Quote Originally posted by t1master:
reviews are helpful in determing what game you may want to pick up next, but i always take em with a grain o salt. i always find myself looking at the ads in the magazines or the pop ups at websites. nine times outta ten, the reviewers are being paid to advertise the very product their reviewing.

i just find that a little odd.[/QUOTE]

Your probably right to an extent, but none of us have insider information on the gaming industry, although i wouldnt be suprised if companies lay out cash for a good review. however, just remember this - the people who buy these magazines lay out cash and expect somewhat realistic reviews, otehrwise they wont buy it. pc magazines have a strong commintment to attract readers by providing objective useful information. also, pc magazines get most of their money from advertisements, and again advertisers are concerned with advertisements which reach a borad audience, which brings us back to point 1, pc magazines must build a large audience by making credible and realistic reviews, even though they arent perfect. however, one can argue that pc magazine tilts the review up a slight amount for a cash "donation" from the games publisher. (has anyone noticed gamespots reviews have a tilt, this is a rather strange category. notice that the total war games get high tilt scores - why do you need a tilt score when you have a similar score called "value"? somethings fishy here!