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Game of the Year 2010 Poll [*RESULTS*]

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Posts

  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    ME2 winning should have been expected, but it's still a testament to its quality that a game from January blew everything else out of the water. '10 was a pretty bad year for new games (I only voted for 7 on my ticket) and somehow 5 of my picks were in the top 10, so I feel like I played the best of the best, as I usually do.

    Minecraft as an FPS is mind-boggling, I suspect it has something to do with keeping Halo off the awards?

    Uh, except the top 10 isn't an indication of quality, it's an indication of popularity.

    Unco-ordinated on
    Steam ID - LiquidSolid170 | PSN ID - LiquidSolid
  • SurfaceBeneathSurfaceBeneath regular
    edited January 2011
    Uh, except the top 10 isn't an indication of quality, it's an indication of popularity.

    It's an indication of both.

    CODBLOPs sold some 4 times more than Me2. It's sitting down at 18 or something.

    SurfaceBeneath on
  • angrylinuxgeekangrylinuxgeek Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    ME2 winning should have been expected, but it's still a testament to its quality that a game from January blew everything else out of the water. '10 was a pretty bad year for new games (I only voted for 7 on my ticket) and somehow 5 of my picks were in the top 10, so I feel like I played the best of the best, as I usually do.

    Minecraft as an FPS is mind-boggling, I suspect it has something to do with keeping Halo off the awards?

    Uh, except the top 10 isn't an indication of quality, it's an indication of popularity.

    whoa, thanks for this insightful post. I have to go back and reconsider every game I've ever played now.

    angrylinuxgeek on
    sQwJu.png
  • DhalphirDhalphir don't you open that trapdoor you're a fool if you dareRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    ME2 winning should have been expected, but it's still a testament to its quality that a game from January blew everything else out of the water. '10 was a pretty bad year for new games (I only voted for 7 on my ticket) and somehow 5 of my picks were in the top 10, so I feel like I played the best of the best, as I usually do.

    Minecraft as an FPS is mind-boggling, I suspect it has something to do with keeping Halo off the awards?

    Uh, except the top 10 isn't an indication of quality, it's an indication of popularity.

    but popularity that lasts an entire year IS an indication of quality.

    If ME2 was just a popular game capitalizing on the success of its predecessors, like the endless Call of Duty games, it would have been forgotten by now as a mere blip. See Black Ops. As someone mentioned, it probably WAY outsold ME2. Did it even come close to featuring in any significant place on the list? Nope. Because while popular, it isn't quality and so doesn't stick in everyone's mind.

    TLDR; you're wrong, try again.

    Minecraft as an FPS is mind-boggling, I suspect it has something to do with keeping Halo off the awards?

    If Minecraft qualifies as an FPS, Fallout: NV certainly would and its higher than Reach.

    Dhalphir on
  • AllforceAllforce Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I only voted for games that are so elite that I came up with them in my own mind, so basically they are all the best and this list is completely wrong.

    Robot Mongoloid 3, Space Ducker, 118 Gems, and Work Mule were all high-quality solid titles this year that FAR outshined the mass-market dribble like Mass Effect 2 and COD.

    Allforce on
  • RandomHajileRandomHajile Not actually a Snatcher The New KremlinRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    mxmarks wrote: »
    I think Fable 3 is the lowest ranked, high-profile game on the list at 43.

    Going through your old rankings, thats a hell of a drop from Fable 2 in 2008.

    Since I'm a bit of a stats weirdo, here's some games and the sequels side by side.
    The biggest jump UP, would be Just Cause. I couldn't find Just Cause 1 listed anywhere, and now it's #14:

    Mass Effect 1: #4 (2007)
    Mass Effect 2: #1 (2010)

    Fable: The Lost Chapters: #46 (2005)
    Fable 2: #8 (2008)
    Fable 3: #42 (2010)

    Fallout 3: #1 (2008)
    Fallout: New Vegas: #5 (2010)

    Super Mario Galaxy: #3 (2007)
    Super Mario Galaxy 2: #7 (2010

    Halo 2: #2 (2004)
    Halo 3: #7 (2007)
    Halo 3: ODST: #14 (2009)
    Halo Wars: #63 (2009)
    Halo Reach: #8 (2010)

    BioShock: #2 (2007)
    BioShock 2: #24 (2010)

