Recently in Game Category

Last weekend I attended I-CON 28, a pan-geek convention on Long Island.  Sci-fi, fantasy, anime, furries, you name it and they're there.  It's often odd not merely by design but because it's both large and small-- large enough to have been running for 28 years and to often get some decent Guests of Honor, but small enough to have an "e-gaming" track of six people and to include me among them.

This year I was on a panel called "The Best Games You've Never Heard Of."  I've got some thoughts on the panel below the jump, but what's really worth relating is the list of games that the panelists made.  I *tried* to get every one mentioned, but I'm sure I missed a few.  Add your own!

Beyond the jump: the list, and thoughts on it.
Wikipedia describes the Marathon Trilogy of games as a series of "science fiction first-person shooter computer games from Bungie Software...." which in 1994 "introduced many concepts now common in mainstream video games," including "dual-wielded weapons, friendly non-player characters, and most notably an intricate plot."

It's that last bit that intrigues me from a hypertext standpoint. The gameplay was novel at the time, and all the more remarkable for being released first on the Macintosh, but it was the plot and narrative which held fans' attention and led to "The Marathon Story Page" where fans were explicating the plot and finding new details and connections more than seven years after the series concluded.

Bungie Studios eventually released the tools used to create the game as well as the game source code itself. Fan communities continue to create new scenarios, stories, and levels for the engine today.

Beyond the cut: Marathon and game narratives as hypertext

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This page is an archive of recent entries in the Game category.

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