Well since this thread was somewhat of a byproduct of a conversation I've had with Mimic I thought I better chime in with my 2 cents.

A game can still be entertaining without a story but not without good gameplay, that's pretty much fact. I don't think story is more important than gameplay. The point I was making is that to be a truly great game the majority of time developers have to strike a balance between both gameplay and story (as many of you fine people have already pointed out). It was in response to a comment Mimic made stating "Who needs story when you have gameplay?"

Story isn't the MOST important aspect of game devlopment but it's still an important aspect.

Oh and this conversation was in reference to single player campaign games rather than Wii mini games or Online Multiplayers (CS, DOD, TF2 etc).