Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news and reviews. It was established in 1999 by the Eurogamer Network Ltd., and grew to become one of the most important European based websites focused on video games. Most of the reviews (measured on a single 10 point scale) are made with European or PAL releases of the games, but given the time disparity between Japanese or North American/NTSC releases, some reviews are done using the latter. The version used, however, is always indicated.
Other features include traditional screenshot galleries, a forum and video, demo and patch downloads (which use the BitTorrent distribution method).
The site was redesigned in May 2005 and continues the core idea of providing single-page reviews for free (unlike other gaming websites, there are no "premium accounts" or any other kind of paid privileges). While the reviews are seen as ones of the most reliable on the internet, some of them caused some controversy, such as Halo 2 [1] (the single player review received initially a 8/10 mark, one of the lowest according to GameRankings.com [2] , later revised to 9/10 combined with multiplayer) and the Xbox version of FIFA Street [3] (8/10, one of the highest according to the same site [4]).
Some of the the Eurogamer staff also works on GamesIndustry.biz, a gaming industry portal also operated by EN Ltd.
Community
Originally, the Eurogamer community had to use the comments attached to articles and news stories. These would quickly shift from a discussion of the reported topic to other topics, referred to as a 'Hijack'. In 2002, the forum was added and was quickly taken to heart, despite some initial reservations. The forum is now a key aspect of the site for some of its users.
Through the forum, many video games' presences have been graced with a Eurogamer clan. These consist mainly of online First Person Shooters and Massively Multiplayer games, most notably City of Heroes, World of Warcraft and (before the demise of the thread) Eve-Online.
Over the years the community has extended beyond the confines of the Intenet and there are annual Geekmeets (social occasions usually held in London) and LAN parties where a variety of console and PC games are played.
Commonly Used Shorthand and Smilies
- (o/ putting on coat after making a particularly bad joke
- o_O a look combining disgust, disbelief, pity and incomprehension
- +1 I agree
- o/ Hand up
- \o/ Yay
- /o\ We bow down in the presence of your infinite daftness
Running Gags
The Eurogamer community has a series of running gags, these are:
- The Eurogamer food of choice is marmite on toast and the Jaffa Cake. Separately, preferably.
- The Eurogamer insult of choice is 'donit'
- The Eurogamer mode of transport of choice is the motorbike, more commonly refered to as the 'm0t0rb1k3' often used in the question 'Does it have m0t0rb1k35?'.
- (Something) is better than Halo (refering to the 8/10 score that Halo received).
- Mugwum's inspired (by acid? - Ed) weekly roundups.
- Tard hunting is a common past time and helps keep the place for the most part fairly free of tard. Usually preceded with shouts of Yeeehaw, Let's go a huntin', and /polishes shotgun
- /handbags - clutched by all when a typically pointless flamewar gets underway with sense of humour failures all round
- PB:SoJ - Primal Badger: Snouts of Justice - game of the year 2002, little-known to recent arrivals but much-loved by longer-serving regulards