so to follow on from my last post about reviews, I would like to take some time to talk about bad reviews. As Wags commented on my last post, online reviews can spread very quickly.
In response to Wags, I am not sure whether there are any product categories as time-critical as movies. With video games, reviewers often tend to get their hands on previews (or alpha or beta testing) or demos, which they might often make a review of, which helps to give an indication of what the final product might be like.
In the gaming industry, we can often find reviews from different review sites, where the reviews do not reflect the real state of the game. This is because game review sites often get games sent to them early, and might not receive them if they give a bad review. Therefore, certain game sites provide ratings where a 7/10 is an average game, which can often be misleading. This is because in order to continue to receive access to previews, demos, or earlier releases of the games, game developers and publishers prefer seeing good reviews.
My favourite review site for video games is http://angryjoeshow.com/. By providing video reviews of the products, we get to see the products in use, which helps the viewer to get a better feel of the product.
The reason why I like the angry joe show is that all the reviews are entertaining, as well as the fact that he is not afraid to give a bad review, such as a 2/10. By providing an honest opinion, I find I tend to agree with his reviews more often than those provided on other sites.
For those who are interested in a bit more, here is Angry Joe with a couple of other reviewers, discussing the state of the game review industry.
So what about you guys? Do you have a reviewer you tend to trust more than others? If so, why? Derschau mentioned on my last blog that for movies he doesn't tend to trust bad reviews for movies, but only good ones due to the being a personal subjective view. But aren't good reviews also personal subjective views? What do you think?
I agree, good/bad reviews are personal, no difference, however, looking at something like movies, if the bad review you ignored was then correct after you saw the movie, you won't worry too much, the purchase was not a significant one. If a bad review for a car on the other hand ended up being correct, you will surely kick yourself for not taking that review into consideration. I think a lot of how you perceive and take in the information from reviews is very relevant to the product category.
ReplyDeleteRoss
Great post, Ivan.
ReplyDeleteI guess movies live or die by their reviews because attendance is critical for them to continue. An empty cinema will very quickly lead to the film being replaced by another one. Gaming, on the other hand, can survive a lot longer if initial sales are lower than expected. Inventories are relatively cheap to hold, and a slow adoption curve can be sustained if the trend remains upwards.
In answer to your final question: I'm not a gamer, but I do trust some reviewers more than others. Movie critics (there I go again, moving back into the film industry) can be reliable if you get to know them, and their tastes. So, yes, reviewers are like friends - it's just a more formal version of WoM.