With the clock approaching midnight on 31 December 1999, we feared anything with a microchip was about to explode. Thankfully, nothing did. Instead we entered a decade where gaming improved dramatically - better graphics, deeper storylines and body parts as controllers. In honor of The Sims 10th Anniversary, we take a look back at the top five most influential games of the last decade. Starting appropriately with...

1. The Sims (2000)

The Sims introduced a whole new audience to the world of gaming and was one of the most influential games in the space.

“The Sims was one of the first games to open up gaming to a much wider audience and it rewards and attracts a certain type of player that is more self motivated and more creative. It was based in a world that most everyone could recognize even if they were a non-gamer.” – Will Wright, Creator of The Sims

Celebrating its 10th Anniversary in February, The Sims has been honored by hundreds of awards, graced the cover of over 50 mainstream and gaming magazines and has been the best selling PC game six out of the last ten years with over 125 million copies sold. In June, The Sims 3 launched selling over 1.4 million copies in its first week and over 4.5 million copies to date making it the #1 best-selling PC game of 2009.

"I think one of the unique things is that no one has effectively copied it yet. When you look at all the other game genres, usually there is a big hit and everyone comes out with their version of the big hit and then it becomes a whole genre. The Sims is a whole genre with no clear competition." - Will Wright

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