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Technnoyances

 Martin · 14 years

A list of four things in the world of tech that I find annoying, submitted for your approval in no particular order.

Unboxing videos

I've ranted about this elsewhere, but it's worth repeating; unboxing videos are awful. If there's anything more pathetic to me than sitting around wishing you had some piece of technology, it's doing so while also seeking out and watching other people open up boxes with the desired tech inside.I understand doing research on products you're thinking about buying, but I don't see where the unboxing video fits in with all that. If you want to find out what's actually inside the box, you can find that info on websites or in stores. If you want to see little bits of molded Styrofoam, you've probably got some in boxes you already own sitting around in your house or apartment somewhere.

If you want some new thing that badly, watching someone open up its box isn't going to get you any closer to that goal. Spoiler alert: it's going to be boxed up the same as everything else you've bought. Lots of tape, lots of Styrofoam, lots of plastic. Whoopdy doo.

Purposefully misspelled website/service names

I know that this is probably something that can't really be helped, considering the ever-decreasing amount of URL's available, but there's something that really annoys me about every new website being named in some "edgy" or "cute" misspelling of a simple word.

Flickr. Digg. Pownce. Blippr. Tumblr. Mixx. The lyst goes on.

Have we completely exhausted our reserve of real words for domain names? Has the well of creativity run dry? Seriously annoying.

And you can add to this all the various websites with the words "pop", "crunch", and "mash" in their domain names. Not necessarily misspelled words, but still awful. I don't think I've ever found any site with any of those words in their URL useful in any way whatsoever.

Network searches with Finder

I work in a creative field, and have for years. Unfortunately, this means that most of the time, my employers equip me with a Mac and by extension OS X, which you probably know, is not my preferred operating system.

I don't hate OS X, and actually wish one or two of its features would creep into Windows someday, but there are many quirks and problems with it that nobody ever talks about when they're in the middle of trying to convince you it's worth buying over-priced Apple hardware for. One of those things is the fact that, if you're planning on using it over any type of network, you could be in for some frustration, especially where search is concerned.

The other day I tried searching for a file on our network at work, both of which use OS X. No results were returned, and the spinning "beach ball" appeared, signaling network wait time. So I let it run its course and got back to my work. 10 minutes later, the pinwheel was still showing, and Finder wasn't responding. I forced Finder to quit and then tried to re-open it, but no dice; OS X informed me that Finder can't re-open. And since Finder handles the file saving functions for all the programs I was running, I couldn't save any of my work for a restart. Gah.

And this isn't an isolated incident. In all my years of using OS X, the most problems I've had with it have involved network problems. The only advice I can give, if you absolutely have to work on a Mac, is that if you're planning on doing any major network activity, save your work first.

Organizing media files with Win 7

I've been happy with Windows 7 since I picked it up last year on launch day. It does just about everything better than XP did, and it's nice and snappy to boot. But one thing that absolutely annoys me to no end is the problems I've had trying to organize my music files.

Like many people out there, I've been collecting digital music files for years. A good portion of my music consists of files I ripped myself from CD's I've bought, and most of the rest is digital music I've purchased from Amazon. Over time, as I've bounced between two iPods and about four computers, all with varying amounts of storage, my music has become a bit disorganized. With big hard drives being pretty cheap these days, I've managed to consolidate most of the recent additions to my collection onto one drive, and now I've begun trying to organize it.

Problem is, about 75% of the time I try to move around my music folders, Windows 7 is telling me that there is a file in use and prevents the operation from happening.

After an hour of pure frustration, disabling all music sharing, disabling the folder from being read by Windows 7's music library, disabling Windows Media Player from scanning the folder, and disabling all folder thumbnailing the OS does, it's gotten better. But I still get this error now and then, and it still hurts every time it happens. The file is in use by the OS that is trying to move it.

Isn't it reasonable to suspend the OS from reading the file if a move is being requested? It kills me that with all the great things Windows 7 can do, it still stumbles over something so basic, and so stupid.

