What Is the Most Important Console Game of This Generation?

November 22nd 2005, that is when the Xbox 360 launched and with it the seventh generation of console gaming. Thinking that it has been almost seven years it is almost hard to fathom. In that time I have graduated college, went from an assistant to a director at my place of employment, went through a handful of serious relationships and from someone who scoffed at regular exercise to going to the gym everyday. I have

[Zuperman]

So many great games to choose from, but here are a few that I believe is the most important game of this gen.

PS3 - Uncharted Series
360 - Halo Series
Wii - Mario Series

[Hicken]

I would agree with each of those, in regards to each respective console.

For the overall generation, however, it's likely CoD4.

[Arius Dion]

Nah
Wii Sports.

[MrBeatdown]

Definitely CoD4.

Even if a lot of people dislike it now, it undoubtedly had a more dramatic effect on the industry than any other game this generation. It basically set the standard for what people expect feature-wise for a multiplayer game, it surely encouraged other devs to attempt adding multiplayer to their games, and it turned CoD into the most successful franchise of this generation.

[Awesome_Gamer]

Uncharted 2

(everybody is cloning it now, lol)

[live2play]

most important

wii sports

that game opened up the doors to gaming for people who had never played games like no other game has

this is not about fanboy wars
i know you want to say uncharted, halo, gears

but its wii sports that opened up the doors to gaming for people

[Bathyj]

I agree with all that you said.

I just dont think letting in the flood of casuals was a good thing for gamers.

[additup28]

im thinking that as well. otherwise cod4 probably the next game to have a huge impact with its multiplayer

[joab777]

Yeah...CoD will define this Gen. For Xbox, I argue Gears because halo was last Gen initiated and mass effect. For me personally, it was bioshock and oblivion. Oblivion because it was the first game I played and I am a huge RPG fan. It blew me away. Bioshock, because it represented everything that is this Gen to me. It was fps w a stunning setting, the best back story maybe ever. The enemies were brought to life in way never seen before and the RPG elements coupled with sci fi powers created one of the best games ever made.

[greenpowerz]

I'm going to have say gears of war. Gears laid down the ground work for most of this generation's non FPS blockbusters gameplay wise. Talking gears influence this generation. Almost all TPS games in varied hybrid genre combos were born from developers realizing the popular evolution of this approach.

Yes I know a primitive version of this gameplay came from a generation long gone.

Everything from Gears Of War 3 to Watch Dogs owe's it to the Original Gears Of War. Yes even the new Tomb Raider and Uncharted, not to mention dozens and perhaps over a hundred other games.

[LorDReQuieM]

some of those games got there influences before gears came out so GoW is not a game that changed this generation your response is no more than opinion

[ATi_Elite]

Wow this is a hard one, very tough to decide on just one but.........

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare!!! (Hands DOWN)

Haters can hate but the game is a CERTIFIED CLASSIC! It was dam near perfect and gave consolers a PROPER taste of what PC Gamers have been doing for a long time and that's fraggin and Tea-Bagging a MOFO over the Internet while talking sht over the mic. Sure other titles allowed this but not with the PROPER feel, quality, control, and appeal of COD4MW!!

Great SP and an even better MP. CODMW set the stage for the most important series on consoles this gen while each of it's successors pushed over 20 million units a piece and had everyone and their Grandma's Grandma playing and talking about COD4MW!

COD4MW is the game that represents this console Gen to the FULLEST. No matter what platform we all were playing it.

.....and every dam Publisher had two or three developers trying to clone it or strapping on a MP to every dam game genre ever. RPG's even have MP modes now thanks to COD4MW.

Then MW2 came out and the series totally went to sht with peer 2 peer gaming instead of dedicated servers and all the other perks and load-out crap that created a sht load of spawn kills instead of the raw skill of COD4MW!

Most important PC titles this Gen:

STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl - Fallout 3, Day Z, Oblivion and many more all were influenced by this title. Open world FPS/RPG with 24/7 day night cycle were you must eat and sleep etc..

