Dodece, i agree with you on everything yo said but

halo 3 was not revolutionary. it was a beefed up version of halo 1 and two

Super Mario 64 was pretty much universal GOTY when it was released. It's also on most "Best Games of all time" lists. SMG is currently scoring better than Super Mario 64.

Dodece, that post ranks among the most awful (and flawed) on these forums. Let's start:

Most recent Mario games:

New Super Mario Bros

Nintendo

5.02

3.20

2.59

10.81

Super Mario Sunshine

Nintendo

0.87

3.73

1.31

5.91

Most recent (top selling) shooters:

Halo 2

Microsoft

0.11

6.57

1.67

8.35

	Halo 3	Microsoft	0.08	4.08	1.56	5.72
	Gears Of War	Microsoft	0.08	3.05	1.68	4.81

Now that we are past your ridiculous popularity argument, how about we move onto "handicapped out of contention?" Was the PSX handicapped out of contention? Was the PS2 handicapped out of contention? Because both were the weakest systems of their generation (the PSX by an enormous amount), yet still pulled off some amazing games. Oh, and Super Mario Galaxy is currently the highest rated game of the generation on Gamerankings.

CoD4 is (by my experience and the experiences of many others) a remake of CoD2 with modern weapons and much better graphics. Halo 3 is tweaks to the Halo formula. Bioshock is a remake of System Shock 2 with a new setting. Orange Box is absolutely unique and revolutionary. Mass Effect is based on the exact same formula as KOTOR. More has changed from Super Mario Sunshine to Super Mario Galaxy than any of those games I mentioned with the exception of Mass Effect which is most likely on relatively equal footing (when comparing it to KOTOR), and none of those games have anywhere near the mass market appeal of SMG.  In fact, that's so ridiculous I find it hard to believe I actually read that.  

Im just going to go with what Naz said as far as Dodece's post goes.

According to gamerankings SMG is the best game of the generation, screw genre and all that no game so far has ranked as highly as SMG. There is really no excuse to leave it off a list of GotY candidates, even if they didn't name it GotY (which would be entirely understandable)

No sign of Zack and Wiki, so sad. Maybe it is "too gay for their tastes".

Super Mario 64 was a revolutionary title. I would rather not go into the specifics, but the game was not only genre defining, but genre generating. Until Nintendo did it nobody knew how it was supposed to be done. That game has a serious impact on gaming not just in its genre. So many of the mechanics have found their way into games in drastically different genres. Super Mario 64 changed gaming.

I find it shameful that any site would rank SMG higher then SM64. They really should know better then to do that. Given the impact of the originator, and the relative imitation of the latter. A unoriginal knock off should never triumph over the brilliant original. The only explanation for this is the ranking systems are pathetic if they are not highlighting the difference.

I highly recommend that anyone who has not played Halo 3, and given all the advanced features a real spin. Take the time to do so. There are a myriad of innovative features. Then you can't ignore the presentation and packaging of those innovations. Those features will be entertaining for years on end. Thats reason enough for Halo 3 to be on the list.

Isn't the Orange Box Thenically 3 games? So really it shouldnt be on there if they count the sperate game for awards. (see: portal in Breakthrough Technology) 

 Ok now you're seriously pulling our leg. Good job, you really had me going. 

 Have you played it?  Yes, it actually does.  The theater alone is very, very cool and takes "replay" to a level I had never really considered before.  In my opinion it is one of the coolest "new" features to have hit any title this year.

Allow me to be quite honest with that show.

I watched the first one with my roommate. It gave me cancer and lowered my IQ. I've had shows physically hurt, I've been made stupider by them, but this is one of the rare shows that did both, and did both extremely well. I actually was a super genius at one point, and then I became a D+ student because of the God Damn Spike TV Video Game Awards.