Call me a misty-eyed nostalgic, but for me, the “golden age” of video games is not 2008. Wasn’t 2007, wasn’t 2004, wasn’t 1978. It was the 1990′s. Where, as a predominantly PC gamer, I was treated to not only some of the greatest games of all time from companies like Lucasarts, Origin and Bullfrog, but some of the most entertaining attempts at story-telling and world-building as well.

Forget Half Life 2′s train ride. Forget Halo 3′s bombastic aspirations. I’m talking about the cinematic introduction sequence, and its little brother, the cinematic cutscene.