Have some pity. I had an original Atari, and I wasn't a kid (out of college and all). These poor parents had parents like them who wouldn't let them play. Sigh. It's not the age, it's the ignorance. Age is. Ignorance can be cures. Some good ideas there...

Sigh. Super-fine tech. I'm sixty five, even my thumbs don't move that fast. My daughter, the dancer at 23, would feel stupid doing that kind of stuff. And as a writer, my living room is full of books, computers, and barely enough room to move around, let alone use full body motion control. For kids, yeah. For those kinds of games you've mentioned, yeah. But I tire easily. With a controller, I can play Sacred 2 for hours, or WoW for many hours. If I have to dance to make the game work, it will last only a few minutes. Actually, it won't last at all, because I won't get it.

Sorry, guys, it's a great tech, but it's time is not here, and I'm not in your market. And I'm the one with the money.

Having put in forty some hours, I rather disagree with much of the review, while acknowledging many of the game's limitations. However, for me, the limitations might be what kept me at it so long, and no end in sight. Think of the hours spent grinding in FFIV. I think it depends on what you're looking for. Intense story? Not here. Realistic graphics? Other games. NPCs that actually react according to context. Yes, we have it. Free-roaming world that sometimes kills you? You-betcha. The ability to work up a level twenty character before even starting the main quest. Yes-s-s. It's really too bad, however, that you can't download a demo and try it out. I find the game a lot of fun, but then I'm an old fart of 65 and my thumbs don't work any more......

The monster is a pup, or kitten, or nestling. It's proportions indicate it is an infant of its species. Think of what it will look like when full grown to ten times its size or more. With really big wings.

Looks really cool. I like the mood better than either of the other games. So far.

I played Asteroids ... and Night Driver ...

If you're writing fiction, this is called the hook. For a short story, a few lines, no more than a page. For a novel, three or four pages, maybe a short chapter. But the principles are the same. An engaging character or characters whom the readers -- um, players -- care about, a setting and situation that captures the imagination, a problem which almost certainly is not the ultimate problem of the story, or game, and questions about what's going on which can only be answered by playing more. And more.

Fiction writers have some understanding of this. Game developers should have more. That they don't is why there are so few memorable openings.

I teach this stuff at SF conventions.

Well said, the jadefalcon. My previous comment was an objective to stereotyping guys my age.

Hey, I'm 65, stop covering the girl up! I need to see more, not less. You guys don't know Grandpas from, well ... your elbow!

I have a couple problems here. When was the last time you ever looked at a Larry Flint publication? There is, believe me, no comparison. Also, it takes no time at all for her hair to straighten. Let's not be clever at the expense of honest criticism. Whatever the previews, how does it play? How do you aim four guns at once? Is there anything other than shooting involved?
If you're looking for skin, a subscription to Playboy on line is not much more than the cost of a game. All skin, all day, no freaking hair to get in the way. Only if you're old enough, of course.

If you guys are really interested in flight sims, and not just fighter games, you should be looking at Microsoft Flight Simulator, and X-Plane (which is for Windows, Linux, and Macintosh). Of course, this is a gamer site, not a simulator site, but still, I'd like to see some reviews of both those products, especially compared with the titles listed above.

This is a very interesting announcement. It indicates to me that the editorial staff of PC Gamer is actually paying attention to the real world. There are any number of magazines -- game, SF, science, computer -- where if an error is brought to the editor's attention, their response tends to be something like, "even if you're right, we'll stick by what we said." PC Gamer is then, one of those which, having made an error in judgement, acknowledges it, and intends to correct it. Bravo for them.

There really isn't any substance to any of the comments above.

There are two reasons I can think of for differences between the real thing and the game. First, duplicating the real thing exactly would take years. Far too many details. Second, with the differences, we're reminded that this is a fantasy, not historical commentary. I wrote a book once, where Detroit was the movie capital, and it was McDonald's Emerald Arches. Just in case someone takes offense at perceived trivial similarities......

Just a thought. Maybe these, um, ladies are supposed to be ugly. I mean, what little I know of real hookers from newspapers and, interestingly, museum displays of photographs, shows most of them to look no better than, and some rather worse that those portrayed here. Is Rockstar making them unappealing for a reason? Like, don't play here?

One reason for doing some of these, is to learn how to use Photoshop, or whatever graphics package you're using. (There's something other than Photoshop?) It's the posting them as 1) original art or, in this case 2) as authentic screen shots that's the sad thing. My daughter is learning photoshop. What better way to learn texture blending and lighting angles.

I played Tempest. I thought it was great ... then.
Sigh. I still have PS1 games I haven't tried yet. Makes me wonder if I really want to. Except for those features which praise some old games for being so great. Some of which I have. And haven't played yet....

My vote would be for Resident Evil, then for Collosus.

The bodies are nice, but look at their faces. Some are bored. Some are snarky, But some look like they're having fun. If you look at them ONLY from the neck down, their heads might as well be by Boris Wolverton. But how many of these ladies would you actually enjoy sitting and talking with? There are a few....

I hesitate to make a comparison with Ed Wood. I mean, Ed sincerely believed he was good. Hmmm. Does Uwe believe the same thing, even though he hates videogames?

Rip-off? Hmm. But why not? If you see something good, be inspired. Some of these are more "rip-off" than others. But if being inspired by previous work is rip-off, then Shakespeare is the greatest rip-off artist of all time. NOTHING he wrote was original, everything was inspired by previous work. Now, copying the plot, um, no, that's not good. But ideas can not be copyrighted. Who can claim that anything they've done is 100% original?

Pages like this are good for us. Think about it. After you play some game which you find disappointing, you can come back to any "worst-of" and be grateful.