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  • Tip of the Week: Ratings Across Platforms

    This week’s tip is about how GameSpot handles review scores based on the game and the way the platform handles the game. I have asked Justin Calvert to answer a question that was sent to me.

    Question:

    I see games on the 360 and PS3 reviewed [and] you guys always seem to put down the PS3 version even though it has the same issues as the 360 version. Whenever I see the reviews for a game that is on both consoles there is always a .5 deference in score, yet reading the review they have the same issues. There isn't a little biased in there is there?

    Answer:

    Firstly, none of us on the reviews team have any bias toward any platform--we all own both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, and we all enjoy great games regardless of which platforms they appear on. For the most part, we test all versions and find that the PS3 and X360 versions are more or less identical, and so our review scores reflect this. Occasionally, though, after testing all versions, there's simply no escaping the fact that one is inferior. When I reviewed Baja: Edge of Control last year, for example, the PS3 version looked far worse AND had an unstable frame rate--that version scored a 6.5 while the X360 version scored a 7.5. On that occasion, and on any occasion that different scores are given to different versions of the same game, the reason for the discrepancy is detailed in the text of the review.

    More recently, Kevin VanOrd reviewed Dragon Age: Origins, and, as you may have noticed, all three versions of the game got different scores. On the PC it was a 9.5, on the PS3 it was a 9.0, and on the X360 it was an 8.5. The PC version is a quite different and superior game, and although the console versions are very similar, there are noticeable differences that make the PS3 version better. Read paragraph four on page two of the review if you're interested in exactly what those differences are.

    We're often accused of bias toward one platform or another, but since we're accused of loving Sony, Microsoft, AND Nintendo, I think that just proves that we're not really biased at all, doesn't it? It's true that, on occasion, we post X360 reviews ahead of other versions, but that's not because we want to, it's because we insist on reviewing from retail discs and because, for whatever reason, publishers are often able to send us X360 copies long before we get PS3 copies. That's not always the case (we have retail Assassin's Creed II on the PS3 but not the X360 right now), but more often than not it is.

    Anytime you have a question about reviews, please feel free to either PM me or send me an e-mail at justin@gamespot.com--I can't guarantee that you'll get a response right away, but I do try to respond to every intelligent question that I'm sent.

    Related link: GameSpot Rating System

  • Weekly Report: Video Player Beta

    Announcements

    GameSpot’s video player is changing for the better! If you’re a Total Access or Plus subscriber, you will notice a link to the beta of the video player located on the top of a variety of videos around the site. If you are a free registrant, you can also take the opportunity to beta-test the video player by stopping by and following the instructions located in the beta discussion.

    Today On the Spot RSS and iTunes versions have returned! You can access the RSS and iTunes buttons by going to the Today On the Spot page. Click on the episode and then the subscribe link. This will display the RSS and iTunes formats for your listening pleasure!

    Three more game nights are scheduled with the GameSpot editors for the remainder of the year. Justin, Brian, Shaun, and Chris have set aside time during their busy schedules to play with all of you! Forza 3 Motorsport is the next game night scheduled for November 10. Brian Ekberg and Justin Calvert will be showing off the cars they made! You can find more details along with other upcoming game nights on the Game Night features page.

    The winner of the iCore bundle will be announced on the Saturday October 31 episode of Today On the Spot. This episode currently claims to also have Left 4 Dead on the show. Drop by Today On the Spot for the details.

    Member Spotlight: tyzwain

    This week’s member spotlight goes to tyzwain for his coverage of London MCM Expo, which was held this week. Tyzwain blogs about his experience on the show floor along with a couple of hands-on game impressions. There are also a variety of photos worth checking out. Thanks for sharing the excitement with us, tyzwain!

    User Videos

    This week, we changed it up because nobody posted any Halloween videos. Everyone loves to hear talented singers and musicians, right? We have a lot of talented GameSpot members on the site. The two videos featured are worthy of applause!
    - Dan_Lero created guitar and keyboard music for "What I've Done" by Linkin Park.
    - XFull_MetalX sings "Something in the Way" by Nirvana.

    User Reviews

    In celebration of Halloween week, scary and mysterious games reviewed by those who have the top 100 or 500 reviewers’ emblem were featured in this week's report.
    - Zombie Shooter 2 (PC) ChristianKiss
    - Demon's Souls (PS3) AzelKosMos
    - Cursed Mountain (Wii) dark_being
    - F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (PC) monco59
    - Alone in the Dark (PC) ebbderelict
    - Resident Evil 4 (GC) NeonNinja

    Blog Bunker


    - NBAmaster33 wrote a film review of Zombieland.
    - THE_DRUGGIE created a list of a dozen terrifying games for all of you to check out over the Halloween weekend!
    - Scientist8 shares his impressions about two indie games: Machinarium and Eufloria.
    - gbrading has posted his flashback on point-and-click adventures.
    - Uesugi-dono has a list of 10 classic games that should get a current-generation update.
    - PixelHunter shares thoughts about how console exclusives might be bad business.
    - HeyMaa has posted a list of 10 games that need to be made.
    - digi_matrix posts a rant type of blog about those who do not have any hands-on experience with the game, but they have an opinions based on it.
    - gormo4 has started a little series he’ll be posting about who the ultimate gaming heroines are. He currently has blogs about Zoey from Left for Dead and Alyx from Half-Life 2.

    Misc. Drawer

    - Unchartered 2 Game Night MVP: MrGanny
    - The HotSpot Homework emblem granted to gx_echidna, beganoo, and der_spudmeister.
    - wonderboy_46 posted a screenshot of a car he created in Forza Motorsport 3.
    - blazingsaddle95 shares his thoughts about the upcoming Prince of Persia film.

