I think there's one thing we should be looking for that everyone's ignoring: a classic will be loved by people who were not around at the time. Anything else is just retro or cult classic.

Few if any of the HD console games will be considered classics for this reason, and even most of the Nintendo games being mentioned here will not. Very few games meet this standard today, but they are all identifiable as classics.

What?

MGS4 could look like Syphon Filter for the PS1, and it would still be a classic...what makes you think graphics have anything to do with it?

@ Kantor - read what I said to rainbird. I'm not trying to disparage the game, and I have actually played it for long enough to form an opinion. I just honestly think that in 5-10 years time, contemporary stealth games will be so much better.

MGS4 did many things right, graphics are very good, the story was compelling, the controls are decent (and I don't say that about many dual analogue stick games that require both moving and shooting)

However, I believe it failed to do a few things that will be done in the next 5 years or so, wether by a later MGS, Tom Clancy or what ever. This game needed a much smarter AI

- They aren't very observant, they tried to cover this with the 'your suit is magic' excuse, but i don't think it worked
- If they see you, all you have to do is stay out of sight for a couple of minutes and everything calms down. Lets compare that to what would happen if a man with a gun was seen sneaking around the Pentagon, White House, Buckingham Palace or even any military installation. All personnel in the facility would be notified - half would stand in the same room as anything that needs protecting, and the other half would search the grounds until the person was found. They would give up only after a matter of hours. The police would be called in to blockade the area until the army could set up an effective barricade. MGS4 needs to give you a greater penalty for being seen. It also needs to be more difficult for one man to fight off a dozen enemies in a face to face fight. Whilst that is expected in Gears or Crysis, it seems a bit out of place in a stealth game.

- The enemies need to use stealth tactics - The only time I saw this done in the game was a boss fight against that laughing chick - and it was fairly well done. Why not more of it? Enemies setting traps, hiding, baiting the main chracter. I expected more of a mental challenge from MGS4

A game like SMB is still fun today, even after playing SMG. Hence it is a classic.

I believe that MGS7 will be so much better than MGS4 that it makes playing 4 seem like a waste of time

Picross

I think you are right, but I think in terms of videogames, a game can only be classic in the way you describe when it does something very, very right, and most of the time, I think that would imply simplicty.

Then there is something like Super Mario Brothers, which did 2D platforming oh so very well, but it was also the only thing it did. In 10 years, the 3D platformers of today will most likely only be remembered by those who played them, because there will be new and better 3D platformers out. Once you have a perfect 3D platformer, and we have moved into 4D, then people will come back and play that as well.

Portal
Possibly Bioshock

Everything else has been derivative !

Hmmmm a classic in definition to me is like a game I can always pop back into my system at any given time years from now and still enjoy like back in the days...Super Mario 64, Duke Nukem, GoldenEye 64, Driver, Syphon Filter...like those great games....

For this generation il have to say going by my definition of "classic"

Super Mario Galaxy
Bioshock

Halo 3
COD 4
LBP
Portal (So much fun I didnt expect to have)
GTA 4

I say their are more but none would match the quality of the good old gen :( the N64 and Playstation days

Classics are like Final Fantasy VII,Mgs 2,Dmc 1 at their times...
I think these:
Wii Fit
Cod 4
Rock Band
Assassin's Creed
Killzone 2
Gears of war
Super mario galaxy

Absolutely. A real milestone not only in the RPG genre.

Probably Halo 3, CoD4 and Killzone 2.

@Kylie - Dude I hate Street Fighter 4. I played it at an arcade downtown and I must say it disappointed me LARGE.

Here's my list of games that will be classics: Lost Odyssey, Gears of War (the first), Wii Sport, SMG, MGS4, Uncharted...I will update as more come to mind.