Best and Worst of this Site

General and high profile video game topics.
N64Dude1
Posts: 1242
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Best and Worst of this Site

Postby N64Dude1 » April 9th, 2010, 10:10 pm

[B]Pros[/B]: Lots of obscure systems that I would otherwise never know about,lots of incredibly well written to the point reviews and re-reviews,Lots of random topics that wouldn't be possible anywhere else,so many diverse sub-forums. Lots of good icons I love seeing even if they are truly just eye-candy.

[B]Cons[/B]: Over-favoritism of Atari Re-reviews,no N64 titles [come on No Majora's Mask? No Banjo-Tooie],exclusion of handhelds,no Game Boy,some reviews lack detail [like Clockwork Knight or Tomb Raider],non-video game reviews are never as well done and to the point [You didn't say if you liked that book or how good of a read it was,you just summarised,the shoes review was done in the same manner,but the joystick review was of the same quality you usually have].

[B]Wishes[/B]: Add some N64 reviews,Get a Game Boy, an integration of General Forum and Critics Corner since they seem the same,fewer Wii topics,Your Reviews section closer to the top as to get more attention

Keep up the good work VGC, your still doing great just keep some this in mind.

* I know the Wii topics aren't really in your control

Josh

Best and Worst of this Site

Postby Josh » April 9th, 2010, 11:26 pm

I love this site. It's like going to your favorite pub and hanging out with regular people - very unlike other gaming sites.

The reviews are great - everyone knows that

I second the pro that there is no industry bias - or fanboy bias for reviews

I also like the lack of excessive profanity

I would like to see the handhelds listed with the consoles - there easy to miss

I also think the Links and Extras should be made more visible

Also, it would be great if the forums automatically listed your post, however there is a danger with spam - IGN is full of it; it's a big problem there

It would be great if there were pdf's of old gaming manuals since the VGC is a collector - maybe even Nintendo Power or the Sega mag pages



Dave1
Posts: 25
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Best and Worst of this Site

Postby Dave1 » April 10th, 2010, 10:05 am

What you like most, and least, about this site? 
Most - Quirky humor in reviews
Lease - Reviews seem to be getting shorter and far in between

What's appealing?  What keeps you coming back? 
Hoping a new set of reviews is posted today!

What turns you off or annoys you? 
No new reviews being posted!

Please share your thoughts.
Done & Done!

soporj1
Posts: 556
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Best and Worst of this Site

Postby soporj1 » April 10th, 2010, 10:22 am

Best:
  • I love seeing reviews for systems old and new...it is just fantastic reading those Astrocade and Arcadia 2001 game reviews since it is like stepping into a time machine to visit long forgotten games.
  • Funny reviews of terrible games.

Worst:
  • Commodore 64 games really should be included. This is my favorite "classic" game system. Just because it had a keyboard it shouldn't be excluded!
  • Some of the discussions on the message boards are inane and actually discourage me from using them much. Who cares that this system sold x million units while this other system sold x many units?
  • The handheld systems should be incorporated with the main list.



User avatar
VideoGameCritic
Site Admin
Posts: 18102
Joined: April 1st, 2015, 7:23 pm

Best and Worst of this Site

Postby VideoGameCritic » April 10th, 2010, 1:56 pm

So far the response has been great - keep it coming!!

I'd just like to touch on a few things people mentioned as negatives.

I tend to agree that there are too many message boards.  I am thinking about consolidating a few.  I'll post my ideas in a separate thread.

As for grouping the handhelds with the consoles, that's probably not going to happen.  Technically speaking, when that list on the left gets too long, it gets cut off of people's screens, forcing an ugly scroll bar to appear.  It's a side-effect of the frames.  Also, I don't really want to emphasize the handhelds as much, because those sections aren't nearly as comprehensive as the regular consoles.  These are more like "bonus" sections.

As for the re-reviews, they serve a dual purpose.  First, they allow me to revise older reviews that I'm not particularly happy with.  Second, they are a LOT easier to write than doing a new review from scratch.  It gives me a break.  Since the Atari 2600 reviews are my oldest reviews, they tend to get a lot of the re-writes. 

