The coming weeks are looking to be a pretty exciting time for gamers. Tuesday the highly anticipated Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter was released for the 360. I was personally more excited for Burnout Revenge\'s 360 debut. Later this month we have Metal Gear 3, and the long awaited Kingdom Hearts 2 for the PS2. I\'ve been waiting for Metroid Prime: Hunters on the DS since the handheld launched and apparently it, too, will finally be released this month.

Back on the 360 there are a whole mess of games I would like to at least give a shot. The big two for me have got to be Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII. All this is really just the tip of the iceberg and I am still playing the thoroughly satisfying Fight Night Round 3. It is an exciting, yet still frustrating, time to be a gamer.

You see, all this goodness has created a sort of paradox. The only way that I can possibly play all the games that I want to is if I quit my job. But if I actually want to be able to afford to buy them all, I am going to have to work overtime. Once I finish this column I am going to run out and get Burnout, because I can\'t resist it. I\'ve waited too darn long for both Kingdom Hearts and Metroid, so I am definitely picking them up. So those will probably have to hold me over for a bit until I have more time and trade-in stock. But it is going to be so hard. I know you all feel me.

I think I want to kick off the letters with a note and a request that should make all the little GF! staffers hearts warm and fuzzy:

i\'ve been going to your website for a couple months now and i just wanted to say that your reviews are awesome. they are really in depth, and you guys really say what you think about the game, without holding back. I was just wondering if you guys could do a review on a game called geometry wars. its in the xbox live market place (cost 400 points for full game) and you can get a free demo. I want to see a review of this game because most people don\'t know about it and it should really get out there because its a simple, fun filled, fast paced game. Thanks

Bryan

Thanks Bryan. We take it as big praise that you not only enjoy the reviews that we write but yearn to hear our takes on the games we haven\'t reviewed. Our readers may be shocked to learn that this isn\'t the only letter I\'ve received asking for our takes on various games. We wish we could review every game, but being an independent site we sometimes have a hard time getting everything covered (as illustrated at the beginning of this article -- eds). As far as Geometry Wars goes, I agree with you a hundred percent. While simple as can be, I find it highly addictive and a perfect game for when you just need to kill a little time or when you are on chatting to a friend over the Xbox Live. It\'s also got that zoney-zen quality that helps us feel a bit more tranquil after a tough boss or too much Kameo. It\'s so cheap too! Only four bucks on the XBL Arcade. I\'d give it four stars.

In a kind of similar vein I occasionally get emails along the lines of this next letter:

Hi,

I\'m a little confused about your 3 out of 5 stars rating for the DOA4 review.

I get the impression that you had a lot of fun playing the game and you like the series better than other beat\'em ups.

What I completely miss is a reason for only 3/5? When I read the text of the review I would guess 4/5 at least.

Cheers,
Georg.

First of all Georg, I\'m a little confused. Shouldn\'t there be an E at the end of your name? Just kidding. Star ratings are really just a necessary evil. To really understand our take on a game, you have to look at the body of the review. The Star rating system can be subjective and arbitrary, and it often leads to differences that aren\'t necessarily there. As a reviewer I would have written a very similar review for DOA 4 as Tristan, only with more spelling and grammar mistakes, but I would have probably given it four stars. I wouldn\'t say for a second that Tristan\'s review was wrong, though. It is all about taste. My advice is to read the review and add up what the reviewer has to say for yourself. If the points that Tristan made add up to a 4 star game in your opinion, then that is probably what the game will play like for you. For Tristan they only added up to 3 stars.

It is kind of silly to get to wrapped up in the numbers when all of Tristan\'s real work went into the words that come below them.

And now a not so happy letter. Who wants to be happy all the time anyway.

Mike wrote:

I don\'t really care that you guys get like 55% of your news from sites like digg.com or slashdot. But how come no love and you pass things off like you were the ones actually finding the reviews? Just curious. Not mad just wish you\'d give more love to the sources rather than trying to pass it off as your own. I mean - 3 of your stories were in order and slightly even cited word for word from digg stories.....

The reviews are nicer, coz they seem your own.

Just a concerned reader. Flame away

How is it possible for us to get 55% of our news for those two sites when we get like 65% of our material from the space monkeys? Everybody knows that, gosh. Still Shawn wrote back a rather lengthy reply. The gist being that when we do source from other websites we try very hard to give all credit where credit is due and that there is probably a very good explanation for your confusion:

I wonder if what you\'re noticing is not actually us mining other sites for news materials, but, in reality, simply coincidental coverage. What I mean is this: Game companies send out many press releases. Part of what we do at GF! is to sort through these communications from companies and follow-up on interesting news. We try to guess what is the most interesting to ourselves and our readers, and at GF! we try to focus on news that might not otherwise be read.

Sometimes, because we might be included in a mailing list of 100 other websites, we get info from companies at the exact same time as other sites get it. In certain news situations, we think it is entirely appropriate to report the facts as stated by the company, so we write up those facts. Many times press releases include quotes, and we will often use the quotes from these releases. Since these are made freely available to us (and generally publicly available on any companies
website), we consider these quotes a matter of public record and do not usually cite directly to the press release (or any other site that might use the same quote in their coverage).

It is somewhat frustrating that games \"journalism\" relies so much on us being the \"publish button\" for the press relations groups. At the same time, without the existing PR/Media structure it would be much more difficult to get varied game coverage, and the issue of plagiarism or copyright infringement would be much greater.

I hope that clears everything up a bit. We are waiting to hear about which three articles he is talking about specifically. If we find out we will let you know right here in the GF! Mailbag with either vindication or a plea for forgiveness. One thing is for sure, we definitely write our own reviews. Except Jeremy, who makes his little boy do his reviews in simulated sweatshop conditions. Send your official protests to jeremyk[AT]gamesfirst.com .

Well now we all have a better understanding of how things work at GF!: From what reviews we write, to how we write them, to where a lot of our news comes from. That is like, exclusive, GF! Mailbag material. Feel lucky.

Until next time if you\'re a fan of the Silent Hill games, or horror flicks, you should do your self a favor and check out the trailer for the Silent Hill movie and some of the pics floating around. It looks like it may be the video game movie we have been waiting for. Certainly looks better than the b-movie, begging to be direct to video Bloodrayne flick.

Matt \"Shhh, I stole this mailbag from an old Dear Abby.\" James