Let's talk prostit...err, Reviews.

[Profcrab]

rocketpig said:
On another note DTG, ProfCrab and I were talking about the numerical vs. alpha system of grading last night. While no review score is best, we agreed that alpha is much superior than numerical... After all, most numerical ratings are based on the 90+=A, 80+=B, 70+=C, etc.

With that in mind, how does anyone justify a 4.5 for Haze and Lair? With 50% being an "F", how does a reviewer justify dropping a game below that mark? If the game is a complete failure on every level, what does it have to do to drop below that 50% mark? Does the disc pop out of the tray and snap your cock off? Does it break your console? By my reckoning, something extraordinary would have to occur for any game to get a score worse than an "F".

To boot, that means the numerical system is now essentially a "5-10" scale. So what's the fuckin' point? Either go for a 1-5 scale or an A-F system. It cuts out nonsensical numbers and trims down the fat from your scale, allowing you to more accurately rate a game (even though in truth, nothing can ever be respresented by one number or letter). It also allows for less misintrepretation by readers who enjoy bibs, corks on forks, and short yellow buses.

 An alternative is also to try and separate yourself from the pack is to do something different akin to the "Thumbs Up" from Siskel & Ebert (fuck Roeper, I can't get myself to remember Ebert & Roeper).  The problem with doing that though is that you don't get the free advertising from Metacritic.  The other problem is that you have to be very good at it to still get clicks.  Starting out with a new site, your kinda stuck with some sort of rating system that Metacritic can use because you'll want all the advertising you can get.

As RP said, the rating scale is really fucked up right now.  Game publishers essentially push game publications around and skew ratings in many cases.  The 1-10 or 1-100 scale is horribly broken.  Making it worse games that are "good" games from big publishers are overwelmingly in the top 10%.  They may be good games but in order to appease game publishers, reviewers are taking a very softball approach to any criticism.  To give an idea of what I'm talking about by relating it to movies, if Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was reviewed the same way video games are being reviewed, it would have mostly 100's and a few decenting 90's instead of getting the B or B- that it gets from most movie critics.  So, not only is the scale broken, but so is the gaming press.

I give that post a 9.9.