A Look at the Modern Quake

Ah, modern gaming. How often you’re lambasted these days for your simplistic ways.

This is always a tricky subject for me. We generally try to keep the discourse around here less cynical, but sometimes we do talk about the things we miss about gaming. Let’s face it: games have changed, and there’s no point beating around the bush about it.

I guess that means there’s no bush-beating in this video. It asks the question: what if Quake was made today? And agree or disagree with its conclusions, it’s hard to deny that it makes at least a few points, and hilariously at that.

While I genuinely think that in some ways, games are better than ever, I’ll admit that the things in this video are pretty spot on. I don’t know if I buy into all the negativity that I hear from the gaming community about this issue, but it’s still worth noting.

So what do you guys think about the ideas this video raises? Do you like/dislike the direction of modern games? Is it a more complicated issue than the video lays out? Go!

GamerSushi Asks: Changing Your Favorites?

ff7We all have games that we have adored throughout the years, returning to play them again and again. Typically, it’s hard for us to see the games we love as anything but perfect, having put them up on a pedestal. Occasionally though we will tear off the rose colored glasses and start to see the cracks in their armor.

For instance, I wish that Final Fantasy VII had a class system. While the materia system was a good idea, it was implemented in such a way that every character was just the same person with a different skin. Nothing strategic at all about how you formated your party. Likewise, with some of my more recent favorites, I wish that Call of Duty 4 had some kind of co-op mode, or that Halo 3 had a Horde mode a la Gears of War 2.

So what about you guys? What do you think you would change about some of your favorite games? Go!

Ridiculously Awful Video Game Commercials

Wow. Gaming commercials used to be awful. And not just regular awful. But a special, superior awful reserved only for the most atrocious of media follies. Here is a video with the best of the worst old school video game commercials. It’s hard to believe that anyone used to buy these games after these advertisements. Za za za Zelda!

So, which one is your favorite? Mine would have to be the Pole Position one. Anything that says it will leave skidmarks on my soul is something that I will keep in my heart forever.

GamerSushi Asks: What Remakes Do You Want?

10259finalfantasyviiorige5Remakes and ports of older games is really starting to become a trend in gaming. Square Enix alone must have a whole team dedicated to retreads of their older games. With the PSN’s PS1 Classics, Xbox Live Arcade and the Virtual Console, retro gaming has never been stronger.

But there are ports and there are remakes and there is a difference between the two. A port is simply porting a game from an older system to an existing system with little or no changes to the actual game. A remake is updating the graphics, translation, adding new story or gameplay elements and things of that nature.
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