mario

...There have been hundreds of sports video games throughout the years. In less than forty years weve gone from Pong to MLB 2K6 for the Xbox 360. But the evolution of games hasnt always meant better games. Just because a game has flashier interfaces and better graphics, it doesnt necessarily make for good gameplay. Thats the reason that many PS2 and Xbox games are doomed to linger in discount bins at your local game store, while classics like NHL 94 and Tecmo Super Bowl continued to be obsessed over by sports fans. Heres my Top 10 of all time:

10. Jordan vs. Bird (NES) - Was the one-on-one gameplay that great? No, not really. But the game was innovative with the three point competition and slam dunk contest long before it showed up anywhere else. For that alone it deserves a spot in the Top 10.

9. Madden 2005 (PS2, Xbox, GC) - The jump from '04 to '05 was HUGE. '05 introduced the hit-stick control and defensive playmaker to bring the defensive control on par with the offense. Franchise mode is pretty much the same as '04, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. My favorite thing to do is build a team from scratch. I love taking the worst team in the league and building them into a powerhouse. You can move them to a new city and build a new stadium, then draft real college players from NCAA '05. Overall, I liked this game more than any other Madden. 2006 just didn't improve upon this game enough for me.

8. Punch-Out (NES) what kid born in the late 70s or early 80s DIDNT spend hours on end trying to beat Tyson with Little Mac?

7. Madden 94 (Genesis, SNES) - Based on m...more

Turning a Non-Gamer Into a Gamer

... PC from the 1980's almost always catered to causal "simple" games because that's all they could handle.

Older gamers started off with casual games like Asteroids, Pac-Man, Breakout, Pong and other hit classics. Some of us got the gaming bug from the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), playing simplified games like Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong and Duck Hunt. As time passed we increased our level of difficulty and purchased Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, contra, Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda. We started slow, grew in intensity and before long we were game addicts.

Today we are in the seventh-generation of gaming. This generation includes such systems as the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. Competition for the gaming market is hot and each system is vying for your gaming dollar. Each generation releases larger games boasting more hours of play, graphically stunning 3D environments, Dolby Digital Surround Sound and complex control schemes. The barrier to entry has never been larger for a non-gamer.

To entice a gamer into our seventh-generation of gaming we must start simple as we ourselves did so many years ago. The older the non-gamer the more difficult it will be to break their stereotypical view of "a gamer." We must teach them that it's not all first-person shooting bloody gun battles. Not all gamers want to shoot aliens. A non-gamer may have a short gaming attention span so you must hook them slowly and use repetition to bring them around to your ways of thinking.

There are two battlefronts to attack: The home console system and the Macintosh/PC. Do not allow your own gaming style to affect games you persuade them to play. Keep an open mind and allow them to explore their own gaming habits, be patient and keep a close eye on what games they react to the best.

A casual game may be something as simple as solitaire, sudoku, hearts, minesweeper or FreeCell. The next level of complexity will be Tetris, Zuma, Feeding Frenzy and more complex puzzle or side-scrolling adventure games. If you're target non-gamer enjoys a few hands of solitaire or hearts they've already got the bug for gaming ...more

The Sony PS3 To pack "Too Much" Of A Punch

...e, a video game system.

BusinessWeeks article was titled, This PlayStation May Play Too Much. It basically spoke of the fear that with all of these features packed in, and a high cost of production, the standard consumers may be afraid of the Playstation 3 in fear of not knowing how to use it and what to do with it specifically. This is going to be a complicated and complex machine, argues BusinessWeek. They compared the PS3 to another endeavor Sony attempted not too long ago; "Exhibit A: the PSX. Released in Japan in 2003, it was designed to appeal to a broader audience than the hard-core gamers attracted to the PS2. It comes with a 250-gigabyte hard drive and a simple Web br...more

sonic Online Games

...games on next generation consoles such as the Xbox 360, ps2, ps3, Gamecube, Nintendo DS, PSP and Nintendo Wii.

The indigo blue hedgehog creates fun and excitement for all the video games and he brings some friends along for the fun. Some friends included are Miles Tails Prower, Amy Rose Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, Knuckles Echidna and Cream the Rabbit. And, of course, So...more