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I’m kinda fickle when it comes to most game elements. Eye candy is alright, and gameplay is important. But if a developer wants to instill a lasting, meaningful connection between myself and its game, the music needs to be amazing. I don’t like Halo: Combat Evolved, but its theme is fantastic. Mass Effect and Mass Effect 3? Amazing soundtracks. Bastion? Fez? VVVVVV? Win. Win. Win.

I could go at this all day. Mega Man, Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac, the Prince of Persia reboot (yeah, I said it), Ninja Gaiden, Faxanadu.... Rush‘n Attack? Awful game, kick-ass first-stage song. Contra, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Earthworm Jim.... You got a good game? Show me the soundtrack.

But this write up isn’t about any of those releases. We’re gonna take a trip back to 1998. The place? My computer desk. The reason? Let’s just say Nintendo’s reputation for family-friendly gaming had my parents ridiculously locked in on one brand of console, so it was either Nintendo or Nintendon’t. The PC was my last, best hope for non-Mario goodness.

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Toronto's under attack! Artist Yves Caizergues created this "Green Invaders" art installation for Toronto's Scotiabank Nuit Blanche art festival. 

Green Invaders combines Caizergues' love of video games and his passion for creating interactive art performances with various electronic components. For this piece, Caizergues played with the idea of blending low technology ('80s 8-bit gaming) with high technology (LED light shows). 

The result is completely mesmerizing: 

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Ladies and gentleman, this crap needs to stop.

An alarming number of massively multiplayer-game fans actually believe (and defend by pointing to Terms of Use documents) that it is "cheating" to do something in-game without the assistance of anything outside the scope of the game (like hacks and whatnot) that MMO developers consider an "exploit."

 This mindset is as anti-gaming as it comes -- right behind the travesty known as Super Smash Bros. Brawl -- and it has to be squashed before it really gets out of hand (though it's already far too widespread).

 The latest example of this buffoonery is ArenaNet, the company behind the otherwise really cool MMO Guild Wars 2, which has been banning players for -- get this -- walking up to an in-game vendor and purchasing an item.

 That's it.

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Nintendo's flagship intellectual property has seen more than its fair share of amateur recreations using other games' modding engines, usually with predictably creepy results. But Skyrim modder Clintmich's Super Skyrim Bros. has to be one of the most simultaneously polished and jarring efforts to date.

Using Bethesda's Creation tools, he's fashioned a warped and violent image of the Italian plumber's antics in five worlds, ending with the player tracking down the kidnapped princess and taking on a more humanized and therefore terrifying incarnation of Bowser -- suspiciously modeled on a low-level fire mage from the game proper.

Instead of gently bonking goombas on the head as you land on them, players are thrown a giant lumber hammer to cave in enemy carapaces and a staff to cast fireballs, instead of a hat. Something has to be said for the effort made to make it look like the Mushroom Kingdom, even if it plays exactly like Skyrim. The daisies have wide-eyed little faces, there are coins hanging impossibly in mid-air, and the koopa troopers look chubby and plush -- in short, adorable until they try to kill you.

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It's a damn shame that Resident Evil 6 isn't any fun. I guess it is, if you like perpetual quick-time events and gimpy shotguns, but I don't think many people do. The survival-horror genre as we knew it in the '90s and early 2000s is pretty much dead, and it's time to come up with something new. 

In true Resident Evil tradition, I think developers need to reexamine horror movies for their inspiration. Not zombie movies or slasher films but truly bizarre cinematic gems like Sweet Home.

Sweet Home (and the Nintendo Famicom role-playing game based on it) helped inspire Resident Evil. The series has certainly moved beyond its creepy haunted house roots, but it took a weird horror movie to kick off a beloved franchise. 

So, let's do that again. While going through my sizable collection full of terrible and downright absurd movies from the '60s and '70s, I found a few that I really want to see someone try to turn into playable games. If people can make a Slender Man adventure, I know someone, somewhere can create experiences around these cult classics.

1) Death Bed: The Bed that Eats (1977)

If you've heard of Death Bed, it's probably because of comedian Patton Oswalt's jokes about it. The title reveals most of the plot: A demonic bed that consumes people who lie on it. 

What it doesn't tell you is that the movie is actually narrated by Victorian artist Aubrey Beardsley who ended up trapped inside one of his drawings because of the bed's wicked ways. Through his gloomy descriptions, we find out that a demon created the bed so he could woo a human woman that he loved. When she died, his tears turned a harmless piece of furniture into an acid-filled nightmare.

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The Community Spotlight features some of the best unedited articles that didn't quite make the front page. This week, we explore whether the survival-horror genre is dying (or just undead), examine what the Wii U will offer gamers, and explain why video games are good for you. (Told you so, Mom.)

