http://www.critical-distance.com/2013/10/27/october-27th/
http://www.critical-distance.com/2013/11/03/november-3rd/
§INSPIRATION
By replacing immersion with the frame of attention, which is a
word that holds scientific and psychological significance, we can use
this frame of attention to make more meaningful observations.
/.../
It’s worth remembering that realism is not fidelity.
/.../
And
Anita Sarkeesian says as much in her videos: remember that it is both
possible (and even necessary) to simultaneously enjoy media while also
being critical of it’s more problematic or pernicious aspects.
/.../
Failure
in games often implicitly suggests that you aren’t grokking a system
and that therefore you’re misunderstanding the text. But Cart Life
doesn’t require mastery of its systems to understand what it does. In
fact, playing Cart Life well misses the point.
/.../
[on
Depression Quest] After a really rough time, my character fought his way
out of deep depression, just a bit. And I reached a decision tree with
five choices, and for the first time, all five choices were blue and
available to me. No AAA video game power fantasy, no immersive sim, has
ever made me feel as close to having as much agency as I felt like I had
in that moment.
/.../
[on Kentucky Route Zero] The choices are
not about making change in the game world, but determining the
character’s intentions. You can never exhaust all the content in a
dialogue tree because it cares more about the beautiful transience of
conversation. It’s about what questions you ask, which information you
seek, and which you don’t - not because any of it is quest-specific, but
because it affects how you perceive your character.
/.../
Failure,
choice, realism, these concepts and any value we assign to them are
destroyed by these games. They don’t erase failure, or devalue choice,
they come from a different frame of mind completely.
/.../
Video games don’t exist.
We invented them.
And we can destroy them.http://samcrisp.tumblr.com/post/62718211352/how-to-destroy-everything-or-why-video-games-do-not
§BIOSHOCK
BioShock Infinite is the worst game of the year.
It’s an
unjustified shooter without a single new idea. It’s a self-gratifying
spectacle that confuses cunning with depth. It’s a craven, heartless
game of false moral equivalencies that uses the suffering of oppressed
people as window dressing, as theme, while it explores its own cold
metaphysical conceits.
For its lack of humanity, for its fake
guilt, for its flat boring gameplay, for its 100 million dollar cost,
for its cleverness, for its cowardice, BioShock Infinite is not just the
worst game of the year. It’s the worst game I’ve played this
generation.
/.../
The BioShock series’ great talent thus far seems
to be thematizing videogame conventions rather than challenging them.
It has mastered the safe subversion, never mind its conservative heart.
Clever self-awareness trumps actual innovation. And gamers eat it
up. Because we love to feel smart, removed, safely above it all.
http://tevisthompson.com/on-videogame-reviews/
§
... Where the self-examination begins. We start to see something
about our own, internalized, beliefs and acceptances of colonialism, um,
through shooting people in the face."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FylamIJ19n8
§METAL GEAR SOLID 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_-jyF987MQ
§NARRATIVE: WALKING DEAD/BEYOND: TWO SOULS
But on a deeper level, throughout the series, we made decisions about
what kind of a man Lee was, and how Clementine would see him. Our
choices may not have affected the story outcome or averted his death,
but they certainly affected his life—they made him the character we got
to know and care about. (Or, depending, dislike but maybe
understand.) One could make the same argument about the Mass Effects and
Dragon Ages of the world, but given that The Walking Dead was a
character study as much as it was an adventure, the fact that our
decisions affected Lee's character is more central to the game's meaning
as a whole. Game critic Sparky Clarkson has effectively encapsulated
why player choice mattered in a post over at his blog awesomely titled
"Your choices don't matter." Rather, the choices do matter, he says, but
"they don't matter in the way that they appear to."
Lee's choices
don't change the world, or alter the fundamental flow of the story. He
can do nothing to keep the drugstore safe, preserve the motel
stronghold, or prevent the treacheries in Savannah. If those are the
kinds of choices that "matter", then Lee's decisions don't. But
decisions that mattered in that way wouldn't really fit the themes of
The Walking Dead. It's not a world where a man ultimately has any real
power to save anyone.
But the choices in The Walking Dead aren't
really about changing the world, they're about changing Lee. The
player's choices define who Lee is, whose company he values, what
principles he chooses to uphold. The world reacts to those decisions, in
subtle ways that either reinforce those decisions (for instance, in the
developing friendship with Kenny) or play off them (as in the case of
Duck's fate). The player's choices matter because they establish a
context for his emotional connection, through Lee, to the game world
http://kotaku.com/5964667/yes-your-choices-in-the-walking-dead-mattered
§
Most players are used to a "choice" moment, i.e. "PRESS X TO THIS,
PRESS Y TO THAT". Since they never saw that anywhere in the bar, a lot
of players didn't know they had the option to leave. [BEYOND: TWO SOULS]
Players
are also used to the outcomes of choices being obvious. Someone dying,
someone leaving, someone lying, etc. Subtlety and nuance are not things
that games are implementing left and right. When something as low-key as
a buried phobia rearing it's head hours later in the game is a
consequence, it's understandable for it to go over a lot of heads.
/.../
An
Adventure game like Beyond that does away with standard HUD elements
just doesn't look like it's as advanced as it is. Players are most
likely to assume what they are seeing is a pre-determined part of the
game, and not results of actions they have taken or not taken. A more
immersive and natural storytelling system also makes the game seem less
interactive. Quite the double-edged sword.
/.../
It's very easy
to miss dozens of important interactions if you don't explore the
environment. Because you don't see everything on an overlay, you have to
search around to see what can be toyed with. Sometimes, you simply
don't expect things to be of any importance.
/.../
So the game's
better form of discovery also comes with the chance of unintentionally
leaving things behind. Yet another double-edged sword.
http://playersdelight.blogspot.ca/2013/10/beyond-two-souls-most-unique-feature-is.html
§THE UNFINISHED SWAN
The wife he chooses is a wife he creates in his own image, a
woman who is “a female version of himself,” and who the King loves
dearly. The woman created is a combination of two Greek myths:
Narcissus, falling in love with his own reflection, and Pygmalion and
Galatea, about an artist who falls in love with a statue he has created,
and which subsequently comes to life. The intersection between these
two myths leads to thematic intertwining between the narratives. It is
one of the clearest cases where creation and love, as in the Pygmalion
myth, are tied to self-creation and self-love, as in the Narcissus
story. It is as if the King cannot distinguish between them, and the
interrelation between these concepts becomes a running theme throughout
the game. /.../ The King’s struggle to manifest the perfect self through
his creations reflects the dissonance between his two selves. He
constantly has his designs fail, he is left by his wife and mirror-self,
and eventually he is faced with the possibility that he won’t have a
legacy at all; he muses at the end of the game that all his works that
“were meant to last forever… would crumble into dust. Or be painted over
by someone who would come after [him].” /.../ ... he finally finds
contentment in who he is rather than who he would like to be. It is in
this spirit that he is able to at last give up creative control,
bequeathing his magic paintbrush to his son, Monroe.
/.../ Rather
than attempting to prevent outside influence, external support is
necessary for Monroe to advance. /.../ This difference in attitude is
crucial, and reflects the different mentalities of the characters. Where
the King holds up an ideal and strives to achieve it, inevitably
falling short, Monroe feels “pretty unfinished himself” and must make
sense of his new reality, both in terms of the white world he finds
himself in and the recent loss of his mother. He must become a
creator in order to create himself, while the King approached it in the
other direction, trying to create himself by becoming a creator.
http://theanimistblog.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/of-all-his-creations-his-greatest-was-himself-creation-and-self-creation-in-the-unfinished-swan/
§BRAID
Almost
every repeated character or item seen throughout the game can be found
in a mundane form in or around the Princess’s house. /.../
I
noticed an interesting detail when examining the chandelier itself.
When you look closely, three distinct figures can be seen across the
wood patterning. The one in the middle is clearly female, and she’s
pointedly turning her attention toward the figure to her left while the
other simply watches. When the chandelier breaks, there’s a specific
break in this image as well — the female figure and her chosen companion
on one side, and the onlooker alone on the other.
http://leedzie.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/the-psychosis-of-braid/
§PRIVILEGE
We are quick to use ‘death of the author’ arguments because of the cultural history behind it, and so why not at least consider the death of the player?
http://www.mattiebrice.com/death-of-the-player/
/.../
Can’t we still be taken through experiences without our every whim thought of and satisfied?
§PLAYING
Playing in public in itself is a political act, especially in hard times.
http://killscreendaily.com/articles/articles/inside-failed-utopian-new-games-movement/
§
I’ve started walking more in videogames because I was irritated by the way I felt compelled to run.
http://joeblade.com/2013/10/20/running-walking-and-remember-me/
§FUTURE
Make three lists numbering one through 20. In one column, write down 20
legendary, meaningful, culturally significant novels capable of standing
the test of time. In the second, do the same for film. I expect that
your third column, in which you’d write 20 games capable of doing the
same, cannot be completed.
/.../Vice City is, after just a few years,
a messy, clunky thing, because what it did has been done better by its
sequels. Forgetting its cool setting and story -- I don’t think I’ll be
remembering Tommy Vercetti on my deathbed, anyway -- GTA 5 has negated
the need to ever play Vice City again. Rockstar Games made its own
history irrelevant by giving us access to something better. It will do
it again in five years. These are the building blocks of a brand, and
not something with any historical value. What other medium seeks out its
own obsolescence?
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/21/how-long-can-video-games-matter
§
In truth, video games have no timeless masterpieces. There will
come a day, sooner than we think, when no one will play Wind Waker. Or
Chrono Trigger. Or Super Metroid. No one but curators and historians.
And eventually, not even them. Tetris will not last, nor will Super
Mario Bros. In a few years, who will be willing to survive fungal
zombies for 15 hours just to reach the emotional climax of The Last of
Us? For a medium so dependent on its players’ engagement, on their
sustained attention, the question is not simply whether old games can
technically be played, but will they? I think we sense this. And we want
to protect our games while we can. We long to declare masterpieces
and preserve them for the future because we are afraid: that one day,
the game that meant so much to us will no longer have a player. Or even a
legend to remember it by.
http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/88903/the-legend-of-zelda-the-wind-waker-hd-reprinting-the-legend
§
We'll accept innovations, even a radical one like Ocarina of Time's
shift to 3D, so long as they add depth to the skills we already know.
Sequels that interrupt the iterative continuity of the series, often
end up as a footnote. At best, they accumulate, like Zelda II: The
Adventure of Link, a kind of dark horse mystique.
/.../
Much like
the recurring mythos that underlies their respective stories, Ocarina of
Time and Wind Waker are not separate games, but the same game extended
in slightly different directions.
http://www.polygon.com/2013/10/25/5028042/opinion-why-sequels-are-sometimes-good-for-gamers-and-how-they-can-be
§THE STANLEY PARABLE
I am irrevocably grafted to his story, like hanging on to driftwood
out at sea. He floats on without any regard for my splinters. Can I
really be blamed for burning it all down? And though I am released from
my porcelain casting, I am evoked to serve in this nightmare patriarchy.
Which is why I need you; only the living can make choices.
Stanley’s always been dead.
http://www.mattiebrice.com/the-stanley-parable-review/
§
How they wish to destroy one another. How they wish to control one
another. How they both wish to be free. Can you see? Can you see how
much they need one another? Playing a game forges a relationship between
player and designer and the experience of play is a conversation
between them.
http://www.electrondance.com/the-stanley-paradox/
§GONE HOME
What struck me about this single page of Sam’s Diary in Gone Home is that it’s an exception to a rule
— not part of a consistent fabric of showing the player what kind of
thing they can and can’t do. It’s the only time Katie refuses to execute
an action; the rest of the time, as Merritt points out, she acts like a
camera, your lens into the world.
http://deadpixel.co/2013/08/not-gonna-happen/
§
Gone
Home is played using Katie, a real character. There is much talk of
player agency, but I don’t think there’s ever enough talk of character
agency. My point is this: Katie might pick up the various things she
finds, but she wouldn’t throw them across the floor the way the game
allowed me to.
http://hapticfeedbackgames.blogspot.se/2013/10/on-gone-home.html
§
Gone Home is too dressed up as a horror to justify comments that it proves forthright tales about teen romance, about lesbian relationships, about nostalgia and broken families, can be made at this scale and succeed. I wonder, even now, if it would have succeeded without tricking the player into playing it as a horror game. The most cynical part of me wonders if it was made into a horror because Fullbright figured it wouldn’t sell otherwise.
