the background noise

Feels like it's been a while since I've done one of these and with the launch of a certain blockbuster mega hit in a few months time it feels like an ideal time to highlight the music of Grand Theft Auto . Everyone's favourite anarchy and crime simulator that has grown over time to become the muscular behemoth it is today. Not bad going for the little Scottish game studio that was once upon a time, not bad going at all. Now unlike most games I've looked at in this ongoing but infrequent series, Grand Theft Auto leans into real world music a lot. So job done I guess just insert a bunch of radio hits from Grand Theft Auto V and be done with it. But no I think its worth some careful consideration here. Real ones of course will be familiar with the 2.5D worlds of the first two games. It seems like another world now, one where the world wasn't quite ready for the onslaught of the early 21st century and certainly not ready for the many ways in which gaming was about to...

Boy can I feel the breeze coming over the edge of that precipice even now. The breeze being powerful disdain and the precipice being the conventional wisdom that no one is realistically going to do what I am about to suggest anyway. Nonetheless as the title of this post suggests I have some thoughts on the man, myth and legend that is Duke Nukem . Thoughts on where he has been, where he is now and where could he possibly go from here? Some might say this is a lost cause, some may say it's a foolhardy venture, most will say nothing at all. It's been a while since the words ' Duke Nukem' were mentioned in the same sentence as the words 'good game' but I think there is a basis from which we might reverse the cruel fortunes of Duke Nukem Forever . How you may ask? Read on... This one has been sitting somewhere in a dark corner of my brain for a while. What to do with a problem like Duke Nukem ?  Consider for a moment the yawning chasm of quality that exi...

Without a doubt the most significant event of 2026 continues to unfold before you! Which is all to say that err... i n these troubled times with chaos and tumult besieging the world, is it not comforting to retreat into the warm embrace of a list of random things ranked by a random person on the internet? A well-ordered sequential listing of favourite video games say? That's right you don't need to say anything in response to that entirely rhetorical question although the comments sections is indeed available below.  Yes, truly not all heroes wear capes and I do what I can to bring my own special brand of joy to the world. So what made 'the list' from ranks #80 to #71? Let's go see... #80: No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise (2010) I'm not sure if there was a vast realm of difference between the original 2007 Nintendo Wii release of No More Heroes and the re-release for PS3 and Xbox 360 that would arrive a few years later. Outs...

Today we continue to list like we have never listed before, lists being the lifeblood of bountiful internet traffic of course.  Moving on to games #90 to #81 and boy are there some big hitters here from my own personal history of video gaming. Whilst the previous entry may have had the odd eyebrow raising selection, I feel like it may start to happen with greater frequency now as we delve down ever closer towards the all-timers. Enough vamping for time though, on to the games... #90: The House of the Dead: Overkill (2009) A guilty pleasure this one, an on-rails shooter that reimagined The House of the Dead as a grindhouse inspired horror action comedy experience. The tone is a bit more self-aware and knowing than the original games that preceded it and the dialogue is a lot more, what the word? Tarantino-esque I think some would say. Shlocky, let's say shlocky. In any case I feel these were all changes for the better whilst keeping the general b-movie horro...

Time to start this thing properly and by properly I mean incrementally of course. Just a touch over six months after my pre-amble to the whole thing and I realise I neglected the minor detail of actually starting the actual list. You know, minor details like that. So with as little ado as possible let's start what will be my absolutely definitive, unquestionably final and irrevocably vital ranking of my all time favourite video games. A long time in the thinking and not a short time in the making, Entries #100 to #91 let's go... #100: Black (2006) The starting point for this list might not be the heaviest of decisions I've ever had to make but nonetheless it took me a while to figure out what did and didn't make the cut at the very top. Black was a gritty PS2-era first person shooter from Criterion Games , the guys who brought us the Burnout series. Both at the time and in retrospect it's not the kind of game you would necessarily expect f...