10 years ago, I introduced powet staple $20 Game of the Week with a look at this game. After doing this column almost every week for 10 straight years, maybe now is a good time to revisit it. This is one of the few games that I still have in my collection, and it’s one of the few original Xbox games that are backwardly compatible on the Xbox 360. I remembering purchasing this game like it was yesterday. I had just paid off my tuition for fall of 2005, and I was looking for a game to keep myself occupied until school started. A trip to gamestop saw this title available for only $20. On a whim, I picked it up, and enjoyed it enough to use it as a stepping stone to start a weekly column. While it hasn’t aged well since then, Outlaw Tennis still retains its own unique charm.
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Violent Storm, a spiritual successor to Konami’s Crime Fighters and Vendetta, was one of the many beat-em-ups that littered the arcades during the mid-90s. Along with Metamorphic Force, it was one of the last beat-em-ups that was produced by Konami. Playing as one of three heroes, you set out to rescue a girl named Sheena from a group of enemies known as the Geld Gang in a post apocalyptic (of course you wouldn’t know it from the parks, trains, and stores that are fully functional and pristine looking) world. Nothing about it stood out among other titles of its day, but there was nothing terrible about it either. It was pretty much a beat em up that had everything that made the genre great: large character sprites, colorful enemies, 2-player action, and cool moves. It’s a shame it never received a console release either. If you come across the cabinet, you’d do well to pop in a quarter or two.

Admit it: If you played Nintendo as a kid, this was your ultimate fantasy. Whisked off to a world inspired by your favorite video games, teaming up with your favorite characters, and scoring with a hot princess. From 1989 until 1991, Nintendo, DIC Entertainment, and Saban made it a reality, although the execution was a bit off.
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If a game like Tenka had been released in this age of gaming, it would have been dismissed as another me-too dudebro shooter. Thankfully, it was released during the Playstation One era, and its graphics and gameplay helped to set itself apart from other first person shooters of the day. Taking control of Joseph Tenka, you are out to get revenge against the sinister corporation Trojan Inc after you are attacked by one of its experimental bioweapons. You’ll make your way through 20 levels while shooting a variety of enemies. This game was notable for a few reasons. First, instead of picking up a series of weapons, Tenka just carries one gun, and picks up enhancements for it that lets it shoot different types of ammo. Secondly, it was one of the first FPS games to render enemies in 3D (as opposed to using pixelated 2D sprites) and feature a crouch button. While neither of these seem like that big a deal, they both added new enhancements on both graphics and gameplay. Developed by Pygnosis (Lemmings), Tenka was another classic addition to the FPS genre and deserves it’s place alongside the Rise of the Triads and Duke Nukems.

Age of Empires 2 is one of the most influential entries in the real time strategy genre. Combining Civilization-style world building with traditional 4X strategy gameplay, AOE 2’s game mechanics still help it remain popular among gamers to this day, even more so than it’s HD remake.
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Created by 3D Realms, Shadow Warrior is another entry from the glory days of the first person shooter. Although it’s caught serious flack for its stereotypical potrayal of Asian culture, it was fun to play and it had some features that were ahead of its time such as secondary fire for the weapons and vehicles players could drive. As ex bodyguard Lo Wang, you are out to assassinate your former boss after he summons demonic creatures in a bid to conquer Japan. Wielding several weapons including a Katana, sticky bombs, a rail gun, and Uzis, you blast your way through his minions in order to stop him. There isn’t much more to it than that, and that’s what made games like SHadow Warrior, Doom, Wolfenstein, and Rise of the Triad fun. The game will be receiving a remake which aims to correct some of the un-pc aspects of the original. Speaking of the original, you can grab it, along with its expansion packs from Steam or Gog.com.

Datura stramonium, also known as moonflower and Angel’s trumpet is a genus of flowering weeds in the Solanaceae family of plants. This family also includes Tomatoes, Mandrake, Potatoes, and Tobacco. While it’s used to treat Asthma and nausea symptoms, it can be very harmful at larger doses, causing delirium, photophobia, amnesia, and even death. For this reason, it’s known by another name: The Devil’s Weed. Shockingly enough, unlike marijuana, it’s not illegal. You can grow it, cultivate, and even use it. However, only a complete moron would do so.

So why am I telling you this? Because apparently you have to be high as shit in order to play Sony’s 2012 PS Move title, and even then it still won’t make any sense.
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Sunset Overdrive, an Xbox One exclusive title developed by Insomniac (Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank), is one of many new gaming franchises set to make its debut next console generation.

Like it or not, this next generation of consoles will soon be upon us. With the Wii U having been out for little over half a year, some will say it’s already here. The Wii U, Xbox One, and Playstation 4 will present players with dozens of sure to be classic titles, including several new franchises. Lets not forget however that there were several classic franchises that came from this generation. So now is a perfect time to take a look at the classic franchises that were spawned this past generation. To qualify, a franchise has to have it’s first title released on the Wii, Xbox 360, or Playstation 3, so you won’t see the Elder Scrolls or Halo in this list. Also, a game has to have more than one title in it’s series, so that’s why you won’t see Mirror’s Edge here.
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