Gaming off the Beaten Path

  Let's start this week's entry with a little video game trivia. Your question: What title won Gamespot's "Game of the Year" award in 1998? I mean, there were so many great games that came out that year and thus, so many possible answers. Maybe one of the legendary console titles? The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time? Metal Gear Solid? Perhaps a PC classic? Half Life? Star Craft? Baldur's Gate? Maybe something a little more out there? Xenogears? Panzer Dragoon Saga? Star Ocean: The Second Story? Well, your time is up and if you picked any one of those all-time great classics, you would be wrong. The answer isn't one of those games. It wasn't Resident Evil 2 or Parasite Eve. It wasn't Sonic Adventure or Spyro the Dragon. It wasn't F-Zero X or Street Fighter Alpha 3. No, in this absolutely absurdly, unfairly amazing year for gaming, Gamespot's Game of the Year went to a little title called Grim Fandango. I guess it really wasn't "lit...

 I want to start this week by talking a little bit about genre bias and its impact on video game ratings. There is a huge variety of different gaming genres out there and not every gamer is going to enjoy every type of game. Whether you are writing for a major gaming site or you are someone like me, you are bound to have personal feelings on which genres you like and which you don't. I have made it pretty clear I don't really like racing games and that RPGs are my favorite, so I kind of grade those genres on something of a curve, even if its only subconsciously. Some genres appeal to more gamers than others, mostly fringe stuff. One of those fringe genres, at least I consider it to be fringe, it point and click adventure. These games are very different than anything else out there, for better or worse, and I recognize they aren't for everyone. But if you like these kinds of games, or can even tolerate them, you need to play 2064: Read Only Memories right now. 2064 is not an...