    Tip of the Week: Game Recommendations

    This week's tip is about how you can use GameSpot to get the best game recommendations. What are the kinds of things you do when you find the best game recommendation? Post your strategies in this week’s article.

  • Tip of the Week: Game Recommendations

    Game fans enjoy hearing about other people's game recommendations. Some people ask questions in the forums while others heavily rely on critic scores. Then there are also people who check into how many people purchased the games, while others simply have no idea where to go to find game recommendations.

    Below you will find five tips about how you can get the best game recommendations by using GameSpot as a resourceful tool.

    Tip 1: The first stop should be GameSpot’s gamespace, because the related games page does a pretty good job of finding games that are very close to the same in-game experience.

    1. Do a search for Age of Empires III (or your favorite game) and make sure you choose the appropriate platform.

    2. The left navigation will display the Summary link already open for you. Click on the Related Games link.

    3. The Related Games page allows you to see similar games, like Age of Empires, and you can also click on two other areas to change your results: Same Universe and Same Developer. These two pages include
    - Same Universe link, which will take you to the related game series
    - Same Developer link, which will take you to the game developer games related to Age of Empires III.

    4. Also, if you have been adding games to your game collection, you won’t even have to do a search for each gamespace. Just drop by your game collection page in your profile and click each game to check the Related Games links.

    Tip 2: The second stop would be the genre pages that are easily accessible on the gamespaces. Here’s how.

    1. Do a search for Age of Empires III (or your favorite game) and make sure you choose the appropriate platform.

    2. Below the game’s box art you will notice details related to the game, such as the publisher, developer, release date, and more. Click on the genre link. For an example, if you searched for Age of Empires, there will be a genre link called Historic Real-Time Strategy.

    3. The page will display many related popular games for the game genre. Consider checking into the gamespaces for each of your favorite games. Don’t forget to read and view all the content for each page to determine if this is the best game for you.

    Tip 3: Another place you might want to consider is the Most Popular section found on the front page of GameSpot. Also consider the GameSpot Rating System page, because not everything below 8.0 is a bad game. On a related note, we also have the Best Of feature and other features like the Holiday or Getting Started guides, which will share even more game recommendations. The front page sometimes hightlights these features, but you'll want to drop by the features page for the latest.

    Tip 4: Read about the professional and not-so-professional critic buzz! Professional critics, like the GameSpot editors, are a wonderful resource for prereleased and released games. Near GameSpot’s official review score located on the gamespace for most games, you’ll notice another score based on what the consumers think about the game. You might want to consider the user review score along with our sister site, Metacritic, to get a broader look at what the world thinks about each game. Also, don’t forget to read GameSpot User Reviews located on each gamespace. Some user reviews have recommendations about purchasing or renting games.

    Tip 5: The last tip involves mingling with others by posting in the General Games Discussion forum. This forum has a dedicated thread just for questions like these. Why not check to see what other GameSpot members have to say?

    That is it for my list of five tips for game recommendations. You are welcome to share your game recommendation strategies in the comments!

  • Weekly Report: SW does not mess around

    • Posted Oct 17, 2009 2:34 am GMT
    • By JodyR

    Announcements

    Game Heroes Winner!
    Gordon Freeman was recently crowned as GameSpot's All Time Greatest Game Hero. Read the full report ! On a more interesting note, because Gordon Freeman won the competition with 55.8%, Steam is now offering all Half-Life games are now 55.8% off in celebration of his victory. Check the ad located on the right site of the official site.

    Game Night Schedule
    The schedule for the remainder of the year can be found on the Game Night page . The next game night will be held on October 27th at 4:30pm PT. The game will be Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and the Editorial staff you'll play with will be Kevin Van Ord and Tom McShea!

    Game Heroes Emblems!
    We have three more emblems to share with those of you who participated in the Game Heroes feature!

    The Top 10 emblem was granted to the top 10 users with the highest score from having a solid bracket. We also had a few users who tied for 10th spot. We ended up granting all 4 of them the emblem, which was well deserved!
    The Top 100 emblem was granted to those who had the best brackets that issued them some nice points. We did have a variety of you who tied for 99th place so there happened to be a little more than 100 users granted this emblem.

    The last emblem will be granted to the lucky winner of the competition! Due to the winner not being determined until they go through the process of being eligible, we'll share who won in the next community weekly report.

    Those who received the Top 10 and Top 100 emblems were contacted through a private message notice.

    Member Spotlight: SolidTy

    The System Wars forum posters are serious about their forum awards. I would have to say they might even surpass the Off-Topic forum awards from how tight-nit they can be as forum dwellers. This week's member spotlight goes to SolidTy. We found it pretty awesome that although SolidTY was crowned the Kind of System Wars, he took the time to post a comment about each user mentioned, which amounts to about 36 GameSpot users! If you drop by his blog you'll find that there are many different categories. He also gives Kevin Van Ord a congrats for being the overall best GameSpot editor. Nice going Kevin! Additionally, if you're interested in discussing the System Wars 2009 Awards, drop by the official threads.

    Blog Bunker

    masterpinky2000 talks about why zombies are popular.
    Scientist8 has posted his first impressions of LucasArts' Lucidity game.
    auron11022 posted a nifty advice blog about ways to legitimately complain about games.
    GulliverJr     asks where is the 3G in Portable Consoles?
    Xirmi talks about MMOs and a MUD game in his latest blog called Individualism in MMOs.
    Penguins20 posts some impressions about some indie iPhone games.
    Tyzwain is curious about how many of you plan to pick up a copy of Borderlands.
    Dark_orb wrote a thorough blog about why he believes Gordon won and also includes the history of the GameFAQs game character battles.

