Tetris

I'm not much into the college marching bands, I don't watch college football and no matter how amazing some say Drumline was, it has never occurred to me that I need to watch a marching band actually do anything.

This is a different matter entirely.

The Ohio State University pays tribute to beloved classic video games (and Halo) during the half-time show at the Ohio State University vs Nebraska game. Games honored at the show were Tetris, Pokémon, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, Halo, The Legend of Zelda and Pac-Man. Try not to jump out of your seat and cheer when Epona makes an appearance.

Bastion made a name for itself thanks to its beautiful aesthetic and the use of a narrator. But what other games could benefit from someone giving essentially a play-by-play of the action on the screen? Dorkly tries it with just a few popular franchises.

As a video game collector who's constantly on the lookout for the best deals, sometimes I'll come across some cool video game related novelties and paraphernalia. On a recent trip to Kohl's, I found a board game based on Tetris, Tetris Link that I couldn't pass up.

Someday someone is going to post a video of someone actually playing Minecraft and not just recreating games from his or her childhood. That said, this is pretty impressive. It is done is stop motion—the Tetris field is not a real game but footage of a simulated game—and given the sheer effort it would take to pull something like that off, it is worthy of at least a look.

Researchers from Trent University and the Division of Rehabilitation and Ageing at Nottingham University have found that some kinds of video games may help people with intellectual disabilities improve their ability to make decisions.

While Tim takes some time off to enjoy his new son, we present our very first bonus episode! In these deleted scenes from Episode 14, you'll hear a great segment on how casual games relate to Heather Chaplin’s GDC rant, and then we try to answer that classic gaming question “What is the Citizen Kane of Video Games?” Our answers will shock and amaze you. Featuring Chi Kong Lui, Mike Bracken, David Stone, and the very sleepy Tim Spaeth.

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Topic and Game References:

• Gears of War 2
• Tetris
• Xenosaga 2
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
• Wing Commander
• Civilization

 

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

Worst. Tetris. Ever.

Well, the worst I've played,

With practically every influential console titles origins in Japan and an equal amount of groundbreaking PC titles cranked out across the seas in America, I find it a bit surprising that one of the worlds best video games, Tetris, came from Russia. Still, despite its surprising point of origin, why look the horse in the mouth? Any way you slice it, Tetris easily ranks among the worlds best titles. Looking at it objectively, few games can match its accessibility; almost anyone able to pick it up and play within seconds.