Generally well-constructed, though i would have swapped out #10 for a rant against the growing prevalence of online play.

For some games I agree with you, tacking online play onto games where it just doesn't make sense is stupid. But for some other games, its the best thing to happen since sliced bread. If you are gonna say they should do local multiplayer rather than online i'm gonna say no. I never, ever, do local multiplayer when I can do online.

I'm the opposite, its much more fun to play against friends face to face

When you don't have friends who play games within 100 miles of you its hard to do that.

The list is spot-on

1998. so awesome

Wow, that article was really good! I expected it to be just another mediocre article full of fanboyism and stupidness.
My favourite is nr 3, some people should really think about that one.

10 was lame, because hey, look at 2001

red alert 2, DMC, GTA3, tony hawk 3, civ 3.....oh wait I'm sorry, that was just one month in 2001

ok how about 2004?
GTA: San andreas, Shin Megami Tensei: nocturne, Paper Mario thousand year door, killzone, World of Warcraft, Silent Hill 4, Fable, The sims 2, Starwars battlefront, Katamari Damacy, monster hunter, rome:total war, doom 3, viewtiful joe, pikmin 2, halflife:source, driv3r, red dead revolver, painkiller, manhunt, siren, cityofheroes, lineage 2, ff11, syberia 2

do I need to even bring up 2008? Or the mind blowing lineup that is 2010?

I could list a random year with some random games too.

Doesn't change that as time goes along, games get less and less innovative and original, even if they become more refined.

Calling BS. Let's take a quick glance at the past two years...

2007: Super Mario Galaxy, BioShock, Portal, Rock Band, Crysis, Mass Effect, Uncharted, Jeanne D'Arc, Zack & Wiki, Puzzle Quest, SMT: Persona 3, Skate, Peggle, Super Stardust HD, Odin Sphere, Pac-Man Championship Edition

2008: LittleBigPlanet, World of Goo, Braid, Left 4 Dead, Dead Space, The World Ends With You, Sins of a Solar Empire, Patapon, Valkyria Chronicles, The Witcher EE, Audiosurf, Professor Layton, Boom Blox, Spore, No More Heroes

And so far this year...

2009: Batman Arkham Asylum, Beatles Rock Band, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, Plants vs. Zombies, Shadow Complex, Little King's Story, Flower, Trials HD, Swords & Soldiers, Rhythm Heaven

Most of these titles are new IP (and the few that aren't might as well be for all of their originality), and all are genre-defining in some way or another. And I didn't even list the worthwhile sequels/continuations of most existing IP, nor the myriad of innovative-but-flawed games that came out each year. (I was really tempted to add Henry Hatsworth and Bit.Trip.Beat to the '09 list, for example.)

While big-budget HD games may be (mostly) wandering down a path of sameness, what we're seeing instead is low-budget experiments from small companies carrying the torch of originality and innovation.