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Swearing at the screen: a history of rudeness in text adventures Much effort went into providing responses to inputs quite removed from an adventurer's staple activities of bashing heads and examining stuff.
“Don’t be ridiculous” the invisible narrator snapped, dismissing some long-forgotten typed request, and several decades later I still remember it. It was the first computer game I’d ever played, an early 80s text adventure titled Madness and the Minotaur on my swanky new Dragon 32, and my uncle had joined dad and I to marvel at the shiny new toy and help us with the intricacies of English prose. He had to explain what it meant to be ridiculous. I’m being ridiculous? Even at a tender age I could sense some grand unfairness at work, even more so after the line started dumbly repeating itself, our textual flailings going unrecognized…
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A conspiracy of silence: How NDAs are harming the games industry Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) have long been a fact of doing business in video games - but their enforcement can have wide-ranging, negative effects.
The largest ever MMO battle—3000 players!—was an accident Someone forgot to pay rent, resulting in a space battle involving over 3000 players and $300k worth of the game's currency gone forever.
25 years later, how Super Metroid came to define a genre It drastically reimagined how people would think about action games, and still shows up on “best game of all time” lists to this day.
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The secret history of G.I. Joe and Transformers We’re going to look at the many times in the past the two franchises have collided.
G.I. Joe and Transformers have been two of Hasbro’s biggest names, and they have long and storied histories with absurd amounts of lore in toy, comic, and cartoon form. Their worlds have collided in IDW’s newly unified… well, let’s call it the Hasbroverse (My Little Pony isn’t part of the Joes’ and Transformers’ lives yet, but IDW has books of all three, so it’s only a matter of time until Rarity gives Snake Eyes a makeover). We’re going to look at the many times in the past the two franchises have collided. And before we do that, here’s a very quick primer. Like many dives into geeky esoterica, the relevant fan wikis…
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Video game journalists are a joke Gamers don’t have a problem with challenge. Game journalists do, because they're lazy hacks — and because challenge itself engenders fundamental problems for their ideology.
The wonderful wobbly world of experimental gaming hardware "Your first communication you have with the game is the hardware, so we think that it’s important to have the right touch."
Leave me alone: speaking out against the rise of co-op The once separate worlds of singleplayer and multiplayer are merging – but there's nothing wrong with playing alone.
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The world of video game vinyl Down the video game record collection hole.
I don’t understand vinyl. Lots of music nerds swear by vinyl albums for reasons I can’t actually understand. Then I went down the video game record collection hole. Watch this video on YouTube And I still don’t understand. But that hasn’t stopped me from picking up a handful of albums when I don’t even have a turntable. Because, while I can’t imagine casually listening to any of them (and most I’ve gotten include digital download codes, so you don’t have to worry about playing the actual album), they look really cool. The Journey It started at a Protomen show, the premiere of their music video for “Light Up The Night”…
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The weirdest fighting games of all time Most fighting games have some degree of strangeness to them, but there are those who are downright bizarre.
The games players love more than critics We use statistical analysis to shine some light on the divide between video game players and critics.
80 years before X-COM, H.G. Wells designed ‘Little Wars’ H.G. Wells' contributions to modern pop culture can hardly be overestimated, and even video games haven't escaped it.
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FIFA 21 update allows players to set limits on how much they can spend on microtransactions But don't celebrate just yet.
There is a much criticism of political journalism for reducing everything to a fight between good and evil. But in the case of EA and their policies and consumer treatment, including the new FIFA Playtime, they are just plain evil. The company name was probably changed to Evil Arts at some point. It wouldn’t be surprising if there is a small budget in the company to hunt down Benjamin Yahtzee Croshaw through the Australian outback. Decade(s) long grudge aside, here is what you will get according to FIFA 21 patch notes: Pay between $60 and $100 dollars provided you have an EA subscription Buy FUT points to get any decent…
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The legacy of Duke Nukem We take you on the full journey, from hope to hopelessness.
How to kill a franchise Let's put on a pair of hindsight 20/20 and look at the multiple sure-fire ways to kill off bankable pop-culture sensations.
Media calls for VR safe spaces Everyone will finally be safe in places where nothing can hurt you to begin with.
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Mint condition Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridge breaks all records—sells for $156k Super Mario Bros is once again the most expensive video game ever sold. It's-a more money than sense!
Super Mario Bros continues to break its own records, once again becoming the most expensive video game ever sold. Last year, an original 1985 copy of Super Mario Bros. in mint condition made news when it sold for $100,150. Then, earlier this year, an even mintier condition Super Mario Bros. copy of the 1985 hit sold for $114,000. But this Friday someone purchased a Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridge for a whopping $156,000. All the auctions were held at Heritage Auctions, which is associated with rare and expensive antiques and old collectibles (the kind grandpas collect) but is no doubt starting to appreciate digital vintage. A Heritage Auctions statement explains…
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Former WoW Team Leader: “This won’t stop. WoW gamers are leaving for good. “ Mark 'Grummz' Kern acknowledges explosive leak and writes about failures of AAA culture and why World of Warcraft is dying.
Love in a time of Warcraft Sarah found herself cast as the Yoko Ono of WoW, being blamed for the dissolution of what has been a successful raiding guild.
Why Zelda dungeons are so great Let's dig into how the dungeons work so well with Mark Brown's great crash-course.
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Is true next-gen Cyberpunk 2077 worth the wait? Cyberpunk 2077 releases on all platforms in one month, but the next-gen upgrades for the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions won't be out until 2021.
