Sometimes it's not always about what you can see or hear but what's under the hood of a game that's most impressive. Between those thousands and thousands of lines of code, magic happens. Sometimes the most amazing feats of gaming wizardry happen without you even noticing.Collection: Amazing
Sometimes a game comes at just the right moment in your life. 'Flower' is beautiful, serene, and a bit of sunshine in a gloomy world. I remember going through a rough spot in my life and turning on 'Flower' for a little break in the day. You fly through luscious landscapes collecting petals and painting the world with life.
Keep it simple, stupid. Good game design shouldn't keep you looking at the manual but should have enough depth where you feel like you bring something new to the game every time you play.
More than just music, the splash of water or a lone footstep can put you in the moment. Sound is just another tool in the developer's toolbox to draw the player further into the game.
Bacon. Let's talk about bacon. There's no meat more glorious than bacon. You can add it to pasta instead of cheese. You can stick it in a sandwich, er... instead of cheese.
There's a certain logic to avoiding the haters, but as a strategy, it's utterly flawed. When you turn off the feedback, you lose the benefits as well as the drawbacks. It's like having a sore finger and cutting off your arm.
Most of us grew up with video games in the household, either the original Nintendo in the living room or hoarding quarters for that trip to the arcade. And as time moves on, that line of nostalgia will keep moving forward where 'Frogger' gets replaced with 'Street Fighter 2' or 'Resident Evil 4.'
High-profile columnists should remember they are in a privileged position. Writing isn't a dreadfully specific skill - it's taught to millions via our schooling system. And opinions? Well, I've yet to meet people without opinions.
Try celebrating the best and not the worst.
However vile the abuse they receive, media people must remember this is part of the price of getting a public voice. Stay grateful. Don't kick down, kick up. Criticise power rather than proles.
One of the great joys of launching your idea on the web is that it's a meritocracy. The good stuff will rise to the top and find an audience, and you don't have to impress one idiosyncratic commissioning editor.
My wife - an ex journalist and current TV producer - has a rule that she taught me at the start of B3ta. Does the item make you laugh, or does it make you go, 'Oh my God?' If you score on either count, then you have something that is worth sharing.
The world is full of people who say, 'But I had that idea first,' but did they do anything about it? Nope, they sat on their bum dreaming.
The difference between you and the funny person on TV is that they acted on their ideas.
The scariest part to any story is the sliver of truth you hide in the horror. Sometimes its not about the axe wielding murder, but the fact that he's lurking somewhere in your basement. Sure, you keep telling yourself that you'll replace the burnt out light every week.
Hollywood is the kind of town that likes to make everything larger than life: movie premieres, aging actress' lips, and murders. Actors come from all over the world to find their sliver of fame on the street of L.A. Many stars rise, but many more fall.
One name always stands out when it comes to actors taking on the monsters of our nightmares - Robert Englund. In the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' series, Englund kept us awake as night with a striped shirt and his special glove.
Not only a great game, 'Uncharted 2' raised the bar for storytelling for the medium. The game treated action as a part of the overall story rather than a way to move from plot point to plot point.
'Borderlands' came out of nowhere to appease the gnawing hunger left behind with the dearth of quality dungeon crawlers on the market.
A little light on the RPG elements but heavy on action, 'Mass Effect 2' was the game that created a world of characters that I actually cared about. When it came down to making those tough decisions during the final mission, I actually had to put the controller down and think about my choices.
'A Valley Without Wind' takes the idea of dungeon crawls and throws it on its head by casting you as a magic user in this 2D platforming labyrinth of a world. From NPC's to rescue, spells to learn, and a whole civilization you practically need to build back from scratch, this adventure takes to a new world where few other games dare to go.
With multiplayer, permanent death, and an ever-changing world to explore and conquer, 'A Valley Without Wind' might be the place you're looking for if you need to escape the same dreary titles.
'Sword and Sworcery' takes you into a world of mystery and music. With sword and shield in hand, the one thing you really need to worry about is getting lost in the vivid pixel artwork. For those of you who have not had the privilege of taking on this journey, truly do yourself a favor and down load 'Sword and Sworcery' on the closest PC.
'Waveform' puts you in charge of the wavy pathway of a ship in space. Hit the good stuff and avoid the bad things. While it sounds simple, this title will keep you on your toes as you try to navigate the dark inky space. By hitting the items you want or following the correct path, you build up your combo as well as your speed.
'Faraway' takes only minutes or a couple of bus stops to play. The easy to use touch controls work beautifully on the iPad. This is the game that should come standard on every new iPad.
Sometimes we need to step back and understand the power of video games. 'Dear Esther' does just that. Through visuals, audio, and narration, this title weaves a story around the player as they explore different areas in the game.
Videogames based on golf have often been viewed as, to mangle a phrase, a good walk through a virtual world spoiled. Connecting with your virtual golfers has often been as hard for gamers as understanding the sport itself.
