Those were the days...

Getting all your mates round and playing splitscreen goldeneye and having a great laugh, being immersed into the beautiful worlds of Banjo Kazooie and Super Mario, sitting in the dark at night being terrified by a few cubes that look vaguely like zombies... I could go on but it seems what made these games so special and such an important part of my (and I'm sure a lot of people's) earlier life was the charm that attached itself to a large number of the games mainly on the N64 and the PS1. 
                                          Going back even further, when the NES dominated people's front rooms (before I was born so I cannot share my personal experiance) it was the brilliant Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda and Mega Man that shone back then. The graphics and depth to the games lacked in these retro titles, but the charm of the characters and music (among other things) made these games more special.
Modern games have developed significantly since the hey days of the Nintendo 64, showcasing incredible graphics, mass commercialisation, top soundtracks and solid gameplay...mostly.
                                           Unfortunatly as with most things, too much money has been introduced to the gaming industry and this has subsequently damaged the industry in my opinion. With so many games churned out each year, there are fewer great games to look forward to. Games like Gears of War and Call of Duty for example; these are very good games, but that's it. There is nothing special about these games. Now let me mention games like Bioshock, Fallout 3 and Half-Life. These are games with "personality". Games that have somthing special and unique, as though they feel like the game is meant to be played by you and nobody else. Playing Call of Duty makes me feel like I'm playing as a character, wheras in Bioshock I feel as though I am playing as myself in a way, I bring up charm because that's what these games have pumping through their disc.
                                           Moments like looking across the horizen of post-apocalyptic Washington DC I feel something that I rarely feel in games, other moments like this are sailing the great sea in Wind Waker or driving around Liberty City in a stolen sports car with classic rock music pumping out of the radio are what makes my gaming experiance great and unfortunalty these don't happen as long as I would like but hopefully we can expect more like this in the future.