There once was a time when CGW was the most influential games magazine in the business. It had this guy called Johnny Wilson at the helm - and I loved it.
Like many of the people here, I was a subscriber.
Fast forward a decade and Johnny Wilson departed to go work for Wizards of the Coast (and Paizo for a time).
Games for Windows, nee CGW is still trying to be relevant…
And somone at this magazine just assigned a review of Neverwinter Nights 2 to someone who clearly doesn’t even LIKE D&D.
Matt Peckham just slams this game in a worthless review, gives it a 5 out of 10. Its sin? Near as I can tell, for being a faithful D&D computer game.
“Call me crazy – I guess I’m just finally weary of being led around on a pencil-and-paper leash and batting numbers around a glorified three-dimensional spreadsheet …”
He could have said a lot about the game to criticize it - but attacking it for succeeding at what it sets out to do is just nutty.
Exhibit A: http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3154870
To Jeff Green: this review did not influence my purchase of NWN2. It did, however, greatly influence my future purchase of Games for Windows. Good luck with all that.
Seriously: how do you decide, as an editor, to assign a review of a game to someone who clearly dislikes the genre? What causes you to do that and offer up a review like this with a straight face?
There was a time when your magazine was the most influential in the business. It isn’t anymore - not even close.
If you are wondering why - take a good long look in the mirror.