What do you look for in a gaming website?

DailyGeek · 22 Oct 2012 at 12:43

As you may have read, I'm writing for Gaming Irresponsibly. (See my giveaway thread here)

Might as well start a discussion here for a bit of handy market research..
What do you look for in gaming websites? What do you read regularly and why? What keeps you coming back?

Personally, I tend to check Eurogamer regularly, and increasingly Rock, Paper, Shotgun for more PC-centric stuff. I find they tend to align quite well with my interests, even if the slant isn't always ideal

Ugley_Matt · 22 Oct 2012 at 13:12

IGN mostly, i seem to agree with most of the reviews

Edrof · 22 Oct 2012 at 13:24

Honesty is the biggun for me. Too many magazines and websites are paid or influenced in some other way to put out fawning reviews of terrible games. Call of Duty games are a good example of that. When Black Ops came out there was only a handful of sites that actually published honest reviews and they utterly slated the game. All of the others (I cannot remember names, sadly) wrote about how amazing the game was.

Honesty.

~>Dg<~ · 22 Oct 2012 at 13:38

nothing any major site is influenced by money or power of games they review

best to listen to people you game with or trust.

Shamikebab · 22 Oct 2012 at 13:40

People bash it but IGN reviews suit me fine, if I'm unsure then I'll check the average on gamerankings.

For news...a mix of gametrailers and this forum does enough for me.

AWPC · 22 Oct 2012 at 13:45

Total honesty is everything

shanestatham · 22 Oct 2012 at 13:47

Honesty, humor plays a big part too. Websites liek Gametrailers are cool mostly because of epic battle axe....so yeh Pod Casts get me hooked too!

Kosmiche · 22 Oct 2012 at 13:52

Lack of bias, up to date info and good quality writing.

Sighn · 22 Oct 2012 at 14:05

A decent, well managed forum community that is the complete opposite of, say, Gametrailers...

I don't even bother with reviews these days, especially with hyped/popular console-centric titles.

DailyGeek · 22 Oct 2012 at 14:15

I think honesty and integrity is a given yes, although some of the internet behemoths tend to struggle with this concept, there are genuine sites out there.

Humour is something I'm passionate about, as a comedy writer and (now retired) stand-up comedian it's something I'd love to bring more into my games journalism, but I'm very aware that comedy is hugely subjective.

So Honesty is number one.
How about things like Podcasts, video reviews, forums? (What is it about Gametrailers that you dislike?)

I think a site having a 'character' is quite good. Getting to know the writers etc.

V4NT0M · 22 Oct 2012 at 14:16

I don't even read reviews anymore... Just watch videos and look at opinions in threads on here. The only other place I get info like that is the rebel fm podcast.

I'm slowly putting together a new website which should be a more light-hearted take on reviewing

PapaLazaru · 22 Oct 2012 at 14:18

I find most are biased so I read none of them individually. I use Metacritic only to get a fairer reivew of a game.

V4NT0M · 22 Oct 2012 at 14:19

PapaLazaru said:
I find most are biased so I read none of them individually. I use Metacritic only to get a fairer reivew of a game.

All are biased, there is no such thing as an objective game review.

DailyGeek · 22 Oct 2012 at 14:22

How important are scores?

PapaLazaru · 22 Oct 2012 at 14:27

Skyfall said:
All are biased, there is no such thing as an objective game review.

That is why I use Metacritic as all the reviews are in one place.

Edrof · 22 Oct 2012 at 14:31

I'd agree that clear gameplay videos are especially important. That's certainly what I seek out on the Tube when I'm touting for a new game.

'Let's Plays' can be great fun to watch if the game is very story-driven like LA Noire or The Fall of Max Payne.

Neil79 · 22 Oct 2012 at 14:41

PapaLazaru said:
That is why I use Metacritic as all the reviews are in one place.

Metacritic can be abused by certain companies/gamers

badcompany · 22 Oct 2012 at 14:43

I seem to like Eurogamer and rps add often use Ign for videos along with giantbomb

maxilive · 22 Oct 2012 at 15:39

I like websites with an individual voice an interesting articles, maybe stories about gaming culture rather than just the latest gaming news. I like Kotaku for "some" of its articles but many other ones are terrible

I'm not a fan of reviews with scores as 90% of people read the bullet point at the end of a review and the score yet never actually read why the reviewer found one part of the game bad and one part good. For example, they might not of liked the car choice in Forza Horizon because they only enjoy classic cars not exotic cars so they may be more critical of that, yet for myself that isn't a biggy as I'm not a fan of classic cars as much etc.

So I like ready opinions of reviewers/fans as long as they explain their point of why they didn't like it rather than just BROKEN CONTROLS BLARGG... Why are they broken?! LACK OF CONTENT... What content is missing and how does this effect the game (lack of gameplay, value for money and so forth).

We as gamers are spoilt for choice and with the power of the internet and general attitude we can poop on games for the smallest things which little or no understanding to why the game has been designed in a way we don't enjoy. Also most of us are heavily influenced by other peoples opinions so if someone spots something it becomes a massive deal to a lot more people.

I enjoy watching Giantbomb's videos to get a quick over view of the game, features and mechanics. Its a great way to preview the game before you buy rather than being told that buy it/dont buy it by a mystical number.

PapaLazaru · 22 Oct 2012 at 15:56

Neil79 said:
Metacritic can be abused by certain companies/gamers

I tend to ignore the gamers responses to be honest. As with all things online they must be taken with a pinch of salt. People are quick to moan when they do not like something when the majority just get on and play it if they do. I refer you to the BF3 thread as a point of reference.