GameInformer's Top 200 Games of All Time Commentary

For its 200th issue, Game Informer's editors have created a list of the top 200 games of all time. Although you can't see the article online, there's a summary here. Just for fun, I’ve bolded the ones that I’ve played. However, in general, most of the coin-op games listed I played in best-of collections or on the NES. In either case, I did not play them when they came out and thus really could never truly appreciate the value of most of them. This means that for the most part, I didn't comment on them. I’ve also written up some of my thoughts on the rankings, presented below.

1 -- The Legend of Zelda (NES, 1987)
2 -- Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1985)
3 -- Tetris (PC, 1984)
4 -- Grand Theft Auto III (PS2, 2001)
5 -- Half-Life 2 (PC, 2004)
6 -- Doom (PC, 1993)
7 -- Metroid (NES, 1986)
8 -- Final Fantasy III (SNES, 1994)
9 -- Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 1990)
10 -- Ms. Pac-Man (coin-op, 1981)
11 -- World of Warcraft (PC, 2004)
12 -- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES, 1992)
13 -- Super Mario 64 (N64, 1996)
14 -- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3/360/PC, 2007)
15 -- Final Fantasy VII (PS, 1997)
16 -- Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES, 1987)
17 -- Chrono Trigger (SNES, 1995)
18 -- Resident Evil 4 (GameCube, 2005)
19 -- Metal Gear Solid (PS, 1998)
20 -- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64, 1998)
21 -- Super Metroid (SNES, 1994)
22 -- Contra (NES, 1988)
23 -- Galaga (coin-op, 1981)
24 -- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS, 1997)
25 -- Street Fighter II (coin-op, 1991)
26 -- God of War (PS2, 2005)
27 -- BioShock (360/PC, 2007)
28 -- Diablo II (PC, 2000)
29 -- Half-Life (PC, 1998)
30 -- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360/PC, 2006)
31 -- Tecmo Super Bowl (NES, 1991)
32 -- GoldenEye 007 (N64, 1997)
33 -- Super Mario Kart (SNES, 1992)
34 -- Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis, 1991)
35 -- StarCraft (PC, 1998)
36 -- Civilization (PC, 1991)
37 – Sim City (PC, 1989)
38 -- Mega Man 2 (NES, 1988)
39 -- Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox, 2001)
40 -- Gran Turismo (PS, 1998)
41 -- Resident Evil 2 (PS, 1998)
42 -- Pokemon Red and Blue (GB, 1996)
43 -- Final Fantasy X (PS2, 2001)
44 -- EverQuest (PC, 1999)
45 -- Final Fantasy Tactics (PS, 1998)
46 -- Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3/360, 2008)
47 -- Super Mario World (SNES, 1991)
48 -- Deus Ex (PC, 2000)
49 -- Guitar Hero (PS2, 2005)
50 -- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2, 2001)
51 -- Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 2007)
52 -- Pac-Man (coin-op, 1980)
53 -- Battlefield 2 (PC, 2005)
54 -- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox, 2003)
55 -- Ico (PS2, 2001)
56 -- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3, 2009)
57 -- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PS, 2000)
58 -- Mass Effect (360, 2007)
59 -- Adventure (2600, 1980)
60 -- Arkanoid (coin-op, 1986)
61 -- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (GB, 1993)
62 -- Star Wars: X-Wing (PC, 1993)
63 -- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64, 2000)
64 -- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, 2004)
65 -- Fallout 3 (PS3/360/PC, 2008)
66 -- Zork (PC, 1980)
67 -- Soul Calibur (DC, 1999)
68 -- Double Dragon (coin-op, 1987)
69 -- Dr. Mario (NES, 1990)
70 -- The Sims (PC, 2000)
71 -- Age of Empires (PC, 1997)
72 -- Mortal Kombat II (coin-op, 1993)
73 -- Rock Band 2 (PS3/360, 2008)
74 -- Tomb Raider (PS, 1996)
75 -- Super Bomberman (SNES, 1993)
76 -- Mario's Picross (GB, 1995)
77 -- Ninja Gaiden (NES, 1989)
78 -- Command & Conquer (PC, 1995)
79 -- Kingdom Hearts (PS2, 2002)
80 -- Final Fantasy II (SNES, 1991)
81 -- Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES, 1988)
82 -- Left 4 Dead (PC, 2008)
83 -- Okami (PS2, 2006)
84 -- Shadow of the Colossus (PS2, 2005)
85 -- Metroid Prime (GameCube, 2002)
86 -- Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube, 2001)
87 -- Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (PC, 1995)
88 -- Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (PC, 2000)
89 -- God of War II (PS2, 2007)
90 -- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, 2006)
91 -- Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (PS2, 2004)
92 -- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (PC, 2002)
93 -- Skies of Arcadia (DC, 2000)
