I was looking through ebgames and read this insightful review:

"I've never played an rpg game before and this by far the best rpg game i've ever played. The graphics are amazing even in standard definition. I just got it the second day when it came out and i thought it was siick in the beginning. But then it kinda got boring i dunno why but it just did. i was thinkin on bringin it back but ima play it for a little more and see if it gets better"

I think someone once said that 1 billion monkeys typing on 1 billion typewriters would reproduce the works of Shakespeare... clearly, he was wrong! Why is it so hard to find a decent game review these days?? I sometimes look at IGN but I'm not really a big fan of their reviews since they seem a bit  biased (does anyone else get that feeling)? I thought it would actually be pretty cool if perhaps we start a "Review" forum where you can rate soundtracks and games. Obviously people here have different tastes, but I think it would be good
Thoughts?

cheers,

-avatar!

edit: fixed typo

Ha, I know where you're coming from.  Even 'professional' reviews often tend to be slipshod at best, with some noticible exceptions (NTSC-UK, for example.)  But seriously, its people like the person you just quoted that play right into the hand of fanatical anti-gamers.  'Gaming rots the mind,' well, reading stuff like that I'd tend to believe it.

Since people here are pretty intelligent I'd totally look forward to a review forum.  We have a soundtrack review feature already though :-P

Yeah, a Game Review forum would be really cool.
As it is, we get the occasional topic from people telling us what they think of the games they're playing right now, but it would be nice to make a separate Forum for it, I guess.
God knows I trust you lot's opinion far more than IGN or Gamespot.

Out of curiosity though, what game was the person you quoted talking about?

I definitely think that a separate forum for reviews would rock! Now, we just have to convince the powers that be, that this is a good idea
As for the amazing review I cited, that was for the PS3 version of Oblivion.

cheers,

-avatar!

I can't remember from which novel or short story, but Stephen King once wrote that if 400 monkeys banged on 400 typewriters for 400 years, they could reproduce the works of Shakespeare.

  In order for IGN to make better reviews, they should just stop writing them. One word reviews are sufficient. Just screenshots are even better. And videos are even better than screenshots. They could save a lot of time and energy by playing more and writing less. Reduce the staff and make the site a showcase of images and videos. Get rid of the advertisements. Internet was better without those damned things.

I can't imagine it would happen in 400 years. The monkeys, I mean. Even if you replaced the monkeys when they died, I still don't think it would happen in that timescale with that many monkeys.

I think it was said to be an infinite number of monkeys.

Edit: Yep, here it is - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem

Given infinite monkeys and infinite time of course it would happen since it is nothing more than simple probability. However, since there is NOT an infinite supply of monkeys nor an infinite time to the universe, it will obviously never happen. That being said,

DON"T YOU THINK WE SHOULD HAVE A FORUM FOR REVIEWS???? 

cheers,

-avatar!

The quote from King was supposed to be funny. Here's some stuff I found in the Feb. 1997 Scientific American:

  Time needed for a parrot, pecking at a keyboard, to type out The Hound of the Baskervilles = 10^3,000,000 years

  Time it would take for a beer can to topple on a flat surface = 10^10^33 years

  Odds against suddenly teleporting to Mars = 10^10^51 to 1

  Odds against a mouse living on the surface of the Sun for 1 week = 10^10^42 to 1

  Also, I'm curious about exponents being used this way. According to the article, 10^3,000,000 pales in comparison to 10^10^33. By my reasoning, 10^10^33 = 10^330, which is clearly smaller. How is one supposed to handle these types of exponents?

  I have a question for you math wizards: How would you solve this: 5^5^5^5^5^5? I know it's bigger than 10^1000, but according to Scientific American, it can't be written down on a piece of paper the size of the universe.

Hehe, this is just basic mathematics.
10^3,000,000 is just 10 to the 3 million while 10^10^33 is 10 to the 1e33 which is 1 followed by 33 zeroes which is clearly MUCH larger than 3 million, so yes the first exponent does indeed "pale" in comparison to the second.

cheers,

-avatar!

However I'm going to stop helping you with math unless you answer my question about a review forum!!!

Without these events having happened at least once, I can't imagine how anyone could possibly arrive at these figures. You can only work out the odds of teleporting to Mars if you have one example of it happening in a certain sample base. Either that or you have it well worked out how it could technically happen by chance, which I can't imagine they did.

Personally I think they're talking through their arse. But, hey, it gives them something to do.

If 100 STC forum members posted in 100 different threads using 100 different keyboards, would one of us write a positive review for the Gamecube version of killer7?

Answer: yes.

A little review board would be nice (subdivided by game/music/film/other or something), although I'm sure there would be some headbutting, tree pissing, high-fiving/fellating (self, especially) and other types of territorial and fannish posts following.

But, yeah. That would be fun, informative, and highly entertaining.

From what I've seen, normally those types of boards end up going unused by everyone. It sounds good, but I doubt they'd see a great deal of use (or if they did, it would be by the same 5-10 members constantly). Look at the size of Gamingforce and how little their review forums are used. I tend to find discussion threads about the subject matter to be far more useful and flexible.

