Hi,
what is the criteria for a game to categorize as a AAA title...:?:There are some different viewpoints on this topic out there. However, the most commonly cited criteria that I have found is simply the game budget:
http://www.gameproducer.net/2009/10/24/what-are-aaa-titles-updated-definition/
http://www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/124357
I have personally never understood the designation. Being a baseball fan, when I hear the term ‘AAA’ I think of a player that hasn’t made it to the big leagues (and maybe never will). Or, if I think of batteries, I think about how AA batteries are better than AAA batteries.
When you a marketing team who’s job it is solely to talk about how your game is so incredible.
When the big boys constantly place roadblocks infront of you!
When it’s not quite an AAAA game. 
I’m not sure there are actual guidelines for this, but I’d imagine it’s something with a major budget of tens of millions of dollars involved and reasonably big development teams.
I think the accepted view is: big development team size, high budget, and use of state-of-the art technology.
My personal view: everything with enough polish and production value should be regarded AAA. Focusing on budget and size isn’t really true to what AAA originally meant, when it’s been used outside the games industry. I really wish this labeling were more centered about quality than quantity. (now if you talk to marketing then they’ll probably tell you that with so many people on board and so much cash, what else than absolute top notch quality should be the outcome? 
)
Thank you all for your replies.
One more question," does the number of units sold thus the revenue generated also adds up to the criteria as well? ". As one of the factor after releasing the game (although developer claim it as AAA before releasing the game) . :?:when you can buy the game off the gamestop shelf.
Considering the timing of the next console launch that is using fermi era graphics chips to power them
( albeit AMD is the actual producer for all 3 consoles supposedly )
When about the same time at that release ( or less than a year after? ) we will have Maxwell era powered chips that will supposedly run at 20 times current fermi era chips.
Even though everyone seems so excited about another generation of consoles,
Consider that if consoles bind economics for another ten years that this next cycle will actually be even worse than what PC gamers complain about today!
In hindsight I am willing to bet that with such disparity at launch time the last cycle will seem like a best case scenario.
Looking at the first round of kepler gtx 680 benchmarks where Batman Arkaham City can still can not reach 60fps I suppose the best
we can hope for is optimizations that allow that amd hardware to run as well as the best PC games today? :(:
I was sort of hoping for real time radiosity, expensive shadows and insane skeleton joint count powering fun muscle systems in huge open worlds myself.
Seem like a silly issue of timing when the consoles and the Maxwell era chipset are both simply technologies being developed today and released about the same time?
But if out the gate we really have 20 times the power in PC systems than what those consoles offer,
then triple AAA big budgets also have console, social and mobile economic considerations chipping away at any enthusiast titles.
I could see a future where “Indy” normally associated with casual could become the new “AAA”. I could be wrong, but from what I understand Maxwell era chipsets from Nvidia and AMD will introduce mature 22nm production that offers that much power? Smaller teams and different publishing strategies like Double Fine’s kick Starter example might lead the way for very good times for super powered PC machines that AAA companies will not be able to compete against?
Indy developers as an industry would have to convince consumers to actually buy this superior hardware. Where if there are not a wave of very good indy powered games that leverage the technology consumers are not going to buy those expensive computers before the fact in this climate of tablets and phones.