Welcome to GameSpy's features index! Here, you'll find all of GameSpy's longform feature stories, penned by some of the best writers in the gaming press. Magazines may be a dying medium -- but it doesn't mean that the sort of research, quality, and uniqueness that goes into the best magazine articles is lost forever. GameSpy is committed to delivering high-caliber, feature-length stories for gaming's Internet age. Enjoy!
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Virtual Balls (of Steel)
by Julian Murdoch, 8/5/2011
For the past year, I'd been building a virtual pinball machine in my basement. Like the world's nerdiest hot-rod, the project consumed my weekend hours with tinkering, tuning, wiring, and occasionally testing. But it was done, and thanks to the hard work of countless unpaid open-source programmers, artists, physicists, hobbyists, line chefs, and pinball nuts, I had 30 virtual tables running in a simulator.
The PC Gaming Renaissance
by Nathan Meunier, 8/3/2011
It's hard to believe that not too long ago, many folks in the gaming industry were yet again ready to write off the PC as a platform on the verge of extinction. A perennial argument that seems to sprout up every few years, "the death of PC gaming" couldn't be more exaggerated. Despite ongoing issues with piracy and lagging sales at the retail counter, the oldest and most flexible of video game platforms continues to thrive. And that's because the game is changing.
Treating ADHD with Video Games
by Evan Hoovler, 7/28/2011
I have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Not "school is soooo hard" disorder or "my parents are pretty laissez-faire" disorder. I have "I can't finish a sentence, answer the phone, or watch one minute of a TV show without medication" disorder. Despite this, I lead an adult life in which I consider myself to be pretty well-adjusted: I maintain a marriage and a career without screwing up (well, not anymore than the next dopey husband). This is somewhat due to proper diagnosis and medication, of course -- but the rest of my success, I owe to video games.
Putting the Gay in Games: The Industry's Evolving Attitudes Toward Sexuality
by Lara Crigger, 7/8/2011
Compared to the increasing prevalence of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) characters and storylines in other media -- from same-sex prom dates on Glee to gay headmasters in Harry Potter -- video games remain relatively stuck in the Dark Ages. What little LGBT content does make it into AAA titles often reflects stereotypes and attitudes that would've seemed quaint even under the 1930s Film Code.
My Dad, the Gamer
by Ryan Scott, 5/6/2011
My father is about to turn 69 years old. He spent decades in the corrugated paper business, he's the biggest automotive gearhead I've ever known, and -- beyond the Intellivision years -- he never had much of an interest in video games. Four years ago, when he retired, that changed. These days, he maintains a stack of Xbox 360 games that rivals my own. He's clocked countless hours in the most hardcore role-playing games that the system has to offer. And his obsessive-gamer nature... well, let's just say it runs in the family. So, I recently sat down with my dear old dad to pick his brain about all things game-related -- let's see how the mind of a golden-years gamer works, shall we?
Flash!: Epilepsy and Video Games
by Julian Murdoch, 4/1/2011
For a moment, I can see the light actually flowing into the room, like honey. Everything smells like oranges. My palms sweat. And, most inexplicably, I feel the passage of time. Not deja vu, not the slow-motion of adrenaline reactions, but I can sense time as a tangible thing -- as if I am moving through the future, step by step. Then, blackness.
Minecraft: Digging Deep Into a Curious Realm
by Nathan Meunier, 1/7/2011
A ton of pixels and a little freedom can produce strange and incredible things. For Swedish indie developer Markus "Notch" Persson, they've turned his life upside-down in one of the best ways imaginable. He's in the enviable position of having his first major game project rake in well over $12 million... and the game isn't even finished or officially released yet. That's unheard of in the indie gaming world. Minecraft is shaping up to be one of the biggest indie success stories yet, and as development continues on this perfect storm of blocky landscape exploration and sandbox-style survival adventure, the prospect of building pixelated worlds and staying alive within them grows even more enticing.
The Male Gamer Stereotype Dissected
by Evan Hoovler, 11/30/2010
For decades, speculation has run rampant that video games make children hyperactive, murderous imps with impossible-to-stop hand-eye coordination. But this can't still be the dark ages of video games anymore; years' worth of of data has been collected with regard to the behavior and characteristics of gamers. Instead of arguing abstract reasoning, people can start pointing to hard facts. With that in mind, it's a good time to re-examine the classic derogatory stereotype of the male gamer.
Press A to Jump: A Theory of Jumping Mechanics
by Ryan Kuo, 10/1/2010
Jumpman jumps. This feels as self-evident as saying water is wet. Of course Jumpman jumps, because that is his name (Aquaman swims; Superman is super). But at some point, Jumpman became Mario, and the story became more complicated.
