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March 1, 2009 2:33 PM Subscribe
the doyouinverts sings songs about old friends who don't play videogames anymore, Edge Magazine's scoring system and a love song to an imported Japanese videogame. They are a regular feature on British videogame radio show/podcast One Life Left.
ah, "Akihabara Love".
When I lived in Takadanobaba in the early 90s, the only reason to take the Yamanote around the north side was to get to heaven, Akihabara. Coming back and reading the Empire or Civilization manuals on the train was such great fun -- back then a game purchase was a day's wages.
Akihabara. It was like (the good stuff in ) Fry's ^ 1000.
As Tokyo has like the 2nd-greatest economy as its secondary support, Akihabara has Tokyo to support it. And Akihabara exists to support the Game-kan. And the Game-kan exists to support its top floor displaying all the new game magazines and guides. And the game magazines and guides exist to support Enterbrain's Login, the one true magazine of record.
I still occasionally pick up a copy when I'm near a Kinokuniya, and it's still all good.
posted by troy at 3:18 PM on March 1, 2009 [1 favorite]
When I lived in Takadanobaba in the early 90s, the only reason to take the Yamanote around the north side was to get to heaven, Akihabara. Coming back and reading the Empire or Civilization manuals on the train was such great fun -- back then a game purchase was a day's wages.
Akihabara. It was like (the good stuff in ) Fry's ^ 1000.
As Tokyo has like the 2nd-greatest economy as its secondary support, Akihabara has Tokyo to support it. And Akihabara exists to support the Game-kan. And the Game-kan exists to support its top floor displaying all the new game magazines and guides. And the game magazines and guides exist to support Enterbrain's Login, the one true magazine of record.
I still occasionally pick up a copy when I'm near a Kinokuniya, and it's still all good.
posted by troy at 3:18 PM on March 1, 2009 [1 favorite]
The 10 point game review scoring is stupid and meaningless and not worth paying attention to
Ehh, the 10 point system isn't any more or less meaningless than any other scoring system used by gaming publications. I think the fact that each score has exact meaning actually makes it more useful to the reader than the decimal point system used in other publications (a 7 is clearly different from an 8 while who can tell what the difference is between 8.5 and a 8.6).
That doesn't mean that review scores aren't given undue importance in the gaming industry. That much is clear when Metacritic scores determine what developers are paid and hilarious inter-publication flame wars erupt over Edge giving Killzone 2 a 7/10.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 3:22 PM on March 1, 2009
Ehh, the 10 point system isn't any more or less meaningless than any other scoring system used by gaming publications. I think the fact that each score has exact meaning actually makes it more useful to the reader than the decimal point system used in other publications (a 7 is clearly different from an 8 while who can tell what the difference is between 8.5 and a 8.6).
That doesn't mean that review scores aren't given undue importance in the gaming industry. That much is clear when Metacritic scores determine what developers are paid and hilarious inter-publication flame wars erupt over Edge giving Killzone 2 a 7/10.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 3:22 PM on March 1, 2009
I agree that the edge scoring system is actually pretty decent. People who are regular readers of the magazine will know with reasonable certainty what an "edge 7" is and what it says about the game, but what the hell does a mark of 8.3 from Gamespot mean?
For example, I haven't read the edge review of Killzone 2 (I don't get edge any more unless I have a long train journey), but if it got a 7 then I can be confident that Killzone 2 is a competently executed and decently fun game that introduces few original ideas, does nothing to advance the genre of which it is part, and is reasonably forgettable; not a system seller, but something for me to pick up on the cheap when there finally is a system-selling game for the ps3 and we actually buy one. Games with far lower production values than Killzone 2 (although, from what I've read, there are space exploration programmes with lower production values than Killzone 2) can and have scored higher than KZ2 by virtue of being more original, more ambitious, or just plain more fun, although if edge's scoring system does have a fault it's that they tend to over-value ambition and originality a little.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 2:00 AM on March 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
For example, I haven't read the edge review of Killzone 2 (I don't get edge any more unless I have a long train journey), but if it got a 7 then I can be confident that Killzone 2 is a competently executed and decently fun game that introduces few original ideas, does nothing to advance the genre of which it is part, and is reasonably forgettable; not a system seller, but something for me to pick up on the cheap when there finally is a system-selling game for the ps3 and we actually buy one. Games with far lower production values than Killzone 2 (although, from what I've read, there are space exploration programmes with lower production values than Killzone 2) can and have scored higher than KZ2 by virtue of being more original, more ambitious, or just plain more fun, although if edge's scoring system does have a fault it's that they tend to over-value ambition and originality a little.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 2:00 AM on March 2, 2009 [2 favorites]
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I subscribed to Edge and GamesTM at the same time a few years ago. Both subscriptions ran out, but I still can't decide which I preferred. Edge has nice production values, but is up its own arse. GamesTM is ... well... fine, but pointless really when I can get anything it does online for free (except most online sources feel the need to post 20 stories a day when only 1 or 2 are worth reading, RPS is the exception). The 10 point game review scoring is stupid and meaningless and not worth paying attention to; I'd give it 6 or maybe 7 or 8.
posted by Elmore at 2:46 PM on March 1, 2009