Posts Tagged ‘Editorial’

halompMy game is best played in a pitch black room with the soft glow of my television piercing the darkness. The battle cries of obnoxious ten-year-olds do not tear through my eardrums. I do not waste time with team members who have no desire to play correctly or fairly. Silence and solitude are freedom; gateways to platinum trophies, 100% completion, and a committed relationship with the game in the disc tray. So why am I forced to venture into the sordid world of multiplayer whenever a new release beckons to me from the wild of the retail storefront?

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musicnotesAs a rhythm game fanatic, I thought I’d share  my expertise within the genre (though my first loves are FPSs and RPGs) for those who are searching for the perfect gift for music game mavens such as myself. In this Holiday Gift Guide for the Musically Inclined, you’ll find a sampling of some of the best ideas for that rhythm gamer dear to your heart this holiday season. Get your credit cards ready and make sure you’re in tune, because I’m parading out a symphony of the best of the best, from this year and years past!

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Holiday Gift Guide for the MMO Addict

Posted by Astrella on November 29th, 2009

wow_winterveil_425kvLet’s say you have this friend, and let’s say you haven’t seen this friend in months. Some time ago he (or she) told you he was picking up World of Warcraft because he had heard that it was a pretty cool game. You warned him about the possibilities. You begged, you pleaded, for him not to do it. Alas, he bought it anyway. Now, sad and confused, you still want to include him in your holiday gift list. You’re not quite sure what he even likes anymore since that game has taken over his life. No worries! I, Astrella of Spawn Kill, have the perfect holiday gift solutions for you!

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turkey1Though Thanksgiving has swiftly come and gone, we’re all still thankful for even the littlest of things that we have. A few of us have decided to share with you, our loyal readers, exactly what we’re glad that we have. Feel free to comment with what you’re most thankful for on this most gracious of holidays, whether it’s the astronomical amount of deals going on (thanks Amazon!), your leftovers, your family, or the fact that a No More Heroes game is coming to the Xbox 360. Most of all, enjoy and continue to be thankful. And thank you for continuing to visit Spawn Kill!

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ff2Haunted houses,‭ ‬tales of gruesome deaths and vengeful spirits,‭ ‬terrifying movies,‭ ‬and midnight jaunts are all a part of the Halloween experience.‭ ‬People are simply fascinated with scaring themselves out of their wits,‭ ‬and they’ll take the experience of true fear in any form they can get.‭ ‬This fixation carries over into the gaming industry as well,‭ ‬catering to thrill seekers‭ (‬such as myself‭) ‬by producing titles that seek to elicit blood-curdling screams from their players.‭  ‬But why‭? ‬What prompts an average Joe to actively seek out video games that could cause his heart to beat rapidly,‭ ‬his blood pressure to rise,‭ ‬and the potential of soiled underwear‭?

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340x_american_psychoI think we’ve all heard it –  at some point in our lives, we’ve told someone that we play video games.  Their response was either a skeptical look, mocking laughter, or something along the lines of, “Why are you wasting your time with that?”  There may have been rare occassions when they have eagerly chimed in with “Dude, me too,” at which point music probably started playing in your ears and you each got a dreamy look on your faces while you gazed fondly into one another’s eyes.  At least, that’s generally how it goes for me.  Maybe others are slightly more centered in reality.  Finding that kindred spirit, while it may be more common now than it was ten years ago, is still rare enough that the latter situation probably holds true for most people.

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fanboy-360-smallThe vast array of video game consoles available in this day and age is infinitely astounding. Who could ever have guessed that after witnessing some of the first fantastical bleeps and bloops of games such as Pong that the industry would explode into such prosperity as it has? While the early years of gaming offered little more than arcade choices and a few home video game consoles, the gaming subculture has blossomed into a regular bazaar, teeming with multiple console choices, a massive amount of software, and even more people willing to veg out in front of their televisions and monitors for hours at a time.

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heavy-rain-20060607010131943smDavid Cage has a big mouth.  Or at least it would seem so, considering all the publicity he’s been garnering lately with the hype over his upcoming game, Heavy Rain, exclusive to PS3.  Like his previous game, Indigo Prophecy, Heavy Rain is slated to change the way we look at video games by daring to do things differently.

