In the first of a couple of scandals in this list hinting at corruption in the video games industry, the infamous Driv3r scandal of 2004 led to a widespread cynicism towards mainstream video game reviews that lasts to this day. Driver 3, or Driv3r, was almost universally panned as a terrible mess of a game; if GTA III, which came out months earlier, was a delicious main meal, then Driv3r was the putrid belch afterwards which causes everyone to leave the room. Yet Future Publishing's influential and official Xbox and Playstation Magazines both gave the game 9/10 scores, which were so at odds with how everyone else felt about the game that the public cried foul play. The fact that these scores were published on the Driv3r retail boxes further fanned peoples' suspicions. Angry gamers took to Future Publishing's forums to express their ire, but their comments were quickly curbed and deleted by forum admins. While Future denied any wrongdoing, this was the first time that a major game's scores were accused of being fixed, and the atmosphere of distrust remains to this day. In fact, a far more recent event of a similar nature confirmed that review score fixing is a real problem in the industry...
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
