Wii Sports[color=#000000][font=sans-serif]

(76.76 million) [/font]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_selling_games#Wii

The Sims[color=#000000][font=sans-serif]

(16 million shipped)[/font]
Lemmings[color=#000000][font=sans-serif]

(15 million)[/font]
The Sims 2[color=#000000][font=sans-serif]

(13 million)[/font]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_selling_games#PC

I am rather surprised that wii sports alone sold more than the sum of the top 3 best selling PC titles. Time to develop "Sims Sports - With Lemmings" I guess.

[quote name='Aeroga' timestamp='1335980826' post='4936839']
Well you can at least guarantee that the first two is shooter, and first person unless if Apps on the iPhones count. As for the rest, it seems tougher to decide. I like this idea for research though, but how are you going to classify most successful? Will you go by most profits, most bought, or most games from them?

The best selling PC games: http://en.wikipedia...._PC_video_games

If we're ranking using "best selling" as the criteria, then no, the first two is not "shooter" and "first person".
[/quote]That's really interesting. I'm glad that shooters haven't taken the twenty top spots. I was beginning to think that every new game would be a shooter because of its popularity.

For Xbox and PS3 however, there are a lot more shooters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games

Ever wonder why the music industry is so big now yet they all seem so similar (or Hollywood blockbusters for that matter)? Averageness sells

As much as we hate to think it, the things we like and don't like can be calculated with the right data to hand. Architects use programs to work out how people might flow through a building, because guess what, we all behave pretty much the same, we're all pretty average

Your information is outdated, it was true in the old era, not now. Music industry is dead since a decade I guess (who sane would buy a CD if you can't listen to it on your PC or iPod or any other normal device?) TV advertisement is reporting to be less and less efficient each year. As for average games that sell... well, release a game and then you might change your mind

We are not living in the mass market era anymore. These days are behind us. It's XXI century, not XX century.

I am rather surprised that wii sports alone sold more than the sum of the top 3 best selling PC titles. Time to develop "Sims Sports - With Lemmings" I guess.

Incase you missed it (or maybe I'm missing your humour?), Wii Sports (And later, Wii Sports Resort) were bundled with the console (at least in the US). Anyone who buys the console gets the game for free whether they want it or not. Wii Sports didn't 'sell more' than the other games, the Wii console sold more, and you got Wii Sports for free - well, it probably added to the cost, but the point is it itself (and it's sequel) was not what was sold 60+ million times, but the console is what was sold.

I mean, it's certainly successful, standalone sales for Wii Sports Resort was over a million in the first two weeks, but:
"[color=#000000][font=sans-serif]

Activision reported sales figures for [/font]

Modern Warfare 3[color=#000000][font=sans-serif]

in the U.S. and UK being more than 6.5 million copies sold on launch day"[/font]

I don't at all mind Wii Sports being bundled with the console - that's fine, it's a decent-ish multiplayer minigame collection. But it really isn't the best selling game of all time, because the vast majority of those 'sales' it wasn't actually the object being sold. How successful it would have been without being bundled, we can't know. A possible (but still inaccurate) comparison would be Wii Fit, which sold [color=#000000][font=sans-serif]

22 million - still a very nice number.[/font]

Incase you missed it (or maybe I'm missing your humour?), Wii Sports (And later, Wii Sports Resort) were bundled with the console (at least in the US). Anyone who buys the console gets the game for free whether they want it or not. Wii Sports didn't 'sell more' than the other games, the Wii console sold more, and you got Wii Sports for free - well, it probably added to the cost, but the point is it itself (and it's sequel) was not what was sold 60+ million times, but the console is what was sold.

Oops I totally missed it. Sorry.

Well, at least we have the next two:

• Mario Kart Wii (31.91 million)[sup][83][/sup][sup][84][/sup]
  
• Wii Sports Resort (29.87 million)[sup][83][/sup]
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_selling_games#Wii
  
  Which sold more than the top 5 PC games combined. O_o

Doing some research in my spare time, and I'm curious as to whether anyone has already done an analysis of successful game designs?

I'd like to see, if possible, break downs of things such as...

Most popular genre;
Most popular view point (first person, top down, etc.);
Most popular locations (space, real world, fantasy, etc.);
Most poopular story twists;
Most popular main character attributes;

You'll probably easily find the most popular genre. Besides that... What's the point? It's not like it'll help you design the next blockbuster title.

[quote name='Brobot9k' timestamp='1335978499' post='4936819']
snip

You'll probably easily find the most popular genre. Besides that... What's the point? It's not like it'll help you design the next blockbuster title.
[/quote]

You could analyze the design of the most successful games to gain some of that insight, but you would also want to examine the marketing behind the games.

None of that was in the questions raised, hence my reply.