Twitter is not the nicest place on the internet at the best of times, but even allowing for that, some people receive more abuse than others. A lot more.

Two views on the state of games criticism over at The New York Times. Here are excerpts:

The trouble with criticizing games is that they get so darn personal.

Earlier this week I got several versions of a small talk question I always field this time of year: "I haven't played Madden in X years. Should I buy it this year?"

Metacritic's founder made a little bit of a stir earlier in the week when he went on the A Jumps B Shoots podcast to discuss a wide variety of topics, one of them being that game reviewers were obligated to "review all the shit," not just good games or those expected to sell well. GamePro followed up for a…

In the runup to the game's release last year, Mafia II's development studio and publicity team tried, with limited success, to set reasonable expectations of the game. "It isn't Grand Theft Auto," I was told, more than once, in emails and in the game's review notes.

The concept behind Fight Night Champion's narrative "Champion Mode" inspired me when I read of it. I looked forward to it as a breakthrough opportunity for the sports genre. But it served up a tray of disappointingly bland cookie-cut characters and conflicts, and the progression of your career was too short and too…

Tron: Legacy has been, at best, a critical disappointment. At worst, well, "a Dora the Explorer movie would be more interesting." Who said that? The eight-year-old daughter of noted video game academic Ian Bogost.

Kmart's new review policy, which places customer game reviews on their store shelves, recently went live with some important tweaks.

Can video games have a Western canon?

The Chicago Sun-Times film critic has finally revisited his old contention that games can never be art, to defend it "in principle," and to dispute about that which cannot be disputed.

In film or literature, the creation of acclaimed work is sometimes attached to a personal event, or reaction. "That doesn't show up often in game development bios," says one dev. Finding that "why" might save games from a "cultural ghetto."

Few things mar a game, especially a role-playing game, like being sold on creating a complex, even unique character and then being presented with tendentiously noble or evil choices to build out that role.

A U.K. company named Vertical Slice claims it's able to predict video game review scores a year in advance of release, by reverse engineering magazine reviews, combined with an analysis method used by marriage counselors.

As some of you know, I'm living with my grandfather for the near term, because he's 86 and needs some assistance, and the companionship's good for him. But he keeps asking me about video games.

Sega Europe boss Mike Hayes says Metacritic scores are indicative of certain games' success, and while score targets aren't written into every developer contract, Metacritic does have value — especially in judging expensive projects.

More than 80 years ago the movie rating star system was born in the New York Daily News.

The profile of Rockstar and the Housers doesn't really answer that (beyond mentioning the Goatie we gave it for writing). But the writer talks to critics and eggheads who say it's a legitimate question.

When I saw this comparison between the Final Fantasy and the battleship Yamato (the largest battleship ever made), I was wondering how the comparison would be drawn: the spectacular demise, perhaps? Not quite.