Gamertell

In 2001 Tom Clancy put his name to an incredible tactical squad-based first-person shooter called Ghost Recon, a franchise that contains almost prophetic parallels with current events.

In the original Ghost Recon game, set in 2008, Russia is taken over by ultra-nationalists who want to rebuild the might of the former Soviet Union by re-acquiring several Eastern European states. The reasoning for the Russian spread in the game could just be to regain the former territory of the Soviet Union or to do as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Telegraph when he said he would “protect the lives and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are located.” Even more coincidental, the game opens in the former-Soviet state of Georgia…

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The Game Critics Awards list of the best games of 2008 has just been announced and the winners for the Best of E3 2008 include Fallout 3, LittleBigPlanet, Spore, Gears of War 2 and Madden NFL 09.

Click through for the complete list of winners…

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E3, up until about 2006 or so, was the huge, major, central expo for the industry. A huge percentage of the big announcements and unveiling’s occurred at E3 - they still do, as evidenced by our massive E3 coverage and the fact that everyone is buzzing with excitement about next week. It’s just that now, we have a steady stream of news all year long, and several other expos, like PAX, E-for-all, and GDC that offer up plenty of buzz-worthy announcements.

But back in the day (the day being 2000-2006, in this installment), E3 was king. If you’ve read part 1, you know that the show was started in the mid 1990’s, and it grew steadily into the biggest single event of the year for the press, gamers, developers, harried PR people, and the “booth babes” as they were called. The early 2000’s continued the trend, with ever-increasing attendance rates and marketing budgets.

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Last time we took a look at the original trilogy of Prince of Persia games, and now we move onto the era of Ubisoft. The French developer took the franchise in a new direction, while maintaining the original feel the series was known for.

The Sands of Time

Despite the mainly negative reaction to the first 3D Prince of Persia, when publishing giant Ubisoft picked up the rights to the franchise it decided to…

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I can’t wait for my copy of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots but I don’t want to say goodbye to elite agent Solid Snake, whom we’ve grown to love while following his adventures.

We pray that rumors of an end are not true and continue to pose theories about why the series could never end.  Even so, as a preemptive memorial to help cope with the denial that this may be the absolute last game for Snake, here is a look at the MGS franchise....

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Nearly every successful video game series has a mascot, a character who immediately calls to mind a genre of games or perhaps a company. They’re instantly recognizable and, more often than not, prompt fond memories of classic games.

Mario, Sonic, Pikachu and Pyramid-head are some of the more recognizable figures, but there are plenty of other memorable mascots who often get pushed aside.  These are mascots from some really entertaining and enjoyable games that might not have enjoyed the same popularity as other series. Classic gamers may remember some of our five favorite obscure mascots.

Keep reading for the full list…

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Naruto has sadly succumbed to the same fate as Sailor Moon and Dragonball. It became a worldwide hit. That’s not the bad part though, the bad part is what happens after becoming a worldwide hit - the merchandising.

Companies decide that, since a series is so beloved, the franchise becomes this mystical money-tree. They have to quickly harvest as much fruit as possible before fans get smart/grow up and it all rots away.

Which often results in subpar games. Games so wretched that you wouldn’t buy them even if they were in a $5 discount bin at GameStop.

Every once in a while though, developers and publishers will get things right. A licensed property will produce a good game. Lucky for Naruto fans, this has happened quite a few times and for quite a few systems. So today Important Importables will look at some of the more successful games based on the series.

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If you’re a fan of music video games, then chances are you’re a Bemani fan without even realizing it. In Japan the term has become synonymous with music games, but it specifically refers to the music video games created by Konami. This division of Konami handles 10 different game series which all require music and intense player interaction to play.

In fact, many of the Bemani titles have been the inspiration for other music video games that have come to light in recent years. Also we can’t forget that the localization of Dance Dance Revolution is what brought dancing games to North America and helped game publishers and developers realize that audiences outside of Japan were ready for these kinds of games.

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At seeing the list of top-selling games for 2007, the first thing I saw that made me scour the internet for confirmation was that Wii Play took the #2 spot.  I know it has been out since February 12, 2007, and had more time to collect sales, but come on. This game got mediocre reviews across the board, and Mario Party 8 didn’t fair a lot better. 

Where is Bioshock?  Where is Forza 2?  Where is The Orange Box?  Where are all the games that we hardcore gamers look for?  Well son, the times they are a changing.  I think the Seth Scheisel, of the NY Times has hit this one on the head: critically praised single-player games that appeal to hardcore gamers are being outsold by multiplayer games that appear to a less hard-core audience (and critics).

Take a look at the list…

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As part of their thousandth issue celebration, renowned Japanese videogame magazine Weekly Famitsu discussed Nintendo’s past and future with Shigeru Miyamoto.

Miyamoto discussed what he and others at Nintendo felt were the main failings of the Gamecube controller and the impetus for creating the Wii remote.

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