The Most Influential Ever

Posted: 20th March 2012 by admin in Discussion
Every genre in the video game industry has its big hits, cult classics, average sellers, and total flops. The interesting thing is that sales, the use of Origin promo codes, and their popularity are rarely very good indicators of what makes an FPS a good one. Sometimes, what is popular gets there by sheer accessibility – even idiots can pick it up after a round or two – and stays popular by virtue of the initia

5 Rules of FPS

Posted: 24th November 2011 by admin in Basics
So you’re watching a suspense thriller in the cinema. Just as the token dumb blonde is about to open the door, someone in the audience yells “DON’T OPEN THAT DOOR BITCH! YO SKINNY WHITE ASS IS GONNA DIE!” Of course, being a dumb blonde, the actress opens the door. And promptly gets her head cut off. Just as Hollywood has its epic cliches, so do games. And this time, allow us to be that loud

Sniper Basics: Counter Strike

Posted: 14th November 2011 by admin in Basics
Whether you’re on the terrorist or a counter terrorist side, it’s good to be the person who’s just hiding in a corner, while waiting for a target. Snipers are always key to winning a battle in any FPS game, particularly Counter-Strike. They’re the silent killers of enemy hordes. Most players would even have a hard time eliminating a single sniper. In order to maximize the full potential of b

Barney Calhoun’s Midday Shift

Posted: 8th November 2011 by admin in Basics
Dear Diary, Today was yet another boring blue shift at work. I don’t want to sound like a whiner or anything, but working at Black Mesa pretty much sucks. It’s not enough that the facility is located practically in the middle of nowhere, out in the barren desert, with the nearest town 300 miles away. No: what gets me is the fact that we have to work underground. You see, back in the 50′s the whole

Peace On Earth and Pass the Ammunition

Posted: 7th November 2011 by admin in Basics
There is a sharpening nip in the air as the days grow shorter and the evenings crisper. Soon there will be wishes of good will toward all on everyone’s lips, silver bells will begin ringing, the world will move to the rhythm of a choir singing Silent Night, and the guy with the sleigh will prepare for his busy night. And you know what that means – the newest crop of hot video games will be coming out soon.

FPS Toys We Bet Will Sell

Posted: 17th October 2011 by admin in Basics
About 10 years ago, I played StarCraft more than 5 hours a day. I forgot all about lunch, my date with Sophie, and even that calculus assignment due tomorrow. I played so long I started seeing Siege tanks in my sleep. Now you might be wondering why the hell I’m discussing an RTS on an FPS site (Sacre bleu! A traitor in our midst!). The simple answer is this: I’ve always wanted a toy from the StarCraft u

Mods and the FPS Genre

Posted: 30th September 2011 by admin in Basics
To start things off, it would be good to define what “mod” means. The term is a short version of “modification,” and refers to fan-made packs of data that make alterations to an existing game. This could include something as simple as new “skins,” giving existing graphical elements a new look, to making wholesale changes to gameplay mechanics – reducing the cooldown time for po

Playing the Predator for the Thrill of the Hunt

Posted: 28th September 2011 by admin in Discussion
For sci-fi fans, one of the best, most iconic fictional hunters are the predators, named after the movie of the same name. In their expanded universe, this race is known as the “Yautja,” with a culture that seems centered around the idea of hunting games. Planets are seeded with suitable prey and hunting packs travel across great distances to risk their lives for the thrill, bringing home trophies and g

Marathon LAN Party Checklist

Posted: 9th September 2011 by admin in Discussion
Before the advent of high-speed Internet connections, ridiculously fast ping times, and MMO gaming, there were LAN parties. These were those times when gamers within a given area would pack up their best rigs, hook up their computers into a local network – thus the name “local area network” – and play multiplayer. This was the dawn of true multiplayer gaming, as well as the roots from which the R

NSFW: How to Shoot your Load in Real Life

Posted: 5th September 2011 by admin in Discussion
Okay, hotshot. So you’re the top dog, the big name in front of the ladder boards. You’ve climbed to first place over the bodies of hundreds of opponents, and your very name is now synonymous with l33t and awesome. So what say we take a break from all that shooting and talk about the birds an’ the bees? That’s right: while you were so busy scoring headshots, you might have been neglecting sco