94 -- The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (GameCube, 2003)
95 -- Silent Hill 2 (PS2, 2001)
96 -- Counter-Strike (PC, 1999)
97 -- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis, 1992)
98 -- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS3/360, 2002)
99 -- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (PS2/Xbox/GameCube/PC, 2003)
100 -- Portal (PC/360, 2007)
101 -- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC, 2002)
102 -- Heroes of Might & Magic III (PC, 1999)
103 -- Donkey Kong (coin-op, 1981)
104 -- Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3/360, 2009)
105 -- System Shock 2 (PC, 1999)
106 -- Resident Evil (PS, 1996)
107 -- Gears of War (360, 2006)
108 -- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3, 2008)
109 -- Crash Bandicoot: Warped (PS, 1998)
110 -- Halo 2 (Xbox, 2004)
111 -- Tetris Attack (SNES, 1996)
112 -- Final Fantasy XII (PS2, 2006)
113 -- Earthbound (SNES, 1995)
114 -- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PC, 1998)
115 -- Command & Conquer: Red Alert (PC, 1996)
116 -- Advance Wars (GBA, 2001)
117 -- Fallout (PC, 1997)
118 -- Team Fortress 2 (PS3/360/PC, 2007)
119 -- Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Xbox, 2005)
120 -- Mega Man X (SNES, 1994)
121 -- Lemmings (PC, 1991)
122 -- Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn, 1998)
123 -- NHL '94 (Genesis/SNES, 1993)
124 -- Warlords (coin-op, 1980)
125 -- Shadowrun (SNES, 1993)
126 -- Twisted Metal 2 (PS, 1996)
127 -- Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (PS, 1997)
128 -- Metroid Fusion (GBA, 2002)
129 -- Homeworld (PC, 1999)
130 -- Kingdom Hearts II (PS2, 2006)
131 -- Pilotwings (SNES, 1991)
132 -- Quake II (PC, 1997)
133 -- Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (PC, 1997)
134 -- Borderlands (PS3/360/PC, 2009)
135 -- Final Fight (coin-op, 1989)
136 -- Star Fox (SNES, 1993)
137 -- Madden NFL '99 (PS/N64/PC, 1999)
138 -- Call of Duty 2 (360/PC, 2005)
139 -- Wolfenstein 3D (PC, 1992)
140 -- Diablo (PC, 1996)
141 -- Civilization IV (PC, 2005)
142 -- Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle (PC, 1993)
143 -- Assassin's Creed (PS3/360, 2007)
144 -- Burnout 3: Takedown (PS2/Xbox, 2004)
145 -- Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC, 2004)
146 -- Power Stone 2 (DC, 2000)
147 -- Super Castlevania IV (SNES, 1991)
148 -- Super Mario RPG (SNES, 1996)
149 -- Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (PC, 2002)
150 -- ActRaiser (SNES, 1991)
151 -- Fable (Xbox, 2004)
152 -- Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht (PS2, 2003)
153 -- Asteroids (coin-op, 1979)
154 -- LittleBigPlanet (PS3, 2008)
155 -- Crackdown (360, 2007)
156 -- Gauntlet (coin-op, 1985)
157 -- Devil May Cry (PS2, 2001)
158 -- Pong (coin-op, 1972)
159 -- Battlefield 1942 (PC, 2002)
160 -- Thief (PC, 1998)
161 -- Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved (360, 2005)
162 -- Far Cry (PC, 2004)
163 -- Robotron: 2084 (coin-op, 1982)
164 -- X-COM: UFO Defense (PC, 1993)
165 -- Peggle (PC, 2007)
166 -- King's Quest VI (PC, 1992)
167 -- Doom II (PC, 1994)
168 -- Tempest 2000 (Jaguar, 1994)
169 -- Braid (360, 2008)
170 -- Ridge Racer (PS, 1995)
171 -- Bully (PS2, 2006)
172 -- Ikaruga (GameCube, 2006)
173 -- Lode Runner (Apple II, 1983)
174 -- Gunstar Heroes (Genesis, 1993)
175 -- Dig Dug (coin-op, 1982)
176 -- Castlevania (NES, 1988)
177 -- Tekken 3 (coin-op, 1997)
178 -- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS, 2005)
179 -- NBA Jam: Tournament Edition (coin-op, 1993)
180 -- Max Payne (PC, 2001)
181 -- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3/360/PC, 2009)
182 -- Samurai Shodown (Neo Geo, 1993)
183 -- NFL 2K5 (PS2/Xbox, 2004)
184 -- Vagrant Story (PS, 2000)
185 -- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES, 1995)
186 -- Marble Madness (coin-op, 1984)
187 -- Infamous (PS3, 2009)
188 -- Planescape: Torment (PC, 1999)
189 -- Kid Icarus (NES, 1986)
190 -- The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (Xbox, 2004)
191 -- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2, 2004)
192 -- Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (GameCube, 2002)
193 -- Jak 3 (PS2, 2004)
194 -- Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (DC, 2002)
195 -- Ultima (PC, 1981)
196 -- Call of Duty (PC, 2003)
197 -- NHL 09 (PS3/360, 2008)
198 -- Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (Xbox, 2004)
199 -- Tactics Ogre (PS, 1997)
200 -- Beyond Good and Evil (PS2/Xbox/GameCube, 2003)

