Level-5 Vision Conference

Gaming developer Level-5 (Professor Layton, Dark Cloud) held its annual press conference today and Andriasang was present for all the details. Here's a link to their live blog.

I'll just narrow it down to a few highlights and snippets.

• Ni no Kuni, a game being made for both the DS and PS3. This looks pretty cool, an RPG with lots of puzzles.
• A new Layton game for the 3DS. They will put up a new puzzle for download every day for an entire year. Release planned in the Spring.
• A new Inazuma Eleven game for the regular DS. These are silly soccer games with RPG elements. Never played them, but if they're anything like the old Captain Tsubasa games, I'll have to try them out.
• Little Battle eXperience, also known as Danbal Senki. A PSP game, and they're going to be making an anime and manga at the same time. It's a mech/robot game.
• Mystery Room, another puzzle-style game for the DS. Music by Yuzo Koshiro (Ys I & II, Streets of Rage, and more recently, the Etrian Odyssey series)!
• Kyaba Joppi, a waitress simulation game for the 3DS.
• Time Travelers, a crazy looking suspense game for the 3DS. Here's a trailer.

Review: Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals (DS)

With clever puzzles, monster rearing and an awesome soundtrack, Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals is often regarded as one of the best RPGs on the SNES, on par with the Squaresoft classics. Now, fifteen years later, developer Neverlands returns to remake it on the Nintendo DS.

Fans of the original that are looking for a simple port or maybe a port with upgraded visuals are going to be surprised. Curse of the Sinistrals has been remade from the ground up. There has been a ton of outcry over the new character designs, and it’s hard to blame the fans – the simple, traditional fantasy look has been thrown out, replaced by an over-the-top Japanese anime makeover.

Atelier Rorona Artwork

I've been advancing a little further into Atelier Rorona, but it's starting to get a bit repetitive. The characters grow to become likable, but the battles are still too simple and the requirements for crafting are somehow getting easier. My last assignment was to deliver food for a festival. I don't even have to waste time making it, I can just go to the cafe and buy a handful of pies and soups to turn in. That leaves me three months of grinding other quests.

The one outstanding thing about this game is the 2D artwork, done by artist Kishida Mel (岸田メル). I love it so much I thought I'd upload some. All this stuff is from the early/mid-game. Each of the 14 endings has its own illustration, but as awesome as they are, I don't want to spoil anybody.

 Japanese box art. The west gets shafted again.

Vote for a new Megaman Legends heroine!

Capcom is running a poll in which fans can vote for a character design for a new girl in Megaman Legends 3! They say "new heroine" but it won't be a replacement for Roll.

Here is the link to the English site. Unfortunately, you need to set up a Capcom Unity account to vote!

Here is the link to the Japanese site. You don't need an account to vote here!

They also promise that there will be more ways for fans to contribute to the game soon.

Here is a picture of all the females, along with the names of who designed them.

I think I'll have to side with the consensus here and go with Haruki Suetsugu's design. She's currently the leader in votes in the west, while the characters on the bottom row are popular in Japan.

Suetsugu was heavily involved in Zak & Wiki and Zelda: The Minish Cap

And here's an early video of the game.

Retro: Five Random Sega CD Games

I thought I'd play five random games every once in a while, to go back and try out new titles I've never played before. It's always fun finding hidden gems. But with all the crap out there, maybe this wasn't a great idea. Maybe from now on I'll just try to find five games that I like. Playing too many FMV games will make me depressed.

The Sega CD has a terrible rep, but if you can sift past the garbage, there is a small but excellent library. A handful of great shooters, RPGs and PC adventure game ports.

Sol-Feace

The Panasonic Jungle

Yesterday marked the 17th anniversary of the Panasonic 3DO, released in North America on October 4, 1993. Now, Panasonic has revealed its plans to re-enter the gaming world, this time unveiling its Jungle handheld device.

The official site is located at www.welcometo.thejungle.com. Here's a few blurbs:

We began this journey by asking gamers what they wanted. Almost unanimously, we heard calls for online gaming products. Some gamers wanted a handheld, some wanted new content, others new experiences (one dude wanted a tattoo of the Kalphite Queen). In response, the Jungle was born.
Our mission: Create an ecosystem around online gaming.
At the core is a new mobile device concept designed specifically for online gamers. We’re also working with leading online game developers to create some exciting new content.

A handheld made specifically for online gaming. Now you can play your MMOs in public! The only game currently announced is Battlestar Galactica Online, which runs through a browser (?!).

Retro: Gotcha (Arcade)

Atari kicked off the arcade frenzy of the 20th century with Pong, in 1972. Shortly after, they made Space Race, a two-player game where the goal was to reach the top of the screen before the other player while avoiding obstacles.

Noticing the phallic symbolism of the traditional joystick, Atari thought they'd play a joke and make the controls a little different with their next game, Gotcha.

Those are breasts.

Atelier Rorona (PS3): First Impressions

Only halfway through the second assignment (there are 13 or so in total), so take this for what it's worth.

Never played an Atelier game before. The series is huge in Japan and has been thriving since the original PlayStation. The first game to reach the west was Atelier Iris for the PS2. Rorona is the latest game, just released in the US for the PS3. I have played the first Ar Tonelico, Gust's other flagship series, and although the battles/crafting were very simple, I loved the music and in-game world. Hoping for more of the same with Rorona.

Here's a brief overview of what I've encountered so far:

3DS to Download Firmware Updates Automatically?

There's no official text source, but a lot of places are reporting that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announced Wednesday that they are "looking into having automatic system updates via the internet," in regards to the 3DS. This is done by a feature called "SpotPass," which will allow the 3DS to update even in sleep mode, as long as it has internet access.

