The Simple Joy of Tetris: Why I’m Still Playing 30 Years Later
My first Tetris experience happened in the back seat of my parents’ Oldsmobile during a cross-country road trip in the summer of 1990. My brother...
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Crash Bandicoot: PlayStation’s Mascot Icon
Gaming in the 90s was awesome, especially if like me, you did most of your growing up in that decade. It was a time when...
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5 Party Video Games That Will Make You the Life of the Party
My transformation from “that weird guy with too many game consoles” to “the guy who throws awesome parties” happened gradually, almost accidentally. It started back...
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When Video Games Become Board Games: Hits and Misses
My game shelf has a split personality. On one side sits my carefully organized video game collection—chronologically arranged by console, with special editions and imports...
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The Psychology Behind Boss Fight Design: Why We Love to Hate Them
I’ve destroyed my share of controllers over the years. There was the Super Nintendo controller that met its end against my bedroom wall after my...
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Gaming with Significant Others: From Reluctant Players to Co-op Partners
The most nerve-wracking boss battle I’ve ever faced wasn’t against Sephiroth or Ganon or even that impossible Ninja Gaiden bird. It was the moment I...
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Broken Sword: The Point-and-Click Mystery That Hooked Me
I was working at Software Etc. in 1996 when Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (or Circle of Blood, as it was called in...
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Why Chrono Trigger Remains the Ultimate Time-Travel RPG
The first time I encountered Chrono Trigger, I was fifteen and broke. I’d been saving up for Final Fantasy VI (or Final Fantasy III as...
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Back When Cheat Codes Were Built Into Games
I still remember the first cheat code I ever learned. It wasn’t even from a magazine or the internet—those weren’t really options for me back...
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Classic Star Wars Games That Defined the 80s & 90s
A long time ago in an arcade far, far away… actually, it was just down at the Westland Mall, sandwiched between the Orange Julius and...