So now I have to choose between letting the OS thumbnail my folders, so I can see what's in them without opening them, or making the whole thing look like some kind of file system ghost town, but with the ability to easily move my music around. Awesome.

The one good thing about this is that I've discovered the Local Group Policy Editor, which offers a lot of interesting customization options for Windows 7, under the hood.

Anyway, it feels good to get all that off my chest. Some of it may be unreasonable, and you might disagree with me, but there it is. Sound off in the comments if you have any extreme likes or dislikes in my list or let me know about some of your own tech world annoyances! I'm sure I'll be back with more in the future.

Image unironically courtesy of unpluggd.com.

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A Response to a Fignorant GamesRadar Article

 Martin · 15 years

If you were asked to attribute a specific name to the shallow, and often ill-conceived articles that appear on game-oriented websites when real news is in a lull, what label would you give them? Would you merely call them 'filler'? Or would you go further and use more descriptive words like 'garbage,' or 'stupid,'?

In the case of GamesRadar's article, The Fugliest Games Ever Made, you'd likely use those words and a lot more, peppered with profanity, and probably with some vague threats of violence. This list of games is so inconclusive and arbitrary, it almost seems as if they were drawn from a hat. Here's the list of the "fugliest" games of all time, according to Justin Towell, the author:

  • Toejam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron
  • Nucleus
  • Streets of Rage 3
  • Earache: Extreme Metal Racing
  • Sabre Wulf
  • Sonic & Knuckles
  • Mirror's Edge
  • Sega Rally Championship
  • Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing

I've only played four of the nine games on the list, but of those four, none of them deserve to be dubbed the ugliest game ever. And looking at the screenshots and commentary for the others, I get the feeling that the other five games are just as undeserving of that title as well.

First of all, I'd like to point out that style isn't a bad thing, and style certainly shouldn't be confused for poor design. Games like Toejam & Earl or Nucleus employed a unique style to make their game worlds memorable, and the designers should be congratulated for that, even if they weren't always a complete success. According to Towell however, we should look down upon these games; in his opinion, we should hold the style of all past games to modern standards:

"We didn't realise how garish this game is until we downloaded it off Virtual Console recently. Squiggly wiggles in scrolling backgrounds no longer say 'cool'."

We're rapidly moving towards a time where most games are starting to look way too similar to each other, and the best GamesRadar can do is go back in time to trash past games that tried something a little off the beaten path? Forgive me, but that seems counter-intuitive.

Another thing I find particular offensive about this article is that it makes the mistake of equating the technical limitations of game platforms with bad graphics.

Streets of Rage 3 used a dot pattern to simulate transparency. The Sega Genesis didn't have the capability to do hardware transparency, so developers had to find ways around it. This was a common technique at the time.

Sega Rally Championship was a 3D racing game on the GameBoy Advance. The fact that Sega even got a 3D engine working on the GBA is so incredible that I think the low resolution of the rendering should be overlooked, at least in terms of "fugliness".

Sabre Wulf was created in 1984 for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the UK equivalent of the Commodore 64, by a two man team. The ZX was an 8-bit system running on a Z80 processor (a slower version of the one inside the original GameBoy), so naturally, the graphics it pushed weren't particularly amazing. They literally couldn't be.

Towell, speaking of Sabre Wulf:

"At the time of the game's release, the screen was so busy we couldn't work out what was going on.

Now, of course, that lushness has wilted somewhat, especially in the face of games like Tomb Raider Underworld, to the point where its colour palette now looks like someone ate a load of cheap confectionery and barfed it all back up in 259x192 resolution."

Apparently, Mr. Towell didn't go any farther than Wikipedia for his "research." Kinda makes you wonder if he's ever played Sabre Wulf, doesn't it?

Of course, there's nothing wrong with finding appreciation for the current graphical limitations of games by playing older games now and then, so long as you remember that most of those games could not have looked better than they did because the technology (and oftentimes the expertise) just wasn't there yet. Context matters!

