The Gamer's Quarter

[Lestrade]

I really hate these lists. They are pointless.

That being said, I really dislike Play as well (though I own four or five issues). I mean, if I have the urge to look at some cel-shaded boobies, its frighteningly pedophelic Play Anime section is good for that, but...

I hope Faithless can smack Mr. Halverson in the head and tell him that not every game he reviews has to be a gushing, gorgeous, eight-out-of-ten right out of the box (Enter the Matrix).

[OtakupunkX]

[Shapermc]

[OtakupunkX]

Personally, I don't think there should've been a seperate 8-bit list. It's pandering to the people who see 8-bit games as some kind of fashionable thing.

[Shapermc]

[Faithless]

[Dracko]

I don't know about you, but the guy who loves all films and books unconditionally is the guy I do my best to avoid, because I know I won't hear a single edifying thing on them no matter what.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Lockeownzj00]

that statement is so misguided that i just feel sorry that you revel in the lack of knowledge. sounds to me like youve got an axe to grind! i simply just can not find a logical reason to back up your statement besides, "yeah, when i went to college, these guys on my floor who claimed to be movie buffs were dicks, man."

but it's cool, keep trying to find reasons why you were justified in pre-judging this guy.

[Dracko]

I didn't call them dicks now, did I? I know dicks. I talk with dicks. Dicks, I can have a conversation with, because they have an opinion and can back it up beyond meaningless adulation. That's beyond happycore.

I'm judging him on the basis of his magazine. It's a horrible one. It's also a very useless one. He shouldn't be writing reviews if he can only rehash the exact same praise for practically every single game that comes along. It gets us nowhere.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[dessgeega]

i'm inclined to agree with dracko.

it's hard to achieve critical analysis when you experience a blind admiration of every game you play.
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[dhex]

well, that and if there's no differentials, then everything is nothing and nothing is everything.

it's the difference between the guy who says "yeah, i listen to a bunch of stuff" and the guy who says "i like all kinds of music" with a really vapid smile cause, like, he was rocking some rusted root and then busted out the bob marley. he's crazy! whoa!
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[OtakupunkX]

[SuperWes]

I think you need to look at both ends of the spectrum then. Gamefan's EICs ended up going in two different directions with their magazines. One the one end there's Play, which is Halverson's praise-all game magazine, and on the other end there's GameGo!, which was ECM (Eric Mylonas)'s thang. GameGo as a magazine was was closer to Hardcore Gamer, but was leaps and bounds better. Unfortunately, it was just so negative that reading it made me want to quit being a gamer whereas Play actually gets me excited for games and happy that this is my chosen hobby.

Halverson's articles are at their best when what he says about a game is cursory to his message about the industry. I know there are a lot of people who feel the exact opposite way, but I think he's got a very good perception of what gets ignored by the general public and why, and goes out of his way to champion smaller games by actually getting into the whys of their significance.

Someone made a good point about how this list might exist primarily to sell a few more copies of Psychonauts, and really is this such a bad thing? The game deserves more than it got and Microsoft hasn't exactly been kind to it by dropping it from their publishing schedule and then leaving it off of the backwards compatability list. If Play wasn't there to push games like Psychonauts, Stranger's Wraith, GunValkyrie, and Billy Hatcher, would anyone else in a mainstream US gaming mag do it? I'm certainly glad that I gave all of these games a chance as they're some of my favorites of this generation.

I hear what you're saying about people who like everything. I get accused of being one of those people a lot, but if everyone in the world only enjoyed the cream of the crop there'd be no reason for niche games to exist at all.

In conclusion, everyone should buy Skydiving Extreme today. It's an ugly-as-sin $10 PS1 game that features gameplay that's like a competitive dancing game in the sky.

-Wes
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[Mr. Mechanical]

I agree with Dracko's general point about people liking everything not being good conduits for proper criticism. However I don't read videogame magazines for their review sections, I can get that online for free and in a more timely fashion. I typically only read a game magazine anymore these days when there's a feature on the cover for a game that looks interesting to me, and Play has had a few of those in the past.

I don't fault Halverson for really, really, really liking videogames because I don't look to his reviews when making purchasing decisions. Whenever I do read one of his reviews I just get the impression that he really, truly enjoys what he's doing and where he's at in his life so more power to him. I can only hope to reach a point like that in my life someday. His is a magazine run by people who love videogames for people who also love videogames. It's not that hard to figure out.

[Tablesaw]

[wourme]

I've also found value in Play Magazine in the past without taking its reviews very seriously. What made me drop my subscription a while back was that the art and ads gradually got so obnoxiously racy that I was embarassed to have it around.

I'm still looking out for another magazine equivalent to GMR--that's one that I thought did a lot of things right, and I was very disappointed when it ended. (And the publisher made it even worse by switching my subscription over to one of those stupid "things that men like" magazines.)

[OtakupunkX]

I like Edge. It's pretty. For a magazine.

[SuperWes]

[ApM]

[TheRumblefish]

[Cycle]

I think that list is very silly, but oh well!

I liked Psychonauts at first, but the later areas bugged me. Take the Milkman level for instance. Sure, the concept and level design were incredible, but it was one of the most boring levels I've ever played. It was basically just running back and forth finding the items you needed to get past the new guards. Many of the other levels had similar problems, like that board game one. The levels started being made up of a bunch of fetch quests. It's a good thing the writing was so damn good or I probably would have just stopped playing.

I also liked Robot: Rocket on Wheels! I kinda wish it stuck stronger with the theme park theme, though. The first area was so much fun! I played that more than all the other areas in the game put together. Probably on the roller coaster creation kit alone.

Mario 64 remains my favourite 3D platformer. There really hasn't been much out there that has caught my interest, but there are also lots of games I haven't played yet so hey...

[OtakupunkX]

[dhex]

i saw a dude reading black tail on the 6 train once. he was not embarassed in the slightest.

i was reading how to win friends and influence people today on the train, but i was embarassed a little. it's a really great paperback copy from the early 80s.
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[ryan]