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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Texas‘ graduation rate for high school students increased 1.9 percent since 2002 to just below the national average, according to a new report by a coalition of education groups.

The report found that high school graduation rates rose from 73.5 percent to 75.4 percent between 2002 and 2009? and pulled almost even with the 2009 average nationwide of 75.5 percent.

The national graduation rate, though, increased faster than the state’s, climbing 2.9 percent over the same 7-year period. The biggest gains nationwide came in Tennessee, where rates jumped 17.8 percent, and New York, which increased 13 percent, between 2002 and 2009.

The report did not provide a state-by-state ranking, but comparing results showed that Texas and Colorado are tied for 28th, just behind Oregon and just ahead of Michigan, Rhode Island and Hawaii. Wisconsin led the nation with a graduation rate of 90.7, while Nevada was last with 56.3 percent.

The report will be presented Monday in Washington at the Building a Grad Nation summit sponsored by America’s Promise Alliance, a children’s advocacy organization founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell. It was authored by John Bridgeland and Mary Bruce of Civic Enterprises, a public policy firm focused on social change, and Robert Balfanz and Joanna Fox of the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University.

The authors used the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate, which tracks first-year students through all their years in high school, since they said it was the best and most-recent data available nationwide.

More good news for Texas came in the state’s percentage of 4th graders testing at or above proficient in reading, which increased a single percentage point to 28 percent between 2003 and last year. The percentage of 8th graders testing at or above proficient in math also jumped from 25 percent to 40 percent over the same period.

Texas is in the first year of implementing a new standardized testing system, and some districts have drawn criticism for spending more time preparing kids for statewide exams than they do on actual classroom instruction. But Robert Scott, appointed by Gov. Rick Perry as head of the Texas Education Agency, has maintained that students statewide are improving in reading, math and science ? and that their high school graduation rates have increased ? despite more-strenuous standardized testing.

Perry spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said, “we have been on the uptick in graduation rates and we’re encouraged by that.”

As recently as 2010, the Texas Legislative Budget Board reported the state’s overall graduation rate ranked a dismal 43rd nationwide. Last month, though, the Texas Education Agency announced that a National Governor’s Association report put Texas’ graduation rate for the class of 2010 at 84.3 percent, or 10th highest among the 34 participating states who track student performance over their entire high school career. Yet another report by the National Center for Education Statistics found that the state’s 2008-2009 graduation rate was 75.4 percent, or 28th in the nation ? findings similar to those in Monday’s report.

“There’s lots of different ways to look at it and everybody’s got a different intention,” said Frances Deviney, Texas Kids Count director at the left-leaning Center for Public Policy Priorities. But she said other measures, including drop-out rates, have fallen in recent years, providing additional evidence more high schoolers statewide are graduating.

“It is getting better,” Deviney said, though she worries that cuts in state funding for programs designed to keep students from leaving school early could eventually undo those gains.

Last summer, the state Legislature cut the Texas school funding formula $4 billion over the next two years, while reducing funding for education grant programs an additional $1.4 billion.

A booming population means public school enrollment statewide increases an average of 80,000 per year, and the cuts mean Texas now spends an annual average of $8,908 per student, down $538 compared to the last budget, and well below the national average of $11,463, according to a recent report by the National Education Association.

“Lawmakers had to make tough decisions to prioritize,” Frazier said, “but we’re confident schools will still be able to use the existing resources they have and offer the quality education Texas students need.”

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-texas-high-school-graduation-rates-rising-141056086.html

