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 ...

Supergiant Games have developed three titles since the company's inception: Bastion (2011), Transistor (2014), and Pyre (2017). All three games stand as a testament to video games as interactive art. Playing one of Supergiant Games' games feels like you are playing with an interactive hand drawn picture. If you were to stop at some random point while playing and take a screenshot, it would look like a piece of art. For example, the picture seen above is a screenshot I took during my playthrough. But it's not just the visuals that make the games unique and beautiful, the various musical scores in the titles are varied, powerful, and pair very well with the environments and/or situations that you find yourself in. These games also just ooze atmosphere; the worlds feel real and the writing makes the characters come to life. One quick example of a moment I really enjoyed was in Transistor. There are voting booths set up throughout the far future fanta...

The Law- Video games do have the same First Amendment protection as all of the other forms of media and communication, books, movies, ect. It may surprise you to know that video games were not given this explicit protection by the Supreme Court until July of 2011, although various lower courts had given video games full protection under the First Amendment. On July 27, 2011 the Supreme Court of the United State issued its written opinion on Brown v. Entertainment Management, explicitly giving video games the same protection as traditional media under the First Amendment. Brown v. Entm't Merchs. Ass'n , 564 U.S. 786  (2011). The Court held in a 7-2 decision, written by the late Justice Scalia, that Video games qualify for First Amendment protection. The Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment  exists primarily to protect discourse on public matters, but the Supreme Court has long recognized that it is difficult and foolish to try and distinguish po...

Whether you are purchasing a video game system for yourself, a significant other, or a family member (or anybody else) its a big decision. There are four main flavors to chose from, Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. But within those choices there are a multitude of options. PS4 pro/PS4 slim PS Vita, Xbox One X, Xbox One S, Xbone original flavor.  Nintendo has like 8 different versions of it handheld and there are a near infinite amount of ways you can put a PC together. My goal will be to break down the options give prices and pro/cons to  guide anyone in their purchasing. I will be speaking on all of the options, but to be clear the systems in the current generation that I own are: A PC I built back in 2013 that has some piecemeal upgrades I've thrown in throughout the years, A Nintendo Switch, A PS4 Slim, and a Nintendo 2DS. I will be breaking down all of the options, but I will be supplementing the sections on systems I do not o...

One of the most common criticisms that I have when playing games, and that I have heard from others, is centered on feelings of frustration when it is unclear how to proceed. There's nothing worse than that feeling of "ok I finished that what now?" Frequently this is because the player is unable to identify or locate the elements needed to proceed. You clear out a room reach a door, and its locked. Ok you think what's the puzzle? What do I need to do? No puzzle nor challenge left in this room. The room is empty and it's time for you to start backtracking to figure out what you missed. Oh what fun. Overcoming a difficult challenging is the most rewarding aspect of playing video games. However, when the challenging is simply finding the different elements of a puzzle I often find challenge is either unrewarding in success or frustrating and arbitrary in failure. Having your progress stopped because there was a hidden switch in some random corner, that you miss...