Top 5 most important computer games

Space Invaders

Space Invaders first burst onto the scene in 1976 and was a huge success. The inventor, Tomohiro Nishikado, had to create custom hardware to support the game. After the first few months following its release in Japan, the game became very popular.Speciality arcades opened with nothing but Space Invaders cabinets, and by the end of 1978, it had installed over 100,000 machines and grossed over $600 million in Japan alone. It was the best selling video game and highest grossing entertainment product of its time with comparisons made only to star wars, the highest grossing film of the time. It was so popular that there was a coin shortage.

 In 1980, the game was licensed  by Midway for production and use in the United States. The mania wasn’t quite as intense - no coin shortage - but Space Invaders was still a phenomenal success. The same year, it was released on the Atari 2600, making it the first ever home conversion of an arcade game. Several dozen thousands 2600 consoles were then sold only for playing Space Invaders Eventually Space invaders lost its arcade supremacy to give way to games such as pac man, asteroids and centipede but without Space invader it is likely that these games wouldn't exist.

Super Mario Bros

Released at the launch of the original Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Mario is also largely responsible for the NES’ initial success. It was the best-selling game of all time for over two decades. It revived the industry at a time when it was struggling and Mario has gone on to become Nintendo’s flagship character with each new system they release.
Super Mario Bros. popularised the side-scrolling genre of video games and led to many sequels in the series that built upon the same basic premise the game has sold 40.24 million copies, making it the best-selling video game in the Mario series and the second best-selling game in the world.

Almost all of the game's aspects have been praised at one time or another, from its large cast of characters to a diverse set of levels. One of the most-praised aspects of the game is the precise controls. Mario is still going strong today with games such as Mario kart and remakes of the original.

 

The Sims

The Sims is a strategic life-simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright also known for developing SimCity. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual persons in a suburban household near SimCity.The Sims was unlike any other game because there were no enemies to defeat, no game to win, and no high score to achieve. After being launched in 2000 the Sims became the best-selling PC game of all time in 2002 and by February 2005, the game has shipped 16 million copies worldwide.It was developed for use on games consoles in 2003. The Sims is one of the most heavily expanded computer game franchises ever, with a total of seven expansion packs produced each  generally adds new items, characters, and features.

Critics praised it with positive reviews. It has been a success in many ways by attracting casual gamers and female gamers that actually make up almost 60% of players. On May 25, 2007, it was announced that The Sims film rights had been purchased by 20th Century Fox It will be written by Brian Lynch, the writer of Angel: After The Fall. The film will be produced by John Davis, who has worked on films such as Norbit




Wii Sports

Wii Sports came packed with the Nintendo Wii console when released in 2006 and because of that it enjoys the status as being the best-selling video game of all time with over 75 million copies sold. But more importantly, Wii Sports became the greatest social video game, allowing friends and families to compete in sports. Wii Sports has bridged generations becoming the game to have a strong following among senior citizens. Wii Sports has thrived in retirement communities. It also became the game that resulted in the most player injuries due to its physical game play. It totally changed peoples views on gaming with the stereotype of gaming is only for teenage boys being proven wrong when your grandma gets up and beats you in a boxing match (I'll never bounce back)


Need for Speed

The Need for Speed was released in Japan in 1994 first released on the 3DO and ported to other systems, developed by Electronic Arts Canada and published by Electronic Arts. It is the first title released in the Need for Speed series. The premise of the game involves racing in sport cars, including several exotic models and Japanese imports. The game was noted for its realism and audio and video commentaries. Electronic Arts teamed up with automotive magazine Road & Track to match vehicle behaviour, including the mimicking of the sounds made by the vehicles' gear control levers. The game also contained precise vehicle data with spoken commentary, several magazine style images of each car interior and exterior and even short video clips highlighting the vehicles set to music.

It was the first "realistic" driving game which has lead to many more today which include the Forza motor sport series - my personal favourites
 

 Other important games include the call of duty series notably Call of duty 4 because of the online gameplay. Also the Pokemon games, tetris, world of warcraft and pac man