GameFAQs' Own 'Best. Game. Ever.' Contest Launched

XtremeLeader writes "Just days after GameSpy releases its Best All-Time Game competition, GameFAQs answers with a much more interactive Spring 2004 Contest to vote for the best games (you need a GameFAQs account to view the page). Unlike the GameSpy awards, however, this is completely gamer controlled. It begins by a registered user submitting their choices for favorite games (one per system, with more than a few systems), of which any game you want can be nominated. Voting ends at the beginning of March, and the polls are slated to begin late March/early April. The top 64 nominations will be accepted and placed into a series of polls that we get to vote on. Hopefully, this one doesn't have great games like Chrono Trigger thrown into the potpourri category."

Comments

Chrono Trigger

[Anonymous Coward]

As I browsed through the Gamespy game nomations, I kept wondering to myself "Where is Chrono Trigger" only to be offended when it made the misc. category. I was similarly offended that they would list all quake games, but not Half Life.

I hate

[Apreche]

I hate stuff like this. It makes the false assumption that the most popular games are the best games. Look at any other medium of entertainment and you can see how plainly false this is. Movies, Star Wars is probably one of the most popular, yet Citizen Kane is "the best" whether you like it or not.

With a poll on gamefaqs there are sure to be a zillion 12 year olds voting for GTA 3 and a million dumbasses voting for FF7. Heck, I'm almost 22 years old. Some of the 18 year olds who are coming into college now never owned an NES and were all about the Playstation. Playstation! Not even SNES! Just as if you've never seen Citizen Kane you can't be a movie critic you can't be a video game critic if you haven't played Zelda 1. Well, I guess you could be a critic, but you wouldn't have any credibility.

Zelda 1 is probably the Citizen Kane of video games. Although Mega Man 2 is #1 in my personal book. PC games? TIE Fighter or Civ2. I mean, it is so plainly obvious which games are the best to anyone who knows their shit.

Really I just wish they would rename the contest to "most popular video game as of right now". As opposed to "best game ever".

Re:I hate

[J. Jacques]

In other words: "I am angry that the opinions of others may differ from my own! Raar!"

Re:Good idea.

[Torgo's Pizza]

The only problem is that it's using the bracket system. There's always a bracket where two really good games/characters go at it and knock one out. Who's to say that if that game were placed in another bracket, it could have either lasted longer or win it all.

As others will say, it'll end up being a popularity contest. The most recent games have a decided advantage while older games like M.U.L.E., Elite or Ultima IV will get killed off early. There just isn't any context for the vote. It's like pitting Canterbury Tales against Harry Potter.

So what's the best way to find out the Greatest Game of All Time? Sigh, there will always be debate. There will probably need to be some organization like the American Film Institute that will consist of developers, fans, academics and historians that will come up with a list. Perhaps the AAIA? Who knows...

Preset Mentality

[VGMSupreme]

There is not much you can do to change the mentality of the GameFAQs userbase. They are not going to understand the real games that made an impact on the industry as we know it. I will also agree that they gear more towards RPGs characters than anything else.

That being said, yes, it does boil down to a popularity contest. But I do have some faith in the people who are willing to show what real games were about. We will have to remind them about the times of the SNES, NES, and maybe even the Atari days.

Mainstream marketing is what is driving a lot of the younger crowd that is buying games. That is why the FF series is flying off the shelves, but games like Zelda and SMB are being turned into EB and not being brought again.