What the heck is it about EB Games that has "readers" writing "reviews" like they've the IQ of kittens?

***** want it soo badly
Reviewed By: simcrazy Date: Monday, June 18, 2007
i really dont care if people say this game is bad because the guys actually have a better bathing suit! i think this is a must have expansion pack.

*** Really not worth it!!!!!
Reviewed By: Susame Date: Thursday, June 07, 2007
I bought this game yesterday and it has about ten new outfits for the girls the men don't really have as many. The game is not bad but it wasn't what I expected I thought you will be able to create your own outfits, but that's not the case. So it's not a must have, but if you jus ... [More]

***** Tested... liked it
Reviewed By: Evelin Date: Wednesday, June 06, 2007
I tested this game for maxis & it rocks!!I love the sims & never get tired of it like some people. This game is new & fun...Like they said this is a must-have for your sims!!I know youll enjoy this
Happy Simming
E.M

First, the obvious question. Why was I looking at this Sims expansion? I get the EB Games' email, pretending some day I'll find a deal, and had no idea what "H&M Fashion Stuff" was. They got me; I had to give it a quick look. H&M is apparently some "European fashion retailer that is taking the US by storm with its trendsetting contemporary fashions". Go figure. Now H&M is a game, of sorts. That's right, there are people willing to purchase advertising for $20. No wonder everyone wants to copy the "success" of The Sims. I just don't get it. (Caveat: I did, at one time, wear a Coca-Cola collared shirt in junior high, and occasionally wear highly commercialized t-shirts to this day. Idiots abound.)

The problem is that, regardless of how inane the expansion being "reviewed" sounds, it doesn't explain the comments above, which I find are pretty representative on ebgames.com as a whole. I particularly like the reviews for games that haven't even been released. "***** This R0x0rz!!! I'm gunna git it fur shur!"

Now here's my only semi-serious point that could possibly take this painful post away from being nothing more than another ill-begotten rant: Could the gaming rag culture of providing overly-positive previews and advocacy-disguised-as-journalism be contributing to the production of this sort of mindless drivel by consumers?

Like cows to the slaughter, I wonder.

Labels: culture, journaltisement, reviews, useless

--ruffin at 09:41

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Well written, Blizzard

I've been trying to play World of Warcraft one month at a time with breaks of a couple of weeks between those months. Not only is it cheaper than any of the continuous plans, it usually forces me to catch up on some other facets of my life.

Usually when the cancel interface asks why I've canceled, I say it's because the game is too expensive, which, after a manner of speaking, is why I'm doing it. If it were cheaper to pay a year at a time than this back and forth, I'd probably do it. Today, however, I picked the [newish?] option for needing more time for other things. I believe school, family, etc were options for the next drop down of why I needed more time, for example.

In a move reminiscent of Fight for Life, it appears WoW cancellation screens have different notes and perhaps pictures depending on your reason for quitting. The note with this one tells me Blizzard might want to give its employees more time off, too.

We are proud that we were able to make a sucessful [sic], enjoyable game. And as much as we'd like you to keep playing, we understand that there are certain cirumcstances [sic] which may prevent continuous game play. Currently, we have no plans to delete World of Warcraft accounts regardless of their activity history. Provided that the characters do not get deleted by the account holder, we will retain all character information on our servers indefinitely.

Well, at least it got the point across, and I'll be back for the run from 65-70 soon.

Labels: useless, WoW

--ruffin at 08:11

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