2000-2009 in video games [n/p]

thread title puns are on sum homo shit

gotd? thoughts? opinions? ugay.jpg? TOP 10N or w/e lists of our pwn? linx to neogaf thread where highly connected and mad respected industry bloggers give SPOLIERS vid linx for unreleased games that will make any list moot?

ten years two generations one new millennium (learned how 2 spell that from persona 4 btw)

snood

imo

whole reason i started this thread was to get u to post a list of videogames u like btw

(also hangover but thats only like 15% at most)

s1okci's ten games of the decade as i imagine them:

01 snood
02 call of duty 4
03 ny times crossword ds
04 sim vivant ON IPHONE
05 ...
06 ar tonelico 2: wings of radiant divinity
07 metriod prime
08 picross ds
09 [tower defense game]
10 rock band

I've played more Picross than anything but don't know if I think it's much good or not. Fuck I've played it a lot tho.

Scribblenauts is a top 10, for sure.

do me next

Scribblenauts coulda been a contender if it was any fun.

I thought this was about the year, not decade. Scribblenauts is fun, but it's nowhere near a top 10 in that case.

me too, me too, somebody guess my list

cozwn's top ten iirc:

01 sfiv
02 sfIIthdr
03 lol soccer
04 yakuza 2
05 taisho mononoke ibunroku.
06 n+
07 tatsu v capcom
08 racing game high definition
09 dqV ds
10 grand theft auto iv

replace number 06 w/sb

suggest braid?

lol @ #8

08 racing game high definition

lulz. er xpost

i kind of took most of this decade off videogaming, so this is an odd list

nethack 3.4
fallout 3
chu chu rocket
persona iv
team fortress 2
grid wars
we love katamari (1st one never got a uk release -> i might go for that otherwise)
doomRL

two that don't really count, to make ten:
planescape torment (came out last week of 1999 iirc. on the other hand i find it totally broken as a game, so er)
shiren the wanderer DS (but this is a snes game from like 1994 so)

okay kingfish list probably most likely

01 zack and miri make a lucasarts adventure game
02 pyschonauts
03 morrowind
04 fallout 3
05 iphone app that lets u text edit rightwing cartoons
06 raventomb: curse of the spectral unicorn witch
07 dark cloud 2
08 eternal darkness: sanity's request
09 castlevania: hand of held
10 puzzle quest

don't even like racing game high definition so the lulz r on u

chu chu rocket

100% agree

Never really played Morrowind, actually. Oblivion, yeah.

Also, what Lucasarts game came out after 1998's Grim Fandango?

s1okci's ten games of the decade as i imagine them:

01 snood
02 call of duty 4
03 ny times crossword ds
04 sim vivant ON IPHONE
05 ...
06 ar tonelico 2: wings of radiant divinity
07 metriod prime
08 picross ds
09 [tower defense game]
10 rock band

― nutrional socialist (Lamp), Saturday, October 3, 2009 11:33 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol that's at least half right

actual drunken list, in no order:

NWN2
Katamari
Rez
Jet Grind Radio
GTA:SA
FO3(maybe)
Civ 4
HL2
Portal
KOTOR/KOTOR2
BG2
SSX Tricky/SSX3

other fun: AOE2/3, Jedi Knight II (force-throwing stormtroopers offa gangplanks to their deaths far below will never, ever get old), Metroid Prime, NOLF1/2

Correct on the Pyschonauts/Eternal Darkness inclusions, tho. I never finished Dark Cloud 2 as the "Guess What! We're going to make you replay all those levels you've already gotten tired of grinding thru!" point had me quit.

put in like...

half-life 2
advance wars ds
some mario kart ish
wind waker

take out

nyt crossword
snood tbh
metroid

for mine xp

Mine, no order

GTA San Andreas
Morrowind
Football Manager series
We Heart Katamari
Endless Ocean
Rome: Total War
Civ 3
Date Ariane

That's all I got right now

that's IT!??!?!?!

something like

Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition
Metroid: Zero Mission
New York Times Crosswords DS
We <3 Katamari
Rock Band
Super Mario Galaxy
DROD Journey to Rooted Hold
Vagrant Story
Dragon Quest VIII
Return to Mysterious Island

1. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
2. Team Fortress 2
3. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
4. Mushihime-sama
5. Geometry Wars II
6. Wipeout HD
7. Ikaruga
8. Ninja Gaiden Sigma
9. Elite Beat Agents
10. Burnout 3: Takedown

Resident Evil 4
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Ridge Racer (PSP)
Grand Theft Auto IV
WipEout Pure
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
FIFA 09
Soul Calibur 2

These are just the ones that I've played and enjoyed enough to call my favourites, in no particular order, off the top of my head. I don't doubt that FIFA 10 is actually better than FIFA 09 or that WipEout HD is better than WipEout Pure.

^^ first list i actively hate >50% of games on it

01 smt: persona 3/FES
02 super robot taisen j
03 mass effect
04 dragon quest VIII: journey of the cursed king
05 metriod prime
06 half life 2
07 silent hill 2
08 suikoden III
09 blazblue
10 panzer tactics ds

i started to try to explain my choices but it just ended up being fuiud sd ten different ways

Date Ariane

You know that version 6.0 (Live Free Or Die, er, Hard) is out now?

nethack 3.4 looooooool fallout 3 this is a pretty good pick but i was never that satisfied w/ this game. maybe worth thinking abt. maybe it just felt like an rpg that wanted to be a shooter? chu chu rocket lol u gay/european/old just feels like a weird puzzler to rep for in terms of an entire decade esp because it was a pretty good decade for puzzle games persona iv fes is better, i guess? i mean <3 this & great choice but its basically p3 expansion pak team fortress 2 not played grid wars not played we love katamari sure
doomRL another hack? havent played enough to comment

Jet Grind Radio
Civ 4
N
Chu Chu Rocket
Madden 2008 (PS2 version)
Z-Rox
Soul Calibur 2
Varicella
Mario Sunshine
Blue Chairs

I'd forgotten it was a puzzle game! I just remember it as by far the best 4-ppl-round-a-TV game I've ever played.

