The NextGG.com Review Ratings Explained!

 

The rating method for NextGG.com reviews is pretty straight forward. We take the full RRP in Australian dollars on the title, piece of hardware or whatever it is we are reviewing, and we assign our score based on how much we think the item in question lives up to that asking price.

We decided to settle on this rating method for a number of reasons.

Firstly, NextGG.com has been started by regular gamers in the general public, all of whom invest their own funds into their consoles, hardware and titles. None of us currently receive free titles or loan consoles on which to base our reviews or game in general. So we know what it is like to have to fork out our own money. As such, we feel it is easier for gamers to base their purchasing decisions on a dollar amount in relation to the RRP at launch. Sure, we want gamers to read our whole review to understand what we did or didn't like about a game - in essence, to get a whole perspective - but we want them to walk away with something more than a star rating, mark out of ten or percentage.

We understand that any rating system will, of course, have pros and cons. One gamer's financial situation may differ drastically from another gamer; a title may be released in a regular and limited edition format with two differing prices (same goes for consoles); and differing retailers will often drop their prices from the RRP at launch so as to compete with other stores.

But in applying our dollar mark, we have assumed the position of a gamer who doesn't have access to abundant amounts of money, and who is discerning in their selection of a game due to financial considerations and the desire to be rewarded with great gaming.

Having explained our decision to create a currency based rating, allow us to expand upon how it will work.

All RRPs are based on the distributor's RRP in Australian Dollars (AUD). We would love to provide you with a price for NZD, Pound Sterling, Euro, Canadian Dollars and USD, but we are unable to obtain solid data for these regions. If you are from one of these regions and would like to understand the comparative price in your local currency, we recommend you head to real time currency exchange site such as www.xe.com. Again, the Australian Dollar's international acronym is AUD.

So, a title which we feel is above average and RRPs at $110 would receive a rating somewhere around the $80-90 mark. A brilliant title might receive a $100 or even $110 rating, meaning we feel it is that good it deserves its full retail asking price (of course if you can pick it up cheaper, then go for it!). A rubbish title or average title might receive a mark around $30-50. All reviews will receive a rating, but consider a title that gets a rating below $30 really only something you should buy out of a bargain bin... and then if you have nothing better to spend you money on.

You can be sure that if we do start receiving free copies from distributors we will aim to never forget what it is like to pay for our games.

A big thanks to Jeremy Griffiths (Jezzman) for coming up with this idea.

-The NextGG Team

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