Comment Re:why the need for a numerical rating? (Score 1) 53
and yeah, pissing off game publishers with honest ratings is a really bad idea in a business that mostly depends on hyping up "exclusive" previews to lure customers.
Giving a crappy game high ratings to appease the publisher hurts your reputation among gamers. That means less visitors, ad clicks, presence, and relevancy. Game reviewers exist to provide a service to gamers interested in purchasing games, not publishers wishing to sell them.
reviews can only really be reliable if they are either from a noncommercial source (but beware of fanboyism) or if they are from a more general source that does not primarily focus on games.
The Associated Press runs game reviews occasionally, and they are absolutely worthless. When the reviewer isn't familiar with the genre and doesn't play games regularly they have no idea what to look for to discern quality from crap. A simplistic game with flashy graphics can be the best game ever to them; while the same game with significant development of character skills and stats will seem confusing and tedious.
Giving a crappy game high ratings to appease the publisher hurts your reputation among gamers. That means less visitors, ad clicks, presence, and relevancy. Game reviewers exist to provide a service to gamers interested in purchasing games, not publishers wishing to sell them.
reviews can only really be reliable if they are either from a noncommercial source (but beware of fanboyism) or if they are from a more general source that does not primarily focus on games.
The Associated Press runs game reviews occasionally, and they are absolutely worthless. When the reviewer isn't familiar with the genre and doesn't play games regularly they have no idea what to look for to discern quality from crap. A simplistic game with flashy graphics can be the best game ever to them; while the same game with significant development of character skills and stats will seem confusing and tedious.