No news further than that. The big question is whether you'll be able to turn automatic updates off or if they are forced. Fans of homebrew or less legal things ought to be worried if they are interested in online services. And if Nintendo handles 3DS firmware like Sony handles PS3 firmware (by completely removing features), everybody should be worried.

Yet Another Review: Knights in the Nightmare (DS)

Despite its relatively short track record, Japanese video game maker Sting has quickly become one of my favorite developers of the modern era, releasing a number of quality handheld titles on the WonderSwan, GBA, DS and PSP. They aren't afraid to take risks and try something different, and as a result, their games feel very refreshing. Riviera and Yggdra Union were both a little quirky, but fun. Knights in the Nightmare is flat out crazy.

It doesn't really fall into any one genre, making it difficult to describe. I could probably write a book about the mechanics. In fact, the in-game tutorial is split up into something like 100 different sections. It takes somewhere around an hour to get through it, but you won't fully get used to it until a few hours of actual play. Definitely not a game for those that just want something to pick up and have fun with. However, if you're willing to put in some time and effort, I can't think of a more enjoyable game on the DS.

Again, it is very difficult to explain, but I guess I'll try. At a glance, it looks like a traditional isometric strategy/RPG like Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. But you don't control the characters directly - you control a small, white wisp using the stylus (on the DS). With the wisp, you select a weapon, drag it over to a fighter, wait for it to charge up, and then lift the stylus off the screen to attack.

The thing is, this game takes place in real-time. Enemies (with a couple of exceptions) don't target your knights, but instead shoot out various bullet patterns that you must avoid with the wisp. In that sense, it resembles a shoot-em-up, minus the shooting. Each enemy type has its own attack patterns and special attack. It might seem easy dodging slow bubbles from slimes in the beginning, but it gets insane later on, with as many as four tough enemies constantly shooting while various obstacles like catapults are also going off in the background.

 Here, the player must navigate the wisp

 around a bunch of falling stars.

An In-Depth Look at the 3DS

With all the hype surrounding the Q1 2011 release of Nintendo's new 3D handheld, the 3DS, I thought I'd take a quick look and compare its specs to the various current-gen DS models.

	3DS	DSi XL	DSi	DS Lite	DS "Phat"
Weight	8.1 oz	11.1 oz	7.5 oz	7.7 oz	11 oz
Dimensions	5.3×2.9×0.83 in	6.3×3.60×0.83 in	5.4×2.95×0.74 in	5.2×2.91×0.861 in	5.85×3.33×1.14 in
Screen Size	3.53 in top, 3.02 in bottom	4.2 in	3.3 in	3.1 in	3.0 in
Screen Resolution	800x240 top, 320×240 bottom	256×192	256×192	256×192	256×192
Battery Life	TBA	13 to 17 hours	9 to 14 hours	15 to 19 hours	10 to 14 hours
Card Slots	3DS, DSi, DS, SD	DSi, DS, SD	DSi, DS, SD	DS, GBA	DS, GBA
RAM	64 MB	16 MB	16 MB	4 MB	4 MB
CPU	TBA	133 MHz ARM9 and 33 MHz ARM7	133 MHz ARM9 and 33 MHz ARM7	67 MHz ARM and 33 MHz ARM7	67 MHz ARM9 and 33 MHz ARM7
Camera	640x480 resolution	640x480 resolution	640×480 resolution	N/A	N/A

In weight and dimensions, it is most similar to the DS Lite. However, the top screen is much bigger, and both screens have improved resolutions. The 800x240 top screen might seem a little bit crazy, but it is effectively 400x240 for each eye. Not too sure about how that works technically, but at any rate, it looks like a marginal improvement over its predecessors.

4x as much RAM as the DSi/DSi XL and 16x as much as the original DS Phat and DS Lite. Battery life is unknown, but said to be similar to the DSi. CPU model and speed is currently unknown. No backwards compatibility to anything older than the DS, sadly. Certain DSiWare can be transferred to the 3DS, which has 2GB of data storage. It now has WPA/WPA2 security support, in addition to WEP.

They threw in an analog stick, and the 3DS still supports touchscreen with a stylus. The new stylus folds in like a telescope. 

While the 3D feature and the specs are nice, I'm more excited about the games. Tons of big name titles from both Nintendo and third parties, but you have to wonder how many of them are going to be simple ports and remakes. Can't wait to see what Megaman Legends 3 looks like, Sony's response, and what the opening retail price will be.

Yet Another Review: Alpha Protocol (PS3)

If you’re a longtime PC gamer, you’ve probably played a Black Isle Studios game. They were formerly the kings of the PC RPGs, creating classics like Fallout, Planescape: Torment and Baldur’s Gate. Despite much success, the company disbanded in 2003, with many of its employees going on to found Obsidian. So far they’ve made Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2, two great games that suffered from glitches. Their latest release, Alpha Protocol, is more of the same.

Instead of being a turn-based D&D RPG, AP is a third-person shooter with character customization elements and various styles of play. Sort of similar to Deus Ex (but not nearly as much freedom). You can either play stealthily or go Rambo, but it’s very important that your character has at least some competency in combat, because you will be forced to do plenty of fighting.

The shooting takes a while to get used to, and tends to be inaccurate until you’ve leveled up the corresponding weapon skill or purchased a better gun. Stealth, too, is inconsistent in the early stages, as enemies seem to have a very large sight radius and can easily track you down.

Perhaps the biggest problem is this artificial intelligence, which is similarly unpredictable in combat. Sometimes they’ll just stand far away, firing wildly, while at other times they’ll charge at you to engage in melee as another enemy moves to your back and blasts you with a shotgun.

 The AI prefers to get up close and personal.

Avoiding combat when possible and going stealth is definitely the way to play, though. Watching Michael karate chopping some poor guard’s neck never seems to get old. It’s no Metal Gear Solid, but the AI will react upon seeing a fallen comrade’s body, hunt for you and alert any other nearby guards.

