Not all of our games in the CVGA can be found on the shelves. We've purchased a handful of downloadable-only games for the PS3 & Xbox 360 that can be played on our systems—no disc required!
Here are the top ten games played in the archive last week:
1. Fifa 10 (Xbox 360)
2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Steam)
4. (tie) Battlefield: Bad Company 2
4. (tie) Mass Effect
6. Persona 4
7. (tie) Heavy Rain
7. (tie) Need for Speed: Underground 2
7. (tie) NHL 09
7. (tie) Super Smash Bros. Melee
The final results are in, and here are the winners:
1st: Kevin Michael Dempsey
2nd: Shao-Ming (Simon) Huang
3rd: Isaiah Hines
4th: Cesar Parra
Top scoring competitors for each game are:
Duck Hunt: Cesar Parra
Battlezone: Kevin Michael Dempsey
Ms. Pacman: Isaiah Hines
Space Invaders: Kevin Michael Dempsey
Tetris: Isaiah Hines
Donkey Kong: Kevin Michael Dempsey
Congratulations again, and thanks to all who participated!
I'm a HUGE fan of the DS as a gaming platform, possibly because it hosts my all time favorite game series: Professor Layton. Even beyond Layton and his sidekick Luke there are a whole range of really awesome DS games like Scribblenauts, Hotel Dusk, and Rhythm Heaven (all of which we have at the archive). But today I want to talk about Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. It's actually the third in the Mario & Luigi RPG series that first appeared on the Game Boy Advanced in 2003. Playing as either Mario and Luigi (in tandem) or as Bowser you battle Lord Fawful, the villain of the piece. Fawful says the most epic things, most notably "I HAVE CHORTLES" but there are many other gems like "Oh, I am feeling the power! It high-fives Fawful's face!" and "I have uneasiness...Bowser keeps appearing like an ugly rabbit from the hat of a magician who stinks!" Hilarious.
This game takes advantage of many features of the DS, including using both the top and bottom screen, the microphone, and the stylus. The game play is turn-based battles mixed up with platforming elements in between. The story takes place both outside in the Mushroom Kingdom and inside Bowser's Body (hence the title). I took this game with me on a recent bus trip out to DC and back and I was totally absorbed in it both ways until the battery died. There is plenty of genuine humor, a lot of cheese and some really solid game play to keep you going. I've clocked about 30 hours with the game in total over the course of the semester and would recommend it to anyone with a DS.
Our retro game tournament took place during all of last week, and ended rather dramatically in a tie for 1st as well as 3rd place. Top overall scorers are:
Kevin Michael Dempsey (35 pts.)
Shao-Ming (Simon) Huang (35 pts.)
Isaiah Hines (30 pts.)
Cesar Parra (27 pts.)
Weslie Tigner (27 pts.)
The 4 competitors that are tied will be asked to come back in this week for our tie breaker: Donkey Kong for Colecovision. Results will be posted as soon as they are tallied up.
Top scoring competitors for each game are:
Duck Hunt: Cesar Parra
Battlezone: Kevin Michael Dempsey
Ms. Pacman: Isaiah Hines
Space Invaders: Kevin Michael Dempsey
Tetris: Isaiah Hines
Congratulations and thanks to all who participated!
Here are the top ten games played in the archive last week:
1. Fifa 10 (Xbox 360)
2. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)
4. Super Smash Bros. Melee
5. (tie) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
5. (tie) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Steam)
5. (tie) Halo 3: ODST
5. (tie) Persona 4
9. Call of Duty World at War
10. Heavy Rain
A paper was recently published in the March 2010 issue of the Psychological Bulletin documenting a study done on the effects of violent video games on children. One of the contributors was Prof. Bushman of UM.
Some of the conclusions reached in the paper are as follows: "We believe that debates can and should finally move beyond the simple question of whether violent video game play is a causal risk factor for aggressive behavior; the scientific literature has effectively and clearly shown the answer to be “yes.” Instead, we believe the public policy debate should move to questions concerning how best to deal with this risk factor. Public education about this risk factor—and about how parents, schools, and society at large can deal with it—could be very useful (171).
The paper can be accessed by university affiliates through this link.
On our shelves we have around 1400 titles available for your gaming pleasure. And having worked at the CVGA since we opened in August 2008 I feel confident enough to say that if we took out Halo, Call of Duty, Smash, Fifa and NCAA Football people would have no idea what to play. I intend to use this space to introduce (and hopefully sell you on) some of the very awesome games we have in our collection that rarely get any play time.
For example, House of the Dead: Overkill, a Wii-exclusive rail shooter, and surprise hit of last year. It’s an over-the-top, gore- fest balanced with humor and style done very much in the spirit of Robert Rodriquez’s Grindhouse. SEGA rebooted the House of the Dead franchise in an attempt to introduce a 'hardcore' gaming title for the Wii and to that end I think they succeeded. The game is hilarious, as in I've honestly never laughed so hard at a game in my life (and I'll tell you that working here I've seen a lot of games). So if you play this game, please, please watch the cut scenes! Recognized both by Yahtzee (of Zero Punctuation fame at http://tinyurl.com/yc9rz5u) as being one of the best games of 2009 and by the Guinness Book of World Records for dubious honor of breaking the record for most swearing in a video game (http://tinyurl.com/ybuna8j) it’s a game you don’t want to miss if you’re a fan of the zombie genre, shooters, or are just looking for something more interesting than Mario or Smash on the Wii.
Here are the top ten games played in the archive last week:
1. Fifa 10
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360)
3. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
4. Assassin's Creed 2
5. Super Smash Bros. Melee
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PC)
7. Call of Duty World at War
8. (tie) Halo 3: ODST
8. (tie) NHL 09
8. (tie) NHL 10
Today I welcome three new contributors to Eaten by a Grue.
Val Waldron is the manager of the Computer & Video Game Archive, and Doug Carmichael & Sarah Raezler are our two student workers.
Val, Doug & Sarah will be posting on topics relating to the archive, offering their unique perspectives on what it is like to work in one of the few academic game archives in the world.
As a bonus, you'll probably be getting updates to the blog much more frequently now :)
You can also find information such as our archive use policy, FAQ, and procedures for reserving stations at the archive here: http://guides.lib.umich.edu/cvga
Not all of our games in the CVGA can be found on the shelves. We've purchased a handful of downloadable-only games for the PS3 & Xbox 360 that can be played on our systems—no disc required!
