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Module:Video game reviews

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T:VGR

{{Video game reviews}} is a template which presents review aggregator and individual publication review scores in a video game article. It supports a game's reception section, which for released titles is necessary for an article to be broad in its coverage.

Things to remember:

This template is not required.
This template supplements the reception section; it does not replace it.
Only include reviews if they are cited within the text.

Guidelines

{{Video game reviews}} is not required: Traditional reviews, or those that provide some type of score, may be few and far between for some games. If you only have a couple of such reviews which could be used to fill the table, consider foregoing the table and instead simply state these in the body of reception text.
All reviews must be referenced: Individual reviews should cite their original publication, not the truncated aggregator summary. See also Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games/Sources.
Every single-site review source should be used within the reception section: The reviews table supports the text. It is not to replicate the function of external review aggregators.
Stay with the "usual suspects"
Aggregator scores

Shortcut

WP:VGAGG

Aggregators present readers with a quick gauge of the critical consensus.

Metacritic − Industry standard
GameRankings − Useful for older games

Do not include GameRankings in articles about newer games. GameRankings is mainly useful for older games and it is mainly duplication in newer ones. Round aggregator scores to the nearest whole number (e.g., 83.46% → 83%).

Review scores

The following sources comprise the most popular and influential voices in the games industry. They provide a core selection of reviews to build a reception section:

IGN − Most popular English language games website
GameSpot − Second most popular English language games website
Game Informer − US magazine with the largest circulation
Edge − UK's longest running print magazine
Eurogamer − Most popular European English language games website (See below)

For older games, particularly fifth generation and earlier, web based publications lacked the reach and influence of print publications. Consider these sources:

Computer and Video Games − UK magazine first published in 1981
Computer Gaming World − US PC magazine first published in 1981
Electronic Gaming Monthly − US magazine first published in 1989 (See below)
GamePro − US magazine first published in 1989
These publications and others may be available from the WikiProject's reference library.

Single platform publications may offer specialist insight to platform-exclusive games, and allow readers to compare the reception across platforms of multiplatform games. Consider sources such as Nintendo Power, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer, PlayStation Official Magazine – UK, and others.

For niche genres, genre publications may offer specialist insight. Consider sources such as Adventure Gamers, RPGamer, PC Pilot, and others.

Games which have strong cultural ties to their country of origin should have reception from that same country. Japanese games and Japanese ports of American games, for example, are best served with a Famitsu review (See below).

Consider coverage from outside traditional video games media. High quality sources such as The New York Times, Wired, and the BBC do not cater to a "gamer" audience, but may on occasion cover video games. Wikipedia is both a generalist and specialist encyclopedia. Opinions from these sources may be more accessible to a non-gamer audience and place the subject in a greater cultural and societal context than is possible at a narrowly focused video gaming publication.

Reviews without scores: Some publications, such as Eurogamer, Kotaku, and Polygon, may not score their reviews. If, instead of a score, the publication presents the game with a badge or award in its review, this can be included in the table. This is not necessary.

Consider the aggregate scoring breakdown: The review aggregators used in the table are considered reliable sources and are trusted to provide the critical consensus. However, some games may divide opinion and there may be no true consensus. This division of opinion may already have been captured following the guidelines above, but if not - consider including further reviews expressing these "outlier" opinions.; Publications such as Electronic Gaming Monthly and Famitsu review games among a group, with each reviewer offering their individual score. Using the average or cumulative score from these publications will result in the loss of that breakdown, so include the individual scores, either in the table itself or in a footnote.
Numerical scores: Make sure to include the maximum possible score for a review if the review uses a numerical value ("7/10", "86/100"). This is not required if the score is published as a percentage, as this presumes the maximum score of 100%.
Letter grades: Ratings that use a letter grade system should simply present the letter grade ("B-", "C+").
Stars: If a review uses a stars instead of numbers, you may use the {{rating}} template. This is not required. Examples:

Code	Result
`{{Rating\|3\|5}}`	Template:Rating
`{{Rating\|3.5\|5}}`	Template:Rating
`{{Rating\|7\|10}}`	Template:Rating

General

Usage

All of the following fields are optional:

title*: Can be used to provide a custom title for the table; otherwise, it will default to "Reception".
subtitle*: Used to add additional text before the collapsible section. This is necessary to add if want a longer title, as long titles via the "title" parameter will not center correctly.
state* [autocollapse, collapsed, expanded]: autocollapse – The table will start out collapsed if there are two or more tables on the same page that use other collapsible tables. Otherwise, the table will be expanded. For the technically minded, see MediaWiki:Common.js.; collapsed – The table will be collapsed (hidden) by default. This is useful for very long tables.; expanded – The table will be expanded (shown) by default. This is useful if autocollapse is not showing the table in a section that it wouldn't matter.; If undefined or set to blank, the table will not be collapsible.
align*: right – Displays the table on the right. This is default.; left – Displays the table on the left.; inherit – Specifies that the value of the float property should be inherited from the parent element.; none – The table is not aligned, and will be displayed just where it occurs in the text on the page.

