Game of the decade is a tough one, so many excellent contenders - Half Life 2, Unreal Tournament 2003/4, Portal, Fable II, Eve Online, Neverwinter Nights... I could go on, but my nominations would have to be:

1. Rock Band 1 & 2
Refined the rhythm game brilliantly and added the brilliant RB music store, so there is always something new to play. Not just a great game, but even greater with friends – which has given this more play time than anything else I can think of.

2. No one.
Not a single piece of hardware or any game that has made a difference to how and what we play has been down to just one person. There are teams of people that bring these things to the point where we can play/use them, so credit where credit is due.

3. Finishing Portal
Portal did so many things right and the ending was just the icing on the cake! ;) Genuinely funny and brilliantly executed. Of everything gaming related in the last decade, this is the one that keeps coming to mind.

Of course they aren't concerned, with only 180,000 people signing the petition, the impact on actual sales is going to be minimal. there will be people that signed the petition that weren't going to buy the game anyway (like me, I just wanted to make a stand for PC gaming).

Of course, out of those 180,000 people, I'd bet that most of them will buy the game anyway before the end of the year. Even if they don't, 180,000 lost sales will no doubt be more than made up for by the paid for DLC that will have no competition from user Mods or Maps.

And I'm also assuming that if someone didn't make the effort to sign the petition, then they won't bother boycotting either..

disclosure first, I have a PS3 and a 360. So I don't really care either way about the whole Microsoft Vs Sony Vs Nintendo thing - I just enjoy the games I get on whatever format I decide to get them on.

I would correct your 'never the innovator' comment.
Microsoft created Xbox Live, which is an excellent service and the first of it's kind in the console sector - with out Live, I doubt that Sony would have bothered too much about creating the PSN (which on launch seemed rushed, though now it has matured significantly).
Secondly, Microsoft introduced the Achievements, which have taken off in a huge way and have become an integral part of a users Xbox Live profile. Without these we certainly wouldn't have had PSN Trophies.

As for Natal, I don't really care about it myself or Sony 's motion controller (which is the reason why I don't have a Wii), I just don't particularly like the whole motion control way of controller games, I like joypads and joysticks. Not sure why you are so anti-Microsoft, you seem very set on bashing Natal at any opportunity, as I'm sure anyone who often reads the comments will be aware. It's you I'd have to feel sorry for, I just go about my life and play games when I have the time, I don't see what can be gained in having so much emotional involvement for or against a console manufacturer!

I don't really see what the problem is, by all accounts (which so far only come from Konami..) the game was wanting to present an accurate representation of the events that took place there and not 'glorify' it.
Sure, it is entertainment, but so are TV documentaries (since I'd assume that no one every thinks 'I want to depress myself a lot today, I'll watch a documentary about war') and there have been plenty of documentaries, TV series and movies about the Iraq War, so why are games any different?

And what makes this one any different to Call or Duty, Brothers in Arms and the near infinite list of WWII games that are available, that it shouldn't be released?

"unless Sony call's it quits, things aren't going to change. the Japanese consumer is just not interested. period. "

I'd say you are wrong on that. The impressive sales spikes they have had on the release of high profile JRPGs indicates that there is an interested market there. There was certainly resistance in Japan to the 'outsider' but I think that has reduced in the last couple of years and the market is much more open to them. The problem Microsoft have had is building a software line up that actually appeals to the Japanese. It is obvious that the traditional western style games that Microsoft has built on do not appeal to the Japanese audience and the release of 3 or 4 JRPGs in a year is not enough to build momentum.

I think Microsoft have learned a lot in Japan, and with continued deals with Square, Capcom, Namco, etc they are bound to be much more successful in the next generation - however they need to continue support in this generation in order to build a positive image of the Microsoft brand before the next gen starts. It is an uphill struggle for them, but I can see them making steps in the right direction.