whats so great about metacritic?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher
Metacritic is only good for mainstream titles. As should be obvious from the fundamental concept behind it.

Since most of the titles on the Wii are not mainstream titles, IIUC, it wouldnt be very useful for them, then, would it?

[Asher]

The Wii titles are the epitome of mainstream titles. Trashy ****.

They're not mainstream AAA though.

Unless you want to make the argument that the easily accessible games on the Wii are a niche, which is pretty stupid.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher
The Wii titles are the epitome of mainstream titles. Trashy ****.

They're not mainstream AAA though.

Unless you want to make the argument that the easily accessible games on the Wii are a niche, which is pretty stupid.

I'll refrain from making that argument as I hardly play "accessible games" (I did DL the demo for Diner Dash on my cell phone, i dont know, is that the kind of thing the Wii has a lot of?) My tastes run in exactly the opposite direction, towards games like CK. Id love it though, if a Wii fan here could respond. For now I will assume that the same critics can competently review both mainstream hard core and mainstream casual games, despite making a hash of a niche game like CK.

[Asher]

I would also love it if someone could make the argument that games like Wii Play, what with 6m+ sold now, is a niche title.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher
I would also love it if someone could make the argument that games like Wii Play, what with 6m+ sold now, is a niche title.

I wasnt thinking of that, more the games like cookin mama, Trauma center, and the many lesser titles on the Wii that get low metacritic reviews.

Besides, everyone is buying Wii Play for the hardware, right? Its only $10 more for the Wii Play than for the Wiimote by itself, according to local ad flyers, IIRC.

[Asher]

Wii Play and Cooking Mama, Trauma Center, etc are all in the same market as far as I'm concerned...gimmicky shallow games FTW.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
1. Niche games ARE fun, for their audiences, who may not share the Standard Average Gamers idea of fun.

2. If some gamers value, say, a deeply moving story, over "fun", would you say that critics should ignore that?

Deeply moving story can = fun. Critics should focus on what they think their readers care about (or alternatively, readers should only pay attention to critics with similar tastes).

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher
Wii Play and Cooking Mama, Trauma Center, etc are all in the same market as far as I'm concerned...gimmicky shallow games FTW.

Fair enough.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


Deeply moving story can = fun. Critics should focus on what they think their readers care about (or alternatively, readers should only pay attention to critics with similar tastes).

Historical accuracy can = fun.

And yeah, I can understand that a review aimed at the Standard Average Gamer should focus of the SAG's tastes (though I still think the line I quoted was brainless). Which means that an average of such reviews is only really good for measuring games aimed at said readerships. Which gets to the question of whether particular games where we here cite Metacritic as an index of quality are in fact aimed at said mainstream readership. I will leave it to those whove played such games, as well as dealt more directly in the market for them, to take this any further.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker

I checked the Metacritic for Crusader Kings, a game I know, and found it had only 73. Some were much higher of course, some were so-so, and some low ones.

Heres a line from the lowest score review

"With no objectives, if the gamer has no passing interest in history, the game is sure to fall flat. "

Duh? These games have an extremely narrow audience. That should be reflected in review score; most gamers aren't going to want to play it.

so you think Gamespot, which gave it an 82, and said the following

"While casual gamers will feel like they've been plunged into a maelstrom of names and dates, anyone with a love of history will appreciate the rigorous attention to detail and epic scope. "

was fundamentally misreviewing it?

[Asher]

Do you ever get tired of your tactic of goading for a general statement, then finding edge or exception cases and try to use that to conduct a real argument?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher
Do you ever get tired of your tactic of goading for a general statement, then finding edge or exception cases and try to use that to conduct a real argument?

I learned some interesting things about peoples views of metacritic, so Im satisfied with the results.

[Wiglaf]

So you're not complaining about metacritic, you're complaining about the ways reviewers score games in general. Okay.

It's good for the reviewer to like the general type of game, but if it's an extreme niche game, he should note that and dock points for it if it pisses him off. Not the end of the world, my main question is what you're going to be doing when they have all these Christmas ads when you are jewish. Does that piss you off? It would piss me off but I'm Catholic, thanks.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
So you're not complaining about metacritic, you're complaining about the ways reviewers score games in general. Okay.

It's good for the reviewer to like the general type of game, but if it's an extreme niche game, he should note that and dock points for it if it pisses him off. Not the end of the world, my main question is what you're going to be doing when they have all these Christmas ads when you are jewish. Does that piss you off? It would piss me off but I'm Catholic, thanks.

er, one gets used to certain things. Do you get pissed off by the smog if youve grown up in LA? Not if you're sane. Its just background.

And some of the ads are funny, so thats all good. I once got a Christmas card from our Muslim newspaper delivery guy, which I found quite amusing.

Are you saying stupid reviews are just background. Youre probably right, I wasnt so much upset, as trying to test the general usefulness of Metacritic scores for discussions.

[Asher]

Jews should embrace Christmas like most atheists/agnostics have. It's a time for family only, no religious overtones. SANTA is AWESOME regardless of circumcision status!