    Misc. Drawer

    - Unofficial Left 4 Dead (X360) game night hosted by RealKilla_789. Post the best times you'd like to join in to play with the Crash Course DLC.

    - TheHotSpot Homework emblem granted to Aosen and beanpodd

    - Next Friday's community report has been postponed until the following Monday.

    Tip of the Week

    This week's tip is associated to GameSpot's Community Game Nights. As GameSpot members, you all have many community tools and resources at the click of your mouse. You have three areas on the site that give you a way to post an announcement about hosting your own game nights: UCB, Unions and personal blogs. During the time we experiment with a bi-weekly schedule with official game nights, you all have the opportunity to schedule unofficial game nights by posting an announcement in your blog, UCB or Union. You can now post an announcement by creating a thread in GameSpot's Community Game Night union.

    To get started, consider what kind of game you'd like to have. There may be some games that we won't be playing for the remainder of the year, and other GameSpot members may be excited to participate in them. For instance, Brutal Legend is said to have a solid multiplayer experience; well, that's what I hear on the streets anyways. We will not be hosting a game night for this, why not host an unofficial game night for it?

    There is a radar thread that was created today in the GameSpot Community Game Night union to give exposure to any unofficial game nights. Some people may just want your help to earn PSN trophies, XBL achievements or maybe they want help playing co-op. Any kind of activity like these are all good ways to get people excited to join in on the competition.

    To get started, read through the unofficial game night radar thread and posted your schedule game night. If there are enough scheduled, I may create a little section in this community report for all unofficial game nights. Why not do some experimenting of your own!

  • Weekly Report: Mobile Madness

    • Posted Oct 12, 2009 10:38 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    Announcements

    Mobile Games Channel We have another addition to the game channels to highlight mobile games content. You can now reach the mobile channel by clicking on the mobile or iphone tabs on every Gamespot.com webpage. You will also find gamespaces dedicated to mobile games [example] where GameSpot members can review mobile games, and a popular phone feature page worth checking out.

    PC Giveaway
    The GameSpot Production crew have been sharing details about how U.S. residents have the opportunity to win a brand new computer and monitor. All you have to do is create a blog or user video explaining why you should get the computer. Drop by the Producer's Note blog for the details.

    Brutal Legend Trivia & Marathon
    Last Friday wehad an hour game play marathon for Brutal Legend. Tim Schafer and Erik Robson from Double fine dropped by to talk about the game. Also, if you participated in the trivia session, we have announced the winners in the Producer's Note blog.

    Game Heroes Countdown
    The Game Heroes competition ends this Thursday. You all have two more days to make a difference between Mario and Freeman!

    TMNT Smash Up Game Night
    Game Nights happen every Tuesday starting at 4:30pm PT. To participate, make sure you have a Nintendo Wii, an internet connection, and drop by the game night chatroom to play. Also, to make sure there is staff participation, please vote for the time you plan to show.     If we don't get enough votes by tomorrow morning all Wii players are encouraged to drop by the chatroom to play a game of theirr choice.

    Mod of the Month
    Each month the moderators set aside time to vote for each other in hopes of being the next top moderator. This week's moderator of the month went to cell_dweller for his efforts in helping other GameSpot members, and the moderators. Additionally, if you would have voted for another moderator, each month the moderators allow GameSpot members to select other moderators for fun.

    Member Spotlight: dtujd2

    This week's member spotlight goes to dtujd2 for his blog about why gaming matters. His blog talks about the reasons why gaming should matter to everyone. One of the interesting points was the portion about not forgetting the elderly. Games can stimulate the brain much more than television shows can because it requires the player to be interactive! Let's flex those brains, peeps! Here is an excerpt:

    …I feel gaming could introduce something to many of our senior citizens that goes missing from their lives all too often in their golden years: The feeling of being young, of being alive. Through gaming, our elderly can experience thrilling adventures, engrossing stories, and deep strategy that will challenge their mind, body, and spirit, but in a safe and productive way.

    Randomness Teh Awesome

    Blog Bunker

    - Whitewolf725 and wolves1989 recently posted their experiences about meeting eac other in person. Check out their blogs to join in on the romantic discussion.
    - The_Druggie writes about a variety of rage quit games, Shame on him!
    - Bowlingotter was happy about the new GameSpot iPhone channel, and shares more iPhone game impressions.
    - Tee-3 , the Battlefield Heroes game night MVP, shares his experience about a former game night.

    Staff Fingerprints

    - Tom McShea would like to give a big shout out to Cripshay for noticing a minor typo in one of the reviews. These two words do look quite similar: every and ever. Thanks for alerting us of this mistake, Cripshay!

    Misc. Drawer

    - TheHotSpot emblem winners: rayjingstorm
    - Halo 3 ODST Game Night MVP: WaterLord0
    - Pakhair uploaded a hilarious video with a marching parade with 2 infants.
    - Skipping this week's user review and user video mentions

    Tip of the Week

    This week's tip is about making sure your private messages do not consist of advertisements thanks to a question asked by leonard88.

    We sometimes come across reports with users who are offended about a user contacting them through private messages. There are some occasions where the user did not know they were a part of a Union, and this can easily be avoided if the Union officers and leaders changed the way they contacted other Union members.

    If you decide to use the telegram feature as a Union leader or officer, make sure you state that they are a part of your union or this private message is subject to be flagged by others for advertising, or simply harassing them. This often happens when there is a leadership change, or there are new union officers. The best way to get around this is to state the Union name in the telegram. .

    Here is an example to consider.

    Dear Zappers Union members,

    We plan to have a game night dedicated to the best shooter game of all time. To join in stop by the Zappers union for more details!