Added to the rooster of courses, 'Tiger Woods 10' adds in seven new courses from the pristine Bethpage Black, home of this year's U.S. Open, to the legendary Pinehurst. The Wii Weather Channel will even adjust the forecast to match the fairway because sometimes even the pros have to play in the rain.
In 1995 I decided to stop eating meat. I could never really quite explain why; I think it was something to do with watching a documentary where they cooked a cat and partly because I had a really crap job working for Wolves Poly and felt my life was slipping away. It definitely wasn't anything to do with any 'vegetarian month'.
To be honest, I was the world's worst vegetarian. You see - I didn't really like vegetables very much. I'd spent most of my childhood terrified of them - horrid bland mushy things. It's only as an adult I realise that part of the problem is my mother's cooking - she hates using salt and has a tendency to overboil things. Thanks, Mum.
Look at the world of both film and indie games, and you'll find a startling similarity between the two when it comes to creating the perfect horror story. The tricks storytellers pull to make your blood run cold never change; a creaking floorboard, the eerie feeling of being watched, wandering into a world filled with unspeakable terror.
In L.A., we have a saying - 'What do you do?' It's less of a question and more of a self-defense mechanism for wayward screenwriters looking to slip you a first draft, or the occasional actor looking to get in on the latest shoot. But I hate the question because of my own answer - I write about games.
One of the most popular games to watch on eSports is 'League of Legends,' a game that blends role-playing, managing resources and shouting at your friends. Again, if I had another thousand words, I might be able to scratch the surface of this game, but all you need to know is that gamers love to play it, and even more of them love to watch it.
While the Super Bowl still smashes records for butts in the seats, eSports often run longer and never blinks. There's no commercial break. There's no halftime show. From start to finish, someone is going to walk home a champion, and you don't want to miss a second of it.
Twitch is a platform. Switch it on, and you'll find thousands of channels of pure gameplay rolling around with people talking in the background. Dig a little deeper, and you'll also find people talking on camera, with sets built like an actual talk show, and schedules of events posted at the bottom of the web page.
Trolling taps into people's desire to poke fun, make trouble and cause annoyance.
It takes minutes to play, but 'Unmanned' sticks with you for long after the credits roll. As a part of a two-man team for an unarmed drone, you experience one day in the life of this man who's tired of staring through the camera of a drone flying around the Middle East and keeping his finger on the trigger.
'Armada d6' proves that some of the best games out there are still being playing on your tabletop.
Sweet, loveable, and with every click revealing a new surprise, 'Botanicula' creates both a wonderful world where bees and twigs play in the universe and sets up a daring story of a group of unlikely heroes taking on a tree's last hope of survival.
For me, it's great to see 'Gateways' finally make it to the console. Think of it as 'Portal' meets 'Castlevania' as you try to put together your gateway gun before your lab becomes overrun with nasty enemies.
'Toybox' is that kind of game that will stretch your mental capacity by doing very simple things like solving an easy puzzle of shooting aliens. You'll just need to do everything at the same time to make it through alive. Just to make things tricky, the tasks change every week so you can't get used to any set.
'Botanicula' tells the story of a group of twigs, nuts, and leaves trying to escape with the life essence of a tree in tow before nasties from another world destroy them and everything else in their path. Yes, it's a point-and-click adventure game, but behind every click, there's a bit of joy to be found. Bugs sing. Bees dance.
If you are willing to take the trip through 'Analogue,' you'll be rewarded with some of the best writing in gaming today and a look into the future of what kind of meaningful stories video games are capable of telling.
One part puzzle mixed with one part racer with just a dash of art and music just to blend everything together, 'Dyad' takes you on a fast-paced trip down a tunnel filled with lights and a shifting list of rules to keep your neurons nimble.
We need games like 'A Closed World' for many reasons. When you hear another developer talk about how games need to grow up, they need to tackle adult themes, and how they need to embrace that ability to transport the player into a different world, this is that game that they want other developers to make.
'Puzzlejuice' will get your brain juices flowing as try to juggle both falling boxes and a growing list of letters to create words from. There are power ups to unlock and massive explosions that will shake your mobile device to its very core if you are quick enough with your fingers and your thoughts.
'Fowl Space' was a lovechild of boredom. While in class, two of the developers started passing designs back and forth. Somewhere in the middle of all that ink and crumpled paper, a chicken in a space helmet was born and thus we have 'Fowl Space.'
Libraries have a PR problem - or at least that's what they call it when no one under the age of 40 walks through the door. To bring in a younger crowd, the paper pushers have turned to tech to bring in the public. DVDs, CDs and, yes, even videogames are hitting the shelves of your local library.
Somewhere in your house is a game that could use a good beating. Pick it up. Play to the end. Get all the achievements/trophies out of it. So you've maxed out all your points. Play it again at a harder difficulty. Do something. It's startling the number of games people own but haven't beaten for one reason or another.
The woeful tales of 'Super Mario Bros.' and 'Street Fighter' have taught studios that merely slapping a name to a movie is not enough to bring in the fans of the franchise. Also, the way games now unfold their stories more parallels that of a movie, with characters and plot points actually meaning as much as a high score.