One of the key features that distinguishes Heavy Rain from most other games is its place as an interactive story in which various player choices (or mistakes) can alter the course (and story) of the game, so that, in theory, no single player will have the same experience. (Sounds a little like the way Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is being billed, but that’s another story.) However, the key point here is a serious attempt to explore narrative in games, what it means to be a game, and how the player fits in to all this.  Cage recently made headlines with a particularly controversial statement: namely, he doesn’t want anyone to replay his game.

“I would like people to play it once . . . because that’s life. Life you can only play once.”

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omgpspI wanted to title this piece: “Console Colors: Or Why I May Sell My Soul for the Hannah Montana PSP,” but I thought it was a little long.  And I figured I should probably talk about console (and handheld) color choices in general.  And the whole “Hannah Montana” thing would probably scare a lot of people away, especially those of you with testicles, many of whom are afraid even LOOKING at said product would make those said testicles shrink in the process.

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tony-the-tiger-frostiesOnce again here I am trying to convince people why gaming not only has relevance in popular and historical culture, but why some of the characters are every bit as good as your standard literature and movie pro/antagonists. 

Naturally this doesn’t apply to the crowd here at Spawn Kill.  I’m sure you all understand.  But it upsets me when people scoff at gaming.  It still happens, especially if you’re outside one of the large urban areas of the world.  As a guy, try telling a woman that your main hobby is playing video games for 40-80 hours a week and marvel at how quickly you are sleeping alone yet again. 

Obviously, there are some women that might squee at the idea (as evidenced by the editors of this very site), but it’s not a safe hand to bet your winnings on.  If those same nay-sayers could only see these characters as I’ve seen them; live through the same experiences that I’ve lived through with them.  It almost makes me long for the day when video games do become ultra realistic simply so we can show these laypersons videos and confund their sense as to whether this is a game or a movie.  Then we can reveal the truth and laugh at them!  Laugh at them forever!

With that said, here is my second edition of great characters in gaming.  It’s full of estrogen, but I think the last choice balances it up.

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para1Anime and video games seem to go hand in hand. On one end of the spectrum if you enjoy gaming you likely dabble in anime as well. If you’re an otaku, you probably eat up video games on the side. That’s not to say this applies to every one of my gaming brethren, but I have seen it occur often enough to assume that a good 60% of gamers are also anime fans.

 Because of this strange phenomenon, we often seen beloved anime series translated into haphazard attempts at capitalizing on the success of the manga and preying on the fans, enticing them with promises of Mikuru’s panties with super-rotatable camera angles or their very own shot at romance with little Tomoyo, stealing her away from Sakura (pervs). It’s unfortunate, then, that anime series that may be the most dear to us receive bland, uninspired translations of some truly spectacular storylines that rarely hit the high notes that the anime did.

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gameoverI love to win. The smug sense of superiority I get when I overcome my opponents simply cannot be matched sometimes. It’s amusing to me to know that I have conquered friends, family, and strangers. It’s a license to brag. For a few shining moments, I am revered as something magical. Unstoppable. Truly the greatest. That is, until the next round when a bullet sets up camp in my character’s head.

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notepadI’ve been gaming all my life. When I haven’t been plopped down in the floor or on the sofa with a controller in my grimy little hands (or at the computer desk with mouse in hand), I’ve been thinking about video games. So what, right? That doesn’t make me special. You’re absolutely right if you have been thinking that. This isn’t a piece about my history as a gamer or anything of the sort. It was only little over two years ago that it ever occurred to me that perhaps I should give writing about video games a try.

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arcade1The Xbox Live Arcade is the premiere source for 360 gamers to acquire their fix of updated retro classics, indie darlings blessed with an HD makeover, and all-new titles that are suited best for digital download. Though there is a vast library of games to choose from, there are many still missing in action. There are some deserving titles out there that would fit quite nicely into the scheme of things. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of five games I’d like to see available on the Xbox Live Arcade.

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wowquitPeople seem to have a difficult time quitting MMORPGs (that’s Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games to those of you living in bomb shelters who are only allowed to resurface to read Spawn Kill articles).  Warcraftrealms.com, a popular statistic site for World of Warcraft, shows that there are approximately 6.3 million people active in WoW between the US and Europe.  That’s about six times the number of any other MMORPG currently on the market, at least in the West.  Of the 6.3 million people, how many do you think have been playing for more than two years?  Three?  Since launch?  Given rerolling and inaccurate data, it’s probably not feasible to gauge something like that, but the numbers would frighten. 

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