Is Super Rub ‘a’ Dub a lame duck? Is the Sonia Bravia X series, the best Full HD LCD TV under $6000? Will Halo 3 be a system seller? Also on the Incomplete Gamer’s inaugural podcast we discuss video gaming journalism ethics and gaming site advertising, and in the process spend way too much time discussing a fish shop in Helsinki. We also sneak in our first impressions of Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, and discuss the latest offerings on the Australian Playstation Store. Join the Incomplete Gamer’s Jeremy and Guest Panelist Mark for the inaugural Incomplete Gamer Podcast.

IGN and Gamespot didn’t order a hit on Super Rub ‘a’ Dub, but they may as well have engaged Hitman’s Agent 47 to kill the duck on sight. Combined, the two harsh reviews, from the two video game media heavy weights would have effectively killed off any other game title, but here at the Incomplete Gamer, we figure this Playstation title is still well and truly afloat.

For those not keeping score, Gamespot scored the game ‘3.7 out of ten which equates to ‘Bad‘ on the Gamespot scale, claiming the game “…feels like a half-finished tech demo, not an actual game; controls often feel broken…”

IGN were even less generous, scoring the game 2.9 out of 10 – ‘Terrible‘, and stating, “A glorified tech demo with little gameplay, Super Rub-a-Dub may go down in history as one of the worst PlayStation 3 games we’ll ever see“.

And if you thought the game was at least reasonably priced, forget it. Say the good folks at IGN; “Even if it were free Super Rub-a-Dub would be too much of an investment for too small a payout. Dull and monotonous with little interactivity, the game is almost completely devoid of fun because of poor design choices and the worst example of Sixaxis support we’ve seen yet. Avoid it at all costs.”

If nothing else we’ll give the writers props for not playing it safe. They got off the fence and told us exactly what they thought of the game. But we are going to have to disagree.

Is Super Rub ‘a’ Dub, the PS3’s best downloadable title? Well if you live in the PAL world, you’d have to at least say it was in the running. But lack of choice in the Playstation Store not withstanding, after getting our hands on the ducks ourselves we’d have to say these scores are too harsh. Try doubling the scores and you’d have a much more accurate indication of the true worth of this title.

The Incomplete Gamer briefly shared Game Spot’s evaluation that the ‘controls often feel broken’. Actually I think my exact quote was “my controller is broken“, but the nine year old tester we were playing against quickly put paid to that as he rescued all the ducklings in record time with all the precision of a BMW assembly line.

As for IGN’s claim of ‘little interactivity’, sure the multiplayer is turn-based, but watching your fellow players rescue their ducks with varying degrees of success or failing miserably, is half the fun.

As of today, Super Rub ‘a’ Dub is currently the most downloaded game on the Australian Playstation store. More impressive, on Saturday, a day after the release of Calling all Cars on the US store, Super Rub ‘a’ Dub was still floating on top of the charts.