You guys have short memories!!

First racing game i played when i was seven crazycars 3!

Theme Hospital man i loved that game

Worms Oooo i did enjoy playing worms i was able to throw nades anywhere!

Duke Nukem 3D such a cool shooter!

GrandPrix 2 the AI are still impressive today and the cars handling apart from the graphics it could br said to be as good as Sony is making now shows a lot for Sony.

Toca touring cars and Nascar two i enjoyed both remember crowding round my PC playing with my freinds racing eachother in Toca and at times using the tank cheat.

then GP3 GP3 2000 GP4 all good games

Then Nascar 3 and 2003 N2003 still one of the ultimate Sims and online games

Spy Hunter (on my zx48)
Stunt Car Racer (on my atari st)
Micro machines (still play on my mates megadrive )
the Sim City series up to and EXCLUDING 4 (3000 being the best and still installed on my hard drive)
The biggest influence has to be LFS though

edit - doh! I forgot about Pirates! The original on my Amiga (or was it the ST?) and I got the new one as well pirate: pirate smiley doesnt work

edit 2 - pirate smiley has been fixed! woot! (do people still say that?)

Hmm... off the top of my head and in order of influence:

1. Elite
   
2. Pirates!
   
3. Sierra adventure games
   
4. Impossible Mission
   
5. The Ancient Art of War (mapmaking fun)
   
6. LucasArts adventure games (much later on)
   
7. F1 Grand Prix (World Circuit) - I still have the name "Luigi Rivellini" stuck in my head - has to be the best ever Italian-sound-a-like racing name.
   
8. Jet Set Willy ( )
   
9. Virus
   
10. Grand Prix Circuit (Accolade's... too many hours on this one)
    
11. Rogue
    
12. Prince of Persia and Another World (both 2d platform action/adventure games known for their smooth animation)
    
13. Starglider
    
14. Bard's Tale
    
15. Test Drive (yes, the original 2d one - three types of turns and 4 types of traffic)

Hmm... I should stop editing this list... it'll just get longer and longer... *sigh*

Quote from Simon Savage :

Duke Nukem 3D such a cool shooter!

Doh! I forgot about this one! I love the Nukem series

Wow Ive been playing games so long that is hard to come up with just a few. I remember that my first system was the orig. atari and it cost 320$, holy god, does the xbox 360 even cost that much, boy how the times have changed. I guess the most influential games would have been:

anything with a car or bike to drive, all started by Pole Position, and Excite Bike

the Mortal Combat arcade game(I remember me an all my friends would leave school at dinner time on friday to go to the mall to play that for hrs till the mall closed, then we would go get drunk, wake up sat. to do it all over again, stupid ass teenagers)

and probably Doom, it got me hooked on shooter games and was pretty much the first pc game I ever played, and it also had a real cool Star Wars mod(or was that Doom2)

Hi... I guess y'all really mean video games, not just any ol' game
So, I'll go with Defender. and Beserk. Those two games made me realize
the potential of video games.

A as far as computer titles... sierra's Wings of the Pacific. THat game alone made me get a computer

Westwood's Red Alert. This game was the first RTS game I played and turned me on to LAN play.

Age of Empires Rise of Rome. This was the game of choice for me when we first got internet access. I loved online gaming.... for a bit, then things started to suck with cheaters, clans... and those whiny assed ping freaks.
You could never get a decent game going if one of them showed up.

Life for Speed... Uh this is kinda weird about this game...
I had recently lost what was pretty much my only true friend to a
Diabetes related heart attack. I pretty much burned out and didn't do much of anything anymore... then i stumbled
onto this game about a year later & i dunno something clicked and
I started to get back to being halfway normal again.

Too bad you didn't meaqn board games...
I learned how to interact with others thru Chess and I learned my sense of morality with Sorry....

Ah the good old times

I remember spending hours, days and even weeks in front of the PC together with an old friend of mine when we were only 10 or 11. Some of the most influential games in this period were:

• the Wing Commander series (especially WC Armada and WC3. Damn, we soooo loved the story&feel of it)
  
• Bioforge (really fine game for the time when it was released... with a very disturbing and "freaky" plot. It was back in those days where such cheesy horror stories actually DID shock and at the same time amaze you )
  
• the Command & Conquer series, especially C&C1 and C&C: Red Alert
  
• The Myst Series. Well, we were a little young for understanding the more complicated puzzles, but it was still fun.
  
• Carmageddon - revolutionary crash physics and a virtually free environment to experiment with. We just loved it!
  
• The Incredible Machine. Oldie but goldie. Everyone should have tried this. Just wicked!

