While those are all great, I do not think they quite measure up to 1999.

I suspect you might have been the same age in 1999 as I was in 2004. To me, the games from 2004/2007 have shaped and defined the games being released now. CoD rewrote the shooter genre and is still one of the biggest games in the world. GTA:SA is a marvel of a game on so many levels. WoW is.... WoW. And Half Life 2 gave us steam.

11?

For what it’s worth, I do think they were genre defining. I was trying to think of arguments against that statement, and just can’t come up with anything. I suspect it’s just the 5 year difference that allowed equally amazing but different games to get the same label again :)

It’s interesting that I probably have to go back several years to get a list with a similar number of titles these days.

2004 also brought Doom 3. It was significant for competing with Half-Life 2 for "best graphics" at the time. Even today, Doom 3 is still a visually stunning game.

2004 also had V:tM Bloodlines, as flawed as it was on release.