What's better than shooting at a bunch of aliens online while you're trash talking on your headset? Shooting at a bunch of soldiers and capturing flags while you're trash talking on your headset. Halo may have been the best online game during its illustrious run, but after Bungie Studios released its final Halo game in 2007, Call of Duty 4 took that title of being the best online game to date. The game itself has been out for almostfour years now and it is still sold for a hefty price in many game stores across the country. The replay value for the game is so high that Infinity Ward is still making a ton of money off of this game. A landmark game of its own, not because of its story mode, but rather its gameplay and its commitment to the multiplayer feature.

The game in itself actually contains two games. The first being the actual story mode, which is inconceivably short(8-10 hours if your very skilled in the game already). The second being the multiplayer online feature, which allows to start your rise from the lower ranks of Private, to the higher ranks of Lieutenant(this could take you weeks, maybe even months; I'm still on Gunnery Sergeant myself). The main feature of the game is obviously the online multiplayer feature. This feature allows you to trash talk with your enemies online, earn special weapons as you rise through the ranks and complete your progress, and it allows you to display your skills on the battlefield.

I put this game ahead of Halo for several reasons. First, the game deals with realistic warfare, rather than sci-fi adventure. Second, this game offers online experience to all of the major consoles, not just the Xbox 360. Finally, the overall gameplay blows Halo out of the water. It's one thing to kill an alien with a plasma gun, but it is a completely different feeling when you snipe your enemy without being in his line of sight(that is actually the best feeling I had in the game). World at War may have been a disappointment, but Modern Warfare 2 was an even bigger success than the original and I'm definitely looking forward to Modern Warfare 3. Still, Call of Duty remains as the online king of video games.

I'll be perfectly honest with you, I'm not a very big sci-fi fan. Which means I'm not into that Lord of the Rings stuff or Star Wars movies(except for theearly ones in the 1970s). The only sci-fi I actually found interesting was H.P. Lovecraft's sci-fi stories that he wrote(The Rise of Cthulu being my favorite). However, the reason I put Halo on my list is because it shares its influence as much as Mario. What do they have in common?Just as Mario put the NES franchise on themap, Halo did the same thing withMicrosoft's first console, the Xbox. Back in2001, Halo was the launch title for the new console andthat day it became the franchise title for the system. It was just one month prior to the release of Halo and the Xbox that RockstarGames released Grand Theft AutoIII for the PS2, whichHalo would compete with as the top franchise in the gaming industry(that is until GTA was released on the Xbox a few years later, which no longer made it an exclusive tiltle for the PlayStation 2).

I first played Halo at my friend's house back in the day and I gotta tellya.The most fun I hadwas notwhile I was playing the story mode, but rather when I was playing multiplayer online. It is definitely the most addictive part of the game. When Halo came out, Xbox live had not been published yet, but people were still able to go online and play against each other.Microsoft would also come out with new multiplayer mapsfor the game and fans of the franchise would praise them for it.Halo gave us the first true online experience and it allowed gamers everywherearound the world to communicate(or trade insults) with each other. Master Chief Petty Officer John-117(strangest and longestname I've ever seen in games), we solute you!

Sorry about the photo on top, but the Browns had a horrible QB back in 1991, and his name was QB Browns (no,the BrownsQB was actually Bernie Kosar). At least there was a QB controversy in Cleveland,Browns fanswere stuck with this guy back in the day! Being a Browns fan, I was kinda turned off at exclusion of Kosar as the Browns QB. Tecmo Super Bowl goes on my list because it set the foundation for the football franchise that we know today as NFL Madden. Tecmo Super Bowl was the first football game thatfeatured all 28(at the time) NFL teams with a full roster of players, including back ups(don't worry, the Browns second QB was even worse than QB Browns, lol). This was also the firstNFLtitle that featured a full playable 16 game season with stat tracking, both player and team stats. It even had league leading stats! The only thing missing was the ability to trade players, but I guess you couldn't have everything. The Browns may have stunk that year, but at least the Patroits had the highest probability of going 0-16 rather than going 16-0 (cheaters...). I actually managed to take the Browns to a 16-0 season and capped it off by winning the Super Bowl (the Browns actually had a decent receiving core in Webster Slaughter, Reggie Langhorne, and Ozzie Newsome). Madden owes a lot of its success today to this 8 bit cartridge as it stood as a defining game for America's favorite sport.

And by the way... if you thought having Michael Vick running all over your defense in Madden was unfair, check out what Bo Jackson does to the Patriots' "so-called" defense in Tecmo Super Bowl.

