Gamespot: Brief 9.5 for GTA IV was a 'bug'

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Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3 (http://www.joystiq.com/category/ps3/), Microsoft Xbox 360 (http://www.joystiq.com/category/xbox360/), Action (http://www.joystiq.com/category/action/)
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Given the flood of perfect review scores (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/933037.asp) for Grand Theft Auto IV, observant gamers were justifiably surprised when a score of 9.5/10 briefly appeared (http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=933037&topic=42832954) on Gamespot.com Monday. That surprise turned to confusion in some quarters when the score (which had no accompanying review) was quickly taken down (http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=933037&topic=42834987) and later replaced with the fifth 10/10 in Gamespot's history (http://digg.com/gaming_news/GTAIV_Becomes_5th_Game_in_Gamespot_s_History_to_Ge t_a_10_10) (complete with corresponding review text (http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/grandtheftauto4/review.html)). Message (http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=933037&topic=42846861) boards (http://boards.1up.com/zd/board/print?board.id=games&message.id=691853&page=1&format=page) and some blogs (http://newlevelgaming.blog-city.com/gamespot_bumps_gta_4_review_score.htm) jumped at the change, throwing around charges of "review fixing" and alluding to Gamespot's recent Gerstmann-related credibility problems (http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/30/rumor-gamespots-editorial-director-fired-over-kane-and-lynch-rev/).

Don't go running for your pitchforks and torches just yet, though. According to a forum post (http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26367274) by Gamespot's Aaron Thomas, the briefly displayed 9.5 was just a pre-production glitch and never an official review score. "We never posted a review with the score of 9.5," Thomas writes. "What you saw was a bug that sometimes causes scores to appear on the site before reviews go live. Sometimes that score is correct, sometimes it isn't. In this case, it wasn't." Nothing to see here, folks. Move it along. Save your indignation for the thugs trying to push Niko around.

(full disclosure: I write a weekly column on the game media (http://www.gamespot.com/pages/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=26288241) for Gamespot)

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[Wraith]

"What you saw was a bug that sometimes causes scores to appear on the site before reviews go live. Sometimes that score is correct, sometimes it isn't. In this case, it wasn't."Hmm. They might want to get their coders on that. :rolleyes:

[donkeydrop]

I'd welcome some more rational scores; the ratings have just become a customer driven popularity contest if this is the best rated game ever.