Topic: PREVIEWS: Metroid Prime: Hunters

[Mario]

You're supposed to form your own opinion from the preview. Like, "oh, WiFi, neat", "oooh these modes sound cool" etc.

[MysticGohan]

hehe, I'm amused either way. But Journalsim aside, it did seem abit "Excessive" To criticize the preview that Dan wrote, I find it more indepth than anything I've read on GameSpot or IGN, IGN's integerity is dubious and questionable at the sametime, if possible, currently the state things are in, I wouldn't doubt the two would be use in the same sentence as IGN, I do carry however a vendetta of sorts against IGN, although however I'm not biase towards them *maybe more so at other times* But I doubt many people took too kindly to the insider deal, but that's a whole nother can of worms to be opened another day.

But all things aside, it did seem rather harsh. After all this is a dedicated News site by fans of Nintendo and gaming in general, what you seem to neglect "Which by the way, hasn't been mentioned" is that the Staff at PGC do not get paid for what they do, unlike the staff at IGN, 1UP or GameSpot, etc. all those listed get paid wages for such services.

for what it's worth, PGC has done what others have failed. How many sites can say they have the staying power like PGC and can maintain a site for over 7 yrs.? not very many I can tell you that.

I also worked for a few websites that did coverage for nintendo products, however amatuer. But I can understand journalism to an extent, if you have experience and wanna give advice, be more "constructive" Crticism is ok, but in light moderation, otherwise it can come off as abit insultating and offending to ones Integerity.

Just thought I would add my two cents, now I'm broke  


Happy now?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

They weren't impressions.  What the heck were you reading? =O

All aboard the Trainwreck.

[Smash_Brother]

Preview doesn't = first impressions.

You want first impressions? Here they are:

"I pelted some guy I didn't know with the glowing balls that come out of the hole at the end of that thing on my arm until he stopped moving, then this number on my screen went up by an increment of one. I was happy."

Seriously, if you own a DS, you already have the Metroid Hunters demo. The gameplay will be about that except mostly against people you don't know.

[Jonnyboy117]

I mention our internal policy only as a means to clarify; other sites and magazines have different ways of handling previews, sometimes including opinion.  We don't.  So that's a perfectly reasonable way to respond to your complaint that the preview contained no opinion.  You might as well complain that our reviews aren't eight pages long.  The reason is that I would not allow such a monstrosity onto the site, the same as I do not allow opinion to intrude upon a preview.  Other sites obviously feel differently.

In that you seem to hold Dan's opinion in high regard and thirst for it so powerfully, I'm sure he will be flattered and even more encouraged to write impressions of the game.  But I don't know if he will do so.  You see, this game has been in development for a long time, and we've played many builds of it, and the fundamental mechanics have not changed much in that time.  This event was not like Revolution's unveiling in May -- it's not designed to introduce you to a product and help you get a feel for what it's all about.  We know what Hunters is about, and if you have a DS, chances are that you do too.  This event was about detailed information of the game's deepest features, many of which are not easily demoed in just a couple of hours, hence our reliance on Nintendo for certain information.  Consider, for instance, that Dan missed a good chunk of "free gameplay time" so he could conduct an interview with the developers, which will be posted tonight.

It was my suggestion to use the phrase "hands-on" in the abstract, because Dan did get to play this game for himself at the event, and because some of the information in the preview comes directly from his playing time.  There's nothing dishonest or misleading about it.  It is a hands-on preview.  NOT hands-on impressions.

I try to be very receptive to feedback of all types, and I'm trying to respond directly to your criticism in a timely manner and in the same tone with which we are addressed, within reason.  What I'm getting from your comments is that the divide between previews and impressions, to which we adhere fairly strictly, is not always well understood by our readers, particularly people who have not been reading the site for years and years (unlike most of the posters in this thread).  And I'm getting the message that people want game impressions to go with previews whenever possible, which is a reasonable request even though you may not always be happy with the results (for instance, if we didn't have enough time with the game to form a solid opinion or make any new observations).

[KnowsNothing]

For the record, impressions are much more important to me than previews, and I value impressions from PGC with higher regard than impressions from other sites because I usually know the writer to some extent, and how that may have effected his or her opinion.  Also, the impressions are usually about things I want to hear, whereas some sites take a long time to say nothing useful

[Bloodworth]

Regarding the timing of the article, I apologize, but I got this up about as fast as I could, given circumstances.  I don't have a laptop, and unlike IGN and others, PGC doesn't have the resources to buy them for all of us.  I'm sure anyone with a laptop was updating from the very room we played in or the airport - I would.  We went to the airport from the event, I had a later flight, drove home, started writing, turned it in for editing at 2:30 AM, and posted the article in the morning before getting ready for work.

[vudu]

So ... am I wrong, or is Hunters only the second FPS available for DS?  That seems odd.  Given the nature of the genere and how easily it works on the system you'd think we'd be drowning in them.

[Jonnyboy117]

It's the third, though most people will never play Greg Hastings MAX'd Tournament Paintball.  Actually, most people will never play Goldeneye: Rogue Agent either, so let's say Metroid is the first!

As always, one successful game in a genre will encourage other companies to follow with similar games.

[IceCold]

The rival radar thingy sounds great.. now at least if you play someone and enjoy but don't have their friend code, you can still play them later on..