No doubt... this was a bumper crop year for me as far as gifts of games. I got Skyrim, Skyward Sword, Uncharted 2 and 3, and LA Noire. Plus I am still finishing Mario land 3D and I just opened Bayonetta, which was a Christmas gift from last year. But dang, now I gotta get Mario Kart 7!
The Monster Hunter Tri community always treated people right. I remember the first time I blew it for our team and expected to hear criticism but everyone was patient and forgiving.
It also was the first to have a definite advantage when buying a multi-platform game. Back in the 16bit wars most multiplat games had negligible differences between the SNES and Genny... This stayed the same during the PS1 vs. N64 vs. Saturn, too.
But when the XBOX had better graphics, online community, hard drive save, etc. there was no question which console to buy "Star Wars Battlefront" or "Madden" for if you owned more than one current gen console.
Oddly enough, this advantage carried into the next gen but I kinda think the PS3 has the advantage now...
Great list... It reminded me that I actually bought some CD's after hearing them on EA's NHL games in the 2003-2006 era ( I know one of them was Animal Alpha and maybe Early Man???) Man those games used to have some great music, sometimes right up there with these on the top 7 list. And no, I am not kidding- EA Sports NHL series once had great music!!!