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cagbot
02-11-2005, 12:54 PM
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An editorial posted on The Adrenaline Vault posits that talented gamers are not always the best reviewers because of the necessity for those with elite skills to care as much as they do about their performance. The best reviewers, on the other hand, are generally somewhat detached from the subject material. From the article: "Spending 50 hours playing an offering when you are focused exclusively on trying to win certainly would yield very different insights than spending the same 50 hours trying to evaluate the title's strengths and weaknesses to help inform the general public about purchasing decisions." Kyle Orland's Video Game Ombudsman has further analysis on this subject.

Read more... (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/10/1519205&from=rss)

Source: Slashdot: Games (http://games.slashdot.org/)
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Kain Vincent
02-11-2005, 04:37 PM
Ah, another piece of news. Thanks cagbot!

I agree with that, most gamers play games to have fun, not to judge them.
1SwtDeception
02-12-2005, 01:58 AM
Hmm that's quite an interesting article in a way.. Normally I wouldn't base me buying a game off of a review too much, but since I ask friends and they tend to know what's good, not because they're "great gamers", but they also they like to have fun/play around. But a review coming from a people who'd like to just beat the game and instead of having fun does differenuate a bit. So in a way I agree.. I guess x.x..
punqsux
02-12-2005, 02:08 AM
reviews are lame, i hate video game mags, they are so useless, none of them have good editorial or news in them, just full of previews and reviews crap...which is fine, but put some content in there too!
SevereTireDamage
02-12-2005, 02:13 AM
reviews are lame, i hate video game mags, they are so useless, none of them have good editorial or news in them, just full of previews and reviews crap...which is fine, but put some content in there too!

It's true, I'd agree for most reviews. Problem is, most magazines and professional websites seem to have come to a consensus as to what constitutes a "professional review," which more often than not is merely a summary of the game's features and plot, with a small amount of exposition. Even some of the most well-paid film critics in this country can suffer from the same problem by writing half of a review based solely on plot summary.

Still, there are sites out there with real commentary. Typically they're more independent sites or blogs.
punqsux
02-12-2005, 02:15 AM
im not saying reviews arnt awful or anything, there are very well written and in depth reviews, but some go IMO a bit too far (ign's re4 review) or are too short to provide actual content (PSM's 3 to a page reviews)

i read reviews sometimes, but VERY rarley do i ever base any purchase on a professional review. id much rather post here and ask what actual games think about a game.