Jeramy

the burt reynolds. best move against anything.

exactly. biggest pizza is objective--it can be measured and verified to be the largest. best video game is subjective. unless they use objective criteria in defining best (best sales, most sequels, etc.), they can't really claim to have a definitive list, which is the whole point of the guinness book of records if i'm not mistaken.

and that's the problem behind trying to quantify "greatness." it's not a single variable problem--greatness all hinges on the factors you listed, probably even more. if gamers were to create a "greatest games" list, it would probably take sales as the least influential factor (or not be included at all). gamers tend to merit a game based on playability, originality, impact, replay value, etc. when people that think of greatness as adhering to different standards as you, it tends to create a "...WTF???" impact like we're seeing in the comments here.

Just what everyone needs to celebrate with on 4/20, right?

i think it was the publishers who kept bitching about the costs of keeping up with such an extravagant production

someone didn't get the memo that all pop cap related posts have to include a drug cartel metaphor

oh thank god that after reading through a whole page of comments, finally someone gets it. i explicitly remember alan wake being introduced as a psychological thriller of sorts where a writer's book becomes reality or what have you. granted, i read that a long long long time ago, and the story has probably changed considerably, but with that kind of idea in mind the bit of text they gave makes perfect sense.

@ cyberknight

your last paragraph sums it up perfectly. couldn't have said it better myself

sandboxery indeed

even though i can't say i love every single muse song, if they offered a comprehensive muse track pack that had all of their songs and cost, oh, what like $50 easy, i would probably end up buying it.