/.../
The beauty of the Dark Souls narrative form is the eloquence with which it drops nuggets and hints, and invites the player to want to explore and resolve these mysteries. But truthfully, it only really belongs to Gone Home’s peripheral characters. Sam and Lonnie’s narrative form is little different than BioShock’s, with a voice in your ear clearly explaining everything you need to know at each story beat, leaving little mystery on their part for the player to unlock. It naturally dissects itself to form two not-quite-related parts: the plainly told teen romance, and everyone else’s Dark Souls. Which, I think, could offer an interesting reading of the broken state of the family, but I’ll leave that for another day.
http://normallyrascal.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/gone-home-a-tale-of-three-games/
§GENDER
One woman told me that when she plays as a male character, her teammates listen to her, and take her more seriously.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFOVVAhnAns
§
Participants who wore sexualized avatars internalized the avatar’s appearance and self-
objectified, reporting more body-related thoughts than those wearing nonsexualized avatars. Participants
who saw their own faces, particularly on sexualized avatars, expressed more rape myth acceptance than
those in other conditions. Implications for both online and offline consequences of using sexualized avatars are discussed.
http://vhil.stanford.edu/pubs/2013/fox-chb-sexualized-virtual-selves.pdf
§
Games media is constantly trying to legitimise the hobby it’s built on: to prove that games can be every bit as valid as movies and art and novels. But for some reason, rather than celebrating titles that claw at the boundaries of what is accepted, the media’s first response when presented with something difficult is to turn its nose up in disgust and claim that it’s damaging the medium.
http://www.arcadianrhythms.com/2013/10/if-you-want-to-be-an-adult-stop-acting-like-a-child/
§HORROR
In the end, we are left afraid not due to simple emotional response but because of the game’s implications. Adrenaline wears off. Ideas attach themselves to our mind and stay with us. That may be a more truthful execution of horror.
http://www.popmatters.com/post/176000-the-mirror-of-i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream/
§
As you design, repeat this mantra to yourself: "I will have no keycard doors in my game." No feeding fertilizer or poison to giant plants. Check yourself before adding puzzles about inserting crystals, gems, or figurines into some ornate locking mechanism. Reconsider any puzzle involving a four-digit number sequence, found elsewhere, that opens a lock.
Do not employ sliding block puzzles. Ever. That includes sliding statues! No!
http://frictionalgames.blogspot.se/2013/10/useful-tips-for-horror-game-designers.html
§
Earlier today, I had a peculiar reaction to the footage of The Evil
Within that oozed through the clogged pipes of the interweb from the
Eurogamer Expo and directly onto my screen. As Craig pointed out, the
spinny-blade room is so daft that it’s immediately rendered
non-threatening. Finding such a machine in a mental institution raises
logistical questions rather than the hairs on the back of my neck.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/09/27/editorial-horror-and-a-maddening-lack-of-imagination/
§
Horror art nowadays tends to stick to clichés, to familiar genre markers.
A review of a few of the latest horror games makes this clear, almost
painfully so. That said, part of the appeal of the genre, to some
people, is its predictability. Horror orbits around a few central themes
because they are apparently important to our culture.
http://ontologicalgeek.com/the-possibilities-of-horror-in-games/
§BASTION
Ultimately, I noticed a strange ambiguity concerning the themes of creation and destruction in Bastion right from the beginning; the player is told the Calamity has everything destroyed, yet this is the beginning of a story, Furthermore, the setting is falling apart except for where the kid steps, where the path is actually being created before him.
http://www.mattiebrice.com/creation-vs-destruction-in-bastions-narrative/
§ART
Art is a relational proposition, one of habitus and contingency in relation to the structuring roles of economy and power. I think the better question to ask is “what do games do?”
/.../
Maybe drawing the utopia out can be done through the process of making.
Games like Howling Dogs and Kentucky Route Zero are the material embodiment of this positive impulse. These games would not exist without the blood and horror that is the AAA games industry. They have to exist in stark contrast with it – but at the same time they draw out the utopian, feminist, trans, queer, anarchist ghostly utopia in them
http://dropouthangoutspaceout.tumblr.com/post/59044073396/on-kentucky-route-zero-and-howling-dogs
Monday, November 4, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
Critical Shit October nr 1
http://kotaku.com/manifesto-the-21st-century-will-be-defined-by-games-1275355204
http://www.critical-distance.com/2013/10/02/the-art-of-level-design-analysis/
http://blog.ihobo.com/2013/09/is-gordon-freeman-a-character.html
http://iam.benabraham.net/2013/10/videogame-journalism-and-the-values-we-hold/
http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=11456
Brothers: A Tale of Two sons and Gone Home
https://medium.com/geek-empire/8cb4bee7e5b4
http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/115758
http://www.playthepast.org/?p=4089
http://www.critical-distance.com/2013/10/02/the-art-of-level-design-analysis/
http://blog.ihobo.com/2013/09/is-gordon-freeman-a-character.html
http://iam.benabraham.net/2013/10/videogame-journalism-and-the-values-we-hold/
http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=11456
Brothers: A Tale of Two sons and Gone Home
https://medium.com/geek-empire/8cb4bee7e5b4
http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/115758
http://www.playthepast.org/?p=4089
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Critical Comp 9/11
More Gone Home:
http://ontologicalgeek.com/soft-transgressions/
http://www.popmatters.com/post/174927-gone-home/
http://www.polygon.com/2013/8/22/4643796/opinion-six-lessons-for-creating-believable-female-characters
http://thefullbrightcompany.com/2013/08/27/flowery-language/
http://ontologicalgeek.com/soft-transgressions/
http://www.popmatters.com/post/174927-gone-home/
http://www.polygon.com/2013/8/22/4643796/opinion-six-lessons-for-creating-believable-female-characters
http://thefullbrightcompany.com/2013/08/27/flowery-language/
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Critical Links August-September
Random:
http://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2013/08/ludonarrative-dissonance-doesnt-exist.html
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/197707/The_strange_sad_anxiety_of_Jason_Rohrers_The_Castle_Doctrine.php
http://thecastledoctrine.net/seedBlogs.php?action=display_post&post_id=jasonrohrer_1375813898_0&show_author=1&show_date=1
http://www.edge-online.com/features/the-making-of-cart-life/
Gone Home:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU-0Ijj-ZHA
http://www.gametrailers.com/full-episodes/rodl0z/the-depths-episode-11--gone-home
http://clockworkworlds.com/post/58411117679/the-transgression-you-can-do-better
http://correlatedcontents.com/?p=1532
http://iam.benabraham.net/2013/08/gone-home-jump-scares-and-ludonarative-harmony/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/08/16/gone-home-a-tale-of-two-dads/
http://gropingtheelephant.com/blog/?p=4123
http://www.mattiebrice.com/ghosts/
http://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2013/08/gone-home-and-mansion-genre.html
http://critdamage.blogspot.se/2013/08/notes-on-gone-home.html
http://thiscageisworms.com/2013/08/16/on-gone-home/
http://www.auntiepixelante.com/?p=2127
http://mkopas.net/2013/08/on-gone-home/
http://deadpixel.co/2013/08/not-gonna-happen/
Gone Home (Second Batch):
http://metroidpolitan.com/blog/2013/8/19/growing-up-riot-grrl-the-nostalgia-lie-of-gone-home
http://www.magicalwasteland.com/mw/2013/8/20/creative-restriction-and-the-new-realism.html
http://ohdeargodbees.tumblr.com/post/59013839465/im-dying-my-hair-today-because-of-a-video-game
http://patrickwlindsey.tumblr.com/post/58927460954/on-time-and-space-in-gone-home
http://gropingtheelephant.com/blog/?p=4132-
http://www.thegia.com/2013/08/19/gone-home-coming-to-see-the-light/
http://www.chaoticblue.com/blog/2013/08/not-ghosts-but-spirits/
http://www.magicalwasteland.com/mw/2013/8/20/creative-restriction-and-the-new-realism.html
http://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2013/08/ludonarrative-dissonance-doesnt-exist.html
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/197707/The_strange_sad_anxiety_of_Jason_Rohrers_The_Castle_Doctrine.php
http://thecastledoctrine.net/seedBlogs.php?action=display_post&post_id=jasonrohrer_1375813898_0&show_author=1&show_date=1
http://www.edge-online.com/features/the-making-of-cart-life/
Gone Home:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU-0Ijj-ZHA
http://www.gametrailers.com/full-episodes/rodl0z/the-depths-episode-11--gone-home
http://clockworkworlds.com/post/58411117679/the-transgression-you-can-do-better
http://correlatedcontents.com/?p=1532
http://iam.benabraham.net/2013/08/gone-home-jump-scares-and-ludonarative-harmony/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/08/16/gone-home-a-tale-of-two-dads/
http://gropingtheelephant.com/blog/?p=4123
http://www.mattiebrice.com/ghosts/
http://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2013/08/gone-home-and-mansion-genre.html
http://critdamage.blogspot.se/2013/08/notes-on-gone-home.html
http://thiscageisworms.com/2013/08/16/on-gone-home/
http://www.auntiepixelante.com/?p=2127
http://mkopas.net/2013/08/on-gone-home/
http://deadpixel.co/2013/08/not-gonna-happen/
Gone Home (Second Batch):
http://metroidpolitan.com/blog/2013/8/19/growing-up-riot-grrl-the-nostalgia-lie-of-gone-home
http://www.magicalwasteland.com/mw/2013/8/20/creative-restriction-and-the-new-realism.html
http://ohdeargodbees.tumblr.com/post/59013839465/im-dying-my-hair-today-because-of-a-video-game
http://patrickwlindsey.tumblr.com/post/58927460954/on-time-and-space-in-gone-home
http://gropingtheelephant.com/blog/?p=4132-
http://www.thegia.com/2013/08/19/gone-home-coming-to-see-the-light/
http://www.chaoticblue.com/blog/2013/08/not-ghosts-but-spirits/
http://www.magicalwasteland.com/mw/2013/8/20/creative-restriction-and-the-new-realism.html
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Critical links April
BIOSHOCK (best to worst)
http://frictionalgames.blogspot.se/2013/04/thoughts-on-bioshock-infinite.html
http://crypticsea.com/twined/bioshoot.html
http://clockworkworlds.com/post/47514171804/i-can-see-my-house-from-here-bioshock-infinite
http://clockworkworlds.com/post/47663113342/this-is-not-an-agent-bioshock-infinites-elizabeth
http://bphennessy.com/bioshock.html
http://dropouthangoutspaceout.tumblr.com/post/47055663161/bioshock-infinite-the-end-of-history
http://badassdigest.com/2013/04/03/hulk-vs-devin-vs-bioshock-infinite/
http://howtonotsuckatgamedesign.com/?p=9309
http://leighalexander.net/bioshock-infinite-now-is-the-best-time/
http://kotaku.com/an-effin-ai-in-bioshock-infinite-is-more-of-a-human-th-470825011
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/04/06/about-a-girl-assorted-thoughts-on-bioshock-infinite/
http://www.snakelinksonic.com/2013/04/theres-subtlety-then-theres-cowardice.html
http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2013/04/apotheosis.html
Infinite Regress | Stay Classy BioShock Infinite: an intelligent, violent videogame? - Read - ABC Arts | Australian contemporary art and culture reviews, news & videos What — Gamer's Advisory: Bioshock Infinite On and Off the Rails: The Problem of Player Agency in Post-Bioshock Games | ClockworkWorlds The Hall of Heroes: BioShock Infinite's Fort Frolic? • Opinions • Eurogamer.net The Vigor Of Oz: Bishock Infinite’s Wizardly Parallels | Rock, Paper, Shotgun Adrian Chmielarz on the first 300 seconds of BioShock Infinite, and why game openings are so important | Features | Edge Online Bioshock Infinite is a Metacommentary on the Nature of Video Game Storytelling | KEVIN JAMES WONG bioshock infinite | action button dot net Modern shooters and the atrophy of fun - The Tech Report Bioshock Infinite: Part 1 – Art Direction and Visual Storytelling | Terminally Incoherent Critical Incredulity • Columbia: Problematic Racism Theme Park to the anon who asked about BioShock Infinite | Flutiebear: Rambling My Way Through Thedas In Defense Of Religion In BioShock Infinite BioShock Infinite ending explained - ComputerAndVideoGames.com
