Any descent gaming news/reviews site?

[Reddie]

I'm sure much of community here noticed how most of the sites nowadays are complete rubbish, rating 7 - 10 many titles who don't deserve it, only on the basis of it being made by a certain developer and/or released by a certain publisher. As a matter of fact, I find myself not knowing any descent one. Where do you guys (and girls) take your news from? What do you read to get yourself a bit more balanced opinion of the game before you buy it?

[Gorth]

Honestly? Mostly what people share here, at least for games that I'm marginally interested in. Sometimes lurking at NMA, sometimes reading GameBanshee. Sometimes developer forums for games I "know" I'm going to be interested in (Paradox Games).

[mkreku]

I use Eurogamer.. but mostly because I'm allowed to swear. It gets tiresome that I can't even drink a ****tail in my ****pit with my ****roach friend in this place sometimes.

[Malcador]

Normally check Eurogamer, PC Gamer, rely on friends finding stuff or whatever links you people dig up otherwise.

[Monte Carlo]

I roll a polyhedral dice, 1-10 I buy it, 9-20 I don't.

[Tigranes]

Forums or people that I know have similar perspectives and are passionate about the same kind of games. So that includes here, the Codex sometimes, etc. There's really no reason to go to reviews if you have that - reviews will always have to address a wider set of perspectives, and that's when they actually have the time to play the games they review, and that's when they aren't being flagrantly bribed, which is one of the worst kept secrets around.

 

Gamebanshee isn't bad for RPG reviews, but I mostly skim the stuff. Haven't been to IGN, etc. in years, they're pretty useless at telling me anything I can't infer from 5 minutes of gameplay footage.

[WorstUsernameEver]

By "isn't bad" and "sometimes I go there" they really mean that GameBanshee is made of awesome, fun and rad-tigers. Seriously.

[Labadal]

I read rockpapershotgun and gamebanshe from time to time. I visit neogaf a lot, because despite the sometimes crazy nature of the place, you can sometimes find very useful information. I also know wich members there have a similar taste in games as me, so I can check out their opinions. If it's hard to find info, youtube will have to do. I might check giantbomb for quick looks. andriasang for gaming news in Japan.

 

neogaf works for me because most interesting info gets posted there sooner or later.

[entrerix]

i get my news from the big sites, kotaku, ign etc

 

but i get my reviews from metacritic. i scan the buzzlines to see how excited the general press is, then i read the eurogamer review in it's entirety.

 

i keep all that in mind, and then i come here, where i get (sometimes more insight into what exactly is fun about the game, or what doesn't work.

 

then i make my decision based on how all the above stacks up with the asking price. if the price seems too high, i wait for steam sales or "goty" editions before buying

 

of course, if its a game i've been following closely for years, i usually have preordered it and don't bother reading reviews until im either done with the game, or have run into some aspect of it that bothers me, and i come here to see if other people are annoyed at the same problem i am (also to find out if there is a workaround or mitigating option to address the issue)

Edited April 27, 2012 by entrerix

[GhostofAnakin]

I use the big gaming review sites for information about the games (ie. what features it has, when it will be released, etc.), but I don't bother with their actual reviews. Especially the big gaming review sites that are obviously giving scores based on advertising money, rather than because the game actually warrants it.

 

For actual "reviews", it's basically a combination of just reading forums. While gamers obviously have their biases, at least for the most part their reviews are genuine. They're not giving a game a 10/10 because they got paid to do so.

[Jaesun]

The codex of course (we don't censor content, and allow review submissions from the public). Though I do not like/trust/read any site to give a fair and non-biased review when their website has a major publishers game ads splattered all over the site. Even though they do have ads, GameBanshee is... OK. I more like Sea's or Brother None's reviews personally.

 

RPS, Kotaku (and the Unholy Trinity

[Reddie]

Interesting responses. Assuming that you people do represent some fraction of gamers overall, this would mean that more and more gamers distrust "major" or "traditional" review sites, instead getting their opinion from a citizen journalism of sort, namely web forums. Still, Codex and GameBanshee look like alternatives that are worth giving a try. Thanks for all the answers!

[Hurlshort]

We definitely do not represent the average gamer here though. This is very much a niche group.

[Monte Carlo]

To seriously answer the question there are about ten people here who I listen to, cuz I know if they like a game I will. So really, I come here. A bit backwoodsman? Yep. Do I care? No.

 

But most of us have been on the site since 2004, and were posting on similar sites since the late 90's so we know each others foibles by now.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Monte Carlo

[Tigranes]

A sizable niche, but still a niche. IGN, etc. must be getting ad revenue one way or another.

 

Also, there are a lot of gamers who are skeptical, but their skepticisms are staggered. Some people might hate on IGN and thus turn to The Escapist or think metacritic is still useable; others might go to newer video-based stuff like G4TV and Giantbomb because there the editorial stuff comes together with new information, interviews or gameplay footage, which makes it worthwhile even if they don't tend to listen to reviewers.

 

Personally, I can't stand the presenters. I was looking up some old stuff for my article, and have zero idea what is wrong with this particular lady:

 

http://youtu.be/ic6dKnv3WdU?t=15m

 

Man, how the heck do we embed videos in the new forum style?

[Janmanden]

I sometimes use Metacritic as a shortcut to make an opinion. I read the best, the worst and the somewhat in between to form an initial opinion. I also read a few of the user ratings using the same pattern. Afterwards I wait for the price to drop.

 

Tigranes, use the youtube Embed code.. and the Special BBCode Media. Like this..

 

http://youtu.be/ic6dKnv3WdU

 

Edit: Yuck, Skyrim.. AAAARRRRGGHHHHHH!!!

Edited April 27, 2012 by Janmanden

[entrerix]

i use metacritic to gauge the public's overall response to a game, but the metacritic user scores i find less than worthless. 99% of them are 10/10.... i think there are only 2-3 games in the history of gaming that i would consider giving a perfect score to.

[HoonDing]

I'm sure much of community here noticed how most of the sites nowadays are complete rubbish, rating 7 - 10 many titles who don't deserve it, only on the basis of it being made by a certain developer and/or released by a certain publisher. As a matter of fact, I find myself not knowing any descent one. Where do you guys (and girls) take your news from? What do you read to get yourself a bit more balanced opinion of the game before you buy it?

Mostly only Bro Team Pill these days

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv04rQNRfts

[Orchomene]

Gamebanshee or Canard PC (but the last is in french).