Since well into last gen, reviewers across the board had been upscoring both the PS2 and XBOX games while downscoring GameCube games, buying into the 'Nintendo is kiddy' hype.

When the Wii came out, all journalistic integrity fell through and it was not only the scores that were being targeted, but it was direct opinions and blatant statements in reviews stating 'the game is for kids' and 'the game doesn't do what X 360 game does'.  The reviewers have stated quite clearly that they think the Wii (and the DS) are a piece of junk and 'for kids' and they are downscoring the games accordingly.

And I may add, they also downscore games based on other stupid prerequisites.  Such as a game being a 'sequel' or 'lacking innovation'.  While upscoring a game if its 'popular' (Halo 3, MGS4, any Final Fantasy, Mario Galaxy) or if it has a lot of marketing behind it.

These reviewers are basically trying to please everyone, while also trying to lie and influence everyone at the same time.  And they can't keep up with their own mistakes.

When checking out wii games on metacritic I usually add the press and user average and then divide the sum by 2. That way I feel both the pro and anti wii bias is drowned out and get a decent idea of what to expect.

Once again, we would have to judge the content of the User reviews in relation to the scores in order to see if this trend is true in the industry.

But if there is one game I am sure of that was liked by Wii gamers but hated by reviewers was Castlevania Judgment. If you can find the Press Scores then the User Reviews for that game, I would be appreciative.

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 have to say I'm tired of this argument to bring in Metroid Prime 3, and SMG. Why you ask? Because NO major online review sight is going to slam even a decent first party game from Nintendo. Why would they potentially offend the top publisher in the world, and risk losing scoops and connections?

The same goes for Sony and Microsoft. If they put out a first party game that's even remotely good, it's going to get a great review.

Now, somebody like High Voltage Software is nothing to them. They know that smaller studios are still going to need their press coverage no matter what is said about them.

if it was just hardcore fans of Killzone or Halo or GTA IV it would have been 10 for sure

i don't think users just waste their time to give feedback to games randomly, if they wouldn't have an opinion if it's good/bad they wouldn't bother to give scores or even write about the game, like they do on amazon.com and so on, of course these are just "if" no-one really knows, but at least gamer score is based on the opinion of more people

they just say how much the enjoyed the game, and personally i find the user reviews of 90% of the games very logical especially of GTA IV for example, much more logical than reviewers score

Shanobi said: 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 have to say I'm tired of this argument to bring in Metroid Prime 3, and SMG. Why you ask? Because NO major online review sight is going to slam even a decent first party game from Nintendo. Why would they potentially offend the top publisher in the world, and risk losing scoops and connections? The same goes for Sony and Microsoft. If they put out a first party game that's even remotely good, it's going to get a great review. Now, somebody like High Voltage Software is nothing to them. They know that smaller studios are still going to need their press coverage no matter what is said about them.

Yeah, I hope you realize how much backlash they would recieve giving a game like Super Mario Galaxy an 8 or something. Look at the storm caused by Gamespot's 8.8 to Twilight Princess.

It is pretty much 1st party infallibility in a way. Sure, games like Mario Kart didn't get 9s across the board, but Smash Bros, Metroid, Halo, GTA,etc;  games of those nature can't be touched.

@Shanobi

Heavenly Sword - 7.9 average with a 7.0 from IGN
published by Sony

Animal Crossing Wii - 7.3 average with a C from 1up
developed by Nintendo

Too Human - 6.5 average with a C- from 1up
published by Microsoft

Most games published by the big three get better scores because they are generally more polished and better games. If what you said was true would sites have reviewed even close to this low for games from all three?

Not necessarily because it can be balanced out by a number of zeros from fanboys from other consoles.  Unless you can show me every individual gamer score and give me why they gave it that score I can't see how you can find these more accurate than reviews which actually write up reasons.  I'm left with the assumption that you believe these gamer scores because they agree with your own opinion.

It's because PS3 fanboys and 360 fanboys vote exclusives from the other side down as well as "rival" multiplat versions.
It's just that they don't care for the average Wii games, so they stay mostly uneffected.

7.9 and 7.3 are not bad scores. And Pokemon Battle Colliseum, or whatever it was called, got a pretty low score too. Outside of these games though, find me other 1st party games that have gotten bad reviews.

I agree they are generally the more polished games, also, but what I've stated is still true.