Tag: portal

The GamerSushi Top 20 Games of the Generation

Top20

Between gimmicky Wii shovelware, Red Rings of Death and large price points tainted by giant crab battles, this generation started with something akin to a whimper—and that’s being generous. But as the years went on, we were not only treated to one of the longest generations of console gaming, but also the most fruitful. We saw games take great strides in scope and imagination. With dozens of new IPs that hold great promise, some of the most fantastic sequels ever made and new approaches to storytelling, it’s safe to say that gamers are in a better situation now than they were back in 2005, when the Xbox 360 first debuted.

On the even of a new generation, we thought we’d take a look back at this last generation—and perhaps one of the greatest we’ve ever had. Over the course of several weeks, the GamerSushi staff voted on the best experiences of this generation, getting in heated debates, pitting games against each other in vicious battles and nearly ending several friendships. Below are the results.

Thees are our top 20 games of this generation. Enjoy, dudes. Continue reading The GamerSushi Top 20 Games of the Generation

Top Six: Franchises of the Current Generation

Current Gen

Even though this current generation of video game consoles isn’t wrapping up for at least another year, the new generation looms over the horizon. And thus, this warrants a look back at our recent past to honor the best of new franchises we were introduced to this gen. The list is based mainly on what franchises I found to be most compelling over the years. These opinions belong solely to me, but please feel free to list your own in the comments!

First, the games that didn’t make the cut. There are some awesome games here, but they just didn’t move me enough to make the list. All of them are still fantastic, though.

Honorable Mentions: Assassin’s Creed, Demon/Dark Souls, Gears of War, Saint’s Row, LittleBigPlanet, Borderlands Continue reading Top Six: Franchises of the Current Generation

April Fools: Valve Signs Console-Exclusivity Deal With Nintendo

In what might be the most game-changing agreement to ever hit the industry, Valve and Nintendo have announced an deal that will make the Wii U the only place to play console ports of Valve games, including the upcoming Dota 2, Counterstrike: Global Offensive and “any future Half-Life or Portal episodes”. No word on how much Nintendo paid for this deal but it signals that they are serious about reaching out to the hardcore gamer demographic that critics maintain have largely been abandoned by the Japanese superpower.

Valve head Gabe Newell said in a statement, “Nintendo is always pushing the industry to new and exciting places and we at Valve like to think we do the same. By pushing together, perhaps we can usher in a new era of quality gaming on both PCs and consoles.” Mr. Newell also went on to say that, “Nintendo doesn’t care about high-powered graphics and neither do we. It’s a perfect fit for us and we look forward to blowing everyone’s minds with what we have to show at E3.”

Valve made waves last year with Portal 2’s feature that allowed Playstation 3 owners to play the game’s co-op mode with PC gamers, but this news far surpasses that innovative feature. There were rumors that Valve itself was looking to get into the console business, but it appears they are happy to enter into a marriage with Nintendo rather than go to the party stag. I’m pretty stunned and as a console-only gamer, it puts the Wii U at the top of my list of consoles to buy. What say you?

GamerSushi Asks: Top 100 PC Games of All Time?

Deus Ex

Alright, guys. Time to take the gloves off.

It seems that PC Gamer recently released a list of what their contributors feel are the 100 best PC games of all time. I know how riled up everyone here gets over these crazy lists, so I thought I’d bring it over to see everyone froth at the mouth.

All in all, I actually don’t think there’s much wrong with the list, although I’d probably move Counter-Strike into the top 10. Granted, I haven’t played a lot of these PC games, but there are only a handful of games that I feel define what made me a PC gamer back in the day: Myst, Counter-Strike, Quake 3, Doom, and more recently Team Fortress 2 and Portal. In fact, these games are the reason that I still maintain that bond with my PC gaming roots, and why I don’t know if I could ever turn my back to it completely. Even now, I’m infected with the bug of wanting to upgrade my rig in anticipation of some of the awesome titles coming out later this year.

So what do you guys think of this list? What titles define your PC gaming?

Source – PC Gamer

Would You Rather: Plot Edition

You guys keep asking for it, and because I’m a softy and I like you, we keep bringing it. It’s time for another Would You Rather. What we’ve been doing on the last few outings is focusing in on a specific genre, keying in on features to see what your gaming preferences are. I’ve said it before, but I love the responses that these things get, so I wanted to get a feel for how you guys lean when it comes to stories and plot in the world of video games.

For the uninitiated, in Would You Rather, I simply ask a series of questions, and you follow up with your answers. Give as much or as little explanation as you want for your choices, but we all know that we like to see the reasoning behind the madness.

But beware, lest your answers be blessed with the curse of suck. If they do, large men dressed as either sushi or video games (I haven’t decided yet), will come to your house. And you will not like what they do when they arrive. I haven’t decided on what it is yet, but involves the fireball flower from the Mario games.

For video game plots, would you rather… Continue reading Would You Rather: Plot Edition

Review: Limbo

Limbo Xbox Live ArcadeLimbo is an XBox Live arcade game, part of the Summer of Arcade that saw a slew of quality releases for the platform over the last couple of months. I remember leading up to the game’s release, I actually knew nothing about it, but kept hearing some buzz as people grew more and more excited. And even then, once I decided to look at a few screenshots, it was hard to get a sense of what people were so juiced up about. I remember people saying the same thing about Braid when it was released, and while I thought it was a good game, it seemed a bit overhyped and not as incredible as others made it out to be. In fact, I didn’t even finish that one.

However, after several of my friends raved about the short experience of Limbo, comparing it almost to Portal in its profundity and fun factor, I decided to give it a try. I downloaded the trial game, ready to play it and then toss it aside, never intending to click on that “purchase full game” option on the dashboard menu. But then I played the demo, and something happened. I was entranced by an atmosphere, thick and heavy and foreboding. I was lured by the puzzles and the platforming. And as soon as the trial ended, I didn’t hesitate to upgrade.

