In honor of the notable releases this week. Witless wants to know what your top five video games of all time are. I had a difficult time choosing, but I eventually narrowed it down.

In no particular order:

  1. Grand Theft Auto / Saints Row
  2. Goldeneye
  3. Super Mario Bros.
  4. Gran Turismo
  5. Super Metroid

But then I thought, what if you could only play the same five (video) games for the rest of your life? Then what would your choices be? After some deliberation, here’s what I concluded:

  1. Considering my voracious appetite for sandbox games (eg Grand Theft Auto or Driver) it’s no surprise that one of these ranks high on the list. In this instance I’ll have to go with Just Cause (Xbox 360), a game I bought back in October and just finally got around to playing. The gameplay isn’t anywhere near up to par with the likes of Saints Row or GTA, but it makes up for it by being massive… 250,000 acres massive. At that rate, I’ll still be exploring a long time from now.
  2. In a similar vein, I also enjoy the mind-numbing domesticity that is a trademark of the The Sims franchise. In this case I’ll opt for The Sims 2 (PC), complete with all the latest expansions. Building houses never gets old.
  3. Cars! I can’t have a game without cars. Forza 2 (Xbox 360) is going to be all the awesomeness that the original Forza was and more. I can wait until 2007 to play.
  4. I think some sort of exploratory adventure game would fit well on here, but I’m not really sure which. Any of the 3D Zelda games (aside from Wind Waker, which I’ve finished) are a good option. At the same time, maybe I’d be happier with something larger, like Oblivion or Final Fantasy XII. For now I’ll go with Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) because I want to play with the motion sensors.
  5. Hmmm, where to go now? We’ve got fast, creative, adventurous, and Xtreme… What about totally violent? A first person shooter belongs in this list. Half-Life 2 (Xbox 360) isn’t out yet, but I’ll wait. The 360 version promises a larger story (it includes both expansion chapters) and online multiplayer. Perfect.

Midway through writing this list I started adding games that are still up to a year away. I know they’re going to be great so I’m comfortable including them, but I’m not sure if that constitutes cheating. Because of that, Just Cause is in danger of losing its place to Grand Theft Auto 4 (only 12 more months!). If I wanted to be even more extreme, I’d add the recently-announced Sims 3 due near the end of the decade. But for now, I’m content with these.

Now it’s your turn. Everybody plays some sort of games, so which five are you committing to?