In an odd move, the people at Majesco, creators of the Cooking Mama games, decided to send an email to Alex Navarro, former writer for Gamespot.com.
The reason for the email? They weren’t happy about the fact that he only gave their game a six out of ten, saying that its “not worth their while”. Now usually a letter like this would be written so formally that it will make you want to burn a business suit in the street outside your house, but this is indeed where the oddity comes in.
The entire letter is written with a sarcastic tone, pretty much blaming people like him for any bad game sales that may occur. A passage from the letter says:
“With the first Cooking Mama reaching 1 million units in Europe and near of 1 million stateside, I began to worry that this might begin to go to our heads. Majesco’s parking lot would be flooded with Bentley’s, Maybach’s and rare hybrid cars that run on pure ego.”
Wow.
The author (who’s name has been removed from image) goes on to say the following:
“So, I tip my cap to you good sir for keeping us grounded. God knows we are indeed all financially well off and not a bunch of hard working people just trying to pay our bills.”
News like this upsets me. I don’t think that it is right that developers and publishers should contact reviewers directly to voice off their opinions of a review. I can understand that they aren’t going to feel all warm and fuzzy inside when they see a low score plastered next to their game.
But seriously Majesco, suck it up. The last thing we need is even more pressure being put on reviewers to keep the bigwigs happy. We all know too well that the last thing we need is for reviewers to be afraid to give their true opinions, for fear of losing their jobs. Especially after the whole fiasco with Jeff Gerstmann’s dismissal from Gamespot last year.
source: DSfanboy
Last Updated: April 16, 2008
Pietie
April 16, 2008 at 07:19
Maybe if they made a good game it would sell well?
Or does that not apply anymore?
I’m sad to say that 90% of DS games are absolut rubbish and a great waste of time and possibly money.
TGFT.
koldFU5iON
April 16, 2008 at 07:28
hmmm… there will always be a war between developers and reviewers a facade of smiling faces and chuckles.
I firmly believe that there aren’t enough “genre” reviewers out there. and we’ve seen it happen before reviewers get a game based in a genre that is totally not their scene, but the game has to be reviewed.
So you give it “of course” to the guy who’s a die hard FPS gamer who’s favorite game at the moment is COD4, But! Barbie needs to be reviewed! a fantasy for little girls to go out and dress their barbie up how ever they want and go around the princess island and pick up brushes for your pony.
there are no HD Graphics, No Real time Shadows/lighting, no cover system, no 5.1 dolby digital surround, no complicated button maps, no run jump and dodge flying bullets… so what does this game have? 5/10
But then give this game to a little girl (who it was made for) and they’re having the time of their life skipping picking up brushes, brushing their pony to ride to the fair for prize giving.
… hmmm I think I got carried away but what I’m saying is that reviewers should only review games within their Genre Range. But I totally agree that this guy complained … in well a very unprofessional manner
LazySAGamer
April 16, 2008 at 07:47
I have to agree with you kold, I reviewed Viva Pinata Party Animals a while back for another site and before I got the game I had already seen the negative reviews slamming this game.
To this day that game is played more in my Xbox 360 than anything else because the wife and girls absolutely love it… I think it’s okay and would never buy it for myself but that doesn’t make it a bad game.
As for the complaint letter, I actually like it. It shows a bit of humanity behind the business which seems to be missing at times…
RE: Gamer
April 16, 2008 at 10:48
Unfortunately Gamespot (CNET) have only themselves to blame. They set a precedent when they fired Gertsmann over a negative review of Kane and Lynch. Why should Cooking Mama’s developers not get the same courtesy? Possibly their advertising spend wasn’t as high Eidos Interactive and therefore they lack the clout to get the reviewer fired but it’s quite possible that they will qualify for a disciplinary hearing option, which will follow in the reviews wake.
RE: Gamer’s last blog post..Games I’m playing…..Part 3
Nick
April 16, 2008 at 11:19
Kold, I see your point, however… Cooking Mama 2 only scored a metacritic average of 70, so it wasn’t as if Alex Navarro’s review was way below average and really pulling down the games image.
He also reviewed Cooking Mama for the DS as well as the one made for the Wii.