Gamer Peak

An Apology to The Orange Box

Might the Gaming World forgive me? May my sins be absolved? In my youth, I was foolish fool of fools. In my haste, and childish recklessness, I made a grave error: I sold my copy of The Orange Box less than two weeks after purchase. Please! Hold your chastisements for a moment, dear merciful reader. Allow me to repent, before judgement is passed.

As with most games I play, I arrived late to this soiree. I must admit that I had yet to play Half Life 2 by the release of the collection. I bought The Orange Box in 2009 – the last year of university – on the recommendations of countless, honourable gamers. I’d been told how good the Half Life games were. (Yes, I had not played Half Life 1 at this point either; the scroll of my misdeeds will only continue to unravel.) I had also heard hearty praise of Portal and Team Fortress 2, and was anxious to share in the collective ecstasy.

Continue reading “An Apology to The Orange Box”

Does History defend the tradition of Male Protagonists?

I enjoy finding parallels between Gaming and History, and the treatment of gender in each field shows some commonality. Within the realm of video games, gender is a topic of debate/discussion/angry rants all of itself. The representation of women is continuously dissected and revaluated. It’s not something that should have to be so scrutinised, but it’s good that the discussion is so positive a lot of the time. In History, women are also considered as a separate topic for discussion a great deal of the time. It’s not ideal, but to avoid the topic at all would be far worse.

[Educational Warning – this blog contains mild amounts of learning and me being more grown-up than usual]

How Historically Accurate is Skyrim? Part 4

There’s lots of things I enjoy about over-analysing Skyrim, and the responses I get are a big part of that. There are a pleasingly small number of people that misread the title and my intentions (“Oh sure, the game with dragons is veeery accurate…”), and a fantastic number of readers willing to add their own knowledge and join the discussion. Sometimes, one of you lovely people will step in and flesh out something I have mentioned or correct a minor mistake, which is awesome to see. Learning should be a two-way exercise after all. And there’s still a lot of untapped History within The Elder Scrolls.

If you’re joining this gaming/history blog at Part 4, hello and welcome. I started playing Skyrim for the first time last November, and I’ve been climbing every tower and turning every rock for signs of History. Sometimes real life Historic details are the clear inspiration for a detail in the game, and sometimes the game appears to stumble into a historic comparison. And in one particular situation, History actually helps to explain one of the most famous lines in the game…

What Zelda Items would improve other Video Games? Part 2

Now I won’t say that I offered inspiration to the latest Call of Duty… because I obviously didn’t. What I did do was suggest a change to the game franchise that kind of, sort of, made it into the game. Which I think we can all agree is still pretty impressive… if you’re easily impressed. A year ago, I stated that Call of Duty would be improved by the Power Glove from The Legend of Zelda, and Advanced Warfare included exo-suits. That’s basically the same thing (if you ignore all the differences). I’ve always known I was a visionary…

I began blogging just over a year ago. So far I’ve written about being a Gamer-Teacher, explored some of my Weird Theories about various videogames and generally talked about why games are good things. Yet the blog I began with was on this particular subject: Which Games would benefit from a Zelda Weapon? Because the conversation were so fun the first time, and I’m looking for a nostalgia trip for myself, I’d like to revisit this topic.

Simple Fun: How do you Enjoy Playing Videogames?

As the New Year begins, reflection of the Old Year takes precedent. The World Wide Web is awash with Top and Bottom lists of Games from 2014. The general consensus seems to be that last year saw a few excellent games hovering above a majority of… games of a significantly lower calibre. Big promises were left unfulfilled, which left the community somewhat dejected. I personally had a good year of gaming, but I have spent the last two months playing Skyrim… so my opinion probably doesn’t count.

I’m quite often late to the party when it comes to games. I’m a patient sole whose always been taught to save the pennies. The only game I played on its release date last year was Destiny, which was a gift from my fiancé. Otherwise I’ve been enjoying my time playing Xbox 360 and PS3 games that were released months and, in some cases, years after their release. This has often meant that I have played a videogame long after the media hype or critical sneering has died away.

How Historically Accurate is Skyrim? Part 3

When I first asked the above question, I didn’t think I’d be able to write a third part. I was so sure that as I trundled further into the fantasy landscape, less historic details would present themselves. As magic and mythical beasts become increasingly prevalent, I expected to spot fewer references to the real ancient world. Whilst this is very definitely the case, Skyrim is still presenting quirky little historical accuracies.

For those who’ve missed the first two parts, the aim here is to highlight all the little ways thatSkyrim is influenced by History. In some cases these comments refer to very real events, whilst in other cases I refer to things that people believed were real throughout History, such as dragons. And no, I’ve still not found any historic evidence to prove that dragons were real. I’ll keep looking though.

So here are a few more aspects of Skyrim that show the mighty influence of historic events. Educational Warning: Minor amounts of learning ahead.

Animal Weapons – Videogames vs History

If you want a game to look zany, turn any animal into a tool for destruction. The creature might be the weapon itself, useful for bludgeoning, or it might be the ammunition that you fling or fire at your confused opponents. Either way, animal weapons are usually delightful. On the other hand, animal weapons in History tend to be a bit more alarming…

How Historically Accurate is Skyrim? Part 2

You know, the more I play Skyrim, the more I begin to realise that historical accuracy isn’t the main point of the game… and I’d be very disappointed if I wasn’t too busy Fus-Ro-Dahing the local wildlife across the landscape.

A few weeks ago I began to play Elder Scrolls V, and almost immediately began to spot the many ways that History has influenced the game. The Vikings are the main inspiration, whilst other ideas are taken from various points in the middle ages. Three weeks ago I shared these observations. Some parts of the game show accurate references to historic details, whilst other features were based on misunderstandings of the past. The majority of readers seemed to enjoy the makeshift history lesson, so here we are at Part 2.

Giving Thanks for The Little Things

There are lots of big reasons to love a videogame. Great gameplay, thrilling story, stunning visuals and so on. These are the major factors that decide whether a game will draw us in or not. Yet once we’ve embraced the experience, it’s often the smaller details in a game that make the journey so much greater. When we are reminded of a game we played years ago it’s often the little things that we remember.

I am thankful for those mini moments in videogames. They are the gems that the player can only notice once they are on board, enriching the adventure once they are discovered. These are some of my favourite ‘little things’ from videogames new and old.

The Gunblade – Video Games vs. History

Whilst I would never consider myself a violent man, I find weapons fascinating. Whether they are a work of fiction or non-fiction, I see them as curious inventions that say a great deal about our species. Our History is full of strange and striking creations of war. It’s when Fantasy and Reality collide that things get really interesting