Why Mass Effect 3 Wrecked My Relationship With Video Games

07/11/2012 2 Comments

First, I should mention the community stuff for blogging is making a lot of sense right now. I asked a question, gave my position, and got some feedback that helped me refine my thoughts – and answer my question. Read more of this post

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Does anyone else feel like Mass Effect 3 ruined video games for them?

07/10/2012 2 Comments

So I have hardly touched video games since my race to hit the end of Mass Effect 3… which followed watching my wife’s race to beat it. Sure, a little bit of Diablo 3, trying to get back into Skyrim, which I set down for Final Fantasy XIII-2… which I have not yet gotten back into. Good batch of games I just listed. Ought to be no problem, right?

I have been heard to remark that Mass Effect 3 has the shortest statute of limitations of just about anything ever (as such, I see no need to say spoiler alert, but be ye warned). This is because such a hubbub came up around the ending. I watched my wife beat the game because one of us needed to, and really we had pretty similar play-throughs (I guess we are both good guys at heart). As I aim to focus at least a bit on writing in this still-settling blog, this game seems *very* appropriate to discuss. Mass Effect as a series was popular not as a shooting actiony game, but as a story game, where the player built the story.

Still, the problem people have had is that the end felt… incompatible with all the decisions people put into it. There was very little to the decisions we were boxed into. Read more of this post

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What are the best Video Games?

06/09/2012 Leave a comment

I am interested in a couple of main things in video games, mainly around story telling, and then around social activity with friends and family. Maybe you picked up on this in my recent blog post. However, games mean a lot of things to a lot of people, and as I mentioned recently in a conversation about World of Warcraft, few games hit on all of these gaming needs and types (my point being that WOW sure tries to do so!).

I went to the Art of Video Games Exhibit recently, and it was a lot of fun. Even better was how it was taking games seriously. It approached games both by console, and by four groupings: Target (think Halo), Adventure (think Zelda), Tactics (think StarCraft), and Action (think Mario). Check out their list here. What is neat about this list is users voted on it, so it is a really good listing of games that have stuck with people and impacted them. Read more of this post

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My Top Ten Video Games

06/08/2012 7 Comments

Gamers often get into debates about which video games are their favorites, or which are the best, or influenced them most, or that you’re crazy if you don’t like. Well, I thought I would put out something of my list. To help justify my opinions, I have created a category for each, and for some even have runners up, that my top choice beats out.

Like I said, I was just at the Art of Video Games exhibit, so I know full well I am leaving out a lot of types of games. I plan to rectify this with some links to other top lists of games – so you don’t have to take my word for it! Let me know what you think.

Without further ado, and in no particular order… my top ten video games. Read more of this post

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