You put enough people in a room and give them a something, they'll find an argument in it. And people love their arguments. Whether the bub and bob shenanigans or this.

Mario better win or I lose all faith in the gaming world. This is a trifle depressing how a nub like Gordon can beat out the King that Mario is.

bullion2

I know I took part in the fanboy activities. My own hatred of Nintendo is something I try to keep in check, even if third-party Wii games are reaching a level of fail that reminds me of Atari in 1982. But still, I know Nintendo fanboys will fight tooth and nail for them, whether they're the runner-up last gen or the financial victor this gen, and they'll charge out with their all-caps superiority like a bull. And when the bull finally had it's horns smacked off by a crowbar from left field, all they can do now is slink back to wherever they came from, clutching their wiimotes and thinking about which Zelda game they're going to play when they get there.

Think about it though. Who always wins these things? The popular one. If Mario had won, this contest would be more like a high school prom than what it's meant to be. I approached this as who-would-win-in-a-fight, provided that some characters skills were handicapped, along with which games I liked the most. Snake got to the finals and lost by a close margin to Master Chief. Not only was it great to not see Link v Mario, it was great to see someone I completely never expected take the prize (Gordon was set for me to lose to Snake after beating Yoshi).

I was quite worried seeing b come in and have their way with the forums and competition. I occasionally visit the site, and something original and worth more than 5 seconds of existence is hard to come by. It's really just the same "you laugh you lose" and "report in" threads over and over and over and over and over again. As much as these forums can annoy at times, I've grown to enjoy it, and I don't want to see it degrade to that. I'm glad that /b/lackup was not involved. at least not that much

I'm pretty sure Gamespot will not be doing this again (I wouldn't) for a good long time. And if they do, they'll hopefully bring it up when the tech is a bit more sophistocated to avoid cheaters (perhaps allow one vote per MAC Address), and perhaps something more than montage videos for the characters.

Just a thought.