Famitsu Sucks

And yet, Gameinformer and other websites are no better, why should we be surprised by this?

Great read. Famitsu demystified.

GameInformer is legit.

I never really cared about Famitsu, this just made me care even less. Good read!

Agreed on both counts. GI's reviews can be hit or miss since they got bought buy Gamestop, but they usually have a few great articles in every issue. The actual writing, insight and legwork they do for the meat of the publication is great. I don't really hold it against them for being bought by Gamestop -- with print media dying it's nice that they found a way to stay alive -- but I won't use them as my sole source of reviews ever.

But yeah, Famitsu's always been a load of crap. I remember people were using it to defend FFXII and XIII when they came out and I was like "Guys, Square could take a dump on a blue ray and Famitsu would give it 34/40."

I would wager that the breakdown of grades in that pie chart would apply to the aggregation of almost any given review website.

This was an awkward read at first for me, because for some reason I thought Nick had written it. First I was surprised "Hey I didn't know Nick read Japanese, who would've thought..."
Kept reading and it turned into doubt "Hmm I would swear Nick was the one who reviewed Skyrim, why is he saying he didn't play it? this is pretty weird WAIT the writer's Heath! The Prinny the Prinny! now it makes sense".

Anyway, I can just say Bravo! Grandioso! Magní­fico! and wish you would do this research to other popular review sites too, I think it would be interesting. We already have this and GR's data from a blogger whose name I can't recall (sorry) to use in benchmarking.

This is an awesome idea.

^ You da man

Maybe game reviews in general are useless...

They are useless most of the time, because people don't apply a principal or philosophy to the critiques, its pseudo-structured emotion. I can't really blame anyone for it though, because there isn't a whole lot to journalism other than form, and there is no real standard for how you assess a product. The worst kind of journalism is when common folk like you and I are put in the drivers seat, because its even more emotional and superficial. Look at the disconnect on Metacritic about Civilization 5. On one hand you have critics who liked the game, and then you have fans who are just pissing fire over it. This is why you have to look at a game and figure it out for yourself, and why it wouldn't kill people to do research before they plunk down 60 dollars. The existence of a critic is practically invalid at that level.

I have to disagree Wildmario. That's the equivalent of saying that no one's preference is of any use to you ever. I mean sure, no one is going to be able to tell you if you're going to enjoy that meal at a local restaurant. Maybe it won't be to your tastes. But just because it'll end up being subjective whether you like it, doesn't mean someone else's subjective opinion is entirely useless. If they said they liked the way the vegetables were cooked, but weren't pleased with the steak or portion sizes, you can use that information to help you consider going there. Maybe you never order steak because you're a vegetarian, maybe you don't eat very much. So, maybe the complaints aren't relevant. Still, the opinion is of more use than going in blind, isn't it?

My point was that with the decline of professional journalism, behind the scenes deals, and heavy bias, reviews for the most part have become a joke. We seem to accept reviews from people that only played the game for 4 hours when their views could have changed if they played everything.

The only way COD MW3 should have been given that high of a grade is if it was released in 2009. This game should not be acceptable to high ratings in 2011. It looks like **** feels like **** and tastes like ****.

You must love ****.

Kotaku doesn't give out scores anymore, and I think everyone should follow suit.
The reviews are really in-depth and the score is left up to whoever plays the game.

Famitsu has a biased coverage. Obviously it is for Sony.
Japanese media sell own soul for Cash.
I am ashamed as a Japanese.
At this rate it would extinct the Japanese game culture.

I would just like to point out that japanese often uses single or small characters to portray the meaning of words (often the same size as one of our english letters) so what looks like brevity is probably a medium - decent sized review. So your whole "keepin the bar low argument" is irrrelevant.

I understand a little Japanese. That first character means "Is that a diamond?"

Great, another "sharp" american "game writer" discovers warm water and Famitsu at the same time! Is it a madatory initiation rite?
As you may know, people refers to Famitsu reviews because they actually are the first ones to get their hands on the games (jp ones at least)
Thing is, this is Japan. They won't "goty" this or "shitty" that, they won't "utterly trash" or "totally awesome" you.
Japanese people use sticks to eat; we use forks. In the same way, they don't expect the same comments from a professionnal as we do. Plain writing "this game is shitty" would be considered utterly unprofessional, and insulting toward ppl who actually enjoyed the game.
JP players also don't expect the same things towards a game. Your example of "several disney characters" it's actually important for jp fans to be confirmed that many characters are available.
I hope somewhere in Japan a writer made an article regarding how stupid gaijin reviews sounds with their ridiculous amount of superlatives.

