Most hardcore gamers today who are obviously after the best game play methodology would usually be left with either choosing a gun or a sword in his own role playing expedition in the usually created game worlds today. Such has been seen from the games that have been clamored to by millions such as Gunbound and Runescape. Both have their own style of game play, either medieval times or old western style shoot-around.

Depending on the theme of the developed game or the actual purpose of usual storylines that would guide the new player towards his journey, people are sure to be befuddled with what type of character they would want to create and develop. For medieval worlds, warriors and magicians would usually be the primary categories of choice. But if there is one thing that a hardcore gamer should be aware of, he must ultimately decide on one character creation first before moving on to choosing other character types with special skills. Patience in this type of game play is a rarity but can be an asset if used well.

[tags]gunbound, runescape, rpg, online games[/tags]

Tags: gunbound, online-games, RPG, runescape

I am sure that you have heard of some of these urban legends. I don’t know if you believe them (or used to believe them) but I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the biggest myths of video games.

Donkey Kong is a result of a wrong translation – it was really supposed to be Monkey Kong.
Funny isn’t it? Unfortunately, there is no truth to this. Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary Nintendo designer would be the first one to debunk this myth. He says that the name may sound funky but it was the choice at that time. It turned out to be a good choice – it is one of the most popular video games of all time.

PS2s – thousands of them – were purchased by Saddam Hussein to create a supercomputer for his military.
Not! Why would Saddam make use of PS2s to create a supercomputer? I am sure that a man of his means would have had access to more powerful processors. This hot piece of rumor didn’t stay alive for long – government officials officially debunked the myth soon after it circulated online.

A man has died playing video games.
Alright, this one has truth to it. I remember reading about it several years ago. This Korean man played for 50 hours straight and died of a heart attack. That was in 2005. Another Korean guy died of exhaustion after playing straight for 86 hours. The moral of the story is this – get some rest while playing video games!

Want more of these urban legends? Read Yahoo’s feature on them.

Tags: gaming culture, urban legends

The answer would depend on who you are asking. Well, according to some game developers, they do. I ran across an article talking about this topic and I thought I’d share excerpts with you:

For years I’ve heard from gamers and game developers who relish the stories in “Final Fantasy” games or in the adventures made by Canadian developer BioWare. But at the Game Developers Conference last month, I heard something else. I heard game developers grump about the state of storytelling in video games.

I heard Dave Jones, president of development studio Real Time Worlds and one of the original architects of the “Grand Theft Auto” series, telling an audience: “I like to leave story to books and movies.”

I met with Denis Dyack, the ever-outspoken president of Silicon Knights to talk about the ambitious and heavily story-driven action game “Too Human,” which his company will be releasing on the Xbox 360 this year. And he trashed game stories too. He said the current quality of game stories is “just not acceptable.”

Here’s what he told GameFile (it’s classic Dyack, the kind of commentary that has won him legions of fans and detractors): “I think stories like [the ones in the books] ‘Hyperion’ or ‘Altered Carbon’ or very serious science fiction — we need to get stories to that level in the video game industry. … Bubblegum stories are OK, but there’s no reason we can’t aspire to do more for those who want to do more. Certainly there’s room for everything. If ‘Too Human’ can say anything, it’s that it can be done, and we should at least attempt to try.”

Author Stephen Totilo ends:

So what was the greatest story a video game ever told? A “GTA” game? “Mass Effect”? “Planescape: Torment”? Was the greatest gaming story ever told even a great one? Or should developers not bother trying to tell a great one? At GDC, the answer wasn’t clear. But the restlessness was evident. Games don’t tell great stories yet, the game makers told me, and maybe they never will.

Sad but true.

Tags: plots, story lines