For many gaming sites, being listed on Gamerankings.com or Metacritic is the be all, end all of writing about video games (or at least reviewing them). Being included on the Metacritic listings lends an air of authenticity and authority. It's an honour to be included among the websites that carries weight with review scores. It makes that site's opinion
count for something. After all, bonuses for developers are often tied to attaining a certain Metacritic score. Suddenly that 5.5 / 10 review has some real world consequences.
But is it really an honour? Is it something a game site should hold as the end point for having "made it" even if the owner of said gaming site doesn't really know how it all works?
To be honest, I hadn't given it any thought until a few weeks ago when The Armchair Empire's review scores stopped having any influence. Any review after our review of
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger have not been factored into Metacritic averages. (The 2,200+ previous reviews are still included.)