Great, another "sharp" american "game writer" discovers warm water and Famitsu at the same time! Is it a madatory initiation rite?
As you may know, people refers to Famitsu reviews because they actually are the first ones to get their hands on the games (jp ones at least)
Thing is, this is Japan. They won't "goty" this or "shitty" that, they won't "utterly trash" or "totally awesome" you.
Japanese people use sticks to eat; we use forks. In the same way, they don't expect the same comments from a professionnal as we do. Plain writing "this game is shitty" would be considered utterly unprofessional, and insulting toward ppl who actually enjoyed the game.
JP players also don't expect the same things towards a game. Your example of "several disney characters" it's actually important for jp fans to be confirmed that many characters are available.
I hope somewhere in Japan a writer made an article regarding how stupid gaijin reviews sounds with their ridiculous amount of superlatives.

I agree with Azajububan, so many words to say: "I don't understand Japanese but I want to give vent to my anger".

I agree with Azajububan, so many words to say: "I don't understand Japanese but I want to give vent to my anger".

Double posting your counter points to a well written article doesn't make you more right.

Sorry for that, there seems to be a bug with my message! Anyway I often read Famitsu and agree with Azajuban's point of view. Western people should understand that American and Japanese journalists don't work the same way!

Sorry for that, there seems to be a bug with my message! Anyway I often read Famitsu and agree with Azajuban's point of view. Western people should understand that American and Japanese journalists don't work the same way!

Teenage weeaboos, stop posting comments here like you know something about Japan. I live in this country and Famitsu's reviews aren't ****ing Zen koans. Remember Nintendo Power in America? Yeah, crappy little reviews aimed towards 8-to-12 year old kids? That's what Famitsu is. It's a magazine for children. Check the comments on this blog post on 2channel if you don't believe me.

Here's the permanent link to the thread summary:

There's a lot of disbelief that foreigners take Famitsu seriously.

Wow, great spam system.

alfalfalfa [dot] com/archives/4891853.html

Sorry if it sounds rude. I have been working in the Japanese game industry for five years now and I think that you have not understood yet the way journalists and companies work together. Famitsu cannot write an inflammatory article, it is not in its policy + it is definitely not in Japanese way of thinking.

I can't convince myself that the writer is true posting a picture where he gives Famitsu a finger!?

So what you're saying is that the reviewers are in the corporations' collective pocket? Regardless of whether or not it's the norm over there, in my view and in the view of most Western gamers that's corruption. Frankly, if the Japanese see it as okay -- which I am quite skeptical of -- then that's terribly sad because it would mean that they have no standards of journalistic integrity.

Remember when a Bioware employee posted a review on Metacritic? That was a big scandal, and it should have been. Manipulating reviews is deceitful, irresponsible and scummy. You're basically lying to your customers and telling them to buy an inferior product because you've either been paid off or are simply too fearful that the product's manufacturer will squash you like a bug. Either way, that's morally wrong no matter what culture you're from.

The press has a responsibility to be honest with the public, whether they're political correspondents or video game reviewers. Anything less is inexcusable.

Need a way to bump this article back to the top. StopBuggingMe stomping all over the first live weeaboos I've ever seen brings the whole thing to a new level.

If you're interested, the 2ch comments are now translated at

aya dot shii dot org

And they have mixed opinions, as in any board in the world.

It seems petty for websites to try and poke holes in other, more popular competitor companies/websites. So far I've seen GR do it with Famitsu and IGN. God knows any website with new articles posted everyday won't be 100% airtight and if someone really wanted to scour every review and article of every video game site there would be something that could be criticized in each site. To me it's the equivalent of Playdead trying to convince people Bethesda sucks by pointing out all the bugs in Skyrim. GR is my favorite video game site, but I browse a half dozen regularly because they are all different and they all have pros and cons. I just think a website should try and get a leg up on the competition by maintaining a high level of quality (which GR does), but without trying to make the competition look bad.

It seems petty for websites to try and poke holes in other, more popular competitor companies/websites. So far I've seen GR do it with Famitsu and IGN. God knows any website with new articles posted everyday won't be 100% airtight and if someone really wanted to scour every review and article of every video game site there would be something that could be criticized in each site. To me it's the equivalent of Playdead trying to convince people Bethesda sucks by pointing out all the bugs in Skyrim. GR is my favorite video game site, but I browse a half dozen regularly because they are all different and they all have pros and cons. I just think a website should try and get a leg up on the competition by maintaining a high level of quality (which GR does), but without trying to make the competition look bad.

also I did not post that twice, something funky must be going on

Sorry for not replying earlier.

GanXingba:
Actually, they don't receive any pressure or indication on how to write their reviews. I remember having a breakfast with a JP game producer ; he was stressed by the fact that his new game received "mixed reviews". He actually got a 31/40, wich is great. But he then explained me that what matter's not the score, but the "Silver, Gold, Platinum" award you get when you're >30 >32 >35 points, that's the only thing the sales teams are gonna look at. And they ranted "stop making shitty games that can only get silver". He was stressed by reviews. Therefore, publishers don't control them.

