Since we're not only nearing the end of another year, but a whole decade, I've been inundated (as I'm sure you have been) with top 10 lists coming out of varied orifices from people ranging from ESPN to creepy uncle Joe down the street - who kind of put me off with his "Top 10 Ways to Decapitate Clown in 2009" list.  Though I'm not surprised that #4 involved an iPhone app made for just such a purpose.

Anyway, I'm going to join the list-mania, but only in the most half-assed way possible.  Partially because I'm sure you're sick of all the Top 10's, and partially because I'm lazy.  Here's my pick for the Top 1 Greatest Game of the Decade, as decided solely by me.  Greatest doesn't mean the most popular, most hyped, my personal favorite, or even the best in terms of gameplay.  To me, it's a game that helped define what many other video games became during the same time period.  So without ado, my pick is...

1.) Grand Theft Auto 3

Oh sure, all of the sequels were technically better (if you could put Vice City's setting in San Andreas's scope with GTA4's detail, you'd have a perfect game), but this is one of those "Once every couple console generation" games that really changed how people play in the medium.  Much like Super Mario Bros. in the 80's and Super Mario 64 in the 90's, GTA3 defined a whole new genre of game - the wide open sandbox.  Tons of games since have tried to recapture that formula.  Some worked out better than others, but it was the original that was transformative by even making us believe such games were possible.

Do you remember how you felt the first time you played GTA3?  Or watched someone else play it?  It was the feeling of finally having freedom in a video game.  Sure, you could complete a mission.  Or you could just run down some random streets for half an hour, never rerunning the same route.  Then why not hijack that guy's car and take a joyride through downtown?  And when that gets boring, why not drive a few (virtual) miles over to the suburbs and run over some guy taking a jog in the hills?  And yes, you could always bang a hooker and then feed her her own teeth, but that was just one of the many options available to you.  Just because that's what the media focused on didn't make it the core of the game.  The core was whatever you wanted it to be.

This concept was what everyone wished video games could be when we first started playing (whippersnappers who came of age after 2001 need not bother trying to understand our Neanderthal minds).  After a while, we just accepted that virtual worlds had limitations, and we had to conform to the limited paths that the game designers laid out for us.  GTA3 turned that preconception on its head, and the hobby of video gaming is richer for it.

I'm looking forward to what the next decade has to offer.