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The Final Fantasy series is a superb set of games that have become an important part of video game history. Final Fantasy XI is an especially strong title. It is a terrific modern update on the series, advancing it and taking it into exciting new territory.

Final Fantasy XI is an outstanding entry in a series that is nearly twenty years old. The Final Fantasy series was created by the Japanese company Square Co. in 1987. At the time Square were in a difficult position, as they had focused on making games for the Nintendo Famicom Disk System and this format had become unpopular. The company were eager for success and saw great potential in the roleplaying genre. Final Fantasy was their attempt to make a new kind of roleplaying title.

Final Fantasy came out in Japan at the end of 1987. It was excellent, offering a fresh and original roleplaying experience. Final Fantasys strength was that it had a strong narrative that ran throughout the game. This made it very compelling and helped it to capture peoples interest. It was an enormous success and launched what would become a hugely popular franchise. It would lead to Final Fantasy XI and beyond.

When Square made Final Fantasy, they looked at the roleplaying genre and explored the possibilities of what it could do. Final Fantasy was innovative, and this sense of invention would become a major element of the series, continuing all the way through to Final Fantasy XI. The first sequel, Final Fantasy II, was equally creative, surprising people by coming up with a completely new plot and characters.

The Final Fantasy series flourished and a number of dazzling games followed. Final Fantasy IV was a gripping, brilliant game and became the second title in the series to be released in North America. Final Fantasy VI had an enthralling story that gave it serious emotion and depth. Final Fantasy X used voice acting and beautiful threedimensional visuals to create its own game world. These were all strong titles and laid the way beautifully for Final Fantasy XI.

Final Fantasy XI has continued the sense of innovation that is expected of this series. A highly ambitious game, it saw the franchise move into the world of online gaming. Final Fantasy XI is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game. It is also unique as it is playable on both consoles and PCs, all of which connect to the same game servers. This has made it the first crossplatform title of its kind.

There was great curiosity about Final Fantasy XI before its release in 2002. Images and previews of the game captured peoples attention. A special bonus disk was included with the release of Final Fantasy X, containing a trailer for the game. Its creator Square Enix also held beta tests for the game to gather players feedback and improve it. This allowed them to handle any concerns that people had and finetune it.

Final Fantasy XI was launched in Japan on May 16 2002 for the Sony PlayStation 2. The PC release came on November 5th. It had its PC release in North America on October 28 2003, with the European release following in September 2004. The initial Japanese launch was a complicated affair, as the game required a hard drive for the PlayStation 2 console and stocks of these were limited at first. Square Enix responded well to any issues that developed, and also released a game patch to enhance it.

Square Enix adopted an interesting approach to the game, developing it and reworking it even after it had been released. The company has revised it since its launch and made it even better, adding in new areas and new content. This has enriched the Final Fantasy XI experience. There have been two expansions, Rise of the Zilart and Chains of Promathia, to complement the game. A third expansion, Treasures of Aht Urhgan, is planned for spring 2006.

Final Fantasy XI has established itself as a major presence in online gaming. It sold well, building up more than 500,000 subscribers by January 7 2004. There were almost a million game characters active within this time period. It was well received, enjoying many positive reviews from the game press. It was crucial in building up Square Enixs PlayOnline service and more than fulfilled their hopes for the title.

Final Fantasy XI is a truly great game. It has combined the creativity and innovation that is the hallmark of Final Fantasy with a state of the art online gaming format. It is an amazing experience and has taken the series in a new direction. It will continue entertaining people for a long time to come.

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Do you want to download games onto PSP? Hardly anybody doubts the usefulness and many facets of the Sony PSP, but a lot of people feel that the games themselves are considerably overpriced. If you do your research, you can find the right places and methods to download games onto our PSPs, and we can even do this without breaking the law!

How to Download Games onto PSP Step 1
Your standard PSP games will come on disc, or UMD as they are called. As you download games onto PSP however, they will go directly on to a memory stickcard. (Although some people call them memory sticks, and others refer to them as memory cards, there is no difference between the two.) The standard PSP memory card of 32mb will just be big enough to do the job with modern games. PSP owners as a rule should get the biggest and best card within their budget. It is not difficult any more to find reasonable deals on 2 or 4 gig models on eBay and Amazon. When you have acquired your memory card, it will need to be formatted before you can use it. This will effectively wipe the card clean, and is an essential step, so don’t leave it out.