Aside from shooting and stealth, you can use various gadgets to set up traps. These are fun to use, but only a limited amount of doodads can be carried into missions. There are also tons of locked doors, encrypted computers and secured keypads that can be defeated by winning a little mini-game. These little buggers are tough tests of eyesight and hand control. Certain skills and equipment make these much easier.

A big deal is made about the dialogue sequences in the tutorial. Basically, like in many RPGs, choices will come up during conversations, which allow Michael to respond neutrally, aggressively, or suavely. Each character responds differently to each type of attitude, and their disposition is changed accordingly. Enemies with a high disposition might eventually offer to join your side, while friends that hate you might turn against you. These relationships definitely affect the game and story, and these dialogue choices aren’t just illusions of freedom.

Even if Obsidian is a shell of its former self, the writers still have talent with the pen. For the most part, the story keeps your interest and the dialogue is sharp and intelligent. There’s some cringing every now and then (a crazy Russian gangster yelling out a one-liner from Duke Nukem as you fight him on a disco dance floor with Turn Up the Radio blaring in the background), but the banter and voice acting are both top notch.

Those who enjoyed Mass Effect for its "waifus" will be

disappointed by the boring girls in Alpha Protocol.

The amount of detail they put into things is also impressive. For example, after beating the missions in Rome, I went to Moscow to see a weapons dealer. He not only noted the work I had done in Rome, but was also honored that the first thing I did when arriving in Moscow was to meet with him. It shows the insane amount of delicate care the writers poured into the dialogue.

If you’re obsessive about graphics, you will want to avoid this game. When moving around, textures look blurry for a few moments before suddenly popping into focus. Jagged lines are everywhere. There is a very limited selection of appearance options for Michael, and most look goofy and out of place (although snapping necks and seducing ladies while sporting obnoxious orange aviators, a backwards baseball cap and a lumberjack beard is kind of funny).

 Look out, ladies.

Alpha Protocol is not for everyone, but I was pleasantly surprised. Worth checking out as a rental, or buying when it hits the bargain bin. Sadly, due to limited success, they’re not making a sequel. Obsidian will instead focus on Fallout: New Vegas for the time being, along with Dungeon Siege III.

Reviewing the Reviewers, Part II: Average Review Scores for Reviewers in 2010

In Part I, I figured out the average score from all reviews in the GameRankings database. Now, I'm going to eliminate all the reviewers that haven't updated in 2010, and sort the table by the average score descending.