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[ [ [['The public radio show This American Life has', 2]], ‘http://yhoo.it/AaEZ6u’, ‘[Related: Mike Daisey Says Technology Is New Religion]‘, ‘ ‘, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘, ], [ [['Apple fanboy Mike Daisey that aired in early January', 6]], ‘http://yhoo.it/zAwXWV ‘, ‘[Related: The Darker Side of Apple]‘, ‘ ‘, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘, ], [ [['I think that these guys are getting mercilessly picked apart', 3]], ‘http://yhoo.it/FOlkib’, ‘[Related: Invisible Children defends Kony 2012 film in new video]‘, ‘ ‘, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘, ], [ [['With U.S.-Afghanistan relations in crisis', 11]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/no-afghanistan-obama-campaign-video-021313177.html’, ‘[Related: No ?Afghanistan? in new Obama campaign video]‘, ‘ ‘, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘, ], [ [['Jon Stewart weighed in on the Rush Limbaugh', 2]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/rush-limbaughs-slut-controversy-proves-staying-power-100110062–abc-news.html’, ‘[Related: Rush Limbaugh comment controversy proves it has staying power]‘, ‘ ‘, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘, ], [ [['Mammadyarov said democratisation', 11]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/russian-grannies-win-bid-sing-eurovision-095946819.html’, ‘[Related: Russian grannies win bid to sing at Eurovision]‘, ‘ ‘, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘, ], [ [['With U.S.-Afghanistan relations in crisis', 1]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/civilians-killed-in-afghanistan-attack-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/7/82/782db3234689df989a5b05a09e71511c.jpeg’, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘Reuters/Naseer Ahmed’, ], [ [['Rutgers', 7]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/tyler-clementi-cyberbullying-trial-begins-1329842758-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120316/ravi.jpg’, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘Reuters’, ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg’, ’500′, ‘ ‘, ‘AP’, ] ]

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-using-gaza-trial-run-iran-strike-hamas-113310785.html

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[ [ [['The public radio show This American Life has', 2]], ‘http://yhoo.it/AaEZ6u’, ‘[Related: Mike Daisey Says Technology Is New Religion]‘, ‘ ‘, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘, ], [ [['Apple fanboy Mike Daisey that aired in early January', 6]], ‘http://yhoo.it/zAwXWV ‘, ‘[Related: The Darker Side of Apple]‘, ‘ ‘, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘, ], [ [['I think that these guys are getting mercilessly picked apart', 3]], ‘http://yhoo.it/FOlkib’, ‘[Related: Invisible Children defends Kony 2012 film in new video]‘, ‘ ‘, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘, ], [ [['With U.S.-Afghanistan relations in crisis', 11]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/no-afghanistan-obama-campaign-video-021313177.html’, ‘[Related: No ?Afghanistan? in new Obama campaign video]‘, ‘ ‘, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘, ], [ [['Jon Stewart weighed in on the Rush Limbaugh', 2]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/rush-limbaughs-slut-controversy-proves-staying-power-100110062–abc-news.html’, ‘[Related: Rush Limbaugh comment controversy proves it has staying power]‘, ‘ ‘, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘, ], [ [['Mammadyarov said democratisation', 11]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/russian-grannies-win-bid-sing-eurovision-095946819.html’, ‘[Related: Russian grannies win bid to sing at Eurovision]‘, ‘ ‘, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘, ], [ [['With U.S.-Afghanistan relations in crisis', 1]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/civilians-killed-in-afghanistan-attack-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/7/82/782db3234689df989a5b05a09e71511c.jpeg’, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘Reuters/Naseer Ahmed’, ], [ [['Rutgers', 7]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/tyler-clementi-cyberbullying-trial-begins-1329842758-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120316/ravi.jpg’, ’630′, ‘ ‘, ‘Reuters’, ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg’, ’500′, ‘ ‘, ‘AP’, ] ]

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/budget-help-poorer-families-osborne-112031451.html

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Source: http://notaryonthego123.com/?p=1902

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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Female visitors to Afghanistan’s main prison were still being subjected to body cavity searches Saturday despite a suspension of U.S. funding and orders from Afghan officials to stop the practice, a Western official said.

It’s a situation that both shows the fading influence of the U.S. government in Afghanistan and provides an example of the type of issues of conduct and policy that may arise as the U.S. transfers its own detention facility to the Afghan government.

The commander of Pol-i-Charki prison outside the capital has had female guards performing the intrusive searches on all women visiting inmates for at least the past month, according to a Western official briefed on the procedures. Men are not submitted to similar searches. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue and so spoke on condition of anonymity.

After trying to work behind the scenes to get the searches at Pol-i-Charki stopped without success, the Obama administration suspended U.S. assistance to the prison earlier this week in hopes that the financial pressure would force a change.

“Until we have determined that this utterly unacceptable practice has ceased, the United States government has suspended all mentoring activity other than that specifically focused on monitoring visitation search procedures,” said Gavin Sundwall, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Kabul. He said delivery of equipment to the prison had also been halted.

He did not provide a dollar figure for the blocked assistance. The United States has spent millions on improvements to Pol-i-Charki since 2009, expanding its capacity to 7,000 inmates from 4,000 previously.

The U.S. government has a host of mentors who regularly visit the prison to run training sessions and also has been building facilities for vocational programs and business training, along with medical facilities, at Pol-i-Charki.