How to Download Games onto PSPStep 2
One of the biggest problems is finding a place to download the games from. It is not difficult to find places that will let you download games onto PSP, but so many of them are unreliable and dangerous. Apart from the risk of downloading something that will be different from what was promised, you could even find your computer infected with a virus or spyware. Not good! Make sure you find a reputable site to download PSP games from. The trustworthy ones will charge a small fee in advance, and for that you will get access to unlimited downloads.

How to Download Games onto PSPStep3
As you start downloading to your computer, make sure you only download files that end in PSP or have PSP in the title, as otherwise the file will not be compatible. Sadly it will often be found that the untrustworthy sites out there will trick you with all sorts of different files as downloads, so make sure you are very careful about a file before you download it. A very good idea when downloading the games is to save them to their own folder on your desktop called PSP Downloads. This is the most logical place to put them!

How to Download Games onto PSPStep 4
Once you have quite a few games downloaded, you can then transfer therm from your PC onto the memory card of your PSP. This is not complicated, and will only need a standard USB cable to connect the two, and the PC should then accept the PSP and think of it as some form of removable drive, like a flashdrive or removable HD. When everything is connected, you need to open up the PSP using the PC and drag and drop the needed files onto the PSP memory stick, just as you would with any kind of removable drive. It is important that as you do this, you put the files into folders marked PSP, and then GAME on your memory card. You must create these files if they are not there already, and it makes sense to use all capital letters.

How to Download Games onto PSPStep 6
As soon as you have transferred the games to your PSP, you should be able to play them by opening up the GAME menu and choosing the game you want from the stick. You may get error massages, and these are often caused by incompatible firmware. This happens most often with downloading homebrew games. It can mean that you have to downgrade the firmware for your PSP to be able to play these homebrew games.

It really is quite easy to download games onto PSP when you have learned how to do it, the hardest part is finding a reputable download source!

wii games

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The internet touches every aspect of your childrens lives. Where you might look up an unknown word in a dictionary, your kids are more likely to use dictionary.com. Where you use the telephone, they use instant messenger. An even greater difference can be found in how they play games. Where the games of their parents generation may have involved a board, cards, or at their most sophisticated a console system, the games your children play on the net can be far more complex. They mine gold, spread empires, fight dragons and aliens alone or with tens, hundreds, even thousands of their fellow gamers. All of this makes for a confusing mish mash of names, places, jargon and lingo that can leave you with no idea what your kids are actually doing and a vague feeling of uneasiness that some part of it might not be good for them.

Whats appropriate for your kids is a decision only you can make. How much violence they are exposed to, how much time they spend in front of a screen and how much contact they have with the faceless strangers so common to the net are all questions you must grapple with and, in the end, decide for your family. While we cant help you make these rough decisions, we can certainly help you get the information you need to understand your childrens hobbies better, both to make informed judgments about what they should and should not be doing, and to help you reach into another part of their lives that may have previously seemed like something of a puzzle box.

BThe Easy Stuffb

The simplest type of online game is the sort of Flash or Java driven game that you generally see running inside your web browser. This type of game tends to be relatively simple compared to the stand alone games discussed later. Common examples include Bejeweled, Zuma, and Diner Dash. These games are almost universally single player and have none of the sort of violent or mature content that keeps parents up at night. Were they movies, they would be G Rated, with perhaps the occasional game stretching to PG. If this is the type of game your kids are into then first, be relieved. Then, try the game out. Many of these games can be very enjoyable for even the most casual of players. Some, such as Bookworm, even have genuine educational content. These games can be as much an opportunity for bonding and learning as throwing around a baseball in the backyard, and have the added bonus of being much easier to get your kids to sit down with you and play.

