I have adjusted the rules a bit (in the opening post if you want to read it).
Essentially, yearly released sports games (e.g. PES, FIFA) and games with updates to the same game (e.g. Street Fighter 2) now all counts as updates. People are free to vote as they have been but all votes for the different iterations will count towards the same series as a whole.
Numbered sequels that are not yearly releases are still their own separate games (e.g. Gran Turismo, Gran Turismo 2 etc.).
I just went back and updated all the lists and luckily, this so far hasn't made a difference to the finalists in each round.