NWN2 if i was picking one of these itd be this Rez i h8 rail shooters Jet Grind Radio this feels like a 90s game to me? its a great game tho GTA:SA this felt like such a step up from vc, and my pick for gta games too. also the place where the missions started to get same-y and kind of tedious tho Civ 4 THE RUINED THE TECH TREE FUK U THEY RUINED THE TECH TREE HL2 ^_^ Portal not my thing KOTOR/KOTOR2 i need to replay these BG2 i really disliked the combat and atmosphere in bg1 - havent played this but i d/l a copy after the discussion here on ilg a few months ago SSX Tricky/SSX3 haaa i almost put this on the list i made for u i def see the appeal

(I think maybe 4-or-5 of my list would make a "best/favourite games I played in the 00s" list! Lol nostalgia plus late nineties golden age)

Morrowind havent played Football Manager series havent played Endless Ocean so so pretty. this is a neat choice Rome: Total War owns but it has a weird difficulty curve. it also - and maybe im just old now - never manages to suck me in like Civ 3 last pc strat game i got obsessive w/ i think weve talked abt what a great addition resources were. Date Ariane lol really?

nethack 3.4 looooooool fallout 3 this is a pretty good pick but i was never that satisfied w/ this game. maybe worth thinking abt. maybe it just felt like an rpg that wanted to be a shooter? chu chu rocket lol u gay/european/old just feels like a weird puzzler to rep for in terms of an entire decade esp because it was a pretty good decade for puzzle games persona iv fes is better, i guess? i mean <3 this & great choice but its basically p3 expansion pak team fortress 2 not played grid wars not played we love katamari sure
doomRL another hack? havent played enough to comment

― лампа (Lamp)

^ i think if you're doing this sort of thing you should also give us, like, marks out of ten

does anyone have any big thoughts on THE DECADE IN GAMING then

Uh, I guess the story is consoles and uh multiplayer and Flash and World of Warcraft? Fuck all those things tbh.

If you do a 'most important games of the decade' list you get something like Bejeweled / HL2 / Sims / WoW / Wii Sports um.

(I think it's been a totally amazing decade fwiw! Lots of great scenes, gaming grew up in lots of ways etc!)

my list is highly biased in terms of what i actually played obv, i bought p3FES when i was !!! at persona 4 but i haven't played it because the endgame of persona 4 reminded me why i don't like rpgs

chu chu rocket bcz it is the one dreamcast game i could be bothered to rep for. also four player mode is awesome , also it made my (twice my age) brother go 'cunt. cunt. fuckin cunt!' when he lost which was really novel to me as a kid

-

it totally seems like a decade of, like, recapitulation to me. maybe because i wasn't paying attention. i think rhythm games going major is probably one of the BIG STORIES. but, you know. 'games continue to not just be for nerds anymore' etc ... nothing like the 90s in terms of game-changing (ergh) developments

i mean when i was thinking "right this decade what games came out this decade that were amazing" my first thought was "bushido blade? did bushido blade come out this decade?"

Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition i really cooled on this after replaying it nothing in particular either it just... felt stupid? idk Metroid: Zero Mission u cant look backwards imo New York Times Crosswords DS lol Rock Band i feel like this and the nyt thing exist in a different sphere than other games - theyre well made and engrossing but not proper games 2 me Super Mario Galaxy well, its a proper game ^_^ DROD Journey to Rooted Hold havent played this Vagrant Story damn this is 2000 - kinda feel like this is more "influential" than good but its been a long time since i played it Dragon Quest VIII n_n Return to Mysterious Island havent played

^ i think if you're doing this sort of thing you should also give us, like, marks out of ten

no need 2 get butthurt - these threads just kinda end up in aspie list making w/ none of the famous internet msg board back and forth - i just wanted to u no discuss things

story of the decade kind of feels like --> internet --> regional breakdown emergence of niche markets --> guitar hero --> wii/norms get in on the action --> games are a thing now, they make $$$ --> mobile devices and streaming

nothing like the 90s in terms of game-changing (ergh) developments

I'm actually not sure this is really true - I mean sure! Pong to Alex Kidd was an enormous distance! Alex Kidd to Dreamcast was an enormous distance! But the pace of change of a new medium is always gonna slow down - I think "everyone has broadband now" is really really huge, something like Fifa 10v10 mode is really exciting and new.

Lamp I would really like a mark out of ten! We could all do this to each others lists, it would be fun.

Agree w/gravel regarding this decade being great and breaking overall. I mean especially when I think about how online play was with Quakeworld and server browsers and IRC and how now you have friends lists where you can compare achievements and collections and join them mid-game with voice chat and everyone always being aware of everything you're doing -- just in that single aspect the leap has been pretty huge. Not to mention the huge leap forward the Dreamcast/PS2 generation felt like.

Halfway between jeff and gravel, you've pretty much got my list right there. Though I would need to take some more time to really figure out the order and exactly what titles it would be. There were a LOT of good games coming out '99/'00 so I'd have to double check what actually came out in 2000. Also I'd surely include Resident Evil 4 and perhaps Portal and some variation of Rock Band/Guitar Hero, despite never owned one myself.

3. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence meh 4. Mushihime-sama i wish i was better at this. curious why u placed this the highest - pace? theme? controls? 5. Geometry Wars II dude i no was ranked in the top 3 for this consistently on xbl he kinda soured he on this 6. Wipeout HD just not my thing. pretty 7. Ikaruga cannon pick? 8. Ninja Gaiden Sigma havent really played - liked the xbox version 9. Elite Beat Agents its super slight but a great game 10. Burnout 3: Takedown not paradise? best racing game series imo

if u count regular ninja gaiden this is the only list ive played all the games which is weird because we have v. different taste in games

(I think for any of us under, say 30, a bias towards 2000-2005 games is pretty much to be expected - just more time to play, less jaded etc?)

I mean I have a personal narrative of "games became more casual as the decade went on" but it's actually totally false! It's just that I became more casual, and didn't play WoW/Eve/FPSs

If you wanted to lose real, whole months into a game in 1999, your options were basically Nethack and maybe CM2 if British - that's a big change, I think.

