Author: VGC | John

John Scalzo has been writing about video games since 2001, and he co-founded Warp Zoned in 2011. Growing out of his interest in game history, the launch of Video Game Canon followed in 2017.

Zelda: Majora’s Mask is at the Top of Slant Magazine’s 2020 Update to Their “100 Best Video Games of All Time”

Slant Magazine recently published a new update to their list of “The 100 Best Video Games of All Time,” and it looks like not much has changed since 2018.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, the quirky and somewhat-polarizing sidequel to Ocarina of Time, took the top spot once again. While Link’s adventure in Termina doesn’t usually rank that high on other “Best Games” lists, Slant’s reshuffled Top Ten includes a lot of the usual big hitters… Final Fantasy VI (at #2), Super Mario Bros. 3 (at #3), Tetris (at #5), Metroid Prime (at #7), and Resident Evil 4 (at #8).

Old standbys may populate the top of the list, but Slant also elevated several more recent titles above the fray. A handful of titles were even added to a “Best Games” list for the first time… IO Interactive’s Hitman 2 (#97), Lucas Pope’s Return of the Obra Dinn (#53), Mobius Digital’s Outer Wilds (#37), and ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium (#32).

Slant Magazine’s latest rendition of “The 100 Best Video Games of All Time” will be included in the Video Game Canon’s upcoming Version 4.0 update.

Outer Wilds Wins “Best Game” at the 2019-2020 BAFTA Games Awards

The Goose had one last chance to steal a “Game of the Year” trophy at this morning’s 2019-2020 BAFTA Games Award, but alas, the prize for “Best Game” went to Mobius Digital’s Outer Wilds. The planetary exploration game also claimed two other BAFTAs, winning in the “Original Property” and “Game Design” categories.

One other game, ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium, also managed to collect three trophies during this year’s ceremony. The investigative RPG racked up wins for “Narrative,” “Music,” and “Debut Game.”

However, House House did not return home empty handed. The Australian developer’s Untitled Goose Game was selected as the winner in the “Family” category by the BAFTA committee.

As with this year’s other awards shows, the 2019-2020 BAFTA Games Awards was a digital-only affair, and you can watch a replay of the entire ceremony after the break (alongside a complete list of this year’s winners and nominees) or on YouTube.

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Bite-Sized Game History: 80s and 90s Board Games, Wolfenstein 3D’s Treasure Trove, and ThinkGeek’s Last April Fool’s Day

I’m sure some people may enjoy it, but I am definitely not a fan of April Fool’s Day. I don’t know, calling someone a fool after you’ve deliberately lied to them just seems dumb. Pretty much the only thing this crummy holiday had going for it was the annual catalog of gag gifts from Thinkgeek. But this year we can’t even have that after the online storefront was shut down in June of 2019.

We’ll talk about the April Fool’s Day that could have been in this edition of Bite-Sized Game History, as well as a few video game-inspired board games, and just how much gold is hidden in Wolfenstein 3D.

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Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Wins “Video Game of the Year” at the 2019-2020 SXSW Gaming Awards

The cancellation of this year’s South By Southwest feels like a distant memory, but in the weeks since the announcement was made, a few people had started to wonder if the winning envelopes from the 2019-2020 SXSW Gaming Awards would also remain locked away forever. Thankfully, the festival’s organizers recently fired off a press release that revealed all the winners.

Drumroll, please…

From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice won “Video Game of the Year,” and the one-armed ninja also snuck away with a win for “Excellence in Visual Achievement.” Only ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium (the “Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award” and “Excellence in Narrative”) and Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding (“Excellence in Musical Score” and “Excellence in Technical Achievement”) were able to earn more than a single award from this year’s voters.

“Gaming is a key part of the creative ecosystem that brings us together, and now more than ever it provides us with a unique sense of escape and adventure in uncertain times,” said Hugh Forrest, the Chief Programming Officer for South By Southwest. “We were devastated that we weren’t able to celebrate our honorees in person with the cancellation of our event, but glad that we’re still able to share their achievements and creative works with our community.”

A complete list of winners and nominees from the 2019-2020 SXSW Gaming Awards can be found after the break.

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Finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020 Have Been Announced

The finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020 have been announced… and they’re on fire.

This year’s honorees include titles from every era of gaming, though the Star Power of Guitar Hero looms large over the competition. But that’s OK, because there’s a few other firestarters vying for a spot in this year’s class, including Midway’s NBA Jam, Mojang’s Minecraft, and Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Melee.

There’s also the groundbreaking GoldenEye 007, the unforgettable Nokia Snake, the edutaining Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and the addicting Bejeweled. Rounding out this year’s crop of finalists is Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and a trio of classics from the early 80s (Centipede, Frogger, and King’s Quest).

This isn’t the first opportunity to join the World Video Game Hall of Fame for some of these games, and fans will have the chance to make their voice heard by submitting a Player’s Choice Ballot. The public can vote once per day now through April 2nd, and the three games that receive the most votes will join the 29 other ballots submitted by members of the Hall of Fame’s International Selection Advisory Committee.

The Strong Museum’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games, the entity that oversees the World Video Game Hall of Fame, will announce the inductees from the Class of 2020 at a date to be determined in a special ceremony. For now, you can learn more about this year’s finalists after the break.

