What Makes Games Good?

On a phone interview today someone asked me what I think makes a game good. It was an easy question that I spoke at length on and thought I would share here.

A game is more than just a sum of its pieces to me. The major pieces of each game include graphics, sound, control, gameplay, fun and value. These are the major facets that I see in a game. Of course some of them are fluid and can change. For example a game might have crap single player action but the most awesome multiplayer. That’s sort of sad really because it shows not only that the developers didn’t take the time to balance but that perhaps they are a little out of touch with their customers, us, the gamers.

Red Planet Rising – Mars in Sci-fi and Gaming

I had originally written this for a project which unfortunately fell through. So I thought I would publish it here since I rather liked the article.

Mars has been the goal of many a science fiction author and fan alike. From Athanasius Kircher to Ben Bova, Mars has been the focus of hundreds of stories. Even H.G. Wells and C.S. Lewis wrote about it. Film, books, television, comics and of course, computer games have all featured Mars as a central location.