Yes, this is one of those eat stuff / grow longer / don't run into your own tail snake games, and, yes, the name is a terrible joke, but... you should play this game. It's good!
Remember how Atari 2600 cartridges like Combat would boast about containing "27 VIDEO GAMES," but they really only had one game with 27 minor changes? There would be the "game" where you had two tanks trying to shoot each other, and the other "game" where you had two tanks trying to shoot each other, but now the bullets bounced off the walls. And they'd do this 27 times! How about having two tanks that shoot at each other, but now the bullets bounce off the walls, and also there are more walls then there used to be?
While calling each of these modes a "VIDEO GAME" was a liberal use of the term, the addition of so many variants on a simple concept like Combatmade the game. I can sit and fiddle around with those stupid little tanks for hours because the sheer number of options is enough to provide ongoing stimulation to my A.D.D.-riddled mind.
The "28 VIDEO GAMES" in Snakes on a Cartesian Plane take that same mentality and apply it to Snake. And unlike Combat, you don't need an Atari 2600 or a second player to enjoy it. Not all 28 games are winners, but there are so many of them that it hardly matters. (Check the Options menu to unlock everything.)
There are plenty of Snake knock-offs, but this is easily the second best I've seen. (The first, of course, is the four-player Anaconda mini-game with the amazing music from TimeSplitters 2.)
Chris Kohler - Wired Game|Life 7 Games You’ve Never Heard of That Changed Everything
There are some people in the comments who really want it to be known that they've heard of these games. I think they think they're making themselves look smart and cool, but it's not working so well.
Bill Harris - Dubious Quality Futures [Part One] [Part Two]
Bill looks at the stock prices of America's biggest game publishers over the past sever years. The executives at these companies always seem so proud and confident, which is a baffling stance considering the evidence presented here. It's not like I know the solution, but if you are responsible for growing or maintaining the value of any of these businesses, congratulations! You're doing a terrible job.
Jim Sterling - Destructoid Have an obnoxious, petty SimCity Social trailer
There's so much to hate about this trailer, but the worst part was having that song stuck in my head for a whole day.
Jim Sterling - Destructoid Tekken producer to fans: stop whining
I've never played a Tekken game, but after reading this rant from producer Katsuhiro Harada, I am an instant fan.
Darren Wells - GamesRadar An Interview with Warren Spector
I've never gotten into any of Spector's games, but he's been doing some great interviews lately. Maybe Epic Mickey 2 will be the one to turn me around.
Brandon Sheffield - Gamasutra Opinion: Video games and Male Gaze - are we men or boys?
Presumably, many of the people who will read this article are neither. The article doesn't really have much to say about feminism and games that hasn't already been said, but it hits on most of the big bullet points of our time. This is a good place to start if you haven't kept up with modern controversies and debates.
Here's the thing about being an upstart, amateur Web master with a full time job: You can make all the promises you want about daily updates, but sometimes you run out of deodorant in the middle of the week and have to spend an afternoon riding your bike to the grocery store.
I have after-work plans for tomorrow, as well - plans that fortunately have much less to do with armpit maintenance - but hopefully I'll have enough time to finish the thing I started today. No promises, of course, but I can at least give you a little taste:
Of course, the video game community has been kind enough to remind us recently that it can just as disgusting and misogynistic as ever, but at least the big authorial voices are getting better.
New from your friends at Hot Lavy - it's original video content. Hoorah!
I know this video's not exactly short by Internet standards, but I could have easily made it two or three times longer. There were so many games to play, and so much to say about most of them, that I eventually had to force myself to stop talking and start cutting for length. I don't even mention, for instance, how I learned that Night Driver is the secret scariest video game in existence, nor do I tell the story of meeting Gary Stearn or Steve Weibe (who suggested that I buy my own Donkey Kong arcade cabinet in the same off-handed manner one might use when telling somebody to pick up a few rolls of toilet paper next time they're out). Subjects for another day, I suppose.
I paid $15 for one-day admission, and it was worth every penny. Seriously, it was the best time I've had in a long while, and it was clear that the people who aren't as video game-crazy as I am had a blast, as well. I give the NW Pinball and Arcade Show a big thumbs-up, and I highly recommend that you check if your own city offers an equivalent.
I've been aware of this movie for a few months now, but my faith in Disney has dipped over the years, and I was feeling tepid about the whole affair...until I saw the trailer. M. Bison sitting beside Dr. Robotnik? Kano and Bowser hanging out in the background? Q*bert being Q*bert? Talking Heads music? Oh, yeah - I am definitely on-board.
But aside from all the video game character cameos and New Wave, I was curious about the fictional game from whence Ralph was born. Check out the Donkey Kong-inspired marquee and phosphorous glow on that cabinet in the trailer. Someone obviously put some thought into an authentically '80s-looking aesthetic, and I wondered if they went as far as to design a believable game to go with it.
Fix-It Felix Jr. seemed like it would answer my question. Sadly this is not the Fix-It Felix you'll see in Wreck-It Ralph, but it is a competent little arcade facsimile in its own right. Felix scales the side of a building, repairing shattered windows by smashing them with a hammer, as any good video game man would do. Meanwhile, Ralph attempts to drop bricks on our hero while roving birds provide further impede Felix's progress.
It ends up feeling like an extremely tame version of Crazy Climber. Maybe they should just call this game "Climber". The pixelated sprites and "everything wants to kill you" logic certainly recall a bygone era, and some of the sound effects are ripped straight out of Mega Man, but there's no mistaking this for anything but a modern Flash game. Arcade games were built to take all your quarters. The challenge was always stiff, and death came swiftly for those who lost their concentration. Fix-It Felix Jr., on the other hand, exists solely to promote a movie. It's cute and toothless for the first ten or fifteen stages. The pace quickens a bit after that, but the difficulty ramps up so gradually that I'd lost interest by the time I got that far.
I recommend playing it, but manage your expectations. This isn't the neo-arcade-classic I was hoping it would be, but it is an above-average Flash game, and that's good, too.
