@CommentatorHatman: Well, hetero/lesbian.

American games tend to follow American myths. Sex is almost always monogamous, for instance.

@Owen Good: Well, the claim that purchasing or boycotting game consoles would have any significant impact on war in the Congo is a dubious one. The metal may not come from there; even if it does, it may not serve to finance war; even if it does, it is unclear whether financing that war will cause conditions to improve…

Although something like Mario does a good job of representing the essence of one very important and influential part of game geneology, I think to pick the 'definitive' thing you need to look at games which have used most of the tools yet devised to the greatest extent yet achieved.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this video still wouldn't be as long as a Tim Rogers column.

@buddhatooda: Demon's Souls combat system: Press attack.

@Pombar: My bad on the numbering. I'm calling it a Freudian slip.

@Mad_Mulatto: Sorry, but you're going to have to hand over your testicles now.

It amazes me that people complain about Rage being derivative action shlock when it is nominated directly alongside Gears of War 3, yet another Halo title, and a Treyarch Call of Duty game.

@Tpadz: Dragon Age has a very sophisticated combat system, although I will agree that the trend is more towards silly pointy-shooty stuff these days. Certainly no one else this generation has attempted such a radical departure from what we traditionally think of as RPG mechanics.

I am actually very pleased with this list. Lots of good stuff coming to PC in the next year or two.

@Pombar: There were apparently some behind-the-scenes demos of Deus Ex 2 (one of them was recorded and got leaked).

@Crawl to China: The fact that [game I don't even like that is nonetheless on my platform of choice] isn't on this list proves that the critics are biased and corrupt beyond all imagining.

@Smash_Bro: The 3DS itself was nominated. I don't think Nintendo showed enough of any actual 3DS game to earn a nomination for something like this, though.

"We tried telling people not to do it, but then they did it anyway! We're stumped!"

What exactly is Gundam to its Japanese fans? Is there any cultural analog in America that might help me situate something like this statue? Do the people who come to see this thing do so on a lark or out of curiosity, or is it a nerd pilgrimage type deal?

To be fair, MS has a much better track record than Nintendo when it comes to keeping shovelware off of XBLA and to some extent the 360 proper. It would not surprise me if their standards for Kinect games are much higher than the standards for Wiiware games (ie: No standards at all).

People don't like Nickelback because Chad Kroeger is an unrepentant asshole.

@ninjaDance: Broken Social Scene.

No one is more authentic than Nickelback.