Total Played 138/200. Wow. That's sad. I may have even played a few of the older ones a time or two, but I wasn't sure.

It’s hard for me to say whether this is a good or bad list, but this is the kind of thing I love to think about. I’ve played the vast majority of these games, barring the ones that pre-date my first console, which was around 1990. Of course, as I mentioned before, I didn’t play some of these games in a timely fashion (when they first came out), though I’ll try to limit my bias.

On first impression, I’m inclined to think that this list is rather good. Of course, everyone will find things to nitpick, but in general I like the list. Here are a few things that I would personally change:

Notable Snubs: Several games definitely deserve inclusion into this list. Here are some games that should have been included, in my opinion.

• Secret of Mana. Since SoM was on their top 100 list in their 100^th issue (78^th place), I’m going to let their own words do the talking. Personally, this easily cracks my top 50. Seiken Densetsu 3, although it was never released in English, is also an outstanding game that should be on this list. A beautiful game in its own right, Secret of Mana is actually an important release in Square Soft’s history. Other than a few Game Boy titles, this really is the first time Square ventured outside the Final Fantasy realm and explored what else the RPG genre has to offer. Secret of Mana’s stimulating, real-time gameplay and breathtaking settings came together to create a near Zelda killer – a feat no developer has even come close to achieving.
• Master of Orion: Arguably better than Civilization, though the former was more relatable and consequently more popular.
• Thief II: Many people consider this to be the best game of all time. I disagree, but it is certainly in the top 100.
• Paper Mario
• MechWarrior 2
• Wing Commander
• Shenmue
• Suikoden II
• Xenogears

Games That Shouldn’t Have Made This List

• Sonic and/or Sonic 2: While I’m sure Game Informer would have gotten a great deal of flak for including neither Sonic game in this list, they certainly should not have included more than one of these two. I would have supported including Sonic and Knuckles or Sonic 3d in lieu of Sonic 2, but, simply put, neither Sonic or Sonic 2 were that great compared to their contemporaries on other platforms, and there were even several other Genesis platformers, such as Vectorman, that were much better than the Sonic games, albeit less widely owned.
• Call of Duty 2(not CoD:MW2): There is no reason for Call of Duty 1 and 2 to both be on there. Although both games were strong, they weren’t different enough from each other to both warrant inclusion, when other sequels like Civilization II don't make the list. Sorry.
• Dr. Mario: For a game that was outclassed 6 years prior by Tetris, Dr. Mario should not have made this list. You may be nostalgic about this game (I know I am), but Dr.Mario simply does not compare well to its contemporaries, or even games that preceded it by half a decade. Or even other Smash Brothers
  
• Crackdown: While there is certainly a case for this game, I think that there are plenty of other games that warrant the spot that this game took, and that Crackdown is a borderline inclusion at best.
• Ridge Racer: While I loved playing this game at the time, it was simply the first good 3d racing game that I can remember. Otherwise, there wasn’t much special about it, and it was quickly outclassed by higher-quality games like Gran Turismo.
• Samurai Showdown: Simply weaker than its contemporaries, Showdown is a great example of a game that should never have been considered for this list.
• Mega Man X: I loved this game, but the Mega Man franchise is simply too short and too derivative for this type of list. With that said, Mega Man X is definitely my favorite Mega Man game. I will buy that Mega Man and Mega Man 2 were more revolutionary for their respective days (never played) but Mega Man 2 should most certainly not be ranked as high as it is.

Game Series Where the Wrong Game was Chosen:

• Max Payne 2: Max Payne had a great single-player campaign and ushered in bullet-time, but Max Payne 2 was simply a much better game overall. While it could be argued that Max Payne was more the more ground-breaking of the two, the games were released only a few years apart and the second game was much, much more fun to play, in my opinion.
• Quake: Quake II was a fun game, but Quake was the first truly 3d first-person shooter, and one that really broke new ground. The music was done by Nine Inch Nails, for Pete’s sake! I can still remember playing this at my uncle’s company on a LAN for the first time. It was something special.
• Soul Calibur II: Soul Calibur was a fun game, but this pick was made on balance and variety of fighting styles, things that SCII had much more of.
• Unreal Tournament: Unreal Tournament may be the better shooter today, but Unreal Tournament was the first game of its type and broke the genre wide open. Although both are probably strong enough and different enough to warrant inclusion (Unreal 2004 is much faster and its vehicles and new modes help to differentiate it), Unreal Tournament was simply the better game when compared to its contemporaries.

Games that are more than a little high or low on the rankings:

• Half-Life (29) and Half-Life 2 (5) should be switched: I think both of these games are phenomenal, however, Half-Life was clearly the more groundbreaking of the two. Half-Life was the first FPS that I can remember being exhaustively modded, and is ultimately remembered as being one of the most modded games of all time, but it was first known for its incredible single-player campaign. Half-Life featured the best plots of any FPS to that date and its AI was years ahead of its time. If my best friend were to ask me which one to play today, I would say Half-Life 2, but this list is replete with other instances of games with superior sequels, though the originals were more groundbreaking at their time and are thus included in this list.
• Fallout 3 (65): Some people may argue that this is one of the best games of all time, but I know more than a few people, myself included, that literally could not play more than a few hours of this game. While many have called it a first-person shooter, Fallout 3 is simply a VATS game with great graphics and an outstanding story. In my opinion, it is simply a first person shooter for people who hate first person shooters, again with a great story. Fallout 3 might just be one of the only games on this list that is a bad game, in my opinion. While I am willing to grant it a spot based on peer reviews, 65 is way too high.
  
• Braid (128): Although short, Braid was priced as a value game, and it more than delivered value. Braid is simply one of the best, if not the best, platformer to date. I would have placed Braid in the top 100 games.
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (64): This may be just my opinion, but I think this is still the most fun GTA title to date and is one of my favorite games of all time, even today. San Andreas was an outstanding combination of open-world sandbox play, an RPG-esque leveling system, a wide variety of mini-games, and shooter elements. While I will give a nod to GTAIII as a revolutionary game, GTA’s attempt at realism (particularly vehicle handling) was not terribly entertaining, nor did I enjoy the fact that the game would sometimes slow down dramatically and the controls always felt a little sluggish. I would probably swap the places of GTAIV and San Andreas, and probably drop GTA IV a little bit more.
• Burnout 3: Takedown (144): Burnout 3, in my opinion, is definitely better than #144, as it’s one of the best non-hardcore racing games this side of Mario Kart. I would have ranked it around #50.

