8. Duke Nukem 3D
Why Its Controversial: Duke Nukem 3D was one of the first games to hit the mainstream market that was considered to be of a comparable standard to Doom; a huge accolade that undoubtedly sits at the core of why it became so massively popular in its heyday. Thanks to its rampant sexuality, graphic violence, drug use and general foul-mouthery, its easy to see why it sparked controversy; in fact, it was one of those games that suffered through the initial games-are-becoming-evil PR sh*tstorm that you may remember well if you were of age during the nineties.
Why It Influenced Gaming for the Better: 3D Realms didnt use Duke Nukem to present anything particularly innovative in terms of gameplay (Doom had that covered), but instead, opted to push the envelope in terms of thematic content. Swearing and sexual content accentuated the ultra-violence and created an experience that was, at the time, somewhat akin to staying up past your bedtime to watch the ten-minute previews on the adult channels. To my mind, Duke Nukem was one of the first mainstream video games to go down this after hours route and years later, many games exist that echo the low-brow tone; one of the prime suspects being the GTA franchise, whose out there humour and unashamed sexual themes say nothing that Nukem didnt. Clearly not as influential as some of the others on this list, but you cant deny that it had an impact.