More Lists – Page 8 – Video Game Canon

The Strong Museum of Play Helps Wired Pick “Every Year’s Most Iconic Video Game Since 1979”

It’s been slightly more than 40 years since Space Invaders transformed video games from a niche hobby into a global phenomenon. Picking up a year later from that point, Wired recently teamed up with curators from the Strong Museum of Play (which is also home to the World Video Game Hall of Fame) to determine “Every Year’s Most Iconic Video Game Since 1979.”

Jon-Paul Dyson and Shannon Symonds from the Strong Museum of Play dive into the last 40 years of video game history and come up with a list of some of the greatest games of all time. With memorable titles like Halo, Super Mario Bros., The Last of Us, Doom, The Sims and more, see which games were chosen as the most memorable and iconic of the year they were released.

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NME Salutes the Wonderfully Weird in “The 50 Best Games of the Decade: The 2010s”

Depicting the 2010s as the decade when gaming got weird is a theme that’s been hit again and again as publications ponder the Best Games of the 2010s, and it was definitely on the minds of NME’s editors when they created their list of “The 50 Best Games of the Decade: The 2010s” (which actually goes to 51):

Since we’re approaching the end of the decade, we decided to make a big old list of the 50 greatest games of the last 10 years – yes, we know it says 51, but read on for the reason why… Some of you may read this list and become irrationally angry. Some may read it and nod sagely in agreement. But what we guarantee all of you will do is read it and think, ‘God bless videogames, aren’t they the absolute nuts…’.

You’ll find hidden gems such as Bulletstorm (#50), Superhot (#38), Night in the Woods (#25), Untitled Goose Game (#20), Oxenfree, and Doki Doki Literature Club (#15) throughout the list, though plenty of big blockbusters were also represented.

And in a not-that-shocking twist, NME chose two of those blockbusters for the top spot, crediting both Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with a tie.

You can find NME’s full ranking of the last decade after the break.

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“The 10 Best Video Games of the 2010s” Have Been Selected by Time Magazine

The editors at Time Magazine have produced several “Best Games of All Time” lists, and with New Year’s Eve fast approaching, they’ve once again turned their gaze backwards. This time, they’ve selected “The 10 Best Video Games of the 2010s,” though like most outlets, they make an exception for two very huge games from 2009:

The video game industry was already a billion dollar behemoth when it rolled into the 2010s. Over the past decade, the cultural cache of video games has grown and its profits are now greater than movies, television or music. The 2010s are when the hobby stopped being something semi-niche, and solidly took its place in the mainstream.

Those games, of course, are Mojang’s Minecraft and Riot’s League of Legends. Describing them as a “global phenomenon” and a “cultural institution,” respectively, Time’s editors argue that the rules should be bent for them as the two games were so important to what gaming became in the 2010s.

Time Magazine – The 10 Best Video Games of the 2010s

Dark Souls
Disco Elysium
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Fortnite
Grand Theft Auto V / Grand Theft Auto Online
League of Legends
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Minecraft
Pokemon Go
Portal 2

The remaining eight selections went to Dark Souls, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Portal 2 from 2011, Grand Theft Auto V from 2013, Pokemon Go from 2016, Fortnite and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild from 2017, and Disco Elysium from last year.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Wins “Game of the Year” at the 2019 Game Awards

Geoff Keighley and his co-presenters shotgunned their way through dozens of awards during tonight’s Game Awards, but in between all the World Premiere Trailers, they managed to shine a brief spotlight on a wide variety of titles. Unlike most years when a handful of titles dominate the conversation, this year’s Game Awards spread the wealth among a lot of worthy winners, including Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, this year’s recipient of the “Game of the Year” award.

From Software’s ninja adventure also claimed the “Best Action/Adventure Game” trophy, but it wasn’t able to sway the jury for the other three nominations it was up for. Instead, ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium became the most-honored game of the night, winning “Best Narrative,” “Best Role Playing Game,” “Best Independent Game,” and “Fresh Indie Game.”