You remember back in high school when you saw that hot cheerleader who winked at you whenever she saw you in the hallway. She would smile at you every time you see her and she appears to be leading you on. You finally get the courage to ask her out and she accepts. You go out with her a few times, only to find out that behind those beautiful smiles and curvy figure... she is dumb as dirt. A few weeks later, you meet another girl in your Biology lab section who is also radiant and beautiful. You'd think she would be dumb as dirt as well, but on the contrary, she is smarter than you!. Wow what are the odds. So, you ditch the hot stupid cheerleader and you start a relationship with the smart and attractive schoolgirl whom you end up marrying. So why do I bring up this story? Because back in 2000 and 2001 we saw the exact same thing happen in the video game industry. Xbox had just come out and it displayed its amazing power with its beautiful graphics. It showed considerable improvement in graphics over the previous generation of consoles and delivered amazing framerate capabilities. There was just one problem... with the exception of Halo, the games on the Xbox at that time had horrible gameplay. Yes, the games looked good, but once we saw past the graphics we were left with an empty hole inside. After Xbox thrilled everyone with its amazing graphics, Playstation debuts its own system, the Playstation 2. Sure, it didn't have the graphical power that Xbox did, but it delivered exciting gameplay that made you look past the framerate issues with the screen. All you could concentrate on was finishing the game because it was so good. Still, we were wondering and telling ourselves the same thing, "If only the PS2 would come out with a game that was good and had awesome graphics like the Xbox." Well... that theory came true in 2001 when Sony released Gran Turismo 3: A-spec. The game left all racing fans, including myself, with their jaws dropped to the floor. No one had ever seen a racing simulator that was more realistic. On top of that, the gameplay is so deep, that it would take days and maybe even weeks to finish. Heck, I have the game and I still can't finish it. The game is so unique from other racing games that it wasn't about smashing cars, or running over signs. It was about timing, precision, and balance. This is the game of a true racer. Owning a garage full of beautiful cars, and even the first car that is still in your garage because of its sentimental value and all, never felt so satisfying. Its crafty gameplay of having tournaments and getting specific licenses to play certain races made the replay value of this game very high. There was always something to do in this game. It looked good, but it also impressed me. Microsoft had the looks to turn your eye, but Sony had the brains, and it also managed to have the looks to go along with it as a bonus. Gran Turismo 3 was, and still is, the most influential game in the racing genre.

There will be two games that I will put on my list that are from the current gen consoles, Assassin's Creed is one of those games. When this game came out in 2007, people; reviewers; and critics were talking about Assassin's Creed being a game that people will still talk about five years from now, or at least until the next one comes out later this year, lol. But the reason this game is so influential is because it touches so many of society's aspects in life. They include religion, politics, morality, and other aspects of society that probably don't belong in video games. Assassin's Creed does that, and it does it in a way that is unique and nostalgic. Sure, it takes place during the Crusades, but it's direct message is for the people of today. The gameplay itself is also unique in its own way, in that it uses mainly stealth as the main weapon. This isn't a game that requires you to go on a rampage and hurt innocent people. You're an assassin, not Niko Bellic; but this makes the game all the more fun because it makes you feel like a cheetah that is hunting its prey, even though it can be frustrating at times. The game does have its flaws, like the fact that it is completely repetitive and that some people in the cities should just shut up, because they keep on saying the same thing over and over. The game's story is also confusing, but if you see yourself stunned with confusion after you finish it, just read the plot in Wikipedia and it will tell you everything. If you still feel stumped, just wait for the release of Assassin's Creed Revelations in November. Ubisoft claims that this will be the first game in the series that will give players more answers to their questions rather than leaving them with more questions than they started with. All of that still doesn't take away from the fact that Assassin's Creed is truly an epic game that originally set the bar for the franchise as we know it today.

I'm new to this site, but I've been following Gamespot for years; however, I never once thought to start my own profile on the site. I just want to have the chance to discuss games with other people and to be able to exchange thoughts and ideas over different topics. This list will be a good start. Here are my guidelines for my list. -They have to have a story, plot, setting, etc(that means games like Pacman or Tetris are not included on this list). -They span from the NES era to now. -They can have sports titles as well. -If the game is part of a franchise, it doesn't have to be the best one out of all of them, just the game that set the bar for the franchise and for the gaming world itself. -The game doesn't have to be a part of a franchise, it could stand on its own(although most influential games tend to produce sequels). -Honorable mentions that won't be included on my list, because I haven't played them (Final Fantasy, Donkey Kong, The Sims). Enjoy!!! Starvin Marvin