‘Fallout‘ heads to Vegas this fall. New Vegas is being developed by Obsidian Entertainment (Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol) for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Publisher Bethesda Softworks announced Fallout: New Vegas, the follow-up to 2008’s Fallout 3, will arrive this fall.
New Vegas is being developed by Obsidian Entertainment (Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol) for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
We’ve quizzed developers, industry experts and readers on their favorite video games of the past decade. The rules for developers and experts are simple: What were your 5 favorite games of the 2000s? Starting today, we’ll reveal some of their answers. To kick things off, Game Hunters shares their 10 favorites of the decade:
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) kicked the sandbox genre up to another level and set the stage for its successors with an eclectic soundtrack and impressive Hollywood voice cast.
Halo 2 (2004) built upon the success of Halo: Combat Evolved and proved that a video game franchise could build a following akin to that of films.
Wii Sports (2006). A simple collection of games that propelled the Wii into a phenomenon. Got new players into the game and increased the social nature of the experience.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) transformed the first-person shooter into a full-fledged blockbuster experience. And its multiplayer mode kept on giving.
Rock Band and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (2007). If pressed, I’d pick Rock Band because it bought drums and vocals onto the stage. But I give Activision props for keeping the pressure on with Guitar Hero III’s gameplay improvements and addition of master tracks.
Grand Theft Auto III (2001). Vice City and San Andreas had more personality, but that first taste of gaming freedom in Liberty City was most memorable.
Halo: Combat Evolved (2001). Campaign is arguably the best of the series. Hard to top that intense escape sequence at the end.
God of War (2005). The opening brawl with the Hydra sets the table for an epic, exhilarating “hack and slash” adventure.
Shadow of the Colossus (2005). This imaginative action game featured an emotionally engaging plot and challenging boss encounters featuring the seemingly peaceful colossi.
Portal (2007). It’s amazing how much narrative Valve was able to cram inside this tight campaign with such little dialogue. A fantastic example of immersive storytelling.
Imagine Artist combines a story about being an intern in an art studio with actual lessons about creating art. It creates a compelling world in which to explore art. Sounds like a great idea. Use of the imagination is being lost with the advent of technology that “does” everything for the children.
Imagine Artist is the newest release in Ubisoft’s Imagine series of Nintendo DS video games, which provide girls with simulated opportunities to explore different professions. Other good titles in the series include Imagine Detective and Imagine Zookeeper.
This simulation game plays out over six weeks of your interning for Megan, an up-and-coming artist who has her own studio. Megan’s studio is located on an island that has a flourishing art community. But the community is in the middle of a fight with a land developer who is trying to buy up the island to build a shopping mall; and it is this conflict which provides the basis of the game’s story line.
As Megan’s intern, each day is filled with art lessons, projects and skill-building minigames. The day usually culminates with your creating a piece of art that incorporates all that you have learned that day. Each of the six weeks of your internship has a theme: Week one covers the basics of art, and thereafter the weeks are spent painting flowers, animals, still life, landscapes and people.
The art lessons cover techniques with paints, pencils, stencils, sponges, craft paper and more. You will learn about art concepts, such as shading, by playing minigames. You will also explore the concepts of primary colors, secondary colors, complementary colors and analogous colors. For example, to understand analogous colors, which are colors that are next to each other on the color wheel, the game requests that you create a Get Well card that features a sunflower. To paint the petals of the sunflower, you must use variations of orange.
The combining of art lessons with the creating of artwork at the end of each day gives you a real sense of accomplishment. The game cleverly lets you save and then upload your artwork to an online gallery where, using a unique account ID, you can print your masterpieces or share them with friends via e-mail. And, as you master new techniques, new art supplies unlock, including more brush tips, more colors of paint and additional stencils.
For those playing Imagine Artist on a Nintendo DSi, the game gives you opportunities to use your own photos as backdrops to your artwork.
Imagine Artist creates a compelling world in which to explore art. You feel cocooned by supportive characters and comments. At no time can you possibly fail. Art techniques are broken down into manageable bits, and you learn how to combine the different techniques to create pieces of art. The game’s control of using the stylus works remarkably well, whether your stylus is acting as a paint roller, a fine-tipped colored pencil or a sponge. The game even holds your hand while showing you how to create more complex pictures by layering your artwork on top of earlier creations to produce a complete painting.
Imagine Artist is like a good book: When you enter into its world, it takes you places you didn’t know you could go. It provides you with the skills to express yourself through art.
This game will appeal to kids who love art as well as kids who don’t know much about it. If this game kindles your kid’s interest in art, she (or he) should be able to take the techniques taught in the game and apply them to creating art using real art supplies instead of digital ones.
Parents of budding boy artists, don’t be put off by the girl on the outside of the box and that this is part of the Imagine series of games targeted at girls. There is a male art curator represented in the game and the artwork is gender neutral. Boys will be as intrigued and enthralled as girls.