video games

When a simple keyboard and mouse becomes boring, or when a gaming controller feels too mundane, some gamers invent new and wild ways to challenge themselves—for their own fun and curiosity. From difficult classics like Dark Souls to first-person shooters like Counter-Strike, you may be impressed to learn that the person on the other end of the controller… isn’t even using a controller. Here are several gamers who went outside the box with their favorite games, devising entirely new ways to finish the game....

Video game anti-heroes feature the same morally complex and multi-dimensional traits as anti-heroes in other media, like The Godfather’s Michael Corleone and Breaking Bad’s Walter White: they think they’re doing what’s best for their loved ones, no matter the means. But in video games, those same complexities can be upgraded with god-like abilities and freeform action. Video game anti-heroes can be cool, frightening, empathetic, threatening. That’s why we love them. Here are our picks for the best video game anti-heroes of all time and what makes them so great as characters....

Since its beginnings on the NES in 1987, the series has survived every console generation, and each new entry is always cause for hype, anticipation, and celebration. And each entry always rekindles debate among JRPG fans over which game in the series remains the best. With over two dozen titles in the franchise and few that are objectively bad, it’s extremely hard to pick five of the best, let alone the best of the best!...

It took time, but video games eventually invaded our daily lives—first by driving children to the arcades to play their favorite titles, then moving into our homes, then moving into our pockets. The narratives became more complex, the graphics got better, and the industry that had broadly started with one circle going side to side is now worth over $100 billion every year. Through the countless adventures that have seen the light of day, some characters have become ingrained in the fabric of video game history—and some even in the fabric of pop culture itself....