Where is Captain Toad in that list? XD

Ok, more serious now. Smash is the safer bet. LBP can happen. I lost my faith in Ubisoft, so i don't think FC4 will make it. DA:I can steal GOTY, even if it stays at 89 (I don't really see it going up anymore).

GTA V will be over 90, but it is a remake.

Why not smash.  The last Smash game was released basically 7 years ago.  This is not like a yearly cycle or the mentality of "just another Mario game"

Just because I'd like to see a game that isn't mass appeal get the recognition.

Well I would want a game to get game of the year because it was the "game of the year"  Not because it was the best indie game, or the neatest art direction, or under appreciated game, ect.

There are topics for pretty much everything.  They can win them.  Let the BEST game et the award, whether it be a game with only 200k sales Bayonetta 2, or with 10 million sales Destiny. 

Sales, market/mass appeal ect should have zero factor in game of the year.  It shoudl go to the game the company voting thinks was the funnest/best game of the year.   If that's smash, so be it.  If it's another game, then so be it.  Now considering most places where Game of the Year awards mean the most ot fans are bigger sites, mass appeal does sort of play into the decision.  i mean Dark Souls may be one person favorite game of teh decade, but if the rest of the staff at IGN for example hates the game, their vote will outweigh his.  

When a staff of 100 vote/deliberate on GOTY and 90 of them say "yeah Smash was great" and 30 say "you don't even know Bayonetta was the shit" but the other 70 didn't play it or didn't like it, Smash will win GOTY. Unfortunately it's impossible to remove mass appeal as a factor in GOTY choices when the GOTY is determined by a popular vote, whether of a small group of journalists or of a large group of gamers.

There is also no "best" game. It's pretty much impossible to compare two drastically different games like Smash Bros and Dark Souls to determine which is "better."

Just saying I doubt I will consider Smash the best game released this year after playing all of the contenders, and I'm going to be annoyed if it wins because there is no other major AAA competition for the title. Seriously, Smash is a party game. Giving it GOTY would be like giving The Avengers the Oscar for Best Picture.

Did someone forget about Dark Souls 2?

Well that only makes sense.

If you have a 100 guys and 70 of them say one game deserves game of the year, should it not?

There are plenty of places out there.  Find some Youtuber you like or something and then his ONE opinion can be the same as yours.

Cause game of the years are just opinions.  The winner's are the ones with the most opinions in their favor.  These are reviewers though not consumers.  So again sales don't matter, but niche games would have a really really hard time winning game of the year cause in their very category of being niche, means that majority don't like that type of game.

First post.

If you have 30 million gamers and 20 million of them say COD deserves game of the year, should it not?

Every journalist can't play every game. Even slightly niche games are bound to slip through the cracks. But again, if you look at the Oscars, the Best Picture winner is rarely one of the top-grossing films of the year. Having broad appeal is a lot different from being of general high quality. Gamers already know which games are the most popular, there is nothing to be learned from being told more people enjoy Smash Bros than Dark Souls.

Look at opening.

Toad.

Has a good chance of being a critical darling and its this year for NA.