Random:
http://www.choiceofgames.com/2012/03/we-almost-flooded-the-xyzzy-ballot-box/
http://www.secondquest.vg/2013/04/02/deeds-or-hofmeier-destroys-everything/
Planescape-forumet med ideas och annat
http://frictionalgames.blogspot.se/2011/11/problem-of-repetition.html
Dear Esther:
http://www.unwinnable.com/2013/03/28/close-playing-dear-esther/
Feminism:
http://zoyastreet.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/memory-insufficient-issue-one-women2.pdf
Essentialism/game formalism:
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/04/09/a-letter-to-leigh/
http://www.mattiebrice.com/triptychs/
http://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2013/04/a-letter-to-letter.html
http://dropouthangoutspaceout.tumblr.com/post/47791590888/on-universals-formalism-the-critical-reception-of
http://ohdeargodbees.tumblr.com/post/47911443396/mammon-machine-how-to-talk-about-a-system-and-who-gets
FROM:
http://www.critical-distance.com/2013/04/07/april-7th/
--
http://kambyero.com/tag/in-defense-of-bad-endings/
http://sortiv.com/?p=2177
http://brindlebrothers.blogspot.se/2013/04/quizzical-play-2-optimising-for-beauty.html
http://www.auntiepixelante.com/?p=1991
http://frictionalgames.blogspot.se/2013/04/thoughts-on-bioshock-infinite.html
http://crypticsea.com/twined/bioshoot.html
http://clockworkworlds.com/post/47514171804/i-can-see-my-house-from-here-bioshock-infinite
http://clockworkworlds.com/post/47663113342/this-is-not-an-agent-bioshock-infinites-elizabeth
http://bphennessy.com/bioshock.html
http://dropouthangoutspaceout.tumblr.com/post/47055663161/bioshock-infinite-the-end-of-history
http://badassdigest.com/2013/04/03/hulk-vs-devin-vs-bioshock-infinite/
http://howtonotsuckatgamedesign.com/?p=9309
http://leighalexander.net/bioshock-infinite-now-is-the-best-time/
http://kotaku.com/an-effin-ai-in-bioshock-infinite-is-more-of-a-human-th-470825011
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/04/06/about-a-girl-assorted-thoughts-on-bioshock-infinite/
http://www.snakelinksonic.com/2013/04/theres-subtlety-then-theres-cowardice.html
http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2013/04/apotheosis.html
Infinite Regress | Stay Classy BioShock Infinite: an intelligent, violent videogame? - Read - ABC Arts | Australian contemporary art and culture reviews, news & videos What — Gamer's Advisory: Bioshock Infinite On and Off the Rails: The Problem of Player Agency in Post-Bioshock Games | ClockworkWorlds The Hall of Heroes: BioShock Infinite's Fort Frolic? • Opinions • Eurogamer.net The Vigor Of Oz: Bishock Infinite’s Wizardly Parallels | Rock, Paper, Shotgun Adrian Chmielarz on the first 300 seconds of BioShock Infinite, and why game openings are so important | Features | Edge Online Bioshock Infinite is a Metacommentary on the Nature of Video Game Storytelling | KEVIN JAMES WONG bioshock infinite | action button dot net Modern shooters and the atrophy of fun - The Tech Report Bioshock Infinite: Part 1 – Art Direction and Visual Storytelling | Terminally Incoherent Critical Incredulity • Columbia: Problematic Racism Theme Park to the anon who asked about BioShock Infinite | Flutiebear: Rambling My Way Through Thedas In Defense Of Religion In BioShock Infinite BioShock Infinite ending explained - ComputerAndVideoGames.com
Random:
http://www.choiceofgames.com/2012/03/we-almost-flooded-the-xyzzy-ballot-box/
http://www.secondquest.vg/2013/04/02/deeds-or-hofmeier-destroys-everything/
Planescape-forumet med ideas och annat
http://frictionalgames.blogspot.se/2011/11/problem-of-repetition.html
Dear Esther:
http://www.unwinnable.com/2013/03/28/close-playing-dear-esther/
Feminism:
http://zoyastreet.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/memory-insufficient-issue-one-women2.pdf
Essentialism/game formalism:
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/04/09/a-letter-to-leigh/
http://www.mattiebrice.com/triptychs/
http://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2013/04/a-letter-to-letter.html
http://dropouthangoutspaceout.tumblr.com/post/47791590888/on-universals-formalism-the-critical-reception-of
http://ohdeargodbees.tumblr.com/post/47911443396/mammon-machine-how-to-talk-about-a-system-and-who-gets
FROM:
http://www.critical-distance.com/2013/04/07/april-7th/
--
http://kambyero.com/tag/in-defense-of-bad-endings/
http://sortiv.com/?p=2177
http://brindlebrothers.blogspot.se/2013/04/quizzical-play-2-optimising-for-beauty.html
http://www.auntiepixelante.com/?p=1991
Friday, January 11, 2013
2012 video game lists
Updated favorite video games lists.
-1984
10 Solar Fox (Arkad)
9 Excite Bike
8 Millipede/Centipede
7 Boulder Dash
6 Galaxian
5 Pac Man
4 Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
3 Pooyan
2 Robotron 2084
1 Jetpac
1985
Boulder Dash 2: Rockford's Revenge
10 Balance of Power
9 Bomberman
8 A Mind Forever Voyaging
7 Binary Land
6 Gradius
5 Space Harrier
4 Field Combat
3 Ice Climbers
2 Battle City
1 Super Mario Bros
1986
10 Alex Kidd in Miracle World
9 Solomon’s Key
8 Zanac
7 Adventure Island
6 Paper Boy
5 Bubble Bobble
4 Balloon Fight
3 Metroid
2 Super Mario Bros 2
1 Legend of Zelda
1987
10 R-Type
9 Zelda 2: Adventure of Link
8. Rainbow Islands
7 Bureaucracy
6 Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It
5 Maniac Mansion
4 Castlevania
3 Mega Man
2 Tetris: The Soviet Challenge
1 Dungeon Master
1988
10 Snatcher
9 Hidden Agenda (Jim Gasperini)
8 Space Harrier 2
7 Ghouls n’ Ghosts
6 Arkanoid
5 Spy vs Spy
4 Ninja Gaiden
3 Mega Man 2
2 Contra
1 Super Mario Bros 3
1989
10 Dig Dug 2
9 Twin Bee 3
8 Blazing Lazers
7 Cobra Triangle
6 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
5 R-Type 2
4 Prince of Persia
3 Adventures of Lolo
2 Dungeon Master: Chaos Strikes Back
1 Final Fight
1990
ActRaiser
Ducktales
Lost Patrol
Eye of the Beholder
Smash TV
10 Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers
9 Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse
8 Super Contra
7 Ninja Gaiden 2
6 F-Zero
5 Mega Man 3
4 Loom
3 Lemmings
2 The Secret of Monkey Island
1 Super Mario World
1991
10 Mega Man 4
9 Another World
8 Sonic the Hedgehog
7 Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts
6 Ninja Gaiden 3: The Dark Ship of Doom
5 Monkey Island 2: Lechuck’s Revenge
4 Area 88/UN Squadron
3 Street Fighter 2: World Warrior
2 Super Castlevania IV
1 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
1992
Mega Man 5
The Legend of Zelda: Third Quest
Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge
10 Street Fighter 2 Turbo
9 Puyo Puyo
8 Pocky and Rocky
7 Sonic the Hedgehog 2
6 Jezzball/Maxwell's Maniac (Marjacq Micro/Dima Pavlovsky)
5 Super Double Dragon
4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
3 The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse
2 Super Probotector: Alien Rebels/Contra 3: Alien Wars
1 Super Mario Kart
1993
Jurassic Park
Mega Man X
World Heroes
10 Sonic the Hedgehog 3
9 Shadowrun
8 Gunstar Heroes
7 Bart Simpson's Nightmare
6 Doom
5 E.V.O: Search for Eden
4 Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
3 Sam & Max Hit The Road
2 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
1 Day of the Tentacle
1994
Donkey Kong Country
Jazz Jackrabbit
Mega Man X2
Micro Machines
10 Cyberdogs
9 Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
8 Contra: Hard Corps
7 The Great Circus Mystery: Starring Mickey and Minnie
6 Puzzle Bobble
5 Beneath a Steel Sky
4 Uni Rally/Uniracers
3 Lode Runner: The Legend Returns
2 X-Com: UFO Defense/UFO: Enemy Unknown
1 Super Metroid
1995
Diddy's Kong Quest/Donkey Kong Country 2
Jumping Flash
Warcraft 2
Zoop
10 Micro Machines 2: Special
9 The Dark Eye
8 Full Throttle
7 Mega Man 7/Mega Man X3
6 Heroes of Might & Magic
5 Alien Soldier
4 Gunbird
3 Worms
2 Strikers 1945
1 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
1996
C-Dogs (Cyberdogs 2)
Dixie Kong's Double Trouble/Donkey Kong Country 3
Donpachi
Death Rally
Mega Man 8
Quake
Samurai Shodown 4: Yamakuzas Revenge
Sengoku Ace Episode II/Sengoku Blaede/Tengai
10 Resident Evil
9 Metal Slug
8 Leisure Suit Larry: Love For Sail
7 Three Dirty Dwarves
6 Tapestry (Daniel Ravipinto)
5 Nights: Into Dreams
4 Mario Kart 64
3 Diablo
2 Soul Blade
1 Super Mario 64
1997
Diddy Kong Racing
Dungeon Keeper
Duckman
Mega Man X
Need for Speed II
10 Blade Runner
9 Worms 2
8 Fallout
7 Croc: The Legend of Gobbos
6 Diablo: Hellfire
5 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
4 Strikers 1945: Part 2
3 Starcraft
2 Dodonpachi
1 Final Fantasy VII
1998
Banjo Kazooie
Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now
F-Zero X
Gunbird 2
LSD: Dream Emulator
Medievil
Micro Machines V3
NHL 1999
Photopia (Adam Cadre)
Rockman & Forte
Sanitarium
Space Bomber
10 Liero (Joosa Riekkinen)
9 Fallout 2
8 Dink Smallwood
7 Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
6 Hexplore
5 Starcraft: Broodwars
4 Grim Fandango
3 Baldur’s Gate
2 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
1 Metal Gear Solid
1999
Aisle (Sam Barlow)
Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty
Darkstone
Grandia
Guwange
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
NHL 2000
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Soul Calibur
Super Smash Bros
Vib Ribbon
Worms Armageddon
10 Silent Hill
9 Exhibition (Ian Finley)
8 Castlevania/Legacy of Darkness
7 Final Fantasy VIII
6 System Shock 2
5 Unreal Tournament
4 The Longest Journey
3 Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast
2 Street Fighter 3: Third Strike
1 Planescape Torment
2000
Banjo Tooie
Diablo 2
DX-Ball 2
Dragon Blaze
Galatea (Emily Short)
Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
NHL 2001
Space Channel 5
10 Ricochet (Counter-Strike)
9 Shade (Andrew Plotkin)
8 Escape from Monkey Island
7 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
6 Rameses (Stephen Bond)
5 Shrapnel/9:05 (Adam Cadre)
4 Deux Ex
3 Elasto Mania (Balázs Rózsa)
2 Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn
1 The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask
2001
Conkers Bad Fur Day
Cyberd
Deadline, or, Being Douglas Adams (Gunter Schmidl)
Devil May Cry
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
Final Fantasy X
Freak Out!/Stretch Panic
Frequency
Gothic
IF Arcade
Jak & Daxter
Kingdom Hearts
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Maximo: Ghosts to Glory
Pleurghburg: The Dark Age (Chrille Blomqvist)
Project Zero/Fatal Frame
Ribbons (J.D Berry)
Serious Sam
Super Monkey Ball
Zone of the Enders
10 Super Smash Bros Melee
9 Rez
8 Luigis Mansion
7 Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
6 Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil
5 Max Payne
4 Shadow of Memories/Shadow of Destiny
3 Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal/Ascension
2 Silent Hill 2
1 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
2002
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Ketsui
Mad Maestro
Ratchet & Clank
Sly Raccoon
Super Monkey Ball 2
The Trials of Odysseus Kent (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
10 Hobo Soccer (Magic Whisper)
9 Psyvariar: Revision/Psyvariar: Medium Unit
8 Pop n’ Music 8
7 Guilty Gear XX
6 Super Mario Sunshine
5 Ikaruga
4 Noiz2sa (Kenta Cho)
3 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
2 Metroid Prime
1 Metroid Fusion
2003
Amplitude
The Apprentice (Herculean Effort Productions)
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme
Espgaluda
Kya: Dark Lineage
Narcolepsy (Adam Cadre)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Samorost (Amanita Design)
Soul Calibur 2
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Master Quest
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4
Warioware Inc: Minigame Mania
Yume Nikki (KIKIYAMA)
Zone of the Enders: 2nd Runner
10 Seiklus (cly5m)
9 Perfect Cherry Blossom (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
8 5 Days a Stranger (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
7 Beyond Good And Evil
6 dodonpachi DAI-OU-JOU
5 Silent Hill 3
4 The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
3 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
2 Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
1 Parsec47/rRootage (Kenta Cho)
2004
A Case of the Crabs (Pinhead Games)
Beatmania IIDX 8th Style
Glass Rose
Go go roppongi Stick!
