PixlBit

How is making another option for playing the games of one console going halfway on it? If they wanted, they could do a Microsoft and say "If you don't like it, we have the PSP over there for you", but nope. They think of a way to widen the availability and audience of the system, and make it so you can get it for half the price while being able to play it on the tv and remote play your PS4 games from any tv in the house. Think of it this way: Which would you prefer, the Vita TV or the 2DS? Kinda a no contest situation, eh?

You do realize the reason for the expensive memory cards is to offset the production cost of the actual system that they sell to you for cheaper than it costs to make? That's the exact same reason why the new model, along with being lighter and thinner, has an LCD screen. It's to make it cheaper for the consumer. They're even cutting the prices of the memory cards, once again, because of the cheaper version coming out. And you only need a big memory card if you download your games, which the majority of can be bought physically too. The only game I've payed for and downloaded (apart from some PSP games that I had transferred from my PSP to my Vita) is the Atelier Totori package. You don't HAVE to download the games, so if money is an issue, pay the $15-20 for the cheapest card so you can save stuff (which is why they put on the 1gb of internal storage), and just keep your games physical. Simple solution.

I even just looked it up. The first game to implement a cover system like Gears has in a 3D third person shooter was a game called Winback for the Nintendo 64. Players could not move and shoot though, they had to take cover before they could shoot. It was later refined in Metal Gear Solid 2 by having cover as an optional means, but also having enemy AI use cover. In the end, the only thing Gears really did for the cover system in 3rd person shooters was make environments developed specifically for that and having one button used for going into cover. With the core of the cover system already developed, it was only a matter of time before someone implemented it. Using this line of thinking, Uncharted 2 (which I do agree with being on the list) should be given just as much credit for have a vertical cover element with being able to hang from the environment. I've played Gears. I didn't have much of an opinion of it one way or the other, as it was a good game with promise, but any promise it had was dragged down by the ridiculousness in the characters and gore. The two things balanced each other out for me. I enjoyed the gameplay. But I'm not going to give it credit other games deserves.

It seems you keep on mixing up influential and important. Influential is affecting how other games and made and other aspects put into them. I'd agree every game on this list is influential. But important? That means it is something that needs to be done or experienced by people or was a major shift in history. Not in how games were developed, but in the history of gaming. 

Grand Theft Auto 3 is important I agree, because it shifted the public's view on games, largely in a negative direction. Wal-Marts finally started checking IDs for age when selling M games, and it was an overall controversial game. It's an important point in gaming history, even if someone plays it and thinks it sucks. 

Resident Evil 4 is important, because it was the the catalyst for the near-death of the horror genre that Resident Evil 1 brought to the world of gaming. It wasn't until Dead Space came out that the genre was breathed new life.

Knights of the Old Republic, it made a big name for Western RPGs, and combined the concept that tabletop RPGs had of a d20 with the existing RPG format. Sure, Neverwinter Nights and some other games had been Western RPGs before KotOR, but KotOR was what put them on the map.

Devil May Cry, I will admit I can't really say anything on as I never played it or payed much attention to it. It's something I want to fix sometime when money and time allows.

The reason I did put down Kingdom Hearts, was because it was, in essence, the first large cross-culture, cross-media, gaming experience. It combined the American-based Disney properties with the Japan-based Final Fantasy property, giving something that could appeal to Japanese and American gamers and non-gamers alike. It was also the first time putting together game worlds with movie worlds in a video game. Sure, there had been movie-based games before, but not a game with both things from games and movies together, if that makes sense. 

So see, there's things that are influential, and then things that are important. They should not be mixed up though. I'm not wanting to be a jerk, I just am a stickler for that sort of difference, especially in gaming, because as someone who wants to get into the industry, I want to make something important eventually, not something influential. And I wouldn't want something I made that just had some influences on other thing being called important over something truly important, same as how I wouldn't want something important I made being overlooked for something influential being called important.

The thing I think irked me the most about some of the choices, is the way the title of the article is "most important". The way it comes off to me is saying these games are the only ones that could have done this. If Gears hadn't come along, there would have eventually be a game with the same cover mechanics and all that Gears "introduced". It's that type of thing. When the word "important" is used, it brings to mind something that MUST be done or experienced. Many of these games aren't. Here's an example from last gen of what could be some "important" titles: Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Halo (as much as I despise that bland series), possibly Kingdom Hearts 1, possibly Super Smash Bros Melee. These are games that have melded cultures, been moving art masterpieces, completely changed the way gaming works, etc. Halo was the start of the common FPS and the online multiplayer boom. Kingdom Hearts melded two iconic franchises of two different cultures, opening up people's eyes to new things. Ico and SotC... Nothing even needs to be said for those. Smash Bros is probably the most iffy on that list. 

Honestly, there really hasn't been many "important" games this generation that have completely changed gaming or affected people's lives in the way other games did last gen. There have been many influential titles, but honestly, any big title or special title this gen could have been skipped and it wouldn't overall affect the industry. Sorry if I sounded too harsh, just the wording completely made me think of something different than what you meant.

I sadly can't agree with much of this. The one's I can agree on are Uncharted 2, the Grand Theft Auto dlc (possibly since I haven't played it), and Arkham Asylum. Maybe Modern Warfare, but it hasn't stood the test of time, sadly. It was the start of the yearly rotation, and making things all about money rather than experience.

It's hard to really say that Western RPGs dominate the genre. Look at how broken so many of them are, with countless glitches, bugs, etc occuring. Then look at how smoothly almost every single JRPG plays. WRPGs may dominate in sales, but JRPGs dominate in quality, and as gamers, we should care about the quality over the quantity.