    Rock Band: #9 (2007)
    Rock Band 2: #5 (2008)
    The Beatles Rock Band: #16 (2009)
    Rock Band 3: #25 (2010)

    Dead Rising: #8 (2006)
    Dead Rising 2: #32 (2010)

    and finally, what I feel to be the funniest, I have bolded the "main" releases:

    Guitar Hero: #15 (2005)
    Guitar Hero 2: #7 (2006)
    Guitar Hero 3: #10 (2007)

    Guitar Hero Rocks The 80s: #80 (2007)
    Guitar Hero World Tour: #43 (2008)
    Guitar Hero On Tour: #132 (2008)
    Guitar Hero Aerosmith: #136 (2008)
    Guitar Hero On Tour Decades: #193 (2008)
    Guitar Hero Metallica: #109 (2009)
    Guitar Hero 5: #114 (2009)
    Guitar Hero Van Halen: #238 (2009)
    Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock: DID NOT PLACE (2010)

    Hi5 to my fellow stats geeks.

    Since I still have my scripts sitting around, I calculated another couple scoring systems. First, the top 25 ranked by average score:
    Avg    Votes    ORank. Game (Platforms)
    20.00  1        200. 3D Infinity (360*)
    18.47  440      1. Mass Effect 2 (360,PC)
    18.00  1        202. Starship Defense (DS*)
    17.50  2        181. Wii Party (Wii)
    17.21  284      2. Red Dead Redemption (360,PS3)
    17.00  3        167. The Terrible Whiteness of Appalachian Nights (Flash)
    16.52  182      7. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
    16.31  241      3. Starcraft 2 (PC)
    16.29  146      11. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (360,PS3)
    16.27  114      15. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (PC)
    16.19  217      5. Fallout: New Vegas (360,PC,PS3)
    16.12  8        133. Football Manager 2011 (iPhone,PC,PSP)
    16.00  10       112. Zettai Hero Project: Unlosing Ranger vs Dark Death Evil Man (PSP)
    16.00  1        205. Batman: The Brave & The Bold (DS,Wii)
    15.97  61       37. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (PC)
    15.65  235      4. Minecraft (PC*)
    15.53  15       93. Rune Factory 3 (DS)
    15.41  91       25. Rock Band 3 (360,PS3,Wii)
    15.33  177      8. Halo Reach (360)
    15.26  210      6. Super Meat Boy (360*,PC*)
    15.18  165      9. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (360,PC,PS3)
    15.17  36       52. Deadly Premonition (360,PS3)
    15.10  30       68. Nier (360,PS3)
    14.99  163      10. Civilization V (PC)
    14.80  89       31. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (DS)
    

    I think you have to throw out games that got fewer than 10 or so votes. Okay, maybe 3D Infinity is an awesome game, but should it be worthy of GotY consideration? So here is the average list with those thrown out:
    Avg    Votes    ORank. Game (Platforms)
    18.47  440      1. Mass Effect 2 (360,PC)
    17.21  284      2. Red Dead Redemption (360,PS3)
    16.52  182      7. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
    16.31  241      3. Starcraft 2 (PC)
    16.29  146      11. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (360,PS3)
    16.27  114      15. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (PC)
    16.19  217      5. Fallout: New Vegas (360,PC,PS3)
    15.97  61       37. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (PC)
    15.65  235      4. Minecraft (PC*)
    15.53  15       93. Rune Factory 3 (DS)
    15.41  91       25. Rock Band 3 (360,PS3,Wii)
    15.33  177      8. Halo Reach (360)
    15.26  210      6. Super Meat Boy (360*,PC*)
    15.18  165      9. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (360,PC,PS3)
    15.17  36       52. Deadly Premonition (360,PS3)
    15.10  30       68. Nier (360,PS3)
    14.99  163      10. Civilization V (PC)
    14.80  89       31. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (DS)
    14.79  52       41. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (360,PS3)
    14.79  103      20. VVVVVV (PC*)
    14.77  13       106. NBA 2K11 (360,PC,PS2,PS3,PSP,Wii)
    14.73  11       111. MAG (PS3)
    14.67  43       49. Monster Hunter Tri (Wii)
    14.58  115      17. Alpha Protocol (360,PC,PS3)
    14.56  155      12. Bayonetta (360,PS3)
    

