What are the seven wonders of the gaming world?

[TsunamiWombat]

AHAH! Thank you!

1. Dungeons and Dragons - The origin of it all, it began the inteir idea of gaming in general, and it's progress mirrored Electronic Gaming- starting as a bunch of nerds playing around in their basement, growing to become mainstream, struggling with accusations of corruption from the mainstream media, and then establishing it's own sub-culture and becoming largely commercial and full of different "systems" and developers.

2. Nintendo - For being the first developer to bring gaming into the mainstream, and establishing the foundations of the mainstream gaming world.

3. The Gameboy - For pioneering the field of handheld/portable gaming

4. The Playstation 2 - For becoming the foundation of the modern age, the SNES of the late 20th century- a system with many good games and many bad games, somewhat techically behind the competition but boasting an impressive library and customer base.

5. Blizzard - For producing so many benchmark games that deserve to be on this list in their own right, I instead list Blizzard to encompass them all. Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo, WoW, and future projects all.

6. Daikatana - Maybe not the first, but certainly the most famous example of hubris and overhyping destroying a title. A pet project with a powerful personality and famous devleoper behind it, it was crushed under the weight of it's own expectations and limitations.

7. Vavle for producing one of the first mega-sales FPS giants, starting a legendary modding community, and pioneering Internet distribution with Steam.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Hrrrm...lot of new ones here...but I'm gonna have to kick some out.

PS2 dies for the ZX80. The FIRST Home computer. Even tops the C64 and Speccy. It's a close fight with the VCS though.

Daikatana is no ET. The death of Atari.

Whilst Blizzard created some great games, there was only ever one "ULTIMATE" now "Rare". There at the birth and still going.

Whilst Valve created a mega sales FPS, there was only one game that nearly destroyed Japan's economy. The original Space Invaders. Where Japan actually ran out of Yen; whilst America nearly lost all it's quarters.

Nintendo was good, but only ATARI was there at the very start.

And whilst Dungeons and Dragons was good, it was just Chainmail which came from Wargames. So there has to be the precursor, the very first ever. Spacewars.

But I'm open to debate.

There's also to consider Elite, Colossal Cave, The Amiga's Video Toaster, SID, Codemasters, Myst, Pacman, Pokemon, Jumpman(Mario), Street Fighter 2, GTA... Damn, we'd have to make 7 for each age of computing.

 

[Blind0bserver]

I nominate Valve Corporation as one of the seven wonders, not just for creating gaming classics like Counter-Strike and Half-Life. The creation of Steam has revolutionized and pioneered digital distribution on the gaming market, increasing overall industry revenue as well as bringing indie games to a wider market.

 

[mark_n_b]

I am torn. Nintendo may be a good candidate to make the list for bringing us the likes of gameboy, mario, and the pokemon craze. They were also instrumental in Sony making the decision to enter the console battlefields (a botched partnership with the integration of Sony CD Rom technology with a Nintendo system lead to the PS) and all the stuff we've salready said.

But the pokemon craze is being sold on me, it is an unprecedented franchise hit comparable to the likes of WoW and D&D. It just doesn't seem wholly right to mention Pokemon and Nintendo, seeing as how Pokemon is one of the reasons for mentioning Nintendo.

As for Daikatana, It's a strong example of a production faux pas, but ET for the 2600 is a game of epic legend marking the end of the North American control on the video game market.

What about Duke Nukem Forever?

I'm thinking the id shooters (Quake, Doom) might bear mention for the impact on gaming culture. Games have been all about FPS for like the past twelve years. And id, I have been convinced, was a major player in that.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

I think some of the exampels are a bit too old for people to relate to though, which is why I picked mine- they're recognizable ones anyone whose just casual in the game industry will recognize. Who besides old nerds like us have ever heard of Chainmail or played Space Invaders when they were kids?

 

[Blind0bserver]

What about Duke Nukem Forever?

Duke Nukem Forever is a piece of vaporware. I'm hardly consider it.

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

I think some of the exampels are a bit too old for people to relate to though, which is why I picked mine- they're recognizable ones anyone whose just casual in the game industry will recognize. Who besides old nerds like us have ever heard of Chainmail or played Space Invaders when they were kids?

Forget chainmail, but definitely Space Invaders should be up there.

