The definitive Space Giraffe thread

Bod · Post by **Bod** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:28 am 0

Well, it's the start of another day ... I've just sat here for the last hour sipping on a coffee & reading the entirity of this thread.
I'm guessing once the game is available for us normal people to play, the truth will be told & Jeff + Giles can finally de-stress from all things SG.

Jeff - you of all people should know that the true reviewers are not getting paid to play games, it's us the ones who happily pay to play.
Relax, chill, & soon you will be able to stand in your field with the sheepies, sipping on a nice cup a tea, & hearing the distant cry of "mooooo mooooo" echoing across the planet.

Mat T · Post by **Mat T** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:32 am 0

Every game I have had published has had stinking reviews that go hand in hand with excellent reviews.

Some people just don't like some game genres. Unfortunately you sometimes get reviewers who don't get on with titles. I wouldn't sweat it to be honest - you know it's a solid game and I am sure this review will soon be accompanied by some great reviews.

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:33 am 0

james_bass wrote:Just look at the forum outcry: the "OMG it got 2/10" review seems to have primarily enraged your fanbase and stimulated a hell of a lot of debate. Debate which seems unilaterally to have transpired to be in your favour.

The problem is that I've already seen people on various forums who appear to have taken this review score as gospel and written the game off. It doesn't matter that they probably wouldn't have tried it anyway. Their adding to the negativity just promotes an unhealthy spiral that wouldn't have existed if OXM had gotten someone other than a man with no arms or eyes to play the game. Hell. I bet with this one PVB isn't at the bottom of the score table as usual.

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:10 am 0

HGFB wrote:The problem is that I've already seen people on various forums who appear to have taken this review score as gospel and written the game off. It doesn't matter that they probably wouldn't have tried it anyway. Their adding to the negativity just promotes an unhealthy spiral that wouldn't have existed if OXM had gotten someone other than a man with no arms or eyes to play the game. Hell. I bet with this one PVB isn't at the bottom of the score table as usual.

I disagree. No only would those who would never have tried it be more likely, in my opinion, to do so, I think that those who enjoy the game will be more vocal in opposing those whom dismiss it on the basis of no experience.

Rib · Post by **Rib** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:41 am 0

shimeril wrote:
skweek wrote: As someone once said to me : "Don't worry, be happy"
Noooooo. The song is now in my head. You utter bastard!

bobby mcferrin got a grammy for that song!

Flabio · Post by **Flabio** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:44 am 0

Well, at least there's slightly more understanding of how pissed off we get at LH whenever people dismiss our stuff out of hand just cause it's LH making it...

My skin has become extremely thick in the last 5 years or so.

tufty · Post by **tufty** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:53 am 0

gilesgoat wrote:By the way ..

British way : someone takes out a cup of tea

Italian way : Giles takes out the guitar and begins to play and sing
"Reviewers .. reviewers .. revievers that rate all those games . ... .. "

( you must be completely Italian to understand this one :roll: :mrgreen: )

I thought the Italian way was to take out the violin case :)

I know what it feels like to have bad reviews (in a different field) having a reviewer who *simply doesn't get it* slate what you've been working on hurts like hell. Makes you wonder why you fucking bothered. In the end though, you have to simply say "fuck it", and move on.

Now, I've not played SG, so I can't comment on the gameplay side of things. I have watched the vids, and although it seems to me to be the sort of game that will give me an instant migrane, I could make out the enemies and bullets even in the crappily compressed YouTube versions.

It *does* sound like the reviewer couldn't be bothered. Still, as has been said, a *really low* score (and by reviewing standards, a 2 is so low as to be questioning the competence of the development team) is liable to cause people to download it and play the demo just for the hell of it, especially as it's free. Unfortunate that they might have their experience coloured by a bad review first. I'd make parallels with "Plan 9 from Outer Space" or "Reefer Madness", but they really *are* bad...

In short, I wouldn't worry about it. A really low score for a "niche" game is liable to be paralleled by a really high score from someone who really does get it; it's a free download and a *lot* of people have been waiting for it for a while (and even those who didn't know and who are *of a certain age* are likely to check it out just for the Llamasoft name) - some people will get it, some people won't, it's likely to cause extreme reactions one way or another, and in the end, who cares?

Because :

Your game is on XBLA, and J. Anonymous Reviewer's isn't.

Forget it. Go on holiday. Ignore XBLA until it's out there. Don't read reviews. Have a cup of tea, scritch the beasties, and get working on Cippy 2.

simon

Mat · Post by **Mat** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:59 am 0

Don't worry Flabio, I've enjoyed every LH game.
Granted, B&W2 took a little of the mystery away from the creature, and The Movies involved a little too much micro-management, but they were still utterly fantastic games.