    Stating the union name and calling them a member will refresh a user's mind, or simply give a cranky user no way to report it as a valid abusive advertisement. Users who sign up for a Union should come to understand that they are signing up for any telegrams sent from these Unions.

    Additionally, if you send someone a link outside GameSpot.com, be certain that they know them. If you send random users any websites outside GameSpot it might get flagged for advertising. The account sending the messages to many users are always subject to have the worst kind of penalties. Befriend people before sharing interesting things with them. .

    Until next week!

  • Game Heroes Final Countdown!

    • Posted Oct 8, 2009 9:01 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    Congrats to Mario and Gordon Freeman for making it to the finals of the All Time Greatest Game Heroes competition. Now that we're down to the final two, let's see what this plumber and scientist is made of! Drop by the features page to watch the featured videos dedicated to both game heroes, and then make your final selection count!

  • Weekly Report: Home Videos!

    • Posted Oct 5, 2009 8:27 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    Announcements

    Game Night: Halo ODST happens this Tuesday starting at 4:30pm PT

    Today on the Spot PC Giveaway Delayed

    Member Spotlight: Brianfox1

    Last week we mentioned that the member spotlight would be chosen based on the GameSpot Answers statistics. This week's member spotlight goes to Brianfox1 for having the highest GameSpot Answers rank of gold. Brianfox1 has been a registrant for over a year now, and judging by his game collection, he is a fan of the Nintendo game platforms.

    User Videos

    Homemade Resident Evil by Drumtasticnick. A short film dedicated to the game.
    Scribblenauts Video Review     by k_smoove. A funny video review about what stinks about the game.

    User Reviews

    Folklore (PS3) AzelKosMos
    Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements (X360) celtic1962
    Duke Nuclear Winter (PC) ChristianKiss
    Shining in the Darkness (Genesis) 3KindgomsRandy
    Zombie Apocalypse (X360) dracula_16
    GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (DS) Azghouls
    The Adventures of Cookie & Cream (PS2) ebbderelict
    Castle Crashers (X360) zh666

    Randomness Teh Awesome

    Blog Bunker

    What happened to Sonic the Hedgehog? Charization
    Uncharted 2: Multiplayer Demo Impressions canana
    Old School Gamer Chronicles 8 - Red Baron (1990) Talonfire
    The Promise of Portable Gaming Safad0
    Criteria for playing a game jeroentje001
    What universe or "setting" for a game attracts you? bowlingotter
    When luck surpasses strategy in a game ChristianKiss
    Game Heroes: Kratos Out of the Picture     PSFreak1

    Staff Fingerprints

    Professor Layton to the rescue by Laura Jenner (GSUK)

    Misc. Drawer

    - TheHotSpot emblem winners: Wednesdaylad43, Salami5000 and Stephenage
    - Battlefield Heroes Game Night MVP: Tee-3

    Tip of the Week

    GameSpot and GameFAQs members have the opportunity to ask questions and answer them by going to any GameSpace on the site. If you have a question about a game, do a search for it and ask the question. Some answers are already available for popular games. For example, dropping by the Fallout 3 page and click on the answers page to find information about bosses, quests, puzzles, items, levels, plot, strategy, technical assistance and much more!

  • Weekly Report: TGS Highlighter

    • Posted Sep 28, 2009 12:40 am GMT
    • By JodyR

    Announcements

    - Battlefield Heroes Game Night will be held September 29th at 4:30pm PT. Vote for the time you plan to show up so staff can stick around.

    - League of Legends: Clash of Fates beta giveaway . I've been told we have a couple more thousand of these keys to give away to U.S. residents. Be sure to check the system specifications found on the right side of the page before requesting a key.

    - Latest Today On the Spot Trivia Winners. If you have had a chance to participate in the trivia sessions for the show, we plan to start adding the names of the winners periodically on the show and in the Producer's Note , GameSpot live production team's site blog. We had a lot of catching up to do on prizes, so check out a variety of winners for the past 4 episodes

    - Round 4 of the Game Heroes competition started a few days ago. If you haven't had the change to vote, drop by there to give the remainder favorite game heroes a pat on the shoulder!

    Member Spotlight: pooyanh

    This week's member spotlight goes to pooyanh for keeping things real by creating a highlights report of his favorite happenings at this years Tokyo Game Show. Drop by his blog and give him a TGS shoutout, or simply respond to some of the neat things he had to say. Nice going, pooyanh!

    User Reviews

    This week's selection came from a list of hundreds of users I have been tracking! Some of you have private messaged me over the past year asking if you did something wrong because I was tracking you. Not at all; I you look like an awesome blog poster or contributor to the site, I may track you to see if you have any cool community news to share. Here is this week's rundown of user reviews.

    Osmos (PC) Domstercool
    Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS) Jerell_rast
    Oblivion - GotY Edition (PC) gbrading
    The Simpsons Game (X360) Danbambridge
    Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii) Raikoh_
    Sins of a Solar Empire (PC) Samson089
    Scribblenauts (DS) Gatcho

    Randomness Teh Awesome

    Blog Bunker

    A Beginners Guide to Reviews by DarkSynDrom
    YLOD PS3 Fixed by Dan_Lero
    The FPS PC Community is Being Suffocated by x2wiSteDx
    The best generation of video game history? by red-ray

    Staff Fingerprints

    Many editors attended TGS this last week. Check Brian Ekberg and Shaun McInnis ' blogs for how their trip went. GS staff also took lots of TGS pictures as well.

    Misc. Drawer

    - Game Heroes Bracket emblem have finally been granted to all participants!
    - User videos will be skipped this week due to gamespace page issue that has been reported.