Other comments:

It’s interesting to see how GameInformer ranked some brand-spanking new games. Uncharted 2 (56), Batman: Arkham Asylum (104), Borderlands (134), Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (181) and Infamous (187) all make the list. I haven’t played Arkham Asylum or MW2 yet, but aside from those, these ratings feel relatively acceptable to me. Borderlands might be a touch high, but it definitely deserves to make the list. Uncharted 2 also seems a bit high; I would have put it around 80 or 100. Modern Warfare 2 feels too low, based on my impressions of the game pre-launch.

My biggest complaint with this list is that some franchises seem to only receive one or two mentions for several similar games while other franchises receive many more (the Call of Duty and Zelda games are less different from each other than other franchises such as the Sims that only warranted a single mention). Ultimately, I think it would have been better to list these similar games together in a single listing and treat them as a single body of work, if they are very similar to one another, or list them separately and make the list more competitive. GameInformer tried to split the difference, and I think it doesn’t work out.

Ultimately, it should be recognized that putting together a list like this is nigh-impossible, so although it may be fun to criticize individual choices, in many cases its simply better to leave lists like this a little bit shorter.

-Jon

PAX Show Impressions, Part Deux

In part 1 of this post, I talked about the exhibition floor at PAX this year, but the real reasons that you should go to PAX are here in part 2. What makes PAX stand out from all of the other gaming conventions in my mind is that it is the only convention that has a solid, well attended exhibition hall and several gaming areas replete with almost any game that you can think of, in both traditional and digital formats. While the exhibition hall floor was certainly exciting, I had more fun meeting people and playing games in the console and boardgame freeplay areas.

In both areas, the order of the day is to find something to play and someone to play with, sign out a game and/or some controllers, and go have fun playing whatever the heck you want. In the boardgame area, I had the opportunity to play several different boardgames, mostly with complete strangers. Nevertheless, I had a great time. The game that I probably enjoyed the most was FFG's Battlestar Galactica, an epic game in which some players, who turn out to be Cylons, are working against other players who are trying to navigate the ship through 4-6 rounds of play. I was playing with a group of four players who had travelled up to the convention together, and another player who, like myself, had never met them before. Ultimately, BSG ends up being a very social game; and although I'd never met any of the other players before, we still ended up having a blast (I lost).

The console free play area had a few copies of basically every non-portable system, from the NES to the Playstation 3, hooked up to 30-something inch HDTVs. After walking around the floor for a bit, a game of Halo 3 caught my attention in which two players were playing with max movespeed, minimum gravity, and the spartan laser cannon. Although I'd never met either player before, they invited me to grab a controller and join in on the action. A few hours and several game modes later, we found ourselves calling it quits for the day. Other notable games I played were Smash Bros. and Goldeneye on the N64 (which I remember being a little bit faster than it actually was).

If you've never been to PAX, I heartily recommend you do so. The tickets are cheap, the hotels are reasonable (if you have family in Seattle or Boston, even better), and the other attendees are great. I, for one, will definitely be going back again.

PAX Show Impressions, Part 1

It's probably about time that I typed up my thoughts on my trip to PAX this year. To put it succinctly, PAX 2009 was definitely the best show that I've ever been to in my life. Although I have attended and thoroughly enjoyed shows like NYCC, SDCC, GenCon, and Origins, PAX takes the cake, no questions asked. While the exhibition hall was easily among the most exciting I have ever walked around, the boardgaming area and the console gaming area were an absolute blast (I went to the show knowing about neither), totally free of charge, and a great way to meet new people at PAX. There were also outstanding panels on both specific games such as the panel on Star Wars the Old Republic, and panels on games in general, such as Losing Should Be Fun. Although I'm not sure whether I will make the trip out to Seattle again for next year's show, I've definitely penciled in PAX East into my calendar between March 26th and March 28th 2010. I've written up some comments on the exhibition floor below.

The exhibition floor itself was huge, and there were a ton of different exciting games on the show floor this year. Among the games I expected to see at the show, I went to the show eager to see StarCraft II and Diablo III, Dragon Age: Origins, MAG, Halo ODST, Mass Effect 2, and Global Agenda. All games were there in playable form, although I unfortunately decided not to wait in the horrific line for Dragon Age, as I had played that at New York Comic Con earlier this year.

StarCraft II and Diablo III look fantastic. The screenshots that Blizzard has up on their sites don't really do either game justice; both look much better in action than they do in screenshot form. The competition at the StarCraft II booth was intimidating; but I mustered up the will to wait in line and play a game, and was swiftly served a defeat by the player who was playing against me. Diablo III was equally impressive. The Barbarian class was really fun to play, and the only negative thought I had leaving the booth was that I wish Blizzard had found a way to limit the playing time that some players took with DIII.

Halo ODST was also on the floor, and teams of four were lining up to play Firefight. Firefight was also a great deal of fun to play. It plays like the Horde mode in Gears of War II, or the segments in Left for Dead where players have to hold out in a specific location for a certain amount of time. The guns in the game felt really cool to hold and fire.

Mass Effect 2 was right by the entrance to the exhibit hall, and had long lines on Friday, but by Saturday and Sunday it was only a few minute wait until one of the TVs opened up, especially later in the day. While nothing I saw was too surprising, the game's new rocket launcher was a ton of fun to play with. The game definitely uses that "dark" look that BioWare has been going for (I wish that they would actually brighten it up a bit, but that's just me). BioWare clearly has a great game on their hands here, provided that they can figure out a better way to deal with the menu system in this game than in ME1.