 

[PumpItUp]

Here's my list:

1. Mario - the unofficial mascot of all gaming. Whether you like it or not.
2. Nintendo - as hardware innovators (Wii, DS, etc.), not so much as software innovators (30+ Mario games, 10+ Zelda, etc.)
3. Pong/Pac-Man - for starting it all.
4. The Internet - for mking our gaming experience global and easy.
5. MMORPGs (WoW in particular) - for making said global experience fun.
6. Game Reviewers - as much as we want to hate them, they've saved us the trouble of experiencing horrible games (for the most part) many times.

And finally,
7. ...um...I don't know...next-gen gaming...no...um...MGS...not enough impact...uhhh...Halo? GOD no...but what then- I KNOW!!!

7. The Gamer Nerd - for being the only thing keeping the VG industry alive. Give yourselves a round of applause!

 

[defcon 1]

Spacewar! - Because who knows if Nolan Bushnell would've discovered the chops to make what became the Atari 2600 without it.

He did see an Odyssey game before he made pong. Magnavox even took them to court over it.

Pong
Arcade Classics
Mario
Legend of Zelda
Halo
WoW
Starcraft

 

[BaronAsh]

You are all missing 1 big important wonder, 3-D That's right I nominate 3-D games in general.

 

[Spidey78]

There's been a lot of really good content added in here. I'm trying to separate the "wondrous" from the "excellent" this isn't easy.

So far there are two items that I think need to make the list, they are the only two I am completely sold on thus far:

1. Dungeons & Dragons I don't think anyone can deny the global impact of this pen and paper classic and the effect it has had on gamers, gaming culture, and game design. When you think that this came out of a Tolkien loving drug culture decades ago, this is truly one of the wonders of the gaming world.

2. World of Warcraft Now people have made the note that Blizzard as a company has made huge impacts in gaming and titles like Starcraft and Diablo have been bandied about. But more than the company, the fact that WoW is populated by millions of people 24-7 is something no game has ever managed to achieve. It is not the size of the game-world, it's not the graphics, it's not the game-play, it's the sheer population that makes this title the wonder it is.

Blizzard might get a double billing on this list because of the fact that Starcraft has entire Television networks dedicated to it and the professional Starcraft circuit in Korea. And this is a game that came out in the 90's. That's pretty impressive.

Daikatana probably belongs in there as a profound lesson to everyone what -not- to do.

Maybe the mythic cement block of millions of ET 2600 cartridges in Alamogordo, New Mexico. This is definitely one of the hugest urban myths (urban facts) of gaming history. The Bermuda triangle lore of gaming culture.

Why aren't you sold on Pokemon making the list?

D&D and WoW are definitely popular but when the Pokemon franchise was given birth the craze spread to epic proportions.

If you go anywhere and ask anyone, unless they are part of an undiscovered amazonian tribe or from a third world country they will have heard of Pokemon, you don't even need to go that far:

I asked my mum who is totally out of touch with popular trends if she had heard of them, she had vaguely heard of D&D and Warcraft but the one she had the most heard of was Pokemon, even people who know nothing of games will know Pokemon, it deserves a spot in the 7 gaming wonders above both Warcraft and D&D.

Because Pokemon is just a remake of Digimon. It wasn't very original.

 

[Soapbar]

I think just to say 'Nintendo' as a wonder of the gaming world is a little broad, and I'm shocked nobody has mentioned in any great detail the Nintendo Wii, which has to be the single biggest wonder in gaming. It has completely revolutionised gaming, is a genius concept and brought gaming into the mainstream. And we can't even appreciate the effect it will have on gaming in the future yet. In ten years time, when the hardware is advanced further, the Nintendo Wii will be looked at as the start of the revolution of gaming.

And I'm not even a Nintendo fanboy. Seriously. I spend most of my gaming time on either the Xbox 360 or PC. But since you asked for what I think are the seven wonders of the gaming world, I might as well wade in with my opinion:

1. The Nintendo Wii (see above)

2. Grand Theft Auto 3. Showed what could be achieved on a PS2/Xbox console, and paved way for so many GTA clones, it set the standard for gaming on the PS2, led to great games in its wake (the better GTA sequels, The Getaway, and more) Also brought violent/controversial gaming to the media, and certainly stands out even now, being the first game people think of when the phrase "violent video games" is thrown around.

3. World of Warcraft. Shows us how big a deal games can become, shows us games potential to reach huge audiences, and show the power of gaming as an escape. Like GTA3, paved way so many clones in the future.

