Disclaimer: Many of the games on my list are not necessarily games I consider good. To qualify for this list the game simply needed to push the business or the craft of video games forward. While I may love games like Skyrim and Bioshock they're really just evolutions of Arena and System Shock and thus don't make my list. Games like Starcraft 2 make it not because of the Iterative nature but for it's contributions for e-sports expansion.
World of Warcraft- No one game touched so many people in inappropriate ways or have had other games chasing it's design philosophy of quick quests and fast rewards as WoW (CoD and Skyrim to mention a few.) I know the game has it's detractors and that technically it came out one year before the xbox 360 was launched but it seems to me that if you have to look at one game that everyone had it's eyes on this generation it would be WoW.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare- Combining the constant reward lessons learned from WoW with fast paced addictive game play of WW2 CODs Modern Warfare did for FPS what WOW did to MMO's and that is own the space. If you have any doubts there are people who actually think the Xbox 360 is called Call of Duty.
Minecraft- Of all the games mentioned on my list so far this one will probably have the longest reach. Minecraft not only gave people a new way to publish games but created an entirely new type of game for people to emulate. Way to go Notch.
Mass Effect- Story telling in most games used to and still in some cases are still told entirely though cut scenes or though voiceless protagonists. Mass changed that when their dynamic dialogue wheel allowed players to convey emotional or gut level responses and have the story unfold in a specific manner. While the merits of this system of the previous are debatable there is no doubt that bioware has used them to create some of the best crafted stories in this or any gaming generation.
Uncharted- Similarly to Mass Effect Naughty dog also sought to change gaming story telling and push it forward with their Uncharted series. By having actual actors act and rift off of one enough they created one of the most cinematic gaming experiences ever to be played out with a controller. There is no doubt in my mind that studios will be emulating this technique for years to come.
Starcraft 2- While e-sports was already a thing in Asia it hadn't quite hit with any real force in the west until the release of starcraft 2. For the past two years this one game has been responsible for the entire explosion of e-sports. Four years ago nobody would have though twice about e-sports when launching a competitive multiplayer game. Now it's mentioned all the time whether it's Valve giving away a million dollars for a DOTA2 tournament or smaller games parading themselves in front of MLG everybody wants a piece of that esports action.
Farmville- As much as I hate to say it no game has changed the way we PAY for video games as much as farmville has. Not only has it proved that people are really willing to spend real dollars on virtual stuff but also proved that soccer moms and grandpa's really do exist on facebook.
Wii Sports- Whether you believe it's a fad or here to stay Wii Sports made the first and arguably the best case for motion controls as the launch title for the nintendo wii. It set out to prove what many analysts have been saying all along "games have gotten to complicated." 90 million consoles later I think they might just be onto something.
Indie Games- The biggest lesson from this generation might be bigger isn't always better or as I like to think of it "my girlfriend is wrong." Whether it's playing xbla titles- downloading games on steam- or playing angry birds on your iphone the indie games movement is exploding. While I think the new world has a place for AAA blockbuster games I don't think we'll be seeing as many of them as we used to.
Note: Comma buttons is still broken dashes used to replace commas when things got too confusing.
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