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Firingsquad's Awards Descriptions

	Editor's Choice: Games Every year, hundreds of major PC titles are released and here at FiringSquad we try to focus on the ones that make a splash - be it by hype and marketing, or word-of-mouth. While many of these titles succeed or impress us, few combine the innovation, product quality and (most importantly) honest-to-goodness fun necessary to get an Editor's Choice Award. Since judging games is much more subjective than reviewing hardware, a gaming Editor's Choice isn't always a guarantee that this is one of the best games for you. What it does say is that if you're buying a game, this is as good a choice as you can make. Editor's Choice: Hardware FiringSquad reviews a lot of hardware, and with the increasing need for innovation and attention to detail in a saturated industry, a few products tend to stand out in the marketplace. Their ace in the hole might be blazing performance, rock-solid stability and compatibility, or a devilishly ingenious new idea that deserves note. We award these products with the FiringSquad Editor's Choice award, and this is our way of telling our readers that this product is a sure-fire winner. While similar products have their respective high points, the features that qualify a product for an Editor's Choice raise it above and beyond. Editor's Choice products will generally have an overall Final Verdict rating of 90% or higher.
	Firingsquad Bull's Eye Award With the price gap between high-end and mainstream products growing larger, we needed a way to award the truly innovative products while still recognizing the equally compelling products that cost a little bit less yet offer excellent performance. Think Chevrolet ZO6 versus Porsche 911 Turbo. Each offers excellent performance, yet one offers a much greater bang-for-the-buck factor. To address this issue, we've created the FiringSquad Bulls Eye Award. Products that receive the Bulls Eye Award offer an excellent price/performance ratio. After all, we can't all afford the latest $450 video card or $200 motherboard. The end result will allow us to distinguish the products that are incredible values, while reserving the Editor's Choice Award for truly groundbreaking products. We also plan to use this development to make some minor adjustments in how we score products as well (i.e. we'll be tougher judges in our final score).
	Firingsquad's Ricochet Award We've created FiringSquad Ricochet Award to reward those games that are gems in the rough. While two games can have the same score, one just has that certain magic that can make it great, rather than just a solid overall design. Like cult classics such as Master of Magic or System Shock, there's something about the game that makes it more appealing and memorable than a solid, but otherwise average competitor. The Ricochet Award lets us distinguish those great games while allowing us to preserve the Editor's Choice Award for the rare masterpieces that come across our desks.