Imperishable Night (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Psyvariar 2: Ultimate Final
Polarium
Thief: Deadly Shadows
Tontie (Eyesmaze)
Tuboflex (Molleindustria)
Tumiki Fighters (Kenta Cho)
10 Levers (Patrick Smith)
9 Blue Chairs (Chris Klimas)
8 Cirque de Zale (Rebecca Clements)
7 Katamari Damacy)
6 Mushihimesama
5 7 Days a Skeptic (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
4 The Apprentice II: Knights Move (Herculean Effort Productions
3 Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
2 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
1 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
2005
Anna (Vince Twelve/xiigames)
The Apprentice Deluxe (Herculean Effort Productions)
Beatmania IIDX 9th Style/Beatmania IIDX 10th Style
Blue Wish (x.x)
Cave Story (Daisuke Amaya)
Cedric and the Revolution (Bernie)
Conker: Live and Reloaded
Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat
Electroplankton
Espgaluda 2
Guilty Gear XX Slash
Gunroar/Val & Rick (Kenta Cho)
Ossu! Tatakae! Ouendan!
Pop n' Music 11
Resident Evil 4
Soul Calibur 3
10 We Love Katamari
9 Killer 7
8 Soviet Unterzögersdorf (Monochrom)
7 Psychonauts
6 Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
5 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
4 Experimental Gaming: Tower of Goo, On a Rainy Day, The Crowd, Gravity Head, Square Off, Attack of the Killer Swarm, Riff, Attack of the Killer Swarm, Darwin Hill (Kyle Gabler)
3 Whom the Telling Changed (Aaron A Reed)
2 Jade Empire
1 Pathologic
2006
Automaton (Mr Colossal)
Blue Wish Resurrection/Eden's Edge (x.x)
Hallway of Adventures (Mordalles)
La La Land 5/La La Land 4/La La Land 3/La La Land 2/La La Land (TheAnemic)
Museum of Broken Dreams (Jonas Kyratzes)
Mushihime-sama Futari
New Super Mario Bros
The Shivah/Blackwell Legacy (Dave Gilbert)
Torus Trooper/Titanion (Kenta Cho)
10 Within A Deep Forest (Nifflas)
9 Beatmania IIDX 11: IIDX RED
8 Pop n' Music 12
7 WarioWare: Smooth Moves
6 Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock
5 De Baron (Victor Gijsbers)
4 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
3 Spooks (Lively Ivy/Erin Robinson)
2 Guilty Gear XX Accent Core
1 Trilby's Notes (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
2007
Beatmania IIDX 13: DistorteD
Blackwell Unbound (Dave Gilbert)
Chalk (Joakim Sandberg)
Contra 4
Feed the Head (Patrick Smith)
Frozzd (Jesse Venbrux)
Game, game, game and again game (Jason Nelson)
Hyperbound (Michael Iantorno)
Knytt Stories/Knytt (Nifflas)
La Croix Pan (TheJBurger)
Mountain of Faith (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
Murder In A Wheel (Renzo “Eshaktaar” Thönen)
Nelly Cootalot (Alasdair Beckett)
Pacman Championship Edition
Sumotori Dreams (Péter Soltész)
Rorschach (Collecting Smiles)
Samorost 2 (Amanita Design)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Trilby: The Art Of Theft (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
10 Garden of Coloured Lights/Excellent Bifurcation (Linley Henzell)
9 Sam & Max Season 1: Cont’
8 Mass Effect
7 Mondo Agency/Mondo Medicals/Clean Asia (Cactusquid)
6 Super Mario Galaxy
5 The Witcher
4 Bioshock
3 Portal
2 Passage (Jason Rohrer)
1 6 Days A Sacrifice (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
2008
Achievement Unlocked
Blue Wish Resurrection Plus (x.x)
Des Rêves Élastiques Avec Mille Insectes Nommés Georges (Deirdra Kia)
Do-Don-Pachi Dai-Fukkatsu
Fallout 3
Free Culture Game/Queer Power/Oiligarchy (Molleindustria)
Geometry Wars Evolved 2
How Many…
Little Girl In Underland (Lively Ivy/Erin Robinson?)
Psychosomnium/Seizuredome (Cactusquid)
Rescue: The Beagles (Nenad Jalsovec)
Self-destruct/Xoldiers (Terry Cavanagh)
Tension/The Void
Virtual Silence/Seven Minutes (Tuukka Virtanen)
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
10 A Second Face (Jospin Le Woltaire)
9 Gateway II (Anders Gustafsson)
8 Nanobots (Lively Ivy/Erin Robinson)
7 Aether (Edmund McMillen)
6 Karoshi 2.0/Execution/Pazzon/Torque/Karoshi/Karoshi Factory/Karoshi: Suicide Salaryman (Jesse Venbrux)
5 Gravitation/Police Brutality/Between/Perfectionism (Jason Rohrer)
4 Dear Esther (thechineseroom/Dan Pinchbeck)
3 World Of Goo (2d Boy)
2 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot
1 Braid (Jonathan Blow)
2009
!, Robot/Shifters Box (Ben304)
4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness (Petri/Kloonigames)
And Yet It Moves (Broken Rules)
Au Sable/All Our Friends Are Dead (Amon26)
Backup/Bars Of Black And White (Gregory Weir)
Blue Lacuna (Aaron A Reed)
Chaser (Connor Carpenter/shadestorm)
Devils Tuning Fork (DePaul Game Elites)
Eden’s Aegis (x.x)
Evidence of Everything Exploding (Jason Nelson)
Flower (thatgamecompany)
Play: Free Will - The Game (raitendo)
Gray (aeiowu/fucrate)
Gravity Bone (Brendon Chung/Blendo Games)
Harpooned (Conor O’Kane)
lose/lose (Zach Gage)
Korsakovia (thechineseroom/Dan Pinchbeck)
Mental Repair Inc (Renzo “Eshaktaar” Thönen)
Nestlings (Lewis Denby)
New Super Mario Bros Wii
The Path (Tale of Tales)
Repent (Aaron Oldenburg)
Small Worlds (David Shute)
Spectre (Vaguely Spectacular)
Super Karoshi/Focus (Jesse Venbrux)
Takishawa Is Dead! (Andrew Brophy)
Tales of Monkey Island
The Endling Archive (Kazuki Mishima)
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Today I Die (Daniel Benmergui)
Walker & Silhouette (C.E.J. Pacian)
We the Giants (Peter Groeneweg)
White Butterfly (Linley Henzell)
Windosill (Patrick Smith)
10 The Company of Myself (Eli Pülonen)
9 Time Fcuk (Edmund McMillen, William Good & Justin Karpel)
8 The Marionette (Team Effigy/Auriond)
7 Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
6 Batman: Arkham Asylum
5 Judith/Don’t Look Back/Pathways (Terry Cavanagh)
4 Radiator 1-2: Handle With Care/Radiator 1-1: Polaris (Robert Yang)
3 Dragon Age: Origins
2 Everyday The Same Dream (Molleindustria)
1 Opera Omnia/Home/Therapy Game/Mirror Stage/The Black Yeti/Signifier (Stephen Lavelle/increpare)
2010
...But That Was [Yesterday]/Together (Michael Molinari)
A House in California/Hummingbird Mind (Jake Elliott & friends)
Alan Wake
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
The Arm/Refus Q. Jibberjabber's Day Out/Flin McGraw's Last Day (tipp)
Beautiful Escape: Dungeoneer (Nicolau/calunio)
Being There (Jordan Magnuson)
Blades of Passion (Drew Wellman)
Crimzon Clover (Yotsubane)
Conquer the Shadow World/Lackadaisium (Ultimate Walrus)
Covetous/Good Fortune (Austin Breed)
Cow Clicker (Ian Bogost)
Depict1 (Retro Affect)
Digital: A Love Story (Christine Love)
Dragon Age: Awakening
Dual Transform (Andrew Plotkin)
Eternally Us (Ben304)
Feign (Ian Snyder)
Flaws (Jon Ingold)
Frenzy Defense (Jan Willem Nijman)
Hero Core (Daniel Remar)
Howard Glitch Game (Robert Allmand)
ir/rational (Tom Jubert)
Limbo (Playdead)
Loneliness (Jordan Magnuson)
Loved (Alexander Ocias)
My First Quantum Translocator
Norrland/Gamma4 (Cactusquid)
Octodad (DGE2)
One Chance (AwkwardSilenceGames)
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX
P0nd (Peanut Gallery)
Puji (Alexander Jhin, Matt McKnett, and Pat Kemp)
Puzzlebots (Lively Ivy/Erin Robinson)
QWOP (Bennett Fodd)
Sand-dancer (Aaron A Reed & Alexei Othenin-Girard)
Super Crate Box (Vlambeer)
Super Meat Boy (Team Meat)
Super Street Fighter IV
suteF (Ted Lauterbach)
Symon (Singapore MIT Gambi Game Lab)
Technobabylon – Part II/Technobabylon – Part 1 (James Dearden)
Tedium (EddieC)
The Dream Machine Chaper 1 & 2 (Erik Zaring & Anders Gustafsson)
Tower of Heaven (askiisoft)
Which (Mike Inel)
10 After (Aaron Oldenburg)
9 Memory Reloaded/Leaky Worlds: A Playable Theory (Molleindustria)
8 The Journey Down: Over The Edge (Theodor Waern)
7 VVVVV/Phobiaphobiaphobia (Terry Cavanagh)
6 Super Mario Galaxy 2
5 Mass Effect 2
4 Life Flashes By (Deirdra Kia)
3 Snakes of Avalon (Igor Hardy/Ascovel & Alex Van Wijst/Baron)
2 Looming/The Day/Narthex (Gregory Weir)
1 Treatise/Hush/Modernauts/Primitive Pattern/Starfeld/100 Names/Queue/The Terrible Whiteness of Appalachian Nights/The Rose Garden/Catalan/Cascode (Stephen Lavelle/increpare)
2011
A Mother's Inferno (Dadiu/David Adler)
Animal Puncher/A Mother in Festerwood (Austin Breed)
American Dream (Stephen Lavelle, Terry Cavanagh, Jasper Byrne and Tom Morgan-Jones)
At A Distance (Terry Cavanagh)
Batman: Arkham City
Cat and the Coup (Peter Brinson/Kurosh ValaNejad)
Crime Zone (thecatamites)
Fotonica
Glitchhiker (vlambeer)
Hot Throttle (Cacusquid)
Labyrinths (György Dudas)
NightSky (Nicalis/Nifflas)
No Longer Subject to Judicial Review (NiallM)
Raccord Sniper (Nicolai Troshinsky)
Rebirth (Daniel-D. "Guert" Guertin)
Soul Brother (Jasper Byrne)
Spent (McKinney)
The Stanley Parable (Cakebread)
Suction Co-op (Gustav Dahl)
Technobabylon Part III (James Dearden)
The Dream Machine: Chapter 3 (Erik Zaring & Anders Gustafsson)
The End of Us (Chelsea Howe & Michael Molinari)
These Robotic Hearts of Mine (Alan Hazelden/Draknet)
To the Moon (Kan Gao)
Wunderputt (dampgnat)
You Shall Know The Truth/The Book of Living Magic (Jonas Kyratzes)
10 Trauma (Krystian Majewski)
9 Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony (Final Form)
8 Negative Spacecraft (Chris Cornell)
7 A History of Democratic Process in Eire/English Country Tune/Salome/ Pirouette (Stephen Lavelle/increpare)
6 Rayman Origins
5 Balloon-Diaspora/Ruins (Jake Elliott)
4 Bla Bla (Vincent Morisset)
3 Maybe Make Some Change (Aaron A Reed)
2 Portal 2
1 Bastion
2012
.heartbeats (Sebastian Trelles)
As Slow As Possible (György Dudas)
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
Brace (Merritt Kopas)
Drawception
dys4ia (Anna Anthropy)
First Draft of the Revolution (Emily Short)
Hotline Miami
I Remember the Rain (Jordan Browne)
ir/rational Redux (Tom Jubert)
It's all Fun and Games Until Someone Blows Their Brains Out (Mikael Vesavuori)
Laza Knitez! (Team Buttfighters)
Lone Survivor (Jasper Byrne)
The Love Letter (axcho and knivel)
Mirrormoon (Team Focaccia)
Promises/The Good Sister/RAPIDFIE (Stephen Lavelle)
Resonance (Vincent XII)
Slender: The Eight Pages (Mark J. Hadley)
Super Hexagon (Terry Cavanagh)
The Colder Light (Jon Ingold)
The Republia Times (Lucas Pope)
Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell)
To What End (Chelsea Howe, Michael Molinari)
Unfinished Swan
10 Perspective (nfyre)
9 Anestesia (Pedro Paiva)
8 Vidiot Game
7 Journey Down: Over the Edge HD (Theodor Waern)
6 Journey (thatgamecompany)
5 Unmanned (molleindustria)
4 Mass Effect 3
3 Thirty Flights of Loving (Brendon Chung)
2 Almost Goodbye/Prom Week (Aaron A Reed)
1 Dear Esther
2013
Slave of God (increpare)
My inner (dualistically oriented) grown-ups favorite games:
These are my favorite games as deemed so by the intellectual within me, by the person within who does not wish to play games only for the sake of playing them or having fun or getting better at it or appreciating the aesthetics, and so on. These games are games that transcend the time which I spend with them and contribute to the dialogue I have with myself and others concerning matters of what a good life is, what justice can be, if love is possible, and other questions of prime importance. There are a number of games that fit neither here or in ”the list of my inner child”, which are those games that gameplay-wise are very good, yet I discovered them as an adolescent (or later), and the games which have adult themes and are very well-executed, yet do not seem to have themes which I necessarily think I can incorporate into my daily living, themes that do not make me remember the game in other contexts than that of nostalgia or video game criticism.
