vrbtny said:
Shotguns obviously hold a special place in gamers hearts.
They're a very iconic weapon. First because of their presence in culture in general. From killing zombies and demons, to destroying hellbent robots from the future, if there's a fight, and guns involved, a shotgun will appear at some point. Second, they're extremely rewarding guns to use. Not only do they have a very brutal sound and "kick", they have the convenient (for you) tendency to liberate people's bodies from themselves... Sure you may be able to do the same with a machine gun, but there's something almost freudian about relentlessly destroying someone with a single squeeze of a trigger. One action, one cue, a lot of devastation. It's almost poetic.
It's just one of those weapons, along with the sniper rifle, that'll never disappear from games so long as games with guns are made.
Edit: Take for example, L4D. All the weapons are pretty fun to use and relatively balanced. But which one feels better? Not "is more effective", just "feels better", killing the zombies? The pump shotgun.