    Tip of the Week

    This week's tip is about using the GameSpot Answers pages on your profiles. We already explained how the feature worked earlier this year, but did you know that you have a GameSpot Answers page that shows how many questions you have asked, how many you have answered, and an answers level? To get to this page, click on your Contributions list and then click Answers. Next, post your Answers statistics here! The person with the highest answer level, question asked –or- answered will be featured in next week's member spotlight!

  • Weekly Report: Whirlwind of Happenings!

    • Posted Sep 18, 2009 11:36 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    Announcements

    - Now Playing is our new name for Advanced Screening, which is basically a pretty label for our live gameplay marathons. Today's episode will take you 1 hour into Halo ODST. Sadly, no emblem announced for this event. We'll have a chatroom button on the right side of the page about 20 minutes prior.

    - Game Heroes Round 3 started a few hours ago. Get in your vote for your favorites. Also, for those of you who want to know the latest scoop about this feature, click on the home tab located on the feature for the details.

    - GameSpot's Smackdown vs Raw 2010 Draft special now has a replay available for those of you who missed out on the live event. Also, we posted the trivia winners of the prize bundles in the Producer's Note.

    - The latest Game Heroes emblem was announced. We do have a variety more up for our sleeves, but you should note that these are the two primary ones the majority will receive for participating. Also note that staff still have to pull up those of you who did not complete your brackets properly. I'll post an announcement once we had out those as well.

    - League of Legends: Clash of Fates beta giveaway! We have 20,000 beta keys to give away to U.S. residents. Be sure to check the system specifications found on the right side of the page before requesting a key.

    - Skipping Random teh Awesome, user videos and user reviews due to this week being extreme busy with broadcasts galore! I blame the Game Heroes Bub & Bob haters/fans, Smackdown vs Raw, and Halo ODST marathon.

    Member Spotlight: Garrison_Ford

    This week's member spotlight goes to Garrison_Ford for his woes about work blocking GameSpot. What would you do if you were blocked to check the site during lunch breaks? Be sure to give him some tips to get him through the day!

    Tip of the Week

    This week's tip has bee requested by demand since we brought back our weekly broadcast, On the Spot now known as Today on the Spot. We have read your emails, forum posts, comments and private messages galore! You have all been super excited about having the opportunity to win prizes three times a week. Some of the tips below may likely increase your chances of winning a trivia prize

    1. Fast forwarding cheaters are not considered. Make sure to answer the entire show up until the trivia time.

    2. Logging in and using the submit answer button fills in your contact information for you!

    3. Make sure your contact information is up to date, including your email as we may send you a notice about your prize. Email bounces may cause you to be ineligible for a prize

    4. If you are new registrant, fill in your contact information to enhance your chances of being considered.

    5. Only one winner per prize and TOTS episode

    6. Include your t-shirt size when you answer the trivia question. Be sure to mention the name of the prize you are trying for!

    7. Prizes take 4-6 weeks to receive if you live in the United States. If you live outside U.S., the prizes take about 6-8 weeks.

    8. The types of winners we select vary depending on the kind of show we have.

    9.     Submit your answers the day the show was published to enhance your chances of being selected!

    10. We plan to start posting the winners list in the Producer's Note site blog.

    Note that these 10 bullets only serves the condensed version of the tip of the week. Be sure to read the tip of the week article for a further explanation.

    Also, if you have never watched a GameSpot Today on the Spot episode, you may participate in these trivia sessions by checking out the schedule located on the front page of GameSpot. Scroll to the right side where it says GameSpot originals.

  • Game Heroes Round 3 Coming Shortly!

    • Posted Sep 18, 2009 9:46 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    We are happy to report that, after a thorough review of our anti-fraud system (and a review of the techniques being passed around the Interwebs – what, you think we don't visit sites other than GameSpot?), we found vote-stuffing attempts - that failed. The majority of these attempts were for the Bub & Bob vs. Sonic contest, with some found for Little Mac vs. Cloud Strife. Those attempts were never counted in the official tally.

    We ran through a few scenarios that changed a few criteria for how votes are accepted. The result? None of these scenarios changed the tallies enough to change the winners of the contests. We know that there has been a lot of discussion of Bub & Bob, and all we can say is this: the Bub & Bob supporters have been successful at getting out the vote. We, of course, are actively monitoring the voting and will give you more updates should we see any new concerns.

    With this behind us, it's time to get ready for Round 3, and I think we can all agree that even with all the excitement thus far, the storied 16 is where it gets interesting.

    UPDATE: Head over to the Game Heroes feature to vote.

  • Tip of the Week: TOTS Trivia!

    • Posted Sep 18, 2009 7:02 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    This week's tip is about GameSpot's Today On the Spot trivia sessions. To ensure that you aren't skipped as a potential winner, be sure to follow these guidelines.

    1. WATCH THE SHOW: Trivia answers are only considered after the trivia question has been asked. It's like this: Say an episode goes live at 4:00 p.m., and the trivia question is asked 12 minutes into the show. We will start taking trivia submissions around 4:12 p.m. Anyone who fast forwards to the trivia section and submits an answer before 4:12 p.m. will not be considered.

    2. LOG IN: If you are not logged in while watching the show, you reduce your chances of being considered. We definitely try to consider trivia answers from all of our viewers, but those of you who are logged in have your contact information with your real name and mailing address already filled in for us to consider. Anonymous users rarely send their real names or mailing addresses, giving all logged-in users a higher chance of being considered.

