New Poll – Where Should I be Getting my News and Reviews From?
May 13th, 2008
As I’d mentioned previously in this post, I am unhappy with what I am getting from IGN in terms of both news and reviews. Too often I spot suspicious content, whether it be the checkbox styled reviews (Wii Fit, Boom Blox) or just news, reviews and previews that just don’t feel right (Nitrobike among others). I suspect that a few of these article are paid content and it’s starting to really frustrate me.
So with this I have been on the hunt for a new authority figure to tell me what is going on in the world of gaming. My problem is that I have been reading IGN for a few years now and I don’t really know where I should go next. I have already subscribed to the 1UP network feeds but I fear that they may not be a comprehensive as I’d like. Then again I could munch into gaming’s favourite junk food; Kotaku but yeah…I don’t really like their style of writing.
This is where I cry out to you; my readers. Please show me the light.
I have selected a few default sites and put them into a site poll. When selecting my options I realized that I am gonna have to cut it with one of the big wig sites. So please vote and help me make up my mind, the poll is on the right hand side of the navigation menu. I have also allowed an ‘other’ option and if you select this then please tell me what it is by either commenting in this post or sending me an email.
Of course, if you would like to elaborate on your selection I’d love to hear it. So let me know just below or send me an email. 🙂
My Continual Frustration with Game Reviews
April 16th, 2008
Even though nothing of the sort is on the blog yet, I have recently been writing a few articles about casual and non-gaming themed games. As I’ve been transferring my thoughts into a digital format I’ve started to realize some of the major issues that these types of games face when put up for review. It seems that no matter how well these games excel in their respective area (training your brain, karaoke etc.) they were always seem to fall up short when it comes to game reviews. Upon this realization I have been re-analyzing my stance on video game reviews and over the past couple of weeks I have drawn a series of conclusions that I’d like to share with you.
Prelude
Before my eventual realization I noticed a few strange quirks about some games which I would now like to use as examples.
My first observation was Brain Training on the Nintendo DS, my personal view on this game, as has been probably already been mentioned in this blog before, is that it perfects a design in which itself has created. The exercises in the game are designed to test your brain. It sounds ridiculous that I have to almost re-phrase the game’s title to actually emphasis my realization of what I am doing when I play this game. Obviously I know that this game is about testing the brain but it wasn’t until I went hands on that I could admire it’s simple effectiveness which it dishes out in strides. It is an odd sensation; you can actually feel your brain working away, its quite incredible.
Brain Training is almost flawless in approach and because of this I believe that it is one of the must play experiences on this system. It is unique to it’s platform and is something that demands to be sampled at least once. Not so according to the reviews generated by Game Rankings which mark this title as being decidedly average 78% (NB: to the average gamer >80% is regarded as ‘average’ or not worthy of purchase).
Lets take another title of interest; House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return for the Wii. This game has been praised but also severely panned at the same time with great misunderstanding from me. According to the game reviews, the dated visuals and presentation are reasons to hinder one’s purchase of this title. But, in my mind isn’t that the point of buying the compilation? Yes the visuals are dated but this is what you should expect from two last generation titles, why penalize the game for what it is trying to be? Why not review this game on the grounds of a (price reduced) retro compilation rather than a fully fledged Wii game?
What I am trying to drill home here is context and how the current review model falls apart with varying context.
Read the rest of this entry »
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