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The Video Game Canon: Tetris Remains the Best Game of All Time in Version 3.0 Update
The Video Game Canon is a statistical meta-ranking of dozens of “Best Video Games of All Time” lists that began in 2017 with Version 1.0, and the ranking has been updated several times since then. Which game is #1? There’s only one way to find out…
Once again, Alexey Pajitnov’s puzzle masterpiece, Tetris, stands atop the Video Game Canon.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Video Game Canon, it’s a statistical meta-analysis of 53 “Best Video Games of All Time” lists that were published between 1995 and 2018. To qualify for inclusion, each list had to include at least 50 games, as well as some form of editorial oversight in the process (lists made up solely of reader polls or fan voting were excluded), and no restrictions on release dates or platforms.
After feeding each “Best Games” list into the Video Game Canon machine, the games were ranked against each other using the C-Score, a formula that adds together a game’s “Average Ranking” across all lists with the complementary percentage of its “Appearance Frequency.” Combining these two factors allows us to create a list of games that have universal appeal across a long period of time without punishing any game for being too old or too new.
Five new lists were added to the Video Game Canon in the Version 3.0 update, bringing the total number of games to be selected by at least one list up to 1,182. The most expansive new list came from Game Informer, which published The Top 300 Games of All Time in April of last year. Hyper (The 200 Games You Must Play), IGN (Top 100 Video Games of All Time), and Slant Magazine (The 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time) also published new lists in 2018.
I was also able to reach back into the history books a little bit after stumbling upon a list from 2009 by Benchmark.pl, one of Poland’s largest technology blogs. Aside from a handful of titles (most notably, 2015’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt), most of the games created in Eastern Europe or played by Eastern European players aren’t on the radar of your average gamer, so digging through The Top 100 Best Games of the Twentieth Century gave me an interesting window into a population of gamers that I probably don’t think about as often as I should.
Even with these new additions to the dataset, Version 3.0 didn’t signal any huge changes to the Video Game Canon over last year’s Version 2.0 update, but the movement amongst the games in the top ten does bring to mind a round of musical chairs. And after the music stopped, nearly all the titles scrambled to find a new place to sit.
Visit VideoGameCanon.com for all future updates to this project and to explore the complete Top 1000.
New Retail Releases: Devil May Cry 5, Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn, Left Alive, More
After veering away from the franchise’s established continuity in DMC: Devil May Cry, Capcom has promised fans they’ll get reacquainted with “The Devil You Know” in Devil May Cry 5, which will be available this week for the PS4 and Xbox One (and as a digital download for the PC). Dante and Nero will both return for the “most insane” and “technically advanced” entry in the series, and they’ll be joined by a “weapons artist” named Nico.
If you’d prefer not to spend your days battling demons, Nintendo will launch a family-friendly alternative, Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn, for the 3DS. Originally released for the Wii, this expanded re-release includes new new Ravel Abilities that mimic the pink puffball’s famous copy power and a harder Devilish Mode (wait a minute…). It’s also the last Nintendo-published 3DS game on the 2019 calendar, so we might be looking at the end of an era here.
Also set to launch this week is Left Alive, a new “survival-action shooter” from Square Enix that’ set in the Front Mission universe. The futuristic game will be available for the PS4 and as a digital download for the PC.
Finally this week, gamers will be able to scoop up MLB Advanced Media’s RBI Baseball 19 (PS4 and Xbox One), White Paper Games’s The Occupation (PS4 and Xbox One), and Bigben’s My Little Riding Champion (Switch) from their local retail establishment. And Switch owners looking to purchase a copy of The Lego Movie 2 will finally get their chance.
Posted in 3DS, News, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Devil May Cry 5, Kirby's Epic Yarn, The Lego Movie 2
Capcom reminds fans of “The Story So Far” in a new video ahead of Devil May Cry 5’s launch
The original Devil May Cry franchise went on a bit of a hiatus after the release of Devil May Cry 4 in 2008, as Capcom turned to Ninja Theory to create the alternate universe seen in 2013’s DMC: Devil May Cry. So it’s understandable that some fans might need a refresher course on all the events that happened in the series so far before the original Dante (along with Nero and newcomer Nico) returns next week in Devil May Cry 5.
Thankfully, Capcom has provided us with “The Story So Far,” a short video recap of Dante’s greatest hits:
Been a long time since your last demon hunt? Forgotten about Mundus, Lady, and Nero? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with this smokin’ sexy short recap on the DMC story so far…
“The Story So Far” has been embedded above, and Devil May Cry 5 will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on March 8.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Devil May Cry 5
PEGI accidentally leaks rating for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was originally released for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2009, and it looks like fans of the shooter sequel might get to celebrate its tenth anniversary with a brand new remaster of the game. According to a new rating that was briefly available on the PEGI (Pan European Game Information) site, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered is currently in development for the PS4 and Xbox One:
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered is a combat simulation game in which the player takes the roles of various members of a Special Operations team attempting to thwart the plans of a Russian…
PEGI has since removed the listing, but it makes sense that the game will be released this year. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered was bundled with Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in 2016, and the developer is now hard at work on Call of Duty 2019, which should be released sometime this Fall.
At the time, fans were rather unhappy with this forced bundling, and Activision eventually released Modern Warfare Remastered as a standalone title the next year. It’s unknown how Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered will make its way to the masses, but it’s easy to assume from the title that the publisher has no plans to remaster the game’s multiplayer component.