First stage
Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn
Bioshock
Deus Ex
Jade Empire
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Portal
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
System Shock 2
Second stage
Grim Fandango
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot
Opera Omnia
Portal 2
Silent Hill 3
Shadows of Memories
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
The Longest Journey
World Of Goo (2d Boy)
Third (and final?) stage
Braid (Jonathan Blow)
Dear Esther (thechineseroom/Dan Pinchbeck)
Final Fantasy VII
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Pathologic
Planescape Torment
Silent Hill 2
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask
Sequelitis
In a business where sequels abound and the question of ”why” seems to get it's most clear answer in fiscal numbers or notions of ”improvement” (of game mechanics and graphics, mainly), I have great respect and derive chunky joy from sequels which make their point of departure meaningful, and also have producers who are gutsy enough to support that willing departure from established sequel-conventions of ”bigger and higher”. And sometimes, that damn sequel with improved interface and graphics, or with more nuanced game mechanics, makes me question why I was skeptical to the ”now made perfect” sequel in the first place.
We identify a series – videogame or otherwise – according to how well it obeys the formal rules established by its predecessors, much as we identify the next number in a numeric set according to whether it was derived from the set's algorithm. The act of obeying those self-made rules (along with our awareness of such obedience) becomes a trope in itself, a behavioral habit that identifies us as consumers of a product. By demanding the continuation of a series, an audience can become as typecast in its desires as the product that it demands.
The cycle of iteration creates an illusion of progress without granting true progress – freedom from the cycle, from zero, from the set. Think of escaping the cycle as a return to a state of Taoist p'u – the uncarved block that represents receptivity, passivity, and the simplicity of beginnings. Sense cycles, repetitions of personal behaviors, can never be permanently discarded. However, they can be modified toward a better identity once a person, with self-awareness, leaves that state of p'u and tries to do – and become – something new. 1
Third place, first outing
Dodonpachi
Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
System Shock 2
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Second best, nigh the top stop
Fallout 2
Guilty Gear XX
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Portal 2
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
First place, second row
Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Silent Hill 2
Street Fighter 2: World Warrior
RPG's
1 RPG's
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast
Dragon Age: Awakening
Fallout
Fallout 2
Final Fantasy VIII
Mass Effect
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
2 RPG's
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal/Ascension
Dragon Age: Origins
Jade Empire
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
The Witcher
3 RPG's
Baldur’s Gate
Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn
Final Fantasy VII
Planescape Torment
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
Mods
Since mods often are community efforts, endlessly bettered and updated as a living ofganism, attributing them dates or specific authors can be hard. Sometimes it's possible, but for the sake of laziness I'll skip that part completely and just go ahead and tell you about the game modifications which have greatly contributed to my enjoyment of these (RPG) games.
Baldur’s Gate
Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
Planescape Torment
The Bigg's Widescreen mod/Ghostdog's incredible UI mod
Qwinn's Planescape: Torment Tweaks
Planescape: Torment Ultimate WeiDU Fixpack
Planescape Torment: Unfinished Business
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
TSL Restored Content Mod
Shmups
Boy did I used to love these. For the last five years or so, instead I've dropped out of sight, seeing how what is produced these days is very inspired by the Japanese arcade tradition. All right, so I used to love that tradition – these days I do not, but my taste for procedurally generated content and the opposite of punishing gameplay is still strong, even if it doesn't take much to put me off.
2CCQuality
Blue Wish Resurrection (x.x)
Cyberd (?)
Dragon Blaze
Eden's Aegis (x.x)
Eden's Edge (x.x)
The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
ESPgaluda
Garden of Coloured Lights (Linley Henzell)
Gunbird 2
Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony (Final Form)
Imperishable Night (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
Psyvariar
Psyvariar 2
Tumiki Fighters
Ultimate Stage (?)
White Butterfly (Linley Henzell)
1CCQuality
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
Gunbird
Ikaruga
Mushihimesama
Noiz2sa (Kenta Cho)
Perfect Cherry Blossom (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
Self-destruct (Terry Cavanagh)
Strikers 1945
Beyond 1CC
Area 88/UN Squadron
dodonpachi DAI-OU-JOU
Dodonpachi
Parsec47 (Kenta Cho)
rRootage (Kenta Cho)
Strikers 1945: Part II
Independent Point & Clicks
High nostalgia factor for me, almost from the get-go, for some reason, even though I didn't exactly ”grow up” with SCUMM and LucasArts. I've clicked a lot in my life, and in games made in Adventure Game Studios especially, but I'm out of the loop also in this area. The genre needs less weird puzzles and, brace yourself, ”meaningful choices”. Or non-choices. But things that evoke some sense of purpose and has life-affirming qualities beyond the isolation of a puzzle.
2 Clicks Away From Total Awesomeness
Anna (Vince Twelve/xiigames)
Blackwell Legacy (Dave Gilbert)
Blackwell Unbound (Dave Gilbert)
Little Girl In Underland (Lively Ivy/Erin Robinson)
Mental Repair Inc (Renzo “Eshaktaar” Thönen)
Nelly Cootalot (Alasdair Beckett)
Rorschach (Collecting Smiles)
Technobabylon Part 1, 2, 3 (James Dearden)
The Dream Machine (Erik Zaring & Anders Gustafsson)
The Shivah (Dave Gilbert)
The Trials of Odysseus Kent (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
1 Click Away From Total Awesomeness
5 Days A Stranger (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
7 Days a Skeptic (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
A House in California (Jake Elliott & friends)
A Second Face (Jospin Le Woltaire)
Cirque de Zale (Rebecca Clements)
Gateway II (Anders Gustafsson)
Murder In A Wheel (Renzo “Eshaktaar” Thönen)
The Apprentice Deluxe (Herculean Effort Productions)
The Clique
6 Days A Sacrifice (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
Snakes of Avalon (Igor Hardy/Ascovel & Baron/Alex Van Wijst)
Spooks (Lively Ivy/Erin Robinson)
Soviet Unterzögersdorf (Monochrom)
The Apprentice II: Knights Move (Herculean Effort Productions)
The Journey Down: Over The Edge (Theodor Waern)
The Marionette (Team Effigy/Auriond)
Trilby's Notes (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
Interactive Fiction
A genre wish I have held the highest hopes for, for many years now. Mostly I get frustrated over the interface problems and prefer ”less interaction” and more meaningful choices, which reflects what game I've put on this list too. And although also this is a genre I am utterly tired of right now, I have high hopes for what the future will bring.
X
9:05 (Adam Cadre)
Aisle (Sam Barlow)
Deadline, or, Being Douglas Adams (Gunther Schmidl)
Dual Transform (Andrew Plotkin)
First Draft of the Revolution (Emily Short)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams/Steve Meretzky)
Narcolepsy (Adam Cadre)
The Colder Light (Jon Ingold)
Xyz
Being There (Jordan Magnuson)
Blue Chairs (Chris Klimas)
Blue Lacuna (Aaron A Reed)
Galatea (Emily Short)
Ribbons (J.D Berry)
Shade (Andrew Plotkin)
Tapestry (Daniel Ravipinto)
Walker & Silhouette (C.E.J. Pacian)
Xyzzy
Almost Goodbye (Aaron A Reed)
De Baron (Victor Gijsbers)
Exhibition (Ian Finley)
maybe make some change (Aaron A Reed)
Photopia (Adam Cadre)
Rameses (Stephen Bond)
Shrapnel (Adam Cadre)
Whom the Telling Changed (Aaron A Reed)
Horror Games
This is a list with the video games that has scared the most shit out of me. Most of these are not classic horror games with monsters, bur rather disconcerting experiences which through questions, atmosphere, and play make for the most interesting scares I've gotten. My favored type of horror puts the player in the dawning realization of being the evil force at work behind the horrors unveiling, or of going someplace bad with no choice except to comply. It plays with dissolution of identity, of losing sense of self in a world where there is barely any certainty as it is. It makes me ponder my place in the universe, or tries to psyche me out with confused realities. But it also makes me fear the next door, the next hallway, and the next apparition.
The games are arranged by category, and the top positions in each category are not necessarily the best games of those mentioned, but the ones that does what the category implies best.
Perhaps the best horror series ever, in par with Silent Hill, which only gets
better with every game and deserves special attention:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chzo_Mythos
Subdued angst:
http://www.increpare.com/2009/02/opera-omnia/
http://mikeinel.deviantart.com/art/Which-Short-Game-152503626
http://www.indiegames.com/2010/09/browser_game_pick_the_day_greg.html
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1228
http://distractionware.com/blog/?p=759
http://www.jonas-kyratzes.net/games/the-museum-of-broken-memories/
http://xiigames.com/anna/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Castlevania_IV
Existential displacement:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear_Solid_2:_Sons_of_Liberty
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_pathologic_pc
http://www.increpare.com/2010/11/treatise/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape:_Torment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_of_Kain:_Soul_Reaver_2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex
http://playthisthing.com/pazzon
Twisted, uncanny, disgusting and freudian:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill_2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill_3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill:_Shattered_Memories
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill_%28video_game%29
A Mothers Inferno Dadiu/David Adler
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=5395.0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_Frame
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer7
Psychological:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitarium_%28video_game%29
http://www.freeworldgroup.com/games6/gameindex/gateway_2.htm
http://snakes.hardydev.com/
Mind games:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_%28video_game%29
http://www.kongregate.com/games/AlexanderOcias/loved
POEtic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Eye_%28video_game%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Esther
Lovecraftian:
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Darkness:_Sanity%27s_Requiem
http://www.moddb.com/mods/nestlings
Cyberpunk/identity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Shock_2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid_Fusion
http://www.moddb.com/mods/korsakovia
http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/puzzle/sutef/4195/
http://www.joltcountry.com/trottingkrips/shrapnel.html
http://www.indiegames.com/2010/08/howard_glitch_the_youtube_indi.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_a_Steel_Sky
Nightmarish confusion:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/542658
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/511754
http://www.gamemakergames.com/?a=archive&submit=1&searchtype=creator_name&search=TheAnemic (La La Land Series)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD_%28video_game%29
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/26339
Atmospheric otherworldliness:
http://www.indiegames.com/2010/07/browser_game_pick_looming_greg.html
Yume Nikki
http://www.thedreammachine.se/
http://www.devilstuningfork.com/
http://www.asecondface.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo_%28video_game%29
http://rpgmaker.net/games/2068/
Disconcerting/surreal:
http://www.gamemakergames.com/archive/the-arm
http://indygamer.blogspot.com/2007/12/mondo-agency.html
Ib (kouri)
http://cactusquid.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=games&action=display&thread=13
These Robot Hearts of Mine Alan Hazelden (Draknet)
Animal Puncher (Austin Breed)
http://www.indiegames.com/2010/06/trailer_norrland_cactus.html
Hotline Miami
http://www.indiegames.com/2010/09/browser_game_pick_feign_ian_sn.html
Exploration based fear:
SCP - Containment Breach
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_%28video_game%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO:_Enemy_Unknown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Metroid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid_Prime
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Park_%28SNES_game%29
Twitchers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_%28video_game%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_4
I do recommend you trying some of these out, most of them are short indie games which do not take more than half an hour to complete.
