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GameSpot is a website that was launched in June of 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein.
At launch, the site focused exclusively on PC games. Its sister site, Videogamespot.com, was launched in December of that year to cover console systems. In 1997, Videogamespot.com became Videogames.com for a short while, and by 1998, the PC and console sections were united under the GameSpot banner.
GameSpot presents video game and PC software and hardware reviews, previews, downloads, news, and information. After starting out on its own, GameSpot was purchased by ZDNet. Later, ZDNet was purchased by CNET Networks, which currently owns GameSpot.
GameSpot is one of the most popular gaming review websites on the Internet. In 2004, GameSpot won "Best Gaming Website" as chosen by the viewers in Spike TV's second Video Game Award Show. Other big gaming websites such as IGN and GameSpy have been their biggest rivals.
On October 3, 2005, GameSpot adopted a new look similar to that of TV.com, now considered a sister site to GameSpot. The redesign was intended to make the overall interface better and more efficient.
Main site
GameSpot's main page has links to latest news, reviews, previews, portals to specific platforms (PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Wii, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, and Mobile), and other sections and features as well as the list of the most popular games on the site. It also includes a search engine for users to track down games of interest to them as quickly as possible. For users who choose to become registered members of the site, there is also a section on the main page which keeps tabs on updates to their tracked games, rewarding them immediate updates to games which hold their interest.
GameSpot subscriptions
As of February 21, 2006, GameSpot discontinued the GameSpot Complete service. It now maintains two premium membership services: Total Access and Gamespot Plus.
Total Access is essentially a replacement of GameSpot Complete, as it is the same price of $5.95 per month or $39.95 per year, and offers the same basic benefitsAccording to GameSpot, Total Access offers "all the features of GameSpot Plus ... plus high-speed downloads, no ads, subscriber only contests and betas, access to all GameSpot tournaments, and discounts on games and accessories."[http://uk.gamespot.com/signup/index.php?tag=gsnav_signup&tr=gsnav
The second premium service, GameSpot Plus, is a new, less expensive, intermediate level. According to GameSpot, this gives subscribers "high-res movie streams and downloads, downloadable game guides, and access to all live-event coverage, including participation in live, staff-moderated chat."
The most notable difference of these premium services is the lack of GameSpot Complete's 10 percent discount at EBGames.com. This is likely the result of the EB Games-GameStop merger, and unrelated to the change in GameSpot subscription services.
Features
GameSpot has separate sections for the current most popular consoles, as well as for the PC platform. There are other separate sections for various features such as reviews, previews, news, cheats, videos, tech, and downloads. GameSpot is well known for its original features, such as "GameSpotting," a conglomeration of staff editorials usually posted on Sundays, but was replaced in June 17, 2005 by a new feature called "Freeplay," a daily editorial in which a GameSpot editor writes about games, beginning his or her editorial with the last paragraph of the previous editorial. In turn, Freeplay later ceased to operate in this way, and began using the same system as GameSpotting had.
Another feature is Burning Questions by Alex Navarro in which users write in and have their questions answered, usually in a sarcastic tone.
Other popular features include "On the Spot," a weekly live video show, hosted by Associate Producer, Rich Gallup. "The HotSpot" is GameSpot's own podcast in which various GameSpot editors discuss different issues and news stories in the gaming world.
In 2005 a feature called "Today on GameSpot" was introduced along with the redesign of the site. It is very similar to an older feature, now no longer running, "Let's GameSpot." Sections of "Today on GameSpot" include "The Rorie Roundup," which gives tips and hints on the latest games; "That's Fresh," which details the newest releases; "The Last Word," a Friday feature hosted by GameSpot News that recaps the week's biggest gaming-related news; "The Lowdown," which describes downloads on the site; and "Top Notch Games," which names GameSpot editor's favorite games (often being inducted into the Greatest Games Of All Time).
Every year, GameSpot holds the Best & Worst of the Year awards, which recognize achievements in the gaming industry, positive and negative. To see the official website of the 2005 awards, click here.
Reviews and rating system
In January 2001 GameSpot introduced video reviews for games, which have become very popular and are released for all major games and those that the editors believe deserve special mention (for example, the very worst games). Reviews are arguably the most important feature of the website, as people expect GameSpot editors to give an objective judgment. GameSpot has a detailed guide on-site for the purpose of explaining their exact reviewing policies, as well as answering frequently asked questions about their reviews.
All games are judged on five different categories: Gameplay, Graphics, Sound, Value, and Reviewer's Tilt. Each category is assigned an integer score from one to ten, and these five integers are combined using a weighted average to arrive at an overall score. Should a game score at least 9.0, it is designated as "superb," and given "Editor's Choice" recognition. Although many games achieve this status each year, only four in GameSpot's history have ever gotten a perfect ten — Ocarina of Timefor the Nintendo 64, Chrono CrossPlayStation, Soul Calibur*" target="_blank" >for the Sega Dreamcast and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3[http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/sports/tonyhawksproskater3/index.html for the PlayStation 2. Four games, however, came very close to the perfect score of 10, which were Tekken 3 for the PlayStation, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 for the PlayStation (and Dreamcast), Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario Bros. Deluxe for the Game Boy Color with a score of 9.9 each. On the other end of the spectrum, Over the Road Racing is the only game to have ever received a 1.0, rated as "abysmal", the lowest score possible.
