Independent reviews explained

Some of our reviews, many of the older ones, have an independent logo or button somewhere on the page. If a game does it means the review was done independently of the manufacturer – rather than getting them to send us a game, we went out to the shops and bought one.

The need for independence
Think of a digital camera. If a magazine or website requests one to review, the manufacturer is going to make sure they send one that works. They might even gift wrap it or send a better model, accessories, etc to make the camera look better for the reviewer than what we as the general public would get.

Now think about cars. With such a huge and profitable industry, what do you think happens when a car magazine ring up a manufacturer and asks them for a car to review? First the car will be supped up to make it better than a normal off the line one. It will be tested to make sure everything works. And the manufacturer may even fly the reviewers out to Italy to make sure they get the best possible testing ground – all of course to make their review come out better.

It can even affect reviews on a less noticeable level. Say a laptop manufacturer game along to a technology magazine and took out a huge advertising deal that would keep the magazine going for a year. And they slipped into the conversation they had brought along one of their laptops for them to best. Are you going to write a bad review?

The Solution
The solution of course is to go into the shop like any other customer and buy a game of the shelf. This has the down sides of costing actual money (us reviewers love free stuff so we really don’t like having to spend money ;), and also that we have to wait for the games to come out. But the up side is, the review is not swayed by the manufacturer or distributor.

Not all reviews are done like this – after all it would be impossible to do a preview as we wouldn’t be able to get hold of a game. However many of our reviews are done like this to make sure we get the best possible result.