Quantcast
Destructoid - Sven Wohl's Community Blog




About Me
Freelance Videogame 'journalist' for the Luxembourgish dayly newspaper 'Letzebuerger Journal' (www.journal.lu) where I do weekly reviews and the like. Also trying to do more freelance stuff in English, so if you have a site and need somebody to write for it, you can always ask me.

Twitter: @SvenWohl

I also wrote for several weeks for www.Gamersyndrome.com
At this moment, I'm a regular news and feature writer at www.sega-addicts.com!

Xbox-Live Gamertag: Neo Subenu

PSN: NeoSubenu

Wii Friend Code:
4767-3726-4152-1201

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom
5285-2857-6193

The Conduit
4297-2299-2585

Mario Kart Wii
1160-9977-2709

Some of the Blog posts I'm proud of:
Groundhog Day: No More Heroes
Homo Ludens
No More Heroes and the deconstruction of the phallus




Gamer Profile
3DS friend code:
Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Sub
Battle: Subenu
PSN: NeoSubenu
Mii: 4767 3726 4152 1201
Gamertag: Neo Subenu
Following (19)
Beccy Caine
Chris Carter
ChronosWing
Ckarasu
Clayton S Chan
Colette Bennett
DaedHead8
DtoidEurope
EuroFNF
guysgirl
josmeister
Lamer
Misstawnii
Mueti
Simon
Stephanie K
themizarkshow
walrusmustdash
Building a video game canon, Week 1
Sven Wohl | 4:11 AM on 05.16.2009 8 comments


One week ago I started a thread on the Destructoid Forums in order to create a video game canon. There was some response to it, and most of it was very constructive and it was interesting how the games that were proposed have been discussed there. The discussions have slowed down now for a bit, so I will use this moment to resume how far we got until now. But before I do that, I want to thank everyone who participated in the discussions. It is really great to see how the list evolves and how people here really try and help. I hope we can keep this up for some time.

First, we started off with the list of 10 video games that I found on wikipedia:

*Spacewar!
* Star Raiders
* Zork
* Tetris
* SimCity
* Super Mario Bros. 3
* Civilization I/II
* Doom
* Warcraft series
* Sensible World of Soccer

I´ll give you now the games that are almost certainly on our list, since they have not been questioned:

Metroid: Extremely good combination of action gameplay, both in terms of platforming and shooting, in an action framework (massive world to explore). (Count_Zero)

The Legend of Zelda: Similar reason, a fairly simple - at first glance - quest game, with a massive world (for the NES) to explore, but with fairly simple and accessible gameplay. (Count_Zero)

Super Mario Bros (NES) : This was the first platformer to have scrolling. (Count_Zero)

Super Mario 64: The concept of a 3d platformer was relatively alien at the time yet this worked so well first time out. (garrfunkel)

Ocarina of Time: One of the few retro series to jump into 3d so well and adapt so quickly. (garrfunkel)

Braid: A masterpiece in every sense of the word. (DaedHead8)

Half Life Series: Since the very beginning the people at Valve have been pushing the boundaries of interactive narrative with the Half Life series. On top of that the controls are perfect and the graphics have always been cutting edge. (DaedHead8)

GTA 3: The staple of sandbox games and the point of comparison ever since (How many times have you heard the words GTA-Clone in the past few years?). Sure other games had done it before, but nothing like what GTA had to offer. (dmgi)

Wii Sports: Like it or not it is something that completely defines what the Wii is and will always be remembered. (garrfunkel)

Tetris: It pretty much single-handedly popularized the Game Boy (and more importantly, portable gaming in general). (Clyde and Badstar)

Fallout: It was different and innovative for its time, doing brand new things that heavily, heavily influenced the RPG genre. (Angra)

And here is the list of games that are heavily discussed at this moment:

[Questionable] Shadow of the Colossus: One of the most moving stories in a game ever. Massively expansive landscape and every fight is a boss fight. (garrfunkel and DaedHead8)

[Questionable] Metal Gear series: All of them really but most importantly the first Metal Gear game and Metal Gear Solid. Both of which were responsible for creating and popularising stealth gameplay. (dmgi)

[Questionable] Bioshock: The game that proved you don't need multiplayer to sell millions in the internet era. A beautiful combination of innovative gameplay and masterful story telling, this game deserves to be a part of the video game canon. (DaedHead8)

Titles that completely dropped of the list:
Guitar Hero

Titles not yet included, but mentioned (nobody has given a reason to include them yet):
Dance Dance Revolution


Please continue submitting new titles and discussing the existing one here.
For more information on the video game canon, read the description in the topic our in my Blog-entry on it.



Is this post awesome? Vote it up!

0



Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:

Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

7 comments | showing # 1 to 7
prev next

HydroTonix's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/16/2009 04:18
HydroTonix
What the fuck is a canon?
Sven Wohl's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/16/2009 04:25
Sven Wohl
That is both explained in the topic and in the linked blog-entry. A canon is a list of works that are essential to its medium. This means, we create a list of games that are essential for the video game medium and its evolution.
Takeshi's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/16/2009 04:49
Takeshi
Still don't know why Metal Gear is questionable. It's (sticking to your words here) definitely essential for the video game medium and its evolution.

No Metal Gear is no canon.
Takeshi's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/16/2009 04:56
Takeshi
But I agree with you I've got to come up with arguments (although I can't imagine why people don't want it on the list.
Sven Wohl's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/16/2009 04:57
Sven Wohl
Remember it's not me questioning the game being on the list. One of the reasons that was given is that metal gear "only" (I'm quoting here)gave rise to a sub-genre.

I for myself do thing it is important enough to be on the list, but there is a choice that would have to be done as to which one belongs on there.
Count Grishnack's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/16/2009 12:50
Count Grishnack
SotC and MGS are in -- no doubt.

They both moved storytelling to new levels. I'd like to hear compelling arguments as to why they shouldn't be on.
DaedHead8's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/19/2009 00:35
DaedHead8
I just said this in the thread but I'll say it here too. I really think we need to re-define what qualifies a video game as cannon. Are discussion at this point is only a level or two above fanboi nonsense and without a clear set of rules I don't see a good way forward.
prev next

Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

Comments policy

Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?

Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!