http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=185733

Regarding Eurogamer's offer to re-review Darkfall

Dealing with this Eurogamer scandal has been extremely frustrating for us. To those of you that believe we’re unprofessional for calling Eurogamer out on this, we’ll have you know that there’s nothing professional about this entire affair. It’s obviously personal when someone will tear our game apart without actually playing it. It’s certainly personal for us to see our livelihood being torn to shreds by a fraud using a respected large game site to do it through. We tried to deal with this privately but Eurogamer wouldn’t hear it, so we had no recourse but to go public. 

We would never accuse Eurogamer , Ed Zitron or anyone without solid evidence. We know for a fact that we’ve been wronged. Eurogamer is right to keep it up as they’re seeing some good traffic from this, but in the meanwhile we‘re taking irreparable damage and there’s simply nothing we can do about it. We are in an impossible situation, with many future possible repercussions to our game and we’re helpless to react. The Eurogamer smear piece is picked up by online media everywhere and this will stay with us long after this issue is forgotten. Gamerankings and Metacritic for example have already used this Eurogamer score of Darkfall, and unless this review comes down, a new review won’t be taken into consideration. Metacritic informed us earlier today that they sympathize but they can’t do anything unless the review comes down.

So we considered Eurogamer’s offer to have Kieron Gillen re-review our game on their behalf but in the meanwhile they will not take down the original review. We have to decline the offer for a re-review (as if we have a choice) for the following reasons:

• We don't need a re-review, we need a real review. We know for a fact that the original review is a fraud and yet Eurogamer stands by it. They should keep standing by it then or take it down based on the evidence *we have offered them, the numerous factual errors and omissions, the feedback they’re receiving on it, the reviewer’s questionable track record, former similar accusations about him, and our word. These half baked measures to save face mean nothing while this assassination piece stands. We’ve offered enough proof to justify taking it down to protect our game and their credibility. If they as much as suspect that we might be right, and we believe they know we are, they should have taken it down pending a re-review.
  
  *The evidence: The reviewer’s supervisor and MMO Editor for Eurogamer spent 2 minutes in the character creator but didn’t create a character. Ed Zitron spent 2 hours 33 minutes logged in the game and the character creator. In this time the reviewer tried 9 different characters. Much of the time was spent creating and deleting these characters. 14 minutes before the reviewer stopped playing Darkfall altogether he said in global chat: “how do I cast spells…..help”. During his entire time in the game he repeatedly asks: “what do I do?” in public chat. After less than an hour logged in the game he speaks in race chat and says “this game is awful” His entire chat log shows someone biased that spent very little time in game, didn’t understand even the very basics right before he stopped playing to write his review. We offered to pay to fly one of Eurogamer’s IT people over here and cover all his expenses so he can also inspect all our logs, verify our claims, and see that they are practically impossible to doctor. Eurogamer refused.

• I spoke with Kieron and I believe he is capable of doing an excellent job at reviewing Darkfall, so much so that it’s completely unfair for him, and for us, that he does mop-up duty after the original fraudulent review. We hope he’ll review Darkfall for another respectable publication sometime and we don’t want to blow it on this one. If they wanted Kieron Gillen they should have let him write the original review instead of tossing Darkfall to some random and unsupervised amateur. They got what they paid for but why should we have to suffer for it?

• It’s not helpful to us, this is not some grand gesture on Eurogamer’s part and it doesn’t do us justice. Eurogamer is running the re-review for their own sake, again at our expense. We’re not going to sit here looking at their bogus review while we wait for their next verdict in about a month. We won’t play that game. It’s pointless. If Kieron gives us a good review, a bad one, or an average one, the perception will be that he’s simply mopping up. Eurogamer will not take down the original review even if the new one overturns it.

• The MMO Editor for Eurogamer should have checked up on the review when Darkfall received a 2/10. When your site instructs the public to avoid someone’s livelihood at all costs, and calls their playerbase morons, you should at least make sure you’re not pulling these things out of your ass. We gave them 2 accounts for this reason and the MMO Editor chose to not use his. We pleaded with him to give us some time to discuss this, but he turned us down and sited Ed Zitron’s supposed impeccable track record. This about a guy who at best was happy to take Eurogamer’s money and spend a couple of hours using troll posts as reference to write a review on our game. We’re not the first developer to accuse Ed Zitron. He seems to have done this kind of thing before on several occasions and mostly against independent games. It’s not often that you see these kinds of accusations, but Ed seems to have collected a few of them. So much for his impeccable record. Eurogamer also knows this but chooses to ignore it. They’re forced to take his word over our proof and his prior track record because they’ve got nothing else to go on.

