Earlier in the week GameSpot reviewer Tom McShea caused a fair amount of controversy with his disappointing 7.5/10 review score for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. McShea stated that he had problems with aiming throughout the game and kept having to recentre his view. To be honest this isn’t a problem I’ve come across at all.
You made an error in your review regarding the game’s controls (which has since been amended by the time of this writing). Do you think that an error like that might unintentionally affect your opinion (and therefore the review) of the game?
Not at all. In my original text, I said that aiming was handled by the infared sensor, when it’s actually controlled by the gyroscopes. Ultimately, you point at the screen no matter which method the controller is using, so, for the player, the result is the same. My problem with the aiming is that you have to recenter your view often, and that’s true no matter what the underlying technology is.
and I still stand by my thoughts on this reviewer: he’s an asshole.
Same here.
Because he brought up a fairly legitimate concern? Yeah, he’s a REAL asshole for doing that >.>
Fanboys would do well to learn impartiality
I’m not a fanboy, as I mostly am a PC gamer, and I gotta say: he’s an asshole indeed.
lol, honestly, he isn’t an asshole, but he seriously sucks at reviewing games and should pick up trashes instead. He’d be more useful in our society.
For a lot of you on mynintendonews who come here just to praise your impartiality, like “everything that bashes Nintendo is extremely great, you cannot think the opposite or then you’re a fanboy”….. please change your attitude. Because, for now, you seem more like the partial guy.
Someone protects Nintendo = partial. Someone trolls Nintendo = impartial.
Cool, love this equation.
I’ve heard this “concern” was false and thus was doing something incorrectly. Coming from someone else “reviewing” the game, but not at a major outlet like GameSpot.
The concern that he sucks at the game and didn’t know how to play it, therefore he gave it a bad score?
Or maybe the concern that Nintendo didn’t bribe Gamespot for a good review?
His review serves a purpose. It certainly legitimizes the other fantastic scores Skyward Sword is getting, considering Gamespot’s history with taking bribes for reviews.
He just sucks at the game.
>Editor’s note: This review originally stated that aiming was handled through the Wii Remote’s infrared sensor, which is incorrect. The review has been amended accordingly. GameSpot regrets the error.
yep, you going to listen to someone that din’t even knew how to use the controls? LOL
My point exactly! haha
I’ve never heard of this problem before…
Gamespot is a biased community. Whatd you expect?
It’s days like this I’m glad I opened a Torches and Pitchforks company.
SPECIAL OFFER! Buy 3 Torches, Get a Pitchfork free!
i lol’ed.
count me in
The Facebook event has been created. Now it’s legit.
What? I don’t even…
Smh people can’t take a bad review.
Yeah, cuz it’s bad. Thanks for the obvious.
:D
Everyone on this site seems to think people aren’t entitled to opinions. Everyone has to think Zelda is the best game in the world….
Why do we have to think that? Not all of us are die-hard Nintendo fans.
I’m only saying what I see. Almost all comments I see call this reviewer an idiot simply because his opinion is different.
Nope I call him an idiot because it was stated that he didn’t know exactly how to control the game…so yeah making a review without knowing how to play is kind of idiotic
He knew how to control the game just not the technical basis behind the controls. He only mentioned it was the gyroscope not infrared that affected his controls, not that he he didn’t know how use the controller.
It’s not because it’s different, it’s because it’s based on a misunderstanding.
Yea, well everyone thinks Call of Duty is the best game ever going GVYHTJSFG ZOMFG!!!ILEIK2KEEEEL
SHOOTSHOOTSHOOT
What’s your point?
No they don’t. Everyone hates Call of Duty.
I don’t like the look of this.
I sold my “Red Steel 2” because it was impossible to play, having to recenter the view every thime. Please, don’t tell me SS has the same problem.
“thime” was supposed to be “time”
I didn’t have that problem with red steel 2.
Hmm, I didn’t have that problem with red steel 2…
worked fine with me, maybe your sensor is fucked up
I didn’t have that issue either, are you a GameSpot reviewer, by any chance?
Hahahaha, good one xD
Now I know I can become one ):
The problem with red steel 2 was that every time I used the sword to attack, the sensor would detect the pointer going down and the character followed that action, so I had to recenter the view after each attack.
Red Steel worked perfect for me. What a great game! I sold it but now I’m itching to get it back
*Red Steel 2
i had the same problem, the problem was i was playing to close to the tv&sensor lol
That makes sense, I used to play really close to the screen.
