Exactly! Which is, of course, why you never hear Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony names ever showing up in the sales forums, since they have forums where people specifically talk about them.

Oh, wait, my bad, their names DO show up in the sales sections. I guess that means Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony aren't only limited to their own sections. I guess sales figures also aren't only limited to the sales forums.

and since the sales figures are right up on the FRONT PAGE and the name of the site is VGCHARTZ(reffering to the numerous charts that track sales figures of hardware and software for the various consoles) I guess that sorta sets the tone for the whole site in general, now doesn't it?

Oh, and BTW, when deciding how "successful" anything is, you have to first look at what teh primary goal is. in the case of both Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony, the goal is...

*drumroll*

Making MONEY!

Getting the best games? Sorry, bud, MEANS TO AN END.

Really, it's your own fault for using the term "successful" you probably didn't realize that it refers to something more specific that simply saying "cool" or "best" or "most fun" or "most value" or anything like that in which the points are subjective from person to person.

having a lot of people who like you, doesn't make you successful. Getting an A in class doesn't make you successful, shooting 3 bullseye's doesn't make you successful. It's only if those things were your GOALS that you would then be successful.

Yes, I read that example, but there is a reason I picked Wii Sports.  It's because Wii Sports and Halo are completely different in target audience.  So what I'm really trying to find out is: Are willing to compare quality between a game targeted at adolescent males and a game targeted at families, or do you try to keep your deductions on quality between games of similar audience.

the 360 has the most balanced library of games, but it does help to have come a year early.

If you choose to use Gamerankings as your medium, PC wins nearly every genre. However, if you want to stick to home consoles, the highest rated games in these genres disagree with you:

Platforming: Highest rated game, Super Mario Galaxy, winner: Wii

Adventure: Highest rated game, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, winner: Wii

Puzzle: Highest rated game, Zack & Wiki, winner: Wii

Sports: Highest rated game, NHL 08, winner: PS3 (the second place is MLB Power Pros. on Wii, so you lose either way).

Nothing wins all genres. Hey, you've got FPSes and WRPGs right?

Well here's another vague petty Legend counter-attack of the day that really spun horribly out of control. Why hasn’t someone derailed this thread into kittens or something by now? 

I don't see how analysis of Homer or Shakespeare is any less subjective than what we used today.  It's still a bunch of expert opinions with the great majority saying it's masterful.  That's just how it works today in determining one.  History is a very poor decider because of the flaw you pointed out.  We lose a lot of stuff along the way.  Thus, I don't see why the same process that has taken many years in regards to Homer and Shakespeare can't be applied to work in a few months.

I stated "high" ratings...  Not the "highest" except for FPS.  Count the number of games above 80% for each console.  360 easily wins...  Mostly because it was out a year earlier but also because of Live, Achievements, etc. which making the gaming experience more gamer centric on the 360.  Sony is trying to sell everyone a Blu-Ray player, Nintendo is trying to focus on the motion controller...  360 is almost all about the games with movies and sound secondary.

Your right that PC is on top, but it has been out for years, and almost all vendors make almost every game on the PC as well. 

Even if you wanted to leave it at the "most games above 80%," the Wii wins the 3 categories it wins at "highest rated games." The 360 will beat the PS3 in Sports though if that makes you feel better.

@tarheel, the problem is that we don't in our current medium have experts who are qualified to review games objectively. An entire genre of games is persecuted by reviewers. If you want a similar example: Morally in the 1700s people would see no problems with slavery, but now that we have perspective it was clearly wrong. History can give a lot more insight than present.

I think reviews can explain how good a game is. I just feel everyone is talking about the number they give at the end and not the content of the review. Does an 88 metacritic for Burnout Paradise and an 86 metacritic for Resistance mean that Burnout is better? No it's too close. Now what about 88 for Burnout Paradise and a 20 for Ninjabread Man? It gets harder to say it's all opinion as the numbers get so far away from each other. I can easily say Ngage has a better gaming lineup than 360, but it would be a laughable argument. It is all opinions in a way, but I feel most everyone accepts some opinions more than others and that's how we get things that people agree upon.

Reviews also reveal things like frame rate drops and pop in. What if someone had the opinion that they liked pop in and frame rate drops in a game? It's all opinions really on game quality. I do believe there are accepted standards on what is a good and bad game. It's hard to tell with a lineup of good games, but if you pitted the top 10 games on metacritic against the lowest 10 games, I doubt you'll find a person on Earth that will argue that the bottom ten are better.

That particular one is tough, precisely because I think many would agree that historical perspective will matter a particularly great amount on Wii Sports. Also, Wii Sports has sold more, but Halo has a better critical average, so it's difficult to decide how to weigh what.

However, there are many examples of cross-genre discussions I'd agree with.

Is "The Sims" better than "Stranglehold?" Yes. Is "Rock Band" better than "Ninja Bread Man"? Yes. Is "Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction" better than "Brain Age?" That one is too close, for a variety of reasons, for me to give an objective opinion.

Hope that helps show where I draw the line.