Evan Sims

My Top 10 PC Games of All Time

I know, I know; I’ll well known for my hatred of top 10 lists on blogs, but I was personally asked to do this one so I couldn’t refuse. My pal Ryan recently his list in response to a PC Gamer special. I can’t miss a web meme, so here we go.

1. Ultima Online — This should be a no brainer for anyone that knows me personally. The first true MMO I played, and it really changed my life. I met so many great friends, and it really focused me on what I wanted to do with my career.

2. Monkey Island — The classic, and the first game I ever bought myself. Grog Grog Grog!

3. Loom — Intrinsically linked with Monkey Island, I bought and played Loom at the same time as MI. It’s lesser known I think, but it used the same version of the SCUMM engine that MI did. So original, so much fun. I wish they’d do a reboot/sequel with a modern engine.

4. Myst — Another no brainer for me. I’m a huge fan of Cyan’s Myst series, but the original is still my favorite. I don’t even want to know how many hours I spent on it, let alone the sequels.

5. WorldsAway — The first online “game” I played, WorldsAway was 2D virtual world where hundreds (if not thousands) of CompuServe customers gathered using customizable avatars, talked, traded items with oen another and played games together. So far ahead of it’s time. It’s a pity what’s become of it.

6. EverQuest 2 — A relatively recent addition, I wasn’t so hot on EQ2 when it first launched. It took several years and some urging by the guys to get me to try it, but I ended up really loving it. One of the few MMOs that held my attention long enough for me to reach end game.

7. Final Fantasy XI — I played FFXI solid for a few years, and it was definitely one of the best MMO experiences I’ve had- mainly thanks to the great group of people our guild managed to put together. It’s a pity things broke down as they did, but it was a blast while it lasted. I still revisit FFXI every once and awhile, and it’s still loads of fun, but it’ll never be the same.

8. Battlefield 2142 — I’m not a huge FPS fan, and I really kind of hated Battlefield 2 (though I did love 1942.) Battlefield 2142 is a masterpiece, quite honestly; it’s one of those games just never gets old to me. Playing with close friends makes it all the better, as strategy and team work pay off in the field.

9. Uru: Ages Beyond Myst — Admittedly I think the idea of building an MMO around the Myst world was misguided, but I’ve loved every second of Uru. I managed to score an alpha account in the early days, and played on through beta and it’s retail incarnations (Ubisoft, GameTap, and in between on Cyan’s own servers.) A massively multiplayer 3D puzzle game is a difficult concept to pull off, but Cyan did a masterful job of it, and I don’t think there’s an online title out there that has a stronger community.

10. Team Fortress 2 — Like 2142, it’s one of those games that doesn’t get old. We end up playing a couple times a week, but I try to sneak an hour in everyday. Pyro, engineer and medic are my favorite classes, though I’m admittedly a pretty awful healer. :)

So, there you haven’t. Not so different from Ryan’s list I guess. No surprise there. So, what are you favorite games of all time?

Mozilla concept video a glimpse into the real Web 2.0?

“Aurora” is a concept piece by web think tank Adaptive Path for Mozilla, developers of the oh-so-famous Firefox web browser, and is intended to be a forward-thinking look into the future of how web browsers might function, render data and interact with users. The concept, at this stage in the game, is completely absurd of course, but who knows what the future may look like. The web has seen a huge surge of interest in openness with microformats and APIs in the last two to three years, and I don’t expect that to go away anytime soon, but for a concept like Aurora to work we’d need to see a truly open web that developers like I can only dream of at this point.

Update — Adaptive Path has posted several more videos in this Aurora series; they’re currently up to 4 as of this writing. Be sure to check those out as well.