In the 2000s, gaming had one of its most prosperous times of growth. The “Bit Wars” between Sega and Nintendo, which ruled the ’90s, were over. In their place came the three-way battle between Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, which is still going on today.
And as for games, we had everything from story-driven epics to sports simulations to sandboxes with an open world. Here are some of the games we think were the best of the 2000s.
The Sims

The Sims is a series of life simulation video games made by Maxis and sold by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold almost 200 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most popular video game series ever.
RuneScape

RuneScape is a fantasy-themed, massively multiplayer online role-playing game that came out in January 2001. It was made by Jagex and published by Electronic Arts. RuneScape was originally a browser game made with the programming language Java. In 2016, a standalone C++ client took over most of the work.
Fallout 3

Fallout 3 is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major instalment in the Fallout series is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring the rights to the franchise from Interplay Entertainment.
Max Payne

Neo-noir video game series Max Payne is a third-person shooter made by Remedy Entertainment and Rockstar Studios. The series is named after the main character, Max Payne, who is a New York City police detective whose family was killed by drug addicts and who now fights back.
Crazy Taxi

The Crazy Taxi video game series is a set of racing games made by Hitmaker and released by Sega. The first game came out in arcades in 1999 and was very popular. In 2000, Sega put the game’s arcade version on their Dreamcast console.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 is a video game about skateboarding and the third in the Tony Hawk’s series. It was made by Neversoft and put out by Activision in 2001 for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Color, and GameCube under the Activision O2 label.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape

Rayman 2: The Great Escape is a platform game that came out in 1999 for the Nintendo 64, Microsoft Windows, Sega Dreamcast, and Sony PlayStation. It was made by Ubi Pictures and published by Ubi Soft. Ubi Soft Annecy made a version of Rayman for the PlayStation 2 that is better and is called Rayman Revolution.
Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X is the tenth main game in the Final Fantasy series. It is a role-playing video game made and sold by Square.
Counter-Strike

Counter-Strike is a series of tactical first-person shooter games where teams of terrorists fight to do a terrorist act while teams of counter-terrorists try to stop them. The first game in the series, Counter-Strike, came out for Windows in 1999.
Assassin’s Creed

Assassin’s Creed is a series of open-world, action-adventure, and stealth games made by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The games use the game engine Anvil and more advanced versions of it.
Dead Rising

Keiji Inafune made the Dead Rising games, which are action-adventure games. Capcom first made it, but then Capcom Vancouver took over the franchise. As of March 31, 2022, 15 million copies of the game series had been sold worldwide, making it Capcom’s sixth most successful intellectual property.
Resident Evil Zero

Capcom made and put out Resident Evil Zero for the GameCube in 2002. It is a survival horror game. It comes before Resident Evil and is about what the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team, a special police unit, went through in the Arklay Mountains.
Civilization Revolution

Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution is a 4X turn-based strategy game that was made by Firaxis Games and designed by Sid Meier in 2008. It is a different game in the Civilization series. The video game came out for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Windows, and iOS.
Fable II

Fable II is an action role-playing open world video game that came out in 2008 for Xbox 360. It was made by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game is the second in the Fable series. It comes after Fable, which came out in 2004.
Virtua Tennis: Sega Professional Tennis

Virtua Tennis 3 is the second arcade game in Sega’s Virtua Tennis series of tennis games. The PC-based Sega Lindbergh arcade system board makes the version of Virtua Tennis 3 work.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

The tactical shooter game Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter came out in 2006 for the Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows. As in previous Ghost Recon games, players take charge of their team as they fight off enemies and complete different mission goals.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is an action-adventure game for the GameCube that came out in 2002. It was made and sold by Nintendo. It was released in Japan in December 2002, North America in March 2003, and Europe in May 2003. It was part of the Legend of Zelda series.
Populus

A series of video games called “Populous” was made by Bullfrog Productions and put out by Electronic Arts. Populous was the first game in the series. It came out in 1989. At the time, it was seen as groundbreaking, and the term “god game” came from it.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is an action-adventure video game that came out in 2007. It was made by Naughty Dog and sold by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the first game in the Uncharted series. It came out for PlayStation 3 in November 2007.
Mario Kart Wii

Mario Kart Wii is a kart racing game for the Wii that was made and sold by Nintendo. It came out in April 2008 and is the sixth game in the Mario Kart series.
Skate 2

Skate 2 is a video game about skateboarding that was made by EA Black Box and put out by Electronic Arts. The game came out for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 worldwide in January 2009. It was a spin-off of the game Skate It. It is the sequel to Skate, which came out in 2007, and the third game in the Skate series.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

The action-adventure game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City came out in 2002. It was made by Rockstar North and sold by Rockstar Games. It is the fourth main game in the Grand Theft Auto series, after Grand Theft Auto III in 2001. It is the sixth game in the series overall.
FIFA 09

FIFA 09 is a football simulation video game made by EA Canada and released by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It came out for Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360, and Zeebo in October 2008.
Baldur’s Gate

In the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign, Baldur’s Gate is a series of role-playing video games. Both the Bhaalspawn Saga and the Dark Alliance are based on the game. Both take place mostly in the Western Heartlands, but the Bhaalspawn Saga also goes to Amn and Tethyr.
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