A conversation on TED.com: Which are your top 3 computer/console games of all time?

Sabin Muntean
Karlsruhe
Germany

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

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Which are your top 3 computer/console games of all time?

Dear TEDsters,

We have all heard of quotes like "you are what you eat" or "you are what you read", but what about "you are what you play"?

I am curious to find out which games are most appreciated and loved by the TED community. Please share you personal top 3 and even more importantly mention why it is these games and not others that make it onto the podium. I am looking forward to your answers and to perhaps discovering some new challenging games.

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Topics: computer games gaming gaming industry online gaming

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Aleksander Aas
- 0
Nov 2 2011: Top 3 games is always a tough one.

I would say:

Zelda - Links awakening on the SNES
Counter Strike - PC based on playtime
World of Warcraft - PC Great game, to bad it's a time killer.
Sabin Muntean 30+
- 0
Host Associate

Nov 2 2011: To also join in I'd probably choose the Assassins' Creed series as number 1, no other game has had me stay awake for that long to continue playing it and it offers you a very special gaming experience. I've never been to Venice or to Rome in real life but now that I've wondered around there I have a feeling that I know those places at least a little bit better. Furthermore, you discover a lot of interesting historical facts although here you have to of course set these apart from the fiction added during the storyline.

Number 2 is Age of Empires II mostly for similar reasons - learning a lot about history, famous military campaigns and battles by basicall reenacting them with your troops. Adding to this you also learn to establish your base and to optimize your production and your foraging for resources. Although I am also an avid Starcraft-fan because of the game's coolness, AoE II remains on top as far as strategy goes.

Not sure about number 3 for now, I'll have to give this some more thought.
Bob Shingles 10+
- 0
Nov 2 2011: Ultima Online was very revolutionary for its time. (around 1998-2002 but still available today)

I hear people rave about WOW or the other MMORPGs but Ultima Online gave players the full package that even current multiplayer games fail to deliver.

Players could work for and buy their own houses and style them in infinite variety. Crafting trades offered months of play time alone. (plus a quick education in economics) Quests were extremely open ended, the world massive and the character customization, in terms of items, was just as massive. This was all before these features were made standard in most newer popular games.

What really shined was not the official game servers but the large community of people who worked many hours to modify and create their own servers with custom maps and systems to expand the game.

I have yet to see anything quite like it.
Druid Lutes
- 0
Nov 1 2011: I would have to go with Civ 4; Jagged alliance; and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas; Civilization had amazing replay ability that could keep me coming back and would fill any free time in the blink of an eye. I loved the open worlds that JA and GTA provided, while they both came with great story's and characters just the fact that in GTA I could get into a car and discover new areas or stunts. JA kept it very interesting as the non player characters would be almost life like in their likes and dislikes of each other and reactions.
Matthieu Miossec 100+
- 0
TED Translator Associate

Nov 1 2011: In terms of hours played, The Sims is by far my favorite video game franchise (First and second wave) for PC and I remember playing Pokemon outrageous amounts when I was quite young. Hard to find a third, I had phases for all kinds of games (on PC, didn't have any consoles except for my old gameboy). If my laptop didn't have such a bad graphics card, I'd probably re-install The Sims2 and SimCity 4 and play those.