"We as players must become completely absorbed in the fate and lives of the characters..." A lot of us already do. Indeed, if we weren't absorbed in their fates, why do so many dress up in costumes designed to look like the clothes characters wear? Why do some write fanfictions about those characters? Better yet, why do things like anime, video game, and comic book conventions exist if not to cater to those people who are so absorbed in the fates of the characters they adore the most? If anything, the generally closed nature of literature, especially modern literature, makes it seem like, if anything, video games are a BETTER form of storytelling, because of the ambiguities that are left behind. They allow people to get a hold of the emotions and the behaviors of the characters and let them craft other stories to their liking beyond that which the programmers and main writers decided to put into the game.

The only game I'm worried about on that list is SimCity 4. I love that game, and it'd be a shame if I couldn't play it. I also notice they didn't test Age of Empires 3. WTF?