I'll be completely honest: when it comes to games, movies, TV shows, books, etc, I don't tend to buy into hype and immediately purchase something on its release date. I've learned my lesson a few times from buying into hype or even just hyping myself up too much. For example, being a comic book fan, I was excited for the PS2 release of Batman: Vengeance. And it was a fine game. It wasn't great and Arkham Asylum blows it out of the water without even trying, but it was fun. Was it worth pre-ordering it for $70? Nope.

Which is why, these days, I tend to read many reviews - spoiler free or spoiler-light ones, mind you. If something is unanimously bad, I won't waste my money on it. If it's nearly unanimously good or great? I'll check it out. Funnily enough, if something is given a bad review, I sometimes go in expecting something horrendous and wind up enjoying it more than I expected (the Fantastic Four movies, oddly enough).

But one in every...let's say one in every twenty comments on Gamespot argue with the score that the reviewer rates a game. And that's fine. Quality of entertainment and everything else is always open to interpretation and your own opinion.

However, what bothers me is the petty nonsense of saying something like "How dare you rate this game 8.5 instead of 9.0!"

Let's make something clear: it's childish and petty to argue over HALF of a rating. The difference of an 8.5 and a 9.0 is bean counting. If I were to get two tests back, one 85%, the other 90%, I'd still be happy with both marks. Would I prefer both to be 90%? Absolutely, but either way, it's still a great mark. Does that 5% change your own opinion or enjoyment of the game? No. You love it, and so do just about everyone else.

On Gamespot's scale, an 8.5 is still considered "great". Is the game without faults? No, there are some things that are pointed out, either in the written and/or video review, that lowers the score. But the score doesn't take away that it's still a very high mark.

Now, if it were rated, say, 5.0 or something and you believed the game deserved an 8.0 or a 9.0? Then, okay, you're well within your rights for that argument. But to argue over such a petty squabble as a 5% difference of the game will just garner you many thumbs down.