The GamingPickz Grid

Four maps of the same catalogue, each answering a different question. Every axis is published with its own definition and midpoint, and every position is computed rather than placed. Where a map holds fewer games, it is because its axes need data most games do not have, and we would rather show you a small honest map than a large invented one.

The whole catalogue3,065 games plottedWhich games from which eras are still remembered?Release year against cultural reach Reach and reception2,026 games plottedWhich well-known games do players actually like?Player sentiment against cultural reach Critics and players1,006 games plottedWhere do critics and players disagree?Player sentiment against critic aggregate Build your own2,040 games plottedHow do price, accessibility and hardware demand compare?Sixteen axes, your choice Value and quality6 games plottedWhich games are worth what they currently cost?Hours per dollar against our review score

Why the maps hold different numbers of games

Map coverage and what each axis needs
Map	Games	What its axes require
The whole catalogue	3,065	Complete coverage. Uses the two things every game has: a release date and a Wikipedia presence.
Reach and reception	2,026	The widest map. Everything with a player score and a Wikipedia presence.
Critics and players	1,006	The gap between the two is usually a story about what happened after launch.
Build your own	2,040	Any two of sixteen criteria on the axes, including our own review sub-scores.
Value and quality	6	Both axes need a review, so this map only holds the 16 games we have played and scored. It is the smallest map and the only one where every position is our own judgement.

Why we do not fill the gaps. The value map could hold a thousand games if we estimated how long each takes to finish. We do not, because a value score built on a guessed playtime is a guess wearing a decimal point. A game appears on a map when the data its axes need actually exists, and stays off it otherwise.

The axes

Sixteen in total, in two classes. Store-derived axes cover most of the catalogue. Editorial sub-scores exist only where a reviewer played the game.

Available axes
Axis	Measures
Players	Player sentiment, adjusted for sample size
Critics	Critic reception
Popularity	Popularity: how many played it and how widely it is known
Audience	Audience: how many people have played it
Reach	Reach: how widely known it is
Price	Price: how cheap it is now
Accessibility	Accessibility: declared features
Hardware	Hardware demand: how much machine it needs
Score	Our review score
Value	Value: hours of content per dollar
Story	Story
Gameplay	Gameplay
Graphics	Graphics
Originality	Originality
Variety	Variety, or how little it repeats itself
Replay	Replay value

Plot any two of them on the axis picker, or see how they feed the ranked lists and the popularity pulse.