General gaming

General gaming

When Sports Invade Other Genres

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 06:09 PM PDT

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1UP COVER STORY

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JULY 23 | THE WIDE WORLD OF VIDEO GAME SPORTS

When Sports Invade Other Genres

Cover Story: How a well-placed minigame can do some good.

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ike a bite of ginger during a sushi feast, minigames can oftentimes act as a much-needed palate cleanser throughout the course of a larger experience. When a plot gets too heavy or the mechanics become too intense, allowing the player a moment of solace via completely new forms of gameplay is a welcome breath of fresh air. And because our cover story this week is focused on all manner of sports, I thought that it'd be fitting to chronicle some of the most notable moments of sporting in games of an entirely different genre. Jeremy already covered Blitzball in his great piece on video game sports that should be Olympic events, so there was no need to cover that one twice. And this is by no means a comprehensive list, so feel free berate me on the multitude of glaring omissions.

Snowboarding - Final Fantasy VII

PODCAST: The Dark Knight Rises -- Righteous or Risible?

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 04:41 PM PDT

If you're tired of talking about The Dark Knight Rises with your closest friends, why not listen to us talk about it for you. IGN editors Justin Davis and Mitch Dyer join 1UP's Jose Otero and Marty Sliva in the studio to talk about spoilers for the latest Batman film. Tune in for 40-minutes of uninterrupted discussion about (SPOILERS!)Bane's voice, Ann Hathaway, and the notion of a prison that functions as a spiritual Lazarus pit.

What did you think of The Dark Knight Rises? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

Download the Games, Dammit! Batman Spoiler-cast Here!

Video Game Sports That Should Be Olympic Events

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 12:52 PM PDT

Feature

1UP COVER STORY

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JULY 23 | THE WIDE WORLD OF VIDEO GAME SPORTS

Video Game Sports That Should Be Olympic Events

Cover Story: If people were competing for the gold in these imaginary events, we'd be en route to London right now.

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or couch-bound types, the only thing better than video games based on sports are video games that include sports which flip the middle finger to any sense of realism and go beyond the bounds of sensibility, reason, or physical possibility. Meanwhile, in the world of real sports, we know that the Olympic Games constantly integrate new events and challenges into their rules. So we were thinking: If people can become world heroes for chucking a ball of iron a few feet or sweeping ice, imagine the cheers if we replaced synchronized swimming with some of these far more interesting video game-based events? Sure, none of these activities actually exist, but aren't the Olympics all about blazing new trails of athleticism? We know the Olympic Committee is already thinking ahead to future years. So, while they're contemplating how to make 2016 even more amazing than this year, we respectfully tender these suggestions. The Olympic Games may be the greatest athletic competition on the planet, but the following five video game-based sports could make the Olympics even greatest-er.

Spot Art

Tony Hawk HD Review: Skating By

Posted: 24 Jul 2012 11:12 AM PDT

If there's one video game that claimed a little too much of my free time, it's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 -- a game I played for countless hours on the Sega Dreamcast. As expected, the Sega port of the series looked decidedly better than its Sony counterpart, but its visual superiority felt slightly undermined by the Dreamcast's uncomfortable d-pad -- a rigid piece of plastic that would often grind my left thumb into raw hamburger after long play sessions. I learned to play on despite the pain simply because I adored the THPS sequel. So naturally an opportunity to revisit those early days and review Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD piqued my interest.

THPS2 earned so much of my respect because of its emphasis on fluidity. The sequel revisited the lauded trick combo system of the original game and added some minor-but-still-necessary improvements. In the 32-bit era of video games, no other skateboarding title appeared to understand the importance of a flexible trick system -- this foundation gave players the ability to improvise their technique and create their own unbounded combinations on the fly. Once a player understood the arcade-like mechanics of THPS2, they could often put their imagination to the ultimate test.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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