Xbox Live Arcade
This is a list of posts tagged with Xbox Live Arcade.
Braid – Xbox 360
Braid is the single most important game released this year.
Ever since technology caught up with our hobby and evolved it from simple beeps and blips and tests of hand-eye coordination into a medium capable of spinning a decent yarn and taking the player away to awe-inspiring worlds of wonder, the argument of ‘Games as Art’ has gathered strength.
In the past year, the debate has raged with film critic Roger Ebert famously battling author Clive Barker over the topic. Ebert declared that no game can be considered art since the creator hands over control to the user to craft the experience. Barker countered that exact point – that art is truly defined by the experience we take from our own individual encounters with someone else’s creative endeavor. Ebert’s assertions seem rooted in the past; the N... Continue reading »
Pirates vs Ninja Dodgeball – Xbox 360
There’s a great line in Robert Altman’s 1992 Hollywood satire, The Player, where a desperate screenwriter pitches potential projects as mash-ups of established properties, “It’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s meets Psycho”, each more ludicrous than the last. The point being that audiences crave the familiar, rejecting anything new and innovative. The game industry isn’t immune to this Reese’s school of thought – where you take two great things to make one great taste – with sequel after sequel cannibalizing the innovations that have come before to seemingly build a better game (when Sonic is employing Bullet Time, you know we’ve got problems.) It’s a notion that developer Blazing Lizard has embraced heartily – looking to meld pirate chic with ninja cool in their recent XBLA release – Pirates vs. Ninjas... Continue reading »
E3 2008 – The Top 5 Things I Learned from the Sony Press Conference
Wrapping up my three part series recounting my reactions to the E3 2008 Press Conference offered up by the Big Three (Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony), I present the final installment.
For those who have followed along, on Tuesday I posted my thoughts and opinions on Microsoft’s shin dig. Thursday saw my Nintendo reaction. Leaving, of course, Sony. While all three companies devoted time to elements outside of their core consoles (in particular Nintendo covered their DS handheld and Sony the PSP) – I’ve catered my comments towards the consoles. (Uh oh – here comes my 10th Grade English Teacher – aka the Alliteration Police).
Remember, next week I’ll launch a three part series featuring The Top Five Games That I’ve Just Got to Play (per console).
Without further adieu, I present The Top ... Continue reading »
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