Following your criterion Deus Ex, Planescape:Torment, Grand Prix Legends, Thief I and II and a lot others are better than NSMB W and DS, as people are still remembering and playing them, and you'll have to wait 9 to 10 years at least (provided people stop playing and remembering them right now, otherwise times get even longer) to possibly overturn this ranking.... Fine, I must agree with you.

... you just killed the tension of this thread which i was reading...

They aren't which is why their innocence must be defended!

^^^^LOL @ Phoenix Wright battle

Boy, there was some derailment. I'll look at that, give my thoughts and try to keep it pulled back to the topic.

Gaming, like art, is a subset of entertainment. Visual entertainment is art, audial is music. Put those 2 together and you get movies. Add in interactivity, and then you get video games. (Ironically, everything with 'interactivity' seems to fall into games, it alone is something like D&D, added visuals are board and card games. But I digress.) Thus, saying a game is not art is not true. It may not look as good as the Mona Lisa, but technical limitations coupled with other entertainment forms needing to be added means that one should not require such visuals. If you can do it without sacrificing on the other parts, great!

So then there was the FMV. These, in my eyes, blur the line between movie and game. They remove the interactivity part of a game. When a game becomes reliant on these, it is no longer a game, rather, I prefer to call it an interactive movie.

Now, game of the year. To get this title, I think that several factors should be looked at. Sales are one factor, but it should not be the determining factor. I'm more apt to look at each part of the entertainment equation on its own and see how they stand up. While you have them seperated, look at the stories of each part. Then, you can put them back together and see how well they mesh up. Do the audio and video match up? Does the interaction work well? Do the individual stories come together to form a great story?

Now, looking at the games. I've not played Uncharted 2, so I can't really pass judgment on it. But I have played NSMBWii. The visuals are slightly cartoony (but this is not necessarily a bad thing), the music is upbeat, but the interactivity is way too sensitive. Bringing things together, this is by far the best union of audio and video in a Mario game. When there are enemies and items responding to beats in the song, they are together nicely. The semblence of story in Mario games has never been a strong point, but the parts do come together in agreement for what is there. So the parts are there to qualify it. But, I have to give it a no for not doing well on one of the basic aspects. I would like to more look for a game that gets high marks in all the categories. I do realize they may be in a game I've not played; it's impossible for me to play every game released in a year.

So what does deserve GOTY? I don't know, I've never been good at picking things like that. But I will say that it should be something that I can't find surface flaws in. And sorry, but I did see them in NSMBWii.

My job is to prosecute them!

Good game, but not GOTY

*kwek*(I can't speak!)

Haha seconded.

Now I haven't played Uncharted 2 yet, but I want to say a couple of things here.

Playing NSMBW was one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had in my life. It was fun, fresh, didn't feel like an old and overdone genre. To the people who have played NSMBW and weren't impressed, did you play by yourself, or with 1/2/3 friends? I think this game shines when you are playing with 3 people. It offers a gameplay experienced I haven't ever before seen. The level designs are fresh and yet nostalgic, bringing back feelings of the many many hours enjoyed playing SMB3 and SMW.

Uncharted 2, from what I've heard, is a cinematic gaming masterpiece, with a riveting story, humorous character interactions (though I can't imagine them being better than Dragon Age: Origins), and strong gameplay. I plan to play this game soon, but until then, I can't say much about it.

From what I've experienced and heard, aren't both of these games worthy of GOTY? Last I checked the thread isnt 'NSMBW is GOTY' it's 'Is NSMB Wii worthy of the title Game Of The Year'. Not sure why the fight escalated so much, even if you love Uncharted 2 and it's easily GOTY to you, you can still concede that NSMBW is also worthy of GOTY even if you do not think it will win. The thread title is NOT about who should win GOTY.

Totally agree here.