"Vidy'a Games"
I thought we should wrap up the week with a list of a few top games. If you are curious about whether or not someone has done the game concept you are considering for the midterm, please review these lists first. Reviewing these lists might help you avoid embarrassment, give you ideas, or just get you completely distracted :) We are currently working to stock the Game Library with these games.
Edge Magazine Top 100 Digital Games to Play (excerpt)
"With another Edge anniversary comes another deliberation over the best games of all time. But we didn’t want to think about the indisputable classics all over again. This time we wanted to make it personal by asking the question, if you had every game ever made at your fingertips, which would we play right now? What are the games, shorn of nostalgia and presumption, that we would actually want to spend time playing?
It means that you’ll find many games that did so much to inspire and direct video game culture and design missing. Our selection process quickly made clear the effect of the insatiable march of progress, new titles building upon the successes of older ones to better effect. That’s why you’ll find few 8bit games in the list. "
In case you don't recognize one of the designer's games, Rez is here
NPD Group's Top Selling Console and PC Games for 2009
Console:
| 1 | 360 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2* | Activision Blizzard | Nov-09 |
| 2 | WII WII Sports Resort w/ WII Motion Plus* | Nintendo of America | Jul-09 |
| 3 | WII New Super Mario Bros. WII | Nintendo of America | Nov-09 |
PC
| 1 | PC The Sims 3 | Electronic Arts | Jun-09 |
| 2 | PC World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack | Blizzard Entertainment (Activision Blizzard) |
Nov-08 |
| 3 | PC The Sims 2 Double Deluxe | Electronic Arts | Apr-08 |
CNBC's Best Selling Video Games of 2010 (via NPD Group)
For those of you who like ad laden slideshows, CNBC is for you:
- "1.New Super Mario Bros. Wii
2.Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
3.Battlefield: Bad Company 2:
The Escapists Top 10, Best Selling Video Games of All Time (via GameSpot UK)
- "1) Wii Play (Wii)
2) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
3) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, Xbox)"
Board Games
Bloomberg News article on the rise of the board game (2009)
"...U.S. board-game sales rose 6 percent to $794 million last year, while total toy sales declined 3 percent, according to researcher NPD Group Inc. Game sales have risen since last summer, when dwindling disposable income made the “staycation” a popular alternative to holiday travel"
NPR Board Games Sales Soar (12/2009)
Again, if you like ad laden slideshows, check the Independent's list of big board games
"The world's best selling board game is, appropriately, Monopoly. It's sold in 103 different countries, in 37 different languages. And it's no wonder the property-buying game is still popular in a recession: it was patented by the unemployed Charles B Darrow in 1935, during the Great Depression in America. After being rejected by the Parker Brothers, Darrow had 5,000 sets produced by a local printer. When they started flying off the shelves in a Philadelphia department store, the company reconsidered their decision - ensuring Darrow became the first millionaire games designer"
An easy to read Monopoly history from ideafinder:
"...Although Monopoly is frequently said to have been invented by Charles Darrow in 1935, its origins actually go back to when Lizzie Magie, patented 748,626 (US) issued January 5, 1904, a game called "The Landlord's Game" with the object of demonstrating how rents enrich property owners and impoverish tenants. She knew that some people can find it hard to understand why this happens and what might be done about it and she thought that if Georgist ideas (that is, a supporter of political economist Henry George), were put into the concrete form of a game, they might be easier to demonstrate."
