By Nick Lives

The term "Indie" is often synonymous with "artsy" in the many mediums the word is associated with. That being said, "artsy" isn't necessarily synonymous with "boring." For those unfamiliar with the term, "indie game" simply means "independently developed game."

These types of games don't have millions of dollars to spend on realistic graphics and the latest lighting systems, so often they will have to rely on pure innovative game-play to make their experiences enjoyable.

These games weren't created so they could make lots of money, these games were created because the people who created them had a passion for games. So without further ado, I give you:

The Top 3 Indie Games You Need to Play:

3. Braid Platform: Xbox Live Arcade, Steam
Braid is a game about making mistakes. You play as Tim, a man who has made the biggest mistake of his life. A mistake that caused his so-called "Princess" to abandon him. In Braid, you don't just play the game, you live out Tim's life and help him try to undo the mistakes in his life. With an art style that makes the game look like a living painting and with a story so poetic in nature, Braid is a game you must play for the experience alone.

2. Super Meat Boy!Platform: Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, Steam
Just like Braid, Super Meat Boy! is also a game about making mistakes. But unlike Braid, Super Meat Boy! isn't about undoing those mistakes, It's about trying over and over again until you get it right. You play as Meat Boy, a courageous little guy who happens to have no skin. When Meat Boy's girlfriend, Bandage Girl, gets kidnapped by the nefarious Dr. Fetus, Meat boy must stop at nothing to save her. In the process you will die many times, but with its fast placed game play, you're almost guaranteed to say to yourself over and over again: "Just one more try."

1. Minecraft Platform: PC
Last on our list is a game with such popularity, its design has been ingrained in our very culture. In Minecraft, you are given the world, and in this world, your only task is to create. By gathering materials with your hand-crafted pick-axe, you can build anything your heart desires. Minecraft may very well be one of the best proofs that a game doesn't need fancy graphics to be fun.

Brian Tonkin
Teacher Features/ Baseball/ Video Games.
briantonkin55@msn.com

Although it's been a few years since any major company has produced a new console, the motion sensor accessory has been worked on by each of the three. This all started when the Nintendo Wii was made in late 2006, but the recent release of the X-Box Kinect and the Playstation Move has been very successful.

What makes these accessories so unique is the way they are used. Most games available for these systems function as a mean to work-out or exercise. Whether you are playing Just Dance or Rise of Nightmares, you will certainly get a good workout... at least compared to a ten hour WoW session.

The three accessories have revolutionized the way people view video games and have nearly doubled the target audience for game developing companies. There are now over 50 titles for the move, 80 titles available for the Kinect, and over 1000 titles on the Wii.

Since the release of the Nintendo Wii in 2006, and even more so now with the kinect and move, the typically customer at video game shops has drastically changed. The games available on these systems attract all groups of people. Some play the sports games, others buy the dance games, and there are still plenty of old-fashioned style video games.

Nicholas Lives
Movies/Music Editor
undeadmoose@yahoo.com

Seeing as there isn't much gaming news worth mentioning this week, I think I'll go ahead and use this time to tell all you Hawkeye readers out there about a wonderful free-to-play independent game called Space Critters.

Space Critters is a fun little free game about survival. Think Geometry Wars meets Tower Defense.

You are an intergalactic exterminator, and your mission is to destroy as many space critters as possible before they eventually shred you to pieces.

 As an exterminator, you have more than just guns to suit your exterminating needs. While sending out endless streams of bullets at your enemies with Right Click, you can rapidly Left Click to place down energy shields that can defend your hide as well as destroy any monster dumb enough to run into it.

As you kill more monsters, your score increases. As your score increases, you get bigger and better upgrades for both your guns and shields. As wave after wave of all different types of space critters continue to eat away at your custom-built energy shield fortress, you can be sure there won't be a dull moment in this action-packed arcade game.

Space Critters will run smoothly on any PC. Mac edition is in progress. If you wanna try it, you can download it HERE!

Oh yeah, and did I mention that I made this game myself? And that the awesome background music was provided by Alta's very own Jordan Farr?

Try it folks, and let us know what you think!

Brian Tonkin
Teacher Features/ Video Games/ Baseball
briantonkin55@msn.com

Sony's new, revolutionary hand-held system will be released on 2/22 this year. There will also be a few games released for it on the same day, including a portable version of Uncharted, Marvel vs. Capcom, Little Deviants, Dynasty Warriors, and more.

The Vita features duel touch-screens, motion control, two cameras, and even a microphone. All these qualities make the Vita less like a Gameboy, and more like a game-centered I-Phone.

Along with the many games, the Vita will have a few cool accesories released with it including carrying cases, headphones, charging stations and memory cards.

The Vita will replace Sony's Playstation Portable, or PSP, and production of games for the PSP will be discontinued.

By Brian Tonkin
Video Games/ Teacher Features
briantonkin55@msn.com

The video game industry has become a very competitive field over the past few years. Companies strive desperately to be the best out there. Many of designers of the top-selling games focus on every single detail, from hair, to facial features, and even the way water flows in the game. Because of this, these virtual realities will consistently get better and better. Now, in 2012, it can be difficult to tell the difference between a video game and a movie.

Advertising for these games can be even better. The trailers that companies have released in 2011 are mind-blowing when compared to those of just a few years ago. Some companies strived to make their computer images the best imaginable while others hired actors and made live-action trailers for their game.