But now, even as I've gotten past GamesRadar's complete ignorance of context, technology, and style, I find myself asking: why are Sonic & Knuckles and Mirror's Edge on this list? S&K's graphics were good for the time, and are in my opinion, still some of the best you can find in 2D platformers. Mirror's Edge isn't ugly at all. Does Justin Towell truly believe that one psychedelic background effect can ruin a game? If a handful of people get motion sickness from a game, does that make its graphics bad in any way?

"The screen's just a mess of colours and glowing white orbs. But wait… this is the bonus level after all! And it's horrible. Everything's pulsating like the lightshow you get from a migraine."

How am I supposed to take commentary like this seriously from a guy who, only a few paragraphs prior, lavished Geometry Wars with praise ("bonfire night explosions of colour and joy")?

Maybe I shouldn't expect so much from GamesRadar, but I can't help it; articles like this give me the feeling that they simply don't care what passes for content these days. Or perhaps this is merely the result of a lazy viewership who never questions the veracity of the articles it consumes. But how is it possible to publish an article like this, without harboring at least mild contempt for your site's viewers?

It's truly a shame when articles like this, which contain nothing but dopey opinions and half-baked zingers, make the rounds and generate ad revenue for sites like GamesRadar. I just hope this model of online content-sans-content doesn't become the norm, especially with many major news publications taking their magazines onto the internet and leaving print behind. There's enough garbage online as it is.

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Apologies for the Absence

 Martin · 15 years

Has it really been over a week since I've posted here? Well, my apologies for the delay – it's been a busy time for me over the last week, and I just haven't been able to find the time to write anything. I've meant to though, so hopefully I'll be getting back on track with this post. In the interest of everyone's time, here's a quick list of everything I've been up to over the last couple of weeks that has contributed, in one way or another, to my lag in blog posts:

  • Met my brother at a bar and watched my dad play music for a few hours; I also saw a woman drop a cake straight onto the floor of a bar
  • Took a trip to San Francisco for my work, got halfway there, and then realized my boss had texted me the night before to tell me the trip was off
  • Worked on a game that you might just see on TV someday (hopefully!)
  • Took another trip to San Francisco for my work, and was nearly late to the meeting because I followed my own directions wrong
  • Worked on a redesign for my blog, scrapped it, then started working on it again
  • Fixed a long-standing server bug in the Reflect system (thanks for the help, Matt!)
  • Worked on a redesign for Reflect Games, scrapped it, then started working on it again
  • Watched the two-hour long season premiere for Lost, and the hour-long preview before it
  • Finished Fallout 3 (goody-two-shoes style)
  • Went home to see my dad before he had to have a minor procedure done at the hospital (he's doing fine now, thankfully)
  • Played some quality Team Fortress 2 with Yourself (alltalk servers are basically Skype on steroids, eh?)
  • Finished Prince of Persia (need to play it again for achievements)
  • Got my previous landlord to drop a bogus move-out bill after catching their cheating, and exposing it to them
  • Released a Windows Vista/Windows 7 compatible version of Linked
  • Began learning Visual Basic all over again
  • Watched a few classic episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia with my mom
  • Rediscovered my love for Joe Frank (an awesome radio show)
  • Bought World of Goo on Steam
  • Almost finished reading Lord of the Rings (I'm on page 947 now!)
  • And probably a lot more stuff that I can't remember right now, due to the ever-growing fatigue I'm feeling from writing such a long list!

Anyway, you probably get the idea - I've been a bit busy. I'll try to get back on the blog a bit more this week though... I've got a lot of stuff I want to talk about, but which I just haven't had the time to organize into coherent sentences yet.

Thanks to everyone who continues to read my sparse posts - I appreciate it!

