Here we are back at the weekend in MondoXbox where we try to animate on Saturdays and Sundays — those days where typically is short on news. For this Weekend we Chat MX Metacritic, the review aggregator site, and how it might have changed the way we see the games.

Metacritic, universal judge of games ... and contracts

Kotaku recently published a voluminous dossier on the affaire Metacritic where collects various news, articles and testimonials about how the review aggregator site has become a universal judgement not only for games, but also for many developers. Many publishers, in fact, include special clauses which are based on the average grades attained on Metacritic in order to assign cash bonuses (something like a 1 million dollars if Obsidian-Bethesda). Not only that, at the time of hiring a developer, some companies have asked what their ' personal ' MetaScore — the average Metacritic on games that helped develop. As for reviewers, many cases of suspected vote driven, last minute preparation or obligations imposed from above, but also the curious affair of a particularly severe reviewer hired by a large Publisher not only allow the release of an article about a future game and spoil them so the average reviews.

Metacritic is really ruining the world of video games? Readers rely too much on reviews, constringendo and publishers to adopt unconventional measures to reach a particular vote? Or is the judgement of the readers themselves who has moved too high, judging a 7 as equivalent of mediocrity, thus giving life to the mechanisms mentioned previously? The software house choose to focus on the safe and gain sequel not experience even for fear of criticism? Or problem in this videogame industry chain is not at the level of reviews and reviewers, but much higher?

To you the word! And remember to follow the rules of the forum.