1997 was definitely the pinnacle year in portraying what video games could become. Like someone said, GLQuake was a breakthrough in 3D graphics card support (obviously meaning that before it - the 3d engines were rendered in SOFTWARE mode), Quake II came out, Fallout was one of the most intelligent, dark and humorous games ever released - even to this day AND - the original Grand Theft Auto came out - so obviously 1997 should be 1.


There were so many great games from 1997 - here's an incomplete list of games from 1997 via Wikipedia:

* February 10 - Mario Kart 64 (N64)
* February 28 - Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (N64)
* March 20 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS) (Sega Saturn)
* April 30 - Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (PC)
* May 31 - MDK: (PC) (PS)
* June 26 - Dungeon Keeper (PC)
* July 1 - Star Fox 64 (N64)
* July 30 - Carmageddon (PC)
* August 25 - GoldenEye 007 (N64)
* August 31 - HeXen II (PC)
* September 7 - Final Fantasy VII (PS), (PC)
* September 19 - Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (PS), (PC)
* September 30 - Fallout (PC)
* September 30 - Total Annihilation (PC)
* October - Grand Theft Auto (PC)
* October 9 - Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (PC)
* October 26 - Age of Empires (PC)
* October 29 - Riven (PC) (Mac)
* October 31 - The Curse of Monkey Island (PC)
* November 14 - Postal (PC)
* December 6 - Quake II (PC)
* December 19 - Wing Commander: Prophecy (PC)
* December 23 - Gran Turismo (PS1)