I can picture it now. A couple of young game industry upstarts have finally paid their dues, and are now at the helm of making a brand new game. It’s going to be released on all the systems. They’re talking to each other excitedly about what kind of game they want to make. Ideas are thrown around, gameplay elements are discussed and details are hammered out. They rehearse their pitch; they’re prepared for the studio heads.
Reality sinks in, and it’s not nearly as fun. The young developer’s faces shrink with each passing moment. No, you can’t introduce this wildly revolutionary idea. No, that’s not going to work for us. No, we’re not going to take that risk and no, you’re not going to disagree with us because we’re the money and you’re not. READ MORE
It’s impossible to say with 100% certainty what kind of legacy The Last of Us will leave. But that’s easy to say, since almost nothing is 100% certain. Well, except death, taxes and obscenities screamed during a Dota 2 match. The Last of Us, an obvious candidate for Game of the Year and one of the PS3’s best, has been host to many claims. I’ve heard that it signifies that games have grown up. I’ve heard that it’s the game version of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Of Citizen Kane or Pulp Fiction. Many games have been lauded as timeless classics when they first come out, but very few stand the test of time. READ MORE
Check out part one of this story here.
You’d think that, once I hit college, I would have replaced my insatiable lust for gaming with girls, booze, pizza, parties and the like. But my mom always said that balance in life was key, and I got fairly adept at balancing them. Sometimes, with a bit of practice, you could engage in all these activities at the same time. I even got some studying in sometimes! Now that’s balance.
My university comrades were just as much into Smash Bros. as my high school friends. The game doesn’t care where you live. It’s a universal language; a common denominator across all borders. It didn’t take long for Randy Rose, David Rathbun and Fuzz (don’t ask me his real name) to find me and brawl for hours on end. READ MORE
E3 is our Super Bowl. It’s our Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Halloween and birthday all rolled into one. Even if no games actually are released, it’s a huge spectacle that results in thousands of journalists making their pilgrimage and reporting on thousands of different games. Who is making what? What looks fun? What looks terrible? Are there any surprises? I can’t tell you how giddy I get before each major conference; whether terrible or fantastic, each requires a huge amount of unnecessary analysis. Making fun of the awful presenters. Breaking down trailers scene by scene. Making bold, inaccurate predictions that won’t have any fallout, because well, how could you possibly have known that Game X would be terrible and that System Y would sell like hotcakes?
I’m getting off track already. See, that’s what E3 does to you. It gets you impossibly excited about the sheer quantity of game updates, new games and hilarious sound bites that it makes it difficult to focus on the task at hand. READ MORE
I’m at a crossroads in life. I’ve just come out of the vault in the biggest open-world game there is. No, this isn’t a twist. I’m not pretending to be a video game character who comes across a magic cave or a haunted forest. I, Henry Skey, am stuck at an intersection looking both ways. Crossroads may not even be right word to describe it; that would indicate a choice between set paths. I have no idea what my path is, where it is or how I will choose to walk it. READ MORE
