Reliable at letting us know if a game is worth buying.  And it uses averages, not totals, so it doesn't matter if a game is Mario or Travis Touchdown, they all get an even shot.

Because it's from a site edited by a man who believes Wii Music, Wii Fit, and anything with "Wii" in the title is responsible for destroying a cutting edge art movement called video games.  Read IGN, then tell all your friends to buy Zack and Wiki in order to influence publishers, pretend MoH2 is a AAA quality FPS, and punish Nintendo because they've abandoned us.

Alright, I admit I don't know much about nintendo channel stats so I looked up some data. As far as I can tell, it provides average time played per player and average number of game sessions.

Do you really expect WoG to be anywhere near Smash Bros or GH/RB in average play time? WoG, while being an amazing game, isn't on the same level as a lot of those frequently played games in amount of content or popularity. How you'd expect a $15 wiiware game to have anywhere near as much average playtime as games with strong multiplayer (infinite replayability) and long single player components is beyond me. I have no idea at what level you expect games from small devs to perform at, especially in average play time against some of the best retail games on the Wii. There is no resonable way to expect that many play hours from WoG, nor would a higher play average be indicative of a better game.

@ the person(s) comparing WiiWare sales to retail sales: stop. It's a terrible comparison and you should know it.

How does WoG stack up against other WiiWare games vs. how SSBB stacks up against other retail games? That's actually a decent comparison.

I have no idea at what level you expect a GoTY to perform at, especially in average play time.

I'd hope a GoTY would get at least 12 hours of played time per owner.  The campaign may be short, but the absolute best short game would probably be replayed at least once.

well i haven't played this game, but i know most users who posted in the thread haven't either, maybe World of Goo is really that good.

I think it's just Wii disrespect... give an award to a game not many people have played, and it makes me people think that the Wii sucks so bad that its best game is an unknown.

The truth be known, it should have went to brawl or kart, because that would have been good press for the Wii... those are games people have actually heard of. IGN is just a worthless site if you ask me.

Nintendo Channel Results

Wii Music 10/20/08
Avg Played: 7:48 4 times

World of Goo 10/13/08
Avg played: 7:46 5 times

Wii Fit 5/21/2008
Avg played: 16 hours, 15 times

SSBB 3/9/2008
Avg played: 64 hours, 27 times

Mario Kart 4/27/2008
Avg played: 27 hours, 15 times

Okami 4/15/2008
Avg played: 19 hours, 7 times


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Conclusion
Even though it's been out longer, World of Goo has attracted less play time per owner than Wii Music. Wii Music was snubbed from IGN's awards altogether, including the music category. It will be interesting to see if IGN's GoTY will ever beat Wii Music, or even come close to SSBB and Guitar Hero's 60+ hours each.

Who cares what attracted more playtime, a gem that noone has ever played is still a gem. If I was the only person in the world who had played SotC I would still call it an amazing game and the same goes for WoG. Popularity has very little correlation with quality, and trying to use that as a way to disparage a great game is just disappointing.

@Comrade
Sure they shouldn't pick a Wii GotY with the intention of giving bad press to the Wii, but are you suggesting that they should base it off of what would give good press to the Wii?  Because in my mind that is just as wrong.

@everyone
This is a very cool decision by IGN to give the title to a independently made game. You guys have one of the best games available to you through Wiiware, now quit your bitching and silly conspiracy theories. It's not like an awful game won. A great game won, just not the one you wanted to win. Oh well, deal with it.

I think calling people's comments about IGN's attitude towards the Wii a "silly conspiracy theory" is being pretty ignorant, considering the evidence that's been presented.

Statements by some members of IGN that they don't like some of the directions that Nintendo is going in? Yipdee shit. But tell me why World of Goo doesn't deserve it. That's what I want to hear. What real argument do you have for why World of Goo should not win, not some BS about IGN hating the Wii (possibly true), or how other games are more popular (inconsequential). Tell me exactly why World of Goo shouldn't win.

@Final-Fan
Call me ignorant if ya want, but I have seen nothing to make me believe that IGN has it out for the Wii, just like I don't believe the general sentiment that the reviewing community in general has it out for the Wii. If IGN hates the Wii so much then why was Mario Galaxy its GotY for 2007? (if I remember correctly)

Most games I have played for the Wii I have agreed with their general critical reception, so I see no reason to believe that all critics are trying to screw the Wii over.

Also, commenting that IGN doesn't like Wii is not the conspiracy I'm talking about, but instead saying that they chose World of Goo solely to hurt Nintendo, now that is a silly conspiracy theory, and I stick by that comment.