I'm not saying Mass Effect doesn't have depth, and I'm not saying Xenoblade has lots of depth. I'm just saying that Mass Effect has that "Hollywood" appeal. It's shiny, it's the culmination of a trilogy, and it's a massive AAA game. Xenoblade is a far more humble game, simply on virtue of it being on far inferior hardware, from a company that many in the industry have simply abandoned.
It should've been obvious who would win more awards.
Misjudged what you said then, my apologies.
I think there is merit to what you are saying, just by the virtue of culture even, the same way you're not going to see top shelf fare like Xcom tearing up Japanese lists, but I still think it has more to do with the Wii having largely been phased out of peoples memories (almost forcibly) and the incredibly fucked release handling by Nintendo.
I think Xenoblade has enough of that flash to compete though, if it just wasn't so far out there in some folks memories by getting a single retailer release on a largely defunct platform early in the year. Not having enough flash to complete would be something like a King's Bounty game getting snubbed for Halo Wars. :lol
I've said this a few different times, but Nintendo has a very capable studio with this game. I have qualms with the release, but it's a very accessible, very modern, very polished traditional JRPG and you don't even need an entire hand to count the number of those nowadays. If it was fostered more properly, I think they could produce a very decent global product but I have a feeling they're doomed to niche, barely-there localizations and publishing efforts.