Burning Crusade.

Even during my five-year break from WoW, I would still pop by the official website to check for cinematic trailers. Blizzard's CG team could probably make annual EA Sports games look exciting.

Hint #7:

You are correct sir.

You're not wrong there.  I've done the same with watching Mists of Pandaria cinematics after leaving during Cataclysm.  I think Burning Crusade, aside from being my favourite expansion, had by far the most interesting opening cinematic too.  Shame they didn't have an ending one.

I LOVE your list!

So many underappreciated games there: Wii Sports Resort, The Simpsons Hit & Run, Clone Wars, DKC3.

We have 13 games in common so far, too

Equation for #6:

(Life/2) + 2 =

6. Mario Tennis (8 last year)

First Impression: 9/10. The game had that pitch-perfect Mario charm, as well as an interesting cast of characters that were new to me (or just new, like Waluigi, but also introduced me to Birdo, Baby Mario, DK Jr, and Daisy), and the game just had so much to unlock that it kept me fascinated for quite some time.

Replay: 10/10. Many modes, many characters, and a linkup to the Game Boy Color Mario Tennis RPG allowing you to cross-train your characters, despite the game's simple premise, replay was practically infinite.

Technical: 9/10. The tennis mechanics are basic compared to, say, Virtua Tennis, but the mechanics are solid enough to keep a good strategy going while sticking to basic tennis (unlike Power Tennis, where the Power moves meant you had to clear the field of defensive possibilities). Multiple characters and modes took care of the rest.

5. Pokemon Gold and Silver (last year 9)

First Impression 9/10. The second generation of Pokemon probably got the most hype going in, with the only possible rival being the recent 6th due to the 3D transition: a whole new world of Pokemon to experience with the old world from the original games tacked on as well. A few nasty gym leaders (like Whitney and her Rollout spam) are what keep it from being a straight 10.

Replay 10/10. The best Pokemon postgame, without rival so far (closest is 5th gen, and that's still a ways back). Mystery Gift battles helped boost the score too.

Technical 9/10. Again due to the excellent postgame, and critical changes to the Pokemon formula including introducing breeding and splitting the Special skill, as well as introducing the Dark type and fixing Ghost and Bug type's problems so that psychic was finally brought down from being the default god-type, the only thing missing from the modern Poke-formula are abilities.

Half Life 2

8. Super Mario 64
Nintendo 64 (1996)
Nintendo EAD

Super Mario 64 was one plumber's  step into an unknown dimension (hah). Mario had traversed the Mushroom Kingdom, battled evil turtles, worn a bunch of animal suits, rode a dinosaur, and saved princesses... but only in the second dimension. How could a platform icon like Mario transition to the world of 3D gaming? Well, apparently really, really (really!) well. Instead of linear, left to right "reach the flagpole" level design from earlier Mario titles, Super Mario 64 adopted a more open world design in one giant world gave us multiple goals to achieve. These were literal platformer playgrounds, in which Mario could test his skills and the player could have endless fun. Each challenge was diverse, engaging, and more importantly fun... and it showed us that Mario was just as comfortable in the 3D world as he was in the 2D World. One small step for Mario, one giant leap for gaming kind.

Thank you!

Any guesses on what is left?