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Spanca
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 Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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How long has that been the case?
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Luke
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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Well games started coming in 2004 when i took over PR, early 2006 was when the site became big enough to get most code from publishers.
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ret the roman
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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When playing a preview/review code of a game, do you test them out with a whole bunch of friends?
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Spanca
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Luke wrote: | | Well games started coming in 2004 when i took over PR, early 2006 was when the site became big enough to get most code from publishers. |
Well that's what I said in my post, that things have swung the other way now, but as you say, it's only in the last year that the majority of current reviews have become publisher funded, and overall isn't the balance still favouring personal purchases (ie if you were to take proportions of all games reviewed for PALGN), or close to?
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David
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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| ObsoletE wrote: | | Do you have a guilty pleasure game? |
| Spanca wrote: | | Do you guys find it hard to review games outside your favourite genres? I know you try to avoid that in the way reviewers are allocated to games, but it must happen when you get a genre you despise. Does that make it hard to review the game fairly? |
| phelan74 wrote: | | Considering the majority of games you are given are free - does it ever slip your mind that their are kids out there forking out weeks of pocket money on a game when you do a review? |
It could only be a slight problem when a reviewer over appreciates a game because it didn't cost anything. But just read the text, get an impression of how fun it is and how long it lasts, and you'll have an idea about whether you should buy it or not.
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NeoSanity
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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Do you guys have a christmas party or any sort of get-together to discuss the website?
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Luke
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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I've stickied this, made it into English and moved it to PAL talk.
We have a staff meeting every month via MSN and there is a staff forum.
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Jeremy
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:41 pm Post subject: |
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| phelan74 wrote: | | Considering the majority of games you are given are free - does it ever slip your mind that their are kids out there forking out weeks of pocket money on a game when you do a review? |
Absolutely. I always try to make some sort of reference regarding whether or not the game in question deserves a purchase.
In terms of the final score, if a game is a 6 for example but it's available considerably lower than retail, it might get tilt up by 0.5
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ret the roman
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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Will you ever review a tokobot game?
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Luke
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| Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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| retroman wrote: | | Will you ever review a tokobot game? |
If it gets sent to us 
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GooberMan
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| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 1:13 am Post subject: |
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Will you give it a real score and a retroman weighted score?
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NismoR34
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| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:59 am Post subject: |
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While I never knew the full details behind it, I always got the impression that Nintendo of Australia didn't really 'care' (for lack of a better term) for you guys, or any Aussie site for that matter. Has relations with them improved at all over the years that PALGN has progressed?
Was there even progress to be made there in the first place? (in other words, was I dreaming the whole time?)
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Luke
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| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:53 am Post subject: |
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| NismoR34 wrote: | While I never knew the full details behind it, I always got the impression that Nintendo of Australia didn't really 'care' (for lack of a better term) for you guys, or any Aussie site for that matter. Has relations with them improved at all over the years that PALGN has progressed?
Was there even progress to be made there in the first place? (in other words, was I dreaming the whole time?) |
Nintendo Australia support PALGN with press releases, email support and help in general in regards to queries, however, we don't get review code from them; whereas other sites like Gamearena and IGN AU do.
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Lord Halo Nerd
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| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:10 am Post subject: |
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How long did it take for you guys to be noticed by Big Publishers and to get free games to review and Events?
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Matt
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| Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:52 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Have you ever felt that you overrated a game? if so, which game(S)? |
I've given eight 9/10s in 4 years, and nothing higher. If anything, people would tell you I'm too strict. But yes, I do feel that Silent Hill 3 was, even though I felt it had the right pace, the game is really damn short. I was a little lenient on New Super Mario Bros., but that was a tricky one.
| Luke wrote: | | Well games started coming in 2004 when i took over PR, early 2006 was when the site became big enough to get most code from publishers. |
We started getting them in mid 2003 - the first piece of review code we ever received was Enter the Matrix - well over a month after the review was done. Yes, they were few and far between, but still made up ~5% of reviews for that year. Acclaim and THQ were the ones leading the charge - not particularly the best of games, but it was something. Handing over PR was one of those things I really had to do (I didn't just hand them over because I was going on a 12 month hiatus - I'd made the decision to give Luke the job before we lost the .com domain, which triggered my need for a break), and Luke more than stood up to the challenge </back slapping bs>
Up until 2006, we were still pretty heavily split between personally provided stuff and things from publishers. Now I think it's certainly more publisher oriented, but a couple of reviewers do review a lot of games out of their own pocket.
It used to be a bit more of a timing issue too - you'd go out and try to get the game on or the day before the release date so you could get a review up in the first couple of days. Through the increase in traffic and Luke's PR efforts, I think games from the publishers are coming in a bit earlier now.