Code

Predefined Aggregator Fields
Aggregator	Code	Rating system example
Metacritic	`MC`	83/100
GameRankings (see note above—only use for older games when Metacritic data is unavailable)	`GR`	84%

Use "wikidata" as the rating for the above fields to pull from aggregator reviews declared on the game's respective Wikidata page. This will automatically build references from Wikidata as well. The default date format is MDY. To change it, specify another format with "|df=<format>" such as DMY, YMD, etc. See WP:VG/WD for a quick guide on editing Wikidata.

1UP to Game Revolution
Reviewer	Code	Rating system example
1UP.com	`1UP`	A+ to D−
Adventure Gamers	`AdvGamers`
AllGame	`Allgame`
Amstrad Action	`AAction`
AMTIX!	`Amtix`
Computer Games Magazine	`CGM`
Computer Games Strategy Plus	`CGSP`
Computer Gaming World	`CGW`
Computer and Video Games	`CVG`	9.2 (0.0 to 10.0)
Crash	`CRASH`
Destructoid	`Destruct`
Dragon	`Dragon`
Edge	`Edge`	1 to 10
Electronic Gaming Monthly	`EGM`	9.5 (0.0 to 10.0)
Eurogamer	`EuroG`	Stopped scoring reviews on 10 February 2015
Famitsu	`Fam`	0 to 40
G4	`G4`
GameFan	`GameFan`
Game Informer	`GI`
GamePro	`GamePro`
Game Revolution	`GameRev`	A to D− (1996-2012); adapted 5-star rating system in 2012

*GamesMaster* to *Official Playstation Magazine* (US)
Reviewer	Code	Rating system example
GamesMaster	`GMaster`
GameSpot	`GSpot`
GameSpy	`GSpy`
GamesRadar+	`GRadar`
GamesTM	`GTM`
GameTrailers	`GT`
GameZone	`GameZone`
Giant Bomb	`GB`
Hyper	`Hyper`
IGN	`IGN`
Joystiq	`Joystiq`	No longer scored reviews after Jan. 2015, although the blog was shut down the following month
Maximum PC	`MaxPC`
Nintendo Gamer	`NG`
NGC Magazine	`N64` or `NGC`
Nintendo Life	`NLife`
Nintendo Power	`NP`
Nintendo World Report	`NWR`
Official Nintendo Magazine	`ONM`
Official PlayStation Magazine (US)	`OPM`

*Official PlayStation Magazine* (UK) to *Your Sinclair*
Reviewer	Code	Rating system example
Official PlayStation Magazine (UK)	`OPMUK`
Official PlayStation Magazine (Australia)	`OPMAU`
Official Xbox Magazine	`OXM`
Official Xbox Magazine (UK)	`OXMUK`
PALGN	`PALGN`
PC Format	`PCF`
PC Gamer (UK)	`PCGUK`
PC Gamer (US)	`PCGUS`
PC PowerPlay	`PCPP`
PC Zone	`PCZone`
Play	`Play`
Polygon	`Poly`	No longer scoring reviews after May 2018
PSM	`PSM`
PSM3	`PSM3`
Sinclair User	`SUser`
TeamXbox	`TX`
VideoGamer.com	`VG`
X-Play	`XPlay`
Your Sinclair	`YSinclair`

Award layout

Usage

Shortcuts

{{VG Awards}}
{{Video game awards}}

award_n*: These are for the title of the awards that the title has won.
award_nPub*: These are the publishers that provided the award for the title.

Code

Example Blank Template

{{Video game reviews
| title      = 
| subtitle   = 
<!--Formatting-->
| state      = <!--plain/collapsible-->
| align      = <!--left/right/none/inherit-->
<!-- Awards No limit -->
| award1Pub  = 
| award1     = 
| award2Pub  = 
| award2     = 
}}

Single-Platform/Column layout

Usage

award_n*: These are for the title of the awards that the title has won.
award_nPub*: These are the publishers that provided the award for the title.
rev_n*: These are for custom reviewers. Use with rev_nScore.
rev_nScore*: These are for custom reviewers scores for each Platform. Use with rev_n.
agg_n*: These are for custom aggregate. Use with agg_nScore.
agg_nScore*: These are for custom aggregate scores for each Platform. Use with agg_n.