Site	Latest	Reviews	Average	Total Pts Awarded
AtomicGamer	9/22/2010	630	82.94%	52252.2
RPGFan	9/29/2010	727	81.37%	59155.99
ImpulseGamer	9/29/2010	379	80.88%	30653.52
Game Vortex	9/29/2010	4453	80.53%	358600.09
Computer Games RO	9/26/2010	478	80.22%	38345.16
Game Industry News	9/29/2010	1079	80.18%	86514.22
XboxAddict	9/24/2010	609	79.69%	48531.21
GamingTrend	9/27/2010	1291	79.57%	102724.87
2404 - PC Gaming	9/13/2010	255	79.56%	20287.8
Games Xtreme	9/20/2010	535	79.31%	42430.85
WonderwallWeb	2/23/2010	733	78.54%	57569.82
Futuregamez	9/20/2010	785	78.05%	61269.25
Xbox World Australia	9/29/2010	384	77.68%	29829.12
ZTGameDomain	9/29/2010	1425	77.68%	110694
NZGamer	9/28/2010	1125	77.64%	87345
Lawrence	4/5/2010	1204	77.54%	93358.16
Gaming Target	9/29/2010	1938	77.44%	150078.72
XboxZone	3/5/2010	177	77.39%	13698.03
Da GameBoyz	7/29/2010	990	77.15%	76378.5
Playstation Universe	9/24/2010	285	76.95%	21930.75
GamePlasma	3/11/2010	566	76.89%	43519.74
Planet Xbox 360	9/29/2010	481	76.85%	36964.85
VGChartz	9/28/2010	616	76.81%	47314.96
Hooked Gamers	9/29/2010	530	76.74%	40672.2
GamePro	9/29/2010	4409	76.70%	338170.3
Game Over Online	9/29/2010	2550	76.38%	194769
UltraNinjas	6/7/2010	391	76.32%	29841.12
GameFocus	9/28/2010	673	76.25%	51316.25
Kikizo	9/26/2010	608	76.24%	46353.92
Game Chronicles	9/29/2010	2986	76.06%	227115.16
Armchair Empire	9/27/2010	1945	76.04%	147897.8
Gameplanet	9/24/2010	1377	76.01%	104665.77
Extreme Gamer	9/29/2010	906	75.98%	68837.88
Fragland	9/24/2010	1439	75.94%	109277.66
ActionTrip	9/27/2010	827	75.90%	62769.3
Gametrailers	9/29/2010	1333	75.84%	101094.72
Gamer Limit	9/27/2010	600	75.74%	45444
MS Xbox World	9/29/2010	877	75.67%	66362.59
GamersHell	9/13/2010	1041	75.64%	78741.24
411mania	9/28/2010	441	75.52%	33304.32
TotalPlaystation	9/29/2010	782	75.44%	58994.08
Kombo	9/22/2010	1579	75.32%	118930.28
GameZone	9/28/2010	6542	75.13%	491500.46
PSX Extreme	9/27/2010	1273	75.06%	95551.38
GamerNode	9/28/2010	869	75.00%	65175
TeamXbox	9/27/2010	1413	74.90%	105833.7
DarkStation	9/8/2010	1119	74.49%	83354.31
Digital Chumps	10/1/2010	561	74.35%	41710.35
Gamers Daily News	9/29/2010	380	74.07%	28146.6
N-Europe	9/22/2010	462	73.98%	34178.76
Gamervision	9/23/2010	869	73.92%	64236.48
play.tm	9/28/2010	1027	73.87%	75864.49
Xbox Evolved	7/22/2010	547	73.85%	40395.95
Console Obsession	9/29/2010	711	73.66%	52372.26
Console Monster	9/29/2010	728	73.62%	53595.36
GamingExcellence	9/28/2010	1119	73.33%	82056.27
Nintendojo	6/8/2010	1027	73.28%	75258.56
The Gamers Temple	9/29/2010	1559	73.26%	114212.34
Game Informer	10/1/2010	5213	73.06%	380861.78
AceGamez	9/28/2010	3226	72.84%	234981.84
DarkZero	9/19/2010	1051	72.65%	76355.15
Playstation Official Magazine AU	8/1/2010	198	72.63%	14380.74
Play UK	10/1/2010	1721	72.49%	124755.29
Games Master UK	10/1/2010	3887	72.42%	281496.54
Worth Playing	9/29/2010	3627	72.32%	262304.64
Mygamer	9/29/2010	1253	72.29%	90579.37
Cubed3	9/29/2010	803	72.28%	58040.84
PlayStation LifeStyle	9/29/2010	310	72.16%	22369.6
Gamecell	9/10/2010	1066	72.10%	76858.6
Zentendo	4/28/2010	238	72.02%	17140.76
TotallyGN	9/27/2010	416	72.02%	29960.32
Cheat Code Central	9/27/2010	3978	71.56%	284665.68
Hardcore Gamer Magazine	9/27/2010	955	71.46%	68244.3
Adventure Classic Gaming	9/27/2010	370	71.19%	26340.3
RealGamer	9/29/2010	569	71.04%	40421.76
Official Xbox Magazine	11/1/2010	1677	70.55%	118312.35
Giant Bomb	9/23/2010	430	70.51%	30319.3
PC Power Play	10/1/2010	210	70.24%	14750.4
Thunderbolt	9/29/2010	1762	70.23%	123745.26
Boomtown	5/17/2010	1268	70.21%	89026.28
GameSpy	9/22/2010	4829	69.92%	337643.68
VideoGamer	9/29/2010	2093	69.91%	146321.63
D+PAD Magazine	9/29/2010	428	69.81%	29878.68
Official Nintendo Magazine UK	10/1/2010	931	69.81%	64993.11
NintendoWorldReport	9/22/2010	1193	69.65%	83092.45
Playstation Official Magazine US	10/1/2010	456	69.43%	31660.08
The Entertainment Depot	9/27/2010	641	69.20%	44357.2
PALGN	9/28/2010	1910	69.18%	132133.8
Total PC Gaming	5/1/2010	203	68.67%	13940.01
Official Xbox Magazine UK	10/1/2010	1376	68.53%	94297.28
PSM3 Magazine UK	10/1/2010	1819	68.45%	124510.55
IGN	9/29/2010	12025	68.41%	822630.25
PC Format UK	9/1/2010	1097	68.20%	74815.4
PC Gamer	11/1/2010	1819	68.16%	123983.04
Nintendo Power	10/1/2010	3342	68.01%	227289.42
HonestGamers	9/23/2010	1620	68.00%	110160
Computer & Video Games UK	9/29/2010	1047	67.78%	70965.66
PC Zone UK	10/1/2010	2394	67.68%	162025.92
DS-x2	9/26/2010	664	67.57%	44866.48
GameCritics	9/29/2010	1336	67.48%	90153.28
GameSpot	9/28/2010	11424	67.40%	769977.6
RPGamer	9/27/2010	493	67.25%	33154.25
PC Gamer UK	10/1/2010	1810	67.18%	121595.8
NTSC uk	5/18/2010	862	66.83%	57607.46
Video Game Talk	1/11/2010	852	66.73%	56853.96
Eurogamer	9/29/2010	3523	66.02%	232588.46
gamesTM	10/1/2010	1635	65.87%	107697.45
Adventure Gamers	9/20/2010	482	65.85%	31739.7
Gamestyle	9/29/2010	650	65.77%	42750.5
Playstation Official Magazine UK	10/1/2010	782	65.28%	51048.96
Nintendo Life	9/26/2010	823	65.17%	53634.91
X360 Magazine UK	10/1/2010	772	64.14%	49516.08
Sega-16	9/27/2010	603	63.96%	38567.88
Edge Magazine UK	10/1/2010	1467	63.76%	93535.92
Xbox World 360 Magazine UK	11/1/2010	611	62.75%	38340.25
NGamer UK	8/1/2010	1096	60.87%	66713.52
Sum		169981		12238398.39
Average			72.74%	71.99862567
Standard Deviation			4.6111682

The average individual review score, with just sites that updated in 2010, is 72.00. The average site's average score is 72.74, with a standard deviation of 4.61 (two-thirds of all review sites have an average score around 68.13 to 77.35).

The publication with the highest average score is AtomicGamer, at a whopping 82.94/100, 2.21 standard deviations above the average. On the other end, the lowest average score is awarded by NGamer (UK) at 60.87/100, 2.57 standard deviations below the average. Both of these sites use a scoring system which ranges from 1 to 100, and these scores are not converted or changed by GameRankings.

Not a single reviewer gives an average of less than 60/100. Isn't that something? Ideally, you would think the average would be at the midpoint.

Looking at this table, we can see an interesting pattern at the bottom. Here are the 30 lowest averages and the region from which they are based.

