Video Games That Broke The Mold

When we talk about revolutionary video games, or the 'most important' games, we often sit back and relax claiming 'Pong', 'Space Invaders' and 'Pac-man' are obviously the most influential games in gaming history. I don't think this is necessarily true. Sure, they are the leaders of the basic idea of gaming that we have but there are other games that have heavily contributed to the way we see gaming today and if these games didn't exist, the gaming world would be unrecognisable. The interesting thing is, I hadn't really ever considered the role some of these games played in the long history of electronic entertainment, and some of them I outright despise (sorry Mark Zuckerberg).

The Browser Based Game 

World of Warcraft 

Browser based games came about after Runescape popularised the genre through its free to play design. Released in January 2001, Runescape now charges a subscription fee but was one of the first games to offer a basis for a virtual world populated by other people across the world. It was eclipsed in 2004 however, by World of Warcraft that surpassed 10 million players at its peak and is essentially the MMO responsible for placing the genre within the mainstream perspective. 

Social Gaming 

The social game is a fairly newborn concept within the larger span of gaming history. Sparked by the micro-transacting, infuriatingly popular, seemingly mundane Farmville in 2009. Farmville pushed this new social gaming market and used native elements of social media (those irritating invites and notifications that narrate to you just how your dinner lady from school just hatched a new batch of virtual eggs) to revolutionise the way casual gamers saw games as well as how casual games were marketed. It is arguable, however, that social gaming began a while before the internet really even took off. Dance Dance Revolution cued the idea that social party games were a viable entertainment option. It proved that video games could be marketed towards a new crowd of individuals and that dance mats could become a frequent fixture in every home and bootsale. 

Fighting 

Oh Mortal Kombat - you are the motorcycle riding, heavy rock playing older brother of the gaming world - the one who just wanted to push those boundaries until they shattered and then pushed on more. The game put the idea of violence into the mainstream media's worried eye with its horrifically violent, brilliantly gory Fatality moves which sparked the thriving violence debate that so plagues the video game industry. You just did it with such style :'). 

Survival Horror 

This one's fairly obvious. Resident Evil popularised the survival horror game after its predecessor, and kind of parent, Sweet Home. The 1996 PlayStation game spawned a large marketing strategy consisting of movies, novels, sequels of varying quality. and comics. Its creator, Shinji Mikami, is still hailed today as the godfather of survival horror with his new release The Evil Within. 

Adventure 

I hadn't even heard of King's Quest before, and now the guilt is raining down because the game revolutionised the way adventure games were played in 1983. Previously players had to work with backdrops and textual information, but King's Quest featured the first controllable character who could move around and perform actions within his surroundings. However, this was only the first game to feature a visible character to relate the text to, Adventure allowed the player to move around a castle and find a key in 1979 and interestingly, featured the first easter egg - a secret room with his name scrolling through. 

Strategy 

Command and Conquer was certainly not the first real time strategy game, but it certainly tied up elements found in slightly earlier games to promote what we come to know now as strategy. It boosted the genre into the public domain and proved its viability with the addictiveness of its plan-20-minute-ahead gameplay. 

Simulation 

Obviously, The Sims brought about the largest video game movement the industry has probably ever seen. Behind The Sims, however, Sim City popularised the entire simulation genre in 1989. Though the 2013 version is a slight embarrassment, the original game was the pinnacle of creativity and freedom within your own gameplay and possibly paved the way for The Sims to ever exist in the first place. 

Indie 

The move to independent developers over the last few years has been pretty revolutionary in itself, however the first Indie game to really see the daylight of grand successes is Minecraft. Minecraft was so successful that is even developed its own genre, leaving players hooked on alternate, free worlds and non-players wondering why... until they tried it... then they were lost to it as well. 

Open World 

GTA is often hailed as the parent of all open world video games. However the first game to give players the freedom to decide where they want and when, was Body Harvest on the N64 in 1998. Since then, however, Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time has held a lot of influence over the open world genre. The 3D world presented in the game changed developers' and players' perceptions of the possible size of the game world, with games such as Super Mario 64 assuring developers that the move to 3D might actually work. 

Mobile Gaming 

Now, you might not like this, but i'm going to say it... Angry Birds was critical in the launch of the Tetris was the poster-child for handheld gaming - a repetitive, addictive game that could fit in the palm of your hand and stay there fore hours, Tetris fully established Nintendo as a force to be reckoned with in the handheld market.
current mobile gaming hype. It was downloaded over 12 million times when it was released in 2009 and helped turn the mobile phone into a handheld gaming device. We must not forget our roots however, and look to the game that revolutionised the handheld console.