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker gross. the worst zelda pretty much Ridge Racer (PSP) havent played
Grand Theft Auto IV found this kind of charmless and aggressive. whats that family guy bit where peter claims to h8 the godfather because "it insists on itself"? i think that basic WipEout Pure havent played Super Smash Bros. Melee srk nerd in me is like "play a real fighting game u fuk" but... its a dope game. great multi, intuitive, graphically clear Mario Kart: Super Circuit which one is this? i h8d the wii one FIFA 09 havent played Soul Calibur 2 yessss!!!!

N only played n+ out of the lol flash games i like this a lot "thirst for gold" lol Madden 2008 (PS2 version) this was the decade i gave up on madden and all non-tennis sports games Z-Rox havent played Varicella havent played Mario Sunshine best mario of the decade imo. maybe the ds one. Blue Chairs havent even heard of it

in terms of X/10 - u win for most games i havent played or havent played in 5+ years. its hard to say - the only game on yours that would cum close to my top ten is sc2. i think sunshine and n are fun but they are not outstanding. jet radio has the most in things i really value in a game but its so beholden to the 90s. *shrug* 6/10

(You can play Z-Rox here btw: http://www.kongregate.com/games/EvilDog/z-rox )

smt: persona 3/FES can't really complain about that super robot taisen j not a real title mass effect "in 'The Encroaching Threat' the smug, unoriginal blandness aboard the Enterprise finally reaches such an unnatural pitch that it triggers an event horizon, heightening exponentially the vividness of everything else in the universe" dragon quest VIII: journey of the cursed king see under mass effect metroid prime better in 2d ~ half life 2 the radiohead of videogames silent hill 2 like imagine if they made a game where the controls were really shit to like emphasise your character's mental state wouldn't that be deep man wouldn't that be deep suikoden III haven't played blazblue 'interesting' character design i guess panzer tactics ds also not real

like er gameplay 69% graphics 81% sound 54% difficulty 96% overall 80%

i'm curious about the expansion of 'casual' gaming / flash gaming / the wii etc. -- like, "these are basically not games to me" makes sense as an attitude, but where do people see that as going? like are 'casual' and 'real' gamers going to be ever-more separate realms, or is there going to be some kind of important and meaningful cross-pollination

i mean how far is it from 'i only play real games' to 'yeah i'm joining the nethack devteam'

also: do hardcore games or casual games make the most money?

"Grand Theft Auto: Vice City"
"Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas"
"Arx Fatalis"
Unreal Tournament 2004"
"Fable"

Is all I can manage. I felt a general gradual disconnect from games as the decade went by, there's not much I'm really into ATM.

damn bro u really that mad i dissed chu chu rocket???? calling me out on sum radiohead ish thats harsh

also: do hardcore games or casual games make the most money?

i think that games w/multiplayer make the most money - like best selling games include rock band/wii sports but they also include call of duty and halo. i think - whether on line or irl - the big $$$ money games are ones that can create a "community". i think this is a big part of y fighters are moving out of the niche games ghetto

in terms of most profitable/highest roi - stuff like geo wars and n+ which are so cheap to develop and have a huge appeal and simplicity are maybe? i think thats part of my mobile gaming/cell pwn dev is going to be a "big deal" in 2010+

^^ first list i actively hate >50% of games on it

― thomp, Sunday, 4 October 2009 19:41 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

which ones?

Mario Kart: Super Circuit which one is this? i h8d the wii one

― лампа (Lamp), Sunday, 4 October 2009 20:53 (34 minutes ago)

it's the GameBoy Advance one. don't like the Gamecube or Wii ones because they're so chunky and icey though I actually enjoyed using the Wii-wheel for a while, especially with friends.

Puzzle Quest
Picross DS
Rock Band
Pure
Blitz: The League
Civ:Rev
SSX 3
Bully
Oblivion
Warcraft 3

lucas: really it's just smash bros and soul calibur i actively dislike in any major way tbh. most of the others i either i) played and found obscurely dissatisfying ii) wouldn't ever bother playing

lamp i am not mad at u boo, just kind of bemused by the 'this is the thread where lamp rates your taste in gaming' aspect of this thread

After seeing SSX 3 pop up on so many lists, I've just ordered it (only $8.24 including shipping!)

NOLF (2000)
Star Trek Elite Force (2000)
ChuChu Rocket (2000)
NOLF2 (2002)
Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (2003)
NFS: Underground (2003)

I felt a general gradual disconnect from games as the decade went by, there's not much I'm really into ATM.

^^^ pretty much this. I don't own a current gen console and my PC puffs and wheezes with normal office apps, never mind games. But a lot of the latest stuff is catching my eye, epecially Arkham Asylum and Need For Speed:SHIFT (yes I am/have been a NFS stan), so I might pick up a console soon.

i'm curious about the expansion of 'casual' gaming / flash gaming / the wii etc. -- like, "these are basically not games to me" makes sense as an attitude, but where do people see that as going?

I generally have no use for the wii shite and some kneejerk hostility for it but its definitely good for gaming in that it diminishes the risk of game titles becoming more like blockbuster movies, with huge expensive releases being favored at the expense of creativity/variety. Things like xbox arcade play against that as well which is good.

pretty much all the gta games, and a scattering of driving games. not much else.

when was silent hill?

I felt a general gradual disconnect from games as the decade went by, there's not much I'm really into ATM.

^^^ pretty much this. I don't own a current gen console and my PC puffs and wheezes with normal office apps, never mind games.

For me it has been the exact opposite. In the 90s I only had the vaguest of interest in video games, but as the 00s dragged on, especially around the mid-2000s, they seemed to grow more sophisticated, varied, technically accomplished and artistically ambitious, and the medium captured my interest in a way it never had before. Also to the point that I wanted to go back and learn and explore the video game history that I'd missed out on the first time around.

Alphabetically!

God of War 2
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Left 4 Dead
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Orange Box
Psychonauts
Resident Evil 4
Shadow of the Colossus
The Sims
We Love Katamari

"video games" in 2009 doesnt really mean one thing like it did in the 90s - "varied" is key there imo

lamp i am not mad at u boo, just kind of bemused by the 'this is the thread where lamp rates your taste in gaming' aspect of this thread

no1 on this site has good taste in games (rip tombot)

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_127/11731172233N7sh2.jpg

i like your hat

so why are you wearing that straw one

cosign on truly missing u tombot sentiment

lol @ s1ocki implying - even for the sake of a zing - that he wears hats irl

j/k <3 + id wear any # of hats if i got to vacation in italy

It's been kind of a long decade, and so I've forgotten a lot of stuff that I've played, and played deeply and enjoyed, but here is a quick list. Some are sort of representative picks - like I'll play any Cactus or Increpare or Messhof game, but I wasn't sure about a representative pick.

