reviews are supposed to reflect average gamers opinion about a game, therefore giving an idea to the consumer how good a games is

accoarding to gamestats.com , reviewers opinion is much closer to HD gamers opinion, but most of the times is different from Wii gamers opinion

average reviewers do not really understand the Wii demographic, and they review Wii games accoarding to Ps3/Xbox360 hard-core gamers point of view, review system just doesn't work with Wii games i believe

for example:

The Conduit

	PRESS SCORE	7.0
	GAMER SCORE	8.9

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the new World

	PRESS SCORE	6.7
	GAMER SCORE	9.0

Mario Kart Wii

	PRESS SCORE	8.0
	GAMER SCORE	8.8

Mario Party 8

	PRESS SCORE	6.4
	GAMER SCORE	7.5

Madworld

	PRESS SCORE	8.3
	GAMER SCORE	9.2

Overlord: The Dark Legend

	PRESS SCORE	7.2
	GAMER SCORE	9.2

Soul Calibur Legends

	PRESS SCORE	5.5
	GAMER SCORE	6.9

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

	PRESS SCORE	9.0
	GAMER SCORE	9.3

but in Xbox360/Ps3 games, press score is much close to gamer score, or much higher in many cases

Killzone 2

	PRESS SCORE	9.3
	GAMER SCORE	8.9

SoulCalibur IV

	PRESS SCORE	8.5
	GAMER SCORE	8.4

Resident Evil 5

	PRESS SCORE	8.6
	GAMER SCORE	8.8

Street Fighter IV

	PRESS SCORE	9.2
	GAMER SCORE	8.7

Grand Theft Auto IV

	PRESS SCORE	9.6
	GAMER SCORE	8.9

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

	PRESS SCORE	9.4
	GAMER SCORE	9.2

Halo 3

	PRESS SCORE	9.4
	GAMER SCORE	8.5

It's an interesting point. but its hard to prove when you can just pick random examples. The best thing to do would be to pick all the wii games and then see if the gamer score is higher than the press score in most of them. Then pick all the PS360 games and see if the gamer score is lower for most of them.

That press score/Gamer score comparison was interresting.

It seems like gamers like HD games a little less than the reviewers and Wii games a little more than the reviewers.

Overlord: The Dark Legend...What the fuck? This game was awful. Cherry picked examples make me think the Gamer Score is bull. Your also forgetting about the ongoing rivalry between PS3 and 360 owners where they will mark each others score down, while for the most part they couldn't care less what Wii games get. Enough with the "Wii are the victim". Support your data with good games like SMG and Metroid Prime if you want to draw comparisons.

	PRESS SCORE	7.2
	GAMER SCORE	9.2

You make a good point - but I think you have given the wrong reasoning behind it.

The thing is, reviewers are not supposed to reflect the average gamer, they are meant to reflect their target audience - and their target audience is mostly people who read their publications which is mostly the harder-core gamers. We might wish it were otherwise, but it isn't.

That's why the discrepancy, and that's why metacritic doesn't accurately reflect the experiences of Wii gamers.

I bet you would get a different result if you took reviews only from mainstream press rather than from dedicated gaming sites and mags.

I wrote this article in response to the E3 coverage. The last three paragraphs explain why I think the prejudice against Wii exists.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) recently held in Los Angeles showcased the future of video games. Sony and Microsoft both held impressive press conferences which outlined their plans to introduce motion-control schemes to their game systems. The mainstream gaming press' reaction was to pat Microsoft (and Sony to a lesser extent) on the back for their innovations. While their respective technologies look promising and game journalists' coverage of E3 simply reflects that, a voice calls out from the wilderness with a question: "aren't Microsoft and Sony simply jumping on the bandwagon Nintendo started rolling in 2006???" (2006 was the year that Nintendo revolutionized gaming with its motion controls on the Wii). Regardless, the press has crowned Microsoft and Sony as the 'winners' of this years expo while Nintendo's continuing impressive lineup of games is treated as a side note. There are two reasons for this.

The first is that lightning has struck so many times for Nintendo in the past few years that expectations are too high for the company to ever measure up. The Wii has become the fastest selling home video game console ever. It is currently sitting at around 50 million units sold and has birthed such phenomena as Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros Brawl. If the Wii is a success, it's cousin the Nintendo DS is an outright triumph for the Japanese company. To date the portable system has sold over 100 million units, more than twice it's closest competitor, the Playstation Portable (PSP). And, DS hosts a library of software equally diverse to the Wii's, not to mention just as successful in the marketplace. Brain Age, New Super Mario Bros, and Nintendogs are three examples. The excitement that has grown around Nintendo over the last half-decade coupled with the nostalgia game journalists have for the company which first broke through in the 1980s is causing some of those who game and write about it to expect the moon, the stars, Jupiter, Uranus and M31 from Nintendo. Super Mario Galaxy won't suffice.