I guess we just found out why the GameSpot reviewer thought this about SS. lol
Lol he was probably playing it on his cubicle in the office
Someone needs to tell this and if it’s true that he was playing it too close to the sensor (He most likely was because I haven’t heard a single thing about such a problem from any other reviewers, and I didn’t have that issue when I played the game at Comic-Con) he better feel pretty damn stupid. :P
If your playing close to the screen, that will mess up the connection. About 3 ft away is fine.
never had any problems and if it did it didnt stop me from enjoying the game’s awesome 1:1 motion controls..red steel 2 is one of my all time favorites :)
Never had a problem with Red Steel 2. It was an awesome game. Pity it was too short.
LOL Double Down on that Derp, Bro! You can do it! We’ve all got your back!
So the guy waggles the wiimote all the time(as seen in the video review) and doesn’t know how to use a bow. RESULT: a 7,5 given by a complete idiot. Gamespot has lost all it’s credibility because of Tom McShea. OH, Gamespot didn’t have credibility with nintendo fanbase, and now it has lost credibility to all the internet.
Detail: waggling the Wii Motion Plus makes it descalibrate.
where can i watch the video review?
gamespot.com
its full of spoilers though, you might want to skip some parts.
I think someone just herped their derp with a shlurp.
I stand by my first comment on it, who gives a fuck about their opinion?
fuck gamespot
Ditto. People get so up in arms about reviews. They are only opinions.
Other reviewers haven’t had the same problem therefore this guy’s views are a load of wank plain and simple.
and people say IGN are the IGNorant ones >.>
the gave it a 10 and called it the best Zelda game ever made…
I believe that more than I do GameSpot and this asshole reviewer…
eh… whatever, still getting the game XD
Only the Sony IGN reviewers are IGNorant and are proper fanboys.
The rest of IGN is fine.
You know how IGN sony is ignorant… 3DS < Vita
Any review of ANY game, or other product for that matter, is simply the reviewers opinion. His/her review does NOT constitute absolute truth about the product being reviewed, as the criticisms the reviewer makes about the product may not have the same negative affect on others, simply because of the fact that we are all different human beings and we all take things differently and with a different mind set.
So, sure, he can say he dislikes the game for this and for that, but that’s okay. That’s just his opinion. It won’t affect how much people are going to like the game when THEY play it.
Man, I have to disagree. If you or I say something about the game is our opinion. But a professional reviewer should give their appreciation about what the games provides, and how good or bad does it, leaving his preference all out of the way. He has to be the most impartial he could be about the game genre, the kind of controls, the artistic design, etc. He is giving his opinion as a reviewer not as something personal. He has the job, in this particular case, to talk about the game in name of gamespot.
Now this reviewer is being very criticized mainly not for the low score comparing with other reviewing companies (that just made him -and gamespot- centre of attention) but because he didn’t know how to use the motion controls and making bad conclusion of the game. Almost every wii gamer know that you get some issues with motion detection when playing very close to the screen and everything he said in his review just indicates he had this issue because of that. It doesn’t have much sense that the vast majority of reviewers said the controls are great and he is the only that says the controls are having some serious issues.
But I agree with you that yes man, anything this reviewer says, or anyone of the others, won’t affect how much fun people will or not have when playing the game (and any game in fact hehe). But the point is that a good review should give the people interested on the game a better picture of what the game is about and how great or not is, disregarding any personal preference. The objective is inform the interested gamers so they could had a better decision of buying the game or not (I think this could be applied to books, music, films, etc). Well, and the reviewer has to be sure he is playing the game right… just saying (hehe sorry for the last line but I had to say it :) )
P.D. Sorry for any English issue, just learning.
But then that kind of attitude undermines the review’s importance. The reviewer put his opinion out there for a reason, and it wasn’t so that everyone smarter than him (which is everyone) could completely ignore it. He put it out there with the intent of proving a point. Which he hasn’t done very well. It shouldn’t be up to us to ignore something that’s meant to be read, because that ignores the underlying problem of why the reviewer posted it in the first place.
He was born with hands and fingers, not arms.
He’s Master Shake? :o
…or Mr. Potato Head? Why would Mr. Potato Head play games? He’d have to…step on the buttons and stuff. Or waddle. I think MPH waddles.
From what I’ve played so far this game deserves higher than 7.5 easily. If I were to throw a number out after playing only two hours and thirty minutes it would probably be a solid 9. Of course I’ll get a better idea as I play more.
Also using MotionPlus is nowhere near as bad as people seem to be fearing. It’s a bit odd when it comes to menus (since it doesn’t use IR and I find myself having to move the controller more than I would for past games), but the movement and sword controls feel excellent so far. I think a lot of it is having to adjust to such a new control system. A no longer simply rolls, but everything is handled differently; it takes a little getting used to, but it is by no means bad.
