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December 01, 2005
Games games games games games. Games.
We don't need your games.
So a few weeks ago I got really bored at work and said, "hey, I'm gonna teach myself how to use Excel." As you probably know I'm pretty handy with computers, I can do all sorts of complicated stuff, but put me in front of a copier or a fax machine, and I have no idea what the fuck to do. Likewise with me and Excel. Spreadsheet whaaaa? But I'm a little better now. What project did I assign to myself to improve my skills? Only the nerdiest thing possible. Gosh.
Using statistics scraped off of Game Rankings, I decided to put together a spreadsheet of all the games released in this current generation of consoles to see how they compared with each other. (Game Rankings is a video game review compilation site, sorta like the Rotten Tomatoes of video games.) (Which you'd think would be Rotten Tomatoes Gaming, but it isn't.) My hypothesis was that GameCube games— despite being fewer in number— were better than PS2 or XBox games, on average. And while my hypothesis was indeed confirmed (with pretty Excel charts and everything) it wasn't the landslide victory for Nintendo that I was hoping for.
As of November 11, 2005, there have been 1,696 games release for the current generation of consoles in the United States. 873 have been released for PS2, 552 on XBox, and 271 for GameCube. The average score across the board for all games is 74%. Not bad. The breakdown there is 75% for GameCube, 74% for XBox, and 73% for PS2. So Nintendo is in the lead, but like I said, not very dramatically. With cross platform games taken out of the mix (games that are on all three systems, virtually identical to each other in most cases), the differences become slightly more pronounced with GameCube averaging 77%, XBox 73% and PS2 71%. Again, nothing to write home about.
I guess my thinking was that the top-notch Nintendo-produced exclusives combined with the relative small library that the Cube has would give Nintendo some bigger numbers, but that theory goes out the window due to shit like Charlie's Angels (average score: 23%) being inexplicably released solely on the GameCube.
There is one stat where Nintendo does have a leg up, however. If you look at the top 100 games, logically Nintendo should make up 16%, being that they're 16% of the total market, but they make up 26% instead. XBox and PS2 both make up less than their share (30% and 44%, should be 33% and 51% respectively), whereas the Cube makes up more than its share. So if you're looking for good games, Nintendo is still on top. If you're looking for crap, though, you can pretty much find it anywhere.
Here's a csv file containing all the data I used. I feel a little more justified putting Excel on my resumé now.
Posted by pat at December 1, 2005 02:04 PM
Comments
You realize I will have to use this data on my stats final, don't you? Don't you?
Posted by: flip phillips at December 1, 2005 03:04 PM
Pat you need any more help on the ole Excel just let me know... I practically live and breathe that stuff at our office.
Posted by: micah at December 1, 2005 03:06 PM