New Rating System.

I mentioned implementing a new rating system a while back.  Well, it's partially in effect now, starting with the XCOM review.

I don't like using a 10 scale very much, because it's heavily weighted towards the upper 5 points.  After all, when games are coming out with a typical MSRP of $60, who cares whether a game gets a 2 or a 4?  Ultimately, they both spell the same message:  Don't buy the game.

So, because I think the lower half is unnecessary, I decided to remove it and just go from 10 to 4.5.  Let's be clear: this is basically the upper half a 10-point scale cut down a few notches.  So, 6 stars is a 10.  5 stars is a 9.  3.5 stars is a 7.5.

What this means is that unless a game gets 1 star or less, I expect there will always be plenty of people out there who love the game regardless of what I score.  After all, you see plenty of games with 6.5's garner cult followings.

So, the Rating Scale has been updated.  The next step is to adapt the Ratings Index.  I haven't decided if I'm going to go back and retroactively convert each review score though.