, firing up a new (or upcoming) game, and just playing through it, commenting in earnest about how they feel about it all. There’s one for Skyward Sword, as well. Any time I’m looking to get a game, I check with their QL’s, specifically, to see how the game is really played.
Yeah, my post somewhat felt like an “anti-Skyrim” rant, even though it was mostly just an anti-GameSpot rant. I guess I’ll have to fish around for that “perfect website”, but then again, it’s not like I just need one site. I can have many, I suppose. heheh
Also, when you come over, you need to bring Skyrim! I need to experience it first hand. You also need to experience Skyward Sword, although I must say, it’s taking quite a bit of time for it to get awesome.
About 3 hours in, it’s getting good… just. Well, not spectacular yet. I know it’s coming, but it’s probably the slowest-to-get-going Zelda game there is, and that kind of game (even though some end up being fantastic) kind of gets on my nerves.