Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"I'm looking for a pair of quality headphones that aren't seemingly made of glass. I'm an avid BMXer which causes me to frequently bash on any type of technology that joins me for my daily riding. I've been through the higher quality headsets in the Skullcandy line as these are supposed to be built for "abuse," which is laughable. I cant wear earbuds or canal buds, as my large ears seem to have a repelling property upon anything that sits in them. Wired or Bluetooth doesn't really matter, but I need something that can hold up to taking a few hits every now and again. I'm trying to keep 'em under $150. Thanks!"
The game was created with 16x9 in mind, and when it came time to decide how to display it on 4:3 screens, they decided to open up the field rather than crop it.
In other words, 16x9 owners don't lose anything, it's 4:3 owners that gain. You may argue that's just an issue of semantics, but the difference lies in the artist's intent. When you view the game in 16x9 you see what the creators of the game intended you to see, and thereby won't risk missing any important information.
This is basically the same issue as open matte when it comes to films. Some widescreen movies show less than their fullscreen counterparts, but when it was shot the director framed it with widescreen in mind, but kept the matted sections free of booms and whatnot, in order to be able simply open the frame instead of having to pan & scan for TV and fullframe DVD releases.