Posted in Quiet Stories, Thoughts About Video Games

9 Iconic Games that I’ll Never Play

Hello Neighbor is not my kind of game. Every gamer has their personal preferences, whether it be platform, genre or franchise related. I personally don’t enjoy puzzle games. Light puzzle elements are ok, but a game that at every step of the way challenges your reasoning and problem solving skills is not enjoyable. There isn’t a big enough payoff, at least in my opinion. I also for the most part don’t play survival horror games. As I’ve grown older I’ve delved a little deeper into spookier titles. Outlast was good and I thoroughly enjoyed Resident Evil 7, but I wouldn’t exactly call myself a glutton for the genre.

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Posted in Quiet Stories, Thoughts About Video Games

5 Racing Games for People who Don’t Give a F**K About Racing

If the only thing you love more than video games is cars, then this article is not for you. There are plenty of fantastic racing games for those who enjoy the genre. From the Forza Motorsport series, to the Horizon series, to the Gran Turismo series. Each of these franchises produce games that have a keen attention for detail, recreating the tiniest nuances of the drivable vehicles, with customization options galore.

But what if you don’t like cars? What if driving is just a way to get from point A to point B? You don’t know your exhaust pipe from your brake pads, or what the difference is between a V6 and a V8. If so you’re in good company. I’ve compiled a list of 5 great modern racing games, for people who don’t like racing games.

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Posted in Communicating with the World (Academic), Quiet Stories

Moving from Mumbai to New Zealand

We often don’t reflect on our personal culture in a thoughtful and questioning way. Yet our culture defines nearly all aspects of our lives. Culture, “ranks what is important, furnishes attitudes about what things are appropriate, and dictates behavior,” (Varner & Beamer, 2011, p. 10). There are so many things that can be attributed to and relevant to what we perceive our culture to be. I was born in New Zealand, have lived in New Zealand my whole life, yet my parents are British immigrants. I’m a white male, I’m not religious and I personify many of the traditional Kiwi male stereotypes. When I think of my ethnic culture, I refer to myself as a New Zealander.

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Posted in Quiet Stories, Thoughts About Video Games

3 Games that are Great in 15 minute Chunks

Whether you’re grinding in an RPG or playing round after round of a multiplayer time killer, we can all think of a few games that suck up hours of our day. But what if you don’t have such a lengthy period of free time. Maybe you’ve got half an hour before you have to go to class, or only 15 minutes for lunch, or perhaps you get 20 minutes in before bed.

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Posted in Quiet Stories, Thoughts About Video Games

I Wouldn’t be a Gamer if I Grew up in the 90’s

I wouldn’t be a gamer if I had grown up before the 2000’s.

I could start this piece off in a variety of ways. Why are arcade games dying? Why is the Souls series so successful? Why are gamers and games themselves fundamentally different now, compared to how they once were?

But instead I will start off with a personal example. I was born in 1996. So by the time I understood what video games were and finally convinced Santa (my parents) to get me a gaming console for Christmas, we were already a few years into the PS2’s life cycle…

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Posted in Quiet Stories, Thoughts About Video Games

5 Video Game Copy Cats

With the launch of Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds we have seen numerous games try and jump on the battle royal style band wagon. Fortnite was the first of the PUBG clones, and with the meteoric success they have found, they certainly weren’t the last. However following trends or trying to mimic popular games doesn’t always end in success. So let’s take a look at 5 games that tried to copy great games, but ended up disappointing.

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