BFPSs Finding Something to Shoot.B

FPS stands for First Person Shooter. They are First Person in the same since that a story might be. That is, the player sees the world through the eyes of a single character and interacts with the game environment as though he were that character. Shooter comes from the primary goal of most such games, the shooting of whatever happens to be the bad guy. FPS games are among some of the most popular online. Common examples include Doom, Battlefield1942, and the XBox game Halo. From a parental perspective, these games can be cause for concern. They vary widely in the amount of realism, degree of violence, language, and general attitude. The only way to get a good idea of the content issues is to watch the particular game. If your kids dont want you watching while they play, then fire up the game yourself sometime when they arent around. There is a sizeable variation in how violent and how personal FPS content can be from game to game. The single player portion of Halo, for example, has players fighting against alien invaders with largely energy weapons and a minimum of realistic human suffering. In contrast, WWII themed games tend to go out of their way to show realistic violence. Given the subject matter, this is appropriate for the game, but may not be for your kids. Online play presents a potentially greater concern. The goal of online FPS games is almost always killing other players. While some games do have various modes where this is a secondary goal, all of them give the player a gun and encourage him to use it on characters representing other people.

Simulated gore and the use of violence against others to achieve goals may be things you dont want your kids exposed to. Again, these are your decisions to make, but we encourage you to make them with as much information as possible. Talk to your kids. Find out what they think, in their words, is going on in the game. Make sure they see the line between what happens in the game and what happens in the real world, between what its okay to simulate and what its okay to do. The answers may surprise you. If your children understand the differences, see real violence as deplorable and simulated violence as part of the game then FPS games, even online ones, can be a perfectly healthy way to have fun and let off steam. In the end, it falls on you to make sure that what your child gets out of the game is good for him or her.

Next time, well talk about RTS and MMORPG, the two other common types of commercial online game and touch on the twin demons of addiction and predation.

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With the evolution of web technologies, free games have become something one cant imagine living without. Software such as flash allows developers to recreate the best moments in gaming history such as Tetris, pacman, Mario, sonic and more. While some might think of this as piracy, others enjoy the benefits that online gaming has to offer.

There are thousands of website that allow you to play free games online. This has spawned a whole new market for game developers, its called casual gaming. It is a multimillion industry that focuses solely on nongamers that kill time mostly during working hours in front of PCs. The causal gaming market can be divided into two categories downloadable games and free flash games. The first are mostly halffree, as you usually get to play a limited demo of the full package instead of a free game, and the former are solely there for your enjoyment, with money generated through advertising on the sites.

The free flash gaming market is now sort of like a dj vu of the gaming business 30 years ago, when people made games in garages. That market evolved into the current hardcore gaming market (with the current generation consoles being the Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 Wii) and left out small developers in the wild. But with free online games, anyone with the right skills and knowledge can make a game and publish it online. While the game would be free, the developer could generate profits from advertising within the game or on the website where he publishes it.

This makes even more sense as its rumored that the next versions of Flash technology would include 3D support, making the jump from 2D to 3D in webbased apps, much like the gaming market 1520 years ago.

But while we wait for it, you can still enjoy reborn classics such as Tetris completely free and without having to download anything. All you need to know is the correct website.

ps3

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Do you need to learn how to download games onto PSP? We will show you how. The PSP is a wonderful electronic tool. The IPOD and the Zune thingy certainly have their fans, but for my money the PSP is simply the best tool out there. The only negative factor with the PSP is the expense of the games. This needn’t be too much of a problem, as there are ways to download game onto PSP without it being too expensive!

Download Game Onto PSP The 1st Step
You may already know that PSP games are in the form of a UMD disc (Universal Media Disc?). As you can’t put downloaded games onto a UMD, you will have to store them on a memory card, or memory stick. These come in a standard 32mb size, but that is far too small to use with modern games. It is a good idea to get the biggest memory card you can afford. It need not be ridiculously expensive, as a 2 or 4 gigabyte card will do the job, and you will often find reasonable deals on these. A new memory card needs to be formatted to avoid problems in the future.

Download Game Onto PSP The 2nd Step
The most important factor you need to know in downloading games onto PSP, is where you are going to download the PSP games from! The number of free download sites numbers in the hundreds of thousands. You need to be very wary of which site to choose, as a lot of these sites will give you downloads that will not work properly, often at incredibly slow speeds, and sometimes with malware attached. Stay away from these dishonest and dangerous sites. The only sites which can reliably be used for downloading free PSP games are the sites which charge a small fee at the start, which goes towards maintaining the site, and updating the available downloads. Once you have paid a small one off fee, you will have access to unlimited downloads.

Download Game Onto PSP The 3rd Step
As you start to download, be sure the filenames have PSP at the end of them. Many of these sites will offer more than one format, so be sure that the download is for PSP before you waste your time! Don’t use one of the disreputable sites, or else you could end up downloading dangerous rubbish that is nothing like what you thought you were getting. These dishonest people will change filenames just to hoodwink people into downloading their own programs, so you need to be very watchful.

