Liabe Brave said:
Your argument is invalid. It is demonstrably untrue that generally all reviewers score all games the same way; a simple perusal of Metacritic or Gamerankings will show that the standard deviation for individual games varies widely. "Universal acclaim" still has meaning in such a world, even if "universal" is a too-ambitious term.
Sorry, I'm calling bullcrap on that. Here's the figures on the current top 5 box office films in the US:
Ice Age 3: Average - 54, Std Deviation - 13
Transformers 2: Average - 43, Std Deviation - 18
Public Enemies: Average - 71, Std Deviation - 15
The Proposal: Average - 53, Std Deviation - 17
The Hangover: Average - 74, Std Deviation - 13
Compared to the top 5 unique games in the May 2009 NPD
UFC Undisputed 2009: Average - 83, Std Deviation - 5 (22 reviews gave this an 8/10)
Wii Fit: Average - 79, Std Deviation - 7
EA Sports Active: Average - 23, Std Deviation - 7
Infamous: Average - 84, Std Deviation - 9 (93 reviews, that took too long)
Pokemon Platinum: Average - 82, Std Deviation - 6
Not the most scientific comparison, but I think it does the job. Each list has its mix of 'casual' (Ice Age, the Proposal, Wii Fit, EA Sports Active), and 'hardcore' (Infamous, Public Enemies).
Man, doing that sucked. I got through the movies alright, but dammit there's too many reviews for video games. But I couldn't stop halfway because then the previous half would have been a waste D: Maybe I'll make a seperate thread about this.