Paul Boxley

Ars and Metacritic

1. Ars Technica produce some of the best video game reviews on the Internet.
2. Metacritic aggregate scores from hundreds of websites to give a simple indication of the reception that games have received.

So why do Ars Technica actively avoid inclusion on sites like Metacritic?

You lose control over what your score means, because Metacritic has locked down a numerical score that tries to take non-numerical scoring systems into account. You lose control over when you can release your review, because companies give you ultimatums based on how Metacritic interprets that score. If you take your reviews seriously, both of those restrictions seem to be intolerable.

The fact that Ars Technica doesn't really provide a score at the end of reviews is probably why they are so good.