1UP retracts Neverwinter Nights 2 review; How should we feel?

We never thought we’d see this in our lifetimes. 1UP officially RETRACTS the original review of Neverwinter Nights 2 from their site, as well as their upcoming issue of their print mag Games for Windows: The Official Magazine (BTW, they’re using a generic term like we’re using a generic term). Why? Says the Reviews Editor of 1UP,

Upon further review of the author’s text, listening to the feedback from our community and others, and after internal discussion between the 1UP and GFW editors, we have determined that the text of the review did not live up to our editorial standards. We respect the opinions of (the original author) and all of our writers, but we felt that this particular review of Neverwinter Nights 2 did a disservice to fans of the RPG genre.

So 1UP’s going to commission a new review from another, and so on… but that’s not the story. The story is how the original review got itself pulled out like that, and how 1UP readers are reacting to the retraction.

See how the 1UP readers react. More importantly, we ask you how you’ll react when we do our own reviews, opinions, and analyses in the near future. See full article.

We never thought we’d see this in our lifetimes. 1UP officially RETRACTS the original review of Neverwinter Nights 2 from their site, as well as their upcoming issue of their print mag Games for Windows: The Official Magazine (BTW, they’re using a generic term like we’re using a generic term). Why? Says the Reviews Editor of 1UP,

Upon further review of the author’s text, listening to the feedback from our community and others, and after internal discussion between the 1UP and GFW editors, we have determined that the text of the review did not live up to our editorial standards. We respect the opinions of (the original author) and all of our writers, but we felt that this particular review of Neverwinter Nights 2 did a disservice to fans of the RPG genre.

So 1UP’s going to commission a new review from another, and so on… but that’s not the story. The story is how the original review got itself pulled out like that, and how 1UP readers are reacting to the retraction.

Reading through the comments of the 1UP retraction, this writer has the impression that the original Neverwinter reviewer is either not a fan of the RPG genre, meaning he can’t appreciate the game, or was just completely rude, biased, closed-minded, bigoted, and inconsiderate this side of the fine line between opinion and bias. Maybe both.

Many of the comments replied “Right on!” to the retraction. One guy noted that the original reviewer “didn’t seem the right guy” to review Neverwinter 2. 1UP’s a pro news site, not a blog; there’s no place for that kind of review, says another. And one reply, although very thorough in his criticisms of the reviewer’s criticisms, described the reviewer in one word: jacka**.

But go to the guys who defended the original review. “Review = Opinion.” “The most down-to-earth review” of Neverwinter 2. Even if the guy wasn’t an RPG fan, his criticisms were “dead on” target. And the criticisms of the retraction itself: there was this guy who deplored 1UP as “cowardly – just cowardly” for retracting the jacka**’s review.

We’re going to ask this question right now, not just to our PC Gaming blog readers, but to our other gaming blog readers as well. In the weeks or months to come, when the time comes that we offer QJ’s review or opinion of this or that game, of this or that accessory, and you don’t like it, will you call on us to retract the offending article? Will you call us biased (insert insult here) who don’t know what we’re talking about? Or are you going to let our opinions be, and draw your own conclusions from them?

What is the fine line between opinion and bias, between honesty and fairness? And as we judge games and accessories on these pages for you, how will you judge us? And, to reiterate, will you call for a retraction when you disagree with anything we say?