[QUOTE=feilong80]Personally, this harkens back to our discussion about judging a console based on its amazing potential. It seems that, no matter how well the Wii does, IGN continued to be seduced by its supposed power under the hood. Sort of ridiculous, if you ask me.[/QUOTE]
I could have predicted that last year. In fact, I could have predicted that five years ago.
I've explained this problem with IGN before, but I'll do it again because I don't think it's obvious to everyone. Unlike Gamespot, where every editor is exposed to every system, including odd systems like N-Gage and cell phone games, IGN is divided into fanboy departments. Each department is as large as the demand for that console calls for. As there are more games for the PS2, there are more editors and journalists on the PS2 team. When a new console like the PS3 comes around, they offload from one console to the other gradually -- PS1 to PS2 to PS3. It works the same with XBOX to XBOX 360, and N64 to Gamecube to Wii.
Now when their "Of the Year" awards start coming out, any category that is specific, such as "DS GOTY" stays strictly in the DS department, and the same for "PS2 GOTY", etc. But awards that span platforms are different. Each journalist across the organization has a vote. Remember, the PS2 department, all of which will eventually move to the PS3 department as the PS2 dies out and the PS3 gains in popularity, is larger than the rest of the departments combined. This means in translation that PS2 games have a much better chance to win GOTY. It also means that PS3 as console of the year was practically in the bag, even if Sony had only released 10 consoles at launch instead of 200 thousand.
Remember when RE4 was getting GOTY all over the place last year? IGN not only awarded "God of War" GOTY instead, but the margin of votes was overwhelmingly in its favor. As they said themselves, and I paraphrase, RE4 was a great game but it wasn't even close to winning GOTY based on the tally. Now I have no problem with "God of War" winning GOTY. It was an awesome game. I felt that that game and RE4 would really be in close competition with each other. But to say that the competition wasn't even close is a clear sign of console bias in this case. This year, when games like Gears of War and Zelda are winning practically everywhere, I was absolutely sure that IGN's GOTY would be either Final Fantasy XII, Bully, or Okami. I was right.
IGN's organization is a problem not just because of how it gerrymanders the annual awards, but because of how it allows every department to overhype their fandomed product. IGN overhypes the Wii only because it's the new Wii department that is covering it, made up of consumate Nintendo fanboys like Matt Casamassina who have made up their N64 and Gamecube departments since the beginning, is in the business of overhyping.
