Tag: halo

Destructoid Posts Top 50 Games of the Decade

sotc-2List time! We all know how lists put gamers in such a frenzy, and this newest entry from Destructoid is no different. The dudes (and a few ladies, I’m sure) have put together their comprehensive list of what they feel are the best 50 games of the last 10 years, running from 2000 to now.

While I generally don’t get my panties in a bunch over a list, I do like to take the things that they are measuring and think about how I would have ranked them on my own. I do have to admit that their top 50 list has some quality entries (Half-Life 2, Portal, Shadow of the Colossus are in some great positions), it also has a few things that I feel are misplaced. Valkyria Chronicles, for one, seems just a bit high at number 8, while Knights of the Old Republic is shockingly low at the 49 spot. Beyond that, the omission of both the Halo franchise as a whole as well as Fallout 3/Oblivion certainly raise an eyebrow or several hundred.

So what do you guys think of this list? And what are some of your best games of the last decade?

Source- Destructoid

Getting in Shape, Gamer Style!

It’s a well known fact that gamers are a slovenly folk; so much so that we’d rather watch fit, athletic people run around on a screen than do these things ourselves. Well, I’ve got a brand new program that will whip you into shape post-haste simply by copying these classic gaming moves and turning them into exercises:
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Cross-Contaminated Media: Expanding Universes Outside Games

halo2

Hello and welcome to Cross-Contaminated Media, a short series on video game franchises that have taken their fictional settings and expanded them into books, comics, and film. As the video game industry becomes even more wide-spread, we’re seeing a lot of companies try their hand at developing their intellectual properties by taking them off of a game disk and put them into forms of media that are less graphically intensive, but require more attention on the story and characters.

Of all the companies currently trying their hand at pursuing different avenues of story-telling, Halo is the one that stands out to most people as the current leader of this pack. When we popped Halo: Combat Evolved into our X-Boxes for the first time, we were vaguely aware that there was some history behind this game, at least according to the small preface in the manual. There was some planet named REACH that had been destroyed, Humanity was fighting a losing battle with a genocidal alien hegemony, and the character you were going to be controlling was the last of his kind, a genetically engineered super soldier.

But why had these events come to pass? The story of Halo was preceded by 25 years of brutal warfare and intrigue, and those of us who were engrossed by the game’s universe could only scratch at the surface of the story. Microsoft, perhaps being aware at the great selling power their new IP possessed, had had the foresight to employ Eric Nylund to write The Fall of Reach, which told of the beginnings of Master Chief’s career as a soldier and of the destruction of REACH. The Fall of Reach went on to be a New York Times Bestseller, and the stage was set for a variety of Halo licensed media to continue the story outside of the games.
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Griefing Table Manners

campingGriefing. It is perhaps the biggest bane of an online gamer’s existence. No matter what system or game that you choose to leap into the online mega-verse with, you can not escape its pull. Whether the griefing takes place in the form of an obnoxious brat screaming obscenities or even team-killing, you know that you are going to run into it in some way, shape or form on any given night. But what happens when you are the one accused of griefing? And are all griefing sins really so equal? Let’s discuss.
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Cutting Through the Shooter Fat

hot-dogThose of you that frequent this site know something of my sordid disdain for the FPS overflow of the current generation. It seems that nearly every blockbuster title for the last couple of years has been some kind of shooter, be it Resistance, Call of Duty, Gears of War, Halo, Left 4 Dead or Killzone. Shooters are bombarding us from every corner, and after some time, I grew rather sick of them.

So for the last few months, I’ve been on something of an FPS diet. I’ve been on a real diet, too, coincidentally enough. The funny thing about losing weight is that people always want to know what your secret is. You say that you’ve lost x amount of pounds, and people always ask, “How have you been doing it?” When the answer is “getting off my ass to exercise and not eating like a wildebeest”, they tend to get a tad upset. As if I’m holding out on them. Oh right, there was also a secret pill that made it really easy. Forgot to mention that part.
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Your System Sucks: A Rant About Fanboys

fanboy-3A few months ago, I wrote a feature about the things that are wrong with the gaming industry on the whole. Some of that had to do with the games themselves, some of it had to with the journalists that covered and reviewed them, and some of it had to do with the gamers that played them. In terms of gamers that are hurting gaming and its culture unknowingly, console and even PC fanboys rank right at the top.

What is a fanboy? A fanboy used to be someone that just played and loved their system or machine exclusively. I think we’ve all done this at some point in our lives. I remember loving the Sega Genesis and the Nintendo 64 and being just fine with not owning the rival systems.
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1Up.com’s Lessons Learned Online

We have all turned on our respective consoles for a nice relaxing game of Call of Duty, Halo or Madden and suddenly been bombarded by little redneck 12 year old wannabe gangsters telling us how gay we are for not being better at a video game. Never mind that these kids are still waiting for the testicles to finally drop and have never seen a boobie up close, not counting their mom. It can ruin a night of gaming because no amount of pwnage shuts them up.

1Up.com was nice enough to compile a list of things they learned through their 360 headset. I found this to be a pretty funny and insightful list, especially the part about babies crying in the background. I was very excited to get online but once I met the online community of racist, homophobic douchebags, I recoiled.

What do you guys think of this list and have you had similar experiences online?

Source: 1up.com

Metal Gear Not So Solid


I am not a typical hardcore gamer nerd. I have long since accepted that while I am a huge nerd, the demands for a robust sex life call me away from my nerdly pleasures more often than not. I do not replay games on harder levels, instead preferring to move on to a new game entirely. I do not collect Achievements or Trophies, I find it as enjoyable as homework. And I do not see the big deal about a number of giant game franchises.

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Rumor: New Halo 3 Achievements

More Halo 3 achievements are coming? Yes please.

It seems that someone snapped some screenshots of a menu during PAX that had new achievements listed as part of “Halo 3 Mythic”. What’s actually very interesting is I was told this very rumor at the show by someone who claimed to see it.

I chalked it up to crazy talk. Looks like I was wrong.

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Now Playing-Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Since I am on a budget these days, I have turned to Gamefly for most of my gaming needs. This allows me to play games that I would normally never buy. One such game is Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. To clarify, this is not a review, as our review process has yet to be finalized, but merely my thoughts on the game as I close in on the final few levels.

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Top 5: New System Mascots That Aren’t Named Mario or Sonic

It appears as time goes on that Mario and Sonic (especially Sonic) are becoming almost irrelevant. Mario appears mainly in spin-off games, like Mario Kart and even that has lost its luster. Sure, he pops up in a true Mario game once every 3 or 4 years, but aside from New Super Mario Bros., was anyone really excited about any of those games? With that in mind, I thought it time to showcase the new mascots of the new generation. Feel free to disagree and add your own or make your own list.

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RoosterTeeth: Animated RedVsBlue Series?

Among the coolest things we saw at PAX today didn’t happen on the showroom floor, where dozens of new games were being brandied about for all to see. Nor was it located in a bag of swag handed to me with Little Big Planet stamped all over the side of it. No, in reality, the coolest thing I saw at PAX today was during the panel for RoosterTeeth, the creators of the Halo machinima “RedVsBlue”. What was it, exactly?

An animated (as in, cartoon) clip of a scene from a potential new RedVsBlue series.

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Rumor: Halo by Who?

Big goings-on on the Interwebz. Rumblings, some would say. According to OXM, the next installment of the Halo franchise (Halo 4 for those keeping the score at home) is being developed by Gearbox Software, the fine minds behind Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, Halo PC and the upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines.

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