But there were many other games I'd consider the most influencing:

• the NFS series. I was really having a blast playing the NFS1 demo and I was so amazed by the full verison including all the nicely made car demonstration videos. I liked NFS3 and played it a lot, when some day NFS4 came out. I think that was the time when I first started hotlapping I did have some competition with a friend of mine and we even had our own Excel chart to compare our times
  
• Some random Formula 1 sims, can't remember their names exactly. What I do remember is GP3 which I was playing for quite some time.
  
• Viper Racing... ah, I really loved that game. It was one of the first games I played that had the feeling of a real simulation about it. I also liked roaming the tracks and just playing with the physics.
  It was also the first game I seriously played with a wheel. Heck, I even completed the carreer mode all over
  
• Diablo 1 & 2. Damn, I just loved Diablo 1 to death. It was so revolutionary at that time and it just awoke the collector's and adventurer's spirit in me. I remember endless coop-1on1 multiplayer sessions with my uncle. Multiplayer was completely new for us at that time because we both didn't have internet. So it was a real blast being able to actually coordinate and cooperate with a real person while playing Can't remember how often I/we completed it... must have been 10+ times or something. Same with Diablo 2, even though it lacked the original Diablo 1 charm.
  
• Baldur's Gate. Awesome and very immersive story.
  
• Ultima 9. I really loved how immersing and real this world felt. Being able to walk everywhere just without delay, some places even felt like "home" when you returned
  
• The Tomb Raider Series up to Tomb Raider 3. After that it became only repetitive commerce with little innovation.
  
• Comanche 1 - I think it was the first game I played on my very first PC, a 386 DX-30 and I totally loved it
  
• Half-Life and almost any other 3D-shooter at that time.
  
• Counter-Strike for a while, but I got really fed up with it some day. I was glad when I found LFS and could leave CS. LFS really is just as addictive, but doesn't have all this unfriendlyness and harsh tone in the community. Also I think LFS is much less luck-dependent than CS... you know that if you spin, it is your fault, not somebody else's luckshot

Well, there's still so many more games I'm sure I have forgotten. But yes, there's been a lot.
Nowadays I'd say I'm playing 95% LFS and 5% just for a real change.

(in approximate order of influence)

GP2
This really made my modding and racing interest jump to a whole new level. In fact, back in the day of GP2, I was the 5th fastest driver in the LFRS league with an LFRS champion as my team-mate GP2 was also where I invented the technique of TC-switching which eventually spread around the leagues (after much skepticism, and people saying "Don't be stupid, it doesn't work") and was declared the fastest starter in the LFRS! That and helping Juha Viitala with his carsets made it so much fun This continued, to a lesser extent, into GP3. And my interest in the series hit a low (after owning F1GP, GP2 and GP3 previously) with GP4 when the modability was greatly reduced, everything became so much more complex to mod and - it just lacked something that GP2 had. However with GP3 I did have many fun times with people like GP4Flo, Addie Walti and many more of the great guys of the pre-GP4 GPx community.

Live for Speed
Having been around since the first release of Live for Speed, and having spent many thousands of hours racing around the various tracks in the various cars, I must say - I'm hooking. Not as hooked as I was to GP2 - though. But I'm sure that as our beloved sim develops, it will draw me in as much as GP2 ever did.

Richard Burns Rally
Having the opportunity to beta RBR I was so very excited - I'd noted all the news items, screenshots, movies, EVERYTHING, meticulously - and now it was time to play. I was so hooked, I played for days on end, barely stopping for sleep, bodily functions or anything else! Addictive, and the best physics of any sim to date or since - end of story.

GeneRally
I was so hooked on this for several years. I still would be if I had the time and the community wasn't so (largely) n00bish now. I still mod the GeneRally forums (having been part of the community since the first week of release), but have very little in-game time now.

Lock On: Modern Air Combat
Rekindled my love for flight simming - and doing it at the most detailed level. My squadron (Moose Squadron - http://moosesquardon.mine.nu) were a very professional group of guys, we took everything professionally and seriously in the air, proper communcation protocols and flight missions. I spent many hundreds of hours on fully planned scrims and bombing raids. And many more hours trying to nurse a damaged plane, leaking fuel, back to the airbase before getting caught by incoming Russian SU-33s who had just taken off from a nearby carrier Buggy as hell, but still the best combat flight-sim ever - possibly the best flight sim.

F1GP
My first real sim, after having played a number of regular "driving" games that were around before (you know the ones). This really sparked my interest - and I enjoyed the game so much!

