Review Harbinger reviewed at GameSpy

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Harbinger

<a href="http://www.gamespy.com/">GameSpy</a> has taken the time and posted up <a href="http://www.gamespy.com/reviews/march03/harbingerpc/">their review</a> of <A href="http://www.harbingergame.com">Harbinger</a>. Here's something I find just damned weird and wacky:
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<blockquote>In short, Harbinger began with a promising premise -- "It's Diablo in space!" Unfortunately, in the end, that's all Harbinger is -- a barely passable Diablo mod with all the weaknesses of the original game and few of the strengths. <u>The real tragedy is that other publishers may take Harbinger's lack of success as evidence that sci-fi RPG's "just don't work," never considering that gamers don't just want a sci-fi RPG, they want a good sci-fi RPG.</u> Harbinger doesn't even come close.</blockquote>
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Oddly enough, I didn't write this review. It's kind of interesting that <A href="http://www.gamespy.com">GameSpy</a> is repeating the main point of <A href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/content.php?id=43">my review</a> in their review though.
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Spotted this at <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</a>

 

[Rosh]

Not surprising, since GameSpy has had a long, enriched history of being content theives to the point of just barely escaping plagiarism. They probably looked at the review comments posting for more content, much as they enjoy taking the work of folks at sites like RPGDot, who went through pains to get exclusives, and redistributing it, etc. without crediting.

From one of your follow-up posts:

That's the part that really stings, frankly. One of the few games that bills itself as a CRPG that's actually a Sci-Fi setting, and it's so bad that there's no way it'll sell that well. So, you'll have sme markettimng people out tjhere nodding their head and saying, "Hey, it's sci-fi, that's why it didn't sell."

 

[Constipated Craprunner]

Bullshit.
It sounds more like your paranoia than anything else.
Is it really so hard to belive that two people who reached a similar conclusion is automatically plagarisim? If Roger Ebert and Michael Willmington both give City of God 4 stars, does that mean that one plagarized the other?

 

[Spazmo]

As much as I hate to say it, I agree with Craprunner. This is just a one-in-a-million coincidence where GameSpy actually reached an intelligent conclusion and it was the same one Saint reached.

 

[Jed]

Not surprising, since GameSpy has had a long, enriched history of being content theives to the point of just barely escaping plagiarism. They probably looked at the review comments posting for more content, much as they enjoy taking the work of folks at sites like RPGDot, who went through pains to get exclusives, and redistributing it, etc. without crediting.

While I'm of course willing to accept it as mere coincidence, I've seen too much of what Rosh said in regards to GameSpy. I think it's less a coincidence that their RPG reviewer might look at other reviews before writing his own than it is the he or she might coincidentally articulate nearly verbatum what St. had said re Harbinger--I mean, personally, I'm lazy as fuck at my for-pay job and why wouldn't I take every shortcut?

T

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

As much as I hate to say it, I agree with Craprunner. This is just a one-in-a-million coincidence where GameSpy actually reached an intelligent conclusion and it was the same one Saint reached.

It's interesting in that a mainstream site posted a point a less-than-doesn't-want-to-be-mainstream site like this one posted, Spazmo.

As for the likelihood that there was absolutely no influence on his post from other reviews, I'd say that's unlikely, though. If you think game reviewers, especially those that work for GameSpy, often post thought out points, you need to re-read previous things GameSpy's posted.

Either way it goes, it's still interesting that a review on GameSpy contains that same point.

 

[Deathy]

To be honest, I'd be more suprised if that wasn't plaigarism, with my experiences with the editorial quality on gamespy sites (excuse to go to 3D Action Planet and make fun of them again)

Aww... policy has changed, all articles are now on Gamespy.com, which means that they have some kind of rudimentary screening process, and I can no longer make fun of the ameteurish crap that the daughter sites used to post.

 

[Rosh]

As for the likelihood that there was absolutely no influence on his post from other reviews, I'd say that's unlikely, though. If you think game reviewers, especially those that work for GameSpy, often post thought out points, you need to re-read previous things GameSpy's posted.

Very true. GameSpy is either posts fellate or hate in regards to things, there is very little secondary thought involved with their analysis, which is what Prov's point was. It was far different from their usual brand of fanboying.

 

[Darkness40k]

If you look closely, and take certain letters from each paragraph you get a code which spells "Stolen from rpgcodex's Saint_Proverbius".

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

If you look closely, and take certain letters from each paragraph you get a code which spells "Stolen from rpgcodex's Saint_Proverbius".

Yeah, and if you look at their logo.. It's watching you!