Global Agenda was also very impressive. I will admit, I went to the booth expecting to be underwhelmed; everything that I had seen about the game make it look like it had outstanding potential but that it could also be horrifically flawed, and I was glad to find out that the former was absolutely true, and that the flaws were nowhere to be found. I had the chance to play two different classes in the game: a heavy, burly tank with a machine gun and rocket launcher, and a quick, stealthy class with the ability to cloak and a huge sword with which to whack away at enemies from behind. I'll talk more about the game in an upcoming post, but the multiplayer experience was fast-paced and exciting, and much better than I had been expecting it to be.

MAG was probably the only game on the list that I was slightly disappointed by, although the developers are clearly onto something. While the game looks fantastic, its framerate left a little something to be desired. While I don't doubt that the game runs smoothly at 30fps, as the developers claim, I've come to expect a little bit more thanks to existing FPSs, especially Call of Duty 4 . Nevertheless, I picked up a card inviting me to the game's beta, and I am looking forward to giving the game a more thorough shakedown when the beta goes live again on September 17.

As I expected, I also found a slew of other games that I'm very excited about. Here's a brief list, with links:

• Torchlight by Runic Games
• Brink by Splash Damage
  
• Diplomacy (Sins of a Solar Empire Expansion) by Stardock
• League of Legends by Riot Games
• Split/Second by Black Rock Studio
• Borderlands by Gearbox Software

-Jon

Realtime Worlds: Please License Your Music To Us!

One of the trends I've been most excited about in the past few years has been that of crowdsourcing. It's no secret that fans of a particular game will develop outstanding mods (Counter-Strike, TFC, DotA) for it, if given the opportunity, but when gaming companies give people direct access to add content to the game itself, it can be a very rewarding experience.

Enter Realtime Worlds, developers of the Xbox 360's well-regarded Crackdown franchise, and their new MMO entitled All Points Bulletin (APB). APB is a crime-based MMO, with a criminal faction and a police faction. Players can style their characters, pimp their rides, and, to put it succinctly, do as they please with APB's massive city. But, unlike other MMOs, players can also license music that they create to Realtime Worlds, who have offered to put players' music into the game. APB will also feature an in-game music editor, meaning that players may actually be able to make music for the game inside the game. Or at least that's my theory.

I love this idea and would love to see more of it in the future. It is a value add for developers, who can now spend more time creating different content for players and a value add for players, who can potentially listen to their own music in game. Moreover, things like this really put the community front and center in the game, and generate a great deal of positive buzz for the game.

If you haven't checked out All Points Bulletin yet, you just might want to.

Especially if you have your own band.

-Jon

Cutthroat Capitalism: The Game

Earlier this week, I found a neat little game called Cutthroat Capitalism in an article on Wired. The article was about high-piracy in the modern day, and focused on recent piracy off of the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden.

Many games are designed with the intent of informing players on a certain subject. I remember a few years ago I spent a weekend at a friend's house and we found this "game" on the Internet called Real Lives (the website which hosts the game has since been taken down) which simulates the life of a random person in the world.

In the game, you are born as a random person of a random gender in a random family based on real-world population distribution figures and live the life of a person in your country of birth.

We found this game highly entertaining and somewhat comical, although we were certainly making light of some serious third-world problems. In the game, your character (is that the right word?) will come into contact with diseases like malaria or polio, which have been all but eradicated from life as we know it. You'll also have to stay away from political protests, as you can be jailed or executed for participation in some at-risk activities. Smoking is also something that comes up frequently, and is highly addictive in-game (it's almost impossible to stop once you start).

It's tough to classify Real Lives as a typical game, and Cutthroat Capitalism falls into the same category, although it is a much simpler simulation based on a more narrow topic of interest. As a game, I didn't find it all that entertaining, but it is much simpler to understand than the article you can find the game in. It deals with most or all of the challenges that pirates face in the article: costs of doing business, the difficulty of commandeering a ship once you've found it, negotiating with the owners of the ship and cargo, etc. But it is still an interesting way of delivering content to the reader, and is much more gripping than the words on the page.

While I'm sure you won't feel obligated to kill a day playing it, Cutthroat Capitalism is an interesting look at the way games can be and are often used to draw an audience into the world of a story or article.

Battlefield 1943 Impressions

I must confess that I have been waiting some time to comment on Battlefield 1943 because I was thinking about doing a full-fledged review for it. However, I've decided that this game, although it has and will change gaming, does not do so from a traditional gaming perspective.

Before you think that I'm down on this game, though, I would like to say that I think Battlefield 1943 is an outstanding game. Most of the time that I have spent playing games over the last few weeks (that I can talk about) has been playing this game with a few friends over Xbox Live.

Simply put, Battlefield 1943 is a well-done download-only first person shooter that brings me back to the glory days of Battlefield 1942. Available on both Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3, Battlefield 1943 is a great-looking and relatively simple first-person shooter that is tons of fun to play, especially with friends. The weapons are simple and relatively well-balanced in my opinion, though many people are quick to criticize the infantry-stopping capabilities of the semi-automatic rifle. In addition, the ability to squad spawn makes it easy for players to get back into the action quickly and team up with friends. Vehicles are fun to ride in and drive, and although the mechanics can be a little wonky (collisions seem to have pretty weird physics), this may be because the engine is borrowed/simulating the BF1942 physics engine.

The game shipped with three different maps, though a fourth map has since been unlocked on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 which features a dogfighting game mode. The original three maps are outstanding in general, and will immediately validate your $15 layout. The fourth map seems to be hit or miss with people (I wasn't a huge fan, to be honest). There is a lot of value here, and although there is certainly less content than say Castle Crashers, the replayability factor is very high. Therefore, as a game, Battlefield 1943 is a fun but not wholly revolutionary adventure that is well worth the cost of admission.