1) As I said in my previous post, Japan is a country where you hardly can criticize a work in public. Even if you have everyone hating with a passion on japanese blogs and forum, you won't actually have someone saying "this is crap" on air or in other professional medias. I remember when a comedian said to a Jpop singer "that girl is like, a total rip-off of you!"; he had to appear in a press conference where he made public apologize for "all the trouble". Of course, everyone in Japan thinks that Kuraki Mai was a ripoff of Utada Hikaru, you can shout it on the boards as a fan, but you can't say it when you're a pro.

2) You would argue that Famitsu Cross reviews get higher and higher. That's right, but that's also right for a lot of US based reviews. Nowadays, you can consider a game getting a score below 8 being mediocre~crap. That's the same with famitsu, so why bother saying they're lying, since every major game media in the US is doing the same anyway.

I remember how people were pissed off when Uncharted3 got an 8.5 out of 10; it is a great score, but they couldn't stand it having less than 9...

Sorry for not replying earlier.

GanXingba:
Actually, they don't receive any pressure or indication on how to write their reviews. I remember having a breakfast with a JP game producer ; he was stressed by the fact that his new game received "mixed reviews". He actually got a 31/40, wich is great. But he then explained me that what matter's not the score, but the "Silver, Gold, Platinum" award you get when you're >30 >32 >35 points, that's the only thing the sales teams are gonna look at. And they ranted "stop making shitty games that can only get silver". He was stressed by reviews. Therefore, publishers don't control them.

1) As I said in my previous post, Japan is a country where you hardly can criticize a work in public. Even if you have everyone hating with a passion on japanese blogs and forum, you won't actually have someone saying "this is crap" on air or in other professional medias. I remember when a comedian said to a Jpop singer "that girl is like, a total rip-off of you!"; he had to appear in a press conference where he made public apologize for "all the trouble". Of course, everyone in Japan thinks that Kuraki Mai was a ripoff of Utada Hikaru, you can shout it on the boards as a fan, but you can't say it when you're a pro.

2) You would argue that Famitsu Cross reviews get higher and higher. That's right, but that's also right for a lot of US based reviews. Nowadays, you can consider a game getting a score below 8 being mediocre~crap. That's the same with famitsu, so why bother saying they're lying, since every major game media in the US is doing the same anyway.

I remember how people were pissed off when Uncharted3 got an 8.5 out of 10; it is a great score, but they couldn't stand it having less than 9...

Even assuming third hand information from a anonymous single Japanese game producer negates truckloads of empirical evidence – which it doesn’t – you’ve just revealed the problem in the system. If it is true that games must receive higher than 35/40 to be considered a success, then there’s something fundamentally flawed with their review system for scores to be that high all the time. Why even bother with a 40 point scale if you’ll only ever use 15 points of it? That’s the point the GR article is making, so thank you for highlighting it for them.

Now, to your other points:

1) No one is asking for them to say “It’s crap.” You’re the only one who is saying that. What everyone else is requesting is reviews that are longer than three to four sentences that actually discuss the game in detail. Reviews do not have to be mocking to be in depth and negative. Many people make them that way for the sake of entertainment, but it is hardly a requirement. You’re arguing a point that is totally irrelevant.

2) Once again, you’re creating a straw man argument by refuting a point that no one ever made. I even said earlier in the comment thread that I didn’t entirely trust Game Informer’s reviews for the same reason, and everyone knows that IGN’s scores are inflated.

This is not me saying the US media is better than Japan’s. I don’t really think anyone is saying that. This is me saying that Famitsu – this one magazine specifically – is full of it and its reviews are never to be trusted.

(cont.)

Even if JP games aren't shining as much as they were on PS-Era, Famitsu is still the best-selling game magazine in the world (300~500k / week) therefore, they receive their games very early, and are the first one to reviews, making them famous among players from all the world.

What's bothering me with the kind of article here is:

1) Mocking them today as their articles/reviews aren't accurate or how their articles are too gentle is like pointing the country's culture. Watch Lost In Translation again, it's a country where they eat with sticks, they're on the other side of the planet so their habits are not ours. Pointing Famitsu is like having afghan women criticizing Vogue for being too superficial.

2) Pointing the obvious "Famitsu (=Japan) is weird" is a very lazy form of game writing. A lot of people around the world already pointed out how their text weren't matching Us and Eu readers expectations. It's good to joke about it on Twitter, but a full-lenght article? Recently, a lot of US-based game writers love to point out Famitsu or J-RPG "fallacies". We were already doing that back then in the 90es, it's time to write something else than easy puns. If you want to mock Aerith death, use Rage Comics generators.

