# Why isn't it allowed to reply to Gbatemp reviews?



## hova1 (Aug 13, 2010)

It seems to me like the "reviews" are just glorified ads with the benefit that the staff of Gbatemp gets free stuff to review. i mean seriously, $140 for a SNES flashcart? you guys don't even mention the price. The people from Retrozone are seriously ripping off people with their hardware. I like gbatemp and i've been on the site for 3 years but this makes me doubt the site and the idea behind it. It makes me sad to be honest.


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## Urza (Aug 13, 2010)

You are a greedy little pretentious child.


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## amptor (Aug 13, 2010)

hova1 said:
			
		

> It seems to me like the "reviews" are just glorified ads with the benefit that the staff of Gbatemp gets free stuff to review. i mean seriously, $140 for a SNES flashcart? you guys don't even mention the price. The people from Retrozone are seriously ripping off people with their hardware. I like gbatemp and i've been on the site for 3 years but this makes me doubt the site and the idea behind it. It makes me sad to be honest.



Do you even have any idea of how much $ it costs to create a custom fab PCB in the USA? This cart in question is made in the USA.  Plus the amount of effort involved in constructing the unit and the knowledge it takes to put it together.

Do you have any idea about the amount of time it takes to put together a review?  Do you think everything is done for free?  You get to access this web site for free, should be happy with that imho.

I don't mention prices because prices are subject to change at the discretion of the manufacturer.  Also the prices are competative and I'm not sure if they want us to list prices on here.  The web sites show the prices that are linked to.  Gbatemp does not make money off of third party web sites sales of hardware.  Only the gbatemp store is the official store of gbatemp.


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## Overlord Nadrian (Aug 13, 2010)

You could also ask "Why _is it_ allowed to reply to topics like this?"

I suppose you can figure out the answer yourself.


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## hova1 (Aug 13, 2010)

Urza said:
			
		

> You are a greedy little pretentious child.
> you can read that out of a few lines i wrote? genius.
> 
> QUOTE(amptor @ Aug 13 2010, 09:14 PM) Do you even have any idea of how much $ it costs to create a custom fab PCB in the USA? This cart in question is made in the USA.  Plus the amount of effort involved in constructing the unit and the knowledge it takes to put it together.
> ...


Why didn't you at least once mention the price. i don't give a shit how much it costs to make one. really a review that doesn't even mention that this is a rip off is not a revies. also the "older" flashcarts you talk about at the end of your "review" are fine as they are. At least they're affordable.

also my question has not been answered as of now.
Why isn't it allowed to reply to Gbatemp reviews?

and i think it's funny that when a topic comes up that is critical of gbatemp the mods are just flaming said topic.


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## Overlord Nadrian (Aug 13, 2010)

hova1 said:
			
		

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Seems like you didn't even read what amptor said. He didn't mention the price because it is _always *subject to change*_. Are you perhaps too lazy to do a quick Google search for the current lowest pricing?


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## amptor (Aug 13, 2010)

hova1 said:
			
		

> Urza said:
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Did I mention the price in any of the other reviews? if the admins want me to put the price in, they'd let me know.  until then, the review is finished.

you aren't allowed to reply to gbatemp reviews because they use another section for that when it is posted on the front page.  why that is? I don't know, I don't run gbatemp. you'd have to ask the owners.  seems to work fine for me, doesn't clutter up the review section with a lot of nonsense posts like the above


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## _Chaz_ (Aug 13, 2010)

Honestly, I've always wondered this as well. Discussing topics is what a forum (web or otherwise) is all about. Why can't a review be one of those topics?


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## hova1 (Aug 13, 2010)

Ellie said:
			
		

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funny how you think that it is intelligent if someones insult is the only thing he can say.


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## dice (Aug 13, 2010)

hova1 said:
			
		

> and i think it's funny that when a topic comes up that is critical of gbatemp the mods are just flaming said topic.




What mods? lol


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## amptor (Aug 13, 2010)

imho hova1's doing alright. you should've seen the nasty messages I got from an ebay member yesterday.  I'm chill with hova1.


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## Overlord Nadrian (Aug 13, 2010)

hova1 said:
			
		

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Insult or not, it _is_ true. You're complaining about things that are definitely not worth complaining about and you're wasting your time posting nonsensical arguments.

