Games have come a long way since the quaint, bygone days of Tetris and Asteroids. These days some attempt to challenge our thinking, others to make us laugh or cry.

Even with such a broad range of games, people often narrow the field to one possible future. For example: All games will become completely open-ended. Games will never tell stories effectively. And so on.

In reality though, unique genres have emerged in which all of these (and more) possibilities are being explored. The old FPS and RPG genres just don’t cut it anymore. Video games cover more ground than people realize, and these new game categories will eventually encompass games as distinct from one another as sculptures are from oil paintings.

Read More »

With President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and the Cabinet now sworn in, I couldn’t help wondering if things could be done better. How would the video game personalities we’ve come to know and love form a government? What positions would they occupy? After much deliberation, I came up with my ideal Video Game Government including the President, the Vice President, and all fifteen Cabinet positions filled. I strove for representation among all brands and consoles while cutting to the heart of the matter: the best people for the job. Want to see if you agree? Read on.
Read More »

The minimum system requirements for The Sims 3, Will Wright’s latest Sims game, were recently released to Infinite Sims. The good news? Current entry-level PCs should have little problem meeting the requirements. The bad news is that users running Windows Vista with The Sims 3’s minimum RAM requirement may have problems that go beyond the game’s minimum graphic and processing settings.

Read More »

Will Wright’s life simulation legacy continues with the release of The Sims 3. Although we will have to wait until late February 2009 to get our hands on it, more information about what will be included in the game is becoming readily available. The real question is: will you be buying the core game or the swag-filled collector’s edition?

Read More »

In the lead-up to the much anticipated release of Spore, I wondered to myself why the only gameplay demos we saw were of the cell and creature stage. I should have seen it coming.

Sure, the early part’s fun, with very simple and user-friendly kill-or-be-killed mechanics. But why didn’t I see clips from the much-lauded Space stage?

When you finally reach it, Space seems great—it’s very bright and very shiny; there’s plenty more to do, see and explore in comparison to the previous chapters. But that comparison should hint to the fact that there’s just not much of a game here.

Read More »