• It’s a conflict of interest any way you want to look at it. Eurogamer is paying another writer according to Eurogamer’s editor to “…see whether he agrees with Ed or not”. Ed is a fraud, there’s nothing to agree with here as far as we’re concerned.

So if it’s all the same to Eurogamer we’ll just take it on the chin and stick with the original review. We don’t need their concessions. If they can live with this, so can we. 2/10 from the likes of Ed Zitron is going to be a badge of honor for us. They can keep that fraud up as our memorial contribution to journalistic integrity and to independent games everywhere. At the very least they may think twice before they try doing this to someone else. 

We hope these can be our final thoughts on this topic.

So not only does tasos flout the european distance selling laws with impunity, he now seems to think hes above the laws of libel.

The outcome wont be good.

So, in effect, although this review is damaging beyond belief to Darkfall, and they offer to re-review, Tasos and Co. now decided that they will take it with pride on the chin?

Doesn't this sound very much like an excuse for preparing a grand finale...pulling the plug off Darkfall and then blaming it (for their fans, ofc) on the bad press, that spread from media to media like a wildfire and tore them apart?

interesting...

Dear god. That guy is such a bloody moron, it's almost not funny.

Darkfail in action!

"we're scared the next guy will also give it a score less than 5/10, so we'd rather they didnt review it at all"

Ok seriously ... i hate AV and i hate this game, it is not the hardcore ffa pvp i was waiting for, yet i have to admit that the review was too harsh, they would have at least deserve a 3 or maybe 4 out of 10 points.

But what comes to my mind after following darkfall for the past years, playing the game and seeing how they terribly failed in anything, is that they have severe problems now to keep this game alive, i also believe that the restricted access and the server launch was only because they were out of money and were forced to a release after all the lies about how polished and stable the game was.

The banning news text and the emo-nerdrage after the review speaks for itself and as i fear and what i understand out of his text is that this is his excuse for the fail of darkfall within the next few months.

What a moron, man ... i mean seriously, there is a fucking reason why no other big gaming site had a real review for this game, most of the gaming sites even review the billionth korean crappy anime kawaii clone-grindfest, at least with a few lines but not a sandbox ffa pvp game that is guild and warfare centered and that so many people waited for?

Guess why ... it is not ready, it is missing most of its features, it has a crappy code that lets everyone and his mother code cheats for it and it simply sucks GIGANTIC monkeyballs gameplaywise.

Sad story.

Originally posted by Polarization

• . Ed is a fraud, there’s nothing to agree with here as far as we’re concerned.

Exactly what it says right there, if it they don't like or agree with the review they will say its false. Sad really, they act like other games in the past haven't recieved a bad review when its a bad game. (like it or not most people agree the game isn't complete and has a long way to go, potential or not.... right now it's not a good game.)

This has actually become serious lol.

Watch AV try to sue EG lol.

I actually feel bad for AV, what EG did was what alot of the players on thsi site do. Tossed a BS review with facts that were off without actually playing the game.

Originally posted by spector75

Originally posted by Polarization

• . Ed is a fraud, there’s nothing to agree with here as far as we’re concerned.

 

Exactly what it says right there, if it they don't like or agree with the review they will say its false. Sad really, they act like other games in the past haven't recieved a bad review when its a bad game. (like it or not most people agree the game isn't complete and has a long way to go, potential or not.... right now it's not a good game.)

This is so funny. Watching Tasos and AV self-implode is more entertaining that I ever imagined...

"didn’t understand even the very basics right before he stopped playing to write his review."

Somehow this is the players fault, and not the games?

Again, it is not the responsibility of the player to hunt,  or suffer through to find the "fun", its the responsibility of the game to show it to them.

This is the funniest thing I've ever seen. This is the beginning of the end for Darkfall.

