http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=25721552&sid=6173024&action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;0 

 After years of doling out reviews scored on gameplay, graphics, sound, value, and "tilt"--a summation of the overall game experience--GameSpot is changing its ways. Starting June 25--roughly a month after the site's 11th birthday--GameSpot will overhaul its rating system. "In our quest to make our reviews as straightforward and easy to understand...we've simplified the overall rating process," said editorial director Jeff Gerstmann.  

As of next Monday, GameSpot will continue to rate games on a 1-to-10 scale. From then on, though, scores will be awarded solely in half-point increments (i.e. 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, etc.). The five aforementioned review components will be retired, although they will remain with reviews issued prior to June 25. In their place, GameSpot reviewers will award medals and demerits to each game based on said title's high points and shortcomings. The awards will come from a standardized pool akin to GameSpot Emblems, and will not be game-specific a la Xbox 360 Achievements. Examples of demerits include "Slideshow" for poor frame rate and the self-explanatory "Blatant In-Game Advertising."

For more on the new GameSpot review system, check out the Letter from the Editor on Jeff Gerstmann's blog.

Could this be somewhat attributed to the continuing popularity of casual games, what effect will this have and will other sites follow suit?                                                    

phillipcaesar said: http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.phptopic_id=25721552 As of next Monday, GameSpot will continue to rate games on a 1-to-10 scale. From then on, though, scores will be awarded solely in half-point increments (i.e. 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, etc.). The five aforementioned review components will be retired, although they will remain with reviews issued prior to June 25. In their place, GameSpot reviewers will award medals and demerits to each game based on said title's high points and shortcomings. The awards will come from a standardized pool akin to GameSpot Emblems, and will not be game-specific a la Xbox 360 Achievements. Examples of demerits include "Slideshow" for poor frame rate and the self-explanatory "Blatant In-Game Advertising." For more on the new GameSpot review system, check out the Letter from the Editor on Jeff Gerstmann's blog. Could this be somewhat attributed to the continuing popularity of casual games, what effect will this have and will other sites follow suit?

As a guess ...

There are two forms of reviews which are very annoying; "Amazingly fun game, nearly perfect all around; score 7.5 out of 10" and "Repetative and boring game, full of generic game elements, 9.5/10" ...

To a certain extent I think this is (in part) from the popularity of the DS and Wii because scoring these games based on graphics (as compared to their competition) causes problems. 

Most sites are going to the 5 point increment system due to more gaming magazines and companies prefer them. Even PSU is moving to them in a month or two.

Becuase 5 point system pwns. The 10 point system is to vauge and the medium never sstays the same(many have it as 7, others as 5). From personal experience, the 5 point works the best
1-terablle
2-Bad
3-OK
4-Good
5-Amazing

That does not solve their problems with biased reviews. However it is a good thing to drop the old review system. Scores like 9.8, 9.9, 7.6 do not make any sense.

BIAS!

the 1up review system the best in my opinion. COME EMBRACE THE DARKNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Smashchu said: Becuase 5 point system pwns. The 10 point system is to vauge and the medium never sstays the same(many have it as 7, others as 5). From personal experience, the 5 point works the best 1-terablle 2-Bad 3-OK 4-Good 5-Amazing

I'd prefer 1-10 because there is such a huge leap between 4-good and 5-amazing!

...such as VERY GOOD....what is something rated if they think it is VERY GOOD but not AMAZING, does it get dropped to GOOD.

Yeah. While I like X-Play and their VERY general reviews, I much more prefer the 10 point system, though I settle for the 19 point scale of other sites. The 100 point scale is too precise, IMO, and somewhat defeats the purpose of the review being a general guide.

Maybe I should have pasted the entire article, but what I was really referring to was what they said about retiring the review components(graphics, Sound, Gameplay, Tilt, and Value).