Jumpman (recent one)
Spelunky
Nethack 3.4
Bangai-O
Punishment
Minubeat
Blue Chairs
Squid Yes! Octopus Not So Octopus
Gravity Bone
Untitled (by JODI)

that sentence about what is "representative" didn't make sense

squid yes! not so octopus, actually

would kind of be more curious what ppls top 10s of the 90s are

The thing about this decade is that it's when gaming finally broke far more barriers than it had in the previous 25 years of existence. All the major news stories and/or narratives written about this time will probably concentrate on the evolutionary and expansionary aspect of gaming culture into pretty much all Western cultural realms(American, certainly, and I'm willing to bet the majority of any anglophonic one).

I mean, you had in times previous stuff like Myst and the Playstation/FFVII phenomena which helped new technology spread, but once we hit the 00s and you get three new things: GTA3, Halo, and the Sims. You get MASSIVE inroads to new audiences thru these, and with the Sims, you finally hit that threshold with a massive AAA franchise title played by chicks than just mostly dudes.

I mean, you had like 7-10 titles which blew everything apart:

Sims
GTA3
Halo
Bejeweled
WoW
Guitar Hero
Wii Sports

And now we live in an era where tv sports broadcasts deliberately look like their console equivalents, where bands deliberately put out new tracks as DLC and make shitloads more than the physical products or just itunes sales.

Where's tombot at, he needs to comment on this.

lamp, what are my fave games?

would kind of be more curious what ppls top 10s of the 90s are

This is problematic for me because I didn't really play video games at all from 94-00.

i didn't play videogames from 2002-2008 & i still managed a list

Where's tombot at, he needs to comment on this.

isn't he busy saving america or something

my 10

gta4
psychonauts
worms 2 (xbla 2009)
pes08
super monkey ball
braid
burnout 4 takedown
crackdown
guitar hero 2
zuma

PES 4
GTA SA
Ico
WoW
HL2
JSR
SC4
CIV 4
SMG
SSX 3

don't have a proper next-gen console or a fast PC. so well aware there will be loads of good new stuff I've missed out on.

Bamc that is truly truly the most indie list ever A+

Blue Chairs <3 <3 but do you really rate Spelunky over, say Braid or something? Spelunky is an amazing achievement but it is not actually any fun.

It's been nethack's decade, in a funny way - there is a larger, more hardcore, group of 'hardcore gamers' or would-bes now than there ever has been, and it has consolidated its position at the awful, unplayable apex of that pantheon.

I haven't played Braid, but I saw the Soulja Boy video and liked that.

I've played so many unforgiving games, and am so used to Nethack, that, yes, I could enjoy Spelunky (and do). I made the list kind of quickly, and so I might sub out certain games if I really, really thought about what I loved in the years 2000-2009. The real, for certain list is just:

Jumpman (recent one)
Spelunky
Nethack 3.4
Bangai-O
Gravity Bone

Plus the Cactus Arcade, but that can't really count. My hope for the next decade in games is that the direction taken by Increpare, Cactus, Cavanaugh, et al. continues to open up what the medium can be, because otherwise I'll be bored and will hardly play them at all.

And there are certain games I talked about most that I can't necessarily say are my favorites. Judith is one of these, for example, and the JODI remixes I show to anyone who will pay attention, but typically no one cares.

And I would like the idea of play to be accepted more. Over at tigsource they were complaining about Minecraft because it doesn't have objectives - basically questioning its validity. I can't really comment because my computer can't run fast enough for it, but saying something doesn't have legitimacy as a game just because it doesn't have a goal, or because it trends toward the play end of the play - game spectrum, is silly to me.

I marveled at Blue Chairs when it came out, and can't even remember what got first place that year. Did you play Everybody Dies?

marveled is the wrong word

Yeah, with Spelunky I really really enjoyed it until I got until the first world for the first time, then died pretty instantly on the second and thought "I am not physically capable of finishing this"; I've come to realize that in getting my masochism kick I prefer really intense short challenges with save points (the N model) over the Roguelike model that puts 'sustained concentration' as a key skill.

I think you would like Braid (judging by your list) - I was snobbish about it too at first, but actually it's a really really satisfying set of puzzles*, if I could do my list again I'd put it in for sure.

*: Apart from Fickle Companion, fuck that level imo.

^ until I got past the first world.

Blue Chairs won the xyzzy that year! Idk what won the comp but I sort of don't care about the comp. I haven't played Everybody Dies! Would I like it? I am not really a fan of horror as a genre.

I wanna get home and check some of these games out this evening. I'm a bit "hmmmm" about IF in the last 10 years tho - some great writing, I'm sure, but the point of "pure" IF seems to be that it hasn't advanced any further since the golden age of Infocom from a purely gaming point of view.

I think the best 'game' IF of the decade is probably Varicella; BM and I are being kind of contrarian w/ our Blue Chairs stanning - it has two astonishing moments that really extented my ideas of what games could do, but it is also a game with exactly one, not-very-satisfying puzzle and a weird long coda that doesn't really go anywhere.

What is the best game of the decade that was technically possible in 1999?

wii sports, maybe?

Most of the games I've played and loved in the last 10 years have been extensions of established games rather than new departures. Really I just prefer strategy and game paths to get deeper/wider, cos I like those kinds of games and I'm happy playing them. Even "Date Ariane", which was mostly a lol answer, seems to me to be onto something as far as complexity of outcomes/pathways is concerned. But I don't wanna unpack that game here cos y'know it's mostly lol.

I wanna get home and check some of these games out this evening. I'm a bit "hmmmm" about IF in the last 10 years tho - some great writing, I'm sure, but the point of "pure" IF seems to be that it hasn't advanced any further since the golden age of Infocom from a purely gaming point of view.

