LGC07: German journalists, experts pick all-time most influential games

by Ross Miller { Aug 27th 2007 at 4:55PM }

A gathering of German journalists, publishers and "experts" met at this year's Leipzig Games Convention to pick what they felt were the most influential games of all time (via GameSetWatch). Of the reported 150 nominations, 16 titles were ultimately chosen and, of those, four were noted for being most frequently noted.

The four top-honored games are Tetris, Pong, Doom and Pac-Man. Though we agree with much of the list, we're still left feeling some titles were unfortunately overlooked (e.g. E.T., Custer's Revenge). What do you think of the list?

See Also:
10 most important video games of all time, as judged by 2 designers, 2 academics, and 1 lowly blogger

[Image credit: Senechaux]

Tags: doom, lgc07, lists, pacman, pong, tetris

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

DG @ Aug 27th 2007 5:05PM

They're missing a fighting game, the dominant genre through the early to mid 90s. I'd have put Virtua Fighter or SFII over Ultima, Elite, or SimCity. And having both SimCity and Civilization seems superfluous.

hvnlysoldr @ Aug 27th 2007 5:04PM

Well they did pick Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games as the best in show...

Todd Rabanus @ Aug 27th 2007 6:26PM

i thought the list was pretty well written, i consider myself hardcore but i guessed i missed Elite. a game i would have put on that list would be pole position.

Mr Khan @ Aug 27th 2007 5:09PM

It's CUSTER's revenge, the doomed American general, not the pie filling (scrumptious though it be)

finrez @ Aug 27th 2007 5:14PM

Doom made the list, that's all I care about. Korea probably wants Starcraft on there...pretty damn influential right there.

Zertoss @ Aug 27th 2007 5:18PM

Needs a bigger list. I don't see several genres, like real-time strategy games (you can't lump those in with turn-based strategy games, I'm sure everyone here knows how differently they play). For me, it's a toss-up between Command & Conquer and Starcraft for RTS's. As good as C&C is, Starcraft might be slightly more important since it has the whole televised tournament thing going on in Korea.

And "Jump'n'Run"? I think I'll read that as "Platformer" and throw Sonic the Hedgehog in side-by-side with Mario, because Sonic and Mario did for platforming what Pac-Man and Space Invaders did for the Arcade.

I'd also lump the Sims and SimCity together as Sandbox Simulations. And I'd call Wolfenstein 3D more important than Doom. After all, it pretty much defined first person shooters. I'd also add Diablo 2 to the list, due to the fact that it seems like every hack'n'slash game these days gets compared to it.

NintendoFanbot @ Aug 27th 2007 6:09PM

No Mario?

NO MARIO?!?

I take protest with this list! Especially since Mario's STILL influencing the industry.

Oh well. It's their list. I'll let them have it (albeit bitterly). :P

copa @ Aug 27th 2007 6:14PM

1985 Super Mario Bros.

Looks like you're covered.

copa @ Aug 27th 2007 6:13PM

Wizardry spawned the RPG genre (yes, even the Japanese RPG's), and Infocom created the first great adventure games.

So, I have a problem with Ultima and Maniac Mansion being on the list representing their genres.

For the most part, a pretty good list.

32_Footsteps @ Aug 27th 2007 6:26PM

Back in March, I actually made a list of my own for those games, like Custer's Revenge, that were important in a rather negative light:

http://www.netjak.com/review.php/1305

Interesting to note that Doom makes both a positive and negative importance list.

As for that list... I think it's a fairly solid one. Though I think Tomb Raider should be dropped in favor of Street Fighter II - I really don't think an explanation should be required.

Dan @ Aug 27th 2007 7:39PM

Nice to see they chose doom over wolfenstein.

Poisoned Al @ Aug 27th 2007 7:58PM

By "experts" I bet they meant the guy from the local games store. While I agree with most on this list (it's hard not to), there are many lesser known titles that came up with the ideas first, then picked up by others. Most of them apper on home computers because simply some guy with an idea doesn't need a dev kit to get his idea working if he (or she... well let's face it, he) has the know how.

The problem is, that these ground breakers are usually far too ahead of their time and nobody buys them. Take the "first" real stealth games released in the same year: Thief The Dark Project and Metal Gear Solid. Real first person hiding against guards that don't give up for ages after they see you, vs half blind f**k-wits that can be fooled by you hiding in a box. MGS sold, but the ideas from Thief where stolen.

But that doesn't compare to the game the influenced the most games I know: System Shock 2. The ammout of stuff stolen from that game is staggering, and that didn't sell ether. It's nice to see the new Shock game has found its market now. But it made me cringe when I read some idiot stating that the tape recordings idea was stolen from Doom3! Gah!