Reggie hears the bad news

For all the talk of fantastic games released on Nintendo formats this year - including, y'know, Little King's Story - keeper of the review scores crypt Metacritic claims that the DS and Wii had the worst all-around software of 2009.

Collating review scores from hundreds of sources on countless games - interesting fact: there were 362 reviewed Wii releases in 2009! - the Metacritic machine crunched the numbers and came up with the disappointing conclusion that the average Wii game scored 67%, whereas the DS fared slightly better at 69%.

The top-rated Wii game of the year was the stellar Metroid Prime Trilogy, with an average of 91, but it wasn't enough to bring up the average Wii review score. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars came out on top of the DS's ratings pile with 93, but they were the only two Nintendo titles all year to average over 90%, compared to ten titles on PS3 and seven on Xbox 360.

It's a shame to see the overall review scores for Wii and DS dragged down by some of the less polished titles released this year, but there's still been a bumper crop of excellent releases this year. Don't forget you can vote for what you believe to be the best Wii, DS, WiiWare or DSiWare game of 2009 until December 31st, and check back in the New Year to see who walks away with the coveted Nintendo Life Reader's Game of the Year Award!

[source features.metacritic.com]