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Game of the Year 2008

 Martin · 16 years

Perhaps it's a bit too early in the year to start worrying about what game might actually win GOTY for 2008, seeing as almost all outlets for gaming have a strong holiday lineup on deck. But I read an article over on DLB-Network, a website run by a buddy of mine, and it got me to thinking - just what games this year are likely to be GOTY? Which one do I think will nab the title on other websites/magazines?

I decided I'd list all the contenders, give my thoughts and my reasoning, and see what other people think. Many of these games came from the list proposed at DLB-Network, and some are from my own line of thought.

Grand Theft Auto 4

I believe GTA4 is a strong contender for GOTY 2008. Some may balk at this, saying that the game wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, but I beg to differ; the game was solid, fun, and even though it didn't always live up to the hype, it was unarguably one of the better games released in '08. The game was epic in size, it sold amazingly well, was a multi-platform release, and became a cultural phenomenon in the weeks building up to and following its release. It pushed the GTA franchise outward in all the right directions and had an interesting message, and it would not surprise me at all if GTA4 piles on the GOTY awards for 2008.

Metal Gear Solid 4

I've not played MGS4, but I've heard a lot of mixed things about it. The game upped the bar for graphics in PS3 titles, as well as for (non-)interactive story-telling, possibly to detriment. Though the game garnered strong ratings across the board, many now complain (much like GTA4) that the game was over-hyped and over-rated. Another common complaint was that the game bogged down players with too many cut-scenes and not enough actual gameplay. The final strike against it however, in my opinion, is the PS3 platform exclusivity. MGS4 had impressive sales numbers, but too few people have played this game for it to be dubbed GOTY 2008, in large part due to its release on a single platform. In an age where reviewers are too afraid to give the same game on different platforms different scores, I just can't see a single-platform title earning GOTY, good as the game may be.

Spore

Will Wright's wet dream, Spore, had always shown promise of being a game-to-end-all-other-games, even from its early unveiling at E3 several years ago. Even a year before its release, I recall talking with people about how great the game would be and being quite excited about it myself. Upon its eventual release, the world found that, while it was a decent and fun game, Spore wasn't exactly all it was cracked up to be. The game also fell prey to the same DRM woes that have haunted other recent PC releases. And though many are playing the game now and will be playing it into the distant future, I think that the possibility for achieving any sort of GOTY commendations were dashed long ago when the game became a shallow amalgam of different game genres, and a rich simulator of none.

Gears of War 2

Though the screens and videos of the new Gears game look promising, and I am sure the game will be a fun title, I don't think we'll see the sequel grabbing at GOTY, both for it's platform exclusivity and because it will be too similar to Gears 1 to show any real innovation.The original Gears of War, though not entirely original in most respects, did everything it set out to do so right that it was hard to say much bad about it. I feel that the sequel will be much the same, but since we've already broken the ground (a Gears pun?) with Gears 1, Gears 2 won't be a contender for GOTY. Of course, I've read that Epic has tried to fix many of the original Gears' shortcomings in the sequel, but unless they really pull off something spectacularly better than the already-great Gears of War, I don't see it. I'll definitely be in line to buy this title, though.

Resistance 2

I feel the same way about Resistance 2 as Gears of War 2. See above.

Little Big Planet

What can I say about LBP without inciting riots among its throng of fans? I think I'll just come right out and say it: LBP will be one of the most over-hyped games of 2008. Developed by Media Molecule, a company whose first game (Rag Doll Kung Fu) was met with a lukewarm response, Little Big Planet puts the developer's tools in the players' hands and asks them to create levels for others to play.

The game has a nice look to it, and the tools look easy enough to use - but I question how interesting most gamers, who don't typically delve into the development side of things, will find it. I also think that people who are truly interested in being creative will be disappointed, as there is only so much you can do easily and comfortably with a dual shock controller (as opposed to a keyboard, mouse, and with real creative tools like Photoshop, 3DSMax, etc.)... and that's ignoring the obvious limitations of the single hard drive and paltry amount of RAM. LBP will be an interesting diversion for sure, but not a system-seller, and for that reason, I don't see it as a serious contender for any GOTY awards.