Grand Prix Legends
Well, what do we say? Although I never spent as much time in GPL as I did in other sims - I've always loved it. The detail of the physics, the excitement, the skills required, it all just made for an amazing sim. Oh, and the community - *THE* community

Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
I had great fun playing this with my friends over at The Jedi Academy and I've had many fun hours of sabre-locking and force battles with the great guys over there.

Gran Turismo series
this damn game gave me a chuck it sideways and hang on style of driving in real life which is gone now (thank god)

Live For Speed
this game helped me to practise starts which helped alot in real life, but it has made me ruthless on the track

thats about the only games i played, apart from final fantasy 7 about 6 years ago. oh and resident evils

oh and i played sonic on the master system

PC

X-Wing/Tie Fighter
Tex Murphy games
Lucasarts adventures
GP1/2
Wing Commander III/IV
Larry I
Rebel Assault I/II
Indy 500
Indycar Racing
LFS


Consoles

Zelda games
Castlevania games
Mega Man games
Mortal Kombat games
Mario Kart SNES
EA NBA games
GT2
F-Zero
TOCA 2 PS1
Final Fantasy GB
Sega Rally and Daytona Arcade
Gargoyle's Quest

Hmm, in a rough order of discovery...

Turbo Esprit (On my spunky ZX128 +2a)
XJ220 (On my even more spunky Amiga 500)
Doom
Sim City 2000
Quake (specifically with team fortress)
Quake II
Gran Turismo
Everquest
And of course LFS

Turbo Esprit was the first driving game I ever played, and I loved it despite it taking 10 minutes to load.
Pretty red and blue bars. *beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep**bip**beeeeeeeeeeeeieieieieiieeep**bip*

Heheh, brings back some memories

*edit* Oh, forgot these two
Abes oddysee
Abes exodus

Probably the only game on the planet where you can possess your own fart and blow stuff up with them, and thats not to mention they were really funny; and there were some decent puzzles.
*/edit*

Super mario kart (SNES)thousands of hours in multiplayer
Stunt race FX (SNES)
Formula 1 1997 (PS1)
Die hard trilogy (PS1)
Destruction derby 2 (PS1) ...not mean i'm a wrecker
PES 4 (PS2)
Need for speed SE (1995) ...on a 486DX4/120MHz
Burning road (PS1)
Resident Evil 1 (PS1) !!!THE GAME!!!
Sega virtual Tennis 2(arcade)
Sega rally 1&2 (arcade)
Sega touring car (arcade)
Point blank (arcade)
and sure LFS

Quote from hijacker(GR) :

...
Destruction derby 2 (PS1) ...not mean i'm a wrecker
...

I actually remember to have done some hotlapping in that game

Quote from biggie :

The Incredible Machine. Oldie but goldie. Everyone should have tried this. Just wicked!

Yes I remember this, outstanding brainteasers!

Turbo Outrun (C64)
Test Drive (C64)
Stunt Car Racer (C64)
Grand Prix Circuit (C64)
F1GP
NFS (the SE version to be exact)
Indycar Racing 2
Viper Racing
LFS

Those are the ones that I've spend a lot of time with. That doesn't mean titles like GPL or NR2003 would suck - I just haven't driven them that much.

Oh yeah, I've played Quake and it's mods for quite a bit aswell

star wars galaxies

it's the game i played for the longest time ever, even were a beta tester for more than a year.
As for old game it's wizardry 6: the bane of the cosmic forge which I played for ages. I still could solve it, if I had to

I'm not making a long post.

Live For Speed
Gran Turismo 1
...Kitten Cannon ( www.addictinggames.com/kittencannon.html )

not really in any order... just as I remember them, probably a lot more but these come to mind first.

Grand Prix
Kings Quest III
Test Drive
Leisure Suite Larry
Police Quest
Sim City
Mario Brothers III
Super Mario Kart
Super R-Type
Mortal Kombat
Indy 500
Metal Gear Solid
Gran Turismo 1
Toca 2
Medal of Honour (first PSone version)
Final Fantasy VIII, X & X-2 (more so VIII as it was my first Final Fantasy)
Diablo II
Operation Flashpoint
Neverwinter Nights
LFS
Battlefield 2

I don't know, if you can say "influenced", as I really don't know, which games influenced me how. But there are some classics, which had me have lots of good times.