-1984
10 Solar Fox (Arkad)
9 Excite Bike
8 Millipede/Centipede
7 Boulder Dash
6 Galaxian
5 Pac Man
4 Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
3 Pooyan
2 Robotron 2084
1 Jetpac
1985
Boulder Dash 2: Rockford's Revenge
10 Balance of Power
9 Bomberman
8 A Mind Forever Voyaging
7 Binary Land
6 Gradius
5 Space Harrier
4 Field Combat
3 Ice Climbers
2 Battle City
1 Super Mario Bros
1986
10 Alex Kidd in Miracle World
9 Solomon’s Key
8 Zanac
7 Adventure Island
6 Paper Boy
5 Bubble Bobble
4 Balloon Fight
3 Metroid
2 Super Mario Bros 2
1 Legend of Zelda
1987
10 R-Type
9 Zelda 2: Adventure of Link
8. Rainbow Islands
7 Bureaucracy
6 Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It
5 Maniac Mansion
4 Castlevania
3 Mega Man
2 Tetris: The Soviet Challenge
1 Dungeon Master
1988
10 Snatcher
9 Hidden Agenda (Jim Gasperini)
8 Space Harrier 2
7 Ghouls n’ Ghosts
6 Arkanoid
5 Spy vs Spy
4 Ninja Gaiden
3 Mega Man 2
2 Contra
1 Super Mario Bros 3
1989
10 Dig Dug 2
9 Twin Bee 3
8 Blazing Lazers
7 Cobra Triangle
6 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
5 R-Type 2
4 Prince of Persia
3 Adventures of Lolo
2 Dungeon Master: Chaos Strikes Back
1 Final Fight
1990
ActRaiser
Ducktales
Lost Patrol
Eye of the Beholder
Smash TV
10 Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers
9 Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse
8 Super Contra
7 Ninja Gaiden 2
6 F-Zero
5 Mega Man 3
4 Loom
3 Lemmings
2 The Secret of Monkey Island
1 Super Mario World
1991
10 Mega Man 4
9 Another World
8 Sonic the Hedgehog
7 Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts
6 Ninja Gaiden 3: The Dark Ship of Doom
5 Monkey Island 2: Lechuck’s Revenge
4 Area 88/UN Squadron
3 Street Fighter 2: World Warrior
2 Super Castlevania IV
1 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
1992
Mega Man 5
The Legend of Zelda: Third Quest
Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge
10 Street Fighter 2 Turbo
9 Puyo Puyo
8 Pocky and Rocky
7 Sonic the Hedgehog 2
6 Jezzball/Maxwell's Maniac (Marjacq Micro/Dima Pavlovsky)
5 Super Double Dragon
4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
3 The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse
2 Super Probotector: Alien Rebels/Contra 3: Alien Wars
1 Super Mario Kart
1993
Jurassic Park
Mega Man X
World Heroes
10 Sonic the Hedgehog 3
9 Shadowrun
8 Gunstar Heroes
7 Bart Simpson's Nightmare
6 Doom
5 E.V.O: Search for Eden
4 Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
3 Sam & Max Hit The Road
2 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
1 Day of the Tentacle
1994
Donkey Kong Country
Jazz Jackrabbit
Mega Man X2
Micro Machines
10 Cyberdogs
9 Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
8 Contra: Hard Corps
7 The Great Circus Mystery: Starring Mickey and Minnie
6 Puzzle Bobble
5 Beneath a Steel Sky
4 Uni Rally/Uniracers
3 Lode Runner: The Legend Returns
2 X-Com: UFO Defense/UFO: Enemy Unknown
1 Super Metroid
1995
Diddy's Kong Quest/Donkey Kong Country 2
Jumping Flash
Warcraft 2
Zoop
10 Micro Machines 2: Special
9 The Dark Eye
8 Full Throttle
7 Mega Man 7/Mega Man X3
6 Heroes of Might & Magic
5 Alien Soldier
4 Gunbird
3 Worms
2 Strikers 1945
1 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
1996
C-Dogs (Cyberdogs 2)
Dixie Kong's Double Trouble/Donkey Kong Country 3
Donpachi
Death Rally
Mega Man 8
Quake
Samurai Shodown 4: Yamakuzas Revenge
Sengoku Ace Episode II/Sengoku Blaede/Tengai
10 Resident Evil
9 Metal Slug
8 Leisure Suit Larry: Love For Sail
7 Three Dirty Dwarves
6 Tapestry (Daniel Ravipinto)
5 Nights: Into Dreams
4 Mario Kart 64
3 Diablo
2 Soul Blade
1 Super Mario 64
1997
Diddy Kong Racing
Dungeon Keeper
Duckman
Mega Man X
Need for Speed II
10 Blade Runner
9 Worms 2
8 Fallout
7 Croc: The Legend of Gobbos
6 Diablo: Hellfire
5 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
4 Strikers 1945: Part 2
3 Starcraft
2 Dodonpachi
1 Final Fantasy VII
1998
Banjo Kazooie
Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now
F-Zero X
Gunbird 2
LSD: Dream Emulator
Medievil
Micro Machines V3
NHL 1999
Photopia (Adam Cadre)
Rockman & Forte
Sanitarium
Space Bomber
10 Liero (Joosa Riekkinen)
9 Fallout 2
8 Dink Smallwood
7 Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
6 Hexplore
5 Starcraft: Broodwars
4 Grim Fandango
3 Baldur’s Gate
2 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
1 Metal Gear Solid
1999
Aisle (Sam Barlow)
Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty
Darkstone
Grandia
Guwange
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
NHL 2000
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Soul Calibur
Super Smash Bros
Vib Ribbon
Worms Armageddon
10 Silent Hill
9 Exhibition (Ian Finley)
8 Castlevania/Legacy of Darkness
7 Final Fantasy VIII
6 System Shock 2
5 Unreal Tournament
4 The Longest Journey
3 Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast
2 Street Fighter 3: Third Strike
1 Planescape Torment
2000
Banjo Tooie
Diablo 2
DX-Ball 2
Dragon Blaze
Galatea (Emily Short)
Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
NHL 2001
Space Channel 5
10 Ricochet (Counter-Strike)
9 Shade (Andrew Plotkin)
8 Escape from Monkey Island
7 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
6 Rameses (Stephen Bond)
5 Shrapnel/9:05 (Adam Cadre)
4 Deux Ex
3 Elasto Mania (Balázs Rózsa)
2 Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn
1 The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask
2001
Conkers Bad Fur Day
Cyberd
Deadline, or, Being Douglas Adams (Gunter Schmidl)
Devil May Cry
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
Final Fantasy X
Freak Out!/Stretch Panic
Frequency
Gothic
IF Arcade
Jak & Daxter
Kingdom Hearts
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Maximo: Ghosts to Glory
Pleurghburg: The Dark Age (Chrille Blomqvist)
Project Zero/Fatal Frame
Ribbons (J.D Berry)
Serious Sam
Super Monkey Ball
Zone of the Enders
10 Super Smash Bros Melee
9 Rez
8 Luigis Mansion
7 Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
6 Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil
5 Max Payne
4 Shadow of Memories/Shadow of Destiny
3 Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal/Ascension
2 Silent Hill 2
1 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
2002
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Ketsui
Mad Maestro
Ratchet & Clank
Sly Raccoon
Super Monkey Ball 2
The Trials of Odysseus Kent (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
10 Hobo Soccer (Magic Whisper)
9 Psyvariar: Revision/Psyvariar: Medium Unit
8 Pop n’ Music 8
7 Guilty Gear XX
6 Super Mario Sunshine
5 Ikaruga
4 Noiz2sa (Kenta Cho)
3 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
2 Metroid Prime
1 Metroid Fusion
2003
Amplitude
The Apprentice (Herculean Effort Productions)
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme
Espgaluda
Kya: Dark Lineage
Narcolepsy (Adam Cadre)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Samorost (Amanita Design)
Soul Calibur 2
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Master Quest
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4
Warioware Inc: Minigame Mania
Yume Nikki (KIKIYAMA)
Zone of the Enders: 2nd Runner
10 Seiklus (cly5m)
9 Perfect Cherry Blossom (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
8 5 Days a Stranger (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
7 Beyond Good And Evil
6 dodonpachi DAI-OU-JOU
5 Silent Hill 3
4 The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
3 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
2 Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
1 Parsec47/rRootage (Kenta Cho)
2004
A Case of the Crabs (Pinhead Games)
Beatmania IIDX 8th Style
Glass Rose
Go go roppongi Stick!
Imperishable Night (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Psyvariar 2: Ultimate Final
Polarium
Thief: Deadly Shadows
Tontie (Eyesmaze)
Tuboflex (Molleindustria)
Tumiki Fighters (Kenta Cho)
10 Levers (Patrick Smith)
9 Blue Chairs (Chris Klimas)
8 Cirque de Zale (Rebecca Clements)
7 Katamari Damacy)
6 Mushihimesama
5 7 Days a Skeptic (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
4 The Apprentice II: Knights Move (Herculean Effort Productions
3 Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
2 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
1 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
2005
Anna (Vince Twelve/xiigames)
The Apprentice Deluxe (Herculean Effort Productions)
Beatmania IIDX 9th Style/Beatmania IIDX 10th Style
Blue Wish (x.x)
Cave Story (Daisuke Amaya)
Cedric and the Revolution (Bernie)
Conker: Live and Reloaded
Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat
Electroplankton
Espgaluda 2
Guilty Gear XX Slash
Gunroar/Val & Rick (Kenta Cho)
Ossu! Tatakae! Ouendan!
Pop n' Music 11
Resident Evil 4
Soul Calibur 3
10 We Love Katamari
9 Killer 7
8 Soviet Unterzögersdorf (Monochrom)
7 Psychonauts
6 Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
5 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
4 Experimental Gaming: Tower of Goo, On a Rainy Day, The Crowd, Gravity Head, Square Off, Attack of the Killer Swarm, Riff, Attack of the Killer Swarm, Darwin Hill (Kyle Gabler)
3 Whom the Telling Changed (Aaron A Reed)
2 Jade Empire
1 Pathologic
2006
Automaton (Mr Colossal)
Blue Wish Resurrection/Eden's Edge (x.x)
Hallway of Adventures (Mordalles)
La La Land 5/La La Land 4/La La Land 3/La La Land 2/La La Land (TheAnemic)
Museum of Broken Dreams (Jonas Kyratzes)
Mushihime-sama Futari
New Super Mario Bros
The Shivah/Blackwell Legacy (Dave Gilbert)
Torus Trooper/Titanion (Kenta Cho)
10 Within A Deep Forest (Nifflas)
9 Beatmania IIDX 11: IIDX RED
8 Pop n' Music 12
7 WarioWare: Smooth Moves
6 Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock
5 De Baron (Victor Gijsbers)
4 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
3 Spooks (Lively Ivy/Erin Robinson)
2 Guilty Gear XX Accent Core
1 Trilby's Notes (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
2007
Beatmania IIDX 13: DistorteD
Blackwell Unbound (Dave Gilbert)
Chalk (Joakim Sandberg)
Contra 4
Feed the Head (Patrick Smith)
Frozzd (Jesse Venbrux)
Game, game, game and again game (Jason Nelson)
Hyperbound (Michael Iantorno)
Knytt Stories/Knytt (Nifflas)
La Croix Pan (TheJBurger)
Mountain of Faith (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
Murder In A Wheel (Renzo “Eshaktaar” Thönen)
Nelly Cootalot (Alasdair Beckett)
Pacman Championship Edition
Sumotori Dreams (Péter Soltész)
Rorschach (Collecting Smiles)
Samorost 2 (Amanita Design)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Trilby: The Art Of Theft (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
10 Garden of Coloured Lights/Excellent Bifurcation (Linley Henzell)
9 Sam & Max Season 1: Cont’
8 Mass Effect
7 Mondo Agency/Mondo Medicals/Clean Asia (Cactusquid)
6 Super Mario Galaxy
5 The Witcher
4 Bioshock
3 Portal
2 Passage (Jason Rohrer)
1 6 Days A Sacrifice (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
2008
Achievement Unlocked
Blue Wish Resurrection Plus (x.x)
Des Rêves Élastiques Avec Mille Insectes Nommés Georges (Deirdra Kia)
Do-Don-Pachi Dai-Fukkatsu
Fallout 3
Free Culture Game/Queer Power/Oiligarchy (Molleindustria)
Geometry Wars Evolved 2
How Many…
Little Girl In Underland (Lively Ivy/Erin Robinson?)
