Correction: Cranky is as dumb as a doorknob. The game is primarily a 360 game. It was their target. Therefore, how the game looks on the 360 in 16:9 IS THE WAY THE GAME WAS DESIGNED. 16:9 acts the same on the PC, as well, so if there's any discrepancy between 16:9 and 4:3, 16:9 is the correct one and the one that you should be correcting the FOV to match.
1 - The verbal abuse will stop now. There is no reason for that type of language. Civil disagreement is the rule.
2 - While I agree that the game was *probably* designed with widescreen as the default, I have so far seen no proof of that. And even if it had widescreen as default, was it 16:9 or 16:10?
I would say that a game like Rock Band or Guitar Hero was designed for widescreen. Looking at how they lay out the three note tracks and the vocal bar across the top, I can understand why they would make it "Vert +" in 4:3. Cutting space off the sides would seriously compromise the game layout. But, if I throw up Guitar Hero III in Surround, and in goes major Vert-, then they are still wrong.
Far Cry 2 was released on PC and consoles, and I don't hear anyone saying their Vert- implementation as right. In fact, I've read a ton of forum posts (here and at Ubi) where people say this is the first game to make them sick. Default does not equal correct.
3 - Every other Bethesda game has been first developed on PC, and then ported to consoles. Show me the developers blog or interview where they say that the Xbox 360 was the default platform. Until you can prove developer intent, then you are just speculating. I have an email from Hothead Games where they say they developed to 16:10 because that was the size of the monitors on their desks. That game was released on Xbox360, PC, Mac and Linux.
I can also show you a forum post on the Introversion website, that states their lead designer is damn-near crazy over proper aspect ratios - and that is why Darwninia supports any aspect you give it. They are even joking about releasing their next game with a 2.35:1 option.
3 - It is conceivable that a game was programmed differently between PC and console. Do I think Bethesda intentionally did that? No, their track record with Morrowind and Oblivion would suggest not. But, it can happen. As evidence I give you the whole EA Sport catalog. Widescreen HD trumpeted as a feature of "next gen" consoles on one side, and stripped from the PC versions on the other.
4 - The reality is that similar game scenarios behave differently in the game, and are possibly behaving differently for different people.
5 - I don't care (and I doubt Cranky cares) about the "default." We simply care about proper behavior. If 16:9 is the default, then it should be Hor+ over 16:10, and Surround should be Hor+ over them all.