1. Halo 3 did spur console sales.

2. If there is any one title likely to kick old PS2 owners into the new generation, it's GTA4. The question is where does there loyalty lie? With Sony? They'll go PS3. With GTA? They'll go for the exclusive content on 360. With their wallets? 360 again.

if done right in marketing Deca Sports could sell some systems

I think those lists are far too large. The reality is that a system seller is a real phenomena that quite literally changes the fortunes of a console. Few games annually accomplish such a goal. The game really must capture the publics imagination. Last year I think we had all of three system selling games.

Everybody's Golf.
Halo 3.
Mario Galaxy.

The first practically saved the PS3 in Japan. Up until it hit the scene the console was struggling to stay about ten thousand units sold weekly, and Nintendo was just wailing on Sony up until that point. The title brought light to the consoles future in its home land.

The second gave real momentum to 360 sales, and may be the single most compelling reason that live has reached its subscription goals almost six months ahead of Microsoft's own deadline.

Mario Galaxy is much harder to gauge considering the console was selling out for the season anyway, but its less hard to argue that Nintendo needed the holiday game. Having nothing would hardly be acceptable, and might have driven sales down.

Right now I am only certain of one game being a system seller and that is Grand Theft Auto 4. Beyond that the situation is far to unshaped. That would be the system seller for the spring, but what do the summer lineups look like, and what of next holiday season. Far too early to be calling these things especially with so much hidden.

It’s impossible to predict what sort of impact or hardware sales spike a game will generate, solely based on critical acclaim as we don’t know what sort of marketing campaigns each game will prompt.

Assassin’s Creed, being a perfect example – did not see great reviews but has seen great sales which I believe is largely due to their TV ‘spots’, arising interest.

 Fixed your lists (and commented on ones other people said)

I got to thinking and I was going to list off a bunch of games that could be considered system sellers and then I remembered that the idea of system sellers is a little silly.  Sure, there are games like Halo 3, Wii Sports, and Super Mario Galaxy that do in fact sell systems like crazy, but most big games can't go into that catagory.

We list all these games that may or may not be huge but that single game isn't going to do anything to significally boost the system.  You, misterd, yourself made the mistake of listing all those PS3 games that you think are going to be huge but then you leave off all the amazing games that came out this year that were huge.  

Why did you leave those games out?  Was it because those games really didn't sell systems?  If so, think back to last year and ask yourself if you would have placed those games on the same type of list you made above.  I'm sure you would have put Uncharted, Lair, Heavenly Sword, and all the other "big" PS3 games down as systems but they really weren't

If Halo 3 and Wii Sports were truly the only system sellers this year, what makes you think things like Home, Little Big Planet, Tekken 6, and all those other games listed are going to compete with those? 

PS3

• Killzone2 (No)
• GTA4 (Will, but more 360s then PS3s)
• Metal Gear Solid 4 (Japan, maybe)
• Final Fantasy XIII (Ditto)
• Singstar (Probably, but no where near as effective as with the PS2)
• Little Big Planet (No)
• Gran Tourismo 5 (Probably)
• Tekken 6 (ditto)
• Home (no)

360

• GTA4 with exclusive content (Yes)
• HALO Wars (Probably, but not as much as
• Splinter Cell: Conviction (Out look looks good)
• Too Human (Maybe)
• Fable 2 (Might)
• Alan Wake (Who?)
• Left 4 Dead (Not sure)

Wii

• Super Smash Bros (Maybe. Long term yes, short term no)
• Mario Kart (Yes)
• WiiFit (Hell yes)

If Street Fighter 4 doesn't end up on the Wii I'll buy whichever system it does appear on so for me that's a system seller. I don't think it's as easy as coming up with a list because different games will be must-haves for different people. The only games I can think of that are must-haves for an enormous amount of people are Wii Sports and Halo 3.

and continuing my above comment, can a single game or a group of really good games help a system become the top system? If yes, why wasn't the Gamecube the top system last gen? Eternal Darkness, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime 1, Metroid Prime 2, The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Smash Bros Melee, Pikmin, Pikmin 2, and the list goes on.

Those are all games that should appear on a system seller list yet the Gamecube did pathetic sales compared to the PS2. Why would you say that?

You should add Banjo Kazooie 3 to the 360's list. If it turns out to be very good it will likely sell a lot of copies and help move systems simply because it's different than a lot of other games on the system.