But body cavity searches were still going on Saturday, the Western official said. The searches were first reported by The New York Times.

The policy is against Afghan law and international human rights standards and is not even implemented according to standard hygiene practices, said Heather Barr, an Afghanistan researcher with Human Rights Watch who has done extensive work on the prison system.

“We’ve been told they have a limited supply of gloves, so they change them every four of five women,” Barr said.

The commander of the prison, Khan Mohammad, appears to be continuing the searches despite an order to cease by his superiors. The head of Afghanistan’s prisons, Gen. Amir Jamshid, ordered Mohammad to stop the searches before the U.S. aid stopped, the Western official said. It was not immediately clear if his decision had been overruled by someone higher in the Interior Ministry.

Khan did not respond to calls seeking comment.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry denied that any illegal searches had occurred since the Interior Ministry took over control of the prisons from the Justice Department three months ago.

“It’s not happening, this kind of invasive search. That’s not happening in Pol-i-Charki prison. It’s against our law,” said the spokesman, Sediq Sediqi. Afghan rules for searches provide only for cavity searches conducted by a medical professional and not as a matter of a routine search, according to government documents.

The standoff comes down to a larger debate in the Afghan government over who should have control of the country’s prison system ? a collection of underfunded facilities where U.N. investigators found evidence of torture in September. The Justice Ministry agreed to give up control of the system after it was embarrassed by a massive jailbreak last year in which some 500 Taliban prisoners tunneled out of the main jail in southern Afghanistan.

But the switch to Interior Ministry control means that the same officials are overseeing detention and criminal investigations, which could make abuse more likely.

“The people who are trying to solve the crime and the people who are holding the prisons can’t be the same people. There’s too much danger that they’ll resort to torture to get information,” Barr said.

It also means that many of the people that the U.S. and other international allies spent millions to train to run the prison system are no longer involved in overseeing the facilities. Beyond the issues of human rights abuse, U.S. officials have repeatedly said that the transfer of their detention facilities needed more time because the Afghans did not have the expertise needed to run the 3,000-inmate facility in Parwan.

But now the Afghans have signed an agreement with the U.S. government giving them nominal control of the Parwan facility immediately, along with the gradual transfer of responsibility for prisoners over six months. The agreement signed last week was seen an important move toward satisfying President Hamid Karzai’s demand for more control over international forces operating in his country.

At Pol-i-Charki, it’s unclear if the misconduct is a result of political gamesmanship, ego or a lack of resources being dealt with in a very disturbing way.

The former commander of Pol-i-Charki said that his guards never performed body cavity searches on visitors, but he said he didn’t have to because he had X-ray machines donated by the British government for screenings.

“I’ve just recently heard that now both those X-ray machines have broken down,” said Gen. Abdul Balqi Behsudi.

____

Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report from Kabul.

____

Follow Heidi Vogt on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/heidivogt

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-aid-cutoff-fails-end-afghan-prison-searches-115913983.html

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BEIRUT (Reuters) – Two explosions hit security complexes in the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday, killing several civilians and security force personnel, state television reported.

Damascus residents said smoke could be seen rising from the areas where the blasts struck.

State television said the explosions were terrorist attacks and that initial investigations showed both were caused by car bombs. One explosion targeted an intelligence complex and the second hit a security police building, it said.

The explosions came two days after the first anniversary of year-long uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, in which the United Nations says more than 8,000 people have been killed.

Dozens of people were killed in three bombings in Damascus in December and January.

Turkey said on Friday it might set up a “buffer zone” inside Syria to protect refugees fleeing Assad’s forces, raising the prospect of foreign intervention in the year-long revolt.

With the uprising entering its second year, U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan reportedly told the Security Council that Syria’s response to his plans for peace were disappointing and urged major powers to put aside their divisions over Syria.

While the West and much of the Arab world have lined up to denounce Assad, his allies Russia, China and Iran have defended him and warned against outside interference.

“The stronger and more unified your message, the better chance we have of shifting the dynamics of the conflict,” an envoy said, summarizing Annan’s remarks to the Security Council.

Refugees were crossing hills into Turkey, evading Syrian forces and minefields to reach refugee camps. The growing flow, and memories of some 500,000 fleeing into Turkey from Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War, are causing growing concern in Ankara.

Turkey urged its citizens to quit Syria on Friday because of the growing insecurity and raised the prospect of creating a safe zone on its border to protect the refugees.

