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Hardware An Update to Our Scores and Awards Policies

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Combatus, 4 Jan 2016.

  1. Combatus

    Combatus Bit-tech Modding + hardware reviews Lover of bit-tech Super Moderator

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  2. David

    David μoʍ ɼouმ qᴉq λon ƨbԍuq ϝʁλᴉuმ ϝo ʁԍɑq ϝμᴉƨ

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    Superb!

    I think this is a great idea.

    93%
     
    Last edited: 4 Jan 2016
  3. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    Solid 5/7 article.
     
  4. Gusseteer

    Gusseteer What's a Dremel?

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    Seems like a great way to stop Metacritic from giving a potted version of a game score.

    Will this apply to Custom PC as well? If so it will be interesting to see how you differentiate products in a megatest.
     
  5. vdbswong

    vdbswong It's a Hedgehod

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    Why is it that Hardware Reviews go:

    Gold > Blue

    Whereas for the game reviews it goes:

    Blue > Gold

    ?
     
  6. Dogbert666

    Dogbert666 *Fewer Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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    No, the two publications are run separately and have been for some time, despite the crossover in editorial!
     
  7. Dogbert666

    Dogbert666 *Fewer Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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    BECAUSE.
     
  8. schmidtbag

    schmidtbag What's a Dremel?

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    omg that meme is everywhere
     
  9. Hustler

    Hustler Minimodder

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    Eagerly awaits the first product to be deposited into the bin of shame...
     
  10. bawjaws

    bawjaws Multimodder

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    Good idea. I give it a solid e out of Pi

    More seriously, though, I do think this is a good move. I don't mind the idea of trying to "scientifically" quantify hardware, but I do think that the idea of a "features" score, for example, that's actually entirely opaque doesn't really add anything, especially when different features may have different importance to different users. Moving away from scores to a more descriptive approach is a great idea, providing your reviews are consistent and sufficiently detailed.

    The other thing about reviews is that the end user has to decide whether the metrics being used are appropriate for them. I recall a labs test of GPUs recently in CPC (I think) where the focus was on 4K gaming, and almost every single card reviewed scored below 80%, even products which had received scores of 95% when reviewed standalone. There was a bit of a brouhaha about the revised scores as I recall - but the differences were because the performance bar had been raised rather than because the labs testers were being somehow harsher.

    We all know that it's hard to compare hardware from one generation to the next, especially as system requirements change over time. The only thing about not having scores calculated using a consistent method is that these comparisons become even more difficult.
     
  11. Combatus

    Combatus Bit-tech Modding + hardware reviews Lover of bit-tech Super Moderator

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    Brendan Sullivan FB conversation reference by any chance? :)
     
  12. Phil Rhodes

    Phil Rhodes Hypernobber

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    Reminds me of the terrorist threat levels. Severe, critical, substantial!
     
  13. vdbswong

    vdbswong It's a Hedgehod

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    This is going to bother me to no end :p

    I can't believe it doesn't bother any of you :p
     
  14. d_stilgar

    d_stilgar Old School Modder

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    The hardware system makes sense. The software system doesn't as much (to me).

    You effectively have three results that are all "buy it" with a large void before getting to "don't buy it."

    In the hardware zone the "Technical Achievement" award could go to products like the Cooler Master Musketeer III or Lamptron FC10. Both are products that are neither "buy" or "don't buy" but rather a recommendation would be largely based on many caveats.

    But for the gaming section there isn't an equivalent. You either get games that are groundbreaking and nearly perfect, games that are a near-perfection of an existing genre, games that are good but common, and crappy games. That void from good to crap feels much wider than the other ones. It would be nice if one of the gaming categories was as nuanced as the hardware categories.
     
  15. bawjaws

    bawjaws Multimodder

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    I'm not sure that you need any sort of grading or accolade system, to be honest. Just because BT give a product a "Buy It!" award doesn't mean that you should buy it - that will depend on your exact requirements and tastes. Hopefully the body of the review will be sufficiently informative to help you make that decision. An award on it's own means nothing: you need the context in order to decide whether or not a product is for you. Hopefully from now on we'll see more in the way of context and less in the way of semi-arbitrary scores or awards.
     
  16. Pete J

    Pete J Employed scum

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    I personally think the technical achievement may be applicable to games as well. For example, Crysis may have been awarded it back in the day.
     
  17. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Daaaad the memes are leaking out again
     
  18. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    It was that or go for the seemingly obligatory '7/10'...
     
  19. Fizzban

    Fizzban Man of Many Typos

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    Cool, so now we can complain that every game gets an Outstanding instead of +90%

    You know it is going to be over used.

    "Outstanding games are games that redefine their genre, or make us reassess what games are capable of."

    I love you guys, I really do. But I know with almost certainty that games that don't meet those criteria are gonna get an Outstanding award anyway.
     
    Last edited: 6 Jan 2016
  20. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    And arguing over what does and doesn't count as a 'technical achievement'
     
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