    When I was messing around with these numbers, I first wrote a script to make sure my script was calculating these numbers properly. Then, I took that script, and changed the scoring system to simply assign points in inverse of the Borda scoring. So, I assigned 1 point for a first place vote (instead of 20) and 20 points for a 20th place vote (instead of 1). What does this tell us? Nothing, probably, but I like to think of it as an "overrated" list. Don't get all huffy if your game is high on this list. All it really shows (I think) is the games that a lot of people voted for, but that show up later on their lists. In theory, a game could show up on this list with 1500 first place votes and no other votes. You may even be able to subtract these numbers from the regular score, and figure out....something. I don't know.
    1257    4. Minecraft (PC*)
    1205    6. Super Meat Boy (360*,PC*)
    1137    16. Angry Birds (Android,iPhone,mobile)
    1131    3. Starcraft 2 (PC)
    1115    1. Mass Effect 2 (360,PC)
    1079    29. Scott Pilgrim vs The World (360*,PS3*)
    1077    2. Red Dead Redemption (360,PS3)
    1057    13. Darksiders (360,PC,PS3)
    1044    5. Fallout: New Vegas (360,PC,PS3)
    1004    8. Halo Reach (360)
    998     12. Bayonetta (360,PS3)
    979     10. Civilization V (PC)
    970     14. Just Cause 2 (360,PC,PS3)
    960     9. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (360,PC,PS3)
    943     24. Bioshock 2 (360,PC,PS3)
    940     21. Limbo (360*)
    931     26. Final Fantasy 13 (360,PS3)
    837     30. Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (PC*)
    821     19. Heavy Rain (PS3)
    816     7. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
    811     18. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360,DS,PC,PS3,Wii)
    790     32. Dead Rising 2 (360,PC,PS3)
    738     17. Alpha Protocol (360,PC,PS3)
    717     35. Alien Swarm (PC*)
    713     22. Alan Wake (360)
    

    Thoughts? Again, I don't know if those numbers mean anything at all, but they seem interesting.

    RandomHajile on
  • busfahrerbusfahrer addict GermanyRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Best RPG was a shooter and best FPS was not a shooter.

    I didn't notice that, but you're probably right, hehe. I still love both games for what they are, fuck labels :mrgreen:

    busfahrer on
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  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Dhalphir wrote: »
    ME2 winning should have been expected, but it's still a testament to its quality that a game from January blew everything else out of the water. '10 was a pretty bad year for new games (I only voted for 7 on my ticket) and somehow 5 of my picks were in the top 10, so I feel like I played the best of the best, as I usually do.

    Minecraft as an FPS is mind-boggling, I suspect it has something to do with keeping Halo off the awards?

    Uh, except the top 10 isn't an indication of quality, it's an indication of popularity.

    but popularity that lasts an entire year IS an indication of quality.

    If ME2 was just a popular game capitalizing on the success of its predecessors, like the endless Call of Duty games, it would have been forgotten by now as a mere blip. See Black Ops. As someone mentioned, it probably WAY outsold ME2. Did it even come close to featuring in any significant place on the list? Nope. Because while popular, it isn't quality and so doesn't stick in everyone's mind.

    TLDR; you're wrong, try again.

    TLDR; derp derp ME2 is the greatest game ever!

    There's no reason to act like a complete goose over it. I didn't say ME2 was a bad game, nor did I say more sales == higher spot on the chart. I was talking about popularity on these (and other participating) forums.

    I'm not complaining about the poll results but trying to pretend it indicates the best of the best is ridiculous, since it's not a level playing field. Even on these forums, games like BLOPS have an advantage because of its name recognition and the huge marketing budget. And on the other side of the coin, a game like Vanquish suffers because there's no name recognition and has the "might" of Sega's marketing department behind it.

    Unco-ordinated on
    Steam ID - LiquidSolid170 | PSN ID - LiquidSolid
  • ValleoValleo Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Hmmmmm.

    17 of the top 20 games this year I have absolutely no interest in playing.

    Am I getting old or something?

    You're not alone. For me it's 16 out of the top 20.

    *shrugs*

    Valleo on
  • angrylinuxgeekangrylinuxgeek Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Dhalphir wrote: »
    ME2 winning should have been expected, but it's still a testament to its quality that a game from January blew everything else out of the water. '10 was a pretty bad year for new games (I only voted for 7 on my ticket) and somehow 5 of my picks were in the top 10, so I feel like I played the best of the best, as I usually do.