― The dead-eyed harpy from the hilarious "Tory Party Conference" (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 October 2009 14:07 (46 minutes ago)

Read Emily Short. She's had her blog for quite a while, but then she also writes for gamesetwatch once a week. Some of the better IF writers have de-emphasized the puzzle elements in favor of experiments or playing with narrative, agency and character.

See

9:15
Galatea

Wait, instead of making a list, just look at the categorized recommendations on Emily Short's site.

And then, some have worked to create new kinds of puzzles not previously possible. There are some one turn games that have very complex verb, subject and object interactions in the one answer solution. And then there's the subgenre of interpreter abuse, the point of which is to stretch the bounds of what an interpreter can do. Some of this abuse is fairly well integrated into actual IF.

Everybody Dies has some fantasy elements, but it doesn't read like fantasy. It reads a bit like Blue Chairs and has these illustrations by some famous guy. It's satisfying for the short time it lasts.

The above stuff about agency has all to do with why I like Gravity Bone so much. Everyone should play that! I'm so glad it wasn't ruined for me.

I just don't have the money for Braid, and my new old computer might not run it (it chugs on certain parts of Spelunky).

I like those shorter bite masochistic games, too. Flail was really great, but I didn't come anywhere close to finishing it. Though I rarely finish full-length games, anyway.

It took me a while to find the right glulx interpreter for Everybody Dies, by the way.

Jumpman (recent one)
Spelunky
Nethack 3.4
Bangai-O
Gravity Bone

Plus the Cactus Arcade, but that can't really count. My hope for the next decade in games is that the direction taken by Increpare, Cactus, Cavanaugh, et al. continues to open up what the medium can be, because otherwise I'll be bored and will hardly play them at all.

my hope for the next decade in games is that u get bored and stop playing them at all. h8 this alt.nerd jack off seshery just play spider solitaire u lonely fuks

I'm working on my list. So far Fallout 3 is way up there.

Varicella is great, but I think my favorite IF game of the decade was Slouching Towards Bedlam. Just crazy amazing.

lamp, what are my fave games?

01 fallout 3
02 shadow of the colossus
03 otaku blogger sim 2: recipe 4 romance ds
04 sum gay shit u play w/ ur gf
05 bakugan: battle brawlers
06 rouge galaxy
07 castle crashers
08 wii fit
09 lol indie games
10 osu! tatakae! ouendan!

you forgot katamari (unless that is gay shit i play w/gf)
but you called the top two.
I should think about this myself.

Lamp, you are such an inconsistent and unconvincing troll. <3

1. God Hand
2. Peggle
3. EBA
4. Fight Night Round 3
5. Jet Grind Radio
6. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (might well be swapped out for Bowser's Inside Story in a few weeks)
7. CoD4
8. Slitherlink
9. Cave Story
10. Yakuza 2

I need to beat Mother 3 so I can figure out where it goes on this list.

Pretty sure if we aggregated these lists JGR would be #1

i tried to make a list and surprised myself by not being able to put fallout 3 on it. i mean i loved it and put a bunch of hours in, but the more i played the more glaring the flaws became and i got really burnt out.

Pretty sure if we aggregated these lists JGR would be #1

yah its interesting what hasnt been mentioned as well. but none of the shooter headz have weighed in - there are a sum ilg regs id really like to no what they think havent posted

Lamp plz post Top 10 for Tombot!

it's taken me ages to realise by jet grind radio you mean jet set radio. kind of amazed it was 2000 tbh

also mb someone should aggregate them

JGR easily in my top 5, maybe top 3 even

also mb someone should aggregate them

lol i have been - wasnt going to say and wont post anything until more ppl have posted lists tho

alright, wait for me.

i just learned you can make a heart with Alt+3(on the numpad) ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!ōഅ舵

yeah I might have posted Jet Grind Radio if I remembered it as a 2000s game; maybe Crazy Taxi also?

Seaman!

2000 was a crazy year for releases

18 Wheeler was 2000 too (in the arcade); 2001 on Dreamcast.

i have been trying to do this but it is (so far) impossible

okay after some thought here's my ten year must-play canon; games that might as well count as a single (at least in my mind) are grouped together:

1. God of War I / II
2. FF IX / X / XII
3. Fallout 3 / Morrowind
4. Psychonauts
5. Katamari I / II
6. Shadow of the Colossus
7. Peggle/Bejeweled/Bookworm/Plants vs. Zombies
8. KOTOR
9. Bioshock
10. Diablo II

Things that really should be on here at #11: Portal, HL2, Animal Crossing, Deus Ex, GTA Vice, New Super Mario, Mother 3, Puzzlequest, Picross 3-D, SSX, Castlevania whatever DS, Zelda GC / Wii, Mario Galaxy, Guitar Hero, SFII HD, Metroid GC, Wii Sports, Seaman, NBA Street 1/2 and at least a dozen other things I'm not thinking of right now.

If I buy and play Crackdown, will I enjoy it?

er, 3. Fallout 3/ Morrowind / Oblivion rather.

lol forx "my top ten is like twenty games" and then u list a bunch after!!!! a chance to choose is a chance to make pure

forks, you are my bro from another mo.

twisted metal: black
tony hawk pro skater 3
katamari damacy
GTA: SA
burnout revenge
oddworld: strangers wrath
psychonauts
condemned
bioshock
super mario galaxy
dead space
fallout 3

you get 12, deal with it. left out 2009 because stuffs gotta percolate for a while longer before i can commit

oh and thats (mostly) chronological, not in order of preference

i agree that 2009 should be left out for now. mine is absolutely not in order of preference; I don't think I'm capable of doing that.

If you wanna be hardcore, you can boil those multiples down to God of War II, FF XII, Fallout 3, We <3 Katmari and Peggle.

Poly we should totally have a video game tea party and dye our hair
together. I'll bring the LAN cables.

Stunned that there's not more love for Diablo II. I know it came at the start of the decade and all that, but come the fuck on!