As for SG, I think the real problem has been mentioned already in this thread.
Even though we all know not to trust print reviews any more, this is the official xbox magazine, and Joe Public's opinion will be swayed by this review.
It will have already impacted Llamasoft's potential earnings from SG, so I can completely understand Jeff & Giles getting upset about it.
I'm not going to come out and say that "SG is a fantastic game and this reviewer is talking out of his arse", as I haven't played the game and can't offer an accurate opinion, but given past experience of Llamasoft games, there's definitely SOMETHING dubious about such a reaction.

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:13 am 0

Mat wrote:[...] It will have already impacted Llamasoft's potential earnings from SG, so I can completely understand Jeff & Giles getting upset about it.

I disagree for the reasons stated earlier.

If everyone liked what Yak did he wouldn't be such a cult.

It is probable, however, that he would still be a cunt.

Istar · Post by **Istar** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:28 am 0

Flabio wrote:Well, at least there's slightly more understanding of how pissed off we get at LH whenever people dismiss our stuff out of hand just cause it's LH making it...

My skin has become extremely thick in the last 5 years or so.

Gotta say, whilst Lionhead games aren't always my cup of tea (though I loved B&W) I count them in the same category as id, Llamasoft and Rare - which is to say when I see a 'New game coming from xxxxxx' line, I sit up and pay attention.

PVB · Post by **PVB** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:46 am 0

HGFB wrote:Hell. I bet with this one PVB isn't at the bottom of the score table as usual.

Whaddya mean: "As usual"?!

I got through T2K all the way to unlock Beastly Mode, so ner.

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:03 am 0

Harlequin wrote:I disagree. No only would those who would never have tried it be more likely, in my opinion, to do so, I think that those who enjoy the game will be more vocal in opposing those whom dismiss it on the basis of no experience.

The problem here Harl is you're not frequenting the right forums to see the reaction I described first hand. On most of the bigger gaming forums (hence the ones with bigger collections of vocal idiots with no knowledge of gaming history) whenever Jeff and his games are brought up a chunk of people *always* trot out the same tired old lines. "Overrated", "crap", "Can't see why people get so excited". The supporters always seem to be far less overwhelming. Games don't sell to the hardcore alone. To make any money I suspect Llamasoft will have to convert those who don't know who they are. That's not helped when people are already in forums posting like OXM is the word of god. The odd person responding with positive comments aren't going to sway those who rely on reviews to tell them what games to like (They do exist. Meow is almost there and he's a YakYaker). What about the people who don't read gaming forums but instead get their reviews from OXM. According to the ABCs 65k copies are sold in the UK alone. That's a lot of people who may read the review and think "To get a score that low it must be awful".

Take rllmuk as an example. They're wild and have a good chunk of idiots posting but they're pussycats compared to the morons who post on forums where the latest OXM scores are treated like the holy grail.

Here's the SG thread on rlluk Sure there are a good chunk of positive comments but imagine forums where the prevailing opinion is like the guy in the second post. That sort of thing hurts and when fence sitters are turning around and giving up on SG because of an OXM review (Hey. It got 2/10. It must be *really* shit) you've got problems.

Of course that's all assuming OXM is the only review. Currently it is. I'm sure when other reviews start arriving word will start to spread that SG is infact very nifty indeed. It's probably a good thing that it's a XBLA game rather than a boxed one. Wasn't there an article the other day that showed XBLA games do their sales over a long period rather than a large burst at the start as with boxed games?

It's good to be optimistic Harl and I'm convinced SG will eventually do well and prove OXM wrong but outside of YY there is a bizarre subculture that pops up with the hate whenever Jeff is mentioned. The same thing happens here whenever Michael Moore is mentioned. Arron and Fil seem to spend most of their irc time these days banging on about how much they hate Richard Dawkins. Lots of us were pleased that Paris Hilton got sent to jail. If you were a fan of Paris Hilton and came here to post positive things about her you'd be drowned in a sea of hate. If another person then came here looking for info about Paris Hilton what would they find?

OXM have potentially done some damage here. Damage that can only be mitigated by two things A) A release of the game and B) More reviews. SG is a very inexpensive game but also needs to sell more copies to be profitable for Yak and Giles.

Anyway. I've dribbled on for too long. My suggestion would be to email Eurogamer and offer them an early hands on. If you can convince those guys that SG is good (And they are harsh on crap XBLA games) then it's a good start. I think lots of good publicity is the key now.

Here's hoping we'll be playing it very soon

Sir_LANs-a-lot · Post by **Sir_LANs-a-lot** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:06 am 0

Good post HGFB.

Dio · Post by **Dio** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:07 am 0

Bang on the money there HGFB I reckon.

Yak · Post by **Yak** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:09 am 0

Joy. So the OXM cretin really *has* damaged us. Fucking hell.

And what is it with the goddamn hate anyway? All I've ever tried to do is make fun games for a reasonable price. Fucking hell, yeah, that makes me so fucking despicable. Fuck's sake.