"Must haves" threads - do we need a sticky?

[charlesr]

We get a lot of people asking in lots of separate threads about what are the games to get on each system. Would it be useful to have a sticky thread in here that pointed to a variety of different threads (1 for each console) so we can have definitive threads of uberness rather than having to repeat ourselves each time? I find reading these threads really useful (but dangerous for the bank balance).

[hudson]

What about a poll too consisting of the 'must haves' mentioned in the thread as a quick visual for the wondering user?

[Roddie]

Can't people just decide what games they want by reading reviews and opinions? There's no such thing as a "must have" as everyone's taste differs. In my experience, these threads just turn into people posting unnecessarily long lists of games with no additional info. I think the few games that are almost universally well received on a platform should already be known to the person.

[egparadigm]

They used to do something like this over on GamesRadar. They would hold a vote roughly once a year to vote for a top 10 and then they'd add some 'special mentions' for games that aren't quite at the top.

They called it "what game next."

[Malavon]

Don't see the point in limiting it to top 10 games as over a year there will easily be more than 10 games worth having. May as well just remove the "special mention" bit and extend it to include all recommended games, or maybe limit it to 5 per genre.

In general though yeah, I think having a stickied must have list for each console is a good idea.

[prinnysquad]

I think it's quite interesting to see must-have lists in retrospect. There'll be quite a few games who are the flavour-of-the-month at the time of the list but don't stand up to scrutiny a year or so down the line.

Could we also have a 'cult' list too for each system? But with the proviso that all entries must have details about the game and experience, so prospective buyers could see if it would be to their taste. I can think of Chromehounds and Import Tuner Challange off the top of my head that wouldn't come near the 'must-have' list but deserve a look if you're into online tactical squad robot blasters and japanese street racing. Chromehounds in particular is a game I've spent dozens of hours on, but would only recommend with qualification.

[dvdmike]

I like the cult idea

[elkatas]

I think that the good way to handle must-have lists would be put them under control of single moderator. This moderator would create topics, stickie them, and list recommended games on the first post of the topic. In the beginning of each quarter*, list would be revised with more recent titles, and thread reseted. Why? Because otherwise thread would be full of posts that are out of date, and this would just cause confusion amongst the new users.

Odrion did excellent PSP must-have list on Neogaf, and I personally think that it would be very good format for the NTSC-UK's list. Each game has single screenshot and short description associated with it. Odrion's list can be seen here.

* I don't really think that single user has enough time or energy to maintain list all the time. Updating list only on the beginning of the each quarter makes maintaining easier, and keeps focus on older titles.

[Concrete donkey]

Why not do must have features on the main site, with updates to each current console twice a year based on discusions in forum threads, like what was done with the achivements debate ? Too many permanentsticky's diminish the importance of the ones thats on there in my opinion.

[dvdmike]

New game (first play) = have a vote
Does this game go in the :
Cult list
Must have list
Bin

[elkatas]

Why not do must have features on the main site, with updates to each current console twice a year based on discusions in forum threads, like what was done with the achivements debate ?

I think your idea is the best one so far. It would most practical, and even those who aren't following message board could find them.

[Nakano]

For next gen stuff probably not since most will know or can try it out anyway. For pc engine, SFC, Saturn, MD etc etc though, that would be really useful, many great games came out for these systems that are probably still unknown today (mainly JP stuff for me) for a lot of people. So yeah I'm all for it!

[Dogg Thang]

Nobody's ever going to agree though if you don't severely limit the amount to 10 or less. Most people will agree roughly on maybe the top 5 of a console but, after that, people start throwing out the likes of, well, Elebits or something.

It would be like having a 'must-have' religion sticky...

While individual threads can get repetitive, they can also be steered towards the preferences of the person looking for the recommendations.

[Dirty Sanchez]

While individual threads can get repetitive, they can also be steered towards the preferences of the person looking for the recommendations.

Totally agree. Plus actually getting involved in queries is what the forum is all about, otherwise you might as well just change it to be a wiki page.

[Dirty Sanchez]

For next gen stuff probably not since most will know or can try it out anyway. For pc engine, SFC, Saturn, MD etc etc though, that would be really useful, many great games came out for these systems that are probably still unknown today (mainly JP stuff for me) for a lot of people. So yeah I'm all for it!

I went along to GameOn a few years back and headed for the N64 pods. They had GoldenEye running.

I couldn't quite beleive what I was playing, it was amazing. Amazing that people actually played this trash and to this day harp back to the good old days.

It may be a good game underneath but running it on hardware that wasn't capable of allowing that to be expressed is unforgivable.