Nelson - wrote on 02/18/12 at 04:05 PM CT

Videogame development has been in a state of flux for the past few years, moving from a niche business to a bank-busting industry seeking to find a home alongside the other forms of Big Media. Yet this incredible prosperity came with a lot of growing pains. This generation has seen more hardware failures than any other, this generation has seen publisher greed lead to crackdowns on used games and...

Nelson - wrote on 02/12/12 at 04:24 PM CT

This generation of consoles has seen numerous changes – with most of them coming in the form of things I dislike. One of the most obtrusive changes is the way in which online functionality has permeated every facet of our consoles. Once stand-alone bastions of simplicity, consoles have become just as dependent upon the Internet as PCs.

Had online functionality been implemented in a console-mi...

Nelson - wrote on 02/05/12 at 05:07 PM CT

I have noticed a disturbing trend in games this-gen. Not just my favorite genre of RPGs, but many genres, including strategy and even FPS, have become increasingly focused on one gameplay mechanic: Grinding.

Grinding was introduced long ago in the first RPGs. Games like “Phantasy Star,” “Dragon Quest,” and “Final Fantasy” a...

Nelson - wrote on 01/29/12 at 05:48 PM CT

I am not a PC gamer. There are a number of reasons behind my disdain for the PC as a gaming platform, mostly revolving around cost of upkeep and incompatibility issues. The incompatibility issue that bothers me the most, however, is the fact that games made for older operating systems, like DOS and Windows 9x, don’t play nicely with modern operating systems, like Windows XP and especially Windows...

Nelson - wrote on 01/22/12 at 04:45 PM CT

This past week has seen an unprecedented amount of uproar coming from the Internet. And not just from small, isolated communities on the Internet (which are prone to tempest-in-a-teapot-scale uproars on a daily basis), but the ENTIRE Internet.

What could cause such a huge and frac...

Nelson - wrote on 01/15/12 at 10:12 PM CT

Fantasy is one of the primary thematic settings that has always driven videogames. It has been with us for decades, primarily pushed by PC game developers in America, with a stylized version creeping across the Pacific to bring life to popular RPG franchises like “Final Fantasy” and “Dragon Quest.” This generation, as more and more Fantasy-themed PC games find their way onto consoles, one thing i...

Nelson - wrote on 01/08/12 at 06:57 PM CT

While it has been discussed and debated among fans of the franchise for nearly two decades (with the start of the speculation revolving around “Link to the Past” and “Ocarina of Time”), the timeline of the ‘Legend of Zelda’ series has always been a bit of a mystery. Nintendo would release new games in the series randomly: sequels, prequels, sidestories; everything just got stirred-together into a...

Nelson - wrote on 01/02/12 at 06:03 PM CT

The year 2011 has come and gone. Every year has its great successes as well as things that didn’t quite go as planned. Let’s take a look back at what the past year brought us:

Top 5 Fails

5. Sony Sues George “GeoHot” Hotz for PS3 Jailbreak
Showing its true colors as an Evil Corporation, Sony decided to sue the hobbyist hacker, George Hotz, a.k.a., GeoHot, for hi...

Nelson - wrote on 12/26/11 at 03:29 PM CT

Happy Yule, merry Christmas, and happy Hanukkah. At this time of year, the Bible is at the forefront of the thoughts of billions of people around the world. Many of these religious adherents in the civilized world are also gamers. Yet what games are available that cater to the Abrahamic tradition?

Nelson - wrote on 12/18/11 at 05:59 PM CT

Wii owners have lamented for several years their console’s lack of “True HD” output, that is, either 720p or 1080p resolution. It is important to remember, however, that in 2005 when the Wii first came into the world, HDTVs of any variety were fairly rare, dwelling in the rec rooms and man caves of dedicated enthusiasts. The government-mandated HD switch-over was continually pushed back, extendin...