Having garnered something of a reputation for himself in the still-fledgling computer gaming market, Richard Garriott found himself in an unenviable position: how to follow Akalabeth: World of Doom. While not the most sophisticated or visually stunning game made up to that point, Akalabeth was, as detailed in my article on the game, a game of considerable character and charm, one that had caught the imagination of many of the new group of people soon to be called Gamers. Read more …
Japanese RPGs: they divide opinion, arguably, like no other. While any genre of game has its lauders and its detractors, JRPGs seem to have something of a bipolar effect on gaming as a whole. Offer one to a gamer and they will probably have one of two reactions; utter revulsion or eager anticipation. Few games garner such a cult following as some of luminaries of this gaming sub-section and even fewer garner such utter dismissal and ridicule from those who dislike them.
The games industry has an image problem. Some people may protest, but you know it, I know it and, boy, does the media know it. Computer games and, by extension, gamers are often derided in the general consciousness, seen as a group of social outcasts, misfits who just aren’t like ‘normal’ people. It may be grossly unfair, but the stereotype of a gamer who lives on his own (and he’s always male) or with his parents, doesn’t wash and doesn’t really interact with other people prevails in many people’s minds. In the mental image, he’ll most likely be teenage or early twenties too, sitting for hour upon hour at his computer, playing his games. Read more …
To anyone over the age of, say, 20 Virtual Reality conjures up images of someone wearing a large headset, probably with a big visor screen. They will almost certainly have big gloves with wires hanging out of them, all pretty cumbersome. This setup was the conduit for people entering the ‘Virtual Reality’ world, usually depicted as a whole other world; a different universe in which people were transported though the sensory inputs provided by the headset and VR gear. Or, at least, this was how VR was portrayed in popular media, be it Hollywood films like Lawnmower Man, Science Fiction novels such as the Otherland Series by Tad Williams and in Television series such as red Dwarf and Star Trek. Read more …
With Dragon Age III on the cards for 2013, now seems as good a time as ever to analyse the first two games as a way of getting us in the dragon-murdering mood, starting with the first game. Read more …
With it being the chirstmassy time of year and approaching the end of another year, there are many an article to be found discussing what people’s most anticipated games of the upcoming year are. Now this is all very well and undoubtedly an important subject. The upcoming titles due in the next 12 months, be they AAA titles or lesser known products, are the bricks and mortar of the future of gaming, a future that promises to be glowing. However, being the contrarian so and so that I am, I’ve found it difficult to really find much to get me excited in the coming year. For every Bioshock Infinite out there, there seems to be a hundred cookie-cutter FPS bland-a-thons. Read more …