GT: Top 10 most Anticipated Games Of 2008

[Sullla]

I honestly don't care about whether this list is "right" or "wrong". We all like different games, which is what's fun about gaming. What interests me is how the titles anticipated by the enthusiast gaming media often have NO relation whatsoever to what actually sells. For fun, here's the same top 10 list from Gametrailers from last year, looking ahead to 2007. Last year's top 10 list contained:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/16662.html

10) Metroid Prime 3
9) Smash Brothers Brawl
8) Mass Effect
7) Crysis
6) Bioshock
5) Grand Theft Auto 4
4) Mario Galaxy
3) Metal Gear Solid 4
2) Assassin's Creed
1) Halo 3

Certainly not a bad list, of course. But at the same time, three of those games didn't even release in 2007, Metroid Prime and Crysis had little impact outside of the hardcore fans, and (despite really good reviews) Bioshock and Mass Effect barely cracked a million in sales each. The only true successes from a sales standpoint on that list were Mario Galaxy, Assassin's Creed, and Halo. They also managed to miss most of the games that actually sold best in 2007, including:

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (over 8m in sales in 2007!)
Guitar Hero 3 (7m and counting across all platforms)
Wii Play (7m)
Call of Duty 4 (four million plus)
Mario Party (4m)

And I could go on. I know that what's "anticipated" is somewhat different than what sells, but there's still a very large disconnect taking place here.