    Minecraft as an FPS is mind-boggling, I suspect it has something to do with keeping Halo off the awards?

    Uh, except the top 10 isn't an indication of quality, it's an indication of popularity.

    but popularity that lasts an entire year IS an indication of quality.

    If ME2 was just a popular game capitalizing on the success of its predecessors, like the endless Call of Duty games, it would have been forgotten by now as a mere blip. See Black Ops. As someone mentioned, it probably WAY outsold ME2. Did it even come close to featuring in any significant place on the list? Nope. Because while popular, it isn't quality and so doesn't stick in everyone's mind.

    TLDR; you're wrong, try again.

    TLDR; derp derp ME2 is the greatest game ever!

    There's no reason to act like a complete goose over it. I didn't say ME2 was a bad game, nor did I say more sales == higher spot on the chart. I was talking about popularity on these (and other participating) forums.

    I'm not complaining about the poll results but trying to pretend it indicates the best of the best is ridiculous, since it's not a level playing field. Even on these forums, games like BLOPS have an advantage because of its name recognition and the huge marketing budget. And on the other side of the coin, a game like Vanquish suffers because there's no name recognition and has the "might" of Sega's marketing department behind it.

    it's also a Japanese game and just another power armor shooter, it's easy to skip. Metacritic agrees with the blowout Mass Effect 2 leveled against everyone else this year in the poll, but I suppose you're gonna call that a popularity contest too. keep on ragin' against the machine, brah.

    angrylinuxgeek on
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  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    it's also a Japanese game and just another power armor shooter, it's easy to skip. Metacritic agrees with the blowout Mass Effect 2 leveled against everyone else this year in the poll, but I suppose you're gonna call that a popularity contest too. keep on ragin' against the machine, brah.

    Ragin'? I'm not the one running around defending ME2 from dreamt up attacks instead of actually reading the argument properly.

    Unco-ordinated on
    Steam ID - LiquidSolid170 | PSN ID - LiquidSolid
  • angrylinuxgeekangrylinuxgeek Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    are we readin' the same thread

    angrylinuxgeek on
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  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I'm not sure if we're even in the same dimension. You responded to my mention of Vanquish as an example by dismissing it because it's from Japan (because Japan == bad games!) and then that it's another power armour shooter (like ME2?). And then you brought up Metacritic to somehow prove me wrong (because I clearly think my second favourite game of 2010 is crap) when it had nothing to do with anything.

    Unco-ordinated on
    Steam ID - LiquidSolid170 | PSN ID - LiquidSolid
  • angrylinuxgeekangrylinuxgeek Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I'm not complaining about the poll results but trying to pretend it indicates the best of the best is ridiculous.

    angrylinuxgeek on
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  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    So you try to counter that using Metacritic, despite the fact that Mass Effect 2 isn't the best scoring game of last year and a number of other high scoring games are ranked below games with worse scores (like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit). That makes complete sense.

    Unco-ordinated on
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  • AllforceAllforce Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Even on these forums, games like BLOPS have an advantage because of its name recognition and the huge marketing budget. And on the other side of the coin, a game like Vanquish suffers because there's no name recognition and has the "might" of Sega's marketing department behind it.

    I think Blops has an advantage here because most people like to play fun games with their friends, which Blops provided for many many members here. I like Vanquish too but you're whining about the marketing budget not catering to PA Forum Members? There's been a Vanquish thread on the front page since the game came out.

    Allforce on
  • angrylinuxgeekangrylinuxgeek Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    So you try to counter that using Metacritic, despite the fact that Mass Effect 2 isn't the best scoring game of last year and a number of other high scoring games are ranked below games with worse scores (like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit). That makes complete sense.

    it makes complete sense to look at a Metacritic score for a game which scored the best by far in a poll, yes. it is very easy to refute your argument that a poll like this is ridiculous when you look at the games which got good Metacritic scores, and many of them are in the top 20. what kind of argument can you provide for Vanquish other than "it's a good game, guys, I promise!!!"

    angrylinuxgeek on
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  • ChenChen Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Black Ops ranking higher than many other games is indicative enough that popularity is a factor. That game did not deserve to be in the top 20.

    Chen on
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  • RookRook Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Chen wrote: »
    Black Ops ranking higher than many other games is indicative enough that popularity is a factor. That game did not deserve to be in the top 20.