Maple Story - one of the first free 2 play titles with micro-transactions which is the business model of the PC now a days

Eve Online - a MMO that constantly gets bigger, is TOTALLY Gamer controlled, and has every gamer on ONE SERVER thus making everything YOU DO effect EVERYONE ELSE.

[MariaHelFutura]

LittleBigPlanet.

[GribbleGrunger]

absolutely agree. I would have given Uncharted a nod too but MM created something with LBP that will go down in history as one of the most 'important' creations the gaming industry has ever seen. those who haven't got the game and have never experienced the creativity of the community will never understand this, but I'm sure you do

[Bathyj]

LBP2.

BEST GAME EVER!!

[360GamerFG]

Hahaha. No.

[NastyLeftHook0]

great game btw

[omarzy]

Super mario Galaxy! highest rated title of this gen, and 2nd highest rated game of all time. Very important title.

[blahblah346]

source?

[omarzy]

Here. http://www.gamerankings.com...

[2pacalypsenow]

cuz its rated high? its the most important? what did it do for this generation? I think Little big planet because it made user generated content big on consoles

[2pacalypsenow]

Grand theft auto 4 is the highest rated title this Gen
**** Edit either way neither GTA 4 or mario did anything important I thought GTA 4 sucked , portal and LBP did something inovative

[omarzy]

actually gta4 is 3rd highest this gen, and 4th highest of all time. http://www.gamerankings.com...

edit: yeah i suppose you are right. i would say that most important this gen would be wii sports. LBP did a great lot, but wii sports created gamers out of self proclaimed non gamers, and started the motion control craze within play station, xbox, and wii

[linkratos]

Wii Sports, CoD4

Best?: Portals, Mario Galaxies, RDR, Batman Arkhams, UC2, D. Souls, BioShock

[2Negativecool]

Depends on how you define "important." In terms of sales and media exposure it could only be the Call of Duty series.
In terms of most played/loved by intense fandom I would have to go with Halo.
In terms of exploding the envelope in categories of gameplay, graphical magicery, and greatest impact on a single console; I would have to site Uncharted 2 as the most important.

Per console I would say Zuperman is dead on.

[CommonSense]

Most important? give me a break. it's entertainment!

[TiberusX87]

* Most important for the gaming industry...

[edonus]

Gears Of War.

The first full package next gen experience. Single player and multiplayer. Set the standard for tps cover systems.

[DivineAssault]

elderscrolls fully voiced open massive world raised the bar pretty effin high.. but its on pc so id have to say wii sports revolutionized the consoles.. every company had to copy & try motion gaming to steal some of the pie..

COD as far as online gaming goes

Uncharted as far as beauty & production value

[No_Pantaloons]

CoD, not because its great, it isn't. But because its changed how companies are doing business. Every developer/publisher wants a piece of that pie now and are doing anything to get it even at the expense of their customers.

[supraking951]

ill go Uncharted and Mass Effect series hands down. Mass Effect the only trilogy that brought a complete story that didnt seem to be forced, was said to be a trilogy since day 1 unlike Uncharted, Gears, etc.

[NastyLeftHook0]

both were good

[Arcanine]

Sarcasm
DEFINITELY AND WITH OUT A DOUBT THE MOST ! IMPORTANt GAME THIS GEN .... IS.......
HAZE

P.s. we want a prequel & sequel !!

[Sgt_Slaughter]

We all know that people will have way different opinions on this so there will never be a definitive answer to this question.

[InTheLab]

There's 4 or 5 games out there that spawned many clones and wannabees. These games are, apparently, so ground breaking they caused other franchises to abandon traditional gameplay in favor of what's in these games...

Uncharted 2
Gears of War
CoD4
Wii Sports
God of War 3

There multiple clones of each of those games, as well as already established franchises that are ripping the hearts right out of there fans in an effort to recreate the success of those franchises. Mass Effect wants to be Gears. Every TPS at E3 wants to be Uncharted. Medal of Honor, BF, and Bad Company all want to be CoD...etc.

