We love Game of Thrones, and think that some elements of the show (and, by proxy, the book) would help making games better...
Once
a videogame hero has more than one or two adventures under his or her belt, it
simply isn’t enough to just have an archenemy anymore. To keep things
interesting, they need a foil, a rival, or some other angry opposite number
obsessed with matching wits with them. Sometimes, those characters stick around
long enough to make themselves an indelible part of the series, even going so
far as to make friends with the
protagonist – although more often than not, their friendships tend to be shaky
at best, and even those involved might never fully admit to them. Relationships
like that tend to make for gaming’s most enduring and interesting rivalries,
and what follows are some of the most notable...
This
month's Breaking Bad cliffhanger has us all hungry for illicit
thrills. Sure, that's not a videogame (though it's inspired a couple), but with narcotics subplots in titles like Sleeping Dogs and Borderlands 2, controlled
substances are all over contemporary games. Then again, you've
probably been gettin' that yellowtop in-game for years without even
realizing it, thanks to the well-hidden drug metaphors we're
about to expose...
What is the best Super Nintendo game ever made? Which Xbox 360 title is already the definitive classic? What Atari, Dreamcast and PlayStation experiences are most worth remembering? Growing tired of the internet’s countless, wishy-washy attempts to answer such questions, we decided to make the tough decisions ourselves. You’ll find no Top 5s, Top 7s, Top 15s or Top 100s here - just a single winner and runner up for each platform.
Now that the world hasn't ended after all, let's pretend we got caught in the apocalypse anyway, as we pick our the top wastelands we'd like to inhabit...
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.

To celebrate the earlier announcement of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, I thought it'd be nice to dip way back into the PlayStation launch library and drum up a couple of tracks from the very first game in the series. First, because it's home to some extra cheesy guitar wailing that goes great with multicolored jets screaming through the air, and two because those first-gen PS1 games look so hilariously bad.
Mega-cheese guitars inside!
Videogames, like movies and music, live and die by their release dates. A smartly planned launch can make a niche product soar to unpredicted heights or cause a long-respected franchise to slip beneath consumers’ radar.

“Is that your profession or pleasure?” Well, when it comes to jobs in games, it’s usually both. Y’see, your average gaming hero’s nine-to-five is a never-ending stream of employed excitement. Acrobatic plumbers who frolic in magical fantasy kingdoms. Archaeologists with pornstar bodies who can dual wield pistols like everyone’s favourite slaphead assassin. And suspiciously buff scientists who routinely save the human race with nothing but a crowbar. They all enjoy incredible careers we mere mortals could only dream of. Of course, if their jobs were a little more true to life, Mario would probably do himself in when he faced his first backed-up toilet…
For
whatever reason, you don’t see a lot of video game characters taking time out
from shooting dogs or whatever to watch TV. We’re guessing it has something to
do with that thing we just said sounding insanely boring, but even so, games that let us watch
the characters watching TV have become gradually more common. Here are our favorites...