I tend to look for accurate release dates and cross-reference them, and also professional reviews.
I have so far been content with
GameFAQs, although they haven't escaped the plague of getting infected with Web 2.0 bloat. My custom Content Blocker is successfully filtering most out of it. A few FAQ authors have spoken with respect of the site and its original human creator, and that credit is still good with me. However, many old[er] games don't have accurate data, and occasionally only re-issue dates are given (or are given undue weight) in credits. Rather U.S.-centric site.
Wikipedia is growing. Some game content has since been removed from it, but not in the release data sections. Companies have quite accurate names.
With my content blocker at maximum, I can search
GameSpot for reviews, but since they are occasionally biased, I cross-check them with
Adrenaline Vault. That site goes down and resurfaces repeatedly.
MobyGames looks good. This is the third time I've come across the site. I think I might have been there in my searches, but I don't recognize its current design.