GamePro's Reviews Editor admits error
On the heels of 1UP's retraction of an editorially awkward review, we've been handed a similarly awkward GamePro review of Sega Genesis Collection. Website seganerds.com points out numerous issues in detail. The review's writer spells "Echo the Dolphin" incorrectly (it's Ecco) and calls it "B-grade," even though Ecco the Dolphin is generally considered one of the best games released on Genesis. The reviewer says Sega, "clearly scraped the bottom of the barrel in an attempt to beef up the number of titles." Although there is some padding, 19 of the 28 games on the disc are recognizable. He also says, "If Sega really wanted this compilation to matter, it should have included hits like Road Rash [and] Contra." But the rights to those games belong to EA and Konami. Under normal circumstances, we would say this was due to a lack of editorial oversight but, sadly, this review was written by GamePro's Reviews Editor Tae Kim, who teases in his profile, "I know everything."
To add insult to injury, there was a significant advertisement buy from Sega on the GamePro site promoting the Sega Genesis Collection. It's bad enough to an advertiser when their game gets a bad review, but if you're going to talk smack about a title, please spell the name of their game correctly ... at least we can be sure they weren't paid off for the review.
Tae Kim contacted Joystiq to explain the review. He starts off by saying that the "I know everything" comment is meant as a joke. He admits errors were made and will be corrected immediately. He says he is fully aware that Road Rash and Contra are not Sega titles and his original article included a line on how they should have tried through licensing to include the games. Kim concludes, "Mistakes do happen over the course of editing and I should have exercised better judgment in the choice of my words and should have worked harder to make sure everything was copy edited, a mistake I will try not to make in the future."