As for the search function, that was originally a Java program I wrote that was hosted on a free site that since went away.  My host doesn't have good support for that kind of thing.  I know that the Google search is a cop-out.  I think I might be able to write a Javascript version that will do the trick.  Stay tuned.

I have many more features planned, including hand-held reviews, and more controller reviews also.  If anyone has an ideas or suggestions let me know.

As for the RPG reviews, I agree that I need more and I am looking into a solution.


ActRaiser1
Posts: 2726
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Best and Worst of this Site

Postby ActRaiser1 » April 10th, 2010, 3:13 pm

I absolutely love reading your F reviews.  They're always funny and biting in a very creative way.

The forums are always entertaining although I'm becoming more of a lurker these days.

Worst of the site - lack of anything online related.  I do think it's funny that you've been online for 10 years now and still don't review downloadable games.

I totally get that there's way more than enough games available without diving into the downloadable or online multiplayer aspect but in my humble opinion it's a huge and gaping hole from my perspective.  If you added support for user reviews to fill in some gaps, including RPGs, your site could grow quite quickly.

Keep up the awesome work!

My two cents,

Bud


Adamant1
Posts: 2088
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Best and Worst of this Site

Postby Adamant1 » April 10th, 2010, 11:05 pm

I agree on the C64, there's so many amazing games you're missing out on there. If you don't want to give the impression you cover "computers", you can always get a C64GS, it's no more a computer than the Atari XEGS is.

PSX1
Posts: 388
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Best and Worst of this Site

Postby PSX1 » April 10th, 2010, 11:09 pm

Three follow-up points.

First, good choice not to combine the handhelds with the consoles. The list is long enough and they're best left separated.

Second, I noticed that a lot of complaints were about the forums. However, that's because you're asking people that heavily use the forums, so that's where their personal emphasis is. I wouldn't take that as any indication that the forums are actually the biggest need of your attention. The reality is probably that the majority of your site visitors do not use the forums at all. They come to read your reviews. I've visited your site daily for about 5 years myself, and only just recently started using the forums.

Finally, thanks for considering the changes to the search function. That'd be a big help.


Jake

Best and Worst of this Site

Postby Jake » April 11th, 2010, 1:50 am

[QUOTE=Thebawwradar]BEST: Reviews, hands down, also, the other articles you write are very down to earth.

WORST: Trying to distinguish the difference between the General Forum and Critics Corner.[/QUOTE]

God, it's not that difficult...

General Forum is for writting about games to fellow gamers.

Critics Corner is for writting about video games, and hope that the Critic will see it, or reply. Or it is, asking the Critic "Dave" a question or to tell him something.

I personally like how the forums are set up, and actually not looking forward to them changing.

Jake

Best and Worst of this Site

Postby Jake » April 11th, 2010, 2:11 am

[QUOTE=Leo]Also forgot to say that the Era forums are completely unneeded.

There simply isn't enough traffic to warrant having so many subforums, and myself and several others just ignore them completely. All they do is unnecessarily spread things out. In my opinion, there simply isn't enough traffic to need them and they're actually counterproductive to some subjects since many of us don't bother visiting them.
[/QUOTE]

I don't totally agree here,

It's all I ever do is visit the Era forums... it's only a click away. I like how it's seperated, from 1977-84, 85-94 etc.. there's so many systems and games...
I found it helpful to pick and choose which I want to visit and people who also are interested in the same Era's I am, will show up at my topics.

I'd rather get straight to the video game era I'm speaking about, rather then posting around more current games and without the Era forums, it could be that... many busy posts will accumulate around, and some posts could get ignored all together.

I'd hardly say the Era forums are ignored. People just need to (more often) write something about certain games and start discussions... but regardless the forum set up (simple or complex)... not much is said in detail about individual games or gaming stories. Maybe its just a question of...
internet has told all and seen all. The ship has sailed... everyone said what they wanted already. Of course there's some acceptions. 
But, having the subforums help topics to last longer and give people more time to be able to read (all of them) before they are lost in the shuffle of other topics bein' started soon after... which might happen though, if everything is clumped together.

Just a thought.

I'm ok with anything. Any forum on this site, is better then none at all.




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