1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

Anyone going to read it? And then play everything?

Personally I refuse to believe that there are actually 1001 computer games worth playing out there. I mean games only just get to being playable around 1990.

Did it really have to be 1001? Couldn't they have cut it down to a manageable 101? I mean, with games with the scope of the Fallouts, Stalker or Elderscrolls probably being in the fray, that would provide at least half a decade of gaming right there. I have been thinking about my personal top 20 "things I absolutely have to play" games, but there's too much 2000+ stuff in my mind to do an objective selection.

DanB wrote:

I mean games only just get to being playable around 1990.

No Wai! Some of my favorite games are mid 80's! Anything from Origin in that era was just awesome. Although the early 90's was like a golden age of gaming, lots of great franchises started 90-95.

You young kids and your fancy 3d video games!!!

Since there's not a lot of context in the OP:

1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die is a book coming this fall that actually contains what its title suggests: mini write-ups about 1001 games picked by "international critics" and ordered in chronological order. Kotaku blurb here. Amazon info here (but click the link on the left if you decide to buy).

DanB wrote:

Anyone going to read it? And then play everything?

I doubt I will, personally. I have too much other stuff to read.

DanB wrote:

I mean games only just get to being playable around 1990.

But I do feel sorry for you if you really believe that, so many good things missed...

I'll probably buy it, if only to browse through it.

As for reading it all and playing it all, no way.

It does bring up an interesting question, though. I've probably played 1,000 different games in my lifetime. I have achievements in 170 odd 360 games alone.

DanB wrote:

Anyone going to read it? And then play everything?

Personally I refuse to believe that there are actually 1001 computer games worth playing out there. I mean games only just get to being playable around 1990.

You dang kids! Get offa my lawn!

There are so many great games from the arcade era alone. I don't even want to know how many quarters I pumped into Front Line and Elevator Action and Space Harrier. Throw in the humor of games like Zork and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and there are loads of gems from back then.

Will I read it? Probably not. There are loads of books on gaming I haven't read, I'll just add this to the pile. Gaming's so subjective anyways it's not like this is a definitive list. Now, my list, THAT is the definitive list.

There's a decent chance that I'll pick it up if amazon eventually lets me take a peek inside (I want to see how the pages are laid out and what information is offered on each game - if there are 1001 games listed, the book had better be at least 250 pages long).

Chances are that I've already got a pretty good start on playing all 1001 As for the pre-1990 comment....*slap!* Many of my best memories are pre-1990! Sid Meier's Pirates! Defender of the Crown, MULE, Maniac Mansion, The Legend of Zelda, Bandit Kings of Ancient China, dozens of horizontal and vertical shooters, etc, etc, etc.

Doh! Missed the page count; that allays one of my biggest concerns for sure.

I guess I misread the OP 'cause I was thinking, "Why are they only covering PC games?".

A quick look on the Amazon page quelled my fears and the whole industry is being covered and the book weighs in at a whopping 960 pages. No dimension info, as I was curious if it was a coffee-table style book.

I'm definitely pre-ordering, with that much coverage (1001 games) and that many pages it looks like a must-own.

I like that the list is chronological and not alphabetical so I can go back through the pages of history (wink) and take a trip down nostalgia road with game coverage that hopefully even predates Atari 2600. Obviously Pong will be covered, but I wonder if it will touch on even more obscure stuff like the Mattel LED handhelds.

IMAGE(http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/Mattel-MissileAttack.jpg)

^^^ One of the earliest pre-2600 games I remember owning.

Some of my all-time favorite sports games were pre-1990.

Larry Bird Vs. Dr J
World's Greatest Baseball Game
Summer Games

DanB wrote:

Oh and Defender of the Crown was pretty sucky at the time (in fact all of those Cinemaware games sucked back then)

Wha? I loved Defender of the Crown!