So what’s the big deal? Continue reading Review: Limbo

College Course to Include Portal on its Syllabus

GladosOne of the things I remember dreading the most in each college course was the handing out of the syllabus. This loaded piece of paper captures your entire semester in paper form, telling you just how busy you are going to be, and exactly what you’re going to be doing. Add five of these together, and they become a horde of wild beasts. Although perhaps I would have felt differently if I were a student at Wabash College this year.

For the first time, a video game is appearing on a Wabash College syllabus as required “reading” for a course titled Enduring Questions, one that all freshmen must complete in order to move on with their college careers. Here is a little bit of a snippet about the course itself:

Enduring Questions is a required freshman seminar offered during the spring semester. It is devoted to engaging students with fundamental questions of humanity from multiple perspectives and fostering a sense of community. Each section of the course includes a small group (approximately 15) of students who consider together classic and contemporary works from multiple disciplines. In so doing, students confront what it means to be human and how we understand ourselves, our relationships, and our world.

Apparently, one of the faculty members is a gamer, and took the charge to think of unique non-text media examples to a great conclusion: Portal. To him, it addresses questions of individuality and the onstage performance of people versus their backstage identities, which perfectly sums up Aperture’s experiments in a nice, thoughtful and engaging way. He pitched this idea to the rest of the faculty, and they jumped aboard, and began testing distribution and Steam installation on a big level, to ensure that many freshmen could all do it as well.

To me, this is a huge and awesome step towards video games getting cultural and thoughtful recognition. It ranks right up there with the way that Shadow of the Colossus was handled in the movie Reign Over Me, as a man tried to deal with the deaths of his family through playing the game.

What do you guys think of this? If you were putting together a video game course list, what would you include on it? Go!

Source- The Brainy Gamer

The Perfect Game?

Halo 3Since I’ve been knocking out some of gaming backlog, I’m currently tussling with a few titles that I wouldn’t ordinarily play in the midst of some heavy hitting releases. At the moment, I’m trying to knock out Alpha Protocol, which is a meager portion of gaming goodness at best. While the game isn’t bad per se, to me it just highlights everything that Mass Effect 2 did right with that style of play. Even Mass Effect 1, which wasn’t nearly as good as the sequel, does many things better than AP.

But as good as Mass Effect 2 is in my mind, I know that it was a game that was far from perfect. And as I thought more about this, I realized many of my favorite games have some huge glaring flaws. Anthony, a newcomer to the 360, just finished Halo 3 over the weekend, and had some legitimate complaints about the last third of the game, really (though I’ll let him speak more to that himself). The game is one of my favorites of this gen, but I won’t argue about all the things that are wrong with it.

Interestingly enough, one of my other friends calls Halo 3 multiplayer “the perfect game”. While I disagree from just a game play perspective, I think I must disagree from a philosophical perspective as well. Is there such a thing as the perfect game? I’m not talking about just a game without any technical glitches or whatever, but a game that is the perfect blend of all the things that make gaming good? Some of my favorite titles are far from perfect. And really, the closest thing I can think of off the top of my head is Portal.

So what do you guys think? Can there ever be a perfect game? And what games to you hit the closest?

More Audio Commentary in Video Games

PortalI wouldn’t necessarily call myself an audio commentary guy, really, but there have been a few times where listening to audio commentary for movies has greatly enhanced my appreciation of the film. Aliens, for instance, is pretty spectacular to listen to, even though James Cameron can be a douche at times. Likewise, Serenity’s commentary track with Joss Whedon is a must-hear, as well as anything with Bruce Campbell in it.

The concept of audio commentary in video games is a relatively new one, and not something I hear about too often. I know that Valve included audio commentary as part of the Orange Box, specifically Portal, which was a fascinating endeavor to me. I recently saw this list of 5 games we wish had audio commentary on GamesRadar, and it got me thinking about this whole subject.

So what do you guys? Do you want audio commentary for some of your favorite games? What games do you want it for? Personally, I would love to hear audio commentary for the first MGS game, Super Mario 64, and Beyond Good and Evil. Go!

Source- GamesRadar

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

Generation Gap: Video Game Stories

51hz0r4pdnlA while back, I asked what video games you fell in love with  in terms of story. Not surprisingly, most of your responses centered on games in the more recent era. This is an obvious trend because in the old days, games did not need a story to exist. But now, we need motivation, cut-scenes, back-story and lots and lots of twists. Too many, some would say. Like me. I think that people’s love for game stories depends on when they started playing.

See, when I was younger, stories in games were very basic. Some games didn’t even try to have one! Endings were short, usually text based. Hell, people were stunned by Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past’s FIVE minute ending. Minds were blown, heads exploded, etc…Since I have been playing games since about 1986 or so, I have a different perspective than someone who started in 1996. I play the game for the GAMEPLAY. If a game has a great story, awesome, but it’s only a bonus. If a game has poor gameplay, I don’t care how good the story might be, I am not playing it.
Continue reading Generation Gap: Video Game Stories

Today’s Do Want: Real Portal Gun

portalThere really aren’t a whole lot of things I can say about this. I mean, I can talk about how I’ve always wanted to be a handy person (again), or how I like video game things and want them near me or on me. You know how it goes. But really, words can’t quantify how ridiculously cool this fanmade portal gun is.

Basically, a dude made it for his girlfriend because he knew she loved the game so much. It looks like a ton of care went into the project, and I can’t believe how good it turned out. I think I may love this man.

Anywho, check out the pictures yourself. I can has?

Source- Kotaku