Contributor: Kevin Simpson

As compared to the leaping and beeping platform video games of the past, today’s games rely heavily on in-depth story, creative characters and an iridescent sheen. I mean, they’re practically movie-like. With that in mind and with a desire to excite ga …

The realism of the gameplay and the virtual news clips that pop up between stages eerily mirrors today’s headline news, and gives weight to our question…

A handful of content changes could have kept this compelling sci-fi actioner from crossing the M-rated line.

Two years ago we saw ‘Metal Gear Solid 4’ being previewed at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. It brought the room to its feet. Now Hideo Kojima’s much-lauded game is on store shelves and it’s sending scores of gamers to their consoles. …

There are certain characters in fiction who always seem to tickle our collective imaginations. Patch-eyed pirates, rapier-flailing musketeers and high-flying superheroes are but a few. They all seem to embody a special blend of adventure and panache th …

“My whole family died in a mob hit. I should have died, too. But I lived. I finally figured out why: The ones who killed my family, they’ve given me a reason to live. I’m back. And it’s their turn to die. Every muzzle flash means one more monster gone. …

Two months before Halo 3 hit store shelves, it had already sold more than 1 million copies. It’s an unheard of accomplishment that was promptly upstaged by the $170 million the game made the day of its launch. As for the meager few who haven’t already …

Glistening eel-like tentacles sprout from my shoulder blades and hover in anticipation above a gunned-down thug. Razor-sharp teeth gnashing, the two snarling appendages glower back at me, awaiting a command. When I give it, they rip the victim’s chest …

When it comes to most vampire stories, you can count on three things: blood, death and a sexual link between the two. Since Bram Stoker published Dracula in 1897, a certain segment of readers (and later, moviegoers) have exhibited an escalating macabre …

Once upon a time, I was a skater. Briefly. My pre-adolescent love affair with the skateboard never blossomed, however, because … well … I was lousy at it. I spent as much time on the concrete—OK, more—as I did successfully “surfing” suburban sidewa …

The gritty first-person shooter Far Cry 2 is thought of—and has been branded—as a sequel to the popular Far Cry game from a few years ago. But the two games really have very little in common other than the title. The first installment featured a Rambo- …

It may not be long before more people will have played a video game about the battles of World War II than actually fought in them. WWII is without question the battlefield of choice for combat-crazed video games. There are well over 100 different titl …

In the late 1990s first-person shooters such as Doom and Quake were hitting their stride and urging fans to team up with their buds in multiplayer deathmatches and war-games. Hard-core gamers roamed vast futuristic terrains while dreaming up intricate …

It was time for me to play Scarface: The World Is Yours. And like many times before, I sat down with my game controller in hand and thought, “It’s my job to play video games. Is that cool, or what?” Right about then, my wife stepped into the study, saw …

James Bond. Lara Croft. Sam Fisher. Agent 47. These are some of the gaming world’s most well-known heroes. Using stealth, speed, strategy and, above all, an endless array of blow-’em-up weaponry, they’ve sleuthed their way into legendary status. With S …