When a game is still just a project on someone's head, it has all the potential in the world. This goes for movies too, btw. The problem is that (as someone pointed out already), once they realize they can't quite do what was planned (lack of time, lack of money, lack of programming skill, etc), they're already too deep into the project... people worked for months on that project, and were either paid in advance (which means losses for the company), or are waiting to get paid when the game ships (which means unemployment and/or losses for everyone).

Bottom-line, they need to cut corners, and get the game out, somehow, just to try and get back, at least, some of the investment.

It's not as addictive as smoking simply because it doesn't have addictive substances involved.

On the other hand, it's human nature to seek that which gives him/her pleasure and well-being so, in some people, gaming (or any other activity, for that matter) can become addictive... it's just that gaming is easier to pull away from than smoking.

In the game page for "The Final Fantasy Legend", on the GameBoy, there are no user reviews visible on the right side of the screen.

Even when you click "Reviews" (on the left side control), all you get is an empty page stating that you could be the first to write a review (which is false, there are a few published already).

Only when you THEN click "Players Reviews" do you get to see the reviews.

I'm guessing it's just a matter of incorrect links, but it's annoying, because most people won't dig that far to find them.

Thank you.

So what I'm asking is, why is this happening?MikeLirette

You shouldn't be worried. In fact, I congratulate you. You seem to have reached a point in your gaming life where you crave more depth, that's all.

Online games, by nature, are shallow experiences. Nothing you do really matters there, you just spend an incredible amount of your life time (not to mention real money, on a monthly basis) clicking to watch a couple of numbers go up (usually, XP and Gold). Occasionally you get to see your avatar change appearance too, but that's basically it.

Don't be afraid of change, just embrace your new style of gaming.

In the game page for "10 Pin Bowling" on the Game Boy Color, I wrote a user review. It appears there as normal. It also appears on my profile page, just fine.

However, on the game page, when clicking on "See All", under User Reviews, the page that opens, which should list two user reviews, does NOT include my review.

I've tried refreshing the page to no avail. Tried using a different browser (Opera 10.62 and Internet Explorer 8), and same problem. Tried resubmitting my review, and no change.

Here's a link to the main game page:

http://www.gamespot.com/gbc/sports/10pinbowling/index.html

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Seems fixed now. Maybe a problem with how long the page takes to update? Refreshing and using different browsers didn't work so I can only assume it's server side.

Nostalgia is a powerful thing.SteelAttack

I'd replace the word "nostalgia" with something else.

As an old-school gamer, I'm very fond of nostalgia, but as I said above, the whole "games are shorter and easier" is a myth. Yes, controls are better and we have certain conveniences, like save games, that were rare or non-existant at the time, but games that could be finished in a handful of hours were much more common then than now.

Also, I believe some people seem to ignore that experience counts. Back then, you were probably just a kid who was learning how to play, and now you have years of experience to back you up.

Still, that message Opera gives about the port number be out of range is probably something that needs fixing.

No other page on GameSpot does that.

I think that we can probably all agree that when people refer to games being shorter, they have traditional fps games in mind.

Mondrath

Yet, if we are to compare apples to apples, the first FPS was Wolfenstein 3D, which wasn't any longer than today's games.

As I said, games (in general) are NOT shorter or easier these days. People just like to complaint, and when there's no solid reason, they make one up.

I'd like the idea of games adjusting their own difficulty depending on the player's skill.ModeDude

I'd hate that idea, because sometimes I want a challenge, sometimes not. I don't want the game to decide what's right for me.

PC Zone used to write it's reviews opinion based, which gave you a much better idea of the game. One reason they did this was because it let them add their humor into the review and I know what your thinking, you probably shacked your head thinking "bad form" but no, it actually worked. As I said it gave us a much better idea of what the game was actually like, and because it was done with humor the readercould read with the knowlege that a joke is always half true but taken with a pinch of salt. They could find a flaw with the game, stick a knife in it and twist but they could also praise a game for what it is. It was spoken to gamers from gamers in a language we truly understand.

Evil_Saluki

You probably misunderstood what I meant in my post.

I said that there's nothing wrong with adding your opinion to a review, AS LONG as it's clear that it's not part of the review itself. If you like to read your reviews with some "flavor" that's nice, and perfectly doable, but the moment you mix opinion (subjective analysis) with a review (objective analysis), all you get is a confusing text that's only useful for laughs, and little else.

You can't really say it gives "us" (you should be saying "me") a better idea of what the game is because you really have nothing to compare it to (pretty much all review sites these days are opinion-based, even GameSpot). A good review will always surpass an opinion in terms of informative content, and clarity. Opinions with or without a side of humor are often left to interpretation, and while you, personally, may enjoy the style and feel you could interpret PC Zone reviews easily, others don't.

Bottom-line is, if you're a professional journalist, you have to start by thinking of the Why behind what you're doing. If you want to entertain, sure, grab a YouTube channel and "review" away but, if you want to inform people, you stick to the facts and if you want to share your opinion, keep it as side remarks. Combining these two aspects in a single text, so it reads like it comes from a human and not a robot - without confusing the reader in the process - is where a reviewer's talent is put to the test.

It works almost like the news, actually. I like watching Jon Stewart and, in fact, I find he's more informative than some so-called professional news networks out there, but when I want to get to the bottom of things, I still take a serious, true to facts, reporter any day, and if he/she can crack a joke every once and a while, without mudding things up (or sounding ridiculous), more power to him/her.

PS: Reviewing isn't easy. Giving an opinion is.