Editorial: A Menagerie of Multiplayer Modes
Posted by Brittany "Molotov Cupcake" Vincent on February 3rd, 2010
My 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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As 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!
Let’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!
Though 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!
I 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.
David 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.
I 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 
Once 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. 
People 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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