At Home: Game-browsing site needs work
With a few tweaks, Windows Game Advisor could still shine
By ANNE REEKS
For The Chronicle
At the start of a party, there's always an awkward interlude when all is in readiness, but few guests have arrived and they're not saying much.
Both hosts and early birds can't help wondering and worrying about where everyone else is. No doubt my imagination is overactive, but party paranoia came to mind when I visited Microsoft's updated Windows Game Advisor (www.windowsgaming.com), a nifty software-selection site, and found it un-
comfortably underpopulated.
So I just want to reassure Bill Gates: Don't panic. The crowd will surely show up soon. After all, Game Advisor 3.0, designed to draw players into the game-rating process, launched only last week.
Few have taken advantage of its new community-oriented features. They allow Windows users to give games a 1-to-5 score, write reviews and post comments to a discussion board. User feedback will liven up the party. It's interesting, informative and democratic.
Game Advisor's basics haven't changed. It's a one-stop shop that provides recommen-
dations based on five age ranges, 10 genres and four ESRB ratings. It also tells you if a game will work on your computer and offers demos and trailers, checks prices, and provides links to sellers.
Over 300 titles are currently in Game Advisor's searchable database. They are more plentiful in the Action and Action/Adventure categories, with 71 and 60 titles, respectively, than in Kids (40) and Family Entertainment (12). Publishers use a free tool to add their games to Game Advisor.
The home page is utilitarian, with no banners, pop-ups or animated eye candy. While Microsoft isn't charging for ads or product placement, according to a spokesman, "partners" such as HP and Alienware get plugs from a compare-computers feature.
Other Web sites have many of Game Advisor's capabilities but not the system scan, used to determine whether certain games will run on specific computers, i.e., yours. Microsoft pledges it's anonymous and protects privacy.
The process is quick and generates a detailed specs list — a handy item to keep around. System performance is shown on a color-spectrum bar graph. My Compaq Presario made it two-thirds of the way toward the fast/green end. Not bad for a nearly two-year-old machine.
However, Game Advisor was unimpressed, noting that "38 percent of the systems scanned by Game Advisor ranked higher in performance." How rude. I think I'll boycott the seven-layer dip.
But seriously, the revamped Game Advisor has much to offer and a ways to go. Besides needing to attract a critical mass of users, it could better serve children and families by having an education category and refining the overly broad, 6-12 age range.
Additional resources for picking games are the Review Corner (www.reviewcorner.com) and SuperKids (www.superkids.com), which do an excellent job of homing in on educational and children's titles, and GameSpot (www.gamespot.com), a gamer's paradise of reviews, ratings and industry news.
HoustonChronicle.com - At Home: Game-browsing site needs work
By ANNE REEKS
For The Chronicle
At the start of a party, there's always an awkward interlude when all is in readiness, but few guests have arrived and they're not saying much.
Both hosts and early birds can't help wondering and worrying about where everyone else is. No doubt my imagination is overactive, but party paranoia came to mind when I visited Microsoft's updated Windows Game Advisor (www.windowsgaming.com), a nifty software-selection site, and found it un-
comfortably underpopulated.
So I just want to reassure Bill Gates: Don't panic. The crowd will surely show up soon. After all, Game Advisor 3.0, designed to draw players into the game-rating process, launched only last week.
Few have taken advantage of its new community-oriented features. They allow Windows users to give games a 1-to-5 score, write reviews and post comments to a discussion board. User feedback will liven up the party. It's interesting, informative and democratic.
Game Advisor's basics haven't changed. It's a one-stop shop that provides recommen-
dations based on five age ranges, 10 genres and four ESRB ratings. It also tells you if a game will work on your computer and offers demos and trailers, checks prices, and provides links to sellers.
Over 300 titles are currently in Game Advisor's searchable database. They are more plentiful in the Action and Action/Adventure categories, with 71 and 60 titles, respectively, than in Kids (40) and Family Entertainment (12). Publishers use a free tool to add their games to Game Advisor.
The home page is utilitarian, with no banners, pop-ups or animated eye candy. While Microsoft isn't charging for ads or product placement, according to a spokesman, "partners" such as HP and Alienware get plugs from a compare-computers feature.
Other Web sites have many of Game Advisor's capabilities but not the system scan, used to determine whether certain games will run on specific computers, i.e., yours. Microsoft pledges it's anonymous and protects privacy.
The process is quick and generates a detailed specs list — a handy item to keep around. System performance is shown on a color-spectrum bar graph. My Compaq Presario made it two-thirds of the way toward the fast/green end. Not bad for a nearly two-year-old machine.
However, Game Advisor was unimpressed, noting that "38 percent of the systems scanned by Game Advisor ranked higher in performance." How rude. I think I'll boycott the seven-layer dip.
But seriously, the revamped Game Advisor has much to offer and a ways to go. Besides needing to attract a critical mass of users, it could better serve children and families by having an education category and refining the overly broad, 6-12 age range.
Additional resources for picking games are the Review Corner (www.reviewcorner.com) and SuperKids (www.superkids.com), which do an excellent job of homing in on educational and children's titles, and GameSpot (www.gamespot.com), a gamer's paradise of reviews, ratings and industry news.
HoustonChronicle.com - At Home: Game-browsing site needs work
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