Greatest Video Games of All TIme (Revision Version)

[Tim]

It also popularized early access releases for indie games and the fostered the growth of gaming/let's play content on YouTube (for whatever that's worth).

Ok, I'll give it to you that FFVII is more influential, but I still don't think it's enough to overcome Minecraft's massive lead in popularity.

The concept of pre-rendered backgrounds + Full FMV cutscenes (which have been used in hundreds if not thousands of games) is infinitely more significant than any influence Minecraft has or ever will have.

I agree with you FFVll is more influential and therefore could still be ahead but let's not act Minecraft has no influence.

[ManPerson]

It also popularized early access releases for indie games and the fostered the growth of gaming/let's play content on YouTube (for whatever that's worth).

Ok, I'll give it to you that FFVII is more influential, but I still don't think it's enough to overcome Minecraft's massive lead in popularity.

The concept of pre-rendered backgrounds + Full FMV cutscenes (which have been used in hundreds if not thousands of games) is infinitely more significant than any influence Minecraft has or ever will have.

It's not like either of those were invented by FFVII.

The first wave of FMV games originated in arcades in 1983 with laserdisc video games, notably Astron Belt from Sega and Dragon's Lair from Cinematronics. They used Laserdiscs to store the video used in the game, which allowed for very high quality visuals compared to contemporary arcade games of the era. A number of arcade games using FMV with Laserdiscs were released over the next three years and the technology was touted as the future of video games. Some games released in this era reused video footage from other sources while others had it purpose made. Bega's Battle, Cliff Hanger and Firefox reused footage, while titles like Space Ace, Time Gal, Thayer's Quest, Super Don Quix-ote and Cobra Command were entirely original.

Pre-rendered graphics are used primarily as cutscenes in modern video games. The use of pre-rendered 3D computer graphics for video sequences date back to two arcade laserdisc video games introduced in late 1983: Interstellar,[4][5] introduced by Funai at the AM Show in September,[6] and Star Rider,[7] introduced by Williams Electronics at the AMOA show in October.[8]

The use of pre-rendered 3D computer graphics for video sequences also date back to two arcade laserdisc games introduced in 1983: Interstellar,[1][2] introduced by Funai at the AM Show in September,[3] and Star Rider,[4] introduced by Williams Electronics at the AMOA show in October.[5]

One of the first significant console games with pre-rendered graphics was Donkey Kong Country, released on the SNES in 1994.

It's hard for Minecraft to compete with those concepts, but we aren't comparing minecraft with pre-rendering and Full FMV cutscenes, we're comparing it with Final Fantasy VII.

[ManPerson]

I guess I have to side with Dubrow here, with FFVll's influence being more fundamental than Minecraft's.

Minecraft being ahead of 3 of the most influential games of all time has never sat right with me (Pacman alone has gotta have much more cultural impact, right?)

I don't think there are any games that clearly have more cultural impact than Minecraft, except for Mario.

It's clearly less influential than those games, way more popular than SFII and Doom, more popular than Pac-Man as well, though it's closer, and clearly more acclaimed than Pac-Man.

[Dubrow555]

I guess I have to side with Dubrow here, with FFVll's influence being more fundamental than Minecraft's.

Minecraft being ahead of 3 of the most influential games of all time has never sat right with me (Pacman alone has gotta have much more cultural impact, right?)

I don't think there are any games that clearly have more cultural impact than Minecraft, except for Mario.

It's clearly less influential than those games, way more popular than SFII and Doom, more popular than Pac-Man as well, though it's closer, and clearly more acclaimed than Pac-Man.

Do we know that sure? Do we have an accurate account of people who played Pacman throughout the 1980's and onward?

[Dubrow555]

Responding to: "It's not like either of those were invented by FFVII." directly:

GTA III did not invent open world sandbox games, Doom did not invent FPS games, WOW did not invent MMO's, Street Fighter II was not the first 2D fighter, Metal Gear Solid was not the first stealth game, Resident Evil was not the first horror game, StarCraft was not the first RTS, Super Mario Kart was not the first kart racing game - but all of those games were the first to popularize/be widely accepted as the innovators of their respective genre.

[Dubrow555]

So now we want to move Minecraft down?

That would be my vote, but I know I would be in the minority about that.

[ManPerson]

Minecraft being ahead of 3 of the most influential games of all time has never sat right with me (Pacman alone has gotta have much more cultural impact, right?)

I don't think there are any games that clearly have more cultural impact than Minecraft, except for Mario.

It's clearly less influential than those games, way more popular than SFII and Doom, more popular than Pac-Man as well, though it's closer, and clearly more acclaimed than Pac-Man.

Do we know that sure? Do we have an accurate account of people who played Pacman throughout the 1980's and onward?

Minecraft has 9 times the sales of Pac-Man and averages over 200 million players each month. To put it another way, 15 years after its release, 1/40 people in the world log on to play minecraft in just one month.

This is my source btw:
https://icon-era.com/blog/minecraft-liv ... stics.168/

[Tim]

Do we want it on here somewhere or that's a stretch?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_(1998_video_game)

[ManPerson]

To the yearly lists or to this one?

[Tim]

Well, Thief is #10 on 1998 and near the bottom of all time list and seemingly beats it in both acclaim and influence clearly so I doubt it makes either. Just seems like we overlooked it completely and you could argue it's among the more important casual games.

[ManPerson]

Responding to: "It's not like either of those were invented by FFVII." directly:

but all of those games were the first to popularize/be widely accepted as the innovators of their respective genre.

I'm not sure FFVII can even be clearly credited with popularizing pre-rendering as Donkey Kong Country and Resident Evil are both very popular games that made use of the technique and came out before FFVII.

[ManPerson]

and you could argue it's among the more important casual games.

We could always add Subway Surfers...

[Dubrow555]

Well, Thief is #10 on 1998 and near the bottom of all time list and seemingly beats it in both acclaim and influence clearly so I doubt it makes either. Just seems like we overlooked it completely and you could argue it's among the more important casual games.

I kind of feel like DDR is more list-worthy for 1998 than a casual game.

[Tim]

I'd still give Thief acclaim and influence over it though not by as much as in previous match-up.