Download Game onto PSP The 4th Step
Once you have the game on your computer, it will need to be transferred to your PSP. The memory stick you are using needs to be big enough to handle the game. What you must do is attach the computer to the PSP using a USB cable. Keep the PSP switched off until you have made the connection. When you switch the PSP on, the computer will hopefully recognise the PSP as a kind of removable drive, and it should be visible in My Computer. From there you just need to double click the PSP to gain access to its memory stick from the computer, and the game files can then be copied and pasted from the computer onto the memory stick of the PSP. One thing you need to know is that games must go into a file called PSP, and then one called GAME, so you need to have these folders on your machine. If you don’t, then create them first.

Download Game Onto PSP The 5th Step
That is really everything you have to do to download games onto your PSP. As soon as the files are on the PSP you can launch them by opening up the GAME menu and selecting the game you want from the choices available. You can get error messages at this point, and these often happen because of incompatible firmware. This is not an unusual problem if you have downloaded homebrew files, but you can often solve it by downgrading the firmware on your PSP to one of the early ones.

So there you are. It is really quite easy to download game onto PSP. The most difficult part is trying to find a good site from which you can obtain your downloads. Enjoy searching!

ipod touch

psp
A Ghillie suit or otherwise known as “yowie” suit is a type of clothing that resembles bushes. A Ghillie suit is most often used by snipers, hunters and even soldiers in battle as it keeps them from being sighted by their target as they blend well with the background thus they become invisible. This suit is typically made up of the same type of leaves and twigs found in the surroundings to blend well for the wearer to go undetected. These leaves and twigs are added to a onepiece coverall that acts as a Ghillie suit base.

With all the leaves and twigs added to the coverall, the Ghillie suit can get a bit heavy and the wearer, if not accustomed to wearing it yet, would feel uncomfortably hot. Ghillie suits are highly flammable as well if untreated with fire retardants. Those leaves and twigs are highly susceptible to catching fire and may burn the wearer if exposed to a firecausing ignition which is also one reason why making your own Ghillie suit is not easy as all these probabilities have to be considered to ensure the safety of the wearer at all cost.

There are two ways of making your own Ghillie suits. First, you can buy Ghillie suit kits complete with everything that you would need in making your own Ghillie suits including fire retardant chemicals to avoid catching fires when triggers are present. Second option is to buy each item individually and make a Ghillie suit from scratch and adding each material one by one.

Militaries in combat are often entailed to make their own Ghillie suits as their surroundings may change and requesting for a new Ghillie suit may not always be an option. So, these militaries in combat make their own Ghillie suits but these suits are only meant for temporary use and they can quickly catch fire if they get too close to ignition sources.

If you wish to make your own Ghillie suit from scratch, you would need to spend days in making a highquality suit that will effectively make the wearer seem invisible in his environment. And also, you would eventually spend much more by buying items that you would use but would end up using just a small fraction per item. Just imagine how much you would save if you purchase a Ghillie suit kit that is complete with no extra materials with absolutely no use to you. Why spend more if you have a cheaper, time efficient choice that ensures you’d get an excellent quality Ghillie suit?

With Ghillie suit kits, you would get a complete set of materials plus full instructions on how you would assemble your own Ghillie suit. Since it’s already complete and you are given an easytofollow instruction, you would save time and money. These Ghillie suit kits are of different designs and purposes. Your end product, once you follow the instructions carefully, would be exactly what has been guaranteed to you. You wouldn’t get the same satisfaction guarantee like this when you make your own Ghillie suit from scratch and the end result may even be useless and you just end up spending your money and time for nothing.

So why still take chances and spend more time and money if you could get great results by purchasing Ghillie suit kits?

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Tetris was the first computer game that involved falling tetromino pieces that the game player must align in order to create an unbroken line which subsequently disappears in order to free up more game play space. If the player is unable to make an unbroken line, the game play space quickly gets crowded until the point where no more space is available and the game is over.

The game of Tetris was first programmed in 1985 in the former Soviet Union by Alexey Pazhitnov. It ran on a machine called an Electronica 60 but was quickly ported to run on an IBM PC in the same month of its initial release. One month later and the game had been ported for use on the Apple II and the Commodore 64 by a programming team in Hungary.