Code

Example Blank Template

{{Video game reviews
| title      = 
| subtitle   = 
<!--Formatting-->
| state      = <!--plain/collapsible-->
| align      = <!--left/right/none/inherit-->
<!-- Aggregators -->
| MC         = 
<!-- Reviewers -->
| XPlay      = 
| IGN        = 
<!-- Custom aggregators limit is set to 10 -->
| agg1      = 
| agg1Score = 
| agg2      = 
| agg2Score = 
<!-- Custom Reviewers limit is set to 10-->
| rev1       = 
| rev1Score  = 
| rev2       = 
| rev2Score  = 
<!-- Awards No limit -->
| award1Pub  = 
| award1     = 
| award2Pub  = 
| award2     = 
}}

Multi-platform

Usage

na*: This will set a fill of N/A grayed out.
award_n*: These are for the title of the awards that the title has won.
award_nPub*: These are the publishers that provided the award for the title.
rev_n*: These are for custom reviewers. Use with rev_nPlatform.
rev_nPlatform*: These are for custom reviewers scores for each Platform. Use with rev_n.

Code

You first need to put any platforms that are being used: The code to use is as follows:
Enter true into any platform used.
If not used, set to non-true value, leave blank, or delete the parameter.

Example Blank Template

{{Video game reviews
| title      = 
| subtitle   = 
<!--Formatting-->
| state      = <!--plain/collapsible-->
| align      = <!--left/right/none/inherit-->
| na         = true/false; default is false can be omitted.
<!-- Turn on platform etc. -->
| DS         = true
| iOS        = false
<!-- Aggregators etc. -->
| MC_DS      = 
| MC_iOS     = 
<!-- Reviewers etc. -->
| XPlay_iOS  = 
| IGN_X360   = 
<!-- Custom Reviewers limit is set to 10-->
| rev1       = 
| rev1_PC    = 
| rev1_X360  = 
| rev2       = 
| rev2_PC    = 
<!-- Awards no limit-->
| award1Pub  = 
| award1     = 
| award2Pub  = 
| award2     = 
}}

Predefined System Type
System	Code
3DO Interactive Multiplayer	3DO
Nintendo 3DS	3DS
Atari 2600	A2600
ColecoVision	CV
Nintendo DS	DS
Dreamcast	SDC
Game Boy	GB
Game Boy Advance	GBA
Game Boy Color	GBC
GameCube	NGC
General ~~ If review is broad.	GEN
iOS	iOS
Atari Lynx	LYNX
Macintosh	MAC
Mega Drive	SMD
Mobile	MOB
N-Gage (device)	N-G
Nintendo 64	N64
Nintendo Entertainment System	NES
Nintendo Switch	NS
Personal Computer	PC
PlayStation (console)	PS
PlayStation 2	PS2
PlayStation 3	PS3
PlayStation 4	PS4
PlayStation Portable	PSP
Sega Game Gear	SGG
Super Nintendo Entertainment System	SNES
Master System	SMS
Sega Saturn	SSAT
Shield	NSHI
TurboGrafx-16	TG16
PlayStation Vita	VITA
Wii	WII
Wii U	WIIU
Xbox	XBOX
Xbox One	XONE
Xbox 360	X360

How to add a new platform

Go to Module:Video game reviews/data and add {'wiki url/title', 'short code for the system'} within the system array.

Define a code for the new platform (e.g. “PS2” for PlayStation 2)
Determine its alphabetical order, and the platform code preceding and succeeding it. (e.g. For PS2, the PS precedes, and the PS3 succeeds)

How to add a new reviewer

Go to Module: Video game reviews and add {'wikilink/title', 'short code for the reviewer'} within the reviewer array.

Define a code into the appropriate place (alphabetically) of the existing code.
Be sure to provide an appropriate wikilink if available.

Template Data

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. Click here to see a monthly parameter usage report for this template based on this TemplateData.

TemplateData for Read

A template to show the review scores, aggregator scores, and awards given to a title.

Template parameters[Edit template data]
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
title	`title`	Title of the template. Default Reception	String	optional
subtitle	`subtitle`	Subtitle of the template. Default	String	optional
state	`state`	The tables collapsable settings. Default expanded	String	optional
align	`align`	The tables horizontal alignment settings. Default right	String	optional
na	`na`	This will set a fill of N/A grayed out. Default true	String	optional

Notes

Guidelines

General

Usage

Code

Award layout

Usage

Code

Single-Platform/Column layout

Usage

Code

Multi-platform

Usage

Code

How to add a new platform

How to add a new reviewer

Template Data

See also

Notes