Psychosomnium/Seizuredome (Cactusquid)
Rescue: The Beagles (Nenad Jalsovec)
Self-destruct/Xoldiers (Terry Cavanagh)
Tension/The Void
Virtual Silence/Seven Minutes (Tuukka Virtanen)
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
10 A Second Face (Jospin Le Woltaire)
9 Gateway II (Anders Gustafsson)
8 Nanobots (Lively Ivy/Erin Robinson)
7 Aether (Edmund McMillen)
6 Karoshi 2.0/Execution/Pazzon/Torque/Karoshi/Karoshi Factory/Karoshi: Suicide Salaryman (Jesse Venbrux)
5 Gravitation/Police Brutality/Between/Perfectionism (Jason Rohrer)
4 Dear Esther (thechineseroom/Dan Pinchbeck)
3 World Of Goo (2d Boy)
2 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot
1 Braid (Jonathan Blow)
2009
!, Robot/Shifters Box (Ben304)
4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness (Petri/Kloonigames)
And Yet It Moves (Broken Rules)
Au Sable/All Our Friends Are Dead (Amon26)
Backup/Bars Of Black And White (Gregory Weir)
Blue Lacuna (Aaron A Reed)
Chaser (Connor Carpenter/shadestorm)
Devils Tuning Fork (DePaul Game Elites)
Eden’s Aegis (x.x)
Evidence of Everything Exploding (Jason Nelson)
Flower (thatgamecompany)
Play: Free Will - The Game (raitendo)
Gray (aeiowu/fucrate)
Gravity Bone (Brendon Chung/Blendo Games)
Harpooned (Conor O’Kane)
lose/lose (Zach Gage)
Korsakovia (thechineseroom/Dan Pinchbeck)
Mental Repair Inc (Renzo “Eshaktaar” Thönen)
Nestlings (Lewis Denby)
New Super Mario Bros Wii
The Path (Tale of Tales)
Repent (Aaron Oldenburg)
Small Worlds (David Shute)
Spectre (Vaguely Spectacular)
Super Karoshi/Focus (Jesse Venbrux)
Takishawa Is Dead! (Andrew Brophy)
Tales of Monkey Island
The Endling Archive (Kazuki Mishima)
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Today I Die (Daniel Benmergui)
Walker & Silhouette (C.E.J. Pacian)
We the Giants (Peter Groeneweg)
White Butterfly (Linley Henzell)
Windosill (Patrick Smith)
10 The Company of Myself (Eli Pülonen)
9 Time Fcuk (Edmund McMillen, William Good & Justin Karpel)
8 The Marionette (Team Effigy/Auriond)
7 Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
6 Batman: Arkham Asylum
5 Judith/Don’t Look Back/Pathways (Terry Cavanagh)
4 Radiator 1-2: Handle With Care/Radiator 1-1: Polaris (Robert Yang)
3 Dragon Age: Origins
2 Everyday The Same Dream (Molleindustria)
1 Opera Omnia/Home/Therapy Game/Mirror Stage/The Black Yeti/Signifier (Stephen Lavelle/increpare)
2010
...But That Was [Yesterday]/Together (Michael Molinari)
A House in California/Hummingbird Mind (Jake Elliott & friends)
Alan Wake
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
The Arm/Refus Q. Jibberjabber's Day Out/Flin McGraw's Last Day (tipp)
Beautiful Escape: Dungeoneer (Nicolau/calunio)
Being There (Jordan Magnuson)
Blades of Passion (Drew Wellman)
Crimzon Clover (Yotsubane)
Conquer the Shadow World/Lackadaisium (Ultimate Walrus)
Covetous/Good Fortune (Austin Breed)
Cow Clicker (Ian Bogost)
Depict1 (Retro Affect)
Digital: A Love Story (Christine Love)
Dragon Age: Awakening
Dual Transform (Andrew Plotkin)
Eternally Us (Ben304)
Feign (Ian Snyder)
Flaws (Jon Ingold)
Frenzy Defense (Jan Willem Nijman)
Hero Core (Daniel Remar)
Howard Glitch Game (Robert Allmand)
ir/rational (Tom Jubert)
Limbo (Playdead)
Loneliness (Jordan Magnuson)
Loved (Alexander Ocias)
My First Quantum Translocator
Norrland/Gamma4 (Cactusquid)
Octodad (DGE2)
One Chance (AwkwardSilenceGames)
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX
P0nd (Peanut Gallery)
Puji (Alexander Jhin, Matt McKnett, and Pat Kemp)
Puzzlebots (Lively Ivy/Erin Robinson)
QWOP (Bennett Fodd)
Sand-dancer (Aaron A Reed & Alexei Othenin-Girard)
Super Crate Box (Vlambeer)
Super Meat Boy (Team Meat)
Super Street Fighter IV
suteF (Ted Lauterbach)
Symon (Singapore MIT Gambi Game Lab)
Technobabylon – Part II/Technobabylon – Part 1 (James Dearden)
Tedium (EddieC)
The Dream Machine Chaper 1 & 2 (Erik Zaring & Anders Gustafsson)
Tower of Heaven (askiisoft)
Which (Mike Inel)
10 After (Aaron Oldenburg)
9 Memory Reloaded/Leaky Worlds: A Playable Theory (Molleindustria)
8 The Journey Down: Over The Edge (Theodor Waern)
7 VVVVV/Phobiaphobiaphobia (Terry Cavanagh)
6 Super Mario Galaxy 2
5 Mass Effect 2
4 Life Flashes By (Deirdra Kia)
3 Snakes of Avalon (Igor Hardy/Ascovel & Alex Van Wijst/Baron)
2 Looming/The Day/Narthex (Gregory Weir)
1 Treatise/Hush/Modernauts/Primitive Pattern/Starfeld/100 Names/Queue/The Terrible Whiteness of Appalachian Nights/The Rose Garden/Catalan/Cascode (Stephen Lavelle/increpare)
2011
A Mother's Inferno (Dadiu/David Adler)
Animal Puncher/A Mother in Festerwood (Austin Breed)
American Dream (Stephen Lavelle, Terry Cavanagh, Jasper Byrne and Tom Morgan-Jones)
At A Distance (Terry Cavanagh)
Batman: Arkham City
Cat and the Coup (Peter Brinson/Kurosh ValaNejad)
Crime Zone (thecatamites)
Fotonica
Glitchhiker (vlambeer)
Hot Throttle (Cacusquid)
Labyrinths (György Dudas)
NightSky (Nicalis/Nifflas)
No Longer Subject to Judicial Review (NiallM)
Raccord Sniper (Nicolai Troshinsky)
Rebirth (Daniel-D. "Guert" Guertin)
Soul Brother (Jasper Byrne)
Spent (McKinney)
The Stanley Parable (Cakebread)
Suction Co-op (Gustav Dahl)
Technobabylon Part III (James Dearden)
The Dream Machine: Chapter 3 (Erik Zaring & Anders Gustafsson)
The End of Us (Chelsea Howe & Michael Molinari)
These Robotic Hearts of Mine (Alan Hazelden/Draknet)
To the Moon (Kan Gao)
Wunderputt (dampgnat)
You Shall Know The Truth/The Book of Living Magic (Jonas Kyratzes)
10 Trauma (Krystian Majewski)
9 Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony (Final Form)
8 Negative Spacecraft (Chris Cornell)
7 A History of Democratic Process in Eire/English Country Tune/Salome/ Pirouette (Stephen Lavelle/increpare)
6 Rayman Origins
5 Balloon-Diaspora/Ruins (Jake Elliott)
4 Bla Bla (Vincent Morisset)
3 Maybe Make Some Change (Aaron A Reed)
2 Portal 2
1 Bastion
2012
.heartbeats (Sebastian Trelles)
As Slow As Possible (György Dudas)
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
Brace (Merritt Kopas)
Drawception
dys4ia (Anna Anthropy)
First Draft of the Revolution (Emily Short)
Hotline Miami
I Remember the Rain (Jordan Browne)
ir/rational Redux (Tom Jubert)
It's all Fun and Games Until Someone Blows Their Brains Out (Mikael Vesavuori)
Laza Knitez! (Team Buttfighters)
Lone Survivor (Jasper Byrne)
The Love Letter (axcho and knivel)
Mirrormoon (Team Focaccia)
Promises/The Good Sister/RAPIDFIE (Stephen Lavelle)
Resonance (Vincent XII)
Slender: The Eight Pages (Mark J. Hadley)
Super Hexagon (Terry Cavanagh)
The Colder Light (Jon Ingold)
The Republia Times (Lucas Pope)
Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell)
To What End (Chelsea Howe, Michael Molinari)
Unfinished Swan
10 Perspective (nfyre)
9 Anestesia (Pedro Paiva)
8 Vidiot Game
7 Journey Down: Over the Edge HD (Theodor Waern)
6 Journey (thatgamecompany)
5 Unmanned (molleindustria)
4 Mass Effect 3
3 Thirty Flights of Loving (Brendon Chung)
2 Almost Goodbye/Prom Week (Aaron A Reed)
1 Dear Esther
2013
Slave of God (increpare)
My inner (dualistically oriented) grown-ups favorite games:
These are my favorite games as deemed so by the intellectual within me, by the person within who does not wish to play games only for the sake of playing them or having fun or getting better at it or appreciating the aesthetics, and so on. These games are games that transcend the time which I spend with them and contribute to the dialogue I have with myself and others concerning matters of what a good life is, what justice can be, if love is possible, and other questions of prime importance. There are a number of games that fit neither here or in ”the list of my inner child”, which are those games that gameplay-wise are very good, yet I discovered them as an adolescent (or later), and the games which have adult themes and are very well-executed, yet do not seem to have themes which I necessarily think I can incorporate into my daily living, themes that do not make me remember the game in other contexts than that of nostalgia or video game criticism.
First stage
Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn
Bioshock
Deus Ex
Jade Empire
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Portal
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
System Shock 2
Second stage
Grim Fandango
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot
Opera Omnia
Portal 2
Silent Hill 3
Shadows of Memories
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
The Longest Journey
World Of Goo (2d Boy)
Third (and final?) stage
Braid (Jonathan Blow)
Dear Esther (thechineseroom/Dan Pinchbeck)
Final Fantasy VII
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Pathologic
Planescape Torment
Silent Hill 2
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask
Sequelitis
In a business where sequels abound and the question of ”why” seems to get it's most clear answer in fiscal numbers or notions of ”improvement” (of game mechanics and graphics, mainly), I have great respect and derive chunky joy from sequels which make their point of departure meaningful, and also have producers who are gutsy enough to support that willing departure from established sequel-conventions of ”bigger and higher”. And sometimes, that damn sequel with improved interface and graphics, or with more nuanced game mechanics, makes me question why I was skeptical to the ”now made perfect” sequel in the first place.
We identify a series – videogame or otherwise – according to how well it obeys the formal rules established by its predecessors, much as we identify the next number in a numeric set according to whether it was derived from the set's algorithm. The act of obeying those self-made rules (along with our awareness of such obedience) becomes a trope in itself, a behavioral habit that identifies us as consumers of a product. By demanding the continuation of a series, an audience can become as typecast in its desires as the product that it demands.