4. It's hard to pick one specific game, but the set of Tycoon games were superb, you know the ones designed by Chris Sawyer using an Isometric grid? Real top quality, simple games for the PC. Stuff like Transport Tycoon, Rollercoaster Tycoon, etc. (thats more of a personal one for me, those games are fricking awesome)

5. Xbox 360 + Playstation 3. I put them together because if I fear if I show the slightest preference for one or the other I may provoke an attack from a fanboy. Suffice to say they both showed the amazing graphics attainable with HD gaming etc etc

6. Nintendo DS. Again surprised no one really mentioned this so far, pretty epic little device and containing technology and ideas that certainly will be built on in the future

7. Braid. I just really love Braid.

 

[Chrinik]

I nominate Half Life.

Does everybody forget it´s the first shooter to give you a nice and epic story and not just "Kill for points" was full 3D and had epic gameplay?

 

[Librarian Mike]

When I saw this thread, I thought it was for locations in games...so here are mine in no particular order:

1. The Mushroom Kingdom

2. Hyrule

3. Vice City

4. Black Mesa

5. Shadow Moses Island

6. Norfair

7. Midgar

 

[Acaroid]

I would say ultima other the WoW, mainly because of Richard Garriott coined the term MMORPG
or even Neverwinter Nights (and for those idiots out there, not the bioware one, the 1991 by designer don daglow and programmer cathryn mataga). I think these 2 are more of a significate choice of MMORPG than WoW.

Pong should also be in here, im amazed that isnt in more lists!

and Atari and the C64 should be in it (maybe as a single title like old school?) and the repective titles like space invaders and Digdug

Microvision being the first hand held game (even though it failed) but it put the idea out thier!! on the same note, gameboy, for showng how it is ment to be done! but that can go into the nintendo bit i figure.

Maze war should also be in it, not only coined as the first mmorpg type game, but also FPS

Galaxy Game should be in there, being the first coin operated video game arcade machine.

D&D is a must adn agree with everyone, not only for the rpg thing, but also the ability set up game mechanics as numbers! everygame does this now, life counter, gravety, damage models etc etc

Nintendo I agree also is a must. also think donkey kong and mario should be in the same catagory (for obvious reasons)

these are just my 2c and OH NO i think i have 8 :|

 

[mjkthedarkrabbit]

1.Nintendo- Their revival of the homesystem and their change of plans that pissed off sony enough for them to enter the market with their own system.For makeing one of the first and longest running portable systems .[eat that tiger]

2 D&D -for being there to inspire the RPG set and the fact that" Hey a story can be good to pair with a game."

3 Final Fantasy - For refineing the idea of what a RPG should be like .[Not exactly correct but it was the most popular.I prefer breath of fire myself.]

4 The first x box controler - For showing the world what NOT to do by example with controler design.]

5 the Red Ring of death- A dire warning to show that not everything is perfect.

6. World of warcraft - for proveing that gamers are not the social recluses society has made them out to be since the days of atari.

7.Rockstar games. -For manageing to almost single handedly give to the rise and fall of Jack Thompson.For causeing the government to take more notice of games and for annoying PTA groups , Relgious groups, And polititions trying toget into the spotlight for their 15 mins of fame . [ I would have used GTA but man hunt and state of emergency generated just as much if not more hype not matter how much the latter sucked.]

 

[RAWKSTAR]

Id have to add in Zelda...

 

[pieeater911]

1. Mario- One of the games that brought gaming out of the darkness of developers basements and into peoples living rooms.

2. Halo- Yes, it's over hyped and not the most amazing FPS ever, but it proved that video-games can make A LOT of money if there is enough attention thrown their way.

3. Half-Life- For being the first FPS to bring a real story into the game, instead of just "Kill this guy, kill that guy, Yay! High score!"

4. Pokemon- Why? Because EVERYONE knows about Pokemon. The damned little monsters reached near epidemic craze and are still raking in the money for Nintendo.

5. Damn near anything made by Blizzard- World of Warcraft, since it brought MMORPGS to the masses, Diablo for perfecting battle.net and still having a rather large community, and Starcraft for just being a damn good RTS.

6. The old arcade classics- Jumpman, Pac-Man, Galaga, Space Invaders, Dig-Dug, and the like. Mostly nominated for nostalgia's sake.

7. And of course Atari for being the first.