*Pause music before playing video. Look at top right of page*

By Nicholas Lives
Movies and Music Reviews
undeadmoose@yahoo.com

It’s no secret that videogames and violence have been longtime partners since Pacman chomped down on his first frightened dead person (ghost). That being said, why is it that violence so often translates to fun in videogames?

Taking a quick look at the most popular videogames of today, one sees a strange correlation between a game’s success and a game’s violent content. To put things into perspective, here is a short list of some of 2011’s best-selling games:

1 -  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

2 -  Just Dance 3

3 -  Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

4 -  Battlefield 3

5 -  Portal 2

Let’s breakdown this list of games now shall we? In first place we have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, a game about being an “American hero” who makes the world a better place by shooting its inhabitants. Nothing violent or trivializing about that, is there?

 Next we have Just Dance 3, a game in which you flail your arms and legs around wildly in an attempt to get the darn Wii sensor to read your movements. This may not sound very violent, but when you take into consideration that most people play these games in their basements or living rooms, surrounded by lamps and possibly other people, an accidental punch to the face isn’t that far off.

In third place, we have Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, in which you pilot another “hero” who shouts at people so violently that it causes them to fall on their tushies. Oh yeah, and you slay a bunch of dragons; which, according to the game’s story, are an endangered species. It looks like there isn’t much sympathy for wildlife in these games, eh?

Speaking of sympathy, the next game on the list is a game I have no sympathy for whatsoever if only due to its incredibly obnoxious “theme song.” That’s right, Battlefield 3. Supposedly this game about shooting foreigners is in direct competition with the previous game about shooting foreigners, Call of Duty. Although the choice of which one to buy seems a bit trivial. “Which country would you rather side with in a videogame? America or America?”

Finally at number five, we have the delightful Portal 2, a game about theoretical physics. While I’m proud to say that this game is probably the least violent amongst all the other games, I will admit that the plotline; in which an omniscient (and not to mention rude) computer ridicules you for your weight while trying repeatedly to murder you, is not the most family friendly of concepts. Luckily, the game does end rather (SPOILER WARNING) bittersweet, which is more than I can say for most of the other games on this list.

So where was I going with all this? Oh yes that’s right, that violent games sell well because they contain some amount of violence one way or another. Is this to say that no game can succeed without including violence? Of course not! My theory is that the only reason violent games sell well is because: A) they are designed well. B) Blood effects and violent actions in general lend powerful visual stimuli as a way of rewarding the player for every successful kill they land.

Considering this idea of visual stimuli, I whole-heartedly believe that, if accompanied by the right kind of visual effects, a game about hugging people could be just as fun as a game about shooting people. I also encourage you, the consumers, to try and expand your game collection beyond simple shooters and sports games. The industry won’t make games that we don’t buy, so encourage them by not buying games about shooting foreigners.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m getting off this soap-box before it starts falling over.

Mitchell Peterson
Techie
Pyro.visual@gmail.com               


     An ongoing debate between two gamers in the halls is normal, whether Xbox or PlayStation will gain the prize as top console. The debate is widespread and basically is focused at graphics. These two products from Microsoft and Sony are still being sold after about five years of release. These two have had great success with their products. It is shown that Sony’s PlayStation has improved shadows, whereas Xbox reconciles with anti-aliasing (smoothing of the pixels). Xbox has been said to contain better graphics with small details, however to most PlayStation consumers, and I quote: “So? Who cares! I don’t give an <expletive> about small [incandescent] graphics”. Now you can see that it goes back and forth like Rick Perry on the E.P.A. One complaint from PlayStation consumers was the big time PlayStation Network hack that happened. These are basically the only factual evidence that goes on. The rest is opinion.

Which Console?

Verdict: It doesn’t matter!

                Now that I’ve angered many of you devout followers of Bill Gates, and whoever the CEO of Sony is, my reasons follow:

-I don’t know why it matters

-They have pros and cons

-Same function

-almost the exact same game list except for a few

All in all, they are pretty much the same thing. Many of you will say that I don’t know what I am talking about, however I will have you know that I do. I own an Xbox, and have seen PlayStation gameplay, and neither have drastic differences. Just play what you want with what you want. Nerd out.

Nicholas Lives
Movies/ Music Review
undeadmoose@yahoo.com


While it's easy for the media to point to violent video games and label them as "monstrous" or "a deadly influence on youth," not many people stop to realize that many video games can actually teach some valuable life lessons to those who are open-minded enough to see them. Whereas previous generations of kids have grown up watching Sesame Street for their life lessons, many new generations will be playing the latest Zelda or Call of Duty for theirs. Is this a bad thing? Well, let's just see what kinds of lessons games have been teaching us for years.. this time starting with everyone's favorite shoot-em-up: Call of Duty.

Call of Duty: Shooting games aren't the most sophisticated breed of the gaming world, but even mindless games like Call of Duty have something to teach us. The lesson? When there is a will, there is a way. These games are famous for putting the player in seemingly impossible situations. You are always outnumbered. You are always outgunned. Yet despite this, you know that there is always a way to overcome it. No matter how many times you die, the game always reminds you that despite the odds, you can do it. A friend can come in at any time, when most needed. As you look down the barrel of a Desert Eagle, Captain Price tackles the attacker to the ground, and you both fight together and live.The lesson we can take away from this game is that even when life is at its worst, there is always a way to beat it.