    Game of the Year is all about which games did the best job of entertaining the most people. I'm not sure why anyone thinks it's going to be anything different. Black Ops got through to a lot of people. Sure it wasn't the best, but it got itself at people.

    Rook on
  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    So you try to counter that using Metacritic, despite the fact that Mass Effect 2 isn't the best scoring game of last year and a number of other high scoring games are ranked below games with worse scores (like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit). That makes complete sense.

    it makes complete sense to look at a Metacritic score for a game which scored the best by far in a poll, yes. it is very easy to refute your argument that a poll like this is ridiculous when you look at the games which got good Metacritic scores, and many of them are in the top 20. what kind of argument can you provide for Vanquish other than "it's a good game, guys, I promise!!!"

    How on earth can you continually miss my point as much as you have? I mean seriously, why do you think Vanquish is a specific game I'm complaining about? As I tried to make clear, it was just an example of a game that was received well, yet did poorly on the poll. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is another example of this, except its scores were even better and its spot on the poll even worse.

    The fact is, no-one here played every game that came out last year, most people (including me) probably focused most of their attention on the high profile releases (ME2, RDR, GoW3, Halo: Reach, AC: B, BLOPS, etc) to the detriment of the lower profile games.

    Rook: Exactly, which is why the list is based on popularity.

    Unco-ordinated on
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  • battledrillbattledrill Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    So you try to counter that using Metacritic, despite the fact that Mass Effect 2 isn't the best scoring game of last year and a number of other high scoring games are ranked below games with worse scores (like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit). That makes complete sense.

    it makes complete sense to look at a Metacritic score for a game which scored the best by far in a poll, yes. it is very easy to refute your argument that a poll like this is ridiculous when you look at the games which got good Metacritic scores, and many of them are in the top 20. what kind of argument can you provide for Vanquish other than "it's a good game, guys, I promise!!!"

    How on earth can you continually miss my point as much as you have? I mean seriously, why do you think Vanquish is a specific game I'm complaining about? As I tried to make clear, it was just an example of a game that was received well, yet did poorly on the poll. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is another example of this, except its scores were even better and its spot on the poll even worse.

    The fact is, no-one here played every game that came out last year, most people (including me) probably focused most of their attention on the high profile releases (ME2, RDR, GoW3, Halo: Reach, AC: B, BLOPS, etc) to the detriment of the lower profile games.

    Rook: Exactly, which is why the list is based on popularity.

    I have absolutely no idea what you are saying or what point you are trying to make. And trust me I've been reading the thread over and over. You came into a thread about Voting for Game of The Year and are somehow disgruntled with it?

    Vote:a formal expression of opinion or choice, either positive or negative, made by an individual or body of individuals.

    battledrill on

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  • angrylinuxgeekangrylinuxgeek Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    It's kind of weird that you guys attach yourselves to a game at #18 to try and prove your point. Perhaps games which were left off the top 20 were simply not the best? How big was God of War 3? It's not even in the top 20 and it was one of the biggest exclusives of last year. NFS was advertised all over the place and didn't place. It's entirely possible it just wasn't better than what's in the top 10. Let's not call our own "observations" facts.

    I get it, your upset you're niche game didn't make it to the top 20. Doesn't refute the fact that as voted by the members of several forums, the games were chosen as the best, and Metacritic can back them up.

    angrylinuxgeek on
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  • AllforceAllforce Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    The point is some of you get really upset over popular games being voted as "the best" in the poll. The poll that was voted on only by people here at this forum whom I believe most of you would consider your peers.

    Like, if you're that pissed that a game like COD does well in a poll voted on by people here and other games you deem lesser known but better in quality go unnoticed, then why do you even bother discussing games here? It's just odd to me to get irate about what others you consider peers consider a good or quality game.

    Allforce on
  • RenzoRenzo Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Yeah bros this is supposed to be fun, don't cock it up.

    Renzo on
  • pslong9pslong9 Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Well, the poll is inevitably going to weighted towards more popular games, and more popular doesn't mean better. However, it's not like ME2 or the other top games ended up there due to getting tons and tons of #5 - #20 votes - ME2 had the 2nd highest average for a #1 game since mcc started this poll (highest average? Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Yeah, shocked me too).

