I consider snubbing Twilight Princess just because it happened to be a Wii launch game too to be equally arbitrary.
It is well known that the Wii version is significantly different from the GC one. Besides the control scheme (which tends to favor ranged weapons over melee combat), the world itself is actually reversed. So that world that is supposed to harken back to OoT in its geography doesn't (though when flipped, it does resemble LttP).
Furthermore, Twilight Princess belongs to the GameCube as much if not more than Wii because Wii
is a GameCube. It may be a "pimped" GC, but the beating heart of it is still a GC. It was born a GC game, forged in the earliest tech demos for GC. It was the Zelda game Nintendo promised us over 5 years ago, and they promised it to us on GC. It didn't take much advantage of the "pimped" nature of the hardware, as texture diversity and quality were not improved.
Lastly, there's this fact. When it's all said and done about Wii, Twilight Princess won't deserve a mention there either. Because there's going to be another Zelda game, built for Wii from the ground up around that controller. And it's going to make TP-Wii look like a relic controller-wise. It will
define Wii, as much as MP3 or Mario Galaxy. So too much of a Wii game to be a GC definitive, too much of a GC game to be a Wii definitive. So what, it gets lost between the cracks just because it happened to release at the wrong time?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (and the ones for TV and radio) also require companies to pay to be members (and receive services).
First, the Academy doesn't require that a movie's production company be a member in order to win an Academy award. That was the point I was making; that to even be considered for an award, you have to pay money.
Consider that if Tetris had been developed as an indie game and created a revolution akin to when it was released. AIAS wouldn't be able to give it an award because the developer isn't a member. Whereas the motion picture Academy can give awards to those who aren't members.
Second, the Academy actually does something besides host awards. Outside of the DICE Summit (which is not much), the AIAS does precious little besides give out awards to members.
Other similar organizations like the Screen Actors Guild/Writers Guild/Directors Guild/etc. also require membership dues.
Those are more like unions than the AIAS. Your membership dues actually go to fund something.