What is more interesting to me, as a game designer, about Battlefield 1943 is its download-only format. One of the best aspects of the download-only system is that it is never a pain to switch between games when a friend of mine signs on to begin playing. Several times I have been watching a Netflix movie while doing a little work on my laptop, when a friend signs online, sends me a party invite, and whisks me away to the Southeast Pacific. As a fan of the Halo series, I remember often finding myself in the middle of a Mass Effect marathon when I was interrupted by the same friends, but didn't feel like breaking out the new CD, loading it into the drive, waiting for the new game to load, etc. In Battlefield 1943, no matter what I'm doing, I'm only a party and game invite away from the action. Ultimately, this makes it much easier for me to consider dropping my campaign progress for a little down and dirty Wake Island action.

Ultimately, its clearly the distribution format that is truly revolutionary here. While I don't know what kind of cuts are taken from sales of the game, I wouldn't be terribly surprised to hear that EA and DICE make about as much money off each sale of this $15 game as they do from a $50 game purchased at retail (okay, maybe a little surprised).

Regardless, the proof is in the pudding and Battlefield 1943 has proven to me that a company can release an outstanding AAA title as a download-only purchase on consoles. While I would hope that everyone and their grandmothers don't immediately abandon traditional distribution methods for their games (my 360's hard drive only has 20 GB of space, dagnabbit!), I am keen to see what other offerings lie on this road in the future, and if these offerings can be supplemented by additional downloadable content packs.

Hopefully.

-Jon

Elegant Game Design

One of the terms we throw around in my office when referring to games is the term "elegant". Now none of us are really game design theorists in the traditional sense, and the word isn't really used much in game reviews, but it is a very fitting description of some games. One of the blogs that I follow is PlayThisThing!. One of the writers there is Greg Costikyan, who contributed a chapter on Europa Universalis (one of my favorite games) to a book entitled Well Played 1.0, edited by Drew Davidson. You can read the book online here, although I recommend you go out and buy a copy for yourself if you really liked it (I did).

One of the other chapters is written on the well-known Advance Wars series of games for Nintendo's mobile Gameboy and DS platforms. Advance Wars is one of the best examples of elegant game design I can think of, and seeing that the chapter on elegant game design in Well Played 1.0 was writted on this game was quite reassuring.

First, let me define my terms. To me, an elegant game or system is one in which there is a great deal of complexity which is slowly introduced to the player or is immediately very understandable. Basically, elegant game designs will almost always be fairly complex but very easy for the player to parse, or are at least structured in such a way that players learn how to use the system fairly easily and are never frustrated by it. Occasionally, I might call an overly complex but not that hard to understand system elegant, but that would be pretty rare. (This might be the case with my Final Fantasy Tactics nomination below.) These systems should also be fairly intuitive to the player, and to some extent, make sense in the real world, or at least in the game world.

Elegant game systems should also be the aspects of games that stand out to the player as being truly interesting and entertaining. By their very nature, they are the most polished aspects of the game.

Of course, the next thing that came to my mind was a mental list of other "elegant" games that I have played over the past few years. I spent most of last week thinking about it, and came up with a pretty good list. I'm actually thinking about taking some of the ideas I've been tossing around and throwing them into a white paper, which would probably help to distill my thoughts even more, but in the mean time I can use this post as a bit of a rough draft. I also did some thinking on some of the mechanics that might fall into the category, so those are also on the list.

Generating the list was surprisingly difficult. It was also a little more eclectic than I imagined. My list of elegant games/game systems, in no particular order:

Advance Wars
Civilization: Revolutions
Braid
Portal
Soul Calibur (I've heard that Street Fighter IV should go here but haven't played it)
Vegas Showdown
Sim City 2000
Item System in Diablo II
Ability/Job System in Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy VII's Materia Systems
Gem System in the Free Realms TCG (No, really, I'm dead serious)
Mana in Magic: the Gathering
World of Warcraft's Talent System

I'm sure I missed a ton of stuff. Please flame me in the forums.

-Jon

Golden Joystick GotY Awards

Well, I started taking my blog seriously a little too late to post during most of the GotY awards earlier this year for 2008, but I can use the Golden Joystick GotY awards as a proxy for those, I suppose. The awards are supposed to be awarded to outstanding games released between May 22, 2008 and May 22, 2009. I say "supposed to" because some of the chronology in here is a little messed up, and some of the games that shouldn't be on the ballot are. Some games that should definitely be in more categories, like Braid, also are suspiciously absent from some categories.

Anyways, I'll go through my ballot (pictured at right) and talk about my decision. I know, in fact, I hope, that some of you vehemently disagree with my position. It is, after all, inevitable, but also fosters creative and enlightening debate. With that said, on to the awards!

Family Game of the Year - Free Realms: This one was one of my easier decisions. While World of Goo was certainly a tempting pick, I couldn't get past how different a game like Free Realms is from the average MMO, and how much potential it has to change our perceptions of MMO games. From beginning to end, it is designed to be a safe and fun place for the entire family. Players of all ages can get into the game, and it is simply a phenomenal game.

Handheld Game of the Year - Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars: I didn't get to play many of the games that were up for this award. While I liked Pokemon Platinum and Chrono Trigger, neither of these titles really added substantially to gaming. Rhythm Heaven was probably an excellent alternate choice, but I didn't have a chance to play the game. However, GTA Chinatown Wars re-examined the original GTA games and reworked them to be much more entertaining, intuitive and exciting. I really enjoyed the time that I spent playing this game.

