Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

[(Tunnels)]

Just watched the Live Action Skyrim commercial.

Needs more Lusty Argonian Maid.

But in all seriousness, watching these vids makes me wanna play Oblivion to get ready for Skyrim. Officially excited now!

[Yggdrasil]

from NeoGAF:

Justin from Joystiq has posted a video on youtube of him dancing with Skryim after it arrived for review

Now as someone who is supposed to be a critical unbiased reviewer this is ridiculous

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN2KU...ature=youtu.be

His review of the game is now invalid, especially if its positive

And games journalists wonder why they are generally so loathed and people crap on them

At this point, would Skyrim on the PS3 still be inferior to the 360 version? I remember hearing that Oblivion was better on the 360.

Bethesda has shown the 360 version more than any other version for what I know.

[kyuusei]

A better link for the video since our forums didn't like that one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN2KUJgOPBs&feature=youtu.be

I don't know, it just means he was excited to play it. Is it really unprofessional? I just think it's more ridiculous looking than anything.

I wonder what kind of video he'll record when the BethesdaBugs™ annoy the crap out of him. :P

ETA:

[Yoda]

what the hell kind of game case is that? does he just have small ass hands?

[Sagacious-T]

That video was really embarrassing, almost as embarrassing as watching game reviewers fawn over the annual Capcom paradise junket.

Also, he's the same blogger that couldn't figure out how to fish in Nier.

[GrimReality]

Sure, it's silly, but I see nothing wrong with a reviewer being excited about a game. It means he's a gamer just like the rest of us. Personally, I prefer to read reviews from writers who have a passion for what they do. Remember, reviews are opinions, not facts. if you don't like one, read another one. Plus, just because he's excited initially doesn't mean that he'll stay that way. His expectations may be a bit too high, and could result in a lower score. Who knows?

[Kevadu]

Stupid dancing aside, Justin McElroy is one of the absolute worst reviewers in the business.  It's not just the Nier thing (though that certainly doesn't help), just about everything he writes is biased and often factually incorrect.  This guy has absolutely no business writing game reviews.

[Lazlowe1984]

I'm taking the day off when Skyrim releases.I can't avoid it.

[Yoda]

I'm going to wait for it. I know I'll sink in like 100s of hours into it and love it, but I'll wait for a sale. I have some good shit I need to beat first too.

[Eusis]

I'm going to wait for it. I know I'll sink in like 100s of hours into it and love it, but I'll wait for a sale. I have some good shit I need to beat first too.

I'm actually kind of tempted to do this. Batman AC's PC version comes out the following week along with Saints Row the Third, then Zelda the following Sunday. There's really no shortage of stuff to play in November, not unless your tastes are VERY specific (and weren't satiated in prior months).

[kyuusei]

what the hell kind of game case is that? does he just have small ass hands?

It's just really close to the camera when he holds it up.

I'm probably the only person here not even remotely interested in Skyrim. But holy crap is it ever PRETTY.

[Yggdrasil]

^I'm not interested in Skyrim. I don't find anything fasinating about it and with Uncharted 3 coming soon I can't have any interest in it and also Dark Souls has drained all of the energy to want to play another RPG for a while too (outside of Deus Ex).

So yeah, you are not alone.

[Sagacious-T]

Sure, it's silly, but I see nothing wrong with a reviewer being excited about a game. It means he's a gamer just like the rest of us. Personally, I prefer to read reviews from writers who have a passion for what they do. Remember, reviews are opinions, not facts. if you don't like one, read another one. Plus, just because he's excited initially doesn't mean that he'll stay that way. His expectations may be a bit too high, and could result in a lower score. Who knows?

Professional journalists who review forms of entertainment as a living should have a little bit of integrity. You wouldn't see Roger Ebert dancing in a youtube video because he received free movie tickets.

[Themadcow]

I've got more of a problem with people who just... don't... like... RPG's... reviewing a game. It's only ever justified when the game is either a potential blockbuster with crossover potential, or if it intentionally goes out to court fans of other genres (such as FPS).

Even worse, people who don't like a certain game mechanic because they think it's outdated.

[John]

I've got more of a problem with people who just... don't... like... RPG's... reviewing a game. It's only ever justified when the game is either a potential blockbuster with crossover potential, or if it intentionally goes out to court fans of other genres (such as FPS).

Even worse, people who don't like a certain game mechanic because they think it's outdated.

See, I have to disagree with both of these points.  It is incredibly important for a reviewer to have a similar demographic or point of view to that of the majority of its readers.  I would expect a reviewer here to like RPGs - it's our modus operandi that we play RPGs, and our audience follows suit.  However, if you take a major publication like Game Informer or IGN or any other big-name website owned by a conglomerate, that's not the case.  The average demographic of their reader is significantly different, and is probably more likely than not to have a big portion of their readership uninterested in RPGs unless they are genre-hybrid.  As such, the reviewer, as both a respect for their readers whom are consuming the content and their advertisers, who are supporting the content, to have something that their target demographic will read and commiserate with.

As for the second point, outdated mechanics are a big deal.  In RPGs, games with a massive encounter rate and required grinding don't fly - that form of lengthening a game because of combat is outmoded.  Developers have proven that a game can be engaging, entertaining, and challenging without forcing the player to grind.  Same goes for SCUMM-esque verb selection in adventure games.  I know that if I had to go and select a from a block of verbs in every adventure game, I wouldn't be too happy.  Game design is about evolution, be that adapting to the control schemes, to the market, or to the consumer.  Now, that's not to say that evolution is always a good thing.  There have been plenty of games that have attempted to evolve and have failed; there are reasons that certain parts of genres stay as mainstays, because there aren't better ways for them to be implemented (or it hasn't been discovered how, yet).  Still, when a re-release, etc. returns to something that's generally accepted as outmoded, it's a frustration, not as a reviewer, but as a gamer.  I'd say that the logic isn't "I hate this because I think it's outdated," but rather, "I don't like this, I've seen it done better, therefore I surmise that it's outdated."

On point for the previous conversation: that video is not entirely out of character for this industry: "look at me, look at me, I'm better than you!"