Yeah, as many have said, using Metacritic can be a great tool for finding games that you might be interested in playing. But when people use the tool as an all encompassing meter to judge a console, then it just turns into meaningless bickering.

If you notice, I kinda took a jab at this latter way of thinking with my sig. PS3 and 360 currently have more games that start with the letter Q, while Wii seems to be lacking. Poor Wii.

they need it to justify their purchases or to satisfy their taste for drama and arguments.

Mob mentality!

If the mob says so then it must be right.

Quite sad that people can't step out on their own and be an individual and have different tastes

Insecurity.

When I look at reviews, I never depend on the numerical rating.  The more detailed the review, the better.  I don't have to argee with the opinion of the review, but what I'm looking for is information on the game.  The more I learn about the elements of the game , the better informed I'll be to make a purchasing decision. 

care to elaborate? user reviews can be okay, but some are just god awful, with the tendancy to be far worse than any of the particularily bad "professional" reviews.

I like Metacritic because it gives you a short summary of what each reviewer says and links to all the online ones.

It usually allows you to get a good grasp of what a game does well and what it doesn't and if you'll like it or not.

So you don't have to rely on one or two reviewers who may be biased.

Gamerankings though eh...

I think you answered your own question as to why the fanboys get all sweating over the score.

As for myself I take them with a pinch of salt, particularly metacritic as the number of sources can vary widely, making comparisons tricky.

I do find them useful as a 'one stop' place to get a feel for the spread of reviews by source. Normally I'll pick a few high plus one or two of the lower ones to actually read.

I also find the sites useful to list available games and get a feel for their general review status.

Mostly I prefer to rely on demos, videos and word of mouth. I'm always happy to wait before buying, unless I'm very sure of the purchase.

Metacritic are better than Gamerankings. Metacritic has more reviews listed for each game and is just a summary. More reviews the more credible the end score. Gears of War 2 for example 94% on Metacritic based on 88 reviews is better than Gamerankings 93% based on only 72 reviews.

Because I have a bet riding on Metacritic, and if I win, Ronster gets a pro-PS3 sig.

I love it when that happens

More reviews doesn't equate to being better.  Never had, never will.  More only means more.  More trash or more treasure.  Both high and low ratings could be trash or treasure.  Careful because your ill-conculsive logic is a sign of mob, sheepish mentaility.  Just looking out for you.