Gaming Tier List
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Grant Pfost

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Mattel Classic Football

Editorials
Madden19 push the pile md

Sometimes, it’s the simple things that mean the most to us. The same can be said for video games. Some of the best, most addicting games can be such a basic concept, like Flappy Bird or Candy Crush. One of my better gaming memories is retro. It is the Mattel Classic Football handheld electronic game. The game is quite simple. You are on offense and there are three controls. You can either move up or down and move forward. That’s it. You move all the while the defenders are creeping towards you. You must weave your way in and out of the defense until you either get a touchdown or fail to after four downs. There was a time limit, and as you progress, the defense starts to move faster and it is tougher to move the ball. This game is so simple, and not difficult to pick up. In fact, I…

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I Miss the Mii Channel

Editorials
hac screenshot miimaker lookalike

There was something magical about creating your Mii. Picking out your hair, eyes, height weight, favorite color, it was all such a mystical experience. Soon, my Mii wasn’t enough. I had to have more. My brothers and I would binge-create Mii’s until our Mii Channel was full of a Mii mob. We would create Mii’s modeled after family, friends, and even characters from tv and movies. The Mii addiction was all too real. We needed help. Creating Mii’s was always entertaining. If you were bored, try creating some of the most absurd Mii’s as possible. It was such a creative, refreshing idea. The fun thing with a horde of Mii’s in your plaza was that they would pop up in your games. If you were playing Wii Sports, your created Mii’s would become your teammates or audience, and it was cool to see which ones made the cut. Taking on…

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Don’t Lose ‘Wii Sports’

Editorials
Wii Bowling

The other day my mind was racing, and somehow took me back to the days when I first owned the Nintendo Wii. It was a system sought after by so many, sold out practically everywhere since Nintendo didn’t meet supply with the insane demand for the console. The Wii was revolutionary, and I was ecstatic when my parents surprised me with one after dinner on a random evening. Naturally, the first game everyone came across on the Wii was Wii Sports, which came with the system and still holds up. Then I caught myself thinking – what if I lost this game over time? You can’t buy the single game by itself. If I lost the game, I would be without Wii Sports for the rest of my life. Wii Sports was an incredible way to show off the Wii’s motion controls for the first time. There were many different sports to…

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What Happened to ‘Guitar Hero’?

Editorials
Guitar hero world tour 20080715103139463

Okay, I admit it. I am not musically talented in the least bit. I would give anything to be able to sing like Hugh Jackman (he’s more than just Wolverine you know) or shred the guitar like Jimi Hendrix, but I physically cannot. I wasn’t fortunate enough to be born with that talent. But with Guitar Hero, anyone can be a rockstar. It was the only place on this earth where I could play the guitar and play it well. And now it is a distant memory. I know people who learned guitar after playing Guitar Hero. Some of them are even pretty good. It’s strange how a video game can do that, and it’s cool to think that a simple game has the potential to inspire people into learning the actual craft and potentially even become artists themselves. I am not one of those people. I don’t have the patience…

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Can Video Games be Used as a Training Tool?

Editorials
Gran Turismo sim

Recently I heard of a story about Formula 1 Racing. There was some race between an accomplished F1 racer and an Esports racer on a real-life track. If I’m betting money on this race, I’m throwing it all on the tried and true driver, the one who has raced in the physical world. I would have lost all of my money. The Esports driver won, beating the actual driver with years of experience by 0.6 seconds – unbelievable. The training from his video game sim was so realistic; he was able to drive a real F1 car better than a serious competitor in the racing realm. How else can video games be used as training? This may sound like something from a sci-fi movie, but video games may be the key to the future. Think about how advanced video games have become. They may be able to help us in all sorts…

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The DLC Craze

Editorials
marvels spider man the city that never sleeps chapters image block 01 ps4 us 13nov18

Oh, how the times have changed in the gaming realm. There once was a time where you bought a game for $60 and you were satisfied. You beat it to completion and were left feeling at peace, knowing that you achieved all you possibly could. Then somewhere along the line, the idea of DLC (downloadable content) slowly crept its way into the gaming world, and it has not only changed how we play games, but how developers make them as well. More often than not, if you want to play a game in full in today’s day and age, you have to fork over some extra dough. In addition to the $60 you already pay, you then have to pay $20 – $25 for that season pass to get all of the DLC that will be coming out in waves in the months ahead. And you aren’t going to not…

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‘Madden’ Predicts the Rams Will Beat the Pats

News
Madden19 one cut md

As has been done in the past, Electronic Arts did their yearly Super Bowl simulation, trying to predict this year’s winner. This Madden NFL 19 sim had the Rams beating the Patriots by a score of 30 – 27. Historically, the Madden Super Bowl sim has been pretty accurate. Since 2004, the simulation has been correct 10 out of 15 times, not bad for a video game. While Madden has shown to be accurate in past predictions, I am here to tell you Madden is wrong this year. As much as I would love to see my UGA boy Todd Gurley tear it up this Sunday and hoist that Lombardi trophy, I don’t see it happening. There is one thing that video games cannot replicate – determination and spirit. Tom Brady and the Patriots are determined and motivated like never before. They feel like they are underdogs and that everyone doubts them, and that terrifies me. The…

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Why is ‘Super Smash Bros.’ Adored by All?

Editorials
Captain Falcon

The first Super Smash Bros. changed the game (pun intended) when it came out in 1999. Never before had characters across other games come together like that. The concept of the game was relatively simple: various characters duke it out on stages designed after each character’s respective games. Who would’ve thought how much impact this would have on the gaming community. There are so many things that make Smash Bros. adored by the gaming community. One of the first is the story mode. Having to battle your way against enemy after enemy on their home turf with limited lives can be challenging. All of the times you get eliminated off that stage makes it worth it when you complete the story in full. That Master Hand was such a tough last opponent, and watching the hand explode and crumble away is such a satisfying feeling, no matter how many times you defeat…

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Who Else Needs an Open-World Joker Game?

Editorials
Joker Batman Arkham

Rumors are flying around on the internet about a new Batman Court of Owls game, but that’s not what we are here to talk about today (but we will at some point). Instead, I want to talk about an awesome concept that I think any Batman fan would enjoy, no matter if you know what the Court of Owls is or if you don’t even know Batman’s secret identity. Upon thinking about what DC has planned for this upcoming year, and in particular their Joker origin movie, I thought of a great video game idea. I want to explore Gotham as one of the greatest villains of all time – Joker. Yes, you get to play as Joker in a few video games like the Injustice series or even a little bit in the Batman: Arkham series, but never has he had his own game. How cool would it be…

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‘Call of Duty’: Movie in the Works

News
CoD Ghost

I will be 100% transparent. I don’t even remember the last Call of Duty game I have purchased. I used to be a loyal fan, building up anticipation for the new release every November, but at some point, I couldn’t justify buying it anymore. Each game seemed to be worse and worse than the previous, and I vowed that I wouldn’t buy another unless it was worth it. Now I played alongside some friends because when someone needs a partner to take on zombies, you aren’t going to say no. I feel like the franchise became about pumping out games and setting money records with every release instead of making quality ones. I honestly have no idea how they made four Black Ops games. I never got the same feeling I had gotten when playing any of the Modern Warfares or World at War. The newer releases didn’t do it for me. A movie is…

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