EGM Calls Out Midway, Sony, Ubisoft

An interesting bit of gaming news surfaced today (well, I read it this morning anyway). Apparently three companies - Midway, Sony and Ubisoft - will no longer send their games to Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) to cover. The reason? "Bad" reviews. And by that I mean reviews that the game publishers didn't think were right. (Here's the story at VGMWatch and GamePolitics.)

This has got to be the biggest load of stinky crap I've seen in a while. If game publishers don't want to get bad reviews, put extra time and money into the game to make them the best of the best. Don't settle for anything less. If a game has some flaws, I darn well expect the reviewers I trust to point them out, not be "paid off" to say good things by the game companies.

Apparently EGM's editor-in-chief Dan Hsu called out those three companies in his editor's note in the latest issue. Unfortunately, I let my subscription lapse, but I did resubscribe...I just haven't yet received my first issue. I'd really like to read the exact comments that were said. I salute EGM for standing up to the game publishers and calling them out on this, because the last thing we need are our game reviews tainted by publisher bias.