Activision typically announces a new Call of Duty game every Spring, so we’ll likely learn more about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered (and Call of Duty 2019) in the coming weeks.
Posted in News, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy comes to PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on April 9
Capcom has announced (via the Capcom-Unity blog) that the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy will be released for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on April 9.
Fans likely won’t lodge an OBJECTION to the new features available in the Trilogy, which will include “a modern UI and other improvements for current consoles,” as well as multi-language support. But if you need a refresher on the first three games in the Phoenix Wright franchise, don’t worry, the editors at Capcom-Unity have got you covered:
Starting with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, step into the bright blue suit and put on the shiny new attorney’s badge of Phoenix as he takes on his earliest trials, beginning with defending his childhood friend from being falsely accused of murder. Proving the innocence of the hapless Larry Butz is just the beginning, though, as Phoenix begins to uncover a mystery years in the making. With the help of Maya Fey, a spirit medium and Phoenix’s self-assigned assistant, join Phoenix as he goes head-to-head against brutal prosecutors like Miles Edgeworth and Manfred von Karma and learns what it means to be a lawyer.
Taking place several months after the first game, Phoenix Wright: Justice For All sees Phoenix taking on new cases as a rising star among attorneys, even as he comes under attack from the deadly whip of Franziska von Karma. With a prosecutor prodigy attempting to tear him down at every turn in court, Phoenix will need all the help he can get! Fortunately, Phoenix has the power of the new Psyche-Lock system on his side, allowing him to see into people’s hearts and unlock the truth he needs to win the day in court.
The third game in the original trilogy, Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations starts off with a different tone, putting Phoenix in the hot seat of the accused! Taking a leap back in time, step into the shoes of a different attorney: Mia Fey, older sister of Maya Fey and Phoenix’s future boss. Mia’s first case is to defend a young art student by the name of Phoenix Wright in a trial that will set the stage for the rest of the game’s events. Explore the twists and turns of the legal system as you fight to reveal the truth, and unravel a mystery that bridges the gap between the past and present for both Phoenix and the Fey family.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy will be priced at $29.99 on all platforms.
Bryce Harper’s tenure with the Philadelphia Phillies starts with an MLB The Show 19 trailer with his new team
Bryce Harper signed with the Philadelphia Phillies just a few hours ago, but Sony San Diego has already produced a new trailer for MLB The Show 19 featuring the superstar outfielder in his new uniform. The developer’s Community Manager, Ramone Russell, also shared some enthusiasm for Harper’s new home on the PlayStation Blog:
It’s been amazing to partner with Bryce to announce his free agency signing, and couldn’t be happier for him as he kicks off the next chapter of his career. We can’t wait to see what 2019 holds for Bryce, and we’re even more excited to share what we have in store for our fans with The Show 19.
MLB The Show 19 will be released exclusively for the PS4 on March 26. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged MLB The Show 19
20th Century Fox used Alien: Isolation’s cutscenes and “new animations” to create a brand new Alien movie
Sega and The Creative Assembly have teamed up with 20th Century Fox to give Alien: Isolation a second lease on life. The 2014 game, which took place between Alien and Aliens, has been reedited into a feature-length digital series that gives fans another chance to experience the story of Amanda Ripley’s search for her missing mother:
Fifteen years after her mother disappeared on the deep space towing ship Nostromo, Amanda Ripley travels to a remote space station that may hold clues to her mother’s fate. But disaster strikes as she arrives at her destination.
The series will be available exclusively through IGN and will feature “a combination of new animations and original cinematic cutscenes from the game.” As part of this partnership, the website spoke to the animators about the extensive lengths they went to to create these new animations:
“[We knew] that we would need to change the POV from first person, where the player is the character, to one where you are now watching Amanda Ripley navigate within the world,” [Fabien DuBois, a Director at animation studio DVgroup] said. “We then made storytelling choices based on the idea that we would be going deeper into Amanda Ripley’s psychology – to discover her demons, her fears, her motivations. The final series is comprised of three types of scenes: brand-new scenes that are rendered from scratch, cinematics taken directly from the game, and first-person scenes from the game we re-shot, edited and inserted a CG model of Amanda Ripley. Viewers will get to enjoy an exciting narrative that doesn’t repeat the Alien: Isolation story, but completes it.”
All seven episodes of the Alien: Isolation digital series are now available, and the first episode has been embedded above.
New reveals from Gearbox Software promised at their PAX East 2019 panel
Gearbox Software has announced they will once again take the stage at PAX East to host their annual “Gearbox Main Theater Show.” The developer is a regular presence at the Boston-based event, and this year they’ve promised to shower fans with “never-before-seen reveals, exclusives, and surprises” on Thursday, March 28:
This is your opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at Gearbox Software and Gearbox Publishing, along with the latest news and updates from the makers of Borderlands, Battleborn, Brothers in Arms, and more! We will have never-before-seen reveals, exclusives, and surprises, so don’t miss out!
Will Gearbox use this opportunity to unveil Borderlands 3 or the oft-delayed next entry in the Brothers In Arms franchise? Your guess is as good as mine, but if history is any guide, they’re sure to put on a good show regardless.
If you’d like to explore the rest of the panel schedule for PAX East 2019, you should head over to PAXSite.com right now.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Borderlands 3, PAX East 2019