It seems mediocrity is the rule these days...

[zacd]

5-6 of the games on that list that are either sequels to successful franchises or in Beowulf's case, an adaptation of a movie. Often games like those are made just for a quick profit for the company using old games as the model. Nothing new and no innovation, hence the low scores.

but as previous posters mentioned, this holiday season has LOTS of great games. the video game industry is bigger than the movie business now -- so there are going to be lots of games, most of which will be terrible, but that doesn't mean good games won't be made.