The Right to Remain Gaming

totally not PAC-MAN  Fortnight has taken the world by storm. With millions of players across every imaginable platform the game has been a massive success. But, now the Fortnight developer Epic is being sued by Player Unknown Battle Ground (PUBG) for copyright violations. The crux of the lawsuit (which is being brought in South Kora) is that Fortnight stole the 100 players, battle royal last person/team standing wins, mode from PUBG. Both games do feature 100 players airdropping onto an island that has weapons scattered about with the goal being to collect weapons, kill other players, and survive until the end. Taking ideas or inspiration from previous titles is nothing new to the game's industry. Developers have been "borrowing" ideas from one another since the very beginning. Chasing after trends can make you a lot of money, but when a developer crosses the line they risk being sued. This is exactly what happened in the case of Philips Entertainment...

I have been drafting my top 50 list for a very long time. It has changed a lot over the years as my feelings on games have changed, and it will change again in the future. This is a snapshot of an ever changing list. It's a list that I would scratch down while sitting on the path or waiting for class. The idea of making all-time lists for any topic, from sports stars to horror novels, is always appealing to me as it forces you to critically think and reflect on the entire topic. This particular top 50 list is the result of 4 drafts that I went through. I think its a good reference if you are looking for something fun to play. For older games I did factor in my experience with them at the time of playing them, while trying not to let nostalgia overload my perception. I tried to avoid multiple sequels from one franchise if the core of the experience didn't drastically change from one title to another. These are my personal favorites I did not take into account any ou...

What do the electronic systems that were used to arm and deploy the atomic bombs during World War II and the first video game ever made have in common? They were both created by William Higinbotham. Now, what do I have in common with video games? We were both born on Long Island. William Higinbotham received his undergraduate degree in physics from Williams College. He then began pursuing a PhD in physics from Cornell, but left in 1943 to work at Los Alamos Nation National Laboratory. He served as the head of the electronics division of the Manhattan Project from 1943 to 1945, before taking a position at Brookhaven National Laboratory, (“BNL”) located in Upton New York, in 1947. While at BNL, Higinbotham’s focus was the peaceful uses of atomic power. Higinbotham dedicated his life to the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons: he founded and served as the chairman of the Federation of American Scientists, a group dedicated to the nonproliferation ...