Some of the ceremony’s other winners included Kojima Production’s Death Stranding (“Best Game Direction,” “Best Score/Music,” and “Best Performance” for Mads Mikkelsen), Remedy’s Control (“Best Art Direction”), Beat Games’s Beat Saber (“Best VR/AR Game”), Respawn’s Apex Legends (“Best Multiplayer”), and Activision’s Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (“Best Sports/Racing Game”).

In addition to a rousing speech by their former President, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo had a great night too, taking home trophies for “Best Fighting Game” (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), “Best Family Game” (Luigi’s Mansion 3), and “Best Strategy Game” (Fire Emblem: Three Houses).

The complete list of winners and nominees from the 2019 Game Awards, as well as a video replay of the ceremony, can be found below.

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Destructoid is Talking About “The Games that Defined the Decade” This Week

Destructoid’s staff combined forces this week to deliver “The Games that Defined the Decade,” a series of essays that looked back at some of the highlights of the last ten years.

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“The 20 Best Games of the Decade” as Chosen by The Hollywood Reporter

When it came time to choose the best games of the previous decade, League of Legends of Minecraft definitely threw a wrench into the works. Most publications ultimately gave the two titles their due, but others were hung up on the fact that both originally launched in “Early Access” in 2009.

While compiling their list of “The 20 Best Games of the Decade,” the editors and contributors at The Hollywood Reporter went with the latter option and barred both League of Legends and Minecraft from contention.

But don’t worry, the games they did pick as the “most influential, impactful, and memorable” of the decade certainly deserve it.

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The “Extraordinary Diversification” of Video Games is on Display in Eurogamer’s “Games of the Decade”

Deciding what criteria to use when selecting the best games of the 2010s is often just as difficult as picking the games themselves. So far this Fall, many outlets have focused on the ways gaming changed and grew during the decade when making their lists, and Eurogamer appears to be no exception.

The long-running site (they celebrated their 20th anniversary this year), specifically sought out games that highlight the “extraordinary diversification” of the industry when filling out their “Games of the Decade” list.

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Staff of DualShockers Selected Their “50 Best Video Games of the Decade”

The parade of publications picking the best games of the decade continues to roll on this week as DualShockers got their turn in front of the microphone with “The 50 Best Video Games of the Decade (2010-2019).”

DualShockers focused their list on “games that had significant impact on a cultural, artistic, or development level across both the landscape of video games and larger mainstream culture,” while also trying to encompass the rise of live service games, the return of single-player adventures, and nearly a dozen different platforms.

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Edge Honors the “Games of the Decade” in Their Christmas 2019 Issue

The venerable and prestigious Edge Magazine is jumping on the “Games of the Decade” discussion with their Christmas 2019 issue (“E339”), selecting a dozen different games that shaped the “ten industry-changing years” of the 2010s.

As seen on Twitter, each selection has been given its own variant cover, and collectors will even be able to purchase all the variants in a special boxset.

Edge – Games of the Decade

Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Broken Age
Dark Souls
Destiny
Dota 2
Fortnite
Gone Home
Grand Theft Auto V / Grand Theft Auto Online
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Minecraft
Spelunky
The Walking Dead

Like many of their peers, the editors at Edge selected Derek Yu’s Spelunky, Mojang’s Minecraft, and Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as three of the decade’s best. The outlet also chose to highlight Telltale’s The Walking Dead, Double Fine’s Broken Age, Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V, Frictional’s Amnesia: The Dark Descent, From Software’s Dark Souls, Bungie’s Destiny, Fulbright’s Gone Home, Epic’s Fortnite, and Valve’s Dota 2.

Edge’s “Games of the Decade” boxset and single issues are on sale now.

Polygon is Closing Out the 2010s With a Look Back at “The 100 Best Games of the Decade”

While there’s still almost two months to go before the calendar flips over to 2020, several outlets have already begun looking back at the decade that was to shine a spotlight on some of the best games of the 2010s.

Back in 2017, Polygon went the extra mile and counted down the “500 Best Games of All Time,” so it’s only fitting that for their decade debrief, they’ve decided to focus on an expansive list of titles that they consider “The 100 Best Games of the Decade.”

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