everyday gamer

Every year, Lev Grossman of Time magazine writes up a list of the Top 10 videogames of the year.  This year’s list was as follows:

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (360, PS3, PC)
2. Braid (360)
3. LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
4. Rock Band 2 (360, PS3)
5. Gears of War 2 (360)
6. Dead Space (360, PS3, PC)
7. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii, 360, PS3, DS, PSP)
8. Hunted Forever (free Flash)
9. Fieldrunners (iPhone)
10. Spore (PC)

Grand Theft Auto IV, LittleBigPlanet, and Gears of War 2 are there as expected.  Some of the other choices continue to point to the fact that Mr. Grossman doesn’t have any pulse on the video game industry.  There’s no mention of Metal Gear Solid IV, a superior convergence of the film and game entertainment mediums than GTAIV.  There’s no mention of any of the first party Wii games (Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Wii Fit, Mario Kart) which continue to destroy everything in their paths in sales and broaden the market.  World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is conspicuously missing from the list with its  2.8 million first day sales.  Where’s Left 4 Dead?  Fallout 3?  Fable 2?  Burnout Paradise?

Time is a magazine with a huge circulation that reaches a very wide audience – the list is very demonstrative of that fact.  With his choice of games on the list, Mr. Grossman seems a bit more representative of the general gaming cross section than someone who actually pays attention to the industry.  So much so that it feels less like a Top 10 list and more like Lev Grossman’s “Hey, I happened to play this game this year” list.  If Grossman wanted to really make a Top 10 list, perhaps he should play more games rather than limiting it as such.