Speaking of misrepresenting the truth and twisting facts on a website, hows darkfalls feature list page looking? Has Tasos removed all the stuff thats not in game yet?

I predict this game will be shutting down before fall.

Tasos continues to use piss poor judgement on how to react to a bad review. Everyone will learn from Tasos on what not to do.

Now he is reaping the rewards of what happens when you belittle other games, promise a feature complete game, react badly to bad reviews, and have a community that reacts just as badly. If your game goes under Tasos its because of you.

Darkfall IMO has alot of potiental that may never come to pass as long as Tasos and Adventurine are running it.

Originally posted by pwnzorellOr

Ok seriously ... i hate AV and i hate this game, it is not the hardcore ffa pvp i was waiting for, yet i have to admit that the review was too harsh, they would have at least deserve a 3 or maybe 4 out of 10 points.

nope... when someone releases a game that is less than 50% completed... they deserve a negative score... I give DF -10/10 because of their total disrespect to their customers... EG was being generous to DF... TOO generous...

Originally posted by grimal

I predict this game will be shutting down before fall.

All this behavior leads one to think this, yes...

Originally posted by Krayzjoel  

Now he is reaping the rewards of what happens when you belittle other games, promise a feature complete game, react badly to bad reviews, and have a community that reacts just as badly. If your game goes under Tasos its because of you.

It is very ironic he can't take what he dishes out.

Oh thisis getting too much.  So now the devs wimp out of a second review in case it confirms what we all know - that the original score was pretty much spot on.  Hilarious.  What a joke!

If I was EG I would still do the re-review. The boy wants to piss and moan, call names then suddenly retract after? Fuck it, Tasos called them out, now let him pay with another review.

If it's a bad review, he will just use this latest post to say "They were just mad at me for this".

Christ, take it like a fuckin' man Tasos and use this review as a challenge to better the game.

Taso's is right that review was pathetic, biased and darn right negative in every respect.

I say give a respectable journalist a go at it...

but personally I'd love to see Yatzee Croshaw do one to...

Given his take on Eve I think there would be several DFO fanboys having cardiacs if that happened.

So aventuring has access to all these wonderful logging tools that can pinpoint conversations, times stamps of actions and all other manners of player activities and they have the ability to report on them.  (Yes I know those tools exist in mmos)

Yet at the same are incapable of keeping their website updated which is the most basic of functions for an internet service based company.

I just can't put a lot of faith in the words of tasos in a contest of credibility. 

"*The evidence: The reviewer’s supervisor and MMO Editor for Eurogamer spent 2 minutes in the character creator but didn’t create a character. Ed Zitron spent 2 hours 33 minutes logged in the game and the character creator. In this time the reviewer tried 9 different characters. Much of the time was spent creating and deleting these characters. 14 minutes before the reviewer stopped playing Darkfall altogether he said in global chat: “how do I cast spells…..help”. During his entire time in the game he repeatedly asks: “what do I do?” in public chat. After less than an hour logged in the game he speaks in race chat and says “this game is awful” His entire chat log shows someone biased that spent very little time in game, didn’t understand even the very basics right before he stopped playing to write his review. We offered to pay to fly one of Eurogamer’s IT people over here and cover all his expenses so he can also inspect all our logs, verify our claims, and see that they are practically impossible to doctor. Eurogamer refused."

LOL .. this is evidence that the game is poorly designed in the starting area. What game would be so bad that a new user (and one pretty familiar with games) cannot figure out how to cast a spell? 

And he spent an HOUR in the game. I wouldn't give bad games more than 15-20 min. Sure, he is not evaluating the end game, but certainly an HOUR is more than enough time to look at the starting area, evaluate the interface (any UI needs more than an HOUR to learn should be scrappped), and get a sense of how the game played.

Sure they can claim that he does not understand the basics. But a game that does NOT teach a players the basics within the first hour and keep them interested is NOT a good game. So this pretty much confirmed much of the reviews for me.

Originally posted by jinxit

Taso's is right that review was pathetic, biased and darn right negative in every respect.

I say give a respectable journalist a go at it...

but personally I'd love to see Yatzee Croshaw do one to...

If "Yahtzee" did it, I think Tasos would be tearing bloody streaks down his face.