Fallout 3

I'll admit that I haven't done much research about Fallout 3 yet, despite my plans to buy the game. If the experience is a little more polished than Oblivion, but with the same open-endedness and emphasis on exploration and discovery, I think it could be a latecomer to the GOTY arena. From everything I've seen so far, it looks much more crisp and refined than Oblivion. It'll be interesting (and hopefully fun) to see how well Bethesda's role-playing recipe holds up with the company shifting gears into the more modern setting of Fallout. Fallout is also being released for multiple platforms.

Rock Band 2

Like Gears of War 2, Resistance 2, etc. I think Rock Band 2 won't be viewed as particularly innovative purely for the fact that it's a sequel. Also, I don't see a rhythm game as a real contender for GOTY in any capacity.

Fable 2

Lionhead has promised a much longer, more rich experience than the original title with Fable 2, so I'm not sure if I can write this game off as just another sequel quite yet. I really enjoyed the first game, and though I liked the good/evil dynamic, and felt that the game as a whole was a very unique experience, I never really felt like any of the individual elements of Fable were particularly ground-breaking. Fable 2 may change that, but until the game is released, I will withhold judgment. The hype machine hasn't turned its evil eye towards Fable 2 yet, and I'm not sure if that's a good sign or not. At the very least, I hope Fable 2 is a fun and unique experience like the original, even if not GOTY fodder.

The Xbox 360 platform exclusivity may also come into play here, especially since Fable 2 will lack a lot of the universal appeal that propels other titles like GTA4.

Conclusion

Regardless of who actually winds up winning GOTY 2008, I think gamers are the real winner this year. Each system has received a good stack of quality games, and more is on the way soon. Couple that with the Xbox 360's soon-to-come fall dashboard update (the Xbox Experience), which completely redesigns the look and functionality of the system, and I might just have some trouble getting my work done this winter!

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The Backlog

 Martin · 16 years

Being as interested in games as I am, it's hard to keep from playing them. I do play quite a lot of games. And even though much of the time I spend playing games amounts to nothing so far as actual, tangible achievements go, I do consider at least some of the time spent useful as far as my knowledge of graphical effects and current gaming trends goes. I've got to stay on top of this gaming thing, after all, especially if I'm making games of my own!

The trouble is, I've accumulated a pretty large backlog of games that need finishing, or some other attention of sorts. In order to help myself organize this list, I've posted each game on my to-do list below, along with a progress report. Read how behind I am!

Diablo 2

Status: Just started

Following Blizzard's recent announcement that Diablo 3 is in the works, I re-installed and began playing Diablo 2 for a little bit of nostalgia, and to bring myself more up to speed with the series. I'd played Diablo 2 before, but never got too far through it, and I figured that now would be a great time to pick it up again. It's an old game, so it loads and unloads fast enough to play casually whenever I want, and though the graphics are a bit dated (the resolution is locked at 800x600), it's still a lot of fun to play. The only problem is that the game is just as I remember it - incredibly addictive.

Just as long as I don't wear out my mouse with all the frantic clicking, I should be okay.

Grand Theft Auto 4

Status: Somewhere around 30-40% complete

I'm not sure what happened with GTA4, but for some reason, I stopped playing it for a while. I think it was a combination of my re-ignited love for PC gaming, and running one to many failed missions that involved a lot of driving at the outset. Seriously, when I press the button on the in-game cell phone to retry the failed mission, I shouldn't have to drive all the way there again!

Team Fortress 2

Status: Need medic and pyro achievements

I've not spent as much time with TF2 as I've wanted over the last few months - I just haven't had time. Every time I pick the game up, I don't stop playing for 3-4 hours, and that's a hard chunk of time to try to fit into my busy schedule. As noted above, I need the achievements for medic and pyro, as I have yet to even try out any of the new weaponry. Hopefully I'll have some time one of these weekends to sit down and work through it all, without becoming hopelessly addicted again.