The second reason that the gaming media has overlooked Nintendo's performance at E3 is that those game journalists who aren't disappointed with Nintendo's inability to live up to unreasonable expectations never expected anything from Nintendo to begin with. The so called "core gamers" who thrive on Grand Theft Autos, God of Wars, and First Person Shooters only, make up a large portion of the gaming media. These people couldn't care less what Nintendo does because they are more concerned with how many hours the next PS3 or X-Box 360 exclusive will last them. They are interested in ultra realistic graphics and tight Joystick controls, not new interfaces such as motion control or colourful presentation. They wrote off Nintendo's E3 performance before they arrived at the show.

To oversimplify there are two kinds of game journalists, those who don't like Nintendo and those who like Nintendo but find themselves perplexed that each and every game on a Nintendo system isn't designed specifically for them. Wii Fit is an example of a game that erks people because it is expanding the gaming market to soccer moms and senior citizens while some gamers would prefer that gaming remain an old boys club (or rather, a young acne prone boys club. ages 16 to 25). But ultimately the presence of engaging experiences that appeal to a wider audience of people will have it's mark on the media that cover them. Microsoft and Sony's entry into the motion-control ring signifies the legitimacy of new interfaces in gaming along with new gamers; It took three years, but it happened. It may take longer for the gaming media to adapt to change, but ultimately they will have to.

http://casualgamerguy.blogspot.com/

Oh yeah, I forgot about that Shadowblind. You're probably right, if the system didn't allow for gamers to mark games they ddon't own then the gamer scores would probably all be far higher than the press score.

People who do these game score things are one of two things usually, a fan of the game or a hater of the game. That's never going to get you a fair score.

If you love these games that's great, and you can love a game that gets reviewed as average, but it doesn't mean that the reviews are wrong.

edit:  Here's the thing, show me how the individual scores that people submitted pan out and maybe I'll believe that theswe scores actually represent the score some group would give it, but until I see that I'm going to just assume that the PS360 scores are brought down by that fanboy rivalry, and Wii games are just lucky they don't happen to be affected by that as much.

Shadowblind said: Overlord: The Dark Legend...What the fuck? This game was awful. Cherry picked examples make me think the Gamer Score is bull. Your also forgetting about the ongoing rivalry between PS3 and 360 owners where they will mark each others score down, while for the most part they couldn't care less what Wii games get. Enough with the "Wii are the victim". Support your data with good games like SMG and Metroid Prime if you want to draw comparisons. PRESS SCORE 7.2 GAMER SCORE 9.2

i can't say about overlord since i haven't played it

i haven't picked random examples, many Wii examples i've picked were games that were expected by Wii owners to be great, and many times reviewers just said buy an HD console, with their own way, especially gamespot reviews

for Ps3/Xbox360 games, i've picked the most popular i believe

and for god's sake, what you say about rivalry is absolutely wrong, HD fanboys post 0.0 reviews in almost every popular Wii game, i'll never forget WIISUCKSLOL from IGN:

June 20, 2009 - AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH
YOU WIITARDS ARE SO CUTE AND FUNNY I CANT BELIVE U HYPE DIS GAME WHEN YOU KNO IT SUCKS

I FEEL SRRY FOR YOU GEY WIITARDS
YOU GOT NO GAMES YOU GOT NO ONLINE YOU GOT SHIT CONTROLS SHIT FEATURES SHIT GRAPHICS SHIT EVERYTHING! THE SHITIIWII IS THE WORST CONSUMER PRODUCT EVAR MAED!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS WHY 360 AND PS3 OUTSELL UR GAMECUBE 1.5 ERRRRRR SHITIIWII 10:1
CUZ OF GEY STUPID BORING KIDDY RETARDED POOPY IN PANTS TODDLER GAMES LEIK DIS

I MEAN HALO 1 LOOKS BETTA THEN DIS CRAP
BIG RIGS OVER THE ROAD RACING PLAYS BETTA THAN DIS CRAP
AND SUPERMAN 64 CONTROLS BETTA THAN DIS CRAP

JUST FACE IT, YOU KNOW IT... I KNOW IT.... SHITIIWII FUCKING SUCKS!

Rating	Description
out of 10	click here for ratings guide
0.0	Presentation IM VERY GLAD I PISSED YOU GEY WIITARDS OFF
0.0	Graphics IM VERY GLAD I PISSED YOU GEY WIITARDS OFF
0.0	Sound IM VERY GLAD I PISSED YOU GEY WIITARDS OFF
0.0	Gameplay BUT GAMEPLAY OVA GRAPHICS AS YOU WIITARDS SAY TOO BAD SHITIIWII AINT GOT BOTH
0.0	Lasting Appeal 2395 103nd street barstow CALI,92310, USA WII SUCKS LOL
0.0	OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average)

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June 26, 2009 - tHE BEST GAME EVER. ITS BETTER THAN THE FUCKING XBOX 360 AND PS3 GAMES. WII HAS THE BEST GAMES IT ROCKS. PLAYSHIT 3 AND CRAPBOX 360 DONT STAND A CHANCE THOSE FUCKING STUPID MACHINE. SO YOU PS3 AND 360 FANS CAN STFU CAUSE THE WII IS BETTER THAN YOUR SHITTY CONSOLE FUCKERS.

Rating	Description
out of 10	click here for ratings guide
10.0	Presentation
10.0	Graphics
10.0	Sound
10.0	Gameplay
10.0	Lasting Appeal
10.0	OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average)

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