Reader Reviews

Er, Eurogamer...

by Tiger Walts

I place the poly-tetra-wotsitsname cup of cooler water beside me, tentatively I glance to my sides and into my convex monitor mirror. Finally confident that I am safe from interruption I open my RSS/RDF client, a tool designed to summarise news stories from selected websites.

Tiger_walts's setup shows no news stories for Eurogamer yet he keeps it there nonetheless, Tiger_walts hopes that one day this feature will be re-introduced, or at least the new RSS/RDF file is publicised soon...

Why should a seasoned internet user go to such lengths to open one program in order to just get a link that automatically opens a web-browser to Eurogamer, one answer could be attributed to the fact that web-browsers that get links from external applications do not store them in the 'auto-complete' array for web addresses (for employers who want to check up on you but have no idea what a log is.), the other reason may be as simple as 'trust'.

Not so long ago Eurogamer changed it's layout, and to be honest Tiger_walts cannot tell you if that change is for better or worse, he did visit a number of times before the said change, but he cannot remember one single visual design detail from before then. It is not often that established news portals re-distinguish themselves, but Eurogamer managed one thing that many other sites fail at, continuity.

The main reason I cannot recall what colour/fonts represented what is that, really nothing changed. Like any other game reviewing site each game is put in hands of a single reviewer, their charge is to report their experiences and then relate the game to the sites audience... Nothing special there you may say, been there done that, T-shirt, yada yada yada. But, Eurogamer promises you an un-biased view; the reviewer shall not be swayed by offers of tenuously related PR gifts such as inflatable sheep or a 6" G-Man (we wish).

I personally find this approach similar to that of print magazine Edge, I go as far to relate to Eurogamer as Edge-Lite. Many of those familiar with this publication may find this disturbing, as in this site's forums, Edge is much maligned for it's apparent piety, accused of being above itself, a bit too rambunctious for the likings of many, and the style is possibly copied too much. But the reference is still true, no matter what Mugwum, Shinji, Kristan, Mouse and anyone else I have missed think what Eurogamer's mission statement is (if any), they diligently give a personal account of each game they play. References to the best, worst and current titles in the same genre are made. A judgement on the technical prowess, 'both under the hood' and visible with regard to current titles will occur. Quite hum drum, business as usual.

But, you will find no 'Definitive Review' here (But there are many in the forums), no 'Games Guru' (See 'Definitive Review') and no 'happy-go-lucky-hacks' (I shall tread only as far that single reference). Just plain old, 'This is how I see it'. No agenda. No ego. No pretence. In fact this is what the main games news sites offer, but rarely deliver. Eurogamer is not always perfect in this, just read it's forums and you will come across complaints of operational errors and statements of distaste in content and layout.