With Mario, if you mean 2D games as in 2D side-scrollers, I got some sorry news for ya, man... There's not that many still. There's Mario, Rayman, Dragon's Crown... I think that's pretty much all the main ones that have come after New Super Mario Bros Wii came out.

On the topic of Braid, I don't know what promotions you had seen for it, cause I sure never saw a commercial for it on tv like I do other AAA titles such as Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, and Splinter Cell.

I doubt many people spent $250 just to get a little sports simulator. More of what made Wii Sports special was that it bridged the gap between gamers and non-gamers in a household, giving them something they could do together. Sure, the Wii sold a lot, but not just because of Wii Sports.

Finally, Gears... Well, considering how the Xbox 360 came out so much earlier than the PS3 and the fact that Gears of War came out before the PS3 launched, you can't really say it gave it a "lead" over PS3... Calling Gears important is like calling Michael Vick important. It's glorifying something with one positive trait (it's cover system) and ignoring all the bad things (the unnaturally muscled behemoths of men, the curbstomping, the chainsaw rifle kills, etc) that are not needed at all.

I'm sorry, but it's really hard for me to see how these are all the most important games. The fact that you left off The Last of Us, one of the most cinematic games which is easily widely recognized as the best game this console generation, kinda throws it off. You may not have liked The Last of Us if you even played it, but it is undeniably a huge aspect of pushing what games are seen as by others: a beautiful experience that can pull at the heartstrings in the most powerful ways possible.

Great words Ben. I'm luckily in that boat of being someone who can game in public, while at the same time not being some little brat who mommy and daddy buy games for so that they don't have to be a parent. It's a pretty narrow age range, but hopefully that sort of positive stigma will be able to stick with my age group as games are getting closer to that magical line of "art/not art". 

I'm not normally a fan of the mature women designs such as Quiet or Bayonetta or the Dead or Alive or any fighters like it. I'm more into the cute and innocent, modest proportions type stuff. To put it bluntly, I'm more into youth (may explain why my girlfriend is a little over three years younger than me! haha!), but surprisingly I really like Quiet. I just can't put my finger on it. Her design has actually gotten me interested in MGS5 and I'm probably going to pick up the HD collection on PS3 if I get a job sometime soon.

Sadly, for those of us who want to make games, this is a hard thing to do, designing characters everyone likes. What I'm going to hope for with my biggest game would be, having an equal amount of main guys and girls, having armor that is actual armor, having moments where they are all equally fanservicey, and making sure both genders have elements that are what will make the opposite gender like them. And if sexism is called out... well, then those are the folks that are the clear-cut victimizers. That's the best we can do!

Ya, I'm not gonna say my story is completely original, as no story is truly original anymore. It kind of rips tiny things from tons of different stories, almost to the point of not really being able to pinpoint what it's taken from, and throws them together into one big story. Probably the biggest thing it takes cues from is a book called "Bunker 10" by I think J.A. Henderson if I remember correctly, and what it takes is mainly how part of the story is the group going through a military bunker where experiments are done, and I didn't really rip it from there, but it also helped me in understanding how to work time-travel without creating a universe-breaking paradox.

Now, the reason it's hard to write it is because I care so much about the characters. The whole story started as one dream, and then other dreams, albeit not with the same people, have pieced together to make it the big thing that it is. These are people I have gotten to know in my own little world, really. It's hard writing something terrible happening to a girl who for a time was literally my dream girl. I know from the snippets I've shared, it's hard for others just reading the bits to care about the characters in the way I do, but once I would finally have it all written, and would get it out as a game (if not by a studio I would start, then hopefully Naughty Dog would be up for it with a new type of art style), I would sure hope the people experiencing it would become attached to the characters like I have, and to feel terrible going through certain parts.

Hardy-har-har. Very funny. Good try at mocking. I'm offering to help a friend with no charge and even not caring about any credit, and you feel the need to make a lame joke. Congratulations on the immaturity there buddy. Now, no more replying to your comments as I don't want to litter up Ben's blog!

Sorry Ben, you know how some things go!

I just came on thinking of sending you message as one story-writer to another, only to find a blog! I'll just ask it here, since it does kind of relate since you said there's disturbing parts coming into the game later. One of the biggest problems I've had lately, is whenever I feel like writing up another section/scenario for my story, I keep on going back to a really dark, grim, and disturbing section (one I have on here that you've commented on, that's probably enough to remind you) and just feel kinda bummed after remembering or reading it, and lose the will to write that I had just had. Has this happened to you any, and how do you get around it if it has? It's almost like a buzzkill of my urge to write, even though I know it's an essential piece of the story.

Now, onto your game. I'm still waiting for the final product before playing it, and if I have a job by then, or whenever i get one, will happily do a donation for the title if you have a means for that set up. I know you plan on it being free, but setting up something so people who enjoy it can donate if they want would be a good idea I would think. That way everyone can get it, and people who have the spare money and enjoyed it can reward you for your hard work!

Finally, if you want to cut down on some work-load for you, I'd gladly proofread everything you have for your game for spelling and grammar. I am 100% sincere here in saying I'm not trying to brag or anything, but my spelling skills are one of my more natural talents, and I would love to be able to help cut down on some work for you, one friend to another. I just thought I would put the offer out there for you, and if you want to take it, feel free to with no worries, but if you want to do it yourself, don't feel like it's an insult. Just trying to help some! Looking forward to whenever the final product is released!

Alas Ben, not having any real musical experience, and my only musical creation being a catchy Persona-suitable tune in the Vita app Imaginstruments (which you can not save any songs or anything, dumb!), I can not help here. If Imaginstruments ever gets a way to save the samples. I'll definitely send one your way! It's not very long, just a few second sample, but can be used as decent battle music for a creepy area!