Day 17 - Favourite antagonist

My favourite gaming antagonist is the same in film, comics, television. Until Arkham Asylum came out two years ago, my favourite could easily have been someone else. The only game I had played with this character was Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, and he wasn't really the antagonist in that, or very good.
After a superb outing as Arkham Asylum's main villain and voiced magnificently by Mark Hamill it can't go to anyone else. My favourite is The Joker.

Day 16 - Game with the best cut scenes

Whenever I think of cutscenes, the first game that comes into my head is Metal Gear Solid 4. Crikey, that whole game is just one massive cutscene. I remember falling asleep whilst playing it one Sunday afternoon during one, and waking up 400 years later and the goddamn thing was still going.

It doesn't have the best cut scenes though. For me, I would have to go with Uncharted 2. That game is pretty much perfect in nearly every way. If they manage to finally make a movie from the game, everything they need is right in the cutscenes. Why they would need to deviate too much away from the story is beyond me. Take note Neil Burger.

Day 15 - Post a screenshot from the game you’re playing right now

I'm currently playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. There is no screenshot save function on this game, so I had to take the picture with my trusty iPhone.

Day 14 - Current (or most recent) gaming wallpaper

This is quite easy. I've never had a gaming wallpaper on my computer, at home or at work.
My current home desktop wallpaper is of The Dark Knight Rises poster artwork, and my work desktop is of my two sons, just in case you're interested.....

Day 13 - A game you’ve played more than five times

If this question is which game have you played more than five times, I would have to list most of my games, because it is rarely I play a game once, then never go back to it. Especially as most games nowadays are story games and you really need a few days on them to get through to the end.
But if the question is which game have you played through to the end more than five times, I can probably only say that about one game. Super Mario Land on the Nintendo Gameboy. It is still my favourite Mario game, but to tell you the truth, I haven't played many of them.

Day 12 - A game everyone should play

Everyone should play Portal. I'm pretty new to this game even though it's been around for a while. If Valve hadn't bothered with a sequel, maybe I wouldn't even have entered the Aperture Science testing labs. But I am so glad I did.

After playing Portal 2 which I had picked up after getting swayed by all the hype, I so desperately wanted to play the first game. I started looking around all the local video game stores, but it's pretty much out of print for the PS3 in Australia and I'm too lazy to buy it online, though I know Ozgameshop has copies.Steam had a recent sale on, and I managed to pick it up for the PC for less than $7. Bargain!

Portal 2 is the better game. It's harder, is funnier, and has an excellent 2 player mode. The first game is a little easier though, and I'm a fan of playing, watching, reading things in order. So if I am going to recommend you a game, start at the beginning, play Portal!

Day 11 - Gaming system of choice

The Sony Playstation 3. I'm not a fan of PC gaming. Controlling characters with mouse and keyboard I find quite weird. I would much rather play a game with a handheld controller and I've been a fan of the Playstation version since the very first model. I also love being able to recline into my favourite chair and play games on my big television, I just prefer the console experience.
The reason I chose the PS3 above the other consoles in this generation? At the time when I was ready to move on from my PS2, the PS3 seemed so much more appealing. Mainly because I was familiar with the Sony brand, and it boasted a Blu Ray player which at the time were very expensive. It's just a shame that this generation of consoles are so prone to problems (my PS2 is still working great 9 years later). I recently had to buy my fourth PS3 due to the dreaded yellow light of death.

Day 10 - Best gameplay

Best Gameplay. I actually googled gameplay to find a definition because this seemed like such a broad subject. "The plot of a video game or the way it is played". That makes sense.

Soooooo. My answer to this question would therefore be Arkham Asylum. I may be slightly biased as I am a huge fan of the Batman Universe, and to finally get a game that realised the world so beautifully was awesome. To get to play as Batman, and use his gadgets and perform great finishing moves was a dream come true. In the past, Batman games have been a bit of a letdown, but this game had everything. I truly cannot wait for the sequel to appear later this year.

Day 9 - Saddest game scene

For my choice for saddest game scene, I have to look no further than Heavy Rain on the PS3. This game is absolutely ram packed cram filled with sadness. In fact I don't know where to begin. Well, in a bid to try and not give away too many spoilers I will pick the scene early in the game in Act 1 when Ethan's son Jason is killed in the car accident. Don't dock me any man points but I'm pretty sure this brought a tear to my eye. For a father to lose a son in this way, watching and not being able to save him for me is truly horrific and one of my worst nightmares.

Day 8 - Best soundtrack

Game soundtracks have come a long way. Back in the olden days of gaming, the soundtrack accompanying seemed more of a backing track than an integral part of the game. Not that the tunes weren't memorable. I could still hum the melodies to Tetris, Super Mario Bros and Outrun as if I had played either of these in the last 10 years.
As games have become more cinematic, this has changed and they have become as important as they are in film in maintaining the atmosphere and helping to draw you into the action.
One of my favourite examples of this is in Bioshock, which is certainly one of my favourite games from the last few years. The game wonderfully uses popular and orchestral tracks from the 1930's to early 1950's period to help create a hauntingly immersive atmosphere that plunges you straight into the heart of the game.

Day 7 - Favourite game couple

Maybe not my favourite gaming couple, I don't really have one. They are though one of the video games world's oldest, biggest, and most loved. The Super Mario Brothers. Not even  Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo can tarnish their legend

Day 6 - Most annoying character

Obviously this has to come from games that I have played. If I had played Hannah Montana: The Game ( I still might, it's supposed to be a trophy hunter's dream) maybe she would win this poll. I'm also sure that if I had played any of the Star Wars games, and Jar Jar Binks poked up his shiny head, he'd be close to the top of the list too.