Survival horror is dead
By Jason Rose

While he acknowledges that different things scare different people, Jason identifies two key components of successful horror games: danger and difficulty. The problem? Today's titles, like Resident Evil 6, have abandoned these principles.

What does the Wii U stand to offer?
By Chandler Tate

Chandler wants to like the Wii U, he writes, "but at the same time, my mind is telling me no." He's not sold on the controllers and doesn't see much new in the gameplay, either. Do you agree?

Video games are good for you: The positive effects of video games
By Jesse Meixsell

Jesse gives us a collection of arguments in favor of playing games, including a number of sourced citations. What benefits have you seen from your time on the sticks?

The curse of graphic adventure games
By Alexander Kraus

Remember the old PC adventure games where the only method of movement was pointing and clicking? Alexander says the influence of that antiquated control scheme still affects games today, for better and worse. Interesting observations. 

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I recently completed the mobile game Final Fantasy Dimensions, which brought back the series’ tradition of using an evil empire as the villain. This motif is one that is present throughout most of the Final Fantasy series, and it is easy to see why. Unlike the Dragon Quest series -- which usually focuses on an intangible, mystical or demonic villain as the bad guy (like Rhapthorne from DQVIII or Demon Lord Nimzo from DQV) -- an evil empire strikes an instantly recognizable chord with the gamer. It represents tyranny, oppression, subjugation, and the loss of the individual against a mass uniform force. The very word empire evokes so many sharp images in our minds due to our own background and history.

From a gameplay standpoint, the empire makes sense as an antagonistic force since it not only provides an overt villain, but also offers a large, overarching and layered game mechanic that can provide many colorful villains or characters under one umbrella (e.g. in Dimensions there are eight generals of the Empire's armies, and oh boy do you get to fight all eight of them eventually). At the same time, it also provides a counterpoint for your party: You are the individuals fighting against the masses that wish to conform you and crush you to a pulp. This provides not only high stakes for your plight but also consistently pushes the game toward an eventual showdown between your "individuals" and the empire.

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I can hear their pleas at night. More like cries for help, really. They speak through the walls, calling for release. These lost souls came to this vile place with the best of intentions, and now they can only wait. And wait. And wait.

I am, of course, talking about my shamefully unplayed collection of fighting games. What did you think I was talking about? Because I'm not just a player. Oh no, it's far, far worse than that. I'm a collector.

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If you have never played a game in the Final Fantasy series, somehow managing to avoid exposure to Square Enix's behemoth for its long existence, where would you begin if you were interested in checking out the franchise?

This question has been on my mind for the past several weeks as I've put many hours into a game that I like more than I should, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. 

Dissidia 012 isn't a game for everybody. It's a game for people who like Final Fantasy. As a devoted fan of the series, I like a lot of things in this little handheld brawler. I like the subtle differences in the way that the different characters play. And I like how the title asks you to play as each of the fighters, forcing you to learn their different styles.

But I also feel alone in my appreciation for Dissidia 012. Most of my friends don't know about Final Fantasy’s fine details. And so, as I have played, I have been mulling over the question of how one might introduce others to this beloved saga.

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I recently read through many of the Resident Evil 6 reviews, so I feel qualified to give you my critique of this blockbuster title. Let me start off by saying that I haven't played the game or the demo. I believe playing it before reviewing it will give me an unfair bias toward the game.

Let's start with Gamespot. They gave the game a 45/100. WOW. These guys are garbage. These guys obviously didn't play the game, either. I mean Game Informer gave RE6 an 88/100. Gamespot said that while the narrative is good, everything else sucks. I honestly don't get why people still go to this publication.

I mean c'mon; the reviewer says that the quick-time events are too long. How is that a bad thing? Quick-time events are soooo much fun. They also said that the game's set pieces are mediocre. I doubt that is true. But let's move on to a much more qualified publication.

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I’m not sure if we can still call this Space Invader mosaic “street art” when it’s up in the stratosphere. The artist Invader, who was featured in the award-winning documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, sent one of his pieces up into the second layer of the earth’s atmosphere back in August. He created the high/low-tech unmanned spacecraft using a balloon for flight and a camcorder to film the voyage.

Invader recently released a video teaser of the event. In it, you can see the balloon pop and the mosaic, or Space-one as he calls it, begins its trip back toward the surface. On his website, he states that, “A movie about the whole project is under preparation. Stay tuned ....”

I can’t wait to see the rest of the footage and learn more about this artistic enterprise. It sounds fascinating. I’m mainly curious to see if the little Space Invader increases its speed, drops down, and then reverses direction during its descent. 

Catch the video after the jump.

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The guys at Did You Know Gaming are back with a new video filled with interesting trivia -- this time focused on the famous Mario series. I like to think that I know a thing or two about that adorable, italian plumber, but I have to admit to not knowing a single one of these facts. Live and learn, I guess.

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