My only gripes so far are actually really minor. One is that an early cutscene doesn’t seem to be as cinematic as I would have liked and the European version is in American English and not British like OoT3D and Spirit Tracks were.
The review is his opinion. The reviewer has a right to his own opinion. And one 7.5 score in a sea of mostly 9s and 10s is by no means bad…
It seems like a bit of a dry news week. Why aren’t you guys posting anything about how Nintendo is supporting that draconian American Censorship Bill? I’m interested in seeing how the people who visit this site (in particular the mindless fanboys, though that’s not everyone here) react to it. Personally, I’m really surprised and extremely disappointed that Nintendo is doing this.
I saw this and I wasn’t surprised about Nintendo supporting this. They are very very very anti-piracy, so by allowing the US to control visitation of outside sites or ones its citizens access, they can still fight their piracy battles. This can shut down sites that encourage homebrew, burning of flash carts, and the like. You know Nintendo hates the homebrew as why they constantly have updates in efforts to stop it. By allowing citizens in the US to not access those sites that encourage copyright infringement, they help their own cause of preventing piracy of their games.
ROM sites could be blocked as well…
Yes, it’s his opinion, but an opinion is not protected by an anti-critique shield. If an opinion is not well presented or has no logical basis behind it then it should be challenged or criticised.
That said the GameSpot reviewer has some genuine reasoning behind his opinion. I’m playing the game right now and I do concur with several points he made.
I lol after reading about the shield :D, so true. And I’ve just read an article of Miyamoto saying the game don’t use the pointer, instead it works according how you move the control. Also be sure not playing so close to the sensor. And happy gaming.
And ranting on his opinions with our opinions is our right. And you giving your opinion on our opinions on his opinions is okay too
Another curious happening is the walled defense of this guy’s review. Like apparently the review is his opinion, but nobody is allowed to have an opinion about the review itself.
So when people find factual errors in it, here come the predictable trolls whining that we’re not giving his review a 10, and saying we’re all fanboys for having a problem with a review that doles out a “disappointing” score based on falsehoods. In essence, people are gaving his review a 7.5 and the trolls are whining about it. Juicy.
That’s his reason? how idiotic.
They had similar problems with TP. Huuuurrrrr duuuurrrr we have to actually move our hands when playing instead of pressing buttons and eating french fries at the same time, that sux!
http://i.imgur.com/2ptPx.gif
But swinging the controller was still like pressing a button. But the only problem I had with the Wii version was that you didn’t have camera controls, which is why I stuck to the GC version.
that makes me lmao every fucking time
“Ultimately, you point at the screen no matter which method the controller is using”
Actually, you don’t, you tilt the Wii Remote in certain directions rather than pointing towards where you want to aim.
yeah someone should go teach that curly headed fuck how to read controls
Exactly that :D, is not a pointer this time! This reviewer is so funny :D.
He was probably just doing it fucking wrong lol.
This guy obviously doesn’t know what he is talking about… With motion plus you do not have to aim at the screen anymore, it is MOTION sensitive!!!! I’m playing the game right now and the controls work perfectly….
I’m playing it at the moment. I’ll admit I have to recentre every so often but since that just means pressing down on the D Pad while pointing at the centre of the screen I don’t find it an issue
Lol people still care?
I’ve completed Skyward Sword and never experienced this problem at all. I did have to re-centre now and again (mainly because I switched the position of my body), but it wasn’t a problem (just press down on the d-pad). The aiming system is very accurate and precise. There’s a mini-game that will show you how precise it is.
The reviewer is talking nonsense, I don’t care about the score he gave it, it’s just annoying that he gave it a low score for a problem that doesn’t even exist. If he said the game was poor, then that’s his opinion and he’s entitled to it.
Well, its not our problem if you are gay & can’t wield the controller in the right way -.- !
Even if he had a problem with the controls, that doesn’t justify lowering the score as a result of it, considering how he’s pretty much like the only one who’s had the problem. His reasoning is basically the same thing as somebody giving a game like Banjo Kazooie a lower score just because his N64 controller buttons were too sticky to use. Opinions shouldn’t be THAT personal.
How come nobody else stated that “problem” before? PUÑETA!
I preo rdered the game, and it arrived fine, the controls are just fine, the story is pretty awesome and honesty the graphics are just beautiful to look at, SO far Ii dont have a problem with the controls at all not even on pointing or sword fighting, any the way, I can tell you that this game is far harder than twilight princess by much.