Of those 5 games, I'd have to say Wii Sports had the most impact. MS up and abandoned their core in favor of copying the Wii's casual revolution and forced Sony to dig up some old tech, add the Eye Toy, and call it Move.

These games will also inspire the next gen much like...

RE4
GTA3
God of War
Socom
Halo
MGS

..did last gen...

[Neko_Mega]

Wii Sports? Really? I don't think that is one of them.

[Gran Touring]

For me, personally, Metal Gear Solid 4.

There was just a certain aurora about that game that I haven't experienced in other games.

I don't know if that makes it important. To each their own.

[alb1899]

When i saw Gears of war for the first time everything change with uncharted i was soo too so for me this two games were the game changers this generation ...........but,but mass effect was amazing too!!

I dont know how many hours i played Gears with my friends but what i do know is that i never have enjoyed to play a game on line as the first Gears .........it was special!

[josephayal]

Street Fighter 4 end of HISTORY

[goldwyncq]

Call of duty

[sarcasm/]

[TheDivine]

Idk thats a great question though. No question MW reinvigorated the fps market and made perks a staple in mp. It dominated this gen. Gears of War possibly because it kicked off next gen and set the standard for tps' and made the unreal engine 3 a mjor player in this gen (used in everything from mirrors edge, arkham asylum, mass effect, and a billion others). I could aslo see Uncharted being one because it made a major leap in cinematic gameplay that many games emulate now. Wii sports would prob be the defining game from this gen and it was a free game to demo the wiimote. That made motion controllers popular and brought in millions of people who would never have bought a console. It opened the door for all kinds of fitness and dance games which arent exactly for me but i wont deny their importance to the industry.

I also personally think Demons Souls will wind up being one of the most important games for the way it merged singleplayer and multiplayer. That was a huge step for immersion and seamless gameplay without having to log into mp or play co-op through a campaign. Awesome game.

[NastyLeftHook0]

Demons Souls.

[WitWolfy]

I'd say Mass Effect. Where every decision you made determined the outcome of the game(except in ME3 of course).

It was a very bold and revolutionary move by BW to make a game like this it would be great if lot more of developers took chances like these in their games.

[MySwordIsHeavenly]

Most important for me was Heavy Rain. While it may have only mildly influenced other games, it is the best example I have when trying to convince people that gaming is more than just a fun hobby for small children.

It is games like Heavy Rain, Uncharted 1/2/3, Gears of War 2/3, and Shadow of the Colossus that will push video games forward, as a medium. :)

[numonex360]

Wii Sports - Wii
Uncharted 2 - PS3
Gears of War - X360
Multi-platform: CoD 4, Bioshock, Oblivion

[xflo360]

Gow sucked - the only way that game is important is how it showed the industry how NOT to make a game!

[TheMutator]

everyone knows that is Duke Nukem Forever and its not a sarcasm!!!

[seanpitt23]

Dark souls for me it was new refreshing and a challenge I loved it.
BF3 is a good game also cannot wait for the next bfbc3 next year

[Seventh_Blood_Reborn]

Since I don' t care what is more influential in sales I can just talk about my personal list, in no order:

Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots

Journey

Demon's Souls

Heavy Rain

But if I was forced to choose one I would say MGS4 I think.

[additup28]

i love mgs4, reason why i bought a ps3 when it came out. but its strange i played it once, loved it but never got back to play again. it was like this great singular experience i had for 20-30 hours and that was it. i should go back to that game before this gen is up to compare against next gen games.

[greenlantern2814]

well in my opinion you can't really pick one game to cover it all. and most people haven't. But for me it breaks down like so.
PS3. Uncharted 2, Killzone 2, LBP.
Xbox360. Gears all the way.
multi plat. A.C, and CoD4 modern warfare
wii . new super mario bros. Super mario galaxies and zelda; twilight princess.