Top ten games

J writes: Enough of this talk of the ten best books you recommend. How about your top ten video game recommendations? You seem to be something of an expert on this subject. So let’s have it, eh? This would be killer info to post on your blog, amigo. Video games are almost more important than books these days. Video game made more money than every movie studio in the world. It is video game insanity!

Most movies based on books suck. Even classics like The Fountainhead bit the proverbial big one. Lord of the Rings worked surprisingly. Your Rebel Moon book would be great high concept action movie fodder. So like I said before, don’t be surprised when Hollywood comes calling. And hey, Ilana Mercer, hot or not?

Ilana hot, in my book. As far as my top ten games go, this will reveal what an Old Skool gamer I am, but there you go. I’m rating them according to how much fun they were at the time they came out, not how they’d rate today. Interesting, to see how Origin and Richard Garriot crop up so often.

1. Wing Commander – I used to take my monster 386/25 to my friend’s cabin for the weekend just to play it.

2. Wizardry – still play the DOS conversion of this from time to time

3. Akallabeth – burned on my brain’s retina

4. Doom – we spent two days straight learning about Novell networking so we could deathmatch. It was worth it.

5. Maddens – after recovering an onside kick on the first try in 1992, I finally did it again in 2004. 12 frickin’ years!

6. Ultima III – the best of a good lot

7. Ms Pac-man – wocka wocka wocka

8. US Ski Team Racing (Intellivision)

9. Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin – best of the current generation

10. Castle Wolfenstein (Muse, not id) – Schweinhund! bang! Aeigh#(*$&kk#*!

Honorable Mention: Autoduel, Joust, Moon Patrol, Lunar Lander, Demon Attack, Roadblasters, Warcraft, Aztec, Warlords II, Descent, Drol, Asteroids, 1942, Pooyan, Tron: Deadly Discs, Star Raiders, Mario 64

Overrated: Mortal Kombat, all post-Warcraft RTS, most current 3D shooters, Galaga

Just didn’t get into it: Tetris, Falcon 3.0, Command & Conquer, Civilization

Best Performance: Big Chilly, 1942 on the Atari Lynx, December 1995. Flew the circuit, didn’t lose a plane. The man was simply on fire.

Best Performance by a Chick: Space Bunny’s Internet high score on Pooyan, 1997. A brief, but shining moment.

Back when we were in the game biz, about ten years ago, my friend and I actually designed a game concept that is eerily similar to Grand Theft Auto as a joke. At the time, the editors of Computer Gaming World thought it was far too outrageous for any publisher to even consider. Now, it’s clear that we were simply ahead of our time. I suppose I should give my friend Big Kahuna-san a call with regards to my latest far-too-outrageous game concept, which, at this point, shall remain unarticulated.

By the way, here’s why Space Bunny is the perfect woman: she’s not only a beautiful, NFL-tolerant blonde, she also gave me a full-size Ms Pac-man machine for my birthday. And, she’s the house high score holder, female division.