Hi all!

I am having a issue with myself at the moment. I always wrote reviews on paper but since today, I started to make videoreviews. My question to you is: what do you prefer? Videoreviews or written reviews?

I'm old school--I've always preferred written reviews. That's not to say that you can't do great video reviews, but for me written ones are the ones I gravitate toward. Given a choice, I'll take written 100 times out of 100.

Agreed. I prefer written reviews over audio/video. Part of that might have to do with the fact I'm a journalist that work in the written form, rather than audio/video form.

And I guess there are a few reasons behind this. The first is if you want to go back and refer to a section of it, for whatever reason, it's easier to scan text than it is to scan audio/video for what you're looking for. Also you can read faster than you can listen to people talk, which can be a bonus. That and you can read articles easier at work than you can watch videos, for the most part.

I have always prefered written content to videos/podcasts, but that doesn't mean their isn't room for both.

I can see the point of video reviews, and they certainly have their purpose... but I'll always read written reviews over watching those on video. Video reviews can vary in quality (based on your internet connection), and there's nothing that detracts from a piece more than stuttering video or questionable sound quality... it takes away from the professionalism that the review creator likely intended.

I believe both have their place and can be great compliments to eachother. A video review will always be shallow compared to a written review, but it can complement a written review very well as you can show examples and ingame footage.

Some also take advantage of having unique (like Yahtzee of zero punctuation) or charismatic/attactive looks/voice (like that IGN chick that does video reviews)

A combination of the two is perfect for me, because sometimes a written review can read really negative, tough the score would be above average. If you watch a videoreview you can often see why he thinks that and that is bad, why is scores that and get more of an enthusiam-feel. My reviews are most times written with a lot of enthusiasm and my readers most times can read that whilst not in a videoreview, so it really depens on the person who is writing/presenting. Still, nice videoreview Sylvano ;-)

They both have their own charm but they also have their own requirements for a good review. If you plan to make something like what I'm trying to work on with a friend for videoreviews, try to make sure that the person you're working with isn't that big on spoilers and knows when to hold back. The guy I'm working with doesn't care about spoilers and just runs through half of the plot before a review is done. I spend most of the time trying to keep him on track since he's got ADD and trying to pull him away from spoilers. We recorded a review of Drag Me to Hell that when it's edited down might be 10 minutes. My part of the review is 3 or 4 minutes. The rest of it was me trying to slow him down on the spoilers and get him back on track. Even not edited with all the problems that popped up, including his getting the giggles so we have a gag reel too, my part of the review was only 6 or 7 minutes out of 35 minutes. The rest was me trying to keep him on track.

Yeah I know that little ancedote has to do with a movie review but we're pretty much covering everything from movies to games to books and music.

I hate video reviews as they're always so difficult to pull off well, I don't think I've seen a single truly good video review ever. The person is either robotic, too scripted, ugly, distracting, hard to understand or various other things that make me turn the video off. Written all the way :D.

This depends on many factors, but primarily the difference is that a written review is informative in nature while a video is sensational. I don't consider Zero Punctuation (for example) to be a traditional review, but then I'm not much for traditional reviews anyway. I'll take either one if it can tell me if I would like the game or not, and other things being equal I'll choose the more entertaining one.

Mind you, not everyone is meant to be in front of a camera or microphone.