World of Warcraft

Status: Grinding for PVP gear/rep

I've hit the level 70 player cap, I've gotten my epic flying mount, and I'm guildless... what should I do? Play PVP battlegrounds for gear and grind enemies for reputation, of course! Fun sometimes, and boring the next, there's always something to do in WoW.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Status: Halfway through the final case

This one's almost finished - I just haven't had time to play it much lately. Looking at the list above, and taking the rest of my real life obligations into consideration, that's reasonable, right?

Half-Life 2: Episode 2

Status: About halfway through

I really like HL2 - I even pre-ordered Episode 2 and had it the moment it was released. And yet, as with so many other games, I started doing something else halfway into the game, and never got around to finishing it. This one should only take a few hours to do, and I really should just set aside some time and do it.

Mass Effect

Status: Finished multiple times, just want more achievements/gamer points

I'm an achievement whore, what do you expect?

So where do you stand on your games?  Got a lot of games that need some loving?

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Background Music: 8-bit Orchestra

 Martin · 16 years

Ever get absolutely lost in a game's soundtrack? With the increased capacity of game media, like DVD and Blue-ray disc, it's become much more commonplace for games to include epic, fully performed / orchestrated music. Of course, there's been great game music in all periods of gaming history, whether the music was a masterfully sequenced chip tune or prerecorded by a live orchestra.

Over the years I've found myself drawn to many games by their amazing music, and I'd like to share a few of those games (and their music) here so that you might also find some enjoyment in them. I've actually found so many game soundtracks that I like, I've collected them in a series of installments from different eras of video game history, starting with 8-bit systems and below.

Many of the soundtracks for the games listed below can be found online and can be listened to as MP3's or via a plug-in for Winamp, and I've provided links to these resources where possible. Plug-ins for Winamp which allow you to play the raw music files of games can be found at Zophar's Domain, which is an excellent source of a lot of different video game utilities.

Sega Master System
Not a particularly strong performer in the music department, the SMS had a few games that really took music to a new level among the other games on the system. Though repetitive, and not particularly lengthy or diverse, the music on the SMS could be catchy at times, and like all good game music, would often get stuck in your head long after you'd finished playing. Here are a few of the stronger performers, from games I've played long, long ago - you can find the raw music files for at least one of these games in the GMS section of Zophar's Domain.

  • Aztec Adventure
  • Penguin Land

Nintendo Gameboy
My library of games for the Gameboy was quite small. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed the games I had, and even found that a few of them had some fantastic tunes within. The GBS section at Zophar's Domain includes links to music files for both of the games listed below.

  • Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins
  • Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land

Nintendo Entertainment System

The NES seemed to have a better sound system inside than the SMS, but the tunes included in most of its' game were all just as repetitive, short, and above all, catchy. Whether we bought the games or only rented them, my brother and I bumbled through a decent portion of our childhood constantly humming the music from many NES games. Perhaps that's why I can still remember half of the music from these games, almost 20 years later! You can find files for many of the games listed below in the NSF section at Zophar's Domain.

  • Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers
  • Ducktales
  • Maniac Mansion
  • Mega Man 2
  • Super Mario Bros. 3
  • Tetris

That should do it for my list of favorite 8-bit music! Feel free to mention other game soundtracks you've enjoyed in the comments below and be on the lookout for the next post sometime in the future, which will cover my favorites from the 16-bit era.

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6 Sweet PC Games for $20 or Less

 Martin · 16 years

I've played a lot of PC games over the years... probably too many, come to think of it. But with all the time I've dedicated to games, I've also been able to sum up a fairly long list of titles which I think are truly excellent, and worth re-installing and playing again later on. Here's a list of 6 games you might not have played before that I think were excellent titles of their time, and still stand out among today's offerings as monuments to what the medium can achieve (and how much fun you can have).

All titles are currently available on Steam, and I've even listed their price for you. Some of these games are a real steal, and all are worth a play-through!

