We’ve all had our fun spotting recurring elements in games. So many kidnapped princesses! So many spiky-haired antiheroes! But why the constant repetitions? Are developers that lazy? Or could games, in their transition from high-score one-upmanship to narrative medium, have tapped into the basics of mythic tropes? ...

We decide the winners of 27 years of system rage, so you don't have to. ...

We recently took issue with the claim that “gaming has not yet had its Citizen Kane”. As you can see, we managed to find 25 games that qualified for that title – and you had plenty more suggestions besides.

We’d have had no trouble whipping up a counter-list of dismal flops. ...

North American gamers have it pretty good. We pay less for our games and often see them on store shelves earlier than our European and Oceanic counterparts. We’re spoiled, really. But despite our privileged geographic position, we always want more. We envy Japanese gamers, the ones who play the real thing on day one and don’t have to wait for the localization of highly anticipated titles like Final Fantasy XIII. ...

They (whoever “they” are) say you should never meet your heroes. The logic behind that tidy parcel of wisdom is that if you get too close you'll see how human and pathetically ordinary your heroes actually are. But things are quite different in Japan. Meet the oddest Japanese videogame heroes and you won't be underwhelmed or disappointed: instead, you'll be hypnotised by some podger's perpetual hip gyration dance and ripped to ...

Mario has done it all, appearing in nearly every type of game imaginable. His (usual) success in every field is unparalleled in the realm of gaming mascots, but of all his spin-offs, our favorites have been Mario's forays into the world of role-playing games. Just like in every other genre, Mario made it his own while still keeping it fun for the level-grinding, loot-collectors. ...

In the mid-‘90s console scene, everyone knew that importing games from Japan was where the real action was at; because of the prohibitive cost of publishing games in the US, tons of great games stayed in Japan, apparently because they were just too awesome to find audiences outside of its borders. ...

It was released way back at the start of the 80s. So surely anything worth saying about Pac-Man has been said already? Actually, we don't think so. You may have heard how Pac-Man is gaming's premiere pop culture icon and how he single-handedly pushed electronic entertainment into the big time. But what you haven't heard until now is why Pac-Man is the original Resident Evil. Or why Pac-Man is more like Grand Theft Auto than you could ever ...