I bought a Gaming Magazine the other day (I never buy Game Magazines) called LeveL where they had a list of the most important games the past 40 years to celebrate the anniversary of Pong - and the birth of the Video Game Industry. I found the list intriguing; some of the games I agreed with, and others confounded me. This is the list:

40. Halo (Dev: Microsoft, Pub: Bungie, Y: 2001 <-- but that's gotta be wrong right? Bungie developed it)

39. The Secret of: Monkey Island (Dev: Lucasarts, Pub: Lucasarts, Y: 1990)

38. Alone in the Dark (Dev: Infogrames, Pub: Infogrames, Y: 1992)

37. ET: the Extra-Terrestrial (Dev: Atari, Pub: Atari, Y: 1982)

36. Final Fantasy IV (Dev: Squaresoft, Pub: Squaresoft, Y: 1991)

35. Fallout (Dev: Black Isle Studios, Pub: Interplay, Y: 1997)

34. Dragon's Lair (Dev: Advanced Mictrocomputer Systems, Pub: Cinematronics, Y: 1983)

33. Gran Turismo (Dev: Polyphony Digital, Pub: Sony, Y: 1997)

32. Pokémon Red & Blue (Dev: Game Freak, Pub: Nintendo, Y: 1996)

31. The Path (Dev: Tale of Tales, Pub: Tale of Tales, Y: 2009)

30. Passage (Dev: Jason Rohrer, Pub: Jason Rohrer, Y: 2007)

29. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Dev: Nintendo, Pub: Nintendo, Y: 1998)

28. The Sims (Dev: Maxis, Pub: Electronic Arts, Y: 2000)

27. Populous (Dev: Bullfrog, Pub: Electronic Arts, Y: 1989)

26. John Madden Football (Dev: Electronic Arts, Pub: Electronic Arts, Y: 1988)

25. Mortal Kombat (Dev: Midway/Acclaim, Pub: Midway, Y: 1992)

24. Elite (Dev: Acornsoft, Pub: Acornsoft, Y: 1984)

23. Prince of Persia (Dev: Jordan Mechner, Pub: Broderbrund, Y: 1989)

22. Street Fighter II (Dev: Capcom, Pub: Capcom, Y: 1991)

21. Minecraft (Dev: Mojang, Pub: Mojang, Y: 2011)

20. Vitua Racing (Dev: Sega, Pub: AM2, Y: 1992 <---typo? Sega should probably be the publisher)

19. Wii Sports (Dev: Nintendo EAD, Pub: Nintendo, Y: 1006)

18. Parappa the Rapper (Dev: NanaOn-Sha, Pub: Sony, Y: 1996)

17. Ultima Online (Dev: Origin Systems, Pub: Electronic Arts, Y: 1997)

16. Cave Story (Dev: Pixel, Pub: Pixel, Y: 2004)

15. Shenmue (Dev: AM2, Pub: Sega, Y: 1999)

14. StarCraft (Dev: Blizzard, Pub: Sierra, Y: 1998)

13. Quake (Dev: Id Software, Pub: GT Interactive, Y: 1996)

12. Super Mario 64 (Dev: Nintendo, Pub: Nintendo, Y: 1996)

11. Metal Gear Solid (Dev: Konami, Pub: Konami, Y: 1998)

10. Tetris (Dev: Aleksej Pazjitnov, Pub: Diverse, Y: 1984)

9. Space Invaders (Dev: Taitio, Pub: Taito, Y: 1978)

8. Ico (Dev: Team Ico, Pub: Sony, Y: 2001)

7. Half-life (Dev: Valve, Pub: Sierra, Y: 1998)

6. Grand Theft Auto III (Dev: Rockstar Games, Pub:  DMA Design (Rockstar North), Y: 2001)

5. The Legend of Zelda (Dev: Nintendo, Pub: Nintendo, Y: 1986)

4. Pac-Man (Dev: Namco, Pub: Namco, Y: 1980)

3. Doom (Dev: Id Software, Pub: Apogee, Y: 1993)

2. Super Mario Bros (Dev: Nintendo, Pub: Nintendo, Y: 1985)

1. Pong (Dev: Atari, Pub: Atari, Y: 1972)

And there you have it folks; swedish gaming magazine LeveLs 40 most important games the past 40 years - NOT the best (ET anyone?!), but supposedly the most important.

What do you all guys think about this list?

I suppose they included E.T. to show how not to make a video game. 

Well, yeah - it's a pretty important game as it's one of the reasons the game industry crashed in the 80's and let Nintendo swoop in and more or less BECOME the video game industry for a few brief years :P

I'd agree with most of this. Certainly the top 12 or so I'd say have had a huge impact on games that followed. Also quite pleased to see Parappa, Populous, The Sims, Pokemon Red/Blue & Gran Turismo listed on there. They've all done their bit!

Parappa the Rapper could easily be replaced by Street Fighter...and Id switch FF4 with FF7.

Chrono Trigger could step in for The Path (#31)....Ive never even heard of it.

Seems fair but I don't think recent indie games like The Path, Passage and Cave Story have anything to do on that list.

I think Flower deserved a spot considering the impact it had on the debate of video games as art pieces.

Where's Dune II? That was the first RTS game... it created the genre.

And shouldn't Doom be replaced with Wolfenstein 3D? Considering it was the first FPS. Actually, if we're going by first-person perspective, Ultima Underworld was probably first...

Perhaps a case could be made for Goldeneye and Unreal Tournament too... at least in terms of multiplayer.

I agree with Wolfenstein 3D replacing Doom.  Most people considering Doom way better (because it is) but I enjoyed Wolfenstein 3D a lot when it was first out.  Goldeneye 007 belongs on the list considering it was pretty huge game and showed that FPS could work on consoles (most other FPS (usually ports to console) weren't too good before Goldeneye). 

I would also make a case for WoW.  It hurts me to support it considering I got over the addiction a few years ago but it is a pretty important game considering it is the most successful MMO.

Yeah, there's a few titles on that list that could be replaced with others (like almost every indie game). I'd also switch places with a few titles on the list

They don't say if the games changed the world for better or for worse, so I'd agree with most of the games in that list.

But yeah, where are Dune II, Wolfenstein 3D, why is Final Fantasy IV in that list instead of Dragon Quest (first JRPG) and... PaRappa the Rapper?  Mr Bones mixed music and rythm before in a minigame.

And what are Ico's contributions to gaming?

Edit - I miss Civilization in that list...