The launch lineup for PS5 (November 10th!) is looking pretty impressive, but fans of one of the most anticipated games ever now face a dilemma: the Cyberpunk 2077 scheduled for release on December 10th isn’t a real next-gen product. We have important news to share with you pic.twitter.com/qZUaD6IwmM — Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) October 27, 2020 A later upgrade to Cyberpunk 2077, taking full advantage of the next-gen hardware, will be available for free. — Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) June 19, 2020 While technically you can play Cyberpunk 2077 on your shiny new PS5, it will essentially look and feel exactly like the Cyberpunk 2077 in your PS4. The upgrades that allow…
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The secret history of G.I. Joe and Transformers We’re going to look at the many times in the past the two franchises have collided.
Arming the citizens of GTA V leads to absolute chaos Modders have patched in the 'Crazy Peds' cheat from San Andreas.
You can now play XCOM in an Excel spreadsheet It’s called EXLCOM, and all you need to run it is a copy of Excel. What a time to be alive.
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10 beautiful 2D games exclusive to the PlayStation (PS1/PSX) The future of gaming was 3D, but the PlayStation had several beautiful 2D exclusives.
When the original PlayStation hit store shelves in 1995, it unlocked new possibilities in 3D gaming, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t a ton of beautiful 2D games on the PS1. The fifth generation of video games includes the PlayStation as well as the Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64. Out of those three consoles, it’s often assumed that the Sega Saturn had the best 2D games, considering its limitations with 3D. But the PlayStation had a giant library with a ton of great exclusives. Here are 10 great 2D games that you can only play on the original PlayStation in no particular order. 1. Alundra Watch this video on YouTube…
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Swearing at the screen: a history of rudeness in text adventures Much effort went into providing responses to inputs quite removed from an adventurer's staple activities of bashing heads and examining stuff.
Turn your Excel spreadsheet into an RPG with Arena.Xlsm Just because you’re stuck in Excel all day doesn’t mean you can’t do some questing.
Repetition as a feature: gaming’s best groundhog days When repetition is used as a narrative technique, it can be super effective.
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10 anti-gravity racing games like WipEout and F-Zero While futuristic anti-gravity racing games aren't extremely popular these days, there are still a few good titles that you might have overlooked.
In the 1990s, games like Wipeout and F-Zero ushered in a new genre of racing games that aren’t confined to the realm of wheels and normal gravity. They’re known as anti-gravity racing games. While futuristic anti-gravity racing games like Wipeout and F-Zero aren’t extremely popular these days, there are still a few good titles that you might have overlooked. I’ve picked out a mix of retro and new anti-gravity racing games that you should check out if you enjoy games like Wipeout and F-Zero. 1. BallisticNG – PC Watch this video on YouTube If you’re a fan of the original Wipeout trilogy, then you’ll fall in love with BallisticNG. BallisticNG…
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‘Cobra Club’: an amazingly weird celebration of dick pics (NSFW) In Cobra Club you play a man stood in his bathroom taking pictures of his penis. It's deeper than you think.
Rise of the oversensitive gamer Easily offensive? Or easily offended?
“You are not a real gamer” The phrase has become a joke and a cliche - but when someone says "you're not a real gamer," what is it they're really saying?
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Why Super Mario Bros. 3 is still a masterpiece Before Mario had a World, he had the biggest stage on Earth – and played the part to perfection.
Talking about Super Mario Bros. 3 risks devolving into a numbers game. It sold over eighteen million copies worldwide, another million on its Virtual Console re-release, who knows how many if you include pack-ins/re-releases, and still stands as one of the biggest sellers ever twenty-seven years later. Released in Japan on October 23, 1988, it wouldn’t see America till 1990 or Europe till 1991, but Super Mario Bros. 3 was always white-hot. In Nintendo’s western television advert, thousands of children chant ‘Mario, Mario, Mario’ as the camera pans back, the figures morphing into Mario’s face and then the North American continent. Such was the anticipation and profile for this 8-bit…
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The best action games of the 2000s Classic action titles that you should make a point of finding some time to try at least once.
Playing with the human side of history Games traditionally present history as monolithic spectacle, but this new breed focuses on the individual experience of simply existing alongside great events.
Eight things that just don’t make sense in the Pokemon universe Twenty years of backtracking and flip flopping until there are more contradictions than a M. Night Shyamalan movie about time travel.
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The people obsessed with uncovering gaming’s deepest, darkest secrets For some, playing a video game to completion isn’t enough. They want to reveal the secrets behind its creation.
This article was originally published March 2016. For some, playing a video game to completion isn’t enough. They want to reveal the secrets behind its creation. Turning their fevered gaze towards cut content and cancelled games, these individuals assemble in online communities, their goal being to uncover fresh information about our favourite games and the abandoned titles we never got to play. Unseen64 is one such community. Started by a group of Italian friends in 2001, the website has grown into an international venture, staffed by volunteers from all around the globe. These volunteers are responsible for scouring the web for news about unfinished and rejected games, to archive for…
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40 memorable nude gaming moments This article should not be viewed by anyone... anywhere... ever.
10 fighting game characters that are definitely furries There are some hardcore furries out there in fighting game rosters, and I've put them on a list.
The heartbreaking story of how one man spent $16k on Final Fantasy and nearly lost his family Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius' combining of characters that people love with gacha-esque monetization can end up going very badly.