“A buffer zone, a security zone, are things being studied,” Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters, adding this was not the only proposal under consideration.

Ankara is wary of military intervention and has made clear any creation of a ‘security zone’ would need some form of international agreement, not least because it would require armed protection and could alter the dynamics of the uprising.

“If implemented, it may be a game changer,” said Anthony Skinner, Middle East analyst at British-based political risk consultancy Maplecroft. He added it would “clearly benefit the opposition”.

CELEBRATIONS

Turkey says it is now hosting 14,700 Syrian refugees after 250 people crossed its borders on Friday. Some 1,000 had arrived the day before, fleeing fierce fighting in Idlib province.

At a refugee camp near the village of Boynu Yogun, Syrians celebrated with songs and chants against Assad when they heard Erdogan’s comments broadcast on live television.

“This is what we wanted from the beginning. We want all the civilians in this area protected,” said Walid Hassan, one of the refugees, who fled Syria nine months ago.

Turkish officials were expected to discuss a buffer zone and other ideas at a meeting of Assad opponents in Istanbul on April 2. Turkey has become a hub of the anti-Assad movement, hosting the main opposition umbrella group and rebel Free Syrian Army.

As such, Ankara has a unique insight into the growing division among these groups that could complicate any establishment of a new administration in Damascus.

Pro-Assad supporters staged mass rallies around Syria on Thursday to mark the anniversary of the uprising, but anti-regime protesters were met with live fire when they tried to take to the streets, opponents said.

GUNFIGHTS

Activists said security forces fired heavily in southern Damascus’s Qadam suburb on Friday to chase demonstrators off the streets. They also reported firing in the western suburb of Daraya and clashes with army deserters in Ghouta, east of the capital, which has seen gun battles in the past.

Reports from Syria cannot be independently verified as authorities have barred outside rights groups and journalists.

The Syrian government denies accusations of brutality against civilians. It says it is grappling with an insurgency by terrorists and foreign-backed militants.

Annan said he would dispatch advisers to Syria early next week for talks about sending international monitors, in the hope their presence would break the violence and warned the situation was highly delicate.

“Yes, we tend to focus on Syria but any miscalculation that leads to major escalation will have impact in the region which would be extremely difficult to manage,” Annan told reporters in Geneva after addressing the Security Council by video link.

The veteran diplomat presented Assad with a six-point peace proposal at talks in Damascus last weekend. Envoys said he told New York on Friday that the response to date was disappointing.

Underlining Assad’s growing isolation, four members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) announced the closures of their embassies in protest against its violent crackdown, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Qatar were to follow in the footsteps of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and halt diplomatic activity in Syria, the GCC was quoted as saying in a statement.

Russia condemned the decision, saying it was vital to keep communication open.

(Editing by Michael Roddy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/two-explosions-damascus-state-television-061413553.html

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Unique manufacturers can make claims that the side effects connected with creatine usually are small or maybe nonexistent. You should be aware that ladies bodybuilders making use of creatine currently have reported typical side effects such as stomach cramping pains, muscle cramps, nausea and diarrhea. This does not exist in all woman bodybuilders but you are possible. Moreover, women, especially those who are not wherever near the menopausal bracket, typically go through a new mineral burning period if they undergo his or her menses. These missing minerals ought to be replaced mainly because at no one time when the bodybuilder?s body be in a new starvation mode.

My opinion in Scivation?s Xtend is this ? It does not take best BCAA supplement on the market in regards to good quality and price each serving. Generally in most stores you can find the Thirty serving canisters of Xtend for $25-30 a put, but I have already been able to find this system at a several online retailers for about $1Of course you will need to consider shipment, but you are always saving a lot of money. I have told those who if I had been broke and may only find the money for one supplement (other than whey protein), this would definitely whether it be.

The basic supplements which are commonly used by simply bodybuilders consist of various types of several vitamins and minerals formulation. Almost all the men and women who engaged in muscle maximization exercises accustomed to consumes a lot of these supplements to make this body more endurable to your vigorous bodily training they undertake. Choose only powerful bodybuilding supplements available to bring highest out of your bodybuilding routines.

Source: http://www.votethecommongood.com/?p=866

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Anyone would feel bad about?missing the new Apple iPad preorder period. It’s pretty annoying having to?stand in line to get your tablet, especially if you’re at the end of a long and winding queue. But there was one person who lined up for the new iPad on his own volition when he could’ve easily got his hands on Apple’s newest device ? Steve Wozniak, also known as “the other Steve” of Apple.

