Who are we? What exactly is this site all about? And why should I come here instead of the other 60 sites available to me? Well….we hope we're different. Just a little. Let me tell you how...

Our goal is to develop a site based 90% on reviews, 10% on previews and interviews. We want to have no less than one new original review per day. We are not a news site. We're not journalists. But, we are looking for a few writers to join us! The benefits? You get to be press and get the occasional free game. Sorry, we all volunteer. But, dang, we have fun. Some of us are experienced website managers and network managers. Some of us are game developers. Some of us are students. Some of us have been game reviewers in the past. But ALL of us are game players. We play games for the love of games and for no other reason. We're hoping to create something a little bit different. We don't want to assign a value to a game. "This game is a 2. This game is a B+. This one is a 5.75." Our reasoning behind this is it doesn't tell you about what is most important - the player PLAYING the game. Two players reviewing the same game can have wildly differing opinions based upon likes/dislikes, experience in the genre and ability to play the game. Me personally, I am terrible at console games. I simply don't have the dexterity. But, I can recognize the difference between my own ineptness and a difficult game and I can also realize when I'm having fun despite being all thumbs! We think that's what makes reviews important - the person reviewing them. We also believe that games aren't quite reviewed properly and (as many of us are current/former members of the press) we'd like to work on changing that. To that end, we've set up a set of criteria for our reviews: No game (unless a web game like Popcap) shall be reviewed in 4 days. It's impossible to know the game. Our reviews will take 10-30 days depending on the depth of the game. No game shall be compared to another game unless it is a sequel. All games should be reviewed on their OWN merits or you run the risk of the player not understanding the comparison. We believe in "contextual" reviews. What we mean by this is that the review will be based upon the writer. How did the PLAYER find the gameplay, graphics, UI, sound, etc and did the PLAYER have FUN? If this were a game beyond the player's skills yet the player liked it, would it be recommended for a rental? If it's within his/her skills would they recommend to buy it and if so why? We have writer profiles that give information about the writer. Personal information they're willing to share. History of video game experience, favorite games, genres, etc. But, most importantly a short profile of the TYPE of player they are. Are they a hardcore shooter player or do they enjoy social games? Do they like RTSs but find that they're bad at them because they micromanage too much? Who is the writer? Massively Multiplayer Online Games we review differently than most news outlets. We have multiple players blog their experiences each night - a few sentences to a book depending on the night's events - and then every 2-3 weeks an editor writes a summary review. We do this for 90-120 days. Then, 6-9 months later we come back and do this again. It's a failing of we in the media, that we don't revisit games that change monthly or even weekly! We review not only children's games, but games that are appropriate for children. (A T rating that is ok for an 8-year old) NO GAME is too old to be reviewed. If it can be had, new or used, budget or out of a dusty box and our writers like it, they review it. Someone else may have missed it 5 years ago. Some games simply stand the test of time, period. ANY and ALL games can and should be reviewed more than once by multiple readers for all of the reasons stated above. We feel the above will make more useful reviews. If two of our writers review a game and one loves it while the other hates it - then you review their profile and find the one who hates it plays games just like you - well, then that's the review you want to trust. We hope all this makes sense : Below you'll find the profile for one of our writers, to give you an idea of what we mean. At the time this page was written (August of 2004), she was one of only 2 female writers so her profile reads VERY differently from most of our others:

Ophelea

Name: Kelly Heckman
Age: 32
Profession: This Site!

First Game System: Atari 800
Favorite Games: Tempest, Lemmings, Populous, Sim City 2000, Civ II, Asheron's Call, Bust-A-Move, Gladius, Zuma
Favorite Game Genres: RPG, MMORPG, and Simulation
Games Systems Owned: PC, PS2, and GameCube

Favorite Saying: "Question Everything"
The Book that Most Profoundly Changed My Life: "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving

Description: I'm a mother of two boys, ages 5 and 7 and live in the chaos that ensues. I live in a small town that doesn't have a software store and therefore depend upon Amazon for PC games or Hollywood Video for Consoles. The nice part of this is I don't go quite as broke as some. My children both play games so I often play them first, getting to know exactly how something may effect my sensitive and easily stimulated older child vs. my stoic and imperturbable younger.

I like games for games; for the pure enjoyment of them and believe that no game is wholly bad, though some are real stinkers. I also have the dexterity of a camel in mittens so find playing FPSs difficult (and I also don't like the gore) and RTSs at times can stump me. I just can't seem to move quickly enough to keep up with them. Some of my favorite games are arcade games and I'll spend 3-5 years on the same 5-6 levels because I just never get any better. But, I have fun.

Now, to further clarify our game reviews. We'd like to avoid the "ratings" system used by many other sites and have a contextual recommendation at the end. To that end, we've compiled a list of qualities that you'll find in games (well, at least 4 in every game, I don't see Madden 2004 containing much story/lore).

We try to use this list below and review as many of them as we can, not using it as a format but as a guideline - letting our reviews flow. The list (and it's open to revision) is as follows:

Technical:

• Graphics (engine)
• UI
• Controls

• Art (models/animation/texturing)
• Sound/Music

• Game Concept
• Replayability (subjective)
• Level/Environment Design (interesting? varied?)
• Gameplay Design (innovative? formulaic?)
• Immersiveness
• Difficulty
• Overall "Fun" (subjective)

The MOST important part of our reviews is our concluding paragraph. Since we're not using a rating system, the conclusion about the game as a whole must be in the context of the REVIEWER. What we mean by this can be seen in the profile above. You'll note in the profile above she's not great at FPSs. Right now, she's working on Transformers. After a week she's still in the training area - she's just SO bad with the controls. But, the fact is she finds the game incredibly maneuverable, some of the graphics are really impressive and the UI is designed so that even though she doesn't use it well, she understands it just fine. So, once she gets OUT of the training area and sees some more of the world, her summary will include something to the effect of "if you're like me and have poor dexterity, I'd suggest this game as rental for a few nights of fun frustration and just the chance to be Optimus Prime. However, if you're good with consoles, this game has much to offer in the way of replayability, graphics, story and fun. For you, its a must-have".

Now, we're not asking for English majors. We have editors to help with that (although please, spell check?!) We want enthusiasm and a love for the game.

So, if you're interested in joining us as a "regular" staff member we'd love to have you.

If you find you want to write ONE review about your favorite game ever, that would be wonderful as well. We ENCOURAGE reader submissions - even one-time only.

Pick your favorite game of all time if you don't see something there that catches your eye.

Write something for us and send it to . We'll read it, talk to you about what you'd like to do and go from there.

And in case you hadn't noticed, we're excited!