Since the days of the ZX Spectrum I've been a gamer, but it wasn't until 2003 that I decided I wanted to dedicate my career to the industry in one way or another. The launch of Xbox, when I was lucky enough to be involved in the beta phase and spent many a long nights embroiled in games of Ghost Recon, was where I really began to spend more time than is healthy playing games, and I tried to make it as a profressional gamer, setting up a clan to compete in European competitions for a number of years and spending any spare time honing my skills.

Before 2003, I was still very much into games though. I was pretty much playing Half Life Counter Strike on the PC on the weekends, alongside the likes of The Sims and Championship Manager, the latter of which almost caused a terminal rift in my relationship. "You need to choose between me or that bloody football game," my girlfriend at the time once said. I did actually sleep on it before making the decision, but decided that perhaps staying up half the night almost every night, phoning in sick to work when I was just tired and neglecting to speak to my partner when a match was in full swing wasn't the best way to live life.

Luckily, I now have an excuse for playing games because it's my job to do so, and my girlfriend has eventually become my patient wife who now actually shares my passion for video games (thank God!)

Though I started off gaming on the ZX Spectrum playing the likes of Knight Lore, Jet Set Willy and Jet Pac, and have pretty much been playing games regularly ever since across most of the mainstream consoles and hand-helds, it's really been the last decade in which I've spent the most time gaming, so I've found it quite easy to compile my list of favourite games, though it's still quite possible that I may have missed one or two out.

I'd really like to see your list of favourite games over the last ten years as well, so please do share your thoughts in the forums. I don't want to bore you with why I've chosen these particular games as there is a diverse range of reasons why I love them - some are just great games, others I remember with great fondness for a variety of reasons.

My favourite year in the last decade is without doubt 2006. I spent most of the summer and beyond putting in a ridiculous amount of hours into playing Oblivion and then when Zelda Twilight Princess arrived on Wii it was another game that was to consume a huge amount of time.

In no particular order, here are some of my favourite games from the last decade. I hope that the coming years will also hold such fond memories:

Half Life: Counter Strike - 2000 - PC

Grand Theft Auto 3 - 2001 - PC

Ghost Recon - 2002 - Xbox

Championship Manager 4 - 2003 - PC

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic - 2003 - Xbox

Half Life 2 - 2004 - PC

Final Fantasy XI - 2004 - PC

Halo 2 - 2004 - Xbox

Jade Empire - 2005 - Xbox

Guitar Hero - 2005 - Xbox

Resident Evil 4 - 2005 - PS2

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - 2006 - Xbox 360

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess - Wii

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - 2007 - Xbox 360

Super Mario Galaxy - 2007 - Wii

God of War II - 2007 - PS2

Grand Theft Auto 4 - 2008 - Xbox 360

Little Big Planet - 2008 - PS3

FIFA 10 - 2009 - Xbox 360

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite - 2009 - PSP

Let us know your favourites in the forums...