The cycle of iteration creates an illusion of progress without granting true progress – freedom from the cycle, from zero, from the set. Think of escaping the cycle as a return to a state of Taoist p'u – the uncarved block that represents receptivity, passivity, and the simplicity of beginnings. Sense cycles, repetitions of personal behaviors, can never be permanently discarded. However, they can be modified toward a better identity once a person, with self-awareness, leaves that state of p'u and tries to do – and become – something new. 1
Third place, first outing
Dodonpachi
Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
System Shock 2
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Second best, nigh the top stop
Fallout 2
Guilty Gear XX
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Portal 2
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
First place, second row
Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Silent Hill 2
Street Fighter 2: World Warrior
RPG's
1 RPG's
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast
Dragon Age: Awakening
Fallout
Fallout 2
Final Fantasy VIII
Mass Effect
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
2 RPG's
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal/Ascension
Dragon Age: Origins
Jade Empire
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
The Witcher
3 RPG's
Baldur’s Gate
Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn
Final Fantasy VII
Planescape Torment
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
Mods
Since mods often are community efforts, endlessly bettered and updated as a living ofganism, attributing them dates or specific authors can be hard. Sometimes it's possible, but for the sake of laziness I'll skip that part completely and just go ahead and tell you about the game modifications which have greatly contributed to my enjoyment of these (RPG) games.
Baldur’s Gate
Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
Planescape Torment
The Bigg's Widescreen mod/Ghostdog's incredible UI mod
Qwinn's Planescape: Torment Tweaks
Planescape: Torment Ultimate WeiDU Fixpack
Planescape Torment: Unfinished Business
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
TSL Restored Content Mod
Shmups
Boy did I used to love these. For the last five years or so, instead I've dropped out of sight, seeing how what is produced these days is very inspired by the Japanese arcade tradition. All right, so I used to love that tradition – these days I do not, but my taste for procedurally generated content and the opposite of punishing gameplay is still strong, even if it doesn't take much to put me off.
2CCQuality
Blue Wish Resurrection (x.x)
Cyberd (?)
Dragon Blaze
Eden's Aegis (x.x)
Eden's Edge (x.x)
The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
ESPgaluda
Garden of Coloured Lights (Linley Henzell)
Gunbird 2
Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony (Final Form)
Imperishable Night (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
Psyvariar
Psyvariar 2
Tumiki Fighters
Ultimate Stage (?)
White Butterfly (Linley Henzell)
1CCQuality
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
Gunbird
Ikaruga
Mushihimesama
Noiz2sa (Kenta Cho)
Perfect Cherry Blossom (Zun/Team Shanghai Alice)
Self-destruct (Terry Cavanagh)
Strikers 1945
Beyond 1CC
Area 88/UN Squadron
dodonpachi DAI-OU-JOU
Dodonpachi
Parsec47 (Kenta Cho)
rRootage (Kenta Cho)
Strikers 1945: Part II
Independent Point & Clicks
High nostalgia factor for me, almost from the get-go, for some reason, even though I didn't exactly ”grow up” with SCUMM and LucasArts. I've clicked a lot in my life, and in games made in Adventure Game Studios especially, but I'm out of the loop also in this area. The genre needs less weird puzzles and, brace yourself, ”meaningful choices”. Or non-choices. But things that evoke some sense of purpose and has life-affirming qualities beyond the isolation of a puzzle.
2 Clicks Away From Total Awesomeness
Anna (Vince Twelve/xiigames)
Blackwell Legacy (Dave Gilbert)
Blackwell Unbound (Dave Gilbert)
Little Girl In Underland (Lively Ivy/Erin Robinson)
Mental Repair Inc (Renzo “Eshaktaar” Thönen)
Nelly Cootalot (Alasdair Beckett)
Rorschach (Collecting Smiles)
Technobabylon Part 1, 2, 3 (James Dearden)
The Dream Machine (Erik Zaring & Anders Gustafsson)
The Shivah (Dave Gilbert)
The Trials of Odysseus Kent (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
1 Click Away From Total Awesomeness
5 Days A Stranger (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
7 Days a Skeptic (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
A House in California (Jake Elliott & friends)
A Second Face (Jospin Le Woltaire)
Cirque de Zale (Rebecca Clements)
Gateway II (Anders Gustafsson)
Murder In A Wheel (Renzo “Eshaktaar” Thönen)
The Apprentice Deluxe (Herculean Effort Productions)
The Clique
6 Days A Sacrifice (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
Snakes of Avalon (Igor Hardy/Ascovel & Baron/Alex Van Wijst)
Spooks (Lively Ivy/Erin Robinson)
Soviet Unterzögersdorf (Monochrom)
The Apprentice II: Knights Move (Herculean Effort Productions)
The Journey Down: Over The Edge (Theodor Waern)
The Marionette (Team Effigy/Auriond)
Trilby's Notes (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw)
Interactive Fiction
A genre wish I have held the highest hopes for, for many years now. Mostly I get frustrated over the interface problems and prefer ”less interaction” and more meaningful choices, which reflects what game I've put on this list too. And although also this is a genre I am utterly tired of right now, I have high hopes for what the future will bring.
X
9:05 (Adam Cadre)
Aisle (Sam Barlow)
Deadline, or, Being Douglas Adams (Gunther Schmidl)
Dual Transform (Andrew Plotkin)
First Draft of the Revolution (Emily Short)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams/Steve Meretzky)
Narcolepsy (Adam Cadre)
The Colder Light (Jon Ingold)
Xyz
Being There (Jordan Magnuson)
Blue Chairs (Chris Klimas)
Blue Lacuna (Aaron A Reed)
Galatea (Emily Short)
Ribbons (J.D Berry)
Shade (Andrew Plotkin)
Tapestry (Daniel Ravipinto)
Walker & Silhouette (C.E.J. Pacian)
Xyzzy
Almost Goodbye (Aaron A Reed)
De Baron (Victor Gijsbers)
Exhibition (Ian Finley)
maybe make some change (Aaron A Reed)
Photopia (Adam Cadre)
Rameses (Stephen Bond)
Shrapnel (Adam Cadre)
Whom the Telling Changed (Aaron A Reed)
Horror Games
This is a list with the video games that has scared the most shit out of me. Most of these are not classic horror games with monsters, bur rather disconcerting experiences which through questions, atmosphere, and play make for the most interesting scares I've gotten. My favored type of horror puts the player in the dawning realization of being the evil force at work behind the horrors unveiling, or of going someplace bad with no choice except to comply. It plays with dissolution of identity, of losing sense of self in a world where there is barely any certainty as it is. It makes me ponder my place in the universe, or tries to psyche me out with confused realities. But it also makes me fear the next door, the next hallway, and the next apparition.
The games are arranged by category, and the top positions in each category are not necessarily the best games of those mentioned, but the ones that does what the category implies best.
Perhaps the best horror series ever, in par with Silent Hill, which only gets
better with every game and deserves special attention:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chzo_Mythos
Subdued angst:
http://www.increpare.com/2009/02/opera-omnia/
http://mikeinel.deviantart.com/art/Which-Short-Game-152503626
http://www.indiegames.com/2010/09/browser_game_pick_the_day_greg.html
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1228
http://distractionware.com/blog/?p=759
http://www.jonas-kyratzes.net/games/the-museum-of-broken-memories/
http://xiigames.com/anna/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Castlevania_IV
Existential displacement:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear_Solid_2:_Sons_of_Liberty
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_pathologic_pc
http://www.increpare.com/2010/11/treatise/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape:_Torment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_of_Kain:_Soul_Reaver_2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex
http://playthisthing.com/pazzon
Twisted, uncanny, disgusting and freudian:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill_2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill_3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill:_Shattered_Memories
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill_%28video_game%29
A Mothers Inferno Dadiu/David Adler
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=5395.0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_Frame
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer7
Psychological:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitarium_%28video_game%29
http://www.freeworldgroup.com/games6/gameindex/gateway_2.htm
http://snakes.hardydev.com/
Mind games:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_%28video_game%29
http://www.kongregate.com/games/AlexanderOcias/loved
POEtic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Eye_%28video_game%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Esther
Lovecraftian:
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Darkness:_Sanity%27s_Requiem
http://www.moddb.com/mods/nestlings
Cyberpunk/identity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Shock_2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid_Fusion
http://www.moddb.com/mods/korsakovia
http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/puzzle/sutef/4195/
http://www.joltcountry.com/trottingkrips/shrapnel.html
http://www.indiegames.com/2010/08/howard_glitch_the_youtube_indi.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_a_Steel_Sky
Nightmarish confusion:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/542658
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/511754
http://www.gamemakergames.com/?a=archive&submit=1&searchtype=creator_name&search=TheAnemic (La La Land Series)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD_%28video_game%29
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/26339
Atmospheric otherworldliness:
http://www.indiegames.com/2010/07/browser_game_pick_looming_greg.html
Yume Nikki
http://www.thedreammachine.se/
http://www.devilstuningfork.com/
http://www.asecondface.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo_%28video_game%29
http://rpgmaker.net/games/2068/
Disconcerting/surreal:
http://www.gamemakergames.com/archive/the-arm
http://indygamer.blogspot.com/2007/12/mondo-agency.html
Ib (kouri)
http://cactusquid.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=games&action=display&thread=13
These Robot Hearts of Mine Alan Hazelden (Draknet)
Animal Puncher (Austin Breed)
http://www.indiegames.com/2010/06/trailer_norrland_cactus.html
Hotline Miami
http://www.indiegames.com/2010/09/browser_game_pick_feign_ian_sn.html
Exploration based fear:
SCP - Containment Breach
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_%28video_game%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO:_Enemy_Unknown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Metroid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid_Prime
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Park_%28SNES_game%29
Twitchers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_%28video_game%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_4
I do recommend you trying some of these out, most of them are short indie games which do not take more than half an hour to complete.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Mass Effect 3 Ending link collection
http://www.themarysue.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-mass-effect-3-ending-controversy-as-spoiler-free-as-possible/
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/03/watch-mass-effect-3s-different-endings-see-what-all-the-fuss-is-about/
http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/14/mass-effect-3-the-end-of-an-epic/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/19/bio-beware-the-latest-on-mass-effect-3s-ending-drama/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/19/whats-right-with-mass-effect-3s-ending/
http://kotaku.com/5892074/why-mass-effect-3s-ending-doesnt-need-changing-spoilers
http://direcritic.com/2012/03/20/in-which-squaresoft-wrote-a-bioware-game-spoilers/
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/156601-
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/22/frozen-synapses-changed-ending-a-mass-indie-effect/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/21/mass-effect-3-ending-saga-near-an-end/
http://robotgeek.co.uk/2012/03/21/bioware-promises-mass-effect-3-epilogue-based-on-fan-opinions/
http://robotgeek.co.uk/2012/03/19/in-todays-no-really-this-actually-happened-news-angry-mass-effect-3-fans-are-genuinely-taking-their-complaints-to-the-ftc/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/13/mass-effect-3-and-the-pernicious-myth-of-gamer-entitlement/
http://nightmaremode.net/2012/03/fans-capitalism-and-mass-effect-3s-ending-oh-my-17604/
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/mass-effect-3-endings-reception/photos
http://imgur.com/ZrHPY
Hitler reacts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b33tJx8iy0A&context=C4b1aab3ADvjVQa1PpcFMsZ8BM742bWfBQguRL-47awXWtOsmyCPE=
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/03/watch-mass-effect-3s-different-endings-see-what-all-the-fuss-is-about/
http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/14/mass-effect-3-the-end-of-an-epic/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/19/bio-beware-the-latest-on-mass-effect-3s-ending-drama/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/19/whats-right-with-mass-effect-3s-ending/
http://kotaku.com/5892074/why-mass-effect-3s-ending-doesnt-need-changing-spoilers
http://direcritic.com/2012/03/20/in-which-squaresoft-wrote-a-bioware-game-spoilers/
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/156601-
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/22/frozen-synapses-changed-ending-a-mass-indie-effect/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/21/mass-effect-3-ending-saga-near-an-end/
http://robotgeek.co.uk/2012/03/21/bioware-promises-mass-effect-3-epilogue-based-on-fan-opinions/
http://robotgeek.co.uk/2012/03/19/in-todays-no-really-this-actually-happened-news-angry-mass-effect-3-fans-are-genuinely-taking-their-complaints-to-the-ftc/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/13/mass-effect-3-and-the-pernicious-myth-of-gamer-entitlement/
http://nightmaremode.net/2012/03/fans-capitalism-and-mass-effect-3s-ending-oh-my-17604/
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/mass-effect-3-endings-reception/photos
http://imgur.com/ZrHPY
Hitler reacts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b33tJx8iy0A&context=C4b1aab3ADvjVQa1PpcFMsZ8BM742bWfBQguRL-47awXWtOsmyCPE=
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