Last week we started to get into the motivation of the gamer. We discussed challenge and its ugly stepsister competition, two of the most common motivators. Today, we look at two more on the way to forming an overall model for what moves us.
Perhaps less common than the first two motivators, creativity is nonetheless an important driving force in the gamer psyche. Though at first gaming doesn’t seem like a particularly creative act, what with its formalized rules and structured systems, there is much more room for self expression than …

There exists some ephemeral quality that separates gamers from the rest of humanity, some thing that makes us, us and them, not us. I’ve never been able to quite put my finger on it, but it is inescapably there. Today, in hopes of moving closer to that essential quality of gamerosity, we examine part of what makes us tick. In particular, we take a look at what draws different types of gamers to the hobby. Every gamer plays for different reasons, but there are common threads that tie the experience …

In part 2 of this series we took a look at Creative Expression and Escapism, two significant motivators of the common gamer. The week before that, we covered Challenge and Competition. This week we have a look at Socialization and try to tie it all together.
Social interaction is a subject on which we gamers take a fair bit of static from our non-gaming peers. Sometimes this is because they mistake differing priorities for introversion. Wanting to talk about the relative merits of the Western Plaguelands against Winterspring as a post …

Even if the PS3 came out with a bit of a slow start in 2007 don’t let that fool you… the PS3 is just gearing up for a great year with some expected hot releases. Here’s a rundown of three games coming out in ‘08.. EA’s NFL Tour, Free Radical Design’s HAZE, and Konami’s Coded Arms Assault.
NFL Tour
Coming from EA Sport’s BIG division is what can be considered a bit of a spin-off of their hit series NFL Street. They’ve gotten rid of the streets and beaches in favor of …

Many other review websites may tell you that the online rental game clubs are anything but inadequate, just like any other company or system ever concieved, there are a few drawbacks. Although online rentals are a huge step in the right direction for video game rentals and storefront rentals, the drawbacks are few and far between. Let us take a look at them below:
Pros:
1. Online video rentals offer thousands of video game rentals with the newest video game titles being released on rental as soon as they come out. Older …

There have been hundreds of sports video games throughout the years. In less than forty years we’ve gone from Pong to MLB 2K6 for the Xbox 360. But the evolution of games hasn’t always meant better games. Just because a game has flashier interfaces and better graphics, it doesn’t necessarily make for good gameplay. That’s 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 con…

Keywords:
sports video games, little league baseball, …

Video games have been getting a bad rap. Sure, a few involve nothing more than pointing several deadly weapons at the Undead and blasting them into a bajillion pieces. And there are cases of people wasting otherwise productive hours conquering a virtual kingdom and accumulating pixelized gold instead of going out and getting a real job.
But there are many, many times when video games actually provide a noble purpose in society. When they make you a better person. Or at least, a smarter person.
Because there are video games that are …

Millions of Americans enjoy video games-for the adrenaline rush, the companionship, the competition, and the chance to become a conquering adventurer, at least in a virtual world.
The good news is Americans don’t have to break the bank to play the video games they love. Turner Broadcasting System’s GameTap is one of the latest and greatest options for consumers to get their game on and experience all the good things about games. The first of its kind broadband entertainment network, GameTap (www.gametap.com) offers hundreds of the greatest games across multiple …

I think games in the future will be even more realistic then the games we already have with our Xbox 360s and Play Station 3s. Microsoft and Sony will more than likely come out with something even more insane like a virtual game or something and that would be the game of the century. To have a virtual game that you put on but still used an Xbox or Play Station and you played shooting games like you play online today. I think that would be the best game to …

Guitar Hero was originally released on the PS2 on one glorious day in November of 2005. This much anticipated video game was special in that instead of the usual control pad used to play, the game was designed for use with a life-like guitar shaped device.
This unique controller was modelled after a real guitar called a Gibson SG. Using the guitar controller was very similar to using a real guitar, albeit with a few minor adjustments for simplicity’s sake. Instead of containing several frets and six strings, the guitar hero …