Kotaku On The Ball

Not that Kotaku needs any more praise for being on the ball, but this was a good pick up. While I may feel that gamers don't really care about the machinations of the gaming industry it is still interesting to see where game developers are willing to push the boundaries. I mean, lets not think that corporations are ethical beings because they are not. Corporations are becoming more Machiavellian in their approach to business and this is an example of this.

Kotaku have picked up that the Kane & Lynch website has allegedly fabricated some of the media promoting the game. Saying that Gamespy gave the game 5 stars when, in fact, they only gave the game 3. And the quote about Michael Mann was actually from the preview of the game and not the review. However, it must be said, what makes people think that these quotes are meant to come from the review anyway? With the masses of trash written about games before their release developers obviously take the best of a bad bunch. I can imagine that the distributor would argue that the stars weren't actually in quotation marks and the quote was written about the game. Which is true.

The fact of the matter is that most gamers who purchase a game on the initial day or week of its release make up their minds prior reviews being printed that they will do so. Other gamers, who purchase later, may be more influenced by reviews and word-of-mouth from other gamers.

I haven't played Kane & Lynch and it was never high on my agenda to do so, but all I can say is, "Wow, another game about psychopaths who kill people." And gamers wonder why the non-gaming media stereotype them. Unfortunately, a media beat up about the game is only going to make it sell more.

If you want to read the complete Kotaku article then click here.