Using Games to Get You in the Mood to…Play Games

Many of us have been there. You know that some gaming time is coming your way, be it an hour or seven, and you psych yourself up for it. You plan to jam through game after game after game! Defeating old bosses, facing new ones! Finishing that one game from your backlog that’s been bothering…

Metroid Prime, IT’S GO TIME! (And this time, I’m serious.)

It seems the right combination of inspiration and timing have struck in the midst of my gaming life. At the beginning of this month, my colleague Hatm0nster wrote Finishing Final Fantasy VII, in which he discussed who determined he was to complete this classic game. After reading, it made me think of how I, too,…

Relationships in Games: The Loner, The Rebel

Sometimes the best relationships we have in games don’t involve other characters. Sometimes the road traveled alone is the best path, the most fulfilling path, the most sensible path.  For every game that offers plenty of opportunities for teamwork and romance, there are dozens of others where these choices don’t exist. Your character — the…

Taking a step back to look forward

As the summer gets rolling, my time with games grows thinner and thinner. Just this past weekend I turned on the ol’ 360 to play a little South Park: The Stick of Truth for the first time in nearly 3 weeks. I picked up a couple new games in Steam and put in a few minutes of gameplay,…

Relationships in Games: The Romance(s)

The forming (and breaking) of intimate relationships between characters has become something of a hallmark in modern games. We muddled about by ourselves in games for years prior, taking on the toughest of enemies either alone or with a ragtag group of new-found “friends” with vacant backstories. Enter in the likes of story-heavy games, such…

The Xbox One: Strike Two

Eighty days ago, less than three months, the Titanfall Xbox One bundle arrived in our house. After going through quite the ordeal to get the thing set up and online, off into the world of next-gen we sailed on a digital ship. Yes, digital. Digital-only. For eighty days we explored a world of games through…

Relationships in Games: The Teammates

I recently picked up South Park: The Stick of Truth (SoT), and I’ve been having an absolute blast with it. It’s a fun, funny, and fantastic game complete with decent mechanics and enjoyable gameplay. SoT is a turn-based combat game, and it’s been awhile since I’ve played one of them. Thinking back…the last one had…

(Mario) Partying with 1hour1sketch!

Last month, United We Game got together with the creative minds behind @1hour1sketch and offered up the topic “Mario Party,” which was hosted for one week on the art-directed Twitter site. During that week, response to the topic was fast and furious…and utterly AMAZING! Seriously, it was incredible to see so many different interpretations on…

UWG Top 10: #7 – Banjo-Kazooie

When I write about or speak of my gaming history, Banjo-Kazooie is a game that comes up… a lot. I’ve found joy in many games, but none of them quite compare to the pure bliss I experienced with in the delightfully colorful world of Banjo the bear and Kazooie the bird. It’s a game that helped me…