Narrative 

Narrative is critical to a game today. In the beginning, games were created with instant gratification Donkey Kong stepped away from the goals of its time (to kill anything you see) and employed a beginning, middle, and end set up to its game narrative. This step pushed storytelling in games a lot further than is often recognised. But then Myst decided to go further. Myst revolutionised the use of a narrative in video games - the linearity of previous games was abandoned and players were sent across different locations to gather clues. The game literally changed the notion of a linear time and space within gaming.
in mind. Nowadays we have the technology to build suspense, and create an in depth story which causes players to question character motives, build up their own suspicions about plot twists, and generally engage deeper with the context of the action.

Link's New Master Cycle... and a bit of a character crossover digression

Nintendo have just revealed that the 'Master Cycle' is to accompany Link in his escapades in the first Mario Kart 8 add-on content pack and it looks pretty impressive - Link, as always, means serious business. It's a shame they haven't made the full step and just straight up added Epona to his vehicle list, but you never know. This got me thinking about character crossovers - there's something about the reunion with your favourite protagonist in another setting that's bizarrely entertaining. Oh! Look - there's that classic Nintendo character i've seen dozens of times before in a classic Nintendo game i've been playing for years! Brilliant, how do they come up with this stuff?! It's like seeing a teacher outside school - strangely unnerving at first but after a while you feel like you need to tell everyone you see that you just saw Mr Smith walking past Subway with a Boots bag and how exhilarating the experience was for you.

Going from seeing Link battling his way through the dark forces of evil under the guiding light of a distant hope to hurling bananas at Baby Peach in an attempt to just get second place on Rainbow Road has been challenging to get my head around. It feels like this is what Link does on his day off - well that's what I like to think anyway.

Maybe we should start thinking outside the box on this one. Perhaps Bowser should take up a tenancy in Animal Crossing for a while, or if you're really hopeful perhaps a Jak and Daxter / Crash Bandicoot crossover - but that might be a tad optimistic given that neither title has really been active since 2004. I don't think a Princess Peach appearance on GTA would really do much for Nintendo's image however...

Top 5 Mini-games I Played More Than Story-Mode

A dietary staple of all video games is the sometimes overlooked mini-game. The short break they offer from the gruelling 9 - 5 of story-mode can either be welcomed as a quick slice of light-hearted fun, or are abhorred as a stodgy slab of game-play that must be laboriously tolerated before proper play can continue. Their appeal lies in the simple, repetitive nature of their goals which can be replayed for hours on end in addictive sessions with players growing in skill and speed and being genuinely proud of their exploits. Everyone can follow the storyline of a horror game or complete a race enough times that they eventually win but there is a certain amount of dignity in a quickly achievable high score. And this is almost the mantra of the earliest video games which offered simple, quick entertainment that proved highly addictive and charming.

Top 5 Mini-Games

Fishing - Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 

I think the beauty of the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time fishing game lies in the beauty of the open world and the bizarre calm that's created through a virtual fishing session when compared with the manic mashing of buttons you've just come out the other side of in the Water Temple. Out of all the mini-games unlocked at various stages of the game, fishing has to be my favourite. 

Mercenaries - Resident Evil 4 

Whether you're going through a zombie dry-spell or you just want to blow some undead faces off, Mercenaries drops you in a zombie infested war zone with a time limit. Kill as many as you can and gain a score you will definitely be disappointed with. This mini-game was so good it won its very own 3DS spin-off but gained mixed reviews when released for a slightly high retail price.

Crash Bash 

Slightly cheating, but this game deserves it. So no, Crash Bash isn't technically a mini-game in itself but rather a collection of Crash Bandicoot mini-games compiled onto a loveable PS1 disk. Move through several different warp rooms and discover the delights of 4-man air hockey, painting floors with pogo sticks and desperately avoiding being trampled by a tonne bell while maintaining your spot on a tiny ice glacier. 

Monkey Wars - Super Monkey Ball Touch and a Roll 

Super Monkey Ball Touch and Roll on Nintendo DS had many download play mini-games that I devoted a lot of time to mastering. Possibly the best, though, was Monkey Wars. A first person shooter monkey-style in which one player flings fruits and pies at their opponents, the game was horrifically competitive and has broken many a sibling relationship. 

Pong - Test Drive Overdrive 

Test Drive Overdrive brought classic back to PS2 with a playable version of the classic Pong game on its opening screen. Most of my childhood was not spent playing Test Drive Overdrive. It was spent playing Pong on the opening screen.

Follow me on Twitter: @MusingsTwit 

Surgeon Simulator 2014 PS4 Release Imminent!!

