What Makes Us Want To Be Gamers

A lot of us remember our very first video game rather fondly. While I’m not going to explain my own life story, I will say that I was first hooked on video games through my older cousins’ Sega Genesis systems, specifically the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Much of my interest in gaming as a whole came from the Yuji Naka-created mascot. It wasn’t the only set of games on the Genesis available to me at the time, but it was without question the series that hooked me. It began my own journey humbly, but in retrospect, it’s actually quite difficult to articulate why it was so interesting to me. This is a situation that many of us recall, but rarely ever examine deeply. Think about your first video game, the one that convinced you to pick up a controller and keep playing till the end credits, the one that convinced you to try another game afterward. What exactly was it about that first game that hooked you and urged you to keep playing from then till today? In essence, what appealed to you about that game that made you "a gamer"?


After their plane crashes in the middle of nowhere, a group of eight survivors are left stranded in the wilderness and must adapt in order to survive. As they wait to be rescued, they have to work together in order to avoid falling victim to the mysterious entities that surround them. It may have taken developer Fntastic a little longer than some would have liked to get The Wild Eight working as promised, but, for a low-budget crowd-funded game, the end result is pretty damn impress

If you haven’t already boarded the hype train for Minecraft Updates: Story Mode , the newest episode from Telltale Games might not convince you. The review that was done for the first episode ended with the hope that the following episode would be just as wonderful and expansive. Unfortunately, it didn't meet the standard appointed to it for a variety of reasons. This new episode taps into the lore, one that you would normally have had to guess playing the original game, delving into the world that Mojang had created for us. Depending on which member of the Order of the Stone you decided to pursue in the previous episode, you either begin the episode with Olivia (if you’re pursuing Ellegaard the Redstone Engineer) or Axel (if you’re pursuing Magnus the Griefer). While which character you begin with doesn’t necessarily matter at the beginning, the stories begin to change as you near the middle of the episode, causing you to have to play it twice in order to get a full understanding.

Minecraft: Story Mode strays from the more mature content that Telltale normally associates themselves with and manages to create a fun, family-friendly world for one with no real story. The episode is expertly done and gives players a perfect standalone game to the critically acclaimed game from Mojang. With the new lore introduced in the first episode, it's hard to believe what other new content will be available to us in the coming episodes. By focusing on a new concept that strays from their normally mature games, this episode paves the way for what is hopefully a great series from a great developer.


Like many other survival games set on deserted islands, Raft places a big emphasis on finding food and water. Some of the islands that players visit are also home to dangerous creatures like sharks and bears, which can make exploration both challenging and exciting due to the increased dramatic tension. Exploring and surviving with friends through the game's online multiplayer mode only makes for a more enjoyable experie


Its graphics are certainly nothing to write home about, but what it lacks in visual fidelity, it more than makes up for elsewhere. The game features a slew of old-school RPG mechanics and combines them with some of the more recent survival game concepts to great effect. Choices feel meaningful and gameplay is fluid which together leads to a wonderful experience whether playing on one's own or together with a fri

It wasn't meant to last though, as even though the 32/64 bit era only barely blurred the party lines, with every subsequent gaming generation, it became harder and harder to separate one system from another just by looking at the games on the store shelves. By the time that Peter Moore revealed a "GTA IV" tattoo on his arm at E3, the message was clear that Triple A titles had become too big and too expensive to only commit to one system or another and, outside of some in-house and privately published development teams, the idea of big name exclusives was a dying light in the night drowned out by the dawn of a new day.

The action from the first episode hasn't left at all and if anything, managed to speed itself enough where you practically have to do a second playthrough just to catch it again. There are plenty of moments that could have been explained more and it's upsetting that they weren't in the short time it took to finish the episode. Things like Olivia's disappointment in finally meeting her hero and Lukas' role in Jessie's group of friends could have been touched upon a little bit more but the fact that they weren't makes me fear for future episodes. It leaves you with a, "oh, that was it?" feeling that should never be felt while playing any game, especially right when you begin getting into the action and quickness of it all. Hopefully, the third episode will capitalize on a few more important moments within the main character’s development and slow down a little in order to give everyone the attention that they deserve.