    However, popularity does boost games up higher on this list than they probably should be. If you look at RandomHajile's post, the #20 average ranking for games that received more than 10 votes is 14.56. CoD :BLOPS's average ranking is 13.84 - well below #20 for average rating, but it came in at #18 in the overall voting. Angry Birds's average ranking is 12.70, which is quite a drop-off from #20 in the average, but since it had more votes, it came in at #17.

    Another example: Angry Birds had an average ranking of 12.70 with 137 votes and came in at #17 overall, while Rock Band 3 had an average ranking of 15.41 with 91 votes and came in at #25 overall. An additional 46 votes (which admittedly is ~5.3% of the total number of voters) is enough to overcome an average difference of 2.5 spots per user ranking.

    So, it's silly to suggest to popularity has nothing to do with the overall rankings. However, I think the comparison of the top 20 by average ranking (again, see RandomHajile's post) to the top #20 overall ranking shows that, largely, the two intersect pretty well and that some of the most popular games were also some of the best games out there and therefore deserve to be as popular as they are.

    pslong9 on
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  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I have absolutely no idea what you are saying or what point you are trying to make. And trust me I've been reading the thread over and over. You came into a thread about Voting for Game of The Year and are somehow disgruntled with it?

    Vote:a formal expression of opinion or choice, either positive or negative, made by an individual or body of individuals.

    The only thing I've been disgruntled with, is angrylinuxgeek continually missing my point by half a kilometre and coming up with laughable arguments that have nothing to do with what I'm saying. As I have quite clearly stated a few times, I have no problem with the poll so any talk about me complaining that Vanquish didn't do better is only proof that you've skimmed over what I've said and have no clue what I'm talking about.

    The entire point of my argument was that it's an opinion poll, so logically the popular games rise to the top and the less popular games (through no fault in quality) are rated lower simply because most people overlooked them. I never said the unpopular games should do better and the popular games should do worse, I was saying that the list is not an accurate sign of quality (or games being the 'best of the best').

    Edit: pslong9, well yeah. The initial popularity is what gets mediocre games like Black Ops played but then the really quality ones generally rise to the top (like ME2, RDR, etc).

    Unco-ordinated on
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  • Two Headed BoyTwo Headed Boy Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Renzo wrote: »
    Yeah bros this is supposed to be fun, don't cock it up.

    I fear it has already been cocked.

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  • RehabRehab Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Metacritic agrees with the blowout Mass Effect 2 leveled against everyone else this year in the poll

    Does it really? It seems to say otherwise by its very own metric:

    Super Mario Galaxy 2 - 97

    Mass Effect 2 - 96

    Just saying, Metacritic probably isn't the best way to try and make your point about how PA forumers voted. GameRankings even moreso, as Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the third highest ranked game of all-time on there and also, as with Metacritic, the game ranked highest among everything else last year.

    This poll is a popularity contest by definition, but whats wrong with that? I think its fun to go on here and see how the games voted on the "Game of the Year Poll" compare to what I think the best games of the year actually were and what the critics think the best game of the year actually was as well. Sometimes things line up almost perfectly, sometimes they don't. Typically though, the poll simply goes to whatever game has the fastest moving thread on here and the most hype. But since this is all just for shits and giggles anyway, I don't really mind that. Its always just interesting to see who ends up prom king in our fucked up little community.

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  • angrylinuxgeekangrylinuxgeek Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    consider my argument 'debunked'

    angrylinuxgeek on
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  • RehabRehab Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    consider my argument 'debunked'

    Eh, I was just really trying to say that outside factors have little to do with this poll. (Except for when it comes to the hype that those outside factors often create of course) Sometimes this agrees with what the big game coverage sites say and sometimes it doesn't. I simply see this as being all about what the average forumer goer is all about, what the most adopted high profile titles were on here, what some of the more popular niche games ended up being, etc.

    Quality is an inherit factor just because when you only plan to buy so many games per year, you go for the biggest releases that will net you the most value or be the most fun. So everything in the top 20 ends up being a quality game, it just gets narrowed down to what was the most popular on the forums from there. Some people might complain when some of the higher rated or quality games fall outside the top 20, but if its not one of those few elite games that was a must-have for everyone then you really already have your answer as to why its not there. In an ideal world, we would get to play all the games like the paid reviewers do and get to decide from among them, but thats not the case. Thus, this is more of a popularity contest based on hype and quality as a way of becoming popular, but thats only because the poll is inadvertently based around our individual biases and choices to begin with. I'm just saying that this doesn't always agree with what the best games of the year actually were on a larger scale, or that it pertains to what Metacritic or whatever came to as a consensus. But then again, those are also going to be based on a sort of aggregate bias, just of a more credible nature.

