Metacritic Says Report On Score Weights ‘Wholly Inaccurate’

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GDC session by Adams Greenwood-Ericksen of Full Sail University titled “A Scientific Assessment of the Validity and Value of Metacritic” attempted to break down the tiers the site assigns to reviews in weighing them for its score average. Metacritic, for its part, was quick to dismiss the report.

“Today, the website Gamasutra ‘revealed’ the weights that we assign to each gaming publication (for the purpose of calculating our Metascores), based on a presentation given at the Game Developers Conference this morning,” Metacritic said in a statement. “There’s just one major problem with that: neither that site, nor the person giving the presentation, got those weights from us; rather, they are simply their best guesses based on research (the Gamasutra headline is misleading in this respect).”

“The disparity between tiers listed in the article is far more extreme than what we actually use on Metacritic,” it added. “For example, they suggest that the highest-weighted publications have their scores counted six times as much as the lowest-weighted publications in our Metascore formula. That isn’t anywhere close to reality; our publication weights are much closer together and have much less of an impact on the score calculation.”

Nike Ad On Tiger ‘Winning’ Gets Flak

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Nike is taking some heat for its online ad with a picture of Tiger Woods overlaid with a quote from him, “Winning takes care of everything.” The golfer recently reclaimed the world number-one ranking for the first time in over two years.

The issue that some take with this is they feel like it doesn’t put Woods’ life in proper context. His marriage to Elin Nordegren disintegrated after a multitude of extramarital affairs were revealed in 2010; he recently announced that he and skier Lindsey Vonn are dating.

“When asked about his goals such as getting back to number one, he has said consistently winning is the way to get there,” said Nike spokeswoman Beth Gast. “The statement references that sentiment and is a salute to his athletic performance.”

Allen Adamson, managing director of branding firm Landor Associates, said the ad shows that Nike wants to put Woods back in the spotlight. “They’re looking at this and saying, ‘Time has passed, he’s winning again, it’s time to turn up the volume on our association,’ ” he said. “But it’s risky when you associate with a celebrity only based on winning or losing. Consumers care about how you play the game: both the actual game and the game of life.”

“The reality is what he said is true,” noted Marketing consultant Laura Ries. “Whether or not they should have said it in an ad is another story.”

Source: ABCnews.com

Hideo Kojima Says ‘Misleading’ Trailers Are Important

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Hideo Kojima says that he thinks that “misleading” videos are important when promoting a game. The creator of Metal Gear recently had one of his greatest trailer deceptions ever, promoting the projects Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain as different games by separate studios before revealing that both are the same game: Metal Gear Solid V.

“I do think it’s important to leave hints, but, in a sense, I think it’s important to mislead people with hints because I think if something’s too predictable then it’s no longer fun,” Kojima said. “I think that’s the problem with many Hollywood sequels; you get exactly what you expect.”

“But what I want to do, is make people look forward to a game by watching the trailers and say “‘Hey, that looks great.’ But then, when they actually play it, they have this sort of epiphany where they realize ‘Oh, so that’s what that was,'” he added. “And it all kind of comes together and clicks in their head. I think that’s very important that you leave some sense of discovery for the player.”

Source: Edge-Online.com

Beyond: Two Souls Will Be Shown At Tribeca Film Festival 2013

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Beyond: Two Souls has been chosen to be an official selection at Tribeca Film Festival. Beyond: Two Souls is the second game to be bestowed with the honor, after L.A. Noire at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival.

The game’s showing will feature a new one-hour scene, the debut of what is being called a “major” trailer and a behind-the-scenes look. Actress Ellen Page and Quantic Dream’s David Cage will also appear on a Q&A panel.

Big Fish Games: 10 Years And 2 Billion Downloads

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Big Fish Games saw $220 million in revenue in 2012 from its casual gaming platform. Since launching in 2002, the company has seen revenue grow every year and has seen over 2 billion downloads.

“We achieved nearly 20 per cent top-line bookings growth last year and anticipate our growth rate to accelerate throughout 2013 and 2014, largely due to our new lines of business that are now at a meaningful scale,” said CEO and founder Paul Thelen. “Mobile is our fastest growing platform and now accounts for 30 per cent of total company bookings. A year ago we transitioned from a premium ‘games you own’ business model to providing more choices to our customers on how and where they want to play. More than half of our mobile bookings now come from a free-to-play business model.”

Shanda Games Promotes New President

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Shanda Games has announced that senior vice president of business development Tunghai Chien has been named the company’s new president. At the same time, the Chinese game company revealed Grace Wu will be stepping down from her position as director.

“I am honored to have been entrusted with this opportunity to aid the company in further strengthening its franchises and delivering its expanding portfolio to various new platforms and distribution channels,” said Chien. “The company has undertaken numerous initiatives in an effort to adapt to a rapidly changing environment since I first joined. Each of these changes brings along new opportunities and challenges which we intend to take advantage of. I look forward to working closely with the company’s talented employees as we start 2013 on a solid footing.”

Watch_Dogs – CTOS Threat Monitoring Report

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This footage lets you witness the actions of Aiden Pearce in the city of Chicago through the eyes of ctOS – the city-wide computer system to which he can illegally hack and control as law enforcement attempts to catch him. The trailer suggests that some third-party is tracking Aiden in the game and this trailer puts in context the actions and abilities Aiden has demonstrated in the past.

Rain Gameplay Video

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SCE Japan Studio, Acquire, and PlayStation C.A.M.P. recently rolled out this melancholy trailer for rain, a game where a ghostly child can only appear when he’s in the rain. Watch the first rain gameplay video, set to Debussy’s Clair de Lune, from Chapter 1 “The Children and the Night”.