    Update: As of January 2010 we added some fields in the trivia submission form to expedite the confirmation of email requests. You should enter this information so the admin can compare the two addresses. Plus, if you want grandma to get the package instead of you, just enter her name and mailing address. We do not keep these emails on file. They are strictly used for that trivia item you might end up winning.

    3. UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFO: You have heard it many times before, especially during the time when the infamous Rich Gallup was selecting the winners. TOTS contest prizes will go to your old mailing address you registered with and might never be forwarded to your new mailing address. We do our best to contact you about confirming your mailing address, but this may not always happen. Why allow someone at your old address to receive the nifty prize package?

    4. ADD CONTACT INFO: The new registration system does not force you to add your real name and mailing address. When staff go through the selections of potential winners, your answer may be correct, but you never filled out your contact information, causing the staff member to find someone who did fill out this information while logged in. The same goes for e-mail addresses. If an e-mail bounces, the prize will likely be given to another user.

    5. ONE WINNER PER TRIVIA PRIZE: We often see someone answer all of the trivia questions not knowing that you may not be considered if you have a huge blob paragraph sent to us. If you decide to answer all of them, post the name of the prize and then the answer. Also, if you win one prize, you are not eligible for any other prizes for that particular TOTS episode. We're just throwing that out there because some of you have asked why you didn't get all three prizes for the day.

    6. T-SHIRT SIZE: When a T-shirt is up for grabs, be sure to include the size of your T-shirt along with the trivia answer. T-shirt sizes vary, and we may be able to send you the perfect size!

    7. PRIZE MAIL-OUT TIMELINES: Prizes take 4 to 6 weeks to receive if you live in the United States. If you live outside the US, the prizes take about 6 to 8 weeks. Please wait this out before you get worried that your prize package has gotten lost in the mail.

    8. WINNERS SELECTION: If you have your contact information filled in and submit your answers properly, you have a better chance of winning a prize. The types of winners we select vary depending on the kind of show we have. There are occasions when a winner of the prize will be selected on a first-to-answer basis, while other times it is based on the creativity of the user's answer. Being creative or thorough is in your best interest.

    9. SUBMIT ANSWERS THE DAY OF SHOW: This is important, because those who submit their trivia answers on the day the show is published increase their chances of being selected. If you see the latest TOTS episode late at night, consider submitting your answer before 11:59 p.m. PT. The only time we consider answers for users the day after a show was published is when other users did not answer the question properly.

    10. WINNERS LISTINGS: Just in case some of you do not check your e-mails after we notify you that you have won a prize, you should drop by the Producer's Note blog, because we plan to start posting the winners there for each TOTS trivia week.

    Quick How-To Tips:

    - ANSWERING TOTS TRIVIA: Use the Submit Trivia button located on the right side. Be sure to include the prize name and the answer. For an example: "For the Sora Figure, she lived on the planet NAME."

    - CHANGING CONTACT INFO: To update or add your contact information, click on the Options tab located on the top of every GameSpot page. The About Me page should have your contact information filled in.

    UPDATE 3/29/10: We have five more TOTS trivia tips for 2010.

  • Round 3 Voting Delayed

    • Posted Sep 17, 2009 10:27 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    Dear GameSpot Community,

    As you know, we are actively monitoring voting in this contest. We have recently discovered issues with Round 2 that we did not see in Round 1. As we promised in our last announcement, we are keeping you informed about what we are doing and addressing these issues as quickly as possible:

    - We are recounting the round 2 contests and removing the fraudulent votes
    - We will tell you as soon as we know the results of the recount and we will adjust the standings accordingly.
    - We are rescheduling Round 3 voting to begin after the recount is completed

    We take this contest seriously and our number one priority is to have a fair competition.

    Thank you for your continued support and energy!

    Jody Robinson, Ricardo Torres

  • Emblem Alert: Game Heroes Bracket

    • Posted Sep 15, 2009 7:17 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    FINAL UPDATE: ust wanted to let everyone know that you have all been granted the emblem if you filled out the bracket. Thanks for creating a bracket! Next up, let's see what other emblems are in store for those of you who did well in your predictions!

    -------------------

    UPDATE: I have some great news. The awesome GameSpot Developer Staff provided a list of everyone else who did create a bracket and never saved, or saved their brackets without choosing a winner. This emblem is being handed out to those who participatied in GameSpot's first 'All-Time Greatest' bracket.

    Please be patient for your emblem as this list is quite hefty. You should expect to see it on your profiles some time today.Also, once this is handed out, the ONLY way someone will get the emblem is if their bracket was filled in and some how I might have not added your name properly to the emblem tool. Therefore, only use the emblem reporting thread in the technical support forum if you have not received the emblem by tomorrow morning.

    -------------------

    Introducing… the second emblem for the All-Time Greatest Game Heroes feature. This emblem was created for those of you who submitted a bracket for this competition.

    Although we have handed out this emblem to those of you who submitted your bracket properly (choosing the final winner of the competition and saving the bracket) we do know that some of you might have saved your bracket but never chose a winner [note that this was associated to leaderboards bug that displayed you as zero]. Some of you also did not save your brackets before the deadline. We are considering to grant the rest of you who did not fill out your brackets properly to also receive the emblem. However, please do NOT report that you are missing this emblem as all requests will be ignored until we have a list of usernames who have incomplete brackets. Thanks!

  • Weekly Report: Oh Noes!

    • Posted Sep 11, 2009 9:28 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    Announcements

    - If you are interested in fighting adventure games we have about 50,000 early access beta keys to give away for Dungeon Fighter Online.

    - Call of Duty World at War game night begins at 4:30 next Tuesday, September 15th. If you don't own a Nintendo Wii, post in the discussion thread on whether or not you plan to drop by to play your console. We can call it a Call of Duty series celebration!