You're probably going to leave this forum now, because we might be superior to you. Farewell.


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## hova1 (Aug 13, 2010)

Ellie said:
			
		

> Insult or not, it _is_ true. You're complaining about things that are definitely not worth complaining about and you're wasting your time posting nonsensical arguments.
> then i think it's pretty silly to reply to nonsensical arguments, or?
> QUOTEYou're probably going to leave this forum now, because we might be superior to you. Farewell.


Is this reverse psychology? are you trying for me to stay? i knew you like me.


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## Overlord Nadrian (Aug 13, 2010)

hova1 said:
			
		

> then i think it's pretty silly to reply to nonsensical arguments, or?I like proving people wrong and bashing them.
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> QUOTE(hova1 @ Aug 13 2010, 09:40 PM) Is this reverse psychology? are you trying for me to stay? i knew you like me.


lolwut


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## amptor (Aug 13, 2010)

well I can't insult hova1 cos he is an M3 fan as am I :3 two peas in a pod.


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## referencer (Aug 13, 2010)

Why'd you have to ask a legitimate question in the title and then fill the body with flamebait?

If I had to guess, I'd say it's because reviews are generally commissioned by someone or something, and the commissioners probably wouldn't like to see a big long review for the product and then have a bunch of cunts like us at the bottom talking about how much we hate the product that was reviewed or whatever.


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## hova1 (Aug 13, 2010)

Ellie said:
			
		

> I like proving people wrong and bashing them.
> U MAD?
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you're right. sorry.


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## Overlord Nadrian (Aug 13, 2010)

Bashbashbash.

End of topic.


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## hova1 (Aug 13, 2010)

i think i'll better let you guys circlejerk around while i wait for a grown up to respond.


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## Slyakin (Aug 13, 2010)

The reason we can't respond is because of people that might ask for links and prices, and maybe even stupid deals.


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## hova1 (Aug 13, 2010)

It seems to me like the "reviews" are just glorified ads with the benefit that the staff of Gbatemp gets free stuff to review. i mean seriously, $140 for a SNES flashcart? you guys don't even mention the price. The people from Retrozone are seriously ripping off people with their hardware. I like gbatemp and i've been on the site for 3 years but this makes me doubt the site and the idea behind it. It makes me sad to be honest.


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## FAST6191 (Aug 13, 2010)

I say we keep it a tad more calm

SNES copier- if you are in the market for such a thing you probably already know quite a bit about the SNES, how it works, how it is emulated and why it is hard to do this sort of thing. For the benefit of those not in the know http://www.pocketheaven.com/ph/wiki/index....h_special_chips is a good start and http://byuu.org/articles/asnes (and a lot of the other stuff on that site) is a great followup.
To this end you already know a decent one (which is the desire of nearly everybody in these circles) will have to emulate/replicate said chips (indeed in the "why not emulate" debate this will probably form part of your reply) and that is not cheap/easy even with modern programmable processors, similarly a working idea/model of the low volume electronics market also helps (bill of materials and add 50-75% or even double it for a basic electrical device*). The DS in comparison (especially when made in China by Chinese people/those that know China's setup) is trivial to get a flash cart working on.

*margins are still thin even at this price.

Reply (or lack of ability to reply)- it is to avoid clutter. For a good example of such clutter have a look at some of the releases posts (preferably from a big/anticipated game) from a year or better yet two or more ago. See all the "why does this not work/how do I get it to work on my [now ancient flash cart]" stuff? Is it relevant now?
These reviews and especially one like this for an essentially dead console (translations and other things are still coming out but releases wise outside of the odd hardware find, redump, beta and v1.1 it is long dead) will stand for many years. You have the option to discuss them in the accompanying newspost. It can and does happen often enough that if your reply is of great relevance to the review it will be added into the review proper or it will be adjusted to reflect it.

As for reviews I will echo the "do you know how long it takes" thing- even assuming the background knowledge is "free" (see the SNES having fairly specific issues thing up above) I doubt any of these reviews are knocked out in less than 40 hours work on and off (not to mention companies are none too keen on waiting ages for a review to appear unless it is a long term thing). You start pulling things apart and pushing limits/trying to "break" the device like any good review and this time requirement soon skyrockets (formatting and getting it ready to read alone takes an hour or two at least). While it usually does not happen here and it is a perk of being staff on a site like this once you get into reviews proper you often have to send the item back as well.
I will say if you think it read like an advert please elaborate- adverts are designed to sell you something and reviews are there to inform. If you think the line is blurred that is a serious issue that needs addressing and will be taken very seriously by all concerned.