For the record guys I started playing games in 1981 and many of my fondest gaming memories are form the 80s. And my point wasn't that there weren't great games in the 80s. But I've been back to play most of the games I once dearly loved and with rare exception they are mostly clunky and amateurish. I still love 'em but they certainly ain't all that playable in retrospect. Anyway, I stand by my point that playability in games takes a marked and welcome leap forward as your cross the tail end of the 80s in to the 90s.

Oh and Defender of the Crown was pretty sucky at the time (in fact all of those Cinemaware games sucked back then)

The 1001 books are part of a series, and they are generally well put together, so you can put those concerns at ease.

DanB wrote:

I mean games only just get to being playable around 1990.

Blasphemy

DanB wrote:

Oh and Defender of the Crown was pretty sucky at the time (in fact all of those Cinemaware games sucked back then)

You, sir, are dead to me.

I would agree with anyone who says that games have tended to get more playable as a whole with each new console generation, although the leap forward has gotten smaller every time. So, I agree with myself.

However, Super Mario Bros., Mega Man, and Contra are all the proof you need that there are very playable games well before 1990. Hell, you can't make Mario more playable. It's a perfect game.

You can't say Pacman isn't playable. I mean, I don't really enjoy it myself, but it sure is playable.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

You can't say Pacman isn't playable. I mean, I don't really enjoy it myself, but it sure is playable.

And even more simple example is Pong. If that isn't the easiest game to play in the world, I don't know what is.

If I don't play a game on the list, does that mean I won't die?

I'd actually be more interested in what approach they took to select the 1001. Metacritic? Number of sales? Revenue? That guy in the old arcade slash comic book store downtown, who has been there every day since 1978? 1001 is a big number. I think at about one third or half way through they would have to start filling the list with anything they can think of or that somebody has maybe heard of way back in the day.

I'd be curious as to what regions they cover. Will it only be games released in North America and probably Europe, or will there be exclusives to the rest of the world included as well? If there are Japanese exclusives, chances are that many of us will at least have heard of them, but what about titles from Korea (pre-MMO days, such as for the Wonderswan), Israel, Russia (not Tetris), or Argentina? I'd love a book that uncovers gems from non-traditional regions, because obviously there must be SOME out there which we don't know about.

Fun fact along those lines: in the 90s in Germany, a couple of companies and other groups like charities made promotional point and click adventures, with chiptune sounds and 8-bit graphics and all. Some of those were plain goofy, but some were quite good for being free. I fondly remember one promoting awareness and courage against racism. Was a well done game and had a gripping atmosphere.

Isn't the list of games culled from polling lots of game journalists?

I would hope that there are more games than just a single region, frankly I doubt you could get together 1001 genuine classics without covering at least the US, Europe and Japan.

Nightmare wrote:
DanB wrote:

I mean games only just get to being playable around 1990.

But I do feel sorry for you if you really believe that, so many good things missed...

I gamed more in the early 80's than I do now, and I game quite a bit now.

Intellivision, Colecovision, Atari, arcades... come on!

DanB wrote:

I mean games only just get to being playable around 1990.

Arcade: Going to the mall with a group of friends to play Gauntlet, and that was 1985. Rampage was another group favorite, too, in 1986.

NES: Someone mentioned Zelda already, but Dragon Warrior was 1989. And don't forget Metroid and Kid Icarus, which were 1987.

PC: Might and Magic in 1986, and Might and Magic II was 1988. The Ancient Art of War was 1984, and AAoW at Sea was 1987. SimCity was 1989, too.

I call your bluff, sir. For shame.

Sim City, 1989

Why read a book while you can better spend your time playing video games...

1001 games is just too many I'd rather enjoy them one or two at a time.

Keldar wrote:

I call your bluff, sir. For shame.

I'm not saying that there are no playable games prior to 1990, it's just that they are vanishingly rare in within the colossal avalanche of software that was being released. The average game today is playable in the way that the average game just wasn't in 1985. I mean, I will forever love Jet Set Willy but really, that game is pretty sucky.