The shitstorm hits the lovingly-rendered fan.

I have tried to just let it pass, but I can't. I have been wronged, and I need to let it out somewhere. Here is the only place I really have, but it seems wasteful that nobody will see it. Oh well, so be it. It is a long, slow, and hard process to get respected, but it has to start somewhere.

So, Killzone 2 is the 'Great White Hope' for the PS3, and it really is setting new standards. Not for gameplay, or anything remotely good, but instead for rampant fanboyism. Honestly, the Sony Defence Force have been more active than I can ever remember them being. Mostly because of this review from EDGE online, which gave it a 7. Now, EDGE don't rate like everyone else. For them, a 5 is the average, and a 7 is very good. But, the SDF retards are up in arms because it isn't a 10.

SDF retard website extraordinaire PSXExtreme really took umbrage to it, and have posted one of, if not THE single most ridiculous piece of "journalism" it has ever been my displeasure to read. Honestly, this has to be some kind of joke, as no right thinking person could ever actually believe the rubbish that Ben Dutka is spouting there. EDGE is about as marquee name as it gets in games reviewing circles. They have been around for years, and whilst not the behemoths they once were, are still known and respected everywhere. For some upstart PlayStation branded site to accuse EDGE of chasing hits? It beggars belief.

I read the article, and some of the comments, and was staggered at what I saw. So, I registered at the site, and responded to some of the comments. No fanboyism involved, just correcting factual innaccuracies. An example is when notp posts "7 out of ten is A REALLY GOOD SCORE. It is significantly above average (average being FIVE, not SEVEN, sort it out)." Aftab responds with "If you take a true mathetical average on the score of all games, say on metacritic, you will see that a 5 is below average." Naturally, I had to correct him, and put something pretty much word for word like :

"Aftab, you need educating as to what an average is. 0+1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10=55/11=5. In a 10 point scale, the mean average is 5. This is the scale EDGE uses for rating. 7 is above average." I also then went on to post my own comment, in which I called out Mr. Dutka for having no journalistic integrity. I responded to one or two others, but my main post was 'awaiting moderation'.

Which of course means that it never reached the site! Mr. Dutka decided not to let my words out in case ... well, that's for him to say why, really. I know what I wrote, and one or two other people will have seen the other posts that have since been deleted. (Curiously, not all of them.) Interestingly, some of the site members are now suggesting that Mr. Dutka has become a power-crazed moderator, which is hardly a new phenomenom on the internet!

What have we come to here? I KNOW they are just a small and somewhat insignificant corner of the web, and that any reasonable and intelligent person just would not post there again, but I am wired somewhat differently. I take it as an affront that my post has been moderated despite containing absolutely nothing that violates the terms I agreed to when signing up. I want to go back and keep on posting, but they have actually deleted my account there! I kid you not, you couldn't make stuff like this up if you tried.

This is a new level of fanboyism we are seeing. It is a kind of evolution. Not only are the SDF getting louder, they are now actively silencing any dissenting voices. What next? Will they trace our IP addresses and come to break our fingers?

It's comedy of epic proportions, the kind of drama that makes you both loathe and love the internet. They are ripe for piss takes. Suffice it to say that Destructoid nailed it, and every single fibre of my being wishes I had written that!

I hate review scores, which is why review-me-do's don't have them. They lead to exactly this sort of childish behaviour. The simple fact is that you can not convey all that is good or bad about a game with a score. If that were the case, there would never be a difference of opinion on any game. And Shadow of the Colossus would get 10's everywhere!