Deus Ex (currently $9.95) [Link]

What would you do if you were a nanotech-enhanced, monotone-speakin', super-soldier working for the NSA? What would you do if you had a huge arsenal of weaponry and specialized talents? What if you wore a huge leather and metal trench coat? Deus Ex asks these hard questions, and answers them too - with a conspiracy theory so big, you might just wind up believing some of it yourself.

Deus Ex was a revolutionary game because it took the standard first-person shooter, threw in a lot of RPG elements (inventory, upgradeable skills, etc) , and wrapped it in a nice, slick package. It's powered by a modified version of the original Unreal Engine, and is a really huge game that, thanks to the different skills you can learn, can be played in almost any style that suits you. Even a decade after it's release, the visuals are still nice and crisp, and the music and voice acting is very well done. I really recommend this game if you like the FPS / RPG hybrid games, and for $9.95, you could definitely do worse.

Sid Meier's Railroads (currently $19.95) [Link]

Ever since I was a kid I've been fascinated by trains - I still can't help but take a peek when I see one racing by my morning commute. Sid Meier's Railroads, and the Railroad Tycoon games it is based on, recreate my childhood fantasy of driving around trains all day, and throw in some pretty fun (and challenging) economic simulation to boot. If anything, it's simply fun to zoom around the game's beautiful environments and watch all the mechanical marvels make their rounds.

Like Sid Meier's Pirates, and a lot of other games from the legendary designer, Railroads has very high production values in art and sound, and features gameplay that's simple to grasp, but which gets more complex as you play. The game features a variety of scenarios which task you with making a profitable railroad company (or reversing the fate of one that isn't), all kicked off with a nice tutorial. Different missions start during different periods of history, and as you play, you can spend money on research to develop new engines and technologies appropriate to that era. Getting people and things where they need to go is the name of the game, so if you enjoy logistics simulations that aren't too heavy-handed, download the demo and give it a spin - you'll be laying some track in no time.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (currently $9.95) [Link]

I know I gushed about Rockstar and GTA a little in my Bully post, but this is a message worth repeating. The Grand Theft Auto series, particularly from 3 and beyond, have always been a lot of fun for me, and my favorite in the series so far is Vice City, a tale of crime and corruption straight from the 80's. You play the game as Tommy Vercetti, an ex-con who's just arrived in Vice City, and who's anxious to get established.

Vice City introduced a lot of things to the GTA formula that really made the game stand out among the series. Making their appearance for the first time in GTA are helicopters, motorcycles, choppers, scooters, golf carts, changeable clothes, an assortment of weapons, and a whole lot more, while still maintaining all the fun stuff from the previous game. You also get a ridiculously awesome soundtrack in the game, which is worth the price of admission alone.

I recommend playing through Grand Theft Auto 3 before playing Vice City for two reasons. First, there are many references made to characters from GTA3 (and some are even from GTA3) that you will appreciate more having played that game, and second, you'll like Vice City more knowing how much better it is than GTA3. GTA3 is $9.95 too, so for less than $20, you could buy 'em both!

Indigo Prophecy (currently $9.95) [Link]

In 2005, Quantic Dream set out to make a game that is as close to a cinematic experience as possible, and with their subsequent release of Indigo Prophecy (known as Fahrenheit in Europe and Japan), they did a pretty damn good job, even if not hitting the mark exactly.

Indigo Prophecy is played from a third person cinematic perspective, and as you work your way through the game, you take on the role of various characters as the plot bounces back and forth between the lead, Lucas Kane, and the detectives who are investigating him. The game's story is interesting, and just like when watching a movie, you'll have many questions about particular sequences that will not be answered until later in the game. Thankfully, the game world is very interactive, and for the gamer who enjoys exploring, there is a lot of interesting material to be found.

I really enjoyed Indigo Prophecy because, despite it's few shortcomings as a movie-esque style game, it was a lot of fun to play. The graphics aren't ground-breaking, but are still very detailed and realistic, and the sound and music are excellent. The story is the real catch though, and your desire to unravel the plot will give you motivation to run through large portions of the game each time you play.