Title	Region
The Entertainment Depot	Online
PALGN	Online
Total PC Gaming	Offline-UK
Official Xbox Magazine UK	Offline-UK
PSM3 Magazine UK	Offline-UK
IGN	Online
PC Format UK	Offline-UK
PC Gamer	Offline-NA
Nintendo Power	Offline-NA
HonestGamers	Online
Computer & Video Games UK	Online
PC Zone UK	Offline-UK
DS-x2	Online
GameCritics	Online
GameSpot	Online
RPGamer	Online
PC Gamer UK	Offline-UK
NTSC uk	Online
Video Game Talk	Online
Eurogamer	Online
gamesTM	Offline-UK
Adventure Gamers	Online
Gamestyle	Online
Playstation Official Magazine UK	Offline-UK
Nintendo Life	Online
X360 Magazine UK	Offline-UK
Sega-16	Online
Edge Magazine UK	Offline-UK
Xbox World 360 Magazine UK	Offline-UK
NGamer UK	Offline-UK

Of the 30 lowest averages, 16 are from online websites and 14 are from offline publications. Of those 14, only 2 are from North American publications, while the other 12 are based in the UK. The UK version of PC Gamer gives lower scores than the NA PC Gamer. If you look at the online websites, several of those are Euro-centric.

You'd have to compare those facts with the rest of the data, but just from eyeballing it, the Brits clearly have the Americans beat when it comes to giving lower scores. But that's not the whole picture. If a site just gave a 50/100 to every single game, it would have an average score of 50/100, but that's still not very useful. Eventually, I'll be looking at the standard deviation of these publications to see how well they distribute their review scores. Generally, the closer the average is to the midpoint of the scale, the higher the deviation, but this is not always true. You have to look at it on a case-by-case basis. Stay tuned.

Reviewing the Reviewers, Part I: Average Score

Opening up the latest issue of Game Informer, I head to the reviews section and am greeted by the following scores:

Transformers: War for Cybertron - 8.5
Toy Story 3 - 8
Singularity - 8.5
NCAA Football 11 - 9
LEGO Harry Potter - 7.25
Limbo - 9
Crackdown 2 - 7.25
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - 8
Dragon Quest IX - 8
Puzzle Quest 2 - 7.75
Persona 3 Portable - 8.25
Disgaea Infinite - 6.5
Snoopy Flying Ace - 8.5
Naughty Bear - 6

The last five games being little one-paragraph blurbs at the end the of the section. Take those away, and the scores range from 7.25 to 9.

What does this mean? Is every single one of those games an above average title worth buying and playing? After all, 5/10 is average, right? (Actually, Game Informer has the courtesy to let us know that 7/10 is considered average to them, while 5/10 is flawed. But with this batch of reviews, the average is closer to 8.)

What is the point of using a 10 point scoring system if you're only going to utilize about half the points on the scale? This isn't just GameStop-owned Game Informer trying to hype up games and generate sales, it is a problem that affects the entire reviewing industry as a whole.

What I'm going to do for now is find out the true average score among all video game reviewers.

The Average Video Game Score
 
Summary: I'm going to gather all the useable scores from the GameRankings database, add up all the points awarded by the reviewers, and then divide by the total number of reviews to find the true average review score from across all the reviews in the database.

GameRankings is a site that gathers review scores from several web and magazine publications. You might have heard of/used Metacritic, which is very similar, but much less useful because it only covers recent consoles, doesn't provide us with the raw scores (instead using its own completely worthless and biased scoring system), and has been reported to take down reviews that the users complain about. GameRankings, while certainly not perfect itself, provides us with a very valuable resource for this experiment: a listing of all review sites in its database, the total number of reviews from each site and the average score that each site gives. You can find this listing here:

http://www.gamerankings.com/sites/index.html

Unfortunately, we can't just use this data: like MetaCritic, GameRankings tries and fails to convert non-standard scoring systems into a universal 1-100 rating. For example, if you click on the first item in the list, 1UP, you'll see that they actually use a letter grade to review games. GameRankings tries to change this into a number grade, where A = 90, B = 80, C = 65, D = 50 and F = 5. How do they come up with this? We don't know, so we can't use such scores. I'm going to go through each individual site and see what kind of scoring method they use, and then throw out the sites that use letter grades.

I don't really feel comfortable using scoring systems that range from a scale of 1 to 5, either. I'll include them in the average for now and might do a separate average later with such sites removed to see if there is a difference.

There is another small problem: some sites change their scoring methods over time. The previously mentioned 1UP formerly used a 1-10 scoring method before switching to a letter grade. I'm not going to look over every reviewer's history to see if they used weird scoring systems in the past. If they're using a standard system now, then all of their reviews are included. If they're using a letter grade now, all of their reviews are removed.

Sample Size: 251 sites, 257,065 total reviews, 18,576,521 total points given when converted to a 1-100 scale.

Here are the results:

