Is The Best Game One You Were Never Intended To Play?

Wired has an interesting look at the sport of pushing proscribed boundaries in video games. Easter eggs in games have been around for years, but now finding surprises, intended or otherwise, is becoming a driving force behind the enjoyment of games. "In games as diverse as Fallout 3 and Mirror's Edge, players are pushing to find or create unexpected ways to break past the game horizon, and turn the designers' intentions on their heads. It's only a matter of time before someone releases a game where the best version is the one you were never intended to play. That's only to be expected, says David Michicich, CEO and creative director of Robomodo, the developers of Activision's new Tony Hawk: Ride, and a 14-year veteran game designer. 'Today's news gets old quick — we Twitter, blog, pass viral video. We thrive off the sudden excitement of the latest and most buzzworthy,' Michicich says. 'It's exciting to still feel like you can discover something new. It's stimulation, plain and simple.'"

Comments

Real cheap way to extend gameplay

[Psyborgue]

So called "achievements" and so forth. If there is no reward (and there often isn't, other than arbitrary "microsoft points" as in fallout's case). What else does it add to the game. It strikes me as if the developers decided at the last minute "ooh! let's make these little challenges insteading of adding extra gameplay or quests".

Burnout Paradise

[DigiShaman]

Mine would be Burnout Paradise for the PC. I was bored once day, so I downloaded the demo. I kept playing it so much each day, I purchased the game at my local BestBuy. I would say it is the best game I choose on impulse. It only got better when they added the motorbikes as an expansion. I'm willing to bet having fighter jets would be fun too weaving in and out of building and bridges. Criterion, are you listening?

Burnout Paradise uses the PC version of the XBOX 360 controller. I highly recommend it. It's also designed for 16:9 widescreen game play. I've got an nVidia 8800GT running at 1680x1050 resolution. The frame rate is always silky smooth and consistent.