NEW from VIDEO Magazine, arising out of its popular "Arcade Alley" column, it's
ELECTRONIC GAMES Magazine!
(page of PDF links) Brought to you by editors Frank Laney Jr. and
Bill Kunkel, and filled with all the latest news on programmable home console games, computer games (with special coverage for the new ATARI 800 system), stand-alone electronic devices and arcade gaming.
[more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Feb 7, 2013 -
37 comments
For Zelda Day, some points of interest regarding Zelda II, the black sheep of the Legend of Zelda series of video games:
posted by JHarris
on Dec 26, 2012 -
62 comments
Both characters remained fully clothed and there were no genital shots. But this was still the most explicit sexual content Wildenborg had seen in a video game. “It was at this point I decided to release the patch to the public,” he says. “I tossed the name 'Hot Coffee' on the file, based on the fact that the girlfriends would ask CJ in for some 'coffee' as a euphemism for sex. Hot Coffee was the first modification for San Andreas.” -
The history of Grand Theft Auto's infamous "Hot Coffee" mod.
posted by Artw
on Dec 9, 2012 -
37 comments
"The experiences of women may not be easy to portray in the aggressive world of videogames. If such a game is made - and I hope it is - it will be because its creators demanded to be heard. It will be created because women made it." (Source)
While the vast majority of video game titles are designed primarily by men, women have been a
part of video game development since the earliest arcades. Here are some of their games:
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posted by subject_verb_remainder
on Dec 1, 2012 -
40 comments
For about three years, the A.V. Club ran
Sawbuck Gamer, a regular column reviewing the week's most notable free and cheap games across all platforms, from web games to handhelds to console downloadables. It's a treasure trove of content, especially since more literary sister site The Gameological Society
took the helm, and it's publicized great desktop projects like the luscious platformer
Frogatto (
previously), feature-rich
Super Mario Bros. X (
previously), the evocative faux-web
Digital: A Love Story (
previously), interactive fiction gem
Rover's Day Off, and the hyperkinetic
RunMan: Race Around the World (
previously). But if you're in the mood for something more immediate, why not start with a list of all the original column's free A-rated online titles?
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Oct 24, 2012 -
20 comments
With 32 million active players per month,
League of Legends, the
world's most played video game, just finished it's second
World Championship with teams from the US, Russia, Korea, Taiwan and Europe competing for a $2 million dollar prize pool. The tournament was filled with
stadium sized crowds,
nonstop action,
major upsets, even
controversy.
[more inside]
posted by roaring beast
on Oct 15, 2012 -
44 comments
There’s no nice way to say this, but it needs to be said: video games, with very few exceptions, are dumb. And they’re not just dumb in the gleeful, winking way that a big Hollywood movie is dumb; they’re dumb in the puerile, excruciatingly serious way that a grown man in latex elf ears reciting an epic poem about Gandalf is dumb. Aside from a handful of truly smart games, tentpole titles like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Call of Duty: Black Ops tend to be so silly and so poorly written that they make Michael Bay movies look like the Godfather series. Taylor Clark's Atlantic profile of Braid creator Jonathan Blow has prompted some strong reactions.
Are videogames dumb? Is hard to make them not dumb? Are most things dumb anyway?
posted by Artw
on May 6, 2012 -
179 comments
Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.0 is out! An expansion on the original game, which let you play as various NES characters transplanted into Super Mario Bros., but using the rules and abilities of those characters from their original games, version 2 offers more special abilities, more characters, and your choice of audiovisual "skins" based on four Mario games from the NES, SNES, and Gameboy, along with one based on
Demon Returns. There's even
instructions for playing with a gamepad!
For more information, see the
Super Mario Bros. Crossover Wiki or watch the exciting
Super Mario Bros. Crossover trailer! [
Previously]
posted by Pope Guilty
on Feb 12, 2012 -
15 comments
"Imagine a world where casual and hardcore gamers can enjoy games together? So instead of hardcore gamers pretending to like wii sports just so they can spend xmas with their family they actually prefer it as opposed to just going off and playing the best hardcore games such as Skyrim or Fable3." From the often hilarious fake Twitter account for "Peter Molyneux 2" comes
cascore. Finally, bowling and survival horror come together.
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posted by jbickers
on Nov 14, 2011 -
13 comments
"The days when you could buy a videogame one day and get an expansion a year later are, sadly, lost in time. Instead, it seems there's a constant bombardment of DLC and microtransaction items all vying for our credit card numbers. They're in everything, from MMORPGs through to singleplayer shooters, and it's only getting worse as time goes on." -
An investigation into microtransactions and gaming.
posted by Artw
on Oct 17, 2011 -
114 comments
Ludum Dare is an annual video game development contest where the contestants have 48 hours to complete a game. This year's theme was Escape and 599 games were submitted. The winning
solo and
team created games have been announced. You can download all games and even view their source code. If you want to experience the awesomeness of real-time game development, check out the
time-lapse videos.
[more inside]
posted by Foci for Analysis
on Sep 13, 2011 -
10 comments
Back when
Super Meat Boy first came out, PETA made a parody game called
Super Tofu Boy, which sort of sucked hard.
Really hard. But the developers were amused, and so
they put a secret into the game, letting you play as Tofu Boy himself! Unfortunately, the anemic little man could only jump half as high as the titular character and was unable to run, making it seem absolutely impossible to use him in any capacity. He can't even complete
the very first level of the game.
And so, he was shelved as a joke character, and everyone forgot about him.
Or not.
{OTD}q has just released a video showing
almost every possible level possible to beat with Tofu Boy and set it to a killer soundtrack, pairing the popular fansong/remix
"The Power of Meat" with
a lovely mix of
everyone's favorite band.
posted by flatluigi
on Mar 26, 2011 -
73 comments
All your art are belong to us. Previously, Rogert Ebert said that video games can never be art.
And previously, some
disagreed. In a recent opinion piece, game developer
Brian Moriarty discusses the debate, and fires a
fresh salvo.
The piece is long winded, examining art, medium, games, and industry. He seems to conclude that games are not Art, but lengthily addresses what may be the more important question: Could they be?
posted by Stagger Lee
on Mar 16, 2011 -
133 comments
