The first Gears of War probably sums up the generation for me, because it was slick, playable, visually impressive, came with all sorts of multiplayer extras I never touched, and wasn't quite my cup of tea.  Quite a few games this generation fall into that category; they're not doing much wrong per se, but they're still not stirring my loins.  I wish I could say the Mario Galaxy games definied the generation for me, but whilst I think they're the best retail games this round of consoles had to offer, the Unreal powered dreary/guns/trashtalking meathead thing was unfortunately more commonplace.

Indie gaming defines this gen for me. Fez, Braid, World of Goo, Super Meat Boy, all that stuff.

The CoDs, Halos, Mass Effects, Gears of War - I think they spring to mind first. Big expensive American games with military themes make the biggest noise.

And also there's been a shift towards set-piece based Hollywood action adventures, with join the dots gameplay where nothing's really supposed to stop your progress for very long because that makes it less like a film. CoD and Gears again to a degree. Dead Space. Maybe Uncharted, and things like Enslaved and even Batman and Castlevania. Again, mostly big expensive American games.

I think those kind of dominate the older style of game, which is perhaps now more Japanese, where it's about challenge or improving your skills or learning the depths of the game system (Bayonetta, Dark Souls).

Or perhaps it's better to say that that kind of thing has mainly shifted to online multiplayer, and maybe that's the defining feature.

WorKid wrote:

Never got into online multi. I'm just not good enough to enjoy it.

I've never tried it.

Hmmm. Good question(s), adkm. I would that CoD is possibly the easiest choice and comes to mind first when I think of a game that has moulded the generation and not necessarily my own gong habits this gen. 

For my own experience, I really can't say. I don't think there has been any trend in what I play and any game that could have influenced mostly gaming habits. At a push, I would probably pick Rock Band. I am more minded towards short burst gaming that I can either enjoy on my own or spend lots of time with friends on for major fun. I have spent countless hour on the RB games.

WorKid wrote:

Indie gaming defines this gen for me. Fez, Braid, World of Goo, Super Meat Boy, all that stuff.

This too.

Got to be Wii Sports. Single handedly kicked everyone's front door down and stuck a Wii in your confused hands, making Sony and Microsoft sit up, take notice and fight back with their own brand of shite gimmick.

Will any next gen machine launch without wavy hand controls? I don't think so.

Oh. I thought the Wii-mote worked with it?

It does but most games shown dont really show wavey handness in a sports way.

Though it doesn't really fit into the whole generational argument basis, World of Warcraft deserves a mention for being such a cultural powerhouse and timesink for alot of people.

That and it's spawned as many if not more copycats than CoD ever has.

Halo 3 multiplayer completely dominated my first few years on Live. Far and away the defining game of this generation in for me.

Xbox Live.

Ooh, I was thinking Halo3 for the online co-op campaign - where online hit home for me because my single player wasn't single anymore and I could romp through it with mates.

But then Optimark's call of L4D was super-on-point for me as well - redefined my expectations of exactly how fucking entertained I should be for my £40.

Moto70 wrote:

CoD4, by a country mile for what was right and MW3 for what was wrong...

Totally with you on that one. It's better than the rest of the COD franchise put together and it's the most influential game of the generation.

Also Demon souls for showing us that the japanse can still make games that arent shit.

L4D defined the generation for me, and to make it even more hyperbolic, it defined what I think co-op and asynchronous versus games should be, end of.

The other personal game for me is Demon's Souls, because it cleansed the palette after years of risk free spectacle. Here was a game that spoke to the gamer I used to be when younger, and was beautifully mysterious and obtuse, building a community around cooperation, something i'd never seen before.

But I think the game with the most real influence is probably Halo 3. It basically built on what Halo 2 had already put in place and became the benchmark game for Live integration and handling of the multiplayer community. Millions play CoD, but are the people who caretake the gametypes and map rotations even half as involved as Bungie were with Halo 3? This was a game that truly tried to cater for all tastes, without overwhelming you with options. Sure it meant you might not get to play SWAT for a few months, but it'd come back around. And their implementation of DLC into playlists meant the community never felt massively split. I know they got a helping hand from MS by being their flagship franchise, but still, they just edge out Gears 2 for me as the definitive Xbox Live experience (although that was the first game that I played with you bastards, invite all ahoy!)

I'm not even that much of a Halo fan, but they just got it right. Easy to join games, easy to play what you wanted, the best matchmaking I've come across, although by no means perfect, and wonderful customisation optons. The sequence of 4 beeps starting a Halo match are forever burned into my conscious, and I really don't think any other game laid down such a robust template as Halo. Heck, plenty of big releases today still can't match Bungie's brilliance here. That's why they got a [10], not for the games content, but for the (ugh) platform they created.