Since the dawn of time, journalists, or in this instance; reviewers are every company’s worst nightmare. A product that they have spent thousands creating, marketing and distributing in the hope of it becoming the next big seller can be ruined by one guy sat in front of his computer who types something along the lines of “avoid at all costs!”. Those four words could ruin several years of hard work. With so much at stake it would seem obvious that certain measures would be put in place before anyone gets to read the newest exclusive review or interview.
Combine this with the fact that a front cover of a magazine saying “First Modern Warfare 2 Review” would actually benefit the publication and would likely see a significant sales increase for that issue, sometimes it is more than plausible that both parties could reach an agreement that would benefit them both. Of course this is not only restricted to the video games media and the same can be applied to movies and music too. Stick Tom Cruise on the front of a movie magazine, complete with an exclusive interview and sales will rocket. The question is: Does this make this make it harder to be completely honest reviewing a product when the PR people have been so accommodating? (more…)
Neil Hughes 