bioshock
Feature: Top 10 mini-games
Shenmue - The game where the mini-games are the game, man.
Before venturing any further into what will surely be dubbed an inadequate list by the lot of you, I’d first like to try to define just what a mini-game is. For starters, despite what the internet seems to think, it’s not Call of Duty‘s Nazi Zombies mode; that’s a full-fledged feature. It’d be like calling Gears of War‘s Horde mode a mini game. No, mini-games need to differentiate themselves from the core gameplay in some way. But they also need to realistically exist within the context of and feel authentic to the game-world, which rules out randomly misplaced distractions like Project Gotham Racing 2‘s Geometry Wars. Lastly, a mini-game needs to be something that can be returned to again and again regardless of where you are in the game’s story. In other words, it has to exist outside of one or two quests. Oh, and I’m ruling out mini-games from mini-game compilations in this list; sorry WarioWare and Mario Party. Following this definition, I give you ten of the best mini-games in a vast landscape of mundane wood chopping and mediocre button-mashing.
Author: Cody
Feature: Video games’ 15 all-time best opening levels
Pretty memorable first level, right?
So, as I was researching this list, I was filled with a desperate urge to replay (or play) every one of these games. That’s what a great opening level will do for you. No sitting through boring tutorials, no unnecessary exposition; just cut right to the heart of the game and never look back. Now due to the nature of this list, open-world games are severely lacking here (but not completely absent!). And whether it’s because game design has gotten better over the years or because “you just had to be there” to fully appreciate a game’s innovations, this list is largely populated by modern titles (sorry, Super Mario 64). Now I’ll acknowledge the irony of this mundane intro and let you get to that list!
Author: CodyFeature: Getting to the game late
Since coming to college two weeks ago I’ve come to realize that not many people share my passion for video games, or if they do, they’re doing a very good job of hiding it. It’s understandable, though–games still tend to be viewed as childish toys by the general public. But even those who acknowledge the average age of gamers (32 as of 2010) still assume video games to be a strictly male pastime. To be fair, adolescent male power-fantasies do make up the majority of content out there, but there is so much more that the masses just don’t know about. So my question, as a person with a passion for video games (and someone who is hoping to garner some more readers for this here website), is “How should gaming veterans go about introducing the uninitiated to this world we love?”
Author: CodyFeature: Should games tell stories or build worlds?
"We could just make the player do both for us..."
Or in other words, should games narrate or immerse? We all tend to get so caught up in buzz-words and hype that we rarely stop to think about what we’re really getting vs. want we really want. It may seem like a strange thing to ponder at first. Why not just do both? Well, ideally that’s what games should be doing, but there are very few that actually manage to do this well. So let’s take a few minutes to examine the pros and cons of each side here.
Author: CodyFeature: 6 franchises that should get a fighting game
On the contrary, I strongly believe that Afro Thunder deserves his own adventure game.
Perhaps it’s a guilty and fruitless pleasure, but we as nerds love to ask the question “What would happen if these two dudes fought?” I mean, who wouldn’t like to see Kratos in a fight to the death, mano-a-mano with some other bad ass? But quite frankly, cross-overs seem to be a bit of a legal hassle. Can you imagine Sony agreeing to put Sack Boy at the mercy of some schmuck who wants to see how bean bags react to the Master Chief’s fist? Yeah, it’s probably better that we restrict this list to collections of characters from the same game universe. Because when it’s Mario pounding Peach, it’s just hot profit-generating action and everybody’s happy.
Author: CodyRandom: This should have been the villain of BioShock 2
This fine craftsman could have constructed an army of Big Daddies to do his bidding. And his Jason mask suggests said bidding would be terrifying.
Author: CodyReactions: BioShock and Modern Warfare 2 factoids
Once you proceed to read the rest of this story, that picture above will be so perfectly fitting that you’ll want to give me money ’cause I’m so money. But onward with the news. First up is news (via Kotaku) that you’ll be able to wield not one, not three, but two pistols in the most anticipated game ever, Modern Warfare 2. Sure, Perfect Dark did this ten years ago, but people seem to get their panties in a ruffle whenever the big franchise like Halo or Call of Duty catch up. Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling had this to say about the addition, which was revealed at the GameCrazy convention:
Author: CodyFeature: 11 video game characters I would not want to date
Being lonely and unwanted by the ladies sort of comes with the territory of being a gamer. So inevitably, we’ve all turned to the fantastical land of video games for hope. “If only I could find a girl like Jill Valentine. She’d appreciate me…appreciate me big time!” But would we really want to be going steady with gaming’s fairer sex? This list sort of makes being alone seem not half bad. Then again, I could have just listed off ten Fable II hookers and it would have been the greatest thing in the world. I mean, you marry those broads, and all they do is put out, take care of your neglected offspring, and shower you with gifts. And if you ever upset them, make-up sex is only a “Hat, Headband, Mustache” expression away!
Author: CodyWrite About Games!: This month’s choice selection
Well, another month has gone by and it was another hard decision, but user Cody takes the cake again. His entries are just so great that everybody else’s may as well be invisible. This particular piece, titled “BioShock in the classrooms,” is an excerpt from an academic essay he wrote on utopian literature.
Author: Cody
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