I can only comment on the games I have played.

Super Mario Galaxy similar to Super Mario 64
Bioshock similar to System Shock 2
Portal is an exception.  It is well know to be one of the few amazing and original games developed recently.
Crysis similar to Far Cry
Mass Effect similar to several of Bioware's previous games, mainly Jade Empire
Zack & Wiki similar to several point and click adventures, but now has motion controls
LittleBigPlanet similar to almost every 2D platformer before that
World of Goo is original
Left 4 Dead is an amazing multiplayer fps, but similar to many fps games before it.

I could go on, but you can see how many games on your list are not really that original or genre defining.  The only ones I see there that are is Portal and World of Goo.  Any other games bear striking similarities to games before it.

I didn't mention on this one how many of these games are

1) Direct sequels with minor improvements and visual upgrade

2) Not as good/original as the game that came before it (Silent Hill 4, FFXI for example)

3) Not that good

Well, if you want to be absurdly reductionist about it, let's take a look at those games from 1998...

Grim Fandango: Similar to every LucasArts adventure game before it.

Resident Evil 2: A bigger, better RE1.

Half-Life: A prettier, more story-based Quake.

Zelda OoT: Similar to ALttP, except in 3D.

Metal Gear Solid: Basically Metal Gear with polygons.

And so forth.

Very few, if any, games exist in a vacuum. Each is built upon the innovations of previous ones. However, just as one cannot discount the innovations of Half-Life's storytelling, OoT's seamless 3D dungeon-crawling, or Gran Turismo's realistic driving controls, nor can one deny the profound innovation of SMG's mind-bending gravity-platforming, Bioshock's immersive atmosphere, Zack and Wiki's stripping-down of the adventure game genre to its bare essentials, or L4D's chill-inducing co-op (seriously - similar to many FPS games before it? Name just one that involves anything remotely like tossing furious hails of bullets at hordes of brain-chewers while barking desperate orders at the three other guys on the couch playing your fellow survivors-in-arms.)

Innovation is alive and well in modern games.

Any entertainment/art industry is more original and innovative when it is young compared to when it is older.  Look at the movie industry for example.

Note that I never said I agreed with the games in the OPs #10 item.  Some of those were sequals.  But lets take a look at them.

Half-Life is not Quake.  Quake is multipayer based and Half-Life is not.  They are completely different experiences.  I question if you have even played them if you make that comaprison.

Grim Fandango: Well known famous game I've never gotten around to playing.

Resident Evil 2: Not really original or innovative.  Don't know why he put it in the list; maybe because it was 'epic'?

Zelda OoT: Mario 64 was the first major 3D game and Zelda was the first to do it in its genre and do it really well.  Saying it is ALttP in 3D is a huge leap.

Metal Gear Solid: Same statement as Zelda OoT.  Successful 2D to 3D is a major leap.

But more than that, I disagree with peoples' list when they say "but 20## was so cool, it had blah blah blah Tony Hawk 3 and GTA3" and I'm thinking they can't be serious.

Other points: fine.

Point 10? Made my freaking head want to explode.

I would like to tell the writer of the article:

"I'm stopping at McDonalds on the way home, would you like me to pick you up a waamburger and some french cries?"

Edit: Post 300!

In what way?

In the "argh I disagree with this argh" way.

My 10, in no specific order

1. Huge amounts of Downloadable content, especially if it makes it necessary to play online like for Halo 3

2. Digital Distribution, yeah I took this one straight from the article. I'd much rather have the disk then a downloaded file that i could accidentally delete or could become corrupt

3. Casual Games, nuff said.

4. Generic, WWII shooters. Call of Duty would have faced the same fate as Medal of Honor if not for Modern Warfare.

5. Too many sequels. Yeah sequels make huge $$$ and can be great games, but how about a few new IP's *cough* Guitar Hero...*cough* Final Fantasy...

6. Lame health system in FPS's. So your saying after getting shot three times by an AK-47 I can hide behind a wall for 5 seconds and get my health back? At least picking up health packs in the old games made sense because they would patch you up, but come on every game uses regeneration now. Resistance had a good system but they decided on regeneration for the second game and fucked it up.

7. 2 Gun maximums in FPS's. Halo, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six, Resistance 2, Killzone 2. Resistance 1 was great because you had access to every gun in the game but again they fucked up the second one by having a 2 gun maximum. It was cool to be able to use every gun you had unlocked, no matter how unrealistic that was.

8. Lack of stealth play in FPS's. Yeah i have a lot of things I don't like about FPS's. I hate how no matter how hard you try to sneak in some games you end up getting shot in the ass. IT sucks. Why can't more games be like Splinter Cell/Metal Gear Solid and allow for some kind of stealth for sneakier players.

9. Noob guns in FPS's online. Everybody hates the asshole that uses the noob tube in CoD4 or the rocket launcher in Halo 3. Why do some guns have to be so much better than the other guns. Its so fucking unfair. It ruins the game for the rest of the people. I'm not saying they should take grenade launchers out of games, but don't make them so drastically better than other weapons.

10. Gears of War. Its really not that good. Its just oversized soldiers who spend half the game hunkering behind a wall blindfiring. Yeah the chainsaw and variety of enemies are very cool but its not that great.

@coolestguyever

good list, may be better than the OP
#2 is questionable. CDs break and get scratched. My Civ4 disk was used so much that it barely starts the game (ended up using no-cd crack). My digitally downloaded games work fine however. If you accidentally delete a file (which I don't see how you could) you would simply re-download the game. Any service that would not allow you to do so is crap.

#6 is very true. What ever happened to old-fashioned health bars in games. When you got hit...it really meant something.

#9 I don't see how grenade launchers/rocket launchers could not be powerful. Maybe severely slow down someone carrying them (Heavy)