While games are rated mostly with regard to how they compare to the other games available on their specific platforms, games released simultaneously for multiple platforms are also compared between systems, which often results in differing scores being given to the same game depending on the system, usually due to the inherent strengths and weaknesses of each platform.
Review Controversies
GameSpot is particularly infamous for its review of Hunters. A review with a score of 8.6 was originally put up, criticising the game for having only one mode playable online, as well as certain glitches. However, all 7 multiplayer modes are playable online with the use of "friend codes," and the glitches mentioned were actually supposed to happen. The errors were quickly edited. The revised review criticised the game for other reasons, and the score remained unchanged.This falls in line with other critiques of GameSpot, including the infamous GameSpot 6.8. The original review for Shenmue was taken down from the site after they received many user complaints about the low score, and was re-scored and re-reviewed. The score of '6.8' is now laughed at by message board enthusiasts who are quick to point out scoring mishaps that the site has had in the past, and is also considered an inside joke by GameSpot employees.
One minor criticism of Gamespot's reviews is the sudden change in format. In the earlier Gamespot video reviews, the reviews tended to be melancholic and lethargic. A fine example would be Jeff Gerstmann's review of Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World. In the video review, Gerstmann slouches, and seems rather dejected. In the more recent video reviews, he seems much more enthusiatic.
Message board community
GameSpot's forums were originally run by ZDNet. Later on, they were run on Lithium. GameSpot uses a semi-automated moderation system with numerous volunteer moderators. There are currently more than 50 moderators, of which "AnonymousBroccoli" is the longest running, beginning his position in January 2002.
One distinct feature of the GameSpot community is the ability of GameSpot Total Access users to create their own user-created board, which may be open to the public or can be private. The board's creator can appoint their own moderators, and also can display HTML markup at the top of their board. Also, all users have the ability to create or join what is known as a "Union." A Union consists of a user-created board which is attached to an editorial front, as well as a homepage with news bulletins and members lists.
One particular fad that originated on GameSpot's forums, specifically the "System Wars" board, is the use of animal epithets to describe users with an allegiance to a certain console-making company.
- Sheep: used to describe Nintendo fans because they allegedly "follow their master" (Nintendo).
- Lemming: used to describe Microsoft fans because of their alleged lack of intuition outside of what Microsoft tells them.
- Cow: used to describe Sony fans because of their alleged willingness to allow Sony to "milk" them with expensive add-ons and peripherals such as the PS2 hard drive, network adapter, and multitap. After an official poll on System Wars following the Sony e3 press conference, the name Cow was changed to Crab, but there remains controversy as to whether this name should be used.
- Hermit: used to describe PC gamers because it is believed that between playing PC games and posting on the forums, they do nothing but use their computer all day.
- Manticore: used to describe the self-proclaimed "true gamers" who have no preferred company, and instead own all consoles.
These terms are widespread amongst many of GameSpot's forums, and other phrases such as "The Sheep Have Been Owned" (shortened to "TSHBO") have resonated as a result of these animal epithets. In GameSpot's 2005 April Fools joke, the editors acknowledged the forum joke by putting a picture of each animal in the banner of the homepage of each respective system. They also changed their site tagline to "Where games go to FLOP", an acknowledgement of some users' claims that any game that receives a score under 9.0 has flopped.
In addition to the traditional message board system, Gamespot has expanded its community through the addition of features such as user journals and user video blogs. In using such features, members send each other friend requests. Only friends can comment on each other's blogs, giving users an alternative outlet to post their personal thoughts and videos other than the public message board forums.
GameSpot 2005 redesign
GameSpot's fairly new design has attracted some controversy from the message board users who were members before the change. Many users dislike the new design because of the lower screen resolution and constant glitching, though these are not all of the complaints the new design has attracted.
The redesign happened in October of 2005, and the forums were down the longest of all the features on the website. When they returned, however, they were filled with bugs and code not running correctly. Since then, the GameSpot developers have been hard at work creating fixes, and performance is returning to normal, with a few glitches still happening every now and again.
Because of these constant glitches, GameSpot has now been dubbed "GlitchSpot" among the forum users.
GameCenter
GameCenter was a service which allowed players to host their own servers, chat with their friends, and play an assortment of PC games online with players all around the world, all while tracking users' stats. As of March 6, 2006, the GameCenter subscription service has been discontinued and merged into the GameSpot Total Access service. As a result, GameSpot is discontinuing support of the GameCenter client, but will continue tournament events for Total Access members.
The most recent GameCenter has no relation to the original GameCenter, which CNET Networks ran from 1995 to 2001 as a competitor to GameSpot. Shortly after CNET Networks acquired ZDNet and GameSpot in 2000, the original GameCenter disbanded.
Regional versions
GameSpot UK was started in October 1997 by Ian Howie and Asher Rospigliosi. The site operated until mid-2002, offering Europe centric content which often differed from that of the US site. In 1999 GameSpot UK won the PPAi (Periodical Publishers Association interactive) award for best web site - beating both FHM and NME. Following the purchase of ZDnet by CNet the site was merged with the main US site. Recently CNet has relaunched the GameSpot UK site. It opened on April 24, 2006 and is edited by Phil Elliott, with Guy Cocker as Staff Writer. GameSpot UK, News article
Notes
External links
- GameSpot (main site; US)
CNET websites | Computer and video game websites | 1996 establishments
"GameSpot"