The badass super soldier. An evil villain who’s evil for no apparent reason. Flirtatious, big-breasted women.

Said simply, clichés abound in video games. If you’ve ever played video games, you’re probably familiar with their trite characters and predictable plots, even in the biggest titles. At best, these hackneyed elements are brainless fun. But they also get annoying really fast, and what’s more, they keep games from fulfilling their potential.

We’ll always have our B-quality productions. Even so, some games have already transcended the clichés, and we should be demanding the same qualities from all of our titles.

Read More »

Would Edgar Allan Poe have written storylines for video games?

With a game like Dante’s Inferno under development at EA, anything seems possible. If we can have an adaptation of the Dante Alighieri’s epic poem — a staple in high school classrooms across the country — why not other literary works as well?

Hollywood has borrowed time and again from classic books, and it’s about time video games do the same. So from magical realism to romantic adventures, here are 5 masterpieces that would make great game concepts.

Read More »