Where do you go for game news and reviews?

[Ed Kolis]

I like Gamespy.com and Game Informer magazine... hey, you aren't considering advertising your games, are you?

[mottlee]

I go by word of mouth, my brother got me hooked on SEIII and I have been at it ever since I got him into Star Fury turn around is fair play

[luke_slovakian]

I have to say the worlds most popular gaming stuff would be Gamespy.com well for euro there is one more pop but you would not like euro langs. So gamespy.com and gamespot.com they are both really great and a lot of people use them, ALOT.

[Renegade 13]

First I go to the website of the game and/or the developer (if different). Second, I visit the forums for said game and just generally check things out. Third, if there's a demo available, that's basically the single biggest 'unbiased' review that I can find Fourth, I may from time to time visit various gaming sites, namely Gamespot and Gamespy, among others.

[Fyron]

I really only come here. The mainstream industry in general is only spewing out crap these days, and it makes me sad to read about these "games"...

I never bother reading reviews, since they are generally always worthless. I don't care what some bribed writer wrote about the game. Or even if it is the rare review site where reviews are not purchased, it doesn't affect how good or bad the game is. Forums for mainstream games aren't of much use to me either, since they are either filled with flaming idiots or diehard fanboys... The Shrapnel forums are really a diamond in the rough. Well, there are still the diehard fanboys, but it isn't the arrogant newbie-flaming type. Demos are the only way to go, and I only try the demos that friends (real life or internet) mention are for good games. So really, just word of mouth... And I never pay any attention to advertisements of any form, as they are the most useless thing of all.

Erm... so I guess that post was completely useless for you. Sorry.

[Raging Deadstar]

For anything such as Games or Music I check out Amazon to see if they have it. Usually you can get a strong impression from the reviews, usually customer reviews, good or bad, put together have enough information for me to make an opinion.

Other than that it's usually what comes up in conversation amongst my roleplaying group, Republic Commando is currently the topic. That or this Forum. What will swing me to buy a game is what I've read about it and after playing the Demo.

[Annette]

Ed Kolis said:
I like Gamespy.com and Game Informer magazine... hey, you aren't considering advertising your games, are you?

We're not looking at making any major changes to our strategy of advertising in the niche market publications. Feedback like this, though, helps us keep our thumbs on the pulse of the community so to speak. This input is very helpful to us - even yours Fyron! Please keep it coming

[Alneyan]

When applicable, my first stop is specialised magazines, like the French magazine PC4War for strategy games. If I am interested in the multiplayer part of the game, I also check the community. And for more general information, I usually head for sites like the Underdogs of Moby Games.

I do not often check demos though: there aren't so many games likely to strike my fancy, and I only play demos to get a feel of the game (I cannot recall one demo I played for more than one hour).

[Gandalf Parker]

I prefer any site where I can put in search parameters and get a "recommended" list. You might make a note to make sure that such sites have all of the important key-words properly loaded against your games.

For general "buzz talk" I prefer newsgroups such as:
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategy

As more and more games seem to have devastating problems that cant be found until you try to run it, many people haunt those groups to get the initial impressions of other gamers before they buy. Its often commented that its considered a balancing factor against reviews which are considered to be questionably money-driven on major magazine sites and possibly abit too biased in favor the product.

I tend not to feel that way but I see it mentioned a lot so I thought Id bring it up.

[Gandalph]

I am a long time subscriber to PC Gamer. I am also a member of several forums and newsgroups. I use these methods, and word of mouth, to "discover" new games. If a game piques my interest, I will then do research, like the games website for screenshots and forum feedback, and, if I am still interested, I will then download a demo and try it out. Then, and only then, will the game manufacturer get my money.