There are probably plenty of other characters that should claim this, but when it comes to annoying, the first character that came into my head was Stan from the Monkey Island series. And I know he's meant to be annoying, that's the point of him, but I'm being far too lazy to put any proper thought into this!

Stan - But not as we knew him

Day 5 - Game character you feel you are most like (or wish you were)

I've played a fair few games in my time, and I don't think I've yet come across a character who is in his mid-30's, has a receding hairline, pigeon chest, sticky out belly, and spends most of his time either working or helping to raise his family. I'm also not a deep enough thinker to try and align any of my personality traits with any video game characters.

Sooooo, if I were to be a video game character, who would I be? I can't decide, but the first character who came into my head was Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series. Mainly because he's a likeable charming sort of guy who has awesome adventures. Even though there are plenty of guys trying to kill him in the meantime, he can be my day 5 pick!

Day 4 - Your guilty pleasure game

I've been having a think on this one, and I don't really have any guilty pleasure games. I don't own or play any games I should shield from the entire world. Maybe you could be the judge of that by looking at my games list on Playfire.

The only game I could easily be embarrassed about is Singstar. This is a great game in party situations, especially where alcohol is concerned. For the uninitiated, it is basically a karaoke game where the game actually scores you on pitch. If you are badly out of tune you score badly. I have witnessed some great karaoke-offs in my time, and been part of them, normally getting my greatest victories going head to head with someone shy or similarly tone-deaf.
The thing is, I enjoy playing this on my own as well. There have often been afternoons where I have been left alone in the house, I have booted up Singstar and sung to Wilson Philips sugary "Hold On", over and over again to try and improve my score. God that song is great to sing to. Guilty? As charged!

Day 3 - A game that is underrated

There are lots of games out there that get released and manage to slip away without anyone ever realising they were there, and Enslaved:Odyssey to the West is one of them. 
Not even a year old, and easily picked up in your local game store for less than $30 (I grabbed mine in England at Christmas for a mere 8 squid), Enslaved was meant to be the start of a trilogy. Based on the old Chinese monkey stories, written by The Beach's Alex Garland, and with Andy Serkis doing his usual as well as voice acting the lead role of Monkey, everyone expected this game to do well. This game should have worked, and it did, I enjoyed the crap out of it. The story was great and the visuals were stunning. Unfortunately no-one really paid attention and it sold poorly. Which is sad because I would have loved to play the next installment.

Day 2 - Your favourite video game character

It's only Day 2, and I'm already struggling on a question. I don't really like to pick favourites generally as I feel I am doing a disservice to many other characters. It's really easy to pick the ones that are generally despised. That is not the question though.
There are so many good ones to choose from, in recent times we have had Cole MacGrath, Nathan Drake, Sackboy, GLaDOS going through to Lara Croft, Solid Snake and Guybrush Threepwood to name a few of my favourites.


For my choice, I am going to go old school and choose Gabriel Knight. I first came across GK in the second game in the series GK: The Beast Within. I loved the whole adventure, and it really felt like you were joining GK on his journey. It was almost like we became good friends. I have always hoped after the third game that we would see him resurrected for a fourth game, but that is looking increasingly less likely. 
I'm almost tempted to chuck my copy into the PC now. 

Day 1 - Very first video game

Hmmm. Could this be the very first video game I played or the very first game I owned?  The very first game I played was I think on a Binatone system with three built in games, football, tennis and squash. None of the games actually resembled the games they were meant to represent but it was quite good fun, and pretty easy to play for a 4 year old. I'm not quite sure if I owned it, it was just there.  I think it was my dad's toy. 

The very first game I owned would have been one of the games that came in my ZX Spectrum +. bundle. I could be wrong, but I think it would have been Horace goes Skiing. This 16k masterpiece was a cross between Frogger and a downhill skiing game. Looking back the game wasn't the greatest, but I remember spending hours on it none the less. According to the back of the tape box, the Horace series pioneers the idea of interactive cartoons. In this day of HD remakes, I wonder if Horace goes Skiing could ever make a comeback! (not likely.....)

30 Days of Gaming Challenge

I've never really attempted a blog before. Well I have, but it was on Myspace many moons ago, when Myspace was *ahem* cool. Some of the posts are still there, and still will be until I finally get around to hitting the off switch.
Anyhoo, in an attempt to give myself something to talk about, I am going to have a crack at the 30 days of gaming challenge that has been floating around on facebook. Like any of these lists, the idea is to blog on each of the topics every day. The list is as follows.


Day 1 - Very first video game.
Day 2 - Your favorite character.
Day 3 - A game that is underrated.
Day 4 - Your guilty pleasure game.
Day 5 - Game character you feel you are most like (or wish you were).
Day 6 - Most annoying character.
Day 7 - Favorite game couple.
Day 8 - Best soundtrack.
Day 9 - Saddest game scene.
Day 10 - Best gameplay.
Day 11 - Gaming system of choice.
Day 12 - A game everyone should play.
Day 13 - A game you’ve played more than five times.
Day 14 - Current (or most recent) gaming wallpaper.
Day 15 - Post a screenshot from the game you’re playing right now.
Day 16 - Game with the best cut scenes.
Day 17 - Favorite antagonist.
Day 18 - Favorite protagonist.
Day 19 - Picture of a game setting you wish you lived in.
Day 20 - Favorite genre.
Day 21 - Game with the best story.
Day 22 - A game sequel which disappointed you.
Day 23 - Game you think had the best graphics or art style.
Day 24 - Favorite classic game.
Day 25 - A game you plan on playing.
Day 26 - Best voice acting.
Day 27 - Most epic scene ever.
Day 28 - Favorite game developer.
Day 29 - A game you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.
Day 30 - Your favorite game of all time


Whether I make it to day 30, only time will tell.....