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## hova1 (Aug 13, 2010)

Thank you FAST6191 for your fast reply.



			
				FAST6191 said:
			
		

> (indeed in the "why not emulate debate this will probably form part of your reply)
> not at all, i understand the need for flashcarts for old consoles and i think it's a great thing.
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> QUOTEI will say if you think it read like an advert please elaborate- adverts are designed to sell you something and reviews are there to inform. If you think the line is blurred that is a serious issue that needs addressing and will be taken very seriously by all concerned.


I admit i was generalizing based on the Retrozone review because there is no other way than to buy this product from the Retrozone website itself. For example a new DS flashcart can be bought from different websites and you guys link even link to these sites, on this case you can't. I'm sorry. 
But to go back on the pricing and not mentioning it in the review. I think it should be noted in this particularly case because the price is really steep and the fact that you can only buy it from one shop it makes it look like you advertise the shop. Plus the fact that it says that you got the sample from Retrozone (for free maybe?) it makes my assumption stronger.
I'm okay if it isn't noted now because your reply put my mind at ease a little and i don't think gbatemp has any bad intentions. (i never thought that).
Thank you again.


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## amptor (Aug 13, 2010)

hova1 said:
			
		

> Thank you FAST6191 for your fast reply.
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gbatemp doesn't carry retrozone products nor any of the other products I have reviewed. they aren't making money off of those at all. the sites that supplied the samples aren't paying gbatemp.

also I have a difficult time believing that the price is steep. show me where you can get a CF based cart or a cart with all of these features for less money and then I will agree with you.  My wildcard originally cost me $350 when money had almost double the buying power it does today.  A typical feature packed snes floppy based copier runs you about $100 + $35 EMS shipping out of china total $135.  $140 is not a lot more than that and the retrozone cart is a lot better and more fun to use.  I am having a real difficult time seeing where you are going with this.  You don't seem to know a lot about computer hardware apparantly.

you also cannot compare say an M3 Zero to a retrozone snes flash cart for example.  it is not apples to apples.  read up on the hardware specification.  does the M3 product have the same or more hardware inside than the snes cart? well no.  the snes cart has 128 megabit of built in SDRAM and has logic chips that aren't on the nintendo DS products.  also it is a shorter product run, so it is more difficult to recoup the cost of manufacturing than a DS cart which sells by the hundreds of thousands.  they don't sell anywhere near as many snes and n64 flash carts, so that is another consideration as to how the price of the product cannot simply be $20.  If they wanted under 100 bucks for one of these, they would lose money on each unit.  You have to understand also that they want to make a little bit of a profit off of these which is why they make them to begin with.  If there was zero or negative incentive, it would not even make it off the ground.

I had seen where a hobbyist made a colecovision flash cart with every game on it a long time ago and he refused to sell them due to this fact.  People will belly ache and complain. You can't expect that an author of a product is necessarily going to want to put up with that bullshit, can you?  if it is too much money either get a job or just simply don't buy one.  it would take about 2 days working full time at mcdonalds where I live to afford one of these.

I still find it unnecessary to post the product prices because I have directly linked to the product page which only takes one click.  And I stand by that if the mods of this forum want that edited in, they would have let me know by now or they can always let me know and I can make the modifications to the original post.  I will go through the reviews and check and see if people post prices too because maybe you are seeing something that was done in reviews before that I missed out on.  But I don't recall seeing prices for Wode, R4, etc etc but I could be mistaken.


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## amptor (Aug 13, 2010)

separate post here, I know admins love to merge but this is separate for now at least:


*I see no prices listed for Wode, iplayer, and R6 gold*

I don't feel like I need to sift through any more of these.  This almost reminds me of the guy on tototek forums that was spouting out a lot of questions for products that he wasn't even intending to buy and then a few people caught him and he quit logging on.  That is an extreme example, but still.  people are rather random on the internet at times.


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