Site	Latest	Reviews	Average	Total Pts Awarded
2404 - PC Gaming	9/13/2010	255	79.56%	20287.8
360 Gamer Magazine UK	11/1/2007	148	67.23%	9950.04
3D Avenue	2/14/2007	539	78.78%	42462.42
411mania	9/28/2010	441	75.52%	33304.32
Absolute PlayStation	5/21/2004	749	81.40%	60968.6
AceGamez	9/28/2010	3226	72.84%	234981.84
ActionTrip	9/27/2010	827	75.90%	62769.3
Adventure Classic Gaming	9/27/2010	370	71.19%	26340.3
Adventure Gamers	9/20/2010	482	65.85%	31739.7
All Dreamcast	6/29/2001	104	77.83%	8094.32
AllRPG	3/18/2008	348	80.41%	27982.68
AntKids.com	6/16/2001	551	78.43%	43214.93
Archive 64	2/4/2004	125	75.34%	9417.5
Armchair Empire	9/27/2010	1945	76.04%	147897.8
AtomicGamer	9/22/2010	630	82.94%	52252.2
BonusStage	5/3/2006	708	78.92%	55875.36
Boomtown	5/17/2010	1268	70.21%	89026.28
Cheat Code Central	9/27/2010	3978	71.56%	284665.68
Cincinnati Enquirer	1/25/2006	439	78.52%	34470.28
Club Skill	10/11/2006	363	76.93%	27925.59
Computer & Video Games UK	9/29/2010	1047	67.78%	70965.66
Computer Games Mag	4/1/2007	1746	63.37%	110644.02
Computer Games RO	9/26/2010	478	80.22%	38345.16
Computer Gaming World	5/1/2006	1109	62.89%	69745.01
Console Gameworld	10/2/2008	517	76.80%	39705.6
Console Monster	9/29/2010	728	73.62%	53595.36
Console Obsession	9/29/2010	711	73.66%	52372.26
Contact Music	2/6/2007	340	76.69%	26074.6
Cube Europe	9/4/2005	207	76.62%	15860.34
Cube UK	12/1/2005	433	71.90%	31132.7
Cubed3	9/29/2010	803	72.28%	58040.84
Cyber Gaming Net	12/16/2006	628	73.92%	46421.76
D+PAD Magazine	9/29/2010	428	69.81%	29878.68
Da GameBoyz	7/29/2010	990	77.15%	76378.5
DailyGame	11/28/2009	1056	74.70%	78883.2
DarkStation	9/8/2010	1119	74.49%	83354.31
DarkZero	9/19/2010	1051	72.65%	76355.15
DC Swirl	9/19/2001	191	62.09%	11859.19
Deeko	8/27/2009	772	75.99%	58664.28
Digital Chumps	10/1/2010	561	74.35%	41710.35
Digital Sports	7/28/2005	458	78.71%	36049.18
DreamStation.cc	7/27/2007	490	74.71%	36607.9
DS Central	1/29/2005	261	61.61%	16080.21
DS-x2	9/26/2010	664	67.57%	44866.48
EAGB Advance	11/28/2003	158	72.72%	11489.76
Edge Magazine UK	10/1/2010	1467	63.76%	93535.92
Electric Playground	1/10/2007	2234	73.15%	163417.1
Electronic Gaming Monthly	1/1/2009	4332	67.77%	293579.64
ESC Magazine	7/3/2006	421	75.05%	31596.05
eToychest	2/15/2007	779	76.40%	59515.6
Eurogamer	9/29/2010	3523	66.02%	232588.46
Extreme Gamer	9/29/2010	906	75.98%	68837.88
Final-Level	5/4/2005	365	70.11%	25590.15
Firing Squad	12/1/2007	321	78.49%	25195.29
Fragland	9/24/2010	1439	75.94%	109277.66
Futuregamez	9/20/2010	785	78.05%	61269.25
G4 - X-Play	3/27/2009	1752	63.55%	111339.6
Game Axis	10/13/2006	530	77.33%	40984.9
Game Blitz	8/17/2004	649	84.12%	54593.88
Game Chronicles	9/29/2010	2986	76.06%	227115.16
Game Fan	7/3/2003	334	77.99%	26048.66
Game Helper	4/11/2007	347	74.33%	25792.51
Game Industry News	9/29/2010	1079	80.18%	86514.22
Game Informer	10/1/2010	5213	73.06%	380861.78
Game Over Online	9/29/2010	2550	76.38%	194769
Game Positive	6/15/2009	159	74.83%	11897.97
Game Power	7/20/2001	616	73.00%	44968
Game Power AU	1/4/2007	695	77.28%	53709.6
Game Raiders	3/25/2005	665	79.27%	52714.55
Game Rankings	7/11/2006	1148	72.72%	83482.56
Game Vortex	9/29/2010	4453	80.53%	358600.09
Game XC	1/25/2007	463	79.27%	36702.01
GameAlmighty	4/29/2008	336	70.89%	23819.04
GameBoy Station	2/27/2002	191	66.34%	12670.94
Gamecell	9/10/2010	1066	72.10%	76858.6
Gamecenter	2/6/2001	1088	66.34%	72177.92
GameCritics	9/29/2010	1336	67.48%	90153.28
GameDaily	11/3/2009	2234	70.36%	157184.24
GameFocus	9/28/2010	673	76.25%	51316.25
Gameguru Mania	2/10/2008	485	74.20%	35987
GamePen	9/4/2002	506	70.16%	35500.96
Gameplanet	9/24/2010	1377	76.01%	104665.77
GamePlasma	3/11/2010	566	76.89%	43519.74
Gameplayer	8/5/2009	445	72.97%	32471.65
GamePro	9/29/2010	4409	76.70%	338170.3
Gamer 2.0	5/22/2009	1240	76.05%	94302
Gamer Limit	9/27/2010	600	75.74%	45444
Gamer Web	6/14/2003	900	72.84%	65556
Gamer Within	3/18/2008	582	74.02%	43079.64
Gamer.tv	4/20/2004	299	77.91%	23295.09
GamerFeed	3/16/2006	967	68.15%	65901.05
GamerNode	9/28/2010	869	75.00%	65175
Gamers Daily News	9/29/2010	380	74.07%	28146.6
Gamers Europe	1/23/2008	502	68.91%	34592.82
Gamers Pulse	8/8/2004	828	75.94%	62878.32
Gamers Wave	9/22/2003	410	79.45%	32574.5
GamersHell	9/13/2010	1041	75.64%	78741.24
GamersMark	4/15/2009	916	77.93%	71383.88
Gamervision	9/23/2010	869	73.92%	64236.48
Games Are Fun	4/27/2009	661	77.40%	51161.4
Games First!	12/5/2007	1294	70.79%	91602.26
Games Master UK	10/1/2010	3887	72.42%	281496.54
Games Xtreme	9/20/2010	535	79.31%	42430.85
GameSpot	9/28/2010	11424	67.40%	769977.6
GameSpot UK (Pre-2003)	8/20/2002	1127	73.47%	82800.69
GameSpy	9/22/2010	4829	69.92%	337643.68
gamesTM	10/1/2010	1635	65.87%	107697.45
Gamestyle	9/29/2010	650	65.77%	42750.5
GameTap	5/27/2008	278	73.31%	20380.18
Gametrailers	9/29/2010	1333	75.84%	101094.72
GameZone	9/28/2010	6542	75.13%	491500.46
Gaming Horizon	10/14/2007	826	75.38%	62263.88
Gaming Illustrated	7/26/2007	389	81.67%	31769.63
Gaming Maxx	4/15/2004	326	81.13%	26448.38
Gaming Target	9/29/2010	1938	77.44%	150078.72
GamingExcellence	9/28/2010	1119	73.33%	82056.27
GamingTrend	9/27/2010	1291	79.57%	102724.87
GamingWorld X	9/16/2004	502	77.75%	39030.5
GD Xbox	12/18/2003	217	72.33%	15695.61
GF3K	1/23/2004	325	78.21%	25418.25
Giant Bomb	9/23/2010	430	70.51%	30319.3
Globe Technology	2/1/2006	487	71.29%	34718.23
GMR Magazine	2/1/2005	1173	72.64%	85206.72
GotNext	7/5/2008	716	72.25%	51731
Hardcore Gamer Magazine	9/27/2010	955	71.46%	68244.3
HonestGamers	9/23/2010	1620	68.00%	110160
Hooked Gamers	9/29/2010	530	76.74%	40672.2
