Looks like we’ve officially hit the season of end-of-decade roundups, because GameDaily has posted one of their own. Their criteria appear to be that the game had to have “paved the way for the industry as we know it today,” which explains most of their choices. (Though I do have to wonder how Uncharted 2, which came out less than two months ago, has “paved the way” for anything at this point. Not disputing that it’s an amazing game, of course…)

Anyway, the original Guitar Hero makes a strong showing in the Number 5 spot, with the following explanation:

Red Octane’s Guitar Hero transformed us into rock gods. Harmonix’s baby turned ordinary gamers into superstars with one little guitar peripheral. The soundtrack was cool, with Ozzy Osbourne’s “Bark At the Moon” and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Texas Flood” (among others), and the note-streaming interface was easy to read, but challenging to master.

Guitar Hero kicked off the mega-million dollar music franchise, which culminated this year with various releases (including Rock Band) featuring Metallica, Van Halen, The Beatles, Lego characters and other performers.

Favorite moment: Making it through “Bark At the Moon” on expert without failing.

See the complete list for the rest of their choices.

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