The game quickly saw interest from a software house in the UK, Andromeda, who released it in the UK and USA in 1986 although the original programmer Pazhitnov had not agreed to any sale or licensing agreement. Nonetheless, Anromeda managed to copyright licensing for the game and marketed Tetris as The first game from behind the iron curtain. Tetris was an instant smash hit and had thousands of people hooked.

A new company, ELORG, took up negotiations on behalf of Pazhitnov and eventually the licensing rights were granted to Nintendo in 1989 for a sum of between 3 and 5 million dollars. Nintendo quickly exerted their corporate strength and forbid any other company to market the game that Andromeda had given license to, including Atari. However, Tetris had become the biggest selling game on all formats at that time.

Today Tetris is still hugely popular, with versions running on all formats, and still managing to get people hooked through its simple yet addictive game play.

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Gaming today is a recognized element of our cultural scenery, even to people who are over thirty or who can barely recall the time before arcade games were invented. Gone are the days when you would play PacMan or the famous Mario Brothers game. Although they are still played and enjoyed today, they have been enhanced into dimensional games and versions. People will never forget the old games and thats a good thing because there is a history here that shouldnt be forgotten.

Gaming is not a recent breakthrough. Arcade games began many years ago. They werent as acceptable as they are now. Artifacts from Egypt and Sumeria have revealed that our ancestors enjoyed playing board games thousands of years ago.

The electronic games we have now required the creation of electronic computers. The early computers were slow and prone to failures. Early programmers felt obliged to waste their time by programming these computers to do things like tictactoe. When World War II ended, electronic computers started becoming standard equipment in the more progressive laboratories. Soon afterwards, they were incorporated with large corporations, establishments and companies. It can be argued that university students were the first game programmers, exploring their fantasies and scifi visions into digital applications which we are still using. Their imaginations have turned gaming into a digital masterpiece.

The perception of establishing an electronic game system to the screen or the television was invented by Ralph Bauer during the early 1950s. This made the first game possible. After that, he introduced and presented his ideas to Magnavox, a television company. The company liked his ideas and inventions so well that they have released a sophisticated version of Bauers Brown Box prototype, known as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. By todays standards, the Odyssey was prehistoric, displaying only spots of light on the screen. It also required the use of translucent plastic overlays to replicate the appearance of the game.

The first truly popular console system was known as the Atari 2600. It was released in 1977. The Atari made use of plugin cartridges in order to play a variety of games. The popularity of Space Invaders was a breakthrough and it became a best seller during that time. The computer games written for the TRS80 and Apple II computers were attracting interest at this time.

There are several books and articles about the history of arcade games.

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5. Mortal Kombat

The one that started it all. While it may seem pixelated and dated now, it was undoubtedly the most violent video game of its time. Spawning a huge fanbase, a movie, and a plethora of sequels, most of us have probably played Mortal Kombat in at least one form of another.

Who can forget pulling in a victim with Scorpions snapping beak “Get over here!” while following it up with a gruesome uppercut. The game used real life actors and mapped their faces onto sprites, creating a pretty strange yet realistic effect which made it all the more awesome when Sub Zero ripped someones head off, leaving their spine dangling below. Fatality!

4. Carmageddon

Originally released in 1997, this is an oldie but goldie. It’s still a thoroughly enjoyable game and was a breakthrough in its time with video scenes from inside the car and real world physics.

Think Mad Max on steroids and you’ll start to get a feel for Carmageddon which is set in a post apocalyptic world where the car rules. The idea is to race against a handful of other modified death cars through various levels, including deserts, industrial areas and populated cities, all to the tune of Fear Factories Demanufacture album (hell yes!). However, if you don’t feel like racing you can hunt down and destroy your enemies one by one until you’re the only survivor. Amongst all this, not only can you run over pedestrians, but you’re actively encouraged to do so, gaining extra time and credits for combo bonuses and “artist impressions” (which you get by utterly mangling a pedestrian).

Carmageddon caused media scandal when it first launched and in most countries a “safe” version was released with zombies, robots or aliens instead of people. In some countries the game was banned completely. None of this stops it from being an absolute classic and the first goanywhere 3D driving game which spawned 2 successful sequels.

