Where do you go for game news and reviews?

[Psitticine]

I'm not sure it qualifies as unbiased, but I'll often check out metacritic to get an overview of what people are saying. Then I'll look at a sampling of the top, middle, and bottom reviews (usually just skimming/scanning) to get an idea of what issues are reoccuring problems to the reviewers and so forth. I don't feel that necessarily bypasses any biasing going on, but maybe it helps mitigate it a bit.

Most often, however, I just go by word-of-mouth. I know the tastes of my friends compared to mine, which makes it easier to know if what they are enjoying is really something I'll enjoy.

Once upon a time, I relied heavily on print reviews in magazines but the delays involved in that medium means they are relying more on previews than reviews these days, and that's not all that valuable to me. Things change too much from preview time to gold, IMO. I haven't read a print computer magazine since Dom III was getting reviewed and it was at least as long before that since I'd picked one up.

Oh, and if I'm thinking about picking up something that's been out for awhile, my first stop is never a review site but rather the game's forums, both the official ones and any fansite ones that are around. I find you can learn more about the actual play experience by browsing through the chatter than you can from just about anywhere else than talking about it directly with somebody who plays it.