Big surprise: Eidos caught fixing Game of the Year poll
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Jan 6th 2009 at 3:30PM }
Oh, Eidos. Not content with turning Jeff Gerstmann into some kind of martyr or trying to fiddle Tomb Raider: Underworld scores, the morally dubious publisher has now been caught red-handed trying to vote for its own game in a Game of the Year poll. Palm, meet forehead.
The poll in question was being run by Aussie magazine Hyper, whose staff spotted a user with an "@eidos.co.uk" e-mail address voting for Soul Bubbles across several categories. The saddest part of this episode? We suspect some of the negative reaction generated by this could deflect onto Soul Bubbles itself, which happens to be an excellent, fun game in its own right. What a shame the company publishing it are a bunch of nitwits.
Gallery: Soul Bubbles
[Via Kotaku]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mr Khan @ Jan 6th 2009 4:37PM
Eidos really needs to figure out that the media has little impact on sales if the game itself can stand on its own, especially on Nintendo platforms
Shoyz @ Jan 6th 2009 4:41PM
One vote? How is that a fix? I find it pretty funny that they voted for their own game, personally.
save smith @ Jan 6th 2009 5:10PM
scum. i'm gonna pirate the game from piratebay, just to spite them
Josh @ Jan 6th 2009 6:11PM
Unbelievable...
InFaMoUs1- @ Jan 6th 2009 5:07PM
Pathetic much Eidos? Really are these the lengths that they go to just to get some recognition?
Kokomadeta @ Jan 6th 2009 5:22PM
Dang, they really need to get some morals. Really, if a game sucks, it sucks. If it's good, it's good. Unfortunately, a good game will not necessarily sell well (Second Sight syndrome) and a bad game will sell well if it has enough hype and a large budget (Halo 2 syndrome).
I'd be much more inclined to buy Eidos games if they were an honest company who put enough work into their games to garner high scores.
Tremada @ Jan 6th 2009 5:51PM
I don't get what the big deal is. Why can't they vote for their own game? I'm sure Obama voted for himself when he cast his ballot. It's not mass voting by reps at edios right? I didn't know workig fr a company disqualified you from enjoying your own product.
Josh @ Jan 6th 2009 6:12PM
Yeah, I feel the same way. It was probably just some regular employee who wanted to upvote the game his salary partly depends on.
Just one guy, no big deal.
Hell, I upvote my own comments here sometimes, whether it actually does anything or not. :)
Jacksons @ Jan 6th 2009 6:50PM
Haha, the posts they made are so transparent. I remember here on DS fanboy there was a comment in one of the Word Jong related pages that was so obviously written by someone advertising the game.
DonsSword @ Jan 6th 2009 7:52PM
That's a shame. Soul Bubbles is one of the best games I played last year. Incredible productions all across the board: design, gameplay mechanism, artwork--even the credits are fun.
Chris Greenhough @ Jan 6th 2009 8:06PM
DONSSWORD EIDOS EMPLOYEE CONFIRMED!!
;)
No, but you're right -- it rocks.
aj @ Jan 7th 2009 12:20AM
DON AND CHRIS SHARE AN OFFICE!!!
Drahken @ Jan 6th 2009 8:21PM
I think I know what's going on here. Eidos keeps pulling these shady moves and being really blatant about it. I think Eidos WANTS to get in trouble. Maybe Eidos's brother is in prison; a prison that Eidos just happened to design. And now Eidos is trying to get sent to prison itself to help bust its brother out.
No wait. That's something else. Maybe they're just dumb.
EXTREME Seph @ Jan 6th 2009 8:58PM
lol prison break
Triptych @ Jan 6th 2009 8:54PM
You know who else cast one vote for themselves? Barack Obama and John McCain. FOR SHAME!!!!!
aj @ Jan 7th 2009 12:21AM
McCain voted for Nader.
KaBob799 @ Jan 6th 2009 9:26PM
I don't see what the big deal here is...
Also, that is a very misleading title.
ecco6t9 @ Jan 7th 2009 2:02AM
This is a nontroversy in it's purest form.
It's the same as saying that Sega can't say Virtua Fighter is better than Tekken or Namco saying the opposite.
WhineAboutGames @ Jan 6th 2009 11:55PM
Either this post or the Kotaku story is inaccurate and needs fixing. This post says that a staff member voted for their own game - which is practically standard practice in the industry and not shocking at all. The Kotaku story says that a staff member *continually* submitted votes for their own game... that is, spammed the poll. Which is *definitely* underhanded and inappropriate.
If Kotaku's version is right, please adjust your text? :)
KaBob799 @ Jan 7th 2009 2:36PM
Actually that's not right, Kataku says he voted for it once per catagory of award which I'm guessing is how the poll is supposed to work.
KaBob799 @ Jan 7th 2009 2:44PM
Er, I mean Kotaku is not right. The page that 'source' links to is what I was referring to.
Sam @ Jan 7th 2009 12:05AM
um...so? That's like saying "The presidential candidate voted for himself, I hope that doesn't harm his reputation!"
how do we know this wasn't some employee that REALLY thought that soul bubbles deserved those awards! I can understand if they were voting for it under things like "best FPS" or "best graphics" but you gave NO REASON why this is wrong! wtf ds fanboy?
Toasty @ Jan 7th 2009 12:30AM
Eidos, please make another Gex game.
That is all.
Donald @ Jan 7th 2009 12:47AM
Eidos: Please hire a VP of Common Sense.
I'm available, will only demand a high five figures (in Euros) and supply my own whip.
PestName @ Jan 7th 2009 2:49AM
This game's art style is one of the best on the DS, besides, the game is much fun itself, but in a relaxing way. Somehow like Electroplankton with a purpose. I still don't know what to do in oyoruba though
goog9 @ Jan 7th 2009 1:51PM
EVERYBODY CALM DOWN! what if this guy was just someone who genuinely loved this game? its only one voter. im sure we all participate in polls and have our own opinions. now this poor jerk is probably gonna get fired over this. we need more proof than just one guy in order to conclude that eidos has some sort of underground conspiracy to sabotage polls. this was most likely the case of the village idiot who works at the office and innocently made his whole company look bad. oh and if EIDOS is reading this, i dont know if you still have the rights, but remake the first two THIEF games.
Neo Senku @ Jan 7th 2009 1:53PM
Damn. If your gonna do that, create a not so obvious email account.
Cleveland @ Jan 7th 2009 8:15PM
I agree with the folk that are saying that this post is making a mountain out of a mole hill. People in the gaming industry are mostly gamers also. Let the man vote on the game that they like.
Jason @ Jan 12th 2009 3:24PM
What's the problem here? Even the president of the U.S. votes for himself. Is a man not allowed to vote for his own game?
fluffy-chick @ Mar 1st 2009 1:00PM
Personally I wouldn't now trust that when I enter a poll or competition run by this magazine, my personal data is safe. Disclosing who has voted is a breach of trust and possibly data protection laws.