Why I trust Gamespot

Reviews of any kind are inherently bogus. Well, MOST of them are. The act of taking your opinion on something and translating that opinion into a numeric score is just plain silly. I've always thought this. Despite that, I really enjoy going on Gamespot, and what do I spend most of my Gamespot-time doing? You guessed it: reading reviews.

They might seem like two conflicting positions, but they really aren't. Translating an opinion into a numeric score is stupid, but that doesn't mean that the text elaborating on that opinion is bogus. Also, the scores that the Gamespot reviewers give their games is usually somewhere between 0.5 to 2 points lower than what other gaming sites give. This makes me take the numeric score slightly more seriously since there won't be as many games ranking in the 9.5 to 10 area that's complete bull.

I'm always amused when I see people in message boards whining about how a given game deserves a better score than what Gamespot gave it. One thing I've found (and like) is that whether or not you agree with the score a game gets, when you read the review, you understand why the reviewer gave the game its score. I disagree with the score Tenchu 4 got, but I understand that the reviewer put most of his emphasis on lack of innovation.

Besides, there are plenty of other things on Gamespot for me to spend some time on. Last year I was practically addicted to their Gamespotting rants, and previews for games I'm interested in will have me visiting that site REAL often. All these factors combined are why Gamespot is the only gaming site I go to.