Mobile Game of the Year - Bejeweled 2: This was definitely the category that I am least familiar with, but Bejeweled has really taken hold in casual gaming and my bosses (for whatever reason) really love it. I am not as big of a fan, but I certainly cannot deny how popular this game is. I didn't feel bad voting for it because there was nothing else that really stood out to me.

Multiplayer Game of the Year - Left 4 Dead: This decision, for me, was a complete layup. No game has defined multiplayer gaming so much this year as Left 4 Dead. A year ago, I would have told you that competitive multiplayer, much as I might not like it, was the preferred choice for the vast majority of gamers. L4D was perhaps the single most important game in the shift towards co-operative play that has occurred in the last year, and has completely changed the way that at least I view multiplayer gaming. While I can't say that most players now prefer co-op play, we've definitely at least moved in that direction. The game is also an absolute blast to play, which always helps for these sorts of things.

Nintendo Game of the Year - Okami: Again, another category that I am unfamiliar with, but this is one where I felt Okami was simply the best option. The second best option on the ballot, if it had been there, would have been Mario Kart Wii, but despite coming out a week or so after Okami, it wasn't. Decision made. Sorry Mario. Awkwardly enough, neither should have been on the ballot. The other game I was thinking of, Wii Fit is MIA. It has certainly sold well enough to be here, and unlike Okami or SMK Wii, released during the correct timeframe. Does GJ really think it isn't a game?

The One to Watch - Diablo III: I'm sure Diablo III in this spot will be one of my more controversial picks, but I am definitely an ARPG kind of guy, and really enjoyed Diablo II and D2X. More than that, the game looks and seems to play great. It is definitely the game that I am most looking forward to, though some upcoming MMO's like Global Agenda, the new Star Wars MMO, and other games are certainly outstanding nominees.

Online/PC Game of the Year - World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King: I picked the World of Warcraft Expansion in this slot due to both its popularity and the quality of the game as delivered. WoW, to me, is clearly the best MMORPG out there, and is certainly deserving of the online award. For the PC, the biggest contenders in my book were WoW, Braid, Fallout 3, L4D, and perhaps Warhammer 40K DoW II and Empire: Total War (they probably aren't, but I am a big fan of both games). WoW was simply a quintessentially PC game that continues to define gaming and online play with every release.

Playstation Game of the Year - Metal Gear Solid 4 Sons of the Patriots: Another category I wish I was more familiar with, but MGS4 seems to be a hot pick for GotY overall and certainly looked outstanding to me. I wish I owned a Playstation, but don't, and this was the only release this year that really made me want to buy one. Positive word of mouth was probably the biggest reason for this selection.

Publisher of the Year - Rockstar Games: This decision was easy because this studio was responsible for not one but two award-winning games this year. Although I found the car controls and framerate issues in GTA IV annoying enough that I didn't really want to give it any general GotY awards, I certainly don't feel justified in denying this award to the fine folks at Rockstar Games.

Retailer of the Year - Valve (Steam): No single retail outlet has had as dramatic an impact on game sales this year as Valve's Steam Client. Steam has brought games back from the dead, spurred game sales, and become a one-stop-shop for all varieties of PC games. In addition some games only work through Steam, making it tough to discount this platform as the most important game deployment and distribution platform since Xbox Live and Apple's online store.

Soundtrack of the Year - Braid & Burnout Paradise: This is not something I'm really concerned with, but Burnout Paradise has a fantastic soundtrack. My first choice for this award was Braid (and I did write in to GJ over it), but I certainly don't feel bad about picking Burnout Paradise here either.

UK Developer of the Year - Criterion: The quickest connections that I made here were Rockstar North to GTA IV and Criterion to Burnout Paradise. There was no Lionhead Studios (Fable II) option. Given that restriction, I simply feel that Burnout Paradise was the better game for me. Although GTA IV certainly has an immersive and well-developed world from beginning to end, great foot controls, and an outstanding story and cast of characters, framerate issues and awkward car handling (am I faulting a game for being too realistic? Yes.) really detracted from my enjoyment of the game. While the storyline and shooting controls were good enough to get me to finish the game (this is a huge compliment, I almost never finish games unless I really enjoy them), I really wished that the car controls and graphics were a little bit more appealing to me. While Burnout Paradise was a huge step forward from Burnout Revenge, I couldn't say the same about the transition from San Andreas (one of the best games I have ever played) to Grand Theft Auto IV. Needless to say, I have a great deal of respect for both of these studios.

The Ultimate Game of the Year - Left 4 Dead: This decision was really tough. I feel like if I had played MGS4 I might have a different pick here. To me, it came down to Left 4 Dead, WotLK, Braid (which wasn't an option, sadly), Burnout Paradise, and Warhammer 40K DoW II (again, a personal favorite that probably shouldn't win). Of these, I simply felt that L4D was the most complete and revolutionary gaming experience here. It was certainly a tough decision.

Xbox Game of the Year (why is this here and not with all of the other system awards?) - Braid: Sorry Call of Duty fans, Braid was simply the best 10 hours of game that I played all year. While it was tough to pick Braid as an overall Game of the Year since it was so short, I certainly didn't feel bad about picking it in a more narrow category.

Whew! That was a long one!