    - Game Heroes feature concerns of poll rigging have been addressed a few times by staff. We have done numerous investigations and the so-called poll rigging does NOT work. Please read both notices about the concerns located in the previous posts in this site blog.

    Member Spotlight: rykh

    This week's member spotlight goes to rykh for his creative editorial about his favorite game developers and how they all have one thing in common, the letter B! Here is an excerpt: "These happened to Bethesda, Bungie, Bioware, Black Isle, and last but not least Blizzard. "

    User Reviews

    Guitar Hero 5 (X360) AK_the_Twilight
    Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS) AzelKosMos
    Duke It Out in D.C .(PC) ChristianKiss
    Bit.Trip Core (Wii) c_rake
    Fallout 3 Game Add-On Pack (PC) LGTX
    Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) SkylinePigeon
    Primal (PS2) SYdoggXxX
    Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (PC) Azghouls
    SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny (PSP) charizard1605
    Golden Sun (GBA) bluej33
    The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (PS2) ebbderelict
    Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP) khoofia_pika
    Klonoa (Wii) NeonNinja
    SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny (PSP) shabulia

    Randomness Teh Awesome

    Blog Bunker
    - Edubuccuneer talks about the Dreamcast's 10th anniversary!
    - JustPllainLucas has some tips to overcome challenges in a game.
    - Subforti talks about Oblivion's horse armor.
    - Canana has a three game comparison article about Forza Motorsport 3 vs Gran Turismo 5 vs Need For Speed Shift
    - Jd1680a has posted some pros and cons about building a custom gaming PC.

    Staff Fingerprints
    I figured that sometimes staff needs a little corner to show their activity in the community. Staff have recently left behind their fingerprints in the following places!

    - Justin Calvert started playing World of Warcraft again, this time he decided to make his ideal mission to fish in the game. .
    - Chris Watters posted a comment in D_West's blog to address some concerns about the Beatles Rock Band review.
    - Shaun McInnis gave away an in-game avatar Beatle's shirt in his blog earlier this week. The winner of the avatar beatles shirt went to dj_pulserfan.
    - Sophia Tong mentioned talks a little about Trials HD in her blog.

    Misc. Drawer
    - tiggerboy attended PAX this year and posted some pictures of his experience.
    - Skipping the featured user videos for the week.

    Tip of the Week

    This week's tip is about reporting and ignoring user conduct. With the conspiracy about Game Heroes poll rigging, some of you have been upset with new registrants posting offensive, flaming and trolling posts. Here are some tips about ways to overcome being a target from users who have no credibility on the site.

    1) INVESTIGATE: Check to see how long the user has been a registrant. If registration happened around the end of August 2009, which is when the game heroes page was published, report and ignore. If the account is an older registrant who finally desired to post on the site (low post count) report the abuse if the user is flaming or being offensive.

    2) DO NOT RESPOND TO TROLLING. Responding to a troll gives the abusive user a chance to flag you for flaming them. Sure, you might have backed up Mario, Luigi and their sisters, but now the abusive troll has a reason to report your conduct. Bottom line, flaming is definitely worse than trolling conduct. Do not give them the ammo to flag your posts. If you are frustrated, post a blog about it but do not name any usernames as this will be a direct flame.

    3) STAY OUT OF THE LINE OF FIRE. If you find that any GameSpot feature is being flooded with abusive users, do not post in these areas of the site. By doing so it is much like walking into a building while knowing that there is a bomb. Why get caught in the collateral damage? You are better off reporting the abuse you come across.

    4) MINGLE WITH USERS WHO MATTER TO YOU. Forget about those who have no credibility on the site. Users lack credibility when they have not established a foothold in the community. They are often found as low post count or recently registered. Bottom line, if you have never heard of a user, do not believe anything he or she has to say.

  • Dungeon Fighter Online Beta Keys

    • Posted Sep 10, 2009 7:50 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    We have some Dungeon Fighter beta keys to give away. Drop by the beta page for the details!

  • Game Hero Poll Concerns

    • Posted Sep 9, 2009 11:38 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    Hi everyone,

    We just wanted to give you an update after a day of discussions with our tech team around the voting.

    Vote rigging falls into two rough buckets. The first is rallying tons of users to a cause, in favor of – or against – a character. We allow and support this. All of our users are encouraged to do this, whether they want to express their true opinion or just do something silly. The best way to combat this is to fight fire with fire, and if your character is in a tough matchup, get out the vote! The forces of evil are limited in number!

    The other type of vote rigging, automated voting, is something we are actively monitoring and still have no reason to believe is happening on a scale large enough to impact the outcomes of contests to date.

    With all this in mind, it's clear that groups of users have banded together to influence the outcome of contests, particularly Master Chief vs. Bub & Bob. We can't and won't stop a large number of users from using their votes just because they want to do something other than pick their actual favorites. On the other hand, we're monitoring the chatter around automated voting, and so far we don't see anything that we think works. We, unfortunately, have to remain quiet on the types of fraud we see and how we combat it, because the less information the fraudsters have, the better. I know that last part is frustrating. Believe me, we'd love to prove that we know what's up instead of saying, "Just trust us."
    If we do notice widespread fraud, we'll admit to it, and we'll do something about. So, get out there and continue to pioneer for the remaining favorites!

    - Jody Robinson, Ricardo Torres

  • Game Heroes Voting Update

    • Posted Sep 7, 2009 9:58 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    UPDATE: Voting for round 1b ends tomorrow. Please refer the counter and not the bracket standing.

    Here is a quote from one of the staff members found in this the forums earlier today

    Sherwinb wrote:

    Unfortunately we did erroneously close the voting for Round 1b which is not suppose to happen until tomorrow. We apologize for this error and have reopened the polls so that voting can continue until noon tomorrow, 9/8.