Who the Hell Is Jack Thompson?
by William Vitka, 9/16/2010
Everyone knows him as the most insane anti-gaming lawyer (or, well, ex-lawyer) ever to light up the Internet, pushing an aggressive agenda to protect us against violent games, and attacking anyone who disagrees with him. But is he really the villain that everyone believes he is? In this candid interview, we endeavor to hear his side of the story. This is Jack Thompson, in his own words.
The Dungeons & Dragons Effect
by Jason Wilson, 8/24/2010
D&D is now in its 4th edition, though the most recent version of the game hasn't appeared in video game form yet. Thirty-six years after its first publication, what influence does the product of the late Gary Gygax's and Dave Arneson's imaginations still have on video games?
Finding Religion in Video Games
by Evan Hoovler, 8/11/2010
Today -- whenever that day is -- is always the most technologically and culturally advanced period in all of history. Because of this, it's easy to entertain the notion that "modern" society bears no fundamental ties to its philistine predecessors. However, we can often find shockingly similar parallels between "ancient" and "modern," media which go beyond the realm of explanation that the definition of "a coincidence" can provide.
Football for Dummies: Learning the Ropes from Madden NFL
by Chris Dahlen, 8/10/2010
My love of sports died in kindergarten. I was on the playground with some other boys, and we were tossing the ball around. I don't remember if we were playing baseball, dodgeball, or catch: all I recall is that somebody threw it to me, and I missed it. It rolled maybe 10 or 14 feet away, so I had to run and throw it to the next kid -- and of course, when I tried, it fell short. We went around and I tried again, and the ball missed my hands and flew away. The other boys made a decision: If I was going to have to keep running to the end of the playground, I might as well stay over there.
Eberron on Five Points a Day
by Cory Banks, 7/28/2010
Last year, Turbine surprised the MMO world by opening the gates to Dungeons & Dragons Online, allowing anyone to simply sign up for an account, download the client, and save the world of Eberron -- all for free. Gone are industry-standard subscription fees, replaced by an in-game eCommerce system filled with items and content that players can buy, on-demand, whenever they wish. Turbine gambled on the idea that giving their content away will make the game better -- and even make more money. I decided to find out how much it would cost me to have fun.
The Perfect Arcade
by Julian Murdoch, 7/16/2010
As geek-overlord Wil Wheaton has written about repeatedly (and speechified at two different Penny Arcade Expo keynotes), a real arcade is -- was -- a special place. And while attempts to recapture the mid-'80s feel of a real arcade exist in magical spots around the country, like New Hampshire's Funspot, or the retro room at Penny Arcade Expo East, they suffer not just from a lack of hygiene and me-not-being-13, they're also very far away. So I built my own.
Coming Attractions: Behind the Curtain of the Opening Cinematic
by Troy S. Goodfellow, 5/26/2010
You watch it once. Maybe twice. But game developers place great importance on a well-done opening movie. In this feature, we delve into the hows and whys of the all-important introduction cut-scene.
Bad Romance: Love in the Time of Videogames
by Lara Crigger, 5/13/2010
Examples of love in videogames abound, from Harvest Moon's set of collectable wives to Mario's Sisyphean quest for the elusive Princess Peach. And certainly, games feature more sex now in the HD era than ever before, from the tasteful applications (the one-night stand in Mass Effect) to the simply titillating (Dante Inferno's exquisitely rendered corpse-boobies). But genuine, believable romance -- an intimacy between two characters that can be passionate or pragmatic; long-simmering or sexually explosive -- remains elusive in all but a select few titles. And for good reason: Writing love stories is hard.
Loss of Death: Suicide in Videogames
by Ryan Kuo, 4/6/2010
In many of the games that we play, death is an inevitability -- the reaper catches even the best players sometimes. But what happens when a game invites us to willingly seek death or self-destruction as a means to an end? This feature explores the implications of deliberate suicide in videogames.
Other People's Stories: An Examination of Gaming's Literary Adaptations
by Troy S. Goodfellow, 3/4/2010
Game developers have a lot to think about when they adapt literary works to an interactive medium. This feature examines some of the factors and decision-making inherent to crafting such adaptations, with feedback from the developers games such as Dante's Inferno, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and The Witcher.
The Preservation of Fun: New York's Videogame Museum
by Lara Crigger, 1/28/2010
The Strong National Museum of Play overlooks downtown Rochester, NY, a frosty, upstate boomtown better known as the home of Susan B. Anthony and Eastman Kodak. From the outside, the museum resembles a toy box gone supernova, all jumbled angles and primary colors. The inside isn't much different -- just louder.
God's PR Problem: The Role of Religion in Videogames
by Julian Murdoch, 1/13/2010
By most accounts, the Bible and the Koran are the two best-selling books of all time. 40% of the U.S. population attends church services at least once a week. So why does God get short shrift in videogames?
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