It can be difficult to find reliable sources that cover every facet of the gaming medium. I've found it most helpful to bounce between multiple sites, using each source to get a different kind of industry news fix. Here are the websites I've found most instrumental in my quest to remain an informed gamer.

IGN

The relative giant of the video game journalism scene, IGN garners a lot of flack these days due to its gargantuan size. However, it remains a fantastic catch-all for video game and media news. The site provides in-depth, up-to-date game reviews and previews, as well as a constant stream of entertaining features like Top Ten lists and opinion pieces. It's my go-to gaming news site for those times when I don't know exactly what I'm looking for. A word of warning: IGN's reader community can be quite toxic and tends toward the juvenile. Stay out of the comments sections.

GiantBomb

GiantBomb's small staff means it's not always perfectly up-to-date on the latest releases. However, its Quick Look videos are ideal for deciding whether the blockbuster hit of the moment is right for you. Its goofy, charismatic editors are enjoyable to listen to and get to know, and its blog-like layout keeps things simple and accessible. This is a valuable web destination when you want information and exposure without definitive judgment -- though it also features a worthwhile vault of reviews and a refreshingly sensible five-star scale. Its readers tend to be more mature and open to discussion than those of IGN.

reddit.com/r/games

My dark horse pick for gaming news is social aggregate and difficult-to-describe Reddit's premier video games subreddit. Though /r/gaming features a larger community, that subreddit features shallower posts and less mature commenters. /r/games is rife with legitimate video game discussion in the comments sections, usually by gamers who are truly interested in being informed members of the community. It's not perfect, featuring all of the unpredictable bias that is to be expected from a reader-curated site, but as far as a reliable destination for video game discussion goes, /r/games is second to none.

YouTube

For those days when I just can't find what I'm looking for on a specialty site or am stuck on an especially difficult segment of a game, a simple, general YouTube search almost always yields the desired result. There are plenty of garbage videos, to be sure, but also an enormous swath of worthwhile content from avid gamers and entertaining Let's-Players. YouTube may not be a gaming site, but that doesn't mean it can't be a destination for gamers. 

What are your go-to gaming sites? Share your favorites in the comments section!

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