Greetings from Mexico =D
You can use those learned sword skills to fight off the cartel :) JK
Que pinche cabrón :D
It’s okay, IGN still gave it a 10/10. I’d say anything over a 7 is good. Zelda games never disappoint (excluding the CDI games)
7.5 Is good for a real Zelda game? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!
He’s probably think that just because it has the word Zelda in the title doesn’t mean it’s a perfect game.
Wow. What a douchebag.
ON A SIDE NOTE: Those is England who got your copies….how’s the game?
I’d like to know this as well.
Dunno about England but in Ireland it’s going well. I’m taking it slow so nothing too difficult so far apart from the usual beginner enemies.
I’m from Holland (yes there are more countries in europe…) and I’ve been playing for 5 hours straight and so far it is brilliant. At first I had some control isues this being my first motion-plus game I wasn’t expecting it to be as acurate as it is, I was wagling like a mad men and couldn’t get one hit on those stupid moblins, then I took a breather and tried a real swordwielder aproach and that’s when the controls began to shine!!! Now that I have the controls down I can honestly say this guy didn’t spent the time learning the control system. The first time I held that sword pointed towards the ceiling sent shivers down my spine XD. When I got the slingshot I understood the reviewers problem with it, because I too pointed it at the screen in true TP style and Link went looking at the ground, then I looked at bottom of the screen and saw that I needed to hold it like I would a real slingshot, after doing this it was way more accurate then the IR could ever be!
So far I am enjoying the ride immensly and can’t wait for my next session.
That’s stupid. He just wants attention and now he’s gotten it. Sad people give bad scores to a game like Legend of Zelda.
I had no problem with the game and didn’t have to recalibrate it that often. If you’re too close to the TV, the WiiMote is running on low power or your sensor bar is too far back, (or wiggling the controls because you’re a tart and don’t realize that this is not Twilight Princess), then you will run into problems.
But whatever, everyone can have their own opinions. I can’t stand Halo because I can’t get the hang of the double analog sticks to aim properly and quickly, so if I gave it a bad review I’d get flamed? Just let it go guys, in the end, they when you rage.
The saddest thing is that you all will whine over a dam review score… now imagine if he gave it a 7…
I suppose if it was a sony game where ucharted 3 characters could have fun killing link, etc then it would have been a complete 10, huh?
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Well i don’t understand this reviewers, IMO this is a 10/10 game, i guess there are people who thinks different, A LOT different.
He game the game a 7.5 because you have to press down on the control pad sometimes… Yeah, this guy is an idiot…
Let’s see here it says that he had trouble with aiming correct?….YOUR HOLDING THE WII REMOTE UPSIDE-DOWN AND BACKWARDS IDIOT!!!
I think Sickr’s response to all that is the best one.
“To be honest this isn’t a problem I’ve come across at all.”
Deadpan for the win.
This guy is a real Idiot… He used the Wii Mote very wrong.
Trouble with aiming? Europeans say the aiming is fine and that means the real idiot is the reviewer
Bought the game today. I have to say that it was even better than I expected it to be. I will be suprised if this game doesn’t get the game of the year price… Because it was better than I expected and I expected a 10/10 so does this game actually get 11/10… If you want me to do a full review where I prove my point and justifying this game just ask.
At least one person used the Wiimote correctly
i remember the days when 7.5 meant the game is good. not perfect but good. now unless the game gets a 9 or above, either the review is totally wrong or the game is crap.
think about that
The complaints don’t come just because of the 7.5 score. They come because the 7.5 is based on unjustified claims.
See the review, then play the game, and then don’t comment stupid crap like this.
Knocking off 2.5 points off a review score is huge for such an issue. The issue also sounds like its more to do with the position of him and his sensor bar. odd.
Irony is that he didn’t even need the sensor bar for this game.
That wasn’t his only issue with the game. I suspect it knocked the score down by .5 or 1 at the most due to controls.
I have this game and once again he made a MISTAKE!!!!
you don’t have to point at the screen.
Every other review never mentions this issue, this guy is just doing something wrong, or he has faulty hardware.
i think about that all the time, why is he the only one having a big issue about it and other reviewers dont????..hmmmmm..very suspicious if you tell me..lol
Really, you think about his review ALL THE TIME, I think you need to fill your time with more productive things, haha. JK.
Well I’ve had the centring issue, though since it’s already taken into account and doesn’t really affect the gameplay, I wouldn’t mark it down for it.
One issue I was wondering if anyone else has experienced is the analog stick sticking in one direction? By that I mean when it’s centred, Link keeps moving? This happened a number of times in Red Steel 2 as well, so I learned in that how to fix it. Just disconnect and reconnect the Nunchuck.
That’s been an issue for every Nintendo controller that uses an analog stick. You move it around before the game starts or loads, then the “center position” gets initialized at whatever spot the analog stick is in. It’s a good thing the Wii nunchuck provides a very easy solution.
