Gamespot quality dropping? Whats going on in Gamespot?

I have been using Gamespot for the last 10 years as the first source of gaming information.

I used the site to spot new interesting games, track the news of the games i got excited about and usually wait to read the reviews before buying any game.

I really loved the site and how userful and complete the information was.

But lately it has been quite mediocre... reviews are not delivered (i understand its not possible to come witht them before the releasing day but sometimes we need to wait weeks to see them if they r not main titles... hint hint Asuras wrath).

The articles have been quite disapointing and not much informative, very low coverage in new games. It seems you are only focusing in AAA games and its tough to spot new stuff stuff put there.

Im sad to confess I have being using IGN much more often, they reviews sucks as they give 9 and 10 to wahtever game, but their info and articles are much better and complete.

Im not sure if its cuase now im accessing gamespot UK instead of the american one, but can u go back to your roots?

Hey Zeleriand, Sorry to hear that you're not enjoying GameSpot as much as you used to. The site has definitely changed a lot in the last 10 years (I've been working for GameSpot for almost 12, so I've seen it too), but almost everything that we do is driven by our changing audience and by the changing industry that we're a part of.

You might have noticed, for example, that we don't post as many traditional preview stories for games as we used to. That's not only because most folks don't read them, but also because games companies are now super-controlling where pre-release coverage is concerned. Not so long ago, preview builds of games would just show up in the mail, and we'd have a fair bit of freedom to report on them. Nowadays, most of our preview opportunities come in the form of scripted presentations from producers and the like, and we're made to sign non-disclosure agreements that prohibit us from talking about anything but the approved bullet points. Those previews are boring, and made worse by the fact that we're asked to post them at the exact same time that everyone else does. As a result, we do very few of them--even for big games.

Kevin "Fiddlecub" VanOrd recently took over the reviews team from me, but I can definitely weigh in on why some of our reviews don't post as early as we'd like. Where Asura's Wrath is concerned, we actually didn't receive copies of the game until Tuesday--the release date. The review embargo was Tuesday as well, but needless to say, it's takes more than a few hours to review a game properly. The only way we could have gotten code earlier, I imagine, would have been if we negotiated an exclusive review deal with Capcom. We don't believe that exclusive reviews are a good thing, though, and so we leave those for the folks who want them. Not only are you committed to posting your review at a specific date and time (perhaps before the reviewer really feels ready to deliver his verdict), but when was the last time you saw an exclusive (or strangely early--folks rarely advertise their exclusive reviews as such) review with a score of less than, say, 7 out of 10?

I'd be genuinely interested to hear which articles on IGN you think are "better" and "more complete" than the stories and videos that we're posting. We're always looking for ways to improve, so if you have any specific suggestions please feel free to post them here or send me a PM.

Cheers