Well isn't that what this Gaming section is for? I mean, you're going to post your opinion of a game and others will post theirs. That's exactly what happens already here. It's not like there are so many posts that people can't keep up.

Like this: Lunar Knights is cack. Seriously. Anything decent about Boktai, they took out and left a common or garden (and quite dull) RPG.

Yes and no. Things get shuffled under the rug, and inundated with this discussion and that, and before you know it any review you wanted to refer to got lost... yeah, you could always search for it, but will you? Also, I think that having a separate Review forum will inspire people to post more reviews. Although I wouldn't expect people to write reviews all the time (more power to you if you do), I think it will get its share of use.  Plus, is it really that difficult to add a Review forum? Will it really make your life more difficult? Hell no! If anything it will make things a bit easier. Therefore it appears that we have nothing to lose!

cheers,

-avatar!

LOTS of games, not enough smart, literate people having the time to complete them and write about them.

I do my best...

man I'm not even gonna plug the site. You know what I do -- I just hope you can find some "decent" game reviews there.

Ramza

It is basic and I can't believe I didn't see how to use these types of exponents. I looked at 10^10^33 as 10,000,000,000^33. I didn't know you raised 10 to the 10^33. Now I can see that's a very large number. I took Calculus and Diff Eq and never saw these types of exponents. Everything was x^y, never x^y^z.

  So, even something like 3^3^3^3 is deceivingly massive. Interesting. It turns out to be about 10 to the 3,638,334,640,024.

  As for a review forum, I would eventually capitulate and write something. You might recall I started a website with my reviews of some vgm cds. It was only around for a few months and I got bored with it quickly. I could probably write a review of Sangokushi Eiketsuden, since I've been strangely addicted to it lately. I actually didn't care for it at first. This is an odd trend I've been noticing. I also didn't care for Gemfire, but I'm loving it now. The advantage of me submitting reviews to a forum is that it's not my forum. I don't control it, so if I get bored, it will remain (since it's not mine).

That's a really cute emoticon, right there

When using ^ twice in a row, technically each number should be  a superscript of the previous number -- if you saw it THAT way, it probably would be clearer. The ^ sight is just a typing compensation.

-Joshua

the little Majic Chimp told me to play MGS Cubed again but in moderation this time so i did
i couldn't figure out how to unlock GREY FOX like in VR Missions though
i also heard a rumor of MGS123 compilation discs on ps3 but don't quote meh pls
( ;

it's funny but i always had wanted to write a review for the MOTHER2 ost for this site, never got around to it after finding the Complete AstralWerks on SNESmusic.

hmm..

H'ey leave the docile chimps outta this, they didn't mean to hurt anyone! It was those goddamn mind-control helmets that caused this disaster!!
*starts weeping sensitively*

I'm gonna guess.. either FF7 or DQ5

??

i always get really lost when you guys delve into your scientific hypothesis talk... but im gonna try and fake it anyways...  if a tree falls in the forest, and it hits a mime in the balls,, does he make a noise??

Yes. Yes, he does.

Considering that mimes don't make a chime, one may surmise that when a tree smacks the scrotal sack, it will knock him on his back. Thus to the dismay of all, the mime will merely fall.

I think this post has gotten a bit out of hand. Silly is one thing, but I think it's getting a bit stupid now. However, if you actually have something of worth to add, such as why we should have a Review forum, then please do so

cheers,

-avatar!

I'm here. For complete annihilation of divergence, remove my brain and repair the neural network to ensure compatibility. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. The brain doesn't accept updates like a computer does. It's easier to ignore or destroy - neither of which I will notice.

Here's a review I always liked:

http://www.honestgamers.com/systems/con … e_id=11423

My two cents:  No reviews forum is necessary.  We already have a gaming forum and people have already posted thoughts and reviews.

That of course, is absolutely true. We could in fact combine all the forums and just have one large forum, but the point is that just because we don't need it doesn't mean it won't be used nor appreciated. Thus, I would still like to see a Review forum, and I'll tell you one thing, it will definitely get much more use than the "Retailers" forum, which has thus far had a measley 18 posts!

In fact, I actually think it would be an improvement to change the "Retailers" forum (which gets as much use as my Virtuaboy) to a "Review" forum. So I guess I am kinda pushing this Review forum stuff, but I think it really would be good
As far as I can tell, most people think it's a good idea (and a few seem indifferent to the idea). Now, what says Adam?

cheers,

-avatar!

LoLx3
( :

I can't help but think of the opening sequence for Samurai Shodown 1 when I read this.

Keyu!

I don't disagree though that the "Retailers" forum is a waste. I feel the "Reviews" one would up in a same capacity (much potential, little actual use). The problem with a reviews forum is that it's a waste with such a small audience...You'd end up with 3-5 people writing in it constantly for maybe 20-30 regulars and maybe an additional 50 or lurkers (hi guys!) and that's a best case scenario.

On a side note...I've actually forgotten several times that STC has actual soundtrack reviews here!

I think I've said before...I miss the "classic" STC polls forum. Since we now have the uncanny ability to bump threads now, I think that would get a ton of use. I mean, look at how much business it did when we couldn't bump threads (meaning topics only lasted 2-3 days before getting knocked to the next page).