Sometimes, a game’s secrets are buried so deep that they take decades to find. But as long as you know where to look, other secrets are sitting out for all the world to see and just waiting for an eager player to discover them.
Let’s examine three games from the latter group in this edition of Bite-Sized Game History.
Eurogamer‘s Johnny Chiodini and Aoife Wilson (and a bunch of special guests) will debate “The Best Games of the Last 20 Years” during a special panel at this year’s PAX East convention:
Eurogamer turns 20 this year, and to celebrate we’re coming to PAX East to figure out what the best games of the last 20 years are. Eurogamer hosts Johnny Chiodini and Aoife Wilson will be joined by a panel of special guests, each of whom will make a case for their favourite game released since 1999 – and we’ll need YOUR help deciding which of these is the best of the best!
As always, PAX East 2019 will take place at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, and the “Eurogamer 20th Anniversary Celebrations: The Best Games of the Last 20 Years” panel will be held in the Dragonfly Theatre on Thursday, March 28.
UPDATE (4/1/19): The book has closed on another PAX East, so now we finally know which games were chosen by the panel.
Making the cut as part of “The Best Games of the Last 20 Years” were 1999’s Shenmue, 2000’s Deus Ex, 2000’s The Sims, 2001’s Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, 2011’s Dark Souls, and 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
A replay of the discussion can be viewed on Twitch.
Most games won’t keep track of your High Score anymore, but the desire to climb the local leaderboard was once a huge draw to arcade players the world over.
This edition of Bite-Sized Game History looks back at one of those competitors and their complete mastery of Space Invaders, as well as the sinister shenanigans that were almost included in The Sims, and Shigeru Miyamoto’s influence on the original SimCity.
The latest VGC Essay contemplates the futility of determining the best-selling video game of all time and The Sims. Here’s a teaser…
What is the best-selling video game of all time? It’s a surprisingly hard question to answer as game publishers, unlike Hollywood film studios, refuse to release sales figures for their games on a title-by-title basis. But for years now, the conventional narrative has been that The Sims became the best-selling PC game of all time in 2002 after dethroning Myst, the graphical adventure game that sold more CD-ROM drives than every other piece of “multimedia” software combined.
Developed by Maxis, The Sims delivered a smaller, more personal, simulation that differed greatly from the macro scale of designer Will Wright’s previous games, SimCity and SimCity 2000. Instead of pulling the camera back, giving the “mayor” control of an entire city, The Sims moved the camera in close, allowing the player to interact with the day-to-day minutiae of a single family. Part Real World, part Demon Seed, and part Barbie Dream House, this approach allowed players to bypass the mayoral office and step right into the shoes of a god. However, it was a literal “Act of God” that encouraged developer Will Wright to create The Sims in the first place.
