tetris posts

Video Games Live has announced a partnership with record label EMI Classics to release a compilation of some of VGL's orchestrated video game tunes via digital distribution and compact disc. Entitled Video Games Live: Volume One, the assemblage will showcase "some of the more popular segments from Video Games Live performances. The album contains several unique arrangements that were created along with the original composers exclusively for the show, and have never previously been released," according to a press release issued by VGL.

Video Games Live: Volume One will be released in two stages: a digital release available in the United Kingdom starting today, July 7; and a CD / iTunes exclusive complete with bonus tracks that coincides with VGL events beginning in San Diego, CA, on July 24.

The full track list for Video Games Live: Volume One is available after the break.

While not ordinarily the source of gaming news, Entertainment Weekly compiled an interesting list of the gaming classics in their historic (list-heavy) 1000th issue. Dubbed "The New Classics," the listing showcases 50 titles that have shaped gaming over the last 25 years. While the list has been called into question for noticeable omissions (ie. Super Mario Bros. as well as PC classics Myst and The Sims) it does offer a good insight into the gaming world's past and present. Writers Geoff Keighley, Wook Kim and Gary Eng Walk showcased a healthy dose of PC love in the listing with the top spot going to Tetris (singled out as a PC release but emphasized as multiplatform in its small explanation blurb), third place was given to Doom while Half-Life nabbed the 18th spot.

We here at Big Download wonder, what are the most important titles in your gaming history and how do you think this list stacks up?

The full 50 title listing, including many more PC selections, can be found after the jump.

[via X3F]

There is a tendency among the hardcore to think of casual games as the trite, twee younger sibling of more "serious" games -- your Tomb Raiders, your X-coms, your Starcrafts of the gaming universe. This perception stems from the idea that a simple game must be simple to create, and therefore reaches an equally simple audience. This, in turn, relies on hewing to old stereotypes: women and older people don't play games, therefore if that demographic is playing a game, it must be easy, right?

Without trapping ourselves by making our opponent's argument -- after all, the hallmark of the casual game is that it is easy to pick up and learn -- we can instead focus on why it is that hardcore games do not attract that market, and what it is that casual games offer instead. To sum it up in a word, it's depth. But wait, isn't depth what people usually say these games lack? To answer that, we need to revisit what "depth" in games really means.