    So in the end, you should just go with what your heart tells you to believe the best game of the year was based on your limited experience because all the rest is just the result of the untrustworthy opinions of other people, or the result of an American Idol polling style amongst nerdy niche gaming communities or reviewers who were possibly paid off. So I say, go your own way angrylinuxgeek! There is no argument, just like there is no spoon.

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  • RandomHajileRandomHajile Not actually a Snatcher The New KremlinRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    pslong9 wrote: »
    Well, the poll is inevitably going to weighted towards more popular games, and more popular doesn't mean better. However, it's not like ME2 or the other top games ended up there due to getting tons and tons of #5 - #20 votes - ME2 had the 2nd highest average for a #1 game since mcc started this poll (highest average? Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Yeah, shocked me too).

    However, popularity does boost games up higher on this list than they probably should be. If you look at RandomHajile's post, the #20 average ranking for games that received more than 10 votes is 14.56. CoD :BLOPS's average ranking is 13.84 - well below #20 for average rating, but it came in at #18 in the overall voting. Angry Birds's average ranking is 12.70, which is quite a drop-off from #20 in the average, but since it had more votes, it came in at #17.

    Another example: Angry Birds had an average ranking of 12.70 with 137 votes and came in at #17 overall, while Rock Band 3 had an average ranking of 15.41 with 91 votes and came in at #25 overall. An additional 46 votes (which admittedly is ~5.3% of the total number of voters) is enough to overcome an average difference of 2.5 spots per user ranking.

    So, it's silly to suggest to popularity has nothing to do with the overall rankings. However, I think the comparison of the top 20 by average ranking (again, see RandomHajile's post) to the top #20 overall ranking shows that, largely, the two intersect pretty well and that some of the most popular games were also some of the best games out there and therefore deserve to be as popular as they are.

    Yeah, I think the average rankings mainly show games that are really good, but that a lot of people didn't get around to playing. Obviously ME2 (on average between 2nd and 3rd) and RDR (on average between 3rd and 4th) both still had really good showings in both versions, but both had more votes than anything else (ME2 particularly...and that is really interesting in and of itself). On the other hand, Mario Galaxy 2 was only 7th, but of the people that played it, on average it ranked between 4th and 5th (but its average score moves it to 3rd). Same for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Cataclysm. I think the most interesting moves are STALKER:CoP (being a PC exclusive helped a lot) and Rune Factory 3.

    And more than 10 votes is really an arbitrary cutoff point, chosen mainly because I don't know what the hell "Zettai Hero Project: Unlosing Ranger vs Dark Death Evil Man (PSP)" is.

    Also, for reference from your message, here are COD : Black Ops and Angry Birds:
    ARank  Avg   Votes ORank. Game (Platforms)
     39)  13.95   115  18. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360,DS,PC,PS3,Wii)
     62)  12.70   137  16. Angry Birds (Android,iPhone,mobile)
    

    I can post the whole list, if anyone cares.

    RandomHajile on
  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Dhalphir wrote: »
    Minecraft as an FPS is mind-boggling, I suspect it has something to do with keeping Halo off the awards?

    If Minecraft qualifies as an FPS, Fallout: NV certainly would and its higher than Reach.

