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Editor's note: Andrew whips out the TI-86 graphing calculator again and turns its withering, number-crunching gaze on the biggest sales disappointments of this console generation. Armchair analysts will find some pretty fascinating stuff in here, especially in the genre breakdowns after the jump. -Demian

Concluding my series of articles on top bombs for the current generation of consoles, I will now round up all the titles to compare the biggest bombs from this generation. Using the AURA index ("Achieved Under Review Aggregate", click here for more info on this scoring system), I have balanced scores and sales data to look at the biggest commercial bombs that were critical hits.

A brief introduction, if you haven't seen my earlier articles. The better the review score, the higher the AURA score. The lower the sales as a ratio to a console's install base, the higher the AURA score. An example of how it works: When comparing two games with equal sales, the game with the higher review score will be the bigger bomb. Likewise with sales: When comparing two games with an equal review scores, the lower-selling as a factor of console install base will be the bigger bomb. And a final clarification, if a game has a higher review aggregate, it can sell more copies while still remaining a bomb, under the assumption that games with higher scores will sell more. The rule: the larger the AURA score, the larger the bomb.

Follow the links to see the previous lists featuring console-specific bombs: Top Ten Wii Bombs, Top Ten Xbox 360 Bombs, Top Ten PS3 Bombs.

The following list was created using data from gamerankings.com and vgchartz.com. The 228 games across all platforms that scored an 80 or above on gamerankings.com (an arbitrary line that denotes "consensus critical hit") were scored using the AURA system. And for the sake of continuity, I have two lists, one with sports titles, one without.

TOP 25 CURRENT CONSOLE GENERATION CRITICAL HITS/RETAIL BOMBS
25. MLB Power Pros - Wii - .69
24. Guitar Hero: Metallica - Wii - .71
23. Pinball Hall of Fame - The Williams Collection - Wii - .75
22. Virtua Fighter 5 Online - Xbox 360 - .82
21. Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection - Xbox 360 - .83
20. Okami - Wii - .87
19. Tales of Vesperia - Xbox 360 - .87
18. Eternal Sonata - PS3 - .98
17. Punch Out!! - Wii - 1.00
16. Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise - Xbox 360 - 1.18
15. NHL 2K7 - Xbox 360 - 1.24
14. Bully: Scholarship Edition - Wii - 1.25
13. The House of the Dead: Overkill - Wii - 1.26
12. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - Xbox 360 - 1.26
11. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena - PS3 - 1.44
10. Zack & Wiki Quest for Barbaros' Treasure - Wii - 1.46
9. Mad World - Wii - 1.47
8. FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage - Xbox 360 - 1.60
7. Geometry Wars: Galaxies - Wii - 1.70
6. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 - Wii - 1.81
5. MLB Power Pros 2008 - Wii - 1.88
4. Rune Factory Frontier - Wii - 3.91
3. Boom Blox Bash Party - Wii - 4.38
2. Klonoa - Wii - 5.35
1. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 - Wii - 8.75

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Editor's Note: We're still trying to figure out how Brainiac here had the time to dissect the Big 3 press conferences from E3 2009 like this. Andrew's thorough, final conclusions are below (click "Read more" for the full report). And if you missed them, don't miss his individual studies, too -- very interesting info in each of them. -Shoe

Nintendo press conference report
Microsoft press conference report
Sony press conference report

Click here to see the full size graph

First and foremost, you'll notice in the above graph that there are no "event landmarks." Due to the amount of landmarks across all press conferences, I've removed them from the graph, as it would be completely useless. If you would like to reference the landmarks in the above graph, please see the individual graphs below (click the image for full size):

Reaction to the Nintendo Conference

Reaction to the Sony Conference

Reaction to the Microsoft Conference

Abstract: After the totals of neogaf.com forum members' reactions for each one-minute interval were tallied and charted, we now have a basis on which to compare the reactions to each conference. We can also see patterns in the responses that can offer insight that will allow us to predict future responses to press conferences, or offer guidelines on how to develop press conferences that will impress NeoGAF, and perhaps by extension, hardcore gamers. If that's what you want to do (Nintendo probably doesn't, for one).

Comment Totals: "Who won E3," a consistent theme appearing in the threads studied, is beyond the scope of this informal study. Only the immediate reactions were tabulated, and plenty of discussion has occured in the week following the press conferences. But we can still take the sum total of comments for each press conference. The results are below:

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Editor's note: Andrew's Nintendo conference post (linked below) caused a bit of a ruckus on the Internet, and we asked him to do a couple more. Click on that graph to see a larger version. -Demian

Click here for the full-sized graph (or here for a mirrored version)

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Xbox 360's Project Natal isn't even out yet, and it's already huge.

During E3 2009, journalists, developers, and even Hollywood celebrities got wind of the secret demonstrations Microsoft was giving to select individuals and were pulling every string they could find to get in. Even Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto went to the secret area of Microsoft's booth and got a private VIP demo.

Demian and I got to give Natal a go, and we came away extremely impressed...and neither of us are of the easily impressed variety....

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Editor's note: If you only read one E3 press conference recap in limerick form this year...etc. (Hit 'read more' for the full effect.) -Demian

Editor's note 2: Don't miss out on Andrew's brilliant Nintendo and Sony follow-ups! -Shoe

There once was a company from Seattle
Whose console was in quite a battle
They introduced some games
With very big names
In hopes of some cages they'd rattle

Kojima once had a mysterious website
With only a countdown and no insight
It's a Metal Gear game
but Raiden is lame
Monkeys with diapers? Just might.

A new Halo made smiles out of frowns
The franchise reclaims its crown
With Master Chief?
A fan boy's relief
Bungie presents Halo: Reach Around

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We've swapped out the no-longer-live stream that used to be here with this archived version, which should prove significantly more exciting in the long run.

Watch live video from G4TV - LIVE at E3 2009 on Justin.tv

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