3. Thrill Kill

Originally called S M for Slaughter and Mutilation, Thrill Kill for PlayStation was never released, it was axed 2 weeks before it was due to go out. EA said that they didn’t want to “publish such a senselessly violent game” and stated it was so offensive that they wouldn’t sell the game to another publisher either. Fortunately for us former employees of EA released it onto the internet which are still available.

Incredibly simple, Thrill Kill consisted of only a single room where up to 4 opponents fight to the death. The usual life bar is replaced with a kill meter, which grows as you do more damage to your opponent, eventually you’re able to activate Thrill Kills which were always awesomely brutal, sometimes sexual, moves like dismemberment, mutilation, cattle prods down the throat or crushing skulls with stilts. Oh yes. One of Cleetus’ lethal finishing moves was to tear the head off his opponent and drink the blood that leaked out of his victim’s severed neck. The story goes that the 8 characters all led devious lives and died in various ways, have gone to hell. A modern day hell which reflects todays real life. Marukka, the God of Secrets has pitted them against each other, promising to give rebirth to the one survivor. Each character is battling for selfpreservation and the hope to be born again.

Cleetus, for example, is a redneck cannibal. The only victim that he didn’t eat escaped minus a leg, which Cleetus carries around for good luck (and occasionally uses as a weapon). Dr. Faustus, a master surgeon, died from an infection after installing his stainless steel jaws, made from a bear trap.

Oddball was a top FBI agent who hunted down serial killers. He began to admire them and slowly slipped into insanity. Oddball is extremely intelligent, cunning, and without remorse. Pity, sympathy, and compassion have no meaning to him. Although his arms are bound in his cozy little straight jacket, he has learned to adapt, as any good predator should.

2. Postal 2

One feature in Postal 2 is the ability to pick up cats as an inventory item. When used, the player shoves the barrel of the currently equipped firearm into the cat’s anus, as a ’silencer’. Every time a shot is fired, the cat meows in apparent agony, and the gunshot is muffled. After several shots the cat will be killed and will fly from the end of the weapon.

Any game where you can use a cat as a silencer has to be worth mentioning. Highly violent, both Postal and Postal 2 met with much protest from various activist groups. However, the Running With Scissors software company who created the series responded by saying that the amount of violence in the game is entirely dependent upon the player. In fact, it’s actually possible (though very difficult) to complete the entire game without harming anyone.

The game is split from Monday to Friday and the tasks are simple things on a todo list like ‘Cash Paycheck’, ‘Confess sins’, ‘Get milk’, etc. To accomplish these seemingly simple tasks, the player can chose to be peaceful or utterly, all out violent with unique gameplay changes for each choice.Some violent features include the ability to decapitate people with shovels, and then kick their heads around or play fetch with a dog, cops who beat innocent NPCs to death with batons, even if the NPC surrenders and begs for mercy and setting fire to people with gasoline, matches, napalm and moltov cocktails.Not content with just being violent, Postal 2 is also pretty disgusting. You have the ability to urinate on people, causing them to vomit in disgust. You can also urinate on food items which are then eaten and regurgitated by cops. Using an Antrhaxfilled cow’s head as a weapon causes victims to vomit blood. Oh and you can also stun gun people til they cower in fear and urinate themselves..Featuring ATF, SWAT, the National Guard, psycho butchers, religious cults, the Taliban and Gary Coleman, Postal 2 has earned itself a violent and revolting reputation and is illegal in at least 3 countries.

1. Manhunt

Quite possibly the most violent game in the list, Manhunt revolves around James Earl Cash who has been sentenced to death by lethal injection. His injection is replaced with a sedative and Cash is abducted by a wealthy Hollywood director. The director has a thing for Snuff flicks and sets up Cash as his latest star, butchering local gangs on film in the most violent and horrific ways possible.

The director communicates with Cash via an earpiece and security cameras record his murders. For extra points the player must carry out more gruesome kills. These range from suffocation by plastic bag, decapitation, jamming a crowbar in the enemys skull, etc.

Manhunt was banned outright in several countries when it was launched and later in the UK the game was linked to an actual murder case of a 14 year old, Stefan Pakeerah by a 17 year old, Warren Leblanc. Stefans mother claimed that Leblanc had been obsessed with Manhunt after he pleaded guilty in court and as such most vendors in the UK removed Manhunt from their stocks. This led to a significant increased demand from other retailers and internet auction sites. Police denied any link, but it still strikes a chilling cord. Especially when you consider that Leblanc murdered his friend by stabbing him with a claw hammer, identical to an execution shown in Manhunt.

