Game movies – why do they suck so much?

Ever since 1993, gamers have had to endure crappy adaptations of their favourite video games. With every game movie that comes out, people have come to expect less and less, with the final product bearing little resemblance to the original game.  Why are movie games so terrible?

Top 10 Gaming Theme Songs

The following list is a compilation of my favourite gaming theme songs. It was difficult to narrow down such a list so I put together the following guidelines:

• Only one song per franchise:
  Many of the games mentioned in this list (especially further down) have incredibly powerful soundtracks throughout their respective series. This restriction ensures there is some variety, rather than 10 songs from the same place.
• Must be a theme song:
  Odd as this item might sound given the title of the list, a number of game soundtracks have phenomenal songs which would not be classified as a theme song. I am not restricting myself to say a theme song is only the title theme, but there must at least be a strong association between the music and the game for a majority of listeners. If a song sounds fantastic, but does not remind the listener of the game it is associated with, then it is not a theme song.

Why it’s Good for Sony to Lose this Console Generation

From HipHopGamerShow:
The console war is brewing up to be one of the worst in terms of the raw fight itself. It’s no secret that Sony likes to win, but then again who doesn’t? There are currently three consoles in the market as of now, each with their own uniqueness which makes the consoles what they are. The profit a console makes isn’t really what matters, but the ones who are leading the sales chart since it’s each others ego the competitors are trying to hurt, that and the winner gets bragging rights. Sony is the least fit to win this generation in my opinion. There are currently only two consoles I can think of that are best competitors to the number one spot, but one more than the other and I will explain in a bit.

Super Robot Wars: A Primer

In 2003, I played my first Super Robot Wars game. At that time I was only a fledgling Gundam fan, with little knowledge of mecha and Japanese in general, but this series totally blew me away with its beautiful animation, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

PSN vs XBLA – The digital console war

In the last few years, much digital ink has been devoted to the endless debate over whether the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 is the superior console. The debate has centered around areas such as graphics, price, online gaming, attach rates and game libraries. However, one of the least discussed areas is also (in my opinion), one of the most exciting. It is an area that serves as a testing ground for publishers trying out new and inventive business models. It is a microcosm of the industry where blockbuster AAA titles with multi-million dollar budgets live alongside independent developers. This area is the digital marketplace. Both the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 have served up Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) and Playstation Network (PSN) respectively as contenders for the king of online game distribution. But which one deserves the crown?

Classic gaming: Shenmue, a love hate relationship

I would like to extend my thanks to Yu Suzuki for making this awesome game. I would also like to extend a massive FUCK YOU to Yu Suzuki for making this game.

Here’s why.

Classic gaming: Skies of Arcadia

Where YJ revisits an old favourite

In 1999, Sega released the Dreamcast. The system had a good variety of games, most of which were arcade ports, but fans of the system were hoping for an RPG that could be the system’s own Final Fantasy. In the following year, gamers were blessed with this true gem of a game.

Skies of Arcadia was a refreshing breeze in a rather depressing era in terms of RPG settings. Final Fantasy 7 and 8 had given us some of the most emo main characters ever, with Cloud and Squall, who’d much rather be a douche than banging his hot 18 year old teaching carrying a bullwhip. So with much surprise when I booted this up, I found everything to be so…uplifting.

EB Games – making them work for you

EB Games has gathered much scorn over the past few years as being the gaming retail outlet that charges RRP for everything. Why buy at EB when you can go to JB to get it much cheaper? Despite this, I actually do most of my games shopping at EB nowadays. Here’s why.

Collectors / Limited / Special Editions in gaming

Where YJ is bitter about all the money he’s wasted on ‘collectors’ editions over the past few years
Special editions of games have been on the rise over the past few years. These days it seems that every second game has some kind of Collectors / Limited / Special edition. I’ll just refer to them as CE from now on, because they often mean the same thing. These CE usually include some kind of ‘Making Of’ DVD along with some fancy tin case, but do the extras really justify the extra cost?

Classic gaming: Wing Commander

Where YJ reminisces about one of the best games ever made

Back in 1990 when I got my first computer, and I just started getting into PC games, I watched my bro play a game which totally captivated me. That game was Wing Commander.

More after the jump.