OXM UK Caught Lying by Sega

This is what a member of Amuze posted at the Official OXM UK forums.

http://forum.officialxboxmagazine.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=17714

Dear Official Xbox Magazine (UK),


As a fiercely independent games developer, we totally respect the right of reviewers to make harsh but heartfelt criticism of games released to the public. But like all rights, this comes with responsibilities.

Foremost of these must surely be factual accuracy. In your review of Headhunter Redemption (Issue 34, October 2004), you claim that cut scenes " can' t be skipped... Grrr!" This is incorrect: all cut scenes in the game are skippable. Grrr, indeed.

More mysteriously, you conclude your review by stating that " the odd bike chase succeeds in breaking up the on-foot action." There are no biking sequences in Headhunter Redemption: a fact that would be apparent to anyone who had actually played the game.

Naturally we would prefer everyone to appreciate our game as much as many other reviewers have done, but we will always try to learn from well-informed criticism. It is far harder to accept ill-informed, unprofessional journalism.

Perhaps in future you could show us, other developers and your readers this simple courtesy: if you can' t be bothered to play a game, don' t bother to review it.

John Kroknes
Philip Lawrence

Amuze.

Lovely.

This doesn' t surprise me.

As far as I' m concerned, OXM is the epitome of lame-azz journalism. These so-called " professionals" spend more time bashing other companies and systems than they do promoting Xbox software. It seems like in every review, preview, or feature, they find ways to insert a little idiotic potshot at either Nintendo or Sony. It' s as if the editors are just 13-year-old kids intent on making all their readers believe that their competition is a joke. I figure it' s only a matter of time before they release a feature entitled, " Microsoft Forever, All Ye Bow to the Wonder that is Xbox." Actually, in many ways, they' ve already done it.

They' re certainly not the only ones, though. Past mags like Nintendo Power, PSM, and PC Gamer have had problems with incorrect and ill-informed information, sometimes due directly to their massive egos.

Kikizo Staff Writer

As far as I' m concerned, OXM is the epitome of lame-azz journalism. These so-called " professionals" spend more time bashing other companies and systems than they do promoting Xbox software.

Yeah but to be caught with your pants around you ankles like that by having one of the developers call you out on misinformation just causes whatever credibility your magazine had to plummet a little.

LOL, They were basically told by the developers: " DOod, what the f*** are you talking about Bike scene???? There are no bloody bike scenes in the game you blithering dolt. Did you even play the bloody game?" Bike scene, pfffft!

In my brief gameplay impressions of Headhunter Redemption I mentioned that the cutscenes weren' t skippable and the game suffered from long load times - but those were based on gameplay experiences at the previous 2 E3s and were true at those particular times... Could it be that the Xbox Magazine reviewer was too lazy to write an actual review of the final game and just went by an older build of the game? Even though it almost always takes me longer than other reviewers to complete a review, at the very least I triple check everything to make sure that everything I say outside of personal opinions is a fact. lol.