Zack & Wiki: Quest for Recognition

Holy crap, if you own a Wii, or even if you intend to own a Wii in the future, you owe it to yourself to go track down a copy of Zack & Wiki. Especially if you love puzzle and adventure games.

Some reviews have cited the setup of dividing the game into independant stages as a contrivance unique to this game, but I found it to be plesantly reminiscant of The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble and other Coktel Vision adventure games. You might not have played any of these games either, but believe me this is high praise.

Really, go get this game now. Send a message to Nintendo, Capcom, and other developers that we want unique, quality games on the Wii.

Important? Yes. Most Important? Not Really.

(or: This One Goes to Eleven)

Some smart and important people in the field of gaming have created a list of the ten most important video games of all time. Some of the list is in fact important, but others are kind of odd. Here's the list in no particular order;

• Spacewar!
• Star Raiders
• Zork
• Tetris
• SimCity
• Super Mario Bros. 3
• Civilization I/II
• Doom
• Warcraft Series
• Sensible World of Soccer

There is no real contention with the first two titles on the list; Spacewar! is without a doubt the most important video game of all time. Forget Pong, forget Asteroids, Spacewar! was the first video game ever and everything else followed. Star Raiders isn't a game I have personally played, but I think it has its place as the progenitor of just about every 3D space combat game.

It's the third spot where I start to have problems with the list. I have no problem with Zork as an important game, but not as one of the most important games. Zork does represent the origins of modern adventure games, but it doesn't hold this distinction on its own. Roberta Williams' Mystery House was developed at about the same time and included graphics, an adventure game first. Zork and Mystery House both were inspired by Colossal Cave Adventure, the first adventure game.

Tetris. I can't argue with Tetris. I don't even want to argue with Tetris.

SimCity is another one of those games I don't have a problem with. There's a logical progression from SimCity to other "god" games and even further genres.

Christopher Grant cites Super Mario Bros. 3 as being important for its nonlinear play and ability to move backwards. That's all well and good, but Metroid allows players to move backwards and is equally nonlinear, as is Zelda. The question is whether or not the non-linearity of a game is sufficent to warrant an addition to the list. Mario 3 was hardly a masterpiece of nonlinear gaming as it only really allowed the player to decide which levels to skip, either via a warp whistsle (much like the warp zones in the origional Super Mario Bros.) or through different paths that often only eschewed optional levels. Non-linearity is not as important as Grant would have us believe. With that I submit that as a system seller and innovative game, the original Super Mario Bros. fits the list better.

I'll allow a Civilization game on the list, but only one Civ game. That game is Civilization II. The original Civ was a great game, but Civ II solidified the genre and paved the way for Alpha Centauri and Europa Universalis.

I'm almost sick of seeing Doom on these kinds of lists. Doom is important because of the inclusion of deathmatch, but that didn't really play out until both Quake and increased Internet connectivity. The honor here should instead go to Wolfenstein 3D as first great first person shooter.

I'm not sure why Warcraft gets to enter the list as a series. Is it to include World of Warcraft? WoW is an important game as far as MMOs go, but in gaming as a whole it is too early to tell if it is one of the most important games. The first Warcraft is, however, an important game since it strengthened the real-time strategy genre and began the series that has carried Blizzard to this day.

I haven't played Sensible World of Soccer but I get the sense that the game was somewhat buggy and required a patch a year later. In the same year as the patch Sensible World of Soccer 95-96 was released and is described as the game the developers wanted to release. The Sensible Soccer series followed a formula that is similar to the Madden series where successive versions included minor tweaks and roster updates. The American in me wants to throw out soccer in favor of a "real" football game; Tecmo Super Bowl the first game to license all of the NFL teams, and a game that in terms of game play still stands the test of time. The hardcore gamer in me wants to eschew sports games all together and include an RPG instead; Rogue the granddaddy of them all. Ah hell, we'll just expand the list to eleven.

After all of that here is my new and improved list;

• Spacewar!
• Star Raiders
• Colossal Cave Adventure
• Tetris
• SimCity
• Super Mario Bros.
• Civilization II
• Wolfenstein 3D
• Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
• Tecmo Super Bowl
• Rogue

If anything it is clear that ten is not enough. Ten a year maybe, but ten most important period? Fat chance.

Emmy? We don't need no stinkin' Emmy!

The Playstation 3's SIXAXIS Dualshock controller may have just been awarded an Emmy but where is its place with regards to the rest of the controllers from recent years?

I've decided to go ahead and conduct a wholly unscientific study to rank the controllers of yesteryear and beyond. The list that follows is merely my own opinion, you are welcome to your own. If you feel the need to share, get an account with Blogger, or Live Journal, or 1up and go to town. Someone will always disagree. Don't say I didn't warn you.

• 7. SIXAXIS:
  Every Playstation controller seems to cute name to go along with it (Dualshock etc.) but what isn't cute is the lack of innovation on the part of Sony's engineers. New features in an old form factor just won't cut it anymore. Emmy or not.
  
  
• 6. Xbox "The Duke":
  One word: huge. It's big; it does what you want it to do but you have to have monstrous man-hands.
  
  
• 5. Dualshock 2:
  Just like Tag Team in the 90's that good old form factor is back again. At least this go around there was an excuse as the PS2's backwards compatibility was highly touted. Plus it rumbles. But is it Emmy worthy?
  
  
• 4. Xbox Controller S:
  The tiny hands brigade get their wish and the Xbox controller scales down into something manageable. It's still a pain to deal with those gem buttons though.
  
  
• 3. Wii Remote:
  The jury is still out on this one. So far its a unique experience that makes comparisons to standard controllers unfair. But who says we have to be fair?
  
  
• 2. Gamecube Controller:
  Just plain comfortable. The varied button sizes, awkward z-button and c-stick aside, this controller is a joy to hold. Some of the components appear to have been lifted directly from the Game Boy Advance. The Gamecube's heritage in the N64's three-pronged controller of doom keeps this one from taking the top spot.
  
  
• 1. Xbox 360 Wireless Controller:
  Third time's the charm for Microsoft. Comfort, versatility, and rumble without wires. The 360's wireless controller takes everything that was right about the Controller S and makes it better.

Honorable mention:

• Wii Classic Controller:
  An elegant solution to several problems. I'm still not wild about the stick placement though.
  
  
• Wavebird :
  Wireless done right. An inspiration for everything else.

Edit: It appears that Sony was a little premature in declaring that the SIXAXIS won. Seems the progenitor of the form factor, the Dualshock, won the award.