    We're still working on clearing up the results for Round 1b on both the official standings as well as individual user brackets but hope to have that resolved soon. We assure you though that if any of the battle results change between now and tomorrow at noon we will certainly have those updated results indicated in both areas. Again, we apologize for this mix-up.

    -------------

    Hey there,

    We apologize for the delays in responding. We've been doing a lot of moderation clean-up in the community over the past three days. We do want to remind everyone that we want these game heroes features to be clean of vulgar, flaming and other offensive conduct. Please continue to report abuse that does not comply with the Terms of Use agreement. The more of you who report the conduct, the faster we will be able to have it removed.

    It is important to understand that we have a zero tolerance of cheating for the All-Time Greatest Game Heroes competition polls. We take this seriously and did research months prior to the competition kicking off to ensure we have a system in place to support a fair voting system. We're constantly monitoring the voting to keep things fair.

    Our investigations all last week and this weekend show no indication of abuse with ballot stufing. This means that we need you all to stand up for your game heroes. Tell your friends who have not taken the time to vote. You all have a chance to continue to vote until tomorrow so get them in today!

    We are dealing with a world-wide voting poll so we expect the finals to display what the entire world decides as the All-Time Greatest Game Heroes. You all can make difference. GAME ON!

    We appreciate everyone's patience and enthusiasm for the competition.

    Jody Robinson and Ricardo Torres

  • Weekly Report: iPhone Game Heroes Voting?!

    • Posted Sep 5, 2009 1:14 am GMT
    • By JodyR

    Announcements

    - You can now cast your Game Hero votes on your iPhone! Drop by the Game Heroes feature for the details.

    - Metal Gear Solid 4 Game Night begins at 4:30 next Tuesday, September 8th! A game night emblem is up for grabs to the MVP. Make sure you update your game with the latest patch many hours prior to game night.

    - Navigation menu has been updated. The Community & Tech tabs were replaced with a Movies & More tab, which will give you easier access to our sister sites. For any and all community related content, drop by the Forums page or simply go to the Site blogs page for the latest Spam Filter updates. If you used the community page, you can pull the same data by going to your profile under the contributions link.

    - Each month the site moderators have the opportunity to vote for another volunteer moderator to be featured as the Mod of the Month. The mod who gets the most votes from their peers receive a reward for their efforts and a temporary Mod of the Month emblem. The votes that piled up for the Month of September went to G013M for his tolerance of the admins (hah), other mods and user in our community. Who would you have voted for?

    Member Spotlight: ClayMeow

    This week's member spotlight goes to ClayMeow for his example of a game hero campaign blog . ClayMeow did his research about the game hero and it shows. Here is an excerpt:
    "He already saved Earth from one alien invasion, he freed a whole alien race, and he has given Earth's remaining survivors hope for the future."

    Featured Videos

    - PS3 Slim Hard Disk Drive Swap by Amster_G
    - Chris and Lark Outtakes by Ryan MacDonald

    Randomness Teh Awesome

    Game Hero Bloggers!
    - Ebi_Furya believes that he might have put too much thought into creating his game heroes breacket, and shares his thoughts about why Nathan Drake and The Apprentice should be the final two.

    - SYdoggXxX provdes some interesting points about what he would define as a game hero. The three reasons he provided was mainly about game heroes' personality, uniqueness and charm.

    Blog Bunker
    - Kravyn81 believes that there are some games that need to have better game mechanics,
    - Shmoe82 has an interesting blog about being colorblind and how it may change a gamer's in-game experience.
    - ubergusterfan wrote an interesting blog about how he would like to protect his youngsters from mature rated games, even though he is a fan of them.
    - whitemute posted his top 5 epic game fails. Spoilers may be included.
    - LucasPenney asks why some games do not put an emphasis on teamwork.
    - 43n1m4 rrote a rant style blog about why people are so biased abount gaming platforms.

    Misc. Drawer
    - Skipping user reviews for the week.
    - We've removed the inactive unions from the endorsed unions page .
    - TheHotSpot homework winner this week is -Sonnenschein-
    - Dawn of War 2 game night MVP is carlosjuero
    - zassimick wins the screenshot caption emblem for the week

    Tip of the Week

    This week's tip was created by Samson089 about the Anatomy of a room dedicated to gaming! Here is his list of things to have:

    - TV
    - Surround System
    - 2 Chairs
    - Table
    - Storage
    - Collectibles & other geek themed items

    Drop by his blog to read more about each of these bulleted items!

    Until next week!

  • Advanced Screening of Ultimate Alliance 2

    • Posted Sep 4, 2009 12:53 am GMT
    • By JodyR

    We plan to have another Advance Screening episode of Ultimate Alliance 2 on the Xbox 360 starting at 4pm PT tomorrow, Friday, Spetember 4th. Advanced Screenining is what we would consider a resemblance of the gameplay marathons. Friday's episode will start at 4pm PT on the Today On the Spot page. Submit your questions early! We also plan to have a chatroom open to all GameSpot registerants. See you then!

    CHATROOM

  • Advanced Screening of Mario & Luigi: B.I.S.

    • Posted Sep 2, 2009 8:02 pm GMT
    • By JodyR

    Today we plan to have an Advance Screening episode of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story on the Nintendo DS starting at 4pm PT. Advanced Screenining is what we would consider a resemblance of the gameplay marathons. Today's episode will not be too long, but you can definitely drop by the Today On the Spot page and submit your questions early! Also, if you are a subscriber drop by the hidden batman cave chatroom to chit chat! See you there.