Wozniak co-founded Apple with?Steve Jobs in 1976. While he doesn’t work full time for the company anymore, he’s still an employee and a stockholder. His lining up outside an?Apple Store doesn’t mean it’s excessively hard to find a device, though ??it’s a ritual that he’s been doing for years. But while he’s been first in line for many prior Apple devices, this time,?there was someone else who got there before he did ? his wife.

“I want to be one of the people lined up and wait[ing] all night,” he said in an interview. You can watch the entire chat with Wozniak above, where he also praised the features of?the new iPad.

[Image credit:?Al Luckow]

(Source)

This article was written by Mariella Moon and originally appeared on Tecca

More from Tecca:

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/why-apple-co-founder-steve-wozniak-lined-ipad-221400826.html

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(This is another edition of </RANT>, a weekly opinion piece column on GameFront. Check back every week for more. The opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not reflect those of GameFront.)

Over the years, I?ve seen many accusations flung at videogames reviewers. Some of the accusations are thrown my way, some of them are thrown at other reviewers to highlight how honest and terrific I am. Whatever the motivation, and regardless of who the criticisms are aimed at, I need to shoulder the burden of bursting your bubble and hammering home a rather disappointing truth ? videogame reviews are nowhere near as exciting as you think they are, for the most part.

Every time I see a comment claiming to know how, ?All reviews are bought and paid for by the publisher,? or declaring that, ?This game got a high score because the reviewer is scared of not getting anymore free games,? I have to wonder exactly what kind of world such accusers reside in. It certainly seems like an exciting world, where the rather mundane and ordinary realm of consumer blogging has been replaced by a shadowy dystopia of undercover operations, sleazy backroom deals, and merciless threats from sinister corporations. I wish the world was like that, because it would make playing through boring tripe like Mindjack a lot more enthralling.

The above video has been doing the rounds recently, and like that one about Kony, it?s pretty damn good at making a point through provocative words and apt musical choices. It is, however, an incredibly romantic view of what we do as game reviewers. It awards the job far more importance, far more intrigue, than it deserves. As a game reviewer myself, allow me to confirm to you that the majority of us are uninteresting people, with relatively generic lives. I pay my mortgage, raise my family, and waste time watching shit movies like Hardware and Puppet Master. I spend no time at all tendering or refusing blank checks from sinister executives, because nobody?s ever done that. Life just isn?t that cool.

I am not meaning to imply that sleaze does not happen. The ?Gerstmann Incident? at GameSpot is a favorite example, and there are definitely some publishers who try a few questionable tactics to encourage high scores. There are certain practices I disagree with, such as ?review events? where writers are invited to a nice hotel and risk having their gameplay experience?subconsciously?married to an awesome paid vacation. It?s true that many reviewers get free games (as in any industry, because buying them all would be financial suicide) and that swag can be tossed the reviewer?s way in order to curry favor. Of course, many fail to realize that the swag can get a bit annoying, cluttering the house and eventually being tossed out. Many fail to realize that a free game means very little to most writers ? a piece of shit that wastes your professional time will still deserve an ass-kicking, regardless of whether or not it was received for free. Some gamers believe a free game comes with caveats, but outside of polite embargo requests, I?ve never been asked to give a certain score, or write in a certain way. Here?s the boring process I go through when securing a review copy of a game:

1. I email the publisher/PR representative and ask if I?m on the list/can get on the list.
2. Publisher/PR representative confirms, with a note on embargo time.
3. I get the game and review it.

That really is all there is to my job as a reviewer. It?s not as dramatic as some pundits make it out to be. It?s a rather brief and professional interaction, and while some believe the existence of a free copy is proof that a review?s been purchased, all I have to say is ? even if that?s true, it?s not proof that they purchased a positive review.

Another thing people need to realize is that most publishers/PR people don?t really care about your score. This prevalent fear of blacklisting that people believe exists? It?s practically nonexistent in my experience. I?ve torn shreds out of games from Capcom, Sega, Electronic Arts, Sony and Activision in the past, and the worst I?ve gotten is a, ?That?s a shame? or a joking, ?You?re insane? from 99% of all publisher reps I?ve interacted with. I still get titles from all of them. Sure, they like positive reviews, but let?s face it ? their job is exposure, and any press is good press to them, for the most part. These big corporate publishers, the ones that could afford to pay for positive reviews, are publishing games so big that a few negative reviews won?t even harm them. I mean, will EA really pay for a positive review of Mass Effect 3, when it?s managed to sell a ton of copies with half the fanbase hating on it? Not only is it an unlikely scenario, it?s a waste of money and a bad business decision. Ultimately, the idea of the blogger receiving a check in exchange for a positive review is a fantasy. When you try and imagine that transaction going down in reality, it?s pretty funny in how farcical it is.