My first memories concerning Computer games ( with an old Amber/Black screen): Accolade's Grand Prix and Microprose's F15 Strike Eagle II

Then, after having my first colour screen (which was a much gretare advance than my first 3d Accelerator):
Prince of Persia
Test Drive II Th Duell
Zak McCracken

The rest is not associated with hardware-updates:
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Monkey Island
Stunts (4D Sports Driving)
Street Rod
Wing Commander (II to V)
Privateer
Ultima VII, VIII, IX
NASCAR Racing
Strike Commander
Need for Speed (Played all of them, up to UG2, but dunno about MW)
Unreal (With my first 3D acceleration card)
European Air War
Falcon 4.0
Civilization 2
Terra Nova - Strike Force Centauri
IL2 Sturmovik (+AEP+PF)
Hitman I + 2 (Contracts sucked IMHO)
Counter Strike
Frontline Force (HL mod)
Rainbow 6 (All major parts, not the pricey "add-ons")
Infiltration (UT mod)
Red Orchestra (UT2k4 mod)
Operation Flashpoint
Morrowind
GTR
World of Warcraft

My non-PC Classics:
Secret of Mana (Played through it in coop at a friends SNES)
Zelda - Ocarina of Time
Gran Turismo 3 (Which was the sole reason for me to buy a PS2)
Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 (which are to me more like Manga movies with short periods of interaction. Quite entertaining though)
Kill Zone (I really dig that gritty WWI/II-Sci-Fi scenario and amosphere. Also, due to the limiting control with the joypad, you behave more realistically in Console shooters, not being able to move nad run at the same time properly )
Soul Calibur 2

Many of tehse above are still played from time to time, but ATM, most of my gaming time is consumed by the following:

LfS
GT Legends
Red Orchestra
Civilization 4
Rome - Total War
Gran Turismo 4

EDIT: After many edits, which I used to add some games which slipped, it just occurred to me that I might spend too much time gaming... should go out more

- Arcades
Outrun (+also works great with MAME)
Enduro Racer
Chase HQ
1943
Hard Drivin'

- Spectrum 48K/128K
Manic Miner
Match Point
Squash (amazing )
Turbo esprit
Elite (yay 3d )
Platoon
Stunts 3D
Flying Shark
Head over hills
R-Type

- Atari ST
Interphase (amazing 3d exploration)
Dragon's Lair (fun animation)

- PC
Loom
Wolfenstein/Doom 1/2
Tomb raider 1/2 (1st 3d accelerated game i've played )
Collin McRae 2 (PS emu/PC)
GT 2 (PS emu)
Hitman 1/2 (just amazing)
Splinter Cell 1/2
LFS

he.. many years of gaming

zelda ocarina of time on the n64. first zelda game i ever played and still something i hold close i must have been about 14 at the time, totally controlled my life for the longest time

Quote from avih :

Hitman 1/2 (just amazing)

:doh: How did I forget the Hitman games. I nearly got sacked from bunking off playing the original Hitman.
Hitman 2 was just as good, which is rare for a sequel, but Contracts fell a bit short IMO.

I have been playing video games since the very early days but here is my hit list. All have been responsible for taking many hours of my life.

Defender, Robotron & Tempest (Arcade)
Simple twitch games but great playability etc.

Dungeon Master series (Atari ST)
Great role play style game. Very dated now but great at the time.

Stunt Car Racer (Atari ST)
All ready been mentioned I think. This was great in 2 player and the tracks were just mental. The feel of the cars was good as well.

Doom 1/2, Quake 1/2 & 3
iD games have to appear in any list of games that had an impact on gaming. Doom 3 was a little of a let down, stunning visuals that could scare the crap out of you (Play in the dark with headphones ) but gameplay was dated so this was the first iD game I never completed. iD made game demos a must and have always pushed hardware to breaking point. Q3 was the top level in deathmatch and ctf play with solid online and physics and a feels that some still cant match.

Half Life 1 & 2
Great games in their own right and without these we would not have CounterStrike, a game with over 100000 players at peak times of the day.

Deus Ex
Follow on from system shock series and one of the best RPG's in an FPS setting. Free form, great story and graphics. The follow up, Deus Ex 2, was too short and dumbed down for the masses.

GTA 1, 2, 3, VC
What a great series, loads to do and see and endless gameplay. Oh to have the LFS physics engine in this game

LFS
This has pulled me in as much as Quake 3, although I have a few years to go before I would have clocked up the hours that Quake 3 took from me.

Real Flight Sims
I worked on military and commercial flight sims for 10 years. Not your normal PC sims, full blown £10mil system used to train pilots. Not really a game unless you do a lot of night shift and need to "test" your software for hours on end Yes a 747-400 will loop... If you take it to 35000feet and then point it at the ground until you hit 10000feet and then pull back and hope. wahahahah I love full motion platforms

Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 2
Toca 2 Tourng Cars
Delta Force Black Hawk Down
Gran Turismo 2
Sim City series
Monkey Island
Grim Fandango

Live for speed
Halo 2 ( xbox )
Need for speed ( xbox)
Hard truck 18 wheels to steels
Ghost recon 2