Yeah. I still respect Jeff, but more in the sense that I think it'd be interesting to sit down and have a conversation with him, not because I tend to agree much with what he writes. And true, I know what you mean about how some of that kind of aforementioned stuff exists here to some degree as well... but we aren't writing reviews, so while it might be a little obnoxious from time to time, at least it isn't getting out to a large reading public. I guess it isn't something that one can control, anyway, so it's not like I hold it against any of the GB guys. I just wish some of their readers weren't so stupid.
I still don't understand the save problem. The simple solution is to not rely on autosaves. I don't think any game with autosaves intend those to be used as a primary save system. They aren't reliable that way. They're just good as emergency "Oh snap!" backups in some instances, or at least that's how I've always treated them. I guess maybe I don't get it because I'm a total self-admitted save whore.
I think it's at times hard to qualify games like Oblivion since they're so huge and there are so many variables. Sometimes the variables just add up to something shitty instead of greatness, even if they tend to more often veer toward greatness. I think this is much less of a problem in Fallout 3, though. The game is more structured and better developed on the whole. I can honestly say I haven't loved a game this much in a long, long time. Not perfect, especially on the technical side, but compelling just the same way the first ones were, at least to me.