Jon Gracey's

Posts Tagged ‘Gaming’

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Games That Rocked…Tom Clarke’s World – #34: Advance Wars: Dual Strike

In DS on May 10, 2013 at 8:44 am

Today’s post is by Tom Clarke.

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Title: Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Format: Nintendo DS

Released: 30th September, 2005 (UK)

Advance Wars DS Box Art

War is adorable. At least, Advance Wars: Dual Strike is.

I often think about the numbers I’ve killed. The dozens of Timesplitters, the hundreds of Stormtroopers, the thounds of ethnic Serb- I mean Zergs. Sometimes, I’m haunted by the faces of the trusting soldiers from Red Alert, who would follow my every deranged command with absolute loyalty. They believed in me, even when I decided to tell them to attack a Tesla coil one at a time rather than as a group, just because I was bored. Read the rest of this entry »

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Games That Rocked…Jonathon Valenzuela’s World – #33: Half-Life

In Mac, PC, PS2 on May 3, 2013 at 12:00 am

Today’s post is by Jonathon Valenzuela.

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Title: Half-Life

Format: PC, Mac, PS2

Released: November 19th, 1998

Half-life Box Art

I grew up a PC gamer. Though I lusted after NES and Sega as a child (my parents considered them a waste of time), we always had a decent desktop in an era when all the big innovations in games were on computers, not consoles. In 1993, I finally stopped being jealous of kids whose parents let them have ‘video games’ (the distinction between ‘video games’ and ‘computer games’ was more defined back then). The reason for this was Doom. The first true FPS* (First-person shooter) was a revelatory experience; an entirely new type of game, something I’d never seen before on my friends’ gaming systems, nor my own PC. It blew my 11-year old mind.** Read the rest of this entry »

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Games That Rocked…Jay Foreman’s World – #31: Prince Of Persia

In Amiga, DS, Game Boy, iOS, Mac, Master System, NES, PC, SNES, Wii on April 14, 2013 at 8:24 pm

Today’s post is by Jay Foreman.

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Title: Prince Of Persia

Format: PC, Master System, Game Boy, Amiga, SNES, NES, Mac, iOS, DS, Wii

Released: October 3rd, 1989

Pop_box_artMy parents never got us a console. They reasoned quite sensibly that if we had one we’d probably play computer games. The only thing in the house to play games on was the family PC my dad intended us to do homework on that he bought from Dixons about one week before Windows 95 came out. This unfortunate timing meant that right from day seven it was only good enough for playing obsolete games.It also meant that ours was probably the only computer in the world actually affected by the Millennium Bug. At midnight on December 31st 1999, it unexpectedly celebrated the 4th of January 1982, so we decided to put it in the cupboard and buy a new one. Read the rest of this entry »

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Games That Rocked My World – #30: Hotline Miami

In Mac, PC, PS Vita, PS3, PSN on April 6, 2013 at 5:00 pm

Written by me. Shit yeah.

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Title: Hotline Miami

Format: PC, Mac, PS3, PSN, PS Vita

Released: 23rd October, 2012

Hotline_miami_poster

Do you like McDonald’s? I do. I bloody love McDonald’s. It’s a massive, cheap, sugar-drenched guilty pleasure that goes down real easy, induces a massive high, and leaves you feeling empty and disgusted with yourself afterwards.

Hotline Miami is gaming McDonald’s. Gaming McDonald’s that explodes into your face and overloads your senses in a smearing blaze of hot-pink neon and 80s synth. Its retro pixelart and filthy techno soundtrack grab you by the genitalia of your choice and refuse to let go until you’ve smashed through its 2-3 hour runtime in a kinetic, dopamine-fuelled sugar-rush. And the guilt? It makes you feel like a dirty great serial killer. Read the rest of this entry »

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Games That Rocked…Viv Egan’s World – #29: Age Of Empires II: The Age Of Kings

In Mac, PC, PS2 on March 26, 2013 at 1:16 am

Today’s post is by Viv Egan.

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Title: Age Of Empires II: The Age Of Kings

Format: PC, Mac, PS2

Released: 30th September, 1999

Age_ii_boxart

Hello nerds. My name is Vivienne. I’m not a comedian and I am a girl, both of which make me – so far – unique to this blog. What an honour. Since all the other guest bloggers on this site have pictures up, here’s me:

Viv

I’m also not a gamer… sorry about that. Read the rest of this entry »