It's Wednesday 13th August next week, and that means it's the release date of the PS4 console port of Surgeon Simulator in a special 'Anniversary Edition'. Why is this exciting? Partly because Surgeon Simulator has been used as an appropriate form of anger management since its PC release in 2013 but also because this PS4 version will include all the best features of the Steam  and iPad versions. Not only that, but in this surge of Surgeon Simulator madness, the game will also be coming to Android on the 14th.

It won't be as difficult to part with the £8.99 or $12.99 required to purchase the game as it will be to pass even the first few levels without some hefty lawsuits (how is it even possible to be that clumsy AND shakey at the same time?).

Bossa Studios initially developed the game in a 48 hours period for the 2013 Global Game Jam, continuing afterwards for a further 48 days in order to create the terrifying ordeal we now call a game. After releasing a version designed for iPad with more features, the new PS4 console port will apparently include a previously unrevealed mode.

New Details About Last Of Us Movie

New details have emerged concerning the production and development of a film adaptation of best-selling game The Last Of Us. Neil Druckmann, the producer of the original game and now the lucky screenwriter for the film has revealed that the story will focus more on the relationship between Joel and Ellie in an effort to condense 15 hours worth of gameplay into a 2 hour film. Which is actually quite a challenge considering the sheer amount of plot depth that The Last Of Us has to offer as well as the fact that whatever poor Druckmann does with the film, it's going to be difficult to please the people who want to explore more of the universe of The Last Of Us as well as those who simply want to enjoy seeing their beloved characters and plot

come to life. Perhaps this is why so many video games simply do not cut it as films - they can either step away from the actual gameplay themselves and simply use the marketable title and the expected themes to propel themselves, or they can become a remake of the actual game itself and risk boring players who have been through it several times, got the collectables and won the trophies.

It seems like this film is in good hands though, with Sam Raimi (Evil Dead) also at the helm of production and with Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) being heavily considered for the role of Ellie. The risk lies in the players' love for the game and the difficulty of recreating the feeling of experiencing something ground-breaking for the first time simply because of the fact that it is no longer ground-breaking.

It seems however, that Druckmann (who has pretty much been given complete creative control by Naughty Dog) is not simply remaking the game into a film - he's focussing on different aspects of the storyline and the universe of The Last Of Us in an attempt to please everyone's oh so high expectations. He's got a challenge ahead of him though - he's got power over one of the biggest topics in the video game industry at the moment and the expectations of so many fans resting on all his decisions, so as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man taught us - with great power comes great responsibility. (Well it was actually Stan Lee but they said it in the Sam Raimi film and that would fit my point a lot better...).

It seems Druckmann knows what he's
up against.

So Apparently We're As Hooked As Heroin Addicts

Once upon a time I made a vow never to give The Sun a second of my time but I couldn't let their latest well practiced dive into sensationalism slide. Their latest headline claims that video games are 'as addictive as heroin'. Not only are most of their assertions flawed but it's almost guaranteed that some of The Sun reading population will take their hype as gospel and use it to fuel their Daily Mail induced ignorance. 

While, yes, there are a small minority of people who would be technically recognised as addicted to video games, it is worth bearing in mind that this is indeed a small minority of gamers across the whole world. In fact, the market we usually expect to be most 'at risk' - young adults and children - will rarely display any signs of addiction to video games more so than they would watching a favourite TV show or reading the next book in their favourite series, let alone the whole 'nation' being 'gripped' by video game addiction. 

Not only is the article frustratingly exaggerative but it's taking hearsay research findings that themselves are taken out of context. So many everyday substances are said to be as addictive as heroin including, ironically, the actual sun - as in the giant orb of fire. The Sun suggests that Britain is in the grip of a video game addiction epidemic - a far cry from the reality that is a lot of people like to play video games, like a lot of people like to watch films or listen to music or read books etc. etc. etc. 

To equate video games and heroin seems like a pretty perfect example of journalism jumping on the anti-gaming bandwagon. I'm not going to go on about the demonisation of video games in the media - we've all been around to see that and have our own opinions on it. But it seems that mainstream media these days will publish a story like this as a safe bet that it will feed the already prominent views held by similar papers and breed either fear or anger in its readers - both of which are valued. 

Follow me on Twitter: @MusingsTwit 

23 Weird Things You Didn't Know About Sonic

It's the gaming industry's favourite speedy l'il hedgehog's 23rd birthday today and he's all grown up. To celebrate, we've compiled a list of 23 strange Sonic facts that delighted and, in some cases, terrified us. 

1. The Anti-Piracy Message 

Apparently, the makers of Sonic felt very strongly against the piracy of their games (as they should) but these guys took it to a whole new level with the message "fun is infinite, Sonic enterprises" appearing accompanied by a picture of Sonic that will bore into your soul and some equally disturbing tunes to go with it.