As for events, I was being invited to those in 2003 as well, it wasn't really feasible for me to go to Sydney for each one, so I hired a few Sydney-siders to basically represent me at each event. None of them write for us anymore, but I think Vaughn (Ashmaran) went on to write for Hyper.
| Quote: | | Considering the majority of games you are given are free - does it ever slip your mind that their are kids out there forking out weeks of pocket money on a game when you do a review? |
Value for money is certainly reflected in the review and final score.
| Quote: | | Do you have a guilty pleasure game? |
Quite a few - mainly the Dragon Ball Z games as of late. I also enjoyed the 16-bit WWF games that Acclaim made
| Quote: | | Do you guys find it hard to review games outside your favourite genres? I know you try to avoid that in the way reviewers are allocated to games, but it must happen when you get a genre you despise. Does that make it hard to review the game fairly? |
Racing games were always a challenge for me, and I try to stay away from eastern RPGs. I have a good feel for the buzz around a certain title, and there are common things in every game that make it good or bad. I think the staff are particularly good at recognising their strengths and weakenesses in a genre.
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admeister
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 5:19 pm Post subject: . |
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Here's my question, can I have my user bar back? I'm not banned any more.  I'd appreciate it if you could stay up to date. 
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Spanca
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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When an admin is back online (probably Luke, he changed it the first time) it'll be fixed.
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GroovySamurai
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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Dont know if this has been asked but do you guys plan to expand the site to cater for other topics like technology and movies? (like IGN has with there entertainment section)
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Luke
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| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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Well, it's definitely not in the current plan though it's not an option i'm completely against. We're at a stage now where we're really providing great coverage for games and there would be resources to expand.
In the past we've put it off because we'd rather focus on the games and get that part done well, but with it going well it's definitely something i'd consider long term.
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Lord Halo Nerd
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| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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How do you get interviews with big videogaming companys and people?
How do you get your daily Videogaming News?
Could you interview Bungie?
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Spanca
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| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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When you guys first started getting review code, was it a matter of you asking for it and them finally agreeing or was it a case of them recognising the growth of the site and contacting you?
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GroovySamurai
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| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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^ I think that you have to apply to start getting review code from each company (you get put on a list). Usually they will send you 1 game to get an idea of how good your review is and how popular it is, if they like it then they start randomly sending you more. Right?
Good to hear your considering adding more wider content at PALGN Luke, saves me having to check different sites for each topic each day
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DarkYoshii
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| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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Why are you guys such pikers at drinking nights, and keep to yourselves (Save for a select few of you. )? Hehehe.
I expect answers, dammit!
Oh, also...
Are there any reviews you guys have written that when you think about it, you aren't happy with, or would have changed if you had more time with the game?
There, a serious question.
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Luke
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| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Spanca wrote: | | When you guys first started getting review code, was it a matter of you asking for it and them finally agreeing or was it a case of them recognising the growth of the site and contacting you? |
A relationship with a publisher is a two way thing, so I call a publisher, say we'd like to recieve press releases and then after a while I asked for review code and then voila.
Originally i had to ask for games in particular, a lot of the time now it comes automatically but there are still some times where I need to request code (generally these are the games getting mediocre reviews..)
Most publishers were approached by me, but Ubisoft, Rockstar and Vivendi approached PALGN.
| DarkYoshii wrote: | Oh, also...
Are there any reviews you guys have written that when you think about it, you aren't happy with, or would have changed if you had more time with the game?
There, a serious question. |
It's a little tough with long titles sometimes, i mean some games you write a review but keep playing and it's hard to know whether you will keep playing the game after the review or not.
| Lord Halo Nerd wrote: | How do you get interviews with big videogaming companys and people?
How do you get your daily Videogaming News?
Could you interview Bungie? |
A lot of our news comes direct from press releases from publishers, but we'll normally say in each of our news posts "microsoft has confirmed via a press release" or "according to Gamespot"..
Interviews with big video game companies and people are organised by publishers, there is definitely a possibility to interview Bungie and it's something we'll likely be doing for Halo 3.
| Spanca wrote: |
Well that's what I said in my post, that things have swung the other way now, but as you say, it's only in the last year that the majority of current reviews have become publisher funded, and overall isn't the balance still favouring personal purchases (ie if you were to take proportions of all games reviewed for PALGN), or close to? |
Sorry i passed over this accidentally, i'd say 2006 80% of reviews were publisher provided, 90% for this year so far i'd say. PALGN's review database is about 1000 reviews, We've done about 430 reviews in the past 14 months, however about 50% of reviews done in 2005 were from code too, so I would say most reviews on the site are now from publisher provided code (if i was to estimate i'd say 650/1000)
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admeister
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| Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:21 am Post subject: . |
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Will auctions ever be re-introduced? The auction area has been dead since I've been here, I never saw it running.
Will there ever be more things that we can do with our $poons?
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