-Jon

Games on Sale

So, I've been a busy guy for the last couple of days, with the nice weather we have been having in the city and all. I spent most of the day Sunday wandering around Manhattan's Best Buy stores, hoping to spike (acquire) some of the $10 Xbox 360 games that are on sale this week. I found most of what I got, but Soul Calibur was an early morning affair, I am told. I still managed to snag a copy of Pure and Unreal Tournament III, as well as a copy of Operation Darkness, which by all accounts is pretty sub-par but intrigued me enough to waste $10 on it.

All of this has gotten me thinking: Is it just me, or are games going on sale an awful lot lately? Ever since Steam started really upping the number of games it has on sale at any one time, and has started publishing numbers on the dramatic week on week sales increases this causes, everyone seems to be following suit. It makes perfect sense--many games only sell very well during their first few months--and gamers tend to be cheap, for whatever reason. (I myself am definitely in that category, no denigration intended).

In fact, for about the past year, but moreso in the past month or two, almost all of the non must-have games for me have been purchased because they were on sale: Prince of Persia, Braid, Armored Core 4 (I loved the original), Band of Brothers Hell's Highway, FarCry 2, and Burnout Paradise are all firmly in that category.

Is this something we are going to see more of? I daresay it seems to have been working so far. There was an article a few weeks ago about how Steam's free weekend of Unreal Tournament III single-handedly rejuvinated the multiplayer interest in that game.

As for my take on things, it's certainly not something that you want to do if your game is highly successful. I would never reccomend that Blizzard does something like that (actually I would love it if they did). Its just not needed in my opinion. However, if done well, like through the free weekend program, or the 1 year after launch sale that is well advertised, I think it can be fairly profitable. Games are always a low variable cost proposition, and especially with the trend towards online multiplayer, active player count is always essential to keeping interest in the game up.

Have you been buying games on sale? Have you found anything that you wouldn't have found otherwise? What games would you seriously consider buying if they were on sale, that you wouldn't otherwise consider?

-Jon

Demigod and Customer Service

So, one of the games that I have been looking forward to playing recently is an Action RPG/RTS Lite game called Demigod. At this point, I have not actually played the game (I should be getting a copy of the game in the mail in the next day or two), but issues surrounding the release are certainly worth commenting on.

Demigod has been plagued with a number of launch-day related issues, ranging from Gamestop selling copies early to mass pirating of the game, server instability, and much more. The reviews of the game vary wildly, as many review sites are hammering it for its launch day issues, and different reviewers have different levels of experience with the mod it seems to be based on (Death of the Ancients is a Warcraft III mod that is perhaps some of the best player-created gaming content of all time), and even ARPGs in general.

Through it all, Gas Powered Games and its publisher, Stardock, have been very upfront with the community regarding proposed solutions and their long-term view for the game. See the latest community update here.

This is something that I touched upon yesterday in my Braid review, and would like to talk about in the future using Burnout Paradise, but there has been a recent (am I correct, or does it just seem that way) trend in the industry towards being upfront and honest with the end user. This is awesome.

First, there is an implicit recognition that both parties in this relationship, the developer (or publisher, distributor, etc.) and the consumer, are both human. Take it from me, but there is nothing a game designer/developer wants to see more than people genuinely enjoying his game. Lost in the anti-EA threads and the over-commercialization arguments et al. is the concept that there are real people trying to make an honest living designing games, to go along with the fact that the consumer isn't someone that should be taken advantage with crappy sequels, shovelware, and shoddy games.

So if you enjoy playing a game, take the time to tell your friends about it, participate in forum banter, add positively to the community (no intelligent, mature person wants to read Guild Wars vs. WoW flame fests), or even write a letter to the developer letting them know how much you enjoy their game. I think it is fantastic that fans have been mailing Stardock fan art and even cookies.

In the meantime, I will be eagerly awaiting my copy of Demigod in the mail. I'll give you my impressions on it soon.

-Jon

Monopoly vs. Catan

Wired had an excellent article two weeks ago on German styled board games.

Follow the link:
Monopoly Killer: Perfect German Board Game Redefines Genre

The article focuses on Settlers of Catan, a fine game that is mechanically more dynamic than traditional American board games like Monopoly and Risk. While still a relatively simple game when compared to other German board games such as Puerto Rico or even Power Grid, Settlers is a game that seems to walk the fine line between simple and complex.

When I was a kid, I was sure that by the time I was an adult, board games would be a thing of the past, and that people would be looking primarily to video games as a stay at home social activity. While the second half of that is probably true, the first half is certainly not (or at least that is my experience).

The truth is, I don't think that most popular American board games are any good. Risk is far too simple (though I will confess to being a fan of the 2210 variant and I haven't played the updated board game), Monopoly is just a dice-fest with little to no strategy, and Scrabble's game board is so agonizingly painful to play on that my friends and I replace the double and triple word tiles with additional double and triple letter tiles (Word games should encourage you to build long words that open up additional playing opportunities for other players, not limit your vocabulary to words that don't open up double and triple word tiles for your opponents).

I'm glad to see that some more complex board games are making the transition to mass market. As a game designer, it means that more and more people may be interested in the kooky and crazy games that I would like to develop. As a gamer, it means that I might actually be able to find other players for more challenging and fun games such as Power Grid or Race for the Galaxy (take it from me, don't try and teach your parents that one).

If you've just tried Settlers of Catan, or another more complicated board game for the first time, feel free to comment on your experience, and I encourage you to continue trying newer and more complicated games. As time goes on, I will be posting more and more recommended board games to this blog, but if you are looking for a recommendation right this second, I will simply point you to http://www.boardgamegeek.com.

Jon