Over at Destructoid, we?ve had a few advertisements pulled over reviews, but it?s not like we can even blame them. After all, who wants an ad for Kane & Lynch 2 on a site that gave it 1/10? We get it. But even though the ad was pulled, no threat was made. No demands were heard. It was just a thing that happened. A rather boring, ultimately understandable, thing that happened. No hard feelings.

Amusingly, it?s not the big publishers with the ton of cash that cause reviewers the most trouble. Not in my experience. The only grief I?ve ever been given is from developers, the guys without the money. I?ve had phone calls from the makers of Hydrophobia, I?ve been blocked on Twitter by Cliffy B after responding to his complaints over getting an 8/10 for Gears of War 3. The people that put their heart and soul into the game, the ?good guys? of the videogame industry, are the ones who get angry and demanding. Again, it?s a little understandable ? you?ve put years of your life into a product, and therefore you take negative reviews personally. Meanwhile, the publishers are just footing the bill and looking forward to the sales ? they don?t have the emotional incentive to start pressuring reviewers for high scores. Believe me when I say ? none of them care, not the same way the developers do. And the developers don?t have the money or the pull to start bribing or threatening the game reviewers.

The worst I?ve gotten from someone in PR was the infamous Jim Redner situation, where he made a rather emotional public threat about blacklisting certain 2/10 reviewers for Duke Nukem Forever. He later apologized and 2K Games distances itself from the outburst. Again, it ended in a rather dreary fashion. Nothing notable happened in the long run. I got pissed at Redner, Redner got humbled, and we all moved on. Because ultimately, a lot of this perceived corruption just isn?t stood for, and most publishers know that blacklisting will just lead to more negative press. As someone at Sega once told me, ?If we blacklisted you, you?d just buy the games and trash them that way. What?s the point??

Then there are the readers themselves. The above video does make a good point about how gamers try and pressure reviewers into satisfying their predetermined notions of what a game numerically deserves. To date, I have had NO publisher ever demand a certain score from me. I?ve lost count of the amount of actual gamers who have done it. Usually they do it while telling me to be more of an ?honest journalist.? The fucking irony. If reviewers are rating games too highly ? and I think a fair number of high profile games get way too much praise ? I?d say it?s a lot more likely that they?re simply trying to give their audiences what they want, and I almost find it hard to be angry at them for tossing out a high score just to avoid the petty backlash and harassment that readers are so happy to dish out these days. It?s not the grinning executives at EA or Activision who are demanding that reviewers sacrifice their integrity ? it?s a vocal minority of angry gamers.

There are problems with videogame reviews, certainly. I think some reviewers can give in to hype a bit too much, and fans get way too angry when their tastes aren?t catered to by a particular writer. We risk an industry where 10/10 is considered the ?usual? score for a game above a certain budget. I do not mean to imply these problems do not exist, because they do. However, the causes for them are nowhere near as enthralling as you might think. Most positive reviews seem more to be the result of reviewers being gamers, first and foremost, prone to the same?over excitement?and tendency to overlook flaws as any other fan. And while there have been instances of publishers being a bit sleazy and trying to curry favor, the scope and scale of such incidents, not to mention their regularity, are so small as to be highly inconsistent with the generally dull life of the average reviewer.

It?s flattering that some people think that game reviewing is akin to a deadly spy thriller, full of secrecy and conspiracy, but the simple truth is ? it?s not. Most of us do our job like anybody else, and we don?t deserve dramatic Youtube videos made about us. Besides which ? writers are inherently egotistical, and your attributing that much importance to what we do only serves to fuel our undeserved arrogance.

Nobody needs game reviewers like me to be more up our own asses than we already are.

Source: Gaming Today

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Tagged as: Aren’t, Exciting, Reviews, Them, Thrillers, Videogame, Want

Source: http://www.teamctf.com/news/videogame-reviews-arent-the-exciting-spy-thrillers-you-want-them-to-be/

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