Comments on: Paul Barnett’s Two Top Ten Games. And Mine Too.

By: Psychopomp

Psychopomp — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:10:13 +0000

Not to mention RE4, which you’d be daft not to love!

By: feighnt

feighnt — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:34:58 +0000

this is obviously an old topic which nobody’s talking about anymore, but in case someone looks down here –

someone mentioned that RE doesnt deserve to be on the list. while i disagree with a lot of the choices on those lists, RE *clearly* should be there. the simple fact of the matter is that RE almost single-handedly invented the survival horror genre. sure, i recognize that there were other horror games previously, like from the Clock Tower series, or, perhaps more relevantly (due to closer gameplay) the original Alone in the Dark – but the influence of RE is akin to the effect of Doom. sure, there was Wolfenstein (etc) before, but Doom is the one which really revolutionalized things, and is remembered. same with Resident Evil. after that game, there was a decently-lived boom in horror gaming (not to mention that RE invented the term “survival horror”), most of which were similar enough to RE to be considered as RE clones (including the, arguably, superior Silent Hill series). there were even a few non-horror games which were RE clones, such as the Dino Crisis series – so, the influence of RE is hardly negligible!

By: Will

Will — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:48:34 +0000

These lists confuse me because they seldom include the class of games that I, as a PC gamer of a certain era, found super-influential: Star Control 2, Ultima Underworld, Alone in the Dark, X-Com

I feel like there was a brief period when everyone talked about Star Control when talking about historically significant games, and that this period has passed. I’m just not sure why.

w/r/t mac gaming: Dark Castle!

By: AdrianWerner

AdrianWerner — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:23:30 +0000

The first game that can withou any doubt be called RTS (so not only real-time combat, but also resource managment and unit building) is Nether Earth, released on ZX Spectrum two years before Herzog Zwei. Somebody even made a freeware 3D remake so you can check it out

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:29:51 +0000

MGS4. I agree it’s a game one should play at least once, however calling Kojima the Kubrick of videogames? :/

By: Hmm-Hmm.

Hmm-Hmm. — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:28:06 +0000

I don’t care for such lists, generally, if only because the don’t tend to list games which were important to me. Alas, such is the fact for the mac gamer. That isn’t to say they were hugely influential; the non-mac PC has a far greater audience and games on it can more easily have a greater impact.

What to say of Marathon and Escape Velocity? What to say of games which did appear on the PC as well (earlier or near-simultaneously than the mac version), such as Fallout and X-Wing? The Curse of Monkey Island? All of these shaped the way I see games, and the potential of games (not to mention the fact that Marathon beats Doom, any day of the week. :P). I could mention a couple rather obscure titles (perhaps even among older mac gamers), but I feel my point has been made sufficiently.

Games which have an impact on gamers can be very different from those which impact designers, I assume, so I don’t fault Paul and his obviously subjective list (and you and yours, Kieron, as well) as all such lists are.

By: mister slim

mister slim — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:16:09 +0000

Damnit. That’s supposed to be Mil.

By: mister slim

mister slim — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:14:39 +0000

@Hypocee

I think what Mal means is that all videogames use transistors.

I.E., KG missed a typo.

By: Malagate

Malagate — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:51:45 +0000

@Bob Bobson, hah, that’s great that your father got into it so easily, I was hoping for the same thing with my girlfriend, her sister and her brother. I did make that statement a bit too strong though, as it obviously doesn’t apply to everyone, but WoG is certainly not 100% effective at bringing in non-gamers. What your father enjoyed just caused some bored looks and some mild frustration with my gf’s sister, although the gf does love the cuteness of it, albeit her mouse skills aren’t necessarily practised enough to solve the puzzles well.

I’m quite interested at a perceived dismissal of pokemon by u.d.h., I’d say it is a game that developers should know about if only to see how such a series became one of the most popular video game franchises ever. Is it burned out? They’re still releasing pokemon games, I’ve no idea about the other collect-em-ups either though. Is it not worth being looked at by developers? I’m not so sure.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:42:48 +0000

As for canon for designers I think one of the most important isn’t even a full game. Just a level.
Shalebride Cradle.

By: Hypocee

Hypocee — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:10:40 +0000

Which he admits has a play-by date of… well, pretty much immediately. That’s the point. This is transistory.

I’m sure there’s a good pun there, but I’m terrible at them. Come on, someone.

I think he means that it may or may not be current.

By: Hypocee

Hypocee — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:05:00 +0000

Wait wait – you can play MGS4?

That’s actually a good point, Phil – not so much for the business brand phenomenon, I’d say, but for the introduction of exploration/secrets/setting to the platformer. Essentially Super Mario Brothers instantly demoted what had previously been ‘platformers’ to what modern eyes would call ‘puzzle games’, leaving a genre which still thrives today.