Nah unfortunately it’s not that. I know that one. Same with the PS3 controller. If you turn the machine or the controller on with the analog stick pressed in a direction then that’s taken as the neutral position. But with this it just happens while playing. Usually in a fight when I seem to be pressing heavy to one side to dodge. Happened in Red Steel 2 as well
But thanks for the feedback
Even though I don’t really agree with McShea’s argument about the controls, I still think that the game is not 10/10 material. GameTrailers made some good points about SS in their podcast ‘Invisible Lines’ that I thought were more legit than McShea’s. Of course, most people are biased and will give any Zelda game a high score simply because it’s ‘Zelda’.
I don’t feel the game is completely 10/10 either, but I don’t think a 10 is necessary to declare a game good anyway.
I know this is his opinion, but I don’t agree with some of the points he made that would make it a 7.5. I really think they need to re-review it because everyone else is saying different thoughts. This doesn’t have to be a 10, but a 7.5 is way too low.
Otherwise, I don’t really care for review scores. It’s just this one that got my attention.
Whoa, read this:
http://www.zeldainformer.com/2011/11/gamespots-tom-mcshea-speaks-about-his-skyward-sword-review.html
Poor reviewer. I believe he just need to say “sorry, this game was too much for me”.
So what, one asshole critic out of dozens didn’t like the game. Who gives a rat’s ass about his opinion?
Plus, lolgamespot
This people, a gameplay video and a great response to gamespot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEge_2Vuft0
The gameplay looks even better than expected.
I like how Link also kinda “shrugs” along. I guess the stab does work.
True…
The controls are better then i thaught… gamespot idiot needs to look at this video to see how he should have played then he will regret it.
Not everyone will have a 100% experience with the game, and the game isnt for everyone anyway, so its bound to get some bad reviews. Not sure about the validity of most of the reasons behind it getting such a bad score though, but this is the first review for SS Ive actually watched, since it had the potential to talk about actual issues with the game.
Seemed like most of the issues he mentioned are just traits of the Zelda series, which Im sure fans wont have issues with. The control issues sound concerning, but its really the first time ive heard of it being an issue, other than the early demos people had issues with. Its just about perspective really.
<_< Perhaps he just sucks at playing Wii Resort and blamed it all on Skyward Sword.
I’ve been playing Skyward Sword for the past week and I must say, the aiming is not bad. Occasionally you do have to recenter but it’s really not a bother to press down on the Dpad to instantly recenter it.
in fact I kinda like it that way because you can put the remote in any direction as the center point and play in any angle or position you like
Im playing the game myself…
Already 15hrs in….
Did a center uhm once just to try it?! OMG.
Motion Controls are difficult i.e. they are based on natural movement of a sword.
Sword fighting in general is not easy.
Handling a freaking Goddess Sword is not meant to be done by every retard.
The game itself is awesome and requires commitment and training.
LIKE THE FREAKING OLD DAYS!
15 hours!!!!!!!!!
The game only came out yesterday for EU!
Yep. I started it at about 3pm and managed to get nearly 10 hours. So I can see how 15 hours is possible.
He’s a witch!
The control issue was a huge problem in the demo. I heard it as just a bug in the demo though. As far as I’ve heard, it’s fixed in the real game.
I just read the review and it seems fair and accurate to his experience. It may be his opinion but it wasn’t biased or based on emotion, just his experience with the game. Sure if he was playing too close to the screen that may have effected his enjoyment, and at best it would have won an 8 from him. I guess his only flaw, if true, was that he didn’t know well enough to sit further away from his TV. Does that make him an incompetent idiot, no.
In fact in an interview he clarifies that he was pointing to the screen when using the bow. And it’s well known that the bow is used as in Wii Sports Resort. So his complaint about looking to the ground when pointing to the screen when using the bow is in fact a proof that the controls are working fine. It’s okay, everyone could make that error… but he is a “professional” reviewer… and the controls are explained in the game…
The point is, as a professional reviewer he has to make sure first of all that he is playing the game right before saying the game is unresponsive. Here a good demo of the game controls.
Even professionals are only human.
lots of respect has been lost for GameSpot… believe it or not, i removed them from my bookmarks in Firefox after i saw that review… the 7.5 pissed me off so much because i know what happened. Bethesda must have paid GameSpot to sabotage Zelda so that skyrim could sell more and be in the spotlight as the best game. i’ve been playing this game for 20 hours so far, and i havent seen any problems in the controls. so, Tom McShea is a low down lying dick less piece of shit motherfucker. fuck you gamespot. you just lost a fan.
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