Truthfully the "game of the decade" discussions I've seen on a lot of sites kind of annoy me. Ironically I've been of the opinion that the industry needs something of an established neutral party like they have "The Academy" for movies, even if it's actual neutrality is debated. I think awards shows like the one on "Spike", and even various magazine lists are too heavily influanced by the industry itself.
A panel of people looking at games objectively would be interesting. See, if I had to pick a "game of the decade" I'd probably say "World Of Warcraft". I have a lot of problems with the game, despite playing it a lot, but I think it was the most influential game of this decade where MMORPGs were coming into their own. It's affected the entire industry and design process in addition to selling well. Even if you hate it, it's one game where the success and influance is pretty much undeniable.
Games like "Half Life 2" might be really good within their respective generes, and have huge followings, but truthfully I don't think they influanced the industry quite as much as WoW did over all.
At any rate, dreams of a seriously objective gaming "academy" for awards and such will probably never transpire any more than a universal games database in which all achievements, trophies, and other accomplishments are stored, even retroactively, and condensed into a universal total.