At normal difficulty, the action sequences are just forgiving enough, and the few rough spots you do encounter serve as good moments for an intermission from the regular game anyway.

Just make sure you've got a good joystick, especially one with dual analogs, as many segments of the game are built with this type of control in mind.

Psychonauts (currently $19.95) [Link]

Fans of Monkey Island who want a little more action with their adventure games should look no further than Double Fine Productions' trippy action platformer (and flagship title), Psychonauts. The game, created by former Lucas Arts writer and programmer Tim Schafer, combines psychological dysfunction with psychedelic imagery and classic 3D platforming to create one of the more memorable games of this genre to date.

It's unfortunate that Psychonauts didn't receive much press when the game was launched - it truly is a unique experience that you'll want to see through to the end. The adventure follows Razputin, a boy attending a summer camp for children with psychic powers, as he delves into the minds of his peers and teachers in an effort to uncover the nefarious deeds of a secret foe. Raz encounters the personal fears of each person he makes psychic contact with, and this not only allows for some very creative and fun imagery, but level design as well. In one level, Raz walks along a twisting ribbon of road that seamlessly turns upside down and loops around itself at various places; in another he's tasked with battling a famous historical figure in a giant strategy battle. Not one level is like another in this game (or in any other game, for that matter), and that's just one of the many things that sets Psychonauts apart from the many other platform games you've played before.

For anyone looking to pick up a good action adventure game, especially on PC, I can't recommend Psychonauts enough. It's a fun little game that is smart, rewarding, and the production values are so high it's hard to ignore. Especially at such a low price!

Unreal Gold (currently $8.95) [Link]

I shouldn't even have to say all that much about Unreal Gold - it's one of those games that really kicked off a lot of big things for gamers. Unreal gave us a taste of what a truly "Epic" shooter could be, all while showcasing some awesome visual effects (for the time), and paving the way for what would later become of the most recognizable online FPS franchises.

When you start Unreal, you'll awake inside your holding cell within the recently crashed Vortex Rikers, a space ship transporting prisoners across the galaxy. You're now free from imprisonment, but you're marooned on an uncharted planet filled to the brim with the hostile Skaarj. Your only option is to traverse the land and seek out an escape, destroying everyone in your path.

Though other games, like Half-Life, were leaps and bounds ahead of Unreal in terms of presenting a decent narrative in a story-driven FPS, Unreal made up for the deficit with some amazing technology, and with some intense action sequences that simple can't be topped. Gamers who skipped over Unreal back in it's heyday will probably not be all that impressed by it's massive outdoor environments, or it's highly detailed textures, but back in 1999, these were incredible feats. Being used to the claustrophobic romps of Doom and Quake, I remember how blown away I was upon first playing Unreal - especially when my rig (packing a powerful Voodoo 2 card!) ran the game at 60+ frames per second.

The graphics were what drew me in, and the hard core gameplay is what kept me there... and what keeps me coming back for more every now and then, when I'm out of new games to play. I highly recommend Unreal Gold, even if you're not too fond of the dated graphics. It's a solid action FPS that defines the word "classic."

Other Games I Wanted to Mention

There were a few more games I wanted to mention in the main write-up, but for various reasons, didn't. These games are all good fun, and I recommend them almost as much as those above.

  • Uplink ($9.95) [Link] - Using the Uplink hacking interface, do various hacking jobs - just don't get caught!
  • X3: Reunion ($19.95) [Link] - Start an empire from scratch in this space-faring economic sim
  • STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl ($19.95) [Link] - Discover the spoils and secrets of the infamous Chernobyl site
  • Unreal Tournament 2004 ($14.95) [Link] - Blast your friends and enemies online with an assortment of weapons and vehicles
  • Commander Keen ($4.95) [Link] - The classic id Software platformer. Save the galaxy from evil!
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