Email Author Gary Hodges

2006 Stories by Gary Hodges

• Resistance Isn't Futile

  published December 28, 2006

  Imagine two game producers rushing down the hall. One wants to pitch a WW2 game, the other a sci-fi shooter. They round a corner, crash into each... More >>

• All Dressed Up . . .

  published December 7, 2006

  I did not have to fend off a horde of bloodthirsty geeks for my PS3. And nobody shot me either, as one hapless Connecticut gamer was.... More >>

• Hands Off

  published November 16, 2006

  Final Fantasy is to role-playing games as the Yankees are to baseball. The series -- now almost 20 years old -- practically redefined... More >>

• Latin Bummer

  published October 26, 2006

  Viewed from an airplane high over the islands of San Esperito, the land seems to stretch out endlessly. The sun slowly rises over the ocean,... More >>

• Copycat Killer

  published October 5, 2006

  Let's not beat around the bush: Saints Row is creatively bankrupt. The latest in a long list of Grand Theft Auto imitators,... More >>

• Grateful Dead

  published September 7, 2006

  The mall in Dead Rising is pretty much like any other you've visited. There's a bunch of women's clothing stores, a movie theater, and of... More >>

• Dogs of War

  published August 17, 2006

  Like a real war, Chromehounds involves long stretches of tedium, occasionally broken up by a few moments of sheer terror. After what... More >>

• Over Your Head

  published July 27, 2006

  Flight sims -- games that emulate the experience of being in a cockpit -- are plenty popular on PCs, but have never taken off on home consoles.... More >>

• Turning Japanese

  published July 13, 2006

  From Pokmon to Dragon Ball Z, Japanese pop culture has captured the imagination of American kids. The latest import craze is... More >>

• Pong 360

  published July 6, 2006

  When Rockstar Games, the company behind the infamous Grand Theft Auto series, announced that it would be making a title for Xbox 360,... More >>

• Brotherly Love

  published June 15, 2006

  Gamers are so used to Mario that the fundamental weirdness of his exploits no longer raises an eyebrow: A dumpy Italian plumber journeys through a... More >>

• Next Big Things

  published May 25, 2006

  Yet another Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has come and gone, and this one was the biggest yet. Exhibitors know all too well that a... More >>

• The Brain Game

  published May 18, 2006

  Mom always says that videogames rot your brain. Hell, some say that Grand Theft Auto trains kids to kill. So Nintendo's claim that its... More >>

• Hero With a Thousand Faces

  published May 4, 2006

  The biggest innovation videogaming saw in the past decade or so was the invention of the "sandbox": Programmers create settings and consequences,... More >>

• Tainted Black

  published April 6, 2006

  On paper, Black sounds like a sure hit: Criterion Studios (the developer behind the spectacular Burnout games) designs a... More >>

• A Real Knockout

  published March 16, 2006

  Gamers have a derogatory name for people who prize a game's visuals above all: "graphic whores." But sometimes great graphics can enhance... More >>

• Law and Disorder

  published February 23, 2006

  Sony's approach with its handheld, the PlayStation Portable, is to carbon-copy its most popular titles for on-the-go gaming. "Enjoy Grand Theft... More >>

• Tae Kwon Ho

  published February 2, 2006

  Every fighting game needs a hook to stand out: Mortal Kombat has gore, Soul Calibur has weapons, Def Jam has hip-hop... More >>

• Enter the Dragon

  published January 12, 2006

  There's an oft-repeated urban legend about Dragon Quest's popularity in Japan: So many gamers ditched school and work to play that... More >>

• Generation Next

  published January 5, 2006

  Microsoft isn't described as an underdog very often. But in the world of video games, Sony's PlayStation is king, and all others fight for scraps.... More >>