Threads like these are when I really wish I had more than one system, or enjoyed playing video games on my computer.

compiling this list is driving me crazy, frankly

like forks i've got a list of twice as many "honorable mentions" titles as well as grouped together similar franchises/experiences

i'm frankly surprised by how many video games I've played in the past ten years. Like, at least 250 and likely more. My life is a waste.

ah motherfucker i forgot portal on my list

diablo II was just outside of the cusp, in a more rational mood i could prob sub it for condemned, but repping for weird shit like strangers wrath is just more fun

Oh, I forgot about Andrew Plotkin's "Shade" (2000). That's my honorable mention.

also mb someone should aggregate them

lol i have been - wasnt going to say and wont post anything until more ppl have posted lists tho

― k::sigh::way1 (Lamp), Wednesday, October 7, 2009 6:20 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no really? you have?

Fallout 3
Deus Ex
The Sims
WoW
Civilization III
Morrowind
Rock Band 2
Chrono Cross
Slouching Towards Bedlam
Bioshock
Portal

Btw; looking over the lists, 2000 + 2008 were the two best years for gaming this decade.

Even at 250 though, over ten years that's like 2-3 games a month, which ain't that much. But of course this is merely pathetic self-justification on my part - I'm sure I'm well over that number and and why didn't i get into firearms instead

i think I'll start making a list of every game i remember playing as some sort of horrible time wasting, beating my chest exercise

actually no, i think i'll just take up cutting instead

honestly, Portal and KOTOR are so neck-and-neck I hate to even call it, but KOTOR lasted longer.

you indie game guys should make a list/link collection of these unseen greatest hits so us obsessive consumers can try that lightly distributed fruit

CHRONO CROSS?

my list:

resident evil 4
shadow of the colossus
we <3 katamari
metroid fusion/metroid zero hour/castlevania aria of sorrow
HL2
portal

i played & enjoyed more games than this, but they were either reissues, games i didn't spent much time on (because i didn't own them or got rid of the system, like rock band or burnout 3 respectively), or fun but flawed (prince of persia: sands of time, fallout 3).

sands of time would probably have made my list, had i played it when it first came out and not, like, march

Oh man! I totally forgot Sands of Time; what a delightful game.

Shadow of the Colossus is kinda tempting me to get a PS2 next year...I've never played anything on a Sony system, PS1/2/3...lol but I guess there's a wealth of good stuff there, and I'm behind the times in everything else so why not now...

shouldn't ps2s be like twenty bucks by now?

believe it or not, they are $100. i'm w/Euler, though

Abanana can you tell us more abt Return to Mysterious Island? That seems like yr challops pick.

I downloaded Gravity Bone bcz of this thread but got bored because I never found the camera; I am useless.

Thomp the US 'G' version adds so much to the game! Two cool characters, the best tricks stage (100+ insane grind and trick whole-level combo runs), and one of those "just everything set to wonderful and deliberately easy" levels in the Times Square one. It rly helps set up MEMMMBERS OF THE GOLDEN RHINO as the best level ever. If JSR is in yr top 10 you should definitely give it a try.

no really? you have?

fuk u dont judge me i was shamefaced enuff by this fukken thread - figured y not. got an EXCEL SPREADSHEET trackin ppl's lists

posts very much in character ^

Thomp the US 'G' version adds so much to the game! Two cool characters, the best tricks stage (100+ insane grind and trick whole-level combo runs), and one of those "just everything set to wonderful and deliberately easy" levels in the Times Square one. It rly helps set up MEMMMBERS OF THE GOLDEN RHINO as the best level ever. If JSR is in yr top 10 you should definitely give it a try.

― Gravel Puzzleworth, Wednesday, October 7, 2009 8:35 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark

thought this was a defence of chrono cross for a second and got really confused

oh screw it. no particular order.

Jet Grind Radio
Resident Evil 4
Elite Beat Agents
Team Fortress 2
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Killer7
Mario Kart DS
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
Metroid Prime
Astro Boy: Omega Factor

honorary mentions:
Planescape: Torment (dec. 99 release)
Deus Ex (in that bad 3D-era, unfortunately doesn't hold up that well)
Audiosurf (too soon to call)
MGS2 (haven't played 3 or later)
Castlevania GBA/DS series
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series
Mario RPG series (GBA, GC, DS)
Prince of Persia Sands of Time trilogy
Half-Life 2 / Portal
Animal Crossing
Eternal Darkness
Psychonauts
Viewtiful Joe
F-Zero GX
All Zeldas
FFTA
KOTOR
Rock Band
the Dreamcast

+another hm- the world ends with you

without really thinking, no order:

God of War
Oblivion (personal preference over Fallout3)
Metal Gear Solid 2
GTA: San Andreas
KOTOR
Shenmue (gotd right there)
Halo
Half-Life 2 w Episodes & Portal
Football Manager 2008
Pro Evolution Soccer 5

idk about Chrono Cross. Just included it because I was going through the wiki year of lists and jotting down the games that I devoted significant amount of time to when they came out.

Slocki's real top 10:

Call of Duty 4
Nintendogs Chihuahua and Friends
The Sims 2
Dance Dance Revolution
Cho Aniki (series)
Katamari Damacy
Lips
Mary Kate and Ashley: Crush Course
Bust-A-Groove
Any game featuring Tingle

i thought about including wii play on my list to see if i could elicit some good quality NERD RAGE

i know u r all lol gay but bust a groove is AWESOME and i don't think it was after 1999

there's a dj quik track on there!

Regarding Return to Mysterious Island, here is Andrew Plotkin's review of it which got me to purchase it: http://www.eblong.com/zarf/gamerev/mysteriousisland.html

Anybody care to defend their love for SSX3? I picked it up after seeing it mentioned so much in this thread, but so far I'm not feeling it at all. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's just not grabbing me. It feels too random. Is there more too it than sliding down a hill and hitting random directions to perform "tricks?" Is it the multi player where it shined, maybe? What am I missing? I think maybe skate is a similar game, but I like the controls there more, as they sucked you into feeling like you were in control, where here everything just feels kind of disconnected? I don't know - I haven't played a ton yet, obviously...

Have you tried SSX Tricky?

The only other SSX I've tried is the Wii one. Thought my problem with that was the frustrating Wii controls, but maybe it was more than that...