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There have been hundreds of sports video games throughout the years. In less than forty years weve gone from Pong to MLB 2K6 for the Xbox 360. But the evolution of games hasnt always meant better games. Just because a game has flashier interfaces and better graphics, it doesnt necessarily make for good gameplay. Thats the reason that many PS2 and Xbox games are doomed to linger in discount bins at your local game store, while classics like NHL 94 and Tecmo Super Bowl continued to be obsessed over by sports fans. Heres my Top 10 of all time

10. Jordan vs. Bird (NES) Was the oneonone gameplay that great? No, not really. But the game was innovative with the three point competition and slam dunk contest long before it showed up anywhere else. For that alone it deserves a spot in the Top 10.

9. Madden 2005 (PS2, Xbox, GC) The jump from ‘04 to ‘05 was HUGE. ‘05 introduced the hitstick control and defensive playmaker to bring the defensive control on par with the offense. Franchise mode is pretty much the same as ‘04, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. My favorite thing to do is build a team from scratch. I love taking the worst team in the league and building them into a powerhouse. You can move them to a new city and build a new stadium, then draft real college players from NCAA ‘05. Overall, I liked this game more than any other Madden. 2006 just didn’t improve upon this game enough for me.

8. PunchOut (NES) what kid born in the late 70s or early 80s DIDNT spend hours on end trying to beat Tyson with Little Mac?

7. Madden 94 (Genesis, SNES) Based on memory this game was awesome. I remember being able to play with all the NFL teams and a bunch of classic teams. It was one of my favorite sports games growing up. That said, I played it recently and it sucks. It can’t even come close to holding it’s own against Tecmo Super Bowl. The passing is unrealistic, and the running consists of repeatedly hitting the spin button while tacklers bounce off your runner. Its this high just because of how much I remember enjoying it as a kid.

6. NBA Live 95 (Genesis, SNES) This game might not have been realistic at all, but it was insanely fun to run up and down the court firing up threes and throwing up alleyoops. The fact that it was the first NBA game by EA with every team and every arena also scores it points. Not to mention, this was the first game with the 34 angle camera.

5. NFL Blitz (Arcade) The football version of NBA Jam. Fast scoring, late hits, and crazy rules like being able to throw multiple forward passes behind the line of scrimmage make this game great. The arcade version was waaaay better than the PS or N64 versions.

4. NBA Jam (Arcade) Between the arcade version and the console versions, I’ve played a ton of NBA Jam. It is one of the most unique games ever. Who didn’t enjoy beating the crap out of people in midair or hitting three after three when they were on fire? This game totally rocked. The best part was getting all of the codes and playing with mascots and Bill Clinton.

3. Little League Baseball (NES) I don’t know why this game doesn’t get more attention as one of the best NES sports games. The gameplay is the best of any NES baseball game pitching, hitting, and fielding all are simple and feel relatively realistic. Plus there’s just something fun and unique about playing with little leaguers. As far as I know this is the only little league game ever, although I could be wrong. Adding to the excitement, certain teams are significantly better than others. Want a challenge? Try winning a tournament with Italy, the worst team in the game. The replay value of LLB is unbelievable I still play it to this day.

2. NHL 94 (Genesis, SNES) I love modern NHL games as much as the next guy, but this game is the best ever. I still play it ALL THE TIME. The quality of play is amazing. Take away the easy wraparound goals and the gameplay is amazingly real, especially considering how old this game is. Oh, and for the record, they are playing NHL 93 in Swingers but talking about the removal of fighting in NHL 94. Weird huh?

1. Tecmo Super Bowl (NES) This game was far ahead of it’s time editable playbooks and season long stat tracking were so cool back then. The gameplay is far from realistic but amazingly equal. For that reason, the game is still popular and there are tons of people who still play in online leagues. The advent of emulators has allowed for the editing of rosters I’ve played versions of the game with rosters from as recent as 2004. There are also versions with college rosters and USFL rosters. The weird little gameplay quirks like Bo Jackson being impossible to stop, fumbles bouncing all over the place, choosing defensive plays by guessing the offensive play, 100 yard passes, etc make the game MORE fun. This game will never, ever get old.

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