2. Sonic's Comic Career Is Seriously Underrated 

Sonic's Archie Comic series is still the longest running comic book tie-in having been running since May 1993 with 259 issues to date. The comic series was recognised in 2008 by Guinness World Records.

3. Sonic Was Nearly Never Sonic

Instead of the loveable rogue we know today, Sonic was almost "Feel the Rabbit", a star-like creature that utilised its ears to do most of the legwork we see today. This idea was thankfully scrapped and later used as inspiration for Ristar.

4. Michael Jackson's Involvement 

It's not been confirmed by Sega, but Sonic The Hedgehog 3's soundtrack may have been composed by Michael Jackson explaining the similarities seen in the game and in Jackson's music. Apparently Michael Jackson is not credited in the game because he wasn't happy with the way it turned out but Brad Buxer (Jackson's musical director) has confirmed the rumours.

5. Sonic's Original Name

Sonic's original name was Mr Needlemouse when he was but an original concept. "Project Needlemouse" was then used as the official codename for Sonic The Hedgehog 4.

6. Hidden Playable Characters in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Wii 

Hackers have found several characters such as Birdo, DK, Silver and Jet that are playable throughout certain stages of the games. Some of the characters are missing features due to being unfinished in the game's development but there are a whole host of characters to be used. 

7. He's Pretty Damn Popular 

In a poll taken in 2008, Sonic was voted the most popular video game of all time in the UK with 24% of the votes - a somewhat surprising 3% more than Mario.

8. ... But Not For Long 

In 2011, Guinness World Records placed Mario at the top of their popularity leaderboards, with Sonic falling at 10th place. 

9. Fangs 

Sonic was originally designed with fangs that were removed to soften the character's appearance for the US market, however these can still be seen if he opens his mouth. 

10. Alex Kidd 

Alex Kidd was Sega's mascot before Sonic was on the scene but he was demoted after Sega decided to seriously compete with Nintendo.

11. Doomed To Fail? 

Sega of America originally considered Sonic as a risk and thought it was doomed to fail. This was because they thought that Americans wouldn't know what a hedgehog was.

12. Recent Highest Score 

On the 17th February 2014, Matthew Felix scored 1309290 on Sonic the Hedgehog - the highest score ever recorded. 

13. Swimming Strife 

One of Sonic's biggest weakness is his inability to swim, but this flaw was based on a mistake made by Yuji Naka who assumed that hedgehogs couldn't swim. It's kind of amended though because hedgehogs can swim they just can't get out of water so I can see where he's coming from... 

14. Suicidal Sonic 

In Sonic CD, if Sonic is left idle for 3 minutes he will jump into oblivion and commit suicide - bit extreme.

15. Yuji Naka's Birthday 

To unlock the level select screen in the Sonic 2 screen test, the numbers that must be entered are 19, 65, 09 and 17. So it's no coincedence that Yuji Naka's birthday is 17th September 1965. 

16. Macy's 

Sonic was the first video game character to feature as a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1993, the only other video game character to be featured was Pikachu 8 years later. Sonic's balloon then reappeared in the 2011 parade to celebrate Sonic's 20th anniversary and then again in 2013. 

17. Cameos 

Sonic has had cameos in various other games including The Simpsons Game, Tom and Jerry, The Incredible Hulk and Ultimate Soccer. 

18. Nintendo Rage 

Nintendo took a swipe at Sonic by including an unmistakeable pair of red shoes in one of its Donkey Kong Country 2 screens displaying video game heroes and placing a sign next to them suggesting that Sonic was a 'No Hoper' in the competition. 

19. Object Interaction 

The game was originally based around object interaction in so much as Sonic would use items around him to defeat enemies - throwing and dodging attacks using what was available to him in the game. However, this was changed due to the fact that it slowed gameplay too much for a character based around his speed. 

20. Fresh Debut 

Sonic made his debut as an air freshener in the 1991 arcade game Rad Mobile before his iconic video game series. 

21. Birthday Confusion 

Somewhat ironic is the confusion created by the Sonic comics over Sonic's actual birthday. It is assumed that his birthday is 23rd June 1991 (the reason this whole post exists in case you missed that) but the comics have cited Christmas Day and Boxing Day as Sonic's actual birthday - intriguing... 

22. He Has No Neck 

You can't unsee it - and you will always be haunted by it just as I have for an unreasonable amount of years but there's no escaping it, Sonic The Hedgehog has no neck. 

23. He's Made His Way Into Medicine 

One of the three signalling pathway proteins in mammals has been labelled Sonic Hedgehog Homolog as a nod to the iconic game series and even better, the potential inhibitor to this protein is called the Robotnikinin.