SSX is basically the Tony Hawk formula done really well but with snowboard racing (instead of say, street ball). Very enjoyable if you like that sort of thing (which I do). Tricky was pretty damn memorable at the time -- i don't know much about the evolution of the series or what was added to SSX3 and later though. (On that note I don't see Wii controls working very well with it at all...)

I love SSX 3 because riding really fast down a mountain full of obstacles but also things to jump is really fun! You don't have to worry about accelerating yourself as the mountain takes care of that (though boost is handy for nuttier tricks). I love the sensation of moving super fast like this, basically. I loved Hydro Thunder for the same reason. I'm not sure there's much more to it for me.

I didn't like the SSX games either. Not my thing I guess.

I really don't know about this. I mean, I guess this thread's a bit of a hodgepodge anyway, but there are so many games people have mentioned that have made me think "oh yeah, that was fun, but one of the games of the decade? meh". And then that makes me think there's this other list of games which I've truly loved, but can't remember at the moment. It probably doesn't exist. But how can that be true, when I play games ALL THE TIME? If they're so rubbish, why don't I stop?

I dunno, I guess the ones I would include are:

KOTOR
Singstar
Fallout 3

Pff, how depressing.

antexit's favourite games:

10. snood: tactics
9. metal gear iphone
8. http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/all/boxshots2/943984_97680.jpg
7. snake
6. spore
5. dead rising
4. army of 2
3. afrika (anticipated)
2. harry potter and the sorcerer's stone DS
1. http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/0/951590_109154_front.jpg

Diablo 2
Oblivion
Orange Box
Bio Shock
Fallout 3
God of War (haven't played the sequels)
Zelda shit
Resistance 1 or 2 (granted I've only played it at my friends place)
Capcom Vs. SNK 2
Ys The Oath in Felghana (reminds me I need to get Ys Origin and the PSP one) hack & slash / dodging is actually fun

Honorable Mentions:
GTA shit
Wii Sports (bowling for bar bucks)
Twisted Metal Black
Boxhead flash zombie games
KongKong Online (it was like a jump racing mmo with cutesy graphics for the pc that really should have took off) - if they would put out a version on the wii there would be instant success. It is made by Mega Enterprise - South Korean company best known for Metal Slug series. I need to play Tales Runner because I just watch some youtubes and it looks similar.

I also really liked Re-Volt (apparently this game has some HD and heavy modding nowadays)
kudos for folk mentioning OddWorld and PhoenixWright

based on me having a busted ass pc at the beginning of the decade and being way behind on consoles at the end, here's my top 9

Baldur's Gate 2
Half Life
Medieval: Total War
Katamari Damacy
GTA: San Andreas
Shadow of the Colossus
God of War 2
Orange Box
Fallout 3

10th slot could go to any of the others of those series

wait wait wait what was that webflash game where you build simple machines to get a ball into an endzone over cartoony terrain?? that should be #10 tbf

lololololol i completely forgot about Army of Two, possibly the gayest game in history

i need to give a shout out to Close Combat: Invasion Normandy from '00. totally awesome game.

Just want to say in relation to earlier posts on SSX, I didn't play SSX3 but I much preferred 1080º Avalanche to SSX Tricky - though they're very different games so perhaps a bit of an irrelevant comparison. Maybe it's the way 1080º Avalanche almost seems to share more with WipEout than with Tony Hawk: it's more about the Zen of high speed twists and turns than silly amounts of tricks, spins and what have you.

i actually have to add Demon's Souls!

what's out in the first few months of 2010?

bioshock 2?

Katamari Damacy
Half-Life 2/Team Fortress 2
Resident Evil 4
Halo 2
Call of Duty
Sly Cooper
Guitar Hero 2
Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
THPS 3
SSBM

i think there's a ton coming out in March alone

i also realize contributing to these best of year/decade threads is futile when i'm just getting to Shadow of the Colossus at the end of 2009

what's out in the first few months of 2010?

alan wake, red dead redemption

Games of early 2010

Mass Effect 2
Bioshock 2
Splinter Cell: Conviction
GT5
GOW3
FFXIII
Monster Hunter 3
Heavy Rain
Yakuza 3
Bayonetta
Lost Planet 2
No More Heroes 2
Dantes Inferno
Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom

all Jan - March, lots of these are going to undersell due to the congestion.

I am only interested in 1 (bs2) of those (plus red dead redemption) :/

are the Yakuza games more action RPG than sandbox gamey?

I'll be buying Bioshock 2, GOW3, FFXIII, Monster Hunter 3, Heavy Rain and Yakuza 3 if not as first-day purchases, pretty soon thereafter

wait you'll buy FFXIII but u won't see avatar? they're basically the same thing!

corny games are better than corny movies duh

EXACTLY
BUT THE GAME WILL ENTERTAIN FOR LONGER

xp

don't agree w/that, corny movies don't last 120hrs for one

ur playing it wrong

heavy rain does look nice tho; wonder if the story'll be m

...uch cop

uch cop sounds like a sequel to god hand

I wanna play Mass Effect 2 and the new FF. And Red Dead Redemption which I'm already positive will be my game of the year next year. Looks so freakin cool.

guess I'll have to finally get a fkn PS3 soon

you guys can make fun of for this but one game for which i have fond feelings is "bully." and it's one of those weird things were on an almost daily basis, some connection in my brain triggers a memory of playing "bully." like inside my head there's a synapse bridge between something i do frequently and memories of playing "bully." is there something wrong with me?

you and mr. insult swordfighting tempting me to pick up an old copy next year

i'm not making any claims that it's a "best game of the decade" or anything, it's just a game i had a lot of fun playing. i think it's because i'm not good enough at video games to really dominate any of the GTA games, but bully was just easy enough that i could actually beat it.

Bully is great and it's a serious contender for my game of the decade. I kinda know what you mean about having synapses burned with this game, b/c it's the only open world game I ever really got into i.e. played in 8 hour insomniatic bursts, and so now when I see cars going slowly down the road I have an automatic response to try to latch onto them with my (nonexistent) skateboard, or to egg them.

co-sign on Bully. It's one of the tiny class of games that genuinely broke out of a mould (more so than even GTA). It's a pretty perfect video game in that you can't imagine it being anything other than a video game-- there's no other form of media that it aspires to. EVen saying it's like GTA+Breakfast Club+Tom Brown's Schooldays doesn't get anywhere near it. It's pretty perfect actually! Hooray for Bully!