Hot Games	8/19/2003	960	73.24%	70310.4
Hyperactive	7/29/2003	460	80.62%	37085.2
IC-Games	7/6/2008	672	77.49%	52073.28
IGN	9/29/2010	12025	68.41%	822630.25
ImpulseGamer	9/29/2010	379	80.88%	30653.52
Incite Games	6/23/2000	318	69.37%	22059.66
Independent Gamer	9/22/2003	307	68.36%	20986.52
InsidePulse	9/13/2006	541	65.03%	35181.23
Irish Player	2/16/2003	309	77.73%	24018.57
JIVEMagazine	2/20/2008	312	77.61%	24214.32
Just RPG	11/28/2007	432	80.30%	34689.6
Kikizo	9/26/2010	608	76.24%	46353.92
Kombo	9/22/2010	1579	75.32%	118930.28
Lawrence	4/5/2010	1204	77.54%	93358.16
Loaded Inc	6/15/2006	632	73.36%	46363.52
Mad Gamers	8/22/2003	382	74.09%	28302.38
Media & Games Online	2/5/2003	456	76.47%	34870.32
Mobile GameFaqs UK	12/12/2006	180	81.82%	14727.6
Modojo	12/18/2009	632	64.21%	40580.72
MS Xbox World	9/29/2010	877	75.67%	66362.59
Multi-Player Online Gaming	1/17/2002	329	67.15%	22092.35
Mygamer	9/29/2010	1253	72.29%	90579.37
Netjak	9/25/2008	1050	71.65%	75232.5
N-Europe	9/22/2010	462	73.98%	34178.76
Next Generation	1/1/1999	1001	62.64%	62702.64
Next Level Gaming	3/25/2007	1859	77.82%	144667.38
NGamer UK	8/1/2010	1096	60.87%	66713.52
NGC Magazine UK	6/1/2006	571	67.20%	38371.2
N-Insanity	1/22/2007	315	76.86%	24210.9
Nintelligent Network	1/17/2006	160	75.07%	12011.2
Nintendo Gamenet	9/27/2005	121	86.32%	10444.72
Nintendo Insider	5/15/2006	259	74.15%	19204.85
Nintendo Life	9/26/2010	823	65.17%	53634.91
Nintendo Power	10/1/2010	3342	68.01%	227289.42
Nintendo Spin	7/6/2008	236	75.61%	17843.96
Nintendojo	6/8/2010	1027	73.28%	75258.56
NintendoWorldReport	9/22/2010	1193	69.65%	83092.45
N-Revolution Magazine UK	12/5/2008	196	70.33%	13784.68
NTSC uk	5/18/2010	862	66.83%	57607.46
NZGamer	9/28/2010	1125	77.64%	87345
Official Nintendo Magazine UK	10/1/2010	931	69.81%	64993.11
Official Playstation Magazine	7/1/2008	2185	63.67%	139118.95
Official Xbox Magazine	11/1/2010	1677	70.55%	118312.35
Official Xbox Magazine UK	10/1/2010	1376	68.53%	94297.28
Operation Sports	12/18/2007	215	73.26%	15750.9
P2 Magazine UK	12/1/2005	664	70.72%	46958.08
PALGN	9/28/2010	1910	69.18%	132133.8
PC Accelerator	1/1/1999	187	63.64%	11900.68
PC Format UK	9/1/2010	1097	68.20%	74815.4
PC Gameplay	10/9/2002	195	73.69%	14369.55
PC Gamer	11/1/2010	1819	68.16%	123983.04
PC Gamer UK	10/1/2010	1810	67.18%	121595.8
PC Gameworld	10/3/2008	774	76.11%	58909.14
PC Power Play	10/1/2010	210	70.24%	14750.4
PC Zone UK	10/1/2010	2394	67.68%	162025.92
Pelit (Finland)	9/1/2008	780	81.54%	63601.2
PGNx Media	10/6/2009	1502	83.99%	126152.98
Planet Xbox 360	9/29/2010	481	76.85%	36964.85
Play Magazine	5/1/2008	2082	76.36%	158981.52
Play UK	10/1/2010	1721	72.49%	124755.29
play.tm	9/28/2010	1027	73.87%	75864.49
Playstation 2 Mag UK	7/1/2008	1428	63.07%	90063.96
Playstation 2 Max UK	9/27/2004	560	71.54%	40062.4
PlayStation LifeStyle	9/29/2010	310	72.16%	22369.6
Playstation Official Magazine AU	8/1/2010	198	72.63%	14380.74
Playstation Official Magazine UK	10/1/2010	782	65.28%	51048.96
Playstation Official Magazine US	10/1/2010	456	69.43%	31660.08
Playstation Universe	9/24/2010	285	76.95%	21930.75
Pocket Gamer UK	12/18/2009	696	66.08%	45991.68
Portable Review	4/24/2008	422	73.47%	31004.34
PSE Magazine	5/1/2006	818	85.91%	70274.38
PSM Magazine	12/1/2007	1787	70.40%	125804.8
PSM3 Magazine UK	10/1/2010	1819	68.45%	124510.55
PSW Magazine UK	6/26/2009	609	69.11%	42087.99
PSX Extreme	9/27/2010	1273	75.06%	95551.38
PSX Nation	5/19/2005	1217	71.64%	87185.88
Quandary	5/3/2008	432	72.54%	31337.28
RealGamer	9/29/2010	569	71.04%	40421.76
RewiredMind	4/5/2007	492	67.30%	33111.6
RPGamer	9/27/2010	493	67.25%	33154.25
RPGFan	9/29/2010	727	81.37%	59155.99
Sega-16	9/27/2010	603	63.96%	38567.88
Silicon Fusion	7/29/2007	367	77.05%	28277.35
Sports Gaming	1/25/2006	472	78.42%	37014.24
Talk Xbox	12/10/2009	372	78.78%	29306.16
TeamXbox	9/27/2010	1413	74.90%	105833.7
TechTV	5/9/2004	948	65.32%	61923.36
The Entertainment Depot	9/27/2010	641	69.20%	44357.2
The Gamers Temple	9/29/2010	1559	73.26%	114212.34
Thunderbolt	9/29/2010	1762	70.23%	123745.26
Total PC Gaming	5/1/2010	203	68.67%	13940.01
Total Video Games	9/4/2009	1107	75.72%	83822.04
TotallyGN	9/27/2010	416	72.02%	29960.32
TotalPlaystation	9/29/2010	782	75.44%	58994.08
UltraNinjas	6/7/2010	391	76.32%	29841.12
VGChartz	9/28/2010	616	76.81%	47314.96
VG-Force	1/4/2006	542	77.27%	41880.34
VGPub	11/30/2007	499	77.02%	38432.98
Video Game Talk	1/11/2010	852	66.73%	56853.96
Video Gamers First	8/27/2005	557	75.59%	42103.63
VideoGamer	9/29/2010	2093	69.91%	146321.63
VideoGames NZ	4/6/2009	487	81.24%	39563.88
Videogameslife	9/27/2005	559	65.97%	36877.23
WonderwallWeb	2/23/2010	733	78.54%	57569.82
Worth Playing	9/29/2010	3627	72.32%	262304.64
X360 Magazine UK	10/1/2010	772	64.14%	49516.08
XBM UK	12/1/2005	452	67.79%	30641.08
XBN Magazine	2/1/2005	547	59.34%	32458.98
Xbox 2k	7/21/2003	112	77.02%	8626.24
Xbox Evolved	7/22/2010	547	73.85%	40395.95
Xbox Exclusive	1/4/2007	168	81.58%	13705.44
Xbox Gamer Mag UK	4/1/2005	426	64.25%	27370.5
Xbox Impact	4/8/2004	135	77.25%	10428.75
Xbox Maniacs	2/2/2004	177	76.80%	13593.6
Xbox Rules	1/30/2005	150	75.00%	11250
Xbox World 360 Magazine UK	11/1/2010	611	62.75%	38340.25
Xbox World Australia	9/29/2010	384	77.68%	29829.12
Xbox World Mag UK	6/1/2008	209	66.32%	13860.88
XboxAddict	9/24/2010	609	79.69%	48531.21
XboxSolution	12/22/2006	242	80.82%	19558.44
XboxZone	3/5/2010	177	77.39%	13698.03
XGP Gaming	11/13/2006	321	82.31%	26421.51
Zentendo	4/28/2010	238	72.02%	17140.76
ZTGameDomain	9/29/2010	1425	77.68%	110694
SUM		257065		18576521.35
TRUE AVERAGE				72.26390738

