Goodness Gracious, Great Blogs of Fire!

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I’ve been reading Dubious Quality for a while (and enjoyed it immensely) but I haven’t really mentioned much here. An oversight that I intend to correct. I wanted to point out two great reads from Bill over at DQ. First, there’s this post about his experience with the new RTS/I-dunno-what game, Darwinia. The game is getting a lot of critical acclaim and this is a great read. Second, here’s another great post about the new Xbox RPG, Jade Empire. Again, excellent reading. This is why I love video game blogs. I can go to twenty different sites online where I can read a review of Jade Empire but I don’t find experiences like this very often. A score of 9.9 might convince me that the game is good and worth a look, but reading something like this has a more meaningful effect:

… the world is beautifully dynamic and immersive, defining itself beyond the written world, which I see as a remarkable accomplishment. I experience the Jade Empire most fully not by reading, but by being.

Following the vein of gaming experiences, Adam posted this about Ico, a game I’ve never had the chance to play. Judging by Adam’s feelings, I’m missing out.

It’s incredibly engaging, refreshing, and liberating to experience gaming/interactive storytelling absent all the clutter that continually screams, “I’m a video game.” Ico instead whispers, “I am another world for you to explore,” gives you a simple, intuitive control scheme, and then allows you to completely forget there’s a controller in your hand.

It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game like that.

To round out the games I haven’t played yet, this review of God of War is the best one I’ve read to date. On a blog. Goodness gracious this looks like a trend to me.

April 19, 2005 | Tony | Filed Under Video Games