I actually got Bully last week (primarily cause of blogger dude stumping so hard for it) and it's really an excellent game. The aesthetics are so distinctive, and it's built in a really addictive fashion. There's like no boring / down times. (Tho I wish the loading wasn't so slow -- it can be 10-15 seconds between scenes even on a 360 with the scholarship edition.)

deus ex is seriously only on TWO lists? fuck every one of you, you dont deserve gaming

Yay. I deserve gaming.

i've been thinkin about this, and i'm coming up with a lot of games that i feel like i admire but would never even think of playing again - metroid prime, majora's mask, diablo 2, etc. so i'm just gonna list shit i'd be happy to play again

deus ex (#1 for the decade and its not even close)
mgs3
san andreas
wow
psychonauts

thats it thats all i got, i vetoed everything else as un-replayable

most games i loved i would never play again tbh

canks you would willingly replay a metal gear solid game?

mgs3's gameplay is really imaginative - i think it made me realize that my primary beef with the series had to do with the stupidness of the top down perspective, once i got the version with the third person view i was good to go

This really surprised me. I’ve always thought the opposite: that alternate routes are always valuable, even if you don’t take them, because you appreciate having options. Nope! Sometimes alternate routes are just noise. Sometimes having a lot of options just makes it feel like there isn’t really an obstacle at all, so getting past it feels more like a commute than a challenge.

So why do I enjoy taking alternate routes in Deus Ex? Why don’t I always go for the first or easiest one?

Honestly: because it sucks. In Deus Ex the shooting is intentionally bad, and even in Human Revolution, the cover shooting is nothing like as cool as the stealth. Deus Ex doesn’t offer you choice by presenting you with door A and door B. It presents you with a really difficult and awkward door A, then says “Oh no! I can’t believe you found a vent!"

i question that statement; shooting people in the face or slicing them up with a beam sword was still pretty fun - it could certainly coexist with the focus on world/level design without being bad or dull. And putting this kind of game next to a cover shooter thrill ride is a strange comparison? but i haven't played HR yet.

my impulse back in the day was always to play stealthily because i thought stealth was cool and because the game does a good job of guilt-tripping you if you just blow everyone away. but i recently replayed it as a guy who doesn't give a shit, poured upgrades into my assault rifle and my ballistic shield aug, and just waded through motherfuckers, and the game was in most places a lot easier (or at least faster) than the stealth route. not necessarily as fun. although the "scuttle the superfreighter" level, which had always been to me exactly when the game started to get dull, turned out to be a really tight and well-flowing 90s-style realistic-shooter level; it felt like something out of jedi knight. highly recommended.

(jedi knight is not "realistic" of course but what i mean is the environments make more sense than quake.)

also, i usually kill maggie chow with a beam sword because she's using a beam sword herself and i dig the idea of having a lightsaber fight with her at the base of the exploding universal constructor, but in that playthrough i just shot her as soon as i saw her and that had its pleasures too.

anyway this game is a masterpiece and at the very top of my canon for this decade, along with the first prince of persia reboot and maybe morrowind. and civ4, but, you know, that's My Civ; others' Civs may be different. stuff upthread making me want to play bully.

I think Morrowind takes the cake as to one of the best games I've ever played. Ok, maybe not "games" - like, interactive fun stuff - but the most immersive, life-sucking, incredibly realized, unbelievably imaginative alternate world I could possibly ever live in.

Deus Ex comes to my second as well. Human Revolution blows, I can't stand it.

i will stand by my list

I can't believe I put God of War 2 on there smh

i had a long very interesting talk w/ somebody where i was bemoaning the lack of "responsible spatial development" in games that allowed you to wander from one space to the next lackadaisically and once you had discovered a thing you could turn on "fuck space" mode aka fast travel (i was tlknabt SKYRIM) and someone told me that i should play morrowind because it maintains a subway-esque node-based fast travel situation. I guess this is more evidence that i should probably play morrowind someday.

it's like those carriages in skyrim, only that you ride a giant tic and it's easily seen and accessible from every town. it's not underplayed the way skyrim just had a guy shoved off in the corner of the stables, tootsing around

then you get to bigger cities like vivec - something like 7, 4-story cantinas and further proof as to why nothing in skyrim has impressed me the way morrowind has - where you have the option of taking a boat from building to building.

but also like skyrim, there's no real "travelling" involved. the screen fades to black and then pops in again when you've arrived at your destination. the tech at the time i would think is likely attribution - the part in skyrim where you (*SPOILERS?*) get to fly a dragon is so fucking half-asssed i couldn't even believe there wasn't at least one guy on the development team that went "you know guys, this could be a pretty special moment. let's not just fade to black again this time, cool?"

Oh wow, yeah, that dragon moment was the one huge disappointment in the whole of Skyrim for me, because they set it up in such a way that you couldn't help think "oh woo, this is going to be great fun!" and then yeah, they skipped it instead. I wouldn't even have minded if they'd suddenly cut to pre-rendered CG to cover it, but blackscreen was pretty crushing.

love morrowind's transit system. the blackscreen's disappointing, still, but more forgivable back then. bethesda kinda haven't actually refined their engine since 2002.

when i play oblivion or the nu-fallouts, i try to avoid fast travel as much as i can stand because it totally fractures the world. still, all you need is discipline to turn it into something that's just Nice To Have at the end of a night or something. an awful lot of morrowind is long meditative walks (waiting for your stamina bar to recharge). and let's be fair about vivec city, it might as well be a ruin. it's huge, yeah, but there is no one there. still morrowind's my favorite bethesda game aside from new vegas: the environment, the politics, and the fact that it's about living an adventurous life as an outsider on a volcanic island occupied by a distant imperial power, which aside from the adventurous part is how i grew up.

the only game ever to absolutely 100% blow me away w/r/t travel stuff btw was world of warcraft, which i never had the knack for (thank god) but which i did play a little; the first time i went to ride a gryphon taxi, expecting to be teleported across the world, and instead i actually flew over it in real time while real other players ran along the roads beneath me i was lol transported. of course that gets boring too, eventually.