The average score when throwing out the letter grade sites is a 72.26 out of 100. Including the letter grade sites (using GameRankings' conversions), it is a 72.45.

So the next time somebody tries to tell you, "Hey, it got a 7 out of 10! It's a good game!," you can tell them to sod off.

Then again, it depends on the reviewer in question. Some reviewers give out an average of 8, others a 6. That's probably what I'll go over with the next update.

Hello

Yet another no-name clown talking about video games. Just what the internet needs!

I figure I'd hop on the recent bandwagon frenzy of blogging. I've always had dreams of starting my own site, but it's probably better to see if I can handle managing a simple blog instead of opening my wallet for a server, domain name, dedicated connection, etc.

Feel free to post whatever, sites that delete viewer comments are a big pet peeve for me. Nobody truly enjoys criticism, but it is necessary to help us improve.

Mostly planning on talking about older games and game design, with some current news every now and then. Compared to the average paid reviewer, I'll probably come across as a cynical, miserable bastard (I'm a firm believer in 5/10 should = average), but because I'm doing this for fun and not for money, you can expect an honest opinion.

I play everything aside from MMOs. Not a big fan of online gaming in general. Favorite games are those with lots of micromanagement and customization, such as Alpha Centauri and Final Fantasy Tactics.

OK, let's get this thing started.