It's a pity how the good posts in this thread get almost ignored. =/

I think what many posters here forget is that the games from a certain generation that get remembered aren't usually the ones that filled the 2-5 positions in the GotY competitions. The new MGS and FF are definitely going to be remember by their many vocal fans, as well as Nintendo's first party player's games, but other than that I really think the list should be culled.

Some games that always get mentioned in threads like this are Halo 3, Gears of War 1&2, Resistance 1&2, Killzone 2, Call of Duty 4&WaW. They're all fun and exciting with incredibly high production values, but also trying really hard to do the exact same thing with a few twists. If console shooters keep evolving as fast as they have, is anyone really going to care about these games in a few years? Even if they don't, that's a whole lot of old games with bad graphics, all of which look the same to someone a few years into the future. The general focus on multiplayer might even cause them to age faster, as that's the area improving fastest, and there's no guarantee if the servers are still going to be in 5 or 10 years.

I don't feel like making a big list of my own, but think there should be less emphasis on million sellers with great graphics, and more on games that genuinely do something new and/or exciting. Oh, and I would definitely include niche games like Valkuria Chronicles and No More Heroes in the definition of classic. Sure most people don't know them, but most gamers these days have trouble naming ten good games from the last generation. They'll just call you a nerd and go back to Halo or GTA (and that's not even going into the Wii Fit/Nintendogs crowd). =P

Fallout 3
Lost Odyssey (in 10 years it will be one of those rare JRPGs you spend weeks trying to get on eBay.)
No More Heroes

We're forgetting Trico!

I'd say Braid and/or Echochrome.
Possibly World of Goo.
I don't think it'll be anything too big butget, but "simple" games that innovate.

Anything with 'Wii' or 'Mario' in title.
So Mario Kart Wii is in a class by itself lol

wonder why so many people say KZ2? its rated lower then multiple shooters on the ps3

imo:
Wii sports
Super Mario Galaxy
LBP
Bioshock
Tf2 + Portal (or just the whole orange box)

maybe:
World of Goo
Zack & Wiki
its hard to say but there are many cult hits that could be classics in the future.

No it isn't...if for whatever reason we are using Metacritic as a measure of quality, it's got two shooters above it, one of which (BioShock) isn't really a shooter at all.

If we are using IGN, it's tied highest rated shooter.

I think that VC is a classic, but if your going to judge it by success then i reckon we called call it a 'cult classic'. We could possibly compare it to okami in that whoever played the game most likely loved it but it failed as a mainstream success.

For me VC is probably one of the best and most enjoyable games I've played. It took on a unique form of an srpg, its art direction and graphics were superb, it had a very loveable and unique set of charters (eg. jann) and most of all it stands by itself in the genre, nothing compares to it at the moment, its unique... and for me that makes it a classic

The games that will be considered classics will be the ones that have really impacted people's lives.

For instance, SMB isn't just remembered because it was such a good game--or because it's fun to play now--but because of the memories that a generation of children have, and the incredible new age it ushered in for them. It gave people something new, and that, they remember.

So, it's a hard thing to predict, but on the Wii side of things I imagine that Wii Sports and Wii Fit are opening a lot of eyes. Sports especially; a bunch of young "casuals" now, who one day will be the "hardcore," in control of the online gaming forums, and writing the Top 10 lists of "classic games."