"a seemingly-infinite amount of attention has been paid to the customization of servers, designing of maps and play styles, and even new games entirely (like _Surf Maps). And it is this creativity that I marvel at. "

It all began when I first bought Counter-Strike: Source for my pc. I got owned all the time. Even when I thought I was good, I was probably playing the lousiest bunch of noobs in the entire Steam Network. But it wasn't the shooting or the teamwork that kept bringing me back (Even though it was a solid game). It was the immense personality that the game had. More specifically, it was what the user-base brought to Counter-Strike that made it so unique. The fans of Counter-Strike developed their own sense of humor and express it through the coding of the game, as a painter would his ideas on a canvas. I have played many online shooters, and have never witinessed anything quite like it.

It may be because it is the most played online-shooter for the PC, in fact it probably is, but a seemingly-infinite amount of attention has been paid to the customization of servers, designing of maps and play styles, and even new games entirely (like _Surf Maps). And it is this creativity that I marvel at.

I always laugh when I enter a server looking for a good fight but instead just finding myself being burnt alive along with everyone else by the Administrator, just so he can have a rediculous score. I have laughed to tears watching a player who has an aim-hack and is looping the song "Banana Phone" over the radio feed, all while murdering everyone in his/her sight. I've had so much fun with the user-developed punishment menu, which offers many ways to punish a team-killer such as giving them drugs (to disorient), turning them into a time bomb, or just cutting off thier hands. These "jokes" are always given a warm reception and seldom deemed annoying (well....except for the aim-assist hacks).

This culture has tranlated very well into the latest online shooter from Valve, Team Fortress 2. And it has been even more enjoyable to me than my days with CS: Source. The more I think about it, the more I notice how well suited the cast of TF2 really are for the absolutely rediculous things they are to be subjected to.

The way the limbs and oragans are comically strewn about...

The snapshots that are taken of every time you die...

The creativity that can be seen in TF2 servers is still so young, that unimaginable updates will unboubtedly come about in the next couple of years. I look foreward, drooling in beatitude, to whatever Team Fortress 2 will become in the future. I applaud Valve's philosophy on letting the users customize and share their ideas to such an extreme level of depth. (unlike halo where you can only arrange the locations of items and vehicles. I know its a console game, but no other PC shooters besides CS and TF2 comes with its own dev tools)

Lemme know what you think

Thanks for reading. All criticism is welcome

P.S. Gamespots in browser word processor is the **** I hope all of the crew that just left Gamespot STAY iN THE VIDEO GAME CRITIC BUISNESS.

The most recent evidence for my claim is Gamespot's "behavior" towards the new Turok game.

This game was promoted on three seperate occasions on Gamespots weekly show "On the Spot". I have never seen any other game previewed so many times.

At first glance, it is a first person shooter with a "super awesome" aspect of shooting dinosaurs and also using them to kill enemies.

fine.

But they proceed to show it again and again...with nothing new.

whatever

And now the game has been out for two days and there is no review? The following games have been reviewed since Turoks release ( Feb 5th 2008 ):

Twisted Metal: Head on (released Feb 5th)

Super Swing Golf Season 2 (released DECEMBER 11th 2007!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) WTF!?

Warhammer 40,000 squad command (released December 17th 2007!!!!!!!!! WTF?

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (November 13th 2007!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) i say again..."wtf"

Undertow (relased November 21st 2007!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) wtf?

Notice how games that were released several months ago are NOW having reviews posted, with the exception of Twisted metal which was published recently. There are two possible explenations of the aforementioned data:

Either gamespot has become A LOT less punctual about reviewing games.

OR

Gamespot controls their information to the benefit of Video game companies. Which goes against the ethics of a presumably unbaised group of critics.

It turns out that Turok has not been given a great reception by other reviewers. Criticism focuses on the main problems with the game: the targeting peripheral is heavily flawed (lacking aim-assists which all console shooters usually have) and the plot is also garbage (a native american hunter is now a space marine? who is out to kill his mentor-turned-evil nemises? I'm pretty sure this game had a huge budget....wtf man?). It is my guess that gamespot will give Turok between at 6 and a 7.5 Is it a coincidence that a game that GS has heavily promoted does not have a review posted on the day of its release? I really dont think so.

Gamespots opinion has a lot of value in the american video game industry these days. They had videos on msn.com's video playlist (briefly). And gamespot.com has risen high on the list of the internet's most-visited websites (i think it is in the 20's now, i remember it being higher than nfl.com. But the lists are inconsistent whereever u look so its not a strong argument). Gamespot's reviews are also given the highest priority when people "google" any video game title.

So what is the next best thing that GS can do to help the publishers of Turok?

Not Tell People how bad it is.

Every day Turok is on the shelves without a gamespot review, the people who are depending on the game for income have a much better chance of making money. All gamespot has to do is not post their Turok review for a little while. Instead, they post reviews of old games too possibly build the impression that they are doing something.

I have a HUGE problem with this. I have been coming to gamespot for years and reviews were usually posted punctually. Greg Kassavin is gone (but long before skepticism started), Jeff gertsmann is gone, Alex Navarro is gone (but on a much more positive note) and the reason I used to love gamespot has evaporated leaving behind a group of reviewers who seem to be content with making "under-the-table" deals with video game publishers.

Its going to be hard to stop trusting Gamespot so wholeheartedly. i mean, whenever i open an internet browser, my fingers instictively type "g-a-m-e-s-p-o-t-.-c-o-m" at least twice. But still, at least they still give fair reviews. Its the timeliness of them that i have a problem with.

thanks for reading. All criticism is welcome.