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Untitled Goose Game Wins “Game of the Year” at 2019-2020 GDC Awards

The 2020 Game Developers Conference isn’t happening in San Francisco this year due to global health concerns, but the event’s organizers still put together a a pre-recorded version of the Game Developers Choice Awards, and House House’s Untitled Goose Game won “Game of the Year.”

In addition to The Goose running away with yet another “Game of the Year” award, the rest of the indie world had a pretty good night as well.

Hempuli’s Baba Is You collected statuettes for “Best Design” and the “Innovation Award,” ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium danced away with “Best Debut” and “Best Narrative,” and thatgamecompany’s Sky: Children of the Light claimed the “Audience Award.”

But the most-decorated game of the night was Remedy’s Control, which won in three categories. The mindbending action-adventure game was honored with awards for “Best Visual Art,” “Best Audio,” and “Best Technology.”

A full list of winners, nominees, and Honorable Mentions from the 2019-2020 Game Developers Choice Awards, as well as a video replay of the show, can be found after the break.

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See the Nominees from the Possibly-Canceled 2019-2020 SXSW Gaming Awards

The organizers of South By Southwest officially canceled the 2020 edition of the massive arts festival on March 6, and that also means this year’s SXSW Gaming Awards will not go on as planned.

Wil Wheaton and Janina Gavankar were originally picked to co-host the ceremony, which would have taken place tonight, but with no further updates from SXSW, it’s possible we’ll never find out which games were slated to win. However, that shouldn’t stop us from honoring all the previously-announced nominees.

Remedy’s Control and Kojima Productions’s Death Stranding led the way with seven nominations apiece, but Kojima’s latest mindbender wasn’t nominated for “Video Game of the Year.” Instead, Control was grouped with Capcom’s Devil May Cry 5, ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium, From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order for SXSW’s most-coveted award.

You can find a complete list of nominees from the 2019-2020 SXSW Gaming Awards in all categories after the break.

UPDATE (3/26/20): The winners of the 2019-2020 SXSW Gaming Awards were announced in a press release.

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Listology 3.0: The Superest Mario Games of All Time for Mario Day

Today might not be Mario’s birthday, but Nintendo has been celebrating March 10th (“MAR10”) as Mario Day since 2016.

Fans have been receiving little surprises from the consolemaker ever since, and as a big fan of Nintendo’s mustachioed mascot myself, I wanted to see what Version 3.0 of the Video Game Canon had to say about Mario’s greatest adventures. Does one of the classic side-scrollers like Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World reign supreme? Or perhaps critics prefer a 3D adventure like Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Galaxy 2?

There’s only one way to find out…

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Nintendo PlayStation Sells at Auction for $360,000

The Sony PlayStation launched with a $300 price tag in 1995, famously undercutting Sega’s planned $400 price point for the Saturn. So it’s only fitting that in 2020, the fabled Nintendo PlayStation prototype sold at auction this afternoon with a winning bid of $300,000.

The new owner of this rare artifact is currently a mystery, but the winning bid may have been placed by Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, who wrote about his interest in the auction on Twitter back in February.

The Nintendo PlayStation was previously owned by Dan Diebold, who took it “around the world and back again” after his father discovered it among some “junk” that had once belonged to former Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Olaf Olafsson:

At one time, this particular unit was owned by the founder, first president, and first chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. Olaf Olafsson. Olaf eventually left Sony to join Advanta Corporation, and became its president in 1998. A little over a year later, Olaf left Advanta to join Time Warner — but he left his Nintendo PlayStation prototype behind at Advanta. Roughly around this time, Advanta filed for bankruptcy and began gathering up everything in their corporate office to sell at auction. As the story goes, the Nintendo Play Station prototype was grouped together with some miscellaneous items that were boxed up with a group lot, the contents of which were veiled. A nice Easter egg for the winning bidder, indeed!

By far, this is arguably one of the most notorious, mysterious, and controversial artifacts of the video game industry. This prototype has been around the world and back again, admired and appreciated by video game enthusiasts from all over. Even though this is the closing of this portion of its narrative, it will continue to remain a pivotal piece of video game history no matter where it ends up.

According to the auctioneers at Heritage Auctions, the purchaser of the Nintendo PlayStation will also have to pay a $60,000 “Buyer’s Premium” on top of the winning bid, bringing the total to $360,000.

UPDATE (3/7/20): Forbes is reporting that Greg McLemore, the founder of Pets.com, is the mystery man behind the winning bid in yesterday’s Nintendo PlayStation auction. McLemore is an avid collector of arcade machines, game consoles, and original artwork, and he told the publication he plans to open a permanent museum to house his collection.

The Best of “The Best Games of the 2010s”

The dawn of a new decade is a great time to reflect back on what the previous ten years were like, and that’s exactly what two dozen publications did over the last few months.

Hundreds of titles (337, to be exact) were selected as part of the Best Games of the 2010s when looking back at lists such as Mashable’s “15 Favorite Games of the Decade,” Paste Magazine’s “The 100 Best Videogames of the 2010s,” Polygon’s “The 100 Best Games of the Decade,” and many others.

Like the original Video Game Canon, this Best Games of the Decade list is a statistical meta-analysis of multiple lists using our C-Score formula. The rank order was compiled by measuring each game’s Average Ranking across every list, as well as the Appearance Frequency of how many lists it was included on.

Average Ranking + (100 – Appearance Frequency) = C-Score

The lower the C-Score, the higher a game is ranked in the Best Games of the 2010s. But which games were the absolute best? You can find out below.

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