I'm going to seem like a bit of ungrateful swine for bringing this up, but where the hell is the Max and the Magic Marker review and why do these reviews take longer and longer to come out?

I remember a time when WiiWare and VC games would come out on the Thursday night and one could expect a review by saturday afternoon or sunday evening at the very latest. Since then the website has expanded and more writers have been taken on board, yet now we have to wait days and sometimes weeks for the reviews to be posted, what's going on?

For a game like Max and the Magic Marker (which looks decent but people have complained about glitches and so on) we Wiii shop customers clearly need some rational and clear-headed guidance. It seems to me that NintendoLife can not fulfil this function anymore ( which by the way is it's primary function and reason for existence, I believe) and I have to go around searching for other reviews. That sucks NL. Tell us 'what's the delay!'

People need to play the game first. Bigger games probably need longer to play before making a fully informed decision.

Plus staff have lives outside the website as well. Shocking but true.

This.

If you want a rushed game review that only gives you part of the details, you're on the wrong site.

You're right - the site has expanded and our readership has increased hugely. A lot rides on our WiiWare reviews being absolutely accurate, and that means we need to play each game thoroughly - if we rush reviews we tend to get lots of comments asking questions or bringing up issues we haven't mentioned in the review.

"Our primary function and reason for existence" is to be the most in-depth and accurate news and reviews site for WiiWare, DSiWare and Virtual Console - we never said anything about being the fastest. If you want to see how fast we really are, check out some of the other news and reviews sites that cover download titles weeks or even months after launch. What's another day or two waiting for a review?

Wow fierce resistance, I'm only asking ReZon. Anyway, the World of Goo review came out the day it was released. That must have been really rushed, right. That 10/10 is completely worthless now is it, because Corbie didn't play it for a week before writing the review?

Nope. Simply the reviews used to come out faster. That's my point.

Come on. Max and the Magic Marker takes about 5 hours to complete. You don't have to go and collect every little secret or whatever, just write about that five or six hours gameplay. How long can that take? A day, in total?

I don't think Roger Ebert has to rewatch Avatar twenty times to give it a five star review, and lets face it, games aren't films. So, complete the game, write the review, simple as...

So find game reviewers who don't have lives. Not shocking.

You only read my reply as fierce resistance because you clearly have a giant chip on your shoulder. Take it as you will.

You missed the point Rezon, so quit it with the amatuer phychology lessons ok. My point was about the World of Goo review, is you don't want to talk sensibly about the topic, do something else.

I assume VC titles are reviewed quickly because many reviewers have prior experience with the title to help their review. Wii Ware titles are different and I would imagine so much time has to be put in first exploring every element of the game before a thorough review can be done. Of course smaller Wii Ware and Dsi Ware titles like Arcade Hoops and Bolwing can probably be done in 5 min.

It isn't that easy. Nobody here does this for money, working it around our personal and social lives. I've had to put a lot of my work on hold this past week due to personal circumstances and it isn't inconceivable that Sean Aaron (who's down to review Max) hasn't had to do the same.

Just have some patience and the review will soon be up.

Ok Prosody, thanks for taking the time to answer my question; I guess that patience is the key. Good luck with your personal circumstances, nothing to serious I hope.

Actually I'm not reviewing Max (though I was originally put down for it) and I cannot comment on the circumstances regarding the game's reviewer Drake. I will say that some games review easier than others and I'm able to put in 1-2 hours/night and that might not be the case with Drake. I don't think it's unreasonable to wait through the week-end for a review for a title that came out Friday when personal life is more likely to be occupied during that critical time off.

For what it's worth I bowed out of reviewing Max because it's a genre I'm not particularly fond of (platforming) so it's all for the good.

There was also a PC version of World of Goo, remember? That was why the review was there on the same day as the release, just like the Strong Bad games.

Have a little patience and go do something else instead of refreshing the main page every 10 minutes.

NL are not Gamespot or IGN in other words unlike most gaming publication websites, these guys are not owned by a big news corporation or any big company, there independent so every game review they did came from there wallet's since they purchased the game to review for us. If you want them to review a WiiWare or VC game buy the game for them it helps if the community helps then complain.

Actually paying me to review games full time would do more to help speed up reviews than buying me the game!

Yes, you do seem like an ungrateful swine. The review went up late last night. Enjoy.