Another GamerDNA article on Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22486
What’s funny is that the last one I did that went there, I’d written especially for them, but instead they did a… hasty… rephrasing. This one, I wrote for the GamerDNA audience, and wasn’t trying to draw any real conclusions, just point up some nifty patterns… and here it is under my name. But hey, Gamasutra. So I’m cool.
Brief note on Left 4 Dead… the multiplayer experience was rather marred by a few nasty exploits, and the patch was much more delayed than the PC version. Since the patch is now out, I imagine the game will pull in some more players.
That article was a slap in the face to unpopular games everywhere.
But all joking aside I think generally the leading indicator of a “good” game is whether many other people are playing it. I’m old enough now and have been a “gamer” long enough that it seems that people really prefer the shared social experience over playability, versatility, plot, etc.
eg. I know this MMO about these three “realms” who are always fighting and stuff. When it first came out (and there were many players) everybody thought it was totally hawt. Now that the population has dropped to 1,000 hard core PKers and one stubborn Paladin named “Cuthbert”, the general perception is that the game sucks even though most of the game’s mechanics haven’t changed in years.
I’m not trying to refute your stats on the subject – I think “Epic” and “Intense” attributes are most important when a game first comes out. The new games that have the most “Epic”ness and “Intense”ness get a core seed of players first. Once the rest of the herd catches on they stampede to the new title and mimic the attributions of the core group.
Maybe.
What’s just as important, I think, is familiarity with the setting/genre. All except L4D is a sequel. And L4D walks the tried and true FPS formula. Something which always seems to score, no matter what you do with it, as your list also shows. Save Rock Band 2 and GoW 2 they’re all FPSes (and GoW 2 is a shooter, at least)