That really sucks, and it sure makes you question the agenda of a web site whose apparent purpose is to gather opinions and redistribute them in an easy-to-digest manner, not censor them. Readers can decide for themselves what to judge as "shock value" versus quality; sites like that should be regarded as guides, not tomes of sacred, ineffable human knowledge. Bleh … off with their heads.

It's also funny that the site was de-listed due to the infrequency of reviews, as if that somehow compromises the quality of them? Ha ha that's golden. The first thing I usually think when seeing an out-of-date or late review is Hmm, perhaps there was some care and thought put into this? Wouldn't that be something! ....That or Holy shit this person doesn't have a boss and deadlines! Maybe they actually enjoy life and/or playing games.

xtal I thought GTA IV was so awful that I sought ANY bad review out there because I couldn't believe the critical world was falling over itself to praise it. There were a lot that bashed it for not being as fun as the others but I hadn't played the others so that definitely wasn't the issue. Steerpike's review was what I needed to believe there were still some sane people left criticising games because it highlighted many of my own issues with the title that for some reason had been completely ignored be nearly every other reviewer. It was incidentally the review that drew me to this site. Granted, I had to read a lot of Google search results to reach it but it was well worth it. I lost a fair few days perusing through the FFC review archive as well. There is some great stuff in there.

I didn't know Tap had been on Metacritic and Game Rankings actually. What a shame the site was pulled. I think I've seen Tap on Moby Games a few times.

I whole heartedly agree though with the quality over quantity thing, just take my example above. One thing I like to know with a reviewer is firstly who they are so that I can identify their work but secondly what other stuff they like, to gauge their tastes against my own. UK Edge magazine reviews are just by 'Edge' so I don't know the personality behind the words which are often quite sterile and sober anyway.

Jarrod, if you like action games that give you an incredibly over-powered player character then you would probably enjoy Force Unleashed. It's honestly probably a 6/10 game at best, but most Star Wars stuff that doesn't involve Jar Jar Binks and Hayden Christiansen gets a pass and ends up appearing better than it really is, these days. But hey, that's also why there are demos: try before you buy.

Gregg, if you go spelunking on Metacritic you will find Four Fat Chicks reviews nestled up against some old forgotten classic sites like Adrenaline Vault and Happy Puppy. [Image Can Not Be Found]

Brings back memories of the computer gaming heyday, in which a game receiving 20 critic reviews was "epic."  [Image Can Not Be Found]

Like I'm gonna learn and remember that lesson. [Image Can Not Be Found]

I've been trying to find something to scratch my gaming itch ever since I finished up the Awakenings expansion. Everything seems to pale in comparison (I love/hate when that happens). So, I started playing Rune Factory Frontier (Wii)... it's Harvest Moon with dungeon crawling. We all know how much I [Image Can Not Be Found] Harvest Moon, so I should be happy for a few weeks tending my farm, wooing a life partner and killing/training monsters.

Because I'm lazy and don't want to start a new topic, I shall post here:

I just traded in my DSi for the DSi XL. Once it's done charging the battery, I shall report back. What I can tell you now is that the difference in size of the XL itself and its screen compared to the Lite/regular DSi is worlds apart. I may actually halt the "going blind playing hand-held games" affliction!