Last week marked the start and end of this year's annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). It was the time of year that most of the major power players in the world of gaming emerge for a few days to talk about the near-future of gaming. While I have my own opinions on this year's E3 (which are...
Final Fantasy is a gaming franchise most people are aware of. At one point, it was considered the pinnacle of JRPGs and almost synonymous with the term. Nowadays, the franchise and its creators, Square-Enix, are not held in such high esteem. While the exact point that it began is incredibly...
I, very recently, had the pleasure of playing Half-Life 2 and its two episodes (which I will be collectively referring to as “the game”, despite being three different games) for the very first time. While I have a favorable opinion of the game, that is not the subject of this week's article....
As prior articles I have written may have led you to believe, I tend to take story in games seriously. I am heavily critical of plot-lines in games and I expect narratives to be sensible. However, there are some people who are as critical as I am that I take issue with. When discussing the plot...
As of right now, major gaming has been a competition between the Nintendo Wii, the Sony PlayStation 3, the Microsoft Xbox 360, and the good-old gaming PC. Each of these options have their own pros and cons, and each were vying for supremacy. This is nothing new. It has been this way for a number of...
(Warning: Mass Effect SeriesSpoilers, especially Mass Effect 3. You have been warned.) When I proofread the column from last week, I had realized something. While I did much to outline the problems in the Mass Effectseries and its choices, specifically how they did not significantly influence...
(Warning: Mass Effect SeriesSpoilers, especially Mass Effect 3. You have been warned.) The other day, I had a conversation with a friend of mine about the Mass Effectseries. In it, the following point came up: Where exactly does the series fall on the Sliding Scale of Linearity vs. Choice? It is a...
Warning: Fallout: New Vegas and DLC spoilers A few weeks back, I discussed characterization in Fallout: New Vegas. I said that the “villain” faction (because the player will almost always be directly opposed to it), Caesar's Legion, was one of the most poorly written groups out of the games...
The games of today have come a long way from the games of old. Graphical fidelity has greatly advanced and allows for more rich and detailed environments. The streamlining of many often-used systems in games has made gaming more accessible to the masses. Different genres and new indie titles ensure...
Any game enthusiast who goes onto the internet is familiar with this particular topic. Everyday, someone, somewhere in the world argues that “games are not realistic enough.” Although this assertion is made often, it is a somewhat disingenuous one. When game players say that they want games to...