I simply don't get it. Every time there's a new release, I see all these threads in all different forums stating "This is the best game ever" or this game is 10/10, or worst yet, this is GOING to be the best game ever again and again.. and it just seems ridiculous to me.

Yeah sure, Valkyria Chronicles is good (in fact its tremendous), Gears 2 is extremely technically sound, Killzone 2 has possibly the best graphics of a shooter in a console, etc. etc. but aren't people being driven too much by hype and fanboyism in these things?

Fact #1 that I want to establish before I go into these rants: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A 10/10 GAME. (edit) because 10 implies gaming perfection, and there's no such thing as a perfect game. Every game has it's flaws. (edit) aside from that, slapping a 10 on a game means that "there can be no game better than this". It destroys all room for improvement, and that is totally ridiculous. THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT.

Fact #2 is more complicated, and is more annoying to me: YOU CAN'T SAY GAME OF THE CENTURY WITHOUT EVER PLAYING THE FINAL ITERATION.

Fact #3 is the most common mistake of fanboys: YOU CAN'T PREDICT THE FREAKING FUTURE.

Rants:

1.) The most annoying thing really is touting "best game ever" based on a demo or a cutscene. Final Fantasy 13 doesn't even have any gameplay footage yet and people are already saying it's the best game ever. Come on? People are also playing the demo of Killzone 2 and already saying it's the best game ever.. worse yet, people who have only watched the demos are jumping on the bandwagon on pure speculation. It just doesn't make any sense.

2.) For games like Gears 2 and Grand Theft Auto 4, though they are indeed spectacular incarnations, people can't seem to get over the fact that these games: A.) didn't really improve all that much on their predecessors, and B.) have many technical flaws that make it incredulous for them to be touted as "10". How can someone honestly give GTA4 a 10, when it has so many flaws, a fouled up online game system, and gets boring quite quickly?

3.) Metal Gear Solid 4 is great. Yes. But it is not a freaking cyborg of a game that blows the competition out of the water completely, even including FUTURE competition. Fact is, it has it's flaws and they are pretty large and long [cutscenes]. I am annoyed every time I see these tags that say "MGS4 is the BEST GAME THIS GENERATION". Seriously mate, how do you freaking know what the generation will come up with in 5 years? You're really saying that there can no longer be any game better than MGS4? Ridiculous.

4.) There are games like Valkyria Chronicles, Dead Space, and Left4Dead that are also getting these fanboy "Game of the century" honors. Yes, these games are really good, but isn't such praise exaggeration, considering that the publishers and developers themselves don't even feel the need to spend the same advertising money compared to real AAA titles. Sure, they could be sleeper hits. I'm the first to admit that Ico was under everyone's radar despite it being great. But when people mention every single "good" game to be running for 10/10, it becomes stupid.

5.) There are obscure titles to be released in the future like Alan Wake, Heavy Rain, and InFamous also being tossed around the mix as well. Question: how the hell can people even say they're going to be "the best game ever" when these new IP's: A.) don't have any hands on play with anyone yet, and B.) don't have a basis for comparison? Sure, I can forgive an idea like "GOD OF WAR 3 will be totally BADASS" because 1 and 2 were totally badass. But these are new, unproven IP's that do not yet deserve "game of the century" recognition. Doing this is like blowing a hot air balloon using your mouth.

6.) And lastly, might I direct your attention to possibly the worst offenders of all:

Guy A: Resistance 2 IS THE BEST man!

Guy B: Gears 2 IS GAME OF THE YEAR man!

Guy C: er., guys, do you even own those games?

Guy A and B: .... No.

Guy C: then why the hell are you talking about them?

Guy A and B: well, some guys on the internet are saying they're cool.

Guy C: *facepalm* do you guys even own a 360 or a PS3?

Guy A and B: .... No.

COME ON! This is by far the stupidest thing ever. Unforgivable nonsense.

So basically, I'm annoyed by people who have no business hyping stuff to be overhyping stuff. People who haven't even played the game aren't allowed to say anything about that game. People who don't even own the damn console or can't say a damn thing about it's games.

So you would say that, working on a 10-point scale (not a 100-point scale like IGN), no game ever deserves a 10? May I conclude from this that no game ever deserves a flat 5/5 either?

yeah, there is no game that deserves 10/10, 100/100, 5/5, or whatever. Why? because if you think about it, scores like these imply absolute perfection. Like there is not a single mistake in the entire game.

If there is even a single minor glitch in the game, it's no longer a 10. it becomes a 9.9. Why? because it's no longer perfect. It has a blemish. Even if it's tiny, it removes the perfection of the game.

Read this: perfection is absolute. there are no mistakes. and there is no game out there, and there will never be a game that will have no mistakes. period. giving a game 10/10 is simply overhyping and fanboyish.

10/10 might imply perfection, but it doesn't implicitly state it. In fact, most of these sources have scales in which they implicitly state that 10/10 isn't perfection.

So, depending on the scale an individual uses, there are 10/10 games.

No game will ever be perfect, thus there is no reason for an unattainable perfect score to be listed on any scale. Assuming that translates to reality most of the time, 10/10 is good right where it's at. Reserved for the best games of a given time period.

^sure, but then the 10/10 is only a misleading idea. what's the point of doing that? putting 10 on a game implies that "games CANNOT be better than this". Why? because 10 is the highest score. there is no more room for improvement.

And that, is absolutely ridiculous. There is ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT.

...You cannot be serious. Let me check something.

Oh my God you are serious.

Look, a 10/10 and 5/5 do not imply perfection. In reasonable scales like those, they denote tiers of quality. A 5-star game is as good as it gets, but it by no means implies perfection. it simply means that it is supposed to take its place as one of the best games there is.

Read this: a 10/10 and a 5/5 does not even imply that something is flawless. Art is not like your elementary school homework or your college English essays. There is no hard line for perfection and no one pretends that there is. There are only tiers of subjective quality.

Going by your logic, on a thumbs up/thumbs down scale, a game should never get a thumbs up, because a "perfect score" implies perfection.

You go to your room and think about what you've done.

^read the post above. yes i am serious, and if we follow your logic, then 10's and 5's are purely misleading overhyping tools. what's the point of SAYING 10, when you don't really MEAN 10?

Oh oh, you only mean 9.9. But why say 10? just so that it sounds better. That's dumb.

And as i mentioned, slapping a 10 on something only says that "there is no room for improvement", which is totally ridiculous. THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT.

A ten does not denote perfection.

Go to your room, young man.

Your father will have words with you when he gets home.

I am so disappointed.

a ten denotes that there is no room for improvement. get that through your thick head. is there such a score as 10.1? no.

Ok, GTA4 already has a 10. so if GTA5 turns out to be absolutely amazing and a revelation in gaming, then it can only EQUAL GTA4, even if it's much better.

Again, slapping a 10 on something eliminates room for improvement. understand that simple idea.

THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT.

Don't think any game deserves a 100% but of course there are games that deserve 10/10. 100% suggests perfection but 10/10 does not and 5/5 even less so. A game may be so good that it makes more sense to give it a 10 than to give it a 9. But if you are grading out of 100 it makes it more difficult to justify giving 100% since you can give it 99% without giving the game a lower mark than it deserves.