Gamespy inflates Donkey Konga 2 review?

[warning]

Reading this (link) makes my head spin.  Apparently Gamespy took the review down.  Here's the quote:

I’ve never done this before, and I probably shouldn’t be doing it now, but I want to take the opportunity to completely disown the GameSpy Donkey Konga 2 review in its published form. It grew an extra star and a half (or another 30% on the gamerankings scale) from its submitted version, along with several laudatory phrases that I didn’t write and certainly don’t mean. I hated the game. It’s not a 3/5.

Wow.  And ugh.  Wough.

[Tebunker]

this is nothing new, not usually to this extent, but reviews get changed by all the major publications ALL the Time. It's a shame they couldn't let his own words stand, but that's why there are editors, they maintain the stability of their own website and/or magazine, and ultimately decide what's said, how it's said and what the final score should be...

[Andrew Mallon]

Editors edit reviews all the time. It's their job, especially if they feel the reviewer isn't giving the game a fair shake. As a freelancer this guy should be professional enough not to run to the Internet just because an editor changed a line of his precious text.

Gamespy probably could've handled it better. Contacted the guy, let him know they were altering the review and give him the chance to remove his name from the byline if he disagreed with the changes. Still doesn't excuse this guy's behavior, though.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Editors edit reviews all the time. It's their job, especially if they feel the reviewer isn't giving the game a fair shake.

For a frame of reference, this NEVER happens here.  I may ask a reviewer to go back and quantify why they felt so strongly one way or the other but we never edit reviews in this fashion.  The review should reflect your experience, not be tailored and doctored to fit an agenda.

[Kevin Grey]

Editors edit reviews all the time. It's their job, especially if they feel the reviewer isn't giving the game a fair shake.

For a frame of reference, this NEVER happens here.  I may ask a reviewer to go back and quantify why they felt so strongly one way or the other but we never edit reviews in this fashion.  The review should reflect your experience, not be tailored and doctored to fit an agenda.

Do you use freelancers?

I have a bunch of issues with the Gamespy case and how they handled it but the core issue was that the Gamespy staff (or at least those that had played at least some of DK2) felt that the game was better than the freelancer did.  

Tom Chick's rather infamous review of Deus Ex is one of the more notable instances of this happening.  He didn't like the game very much and reviewed it poorly.  The site he was freelancing for, now-defunct Gamecenter, felt differently- they thought it was a really great game (as did most others) and didn't want to let the review effectively become Gamecenter's official view on Deus Ex.  In that case they handled it far better than Gamespy though- they paid Tom his "kill" fee and and had someone else review the game.  Tom was ultimately able to get his review posted on Games Domain as a second opinion.

Gamespy borked the handling here completely but I don't have an issue with the principle of a site and its staff determining if they want to let one reviewer's opinion stand for the site as a whole.

[th'FOOL]

no freelancers here.  we're all committed to CG

[stiffler]

no freelancers here.  we're all committed to CG

Ultimately I want to write those one paragraph reviews in men's magazines for games that haven't even gone gold.  I hear they make crazy money!

[Chrisoc13]

Editors edit reviews all the time. It's their job, especially if they feel the reviewer isn't giving the game a fair shake. As a freelancer this guy should be professional enough not to run to the Internet just because an editor changed a line of his precious text.

Gamespy probably could've handled it better. Contacted the guy, let him know they were altering the review and give him the chance to remove his name from the byline if he disagreed with the changes. Still doesn't excuse this guy's behavior, though.

I can see them editing his text to a point, but flat out changing the score? Come on, dont you see some kind of problem here? Doesnt that irk you even just a little, or do you really feel gamespy was in the right? They should never have done that and kept his name on it. What choice does he have to say what happened besides going to the internet? Oh no, a whistle blower, what a loser  :roll: . At least the review doesnt have his name on it anymore.