I’ve been thinking how it would be interesting to hold an Ultimate Gamer contest in which one would have to demonstrate a comprehensive mastery over a broad spectrum of computer games. Some scores would be based on time, others on score, still others on head-to-head play. Here’s my list of the ten games I’d use to determine the best gamer in such a contest:
1. Randomly selected text adventure (Zork, Enchanter, etc.)
2. Asteroids (arcade)
3. Pitfall (Atari 2600)
4. Super Mario Bros (NES)
5. Doom (deathmatch)
6. Warcraft II (random scenario)
7. Mortal Kombat II (best 2 of 3)
8. Total War: Medieval (score vs computer 100 years as England.)
9. Madden 2003 (score vs computer All-Madden).
10. Counterstrike – Source
I’d consider Ms Pac-man instead of Asteroids or HALO instead of Counterstrike… and I’m not the right guy to select the proper fighting game since I have a limited interest in that genre, but success across this range of games would certainly suffice to demonstrate genuine gaming skillz.