    Or, you know, ME2. Which arguably has more FPS elements than RPG

    Spoit on
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  • RandomHajileRandomHajile Not actually a Snatcher The New KremlinRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Okay, I threw another script together. I'm actually kind of proud of this one. This is the top 25 average scores for mcc's polls from 2004-2010. Again, I'm only grabbing games with more than 10 votes, since the top 6 games would otherwise only have a vote or two.
    Rank  Avg   Votes  Year-ORnk. Game            (Platforms)
      1)  18.90  503  2006-1. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, GC)
      2)  18.47  440  2010-1. Mass Effect 2 (360,PC)
      3)  18.37  210  2009-7. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
      4)  18.32  471  2005-1. Resident Evil 4 (GC, PS2)
      5)  18.25  289  2004-1. Half-Life 2 (PC)
      6)  17.99  488  2008-1. Fallout 3 (PC, 360, PS3)
      7)  17.91  445  2007-3. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
      8)  17.77  395  2009-2. Dragon Age: Origins (360,PC,PS3)
      9)  17.75  537  2007-1. Portal (PC, PS3, 360)
     10)  17.75  366  2006-2. Gears of War (360)
     11)  17.74  438  2009-1. Batman: Arkham Asylum (360,PC,PS3)
     12)  17.70   87  2008-26. Persona 4 (PS2)
     13)  17.54   68  2005-32. Phantom Dust (XBox)
     14)  17.51  154  2004-3. World of Warcraft (PC)
     15)  17.48  336  2007-4. Mass Effect (360)
     16)  17.33  230  2006-6. Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
     17)  17.32  117  2008-15. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
     18)  17.32  291  2005-3. Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
     19)  17.21  284  2010-2. Red Dead Redemption (360,PS3)
     20)  17.08  388  2008-2. Left 4 Dead (360, PC)
     21)  17.03  368  2006-3. Oblivion (360,PC)
     22)  17.02  247  2009-6. Assassin's Creed II (360,PS3)
     23)  17.02  174  2005-9. Civilization 4 (PC)
     24)  16.99  234  2005-5. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS)
     25)  16.99  110  2004-9. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)
    
    

    RandomHajile on
  • LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Spoit wrote: »
    Dhalphir wrote: »
    Minecraft as an FPS is mind-boggling, I suspect it has something to do with keeping Halo off the awards?

    If Minecraft qualifies as an FPS, Fallout: NV certainly would and its higher than Reach.

    Or, you know, ME2. Which arguably has more FPS elements than RPG

    Only if your favorite RPG is "No True Scotsman".

    Lawndart on
  • UnbreakableVowUnbreakableVow Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Are people counting third-person shooters as first-person shooters now?

    UnbreakableVow on
  • EvilBadmanEvilBadman DO NOT TRUST THIS MAN Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Spoit wrote: »
    Dhalphir wrote: »
    Minecraft as an FPS is mind-boggling, I suspect it has something to do with keeping Halo off the awards?

    If Minecraft qualifies as an FPS, Fallout: NV certainly would and its higher than Reach.

    Or, you know, ME2. Which arguably has more FPS elements than RPG

    Yes, if you completely ignore the FIRST PERSON portion of the acronym.

    Problem is that most of the games coming out are hybrids. ME2 is a Third-Person Action RPG, Minecraft is a First Person Building Simulation (in the current incarnation), Fallout is a First Person Shooter RPG (that can be third person).

    In my eyes, an RPG is any game where you have a character either premade or customizable that gains powers through levels granted by XP (or an equivalent system) and receives loot with numerical stats attached (Not cosmetic, or this gun's rate of fire is faster [I'm talking +10% to Storm ability or +5 Damage Resistance]).

    EvilBadman on
    FyreWulff wrote: »
    I should note that Badman is fucking awesome
    XBL- Evil Badman; Steam- EvilBadman; Twitter - EvilBadman
  • OpiumOpium regular
    edited January 2011
    Are people counting third-person shooters as first-person shooters now?

    To be fair, ME2 (and Dead Space, and RE4, and more of that over-the-shoulder stuff) handles kind of like a hybrid between the 2.

    Opium on
  • Unco-ordinatedUnco-ordinated NZRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I can post the whole list, if anyone cares.

    I care, it's interesting.

    Also, damn that's one nice 2004-2010 top 25 list.

    Unco-ordinated on
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  • pslong9pslong9 Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I can post the whole list, if anyone cares.

    I care, it's interesting.

    Also, damn that's one nice 2004-2010 top 25 list.

    I agree on both counts. That's a really solid top 25 list from 2004-2010.

    The only other thing I'd like to see is a breakdown of vote percentage over the last couple of years. Ie, for last year, Batman: Arkham Asylum had 46.4% of the vote, Dragon Age: Origins had 41.9% of the vote, etc. Just to see how out of whack this year was in comparison with ME2 getting 51.3% of the vote, followed by RDR getting 33.3% of the vote. That's a pretty huge gap between total votes between #1 and #2 for this year. Would be interesting to see even just the top 10 of each year for that.

    pslong9 on
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  • UnbreakableVowUnbreakableVow Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Played 22 of those top 25

    I didn't know Phantom Dust was that highly-regarded, thought it was more a cult title. Never did get to play it.

    UnbreakableVow on
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