P.S.: Skyrim got 40/40 last week. I see a lot of people criticizing the high score given here, though the game seems to have very high praises around the world. Famitsu aren't allowed to give high scores, whatever the game?

Just because it’s a foreign magazine does not mean that we cannot understand it. That’s silly, xenophobic thinking. And it also doesn’t mean that because I dislike it that I am mocking Japanese culture as “weird.” I never did that. Why are you even making a point about that?

Just because I dislike Famitsu does not mean I dislike Japan or Japanese culture.

Honestly, it seems to me that you think that just because we dislike Famitsu, we dislike Japan and Japanese culture. That’s absurd. Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger are two of my favorite games of all time. I think Akira Kurosawa is one of the most brilliant artistic minds of the modern era, and I’m a big ol’ anime nerd that grew up watching DBZ. So stop creating straw man arguments and if you take nothing away from this, understand the following:
This is an article about one Japanese magazine, Famitsu, and its lack of honesty and quality in its reviewed, which are falsely looked to for guidance. It is not a judgment on Japan, Japanese culture, or Japanese gaming. It is also not an attack on you personally or your right to have an opinion.

You may respond if you like, but based on the pattern here, I believe further participation on my part will simply result in a circular discussion that goes nowhere, so this will be my last response. Have a pleasant day.

(cont.)

Even if JP games aren't shining as much as they were on PS-Era, Famitsu is still the best-selling game magazine in the world (300~500k / week) therefore, they receive their games very early, and are the first one to reviews, making them famous among players from all the world.

What's bothering me with the kind of article here is:

1) Mocking them today as their articles/reviews aren't accurate or how their articles are too gentle is like pointing the country's culture. Watch Lost In Translation again, it's a country where they eat with sticks, they're on the other side of the planet so their habits are not ours. Pointing Famitsu is like having afghan women criticizing Vogue for being too superficial.

2) Pointing the obvious "Famitsu (=Japan) is weird" is a very lazy form of game writing. A lot of people around the world already pointed out how their text weren't matching Us and Eu readers expectations. It's good to joke about it on Twitter, but a full-lenght article? Recently, a lot of US-based game writers love to point out Famitsu or J-RPG "fallacies". We were already doing that back then in the 90es, it's time to write something else than easy puns. If you want to mock Aerith death, use Rage Comics generators.

P.S.: Skyrim got 40/40 last week. I see a lot of people criticizing the high score given here, though the game seems to have very high praises around the world. Famitsu aren't allowed to give high scores, whatever the game?

i have been visiting this site for years and years. ive hung in there through new management, and the slow decline in the sites formally hilarious writing. ive defended the the review scores, and suggested to friends in the past. but this is it. after the better part of a decade visiting this place, ive had it. the writing's gone down the tube, the review scores are exasperatingly bad, and now opinion pieces like this one. i will now remove the GR bookmark from my browsers, and will never recommend this site or visit it again, tho i know with all that GS money, u guys dont mind.


Game Revolution is dead.

In the distant future, we'll take comments like these and compile them into a play of tragedy, horror and romance.

It's a shame when you say one slightly negative thing about something Japanese related and you get responses like murdoku's and Azabujuban's. Grow up Japan fanboys. Japan is a great country, but just like any other, the people are capable of lying, cheating, stealing, and being corrupt and biased like anyone else. So the moment someone introduces some reality to the picture that its not "perfect" as you probably feel, don't react as if your being personally attacked and world is being crushed. With blatently emotional responses like murdoku's with no explanation or reasoning why he feels (in contrast) Heath's well written article with supported evidence, is so bad. As if their account names being japanese wasn't enough of an indicator of bias in itself. . .

Personally I don't put much trust in reviews with the exception if they can provide a deep enough review and coverage. On that point I agree with wilmario and TheJx4. Kotaku has the right idea, and others should follow suit. As for the likes of Game Informer? A few months back I recieved a stack of GI magazines, and was almost blown over by the wave of bias b.s. that it gave off. I had wondered for awhile that it was strange to always see GI so regurlarly lined up in Gamestops, I just wasn't aware at the time that they had been bought out pretty much. I've been mostly sticking to older games anyways these days, the movie budget, franchise monsters that are out these days have plenty of eye-candy, but not the feel that games used to have. Yeah, there are plenty of great, atmospheric games out there that original and creative, just not that many. Most games that are these so-called headliners aren't worth the $60 priced on them.

I agree, Famitsu constantly gives high review scores to obviously flawed games. Just look at their review of recent Final Fantasy games or Kingdom Hearts games. Occasionally this trend is broken, but that's in extreme cases such as the universal acclaim of Skyrim or the universal hate for FFXIV, but it's a pattern that can be seen by most people. That's why I don't trust magazine reviews and instead get early impressions from independent reviewers whose opinions aren't based on maintaining relations with developers.