The Mass Effect trilogies are some of my favorite video games of the previous console generation. I’m a sucker for rich characters and deep world-building, and this is where the Mass Effect series really shined. The universe you occupied in these games felt real and lived-in. Each alien species had a rich history and their own relationships with humans. When I played Mass Effect games, I could imagine myself inhabiting this world. And now we have the new release, Mass Effect Andromeda. This game

The very first Nintendo game I ever owned was The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening for the Game Boy. It was the first adventure game I had ever played. No game before had challenged me with its puzzles, and gripped me with a story that served as more than a thin plot to build gameplay around. It was the first time I had ever cared about the characters in a game and what happened to them.

Last week, Nintendo released their newest game system, the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo has been the leader in portable video gaming ever since they basically invented the market segment with the Game Boy in 1989. That doesn’t mean they’ve been the only player, though.

I grew up with video games. Working to better my high score at a certain game is in my blood. At one point, I was obsessed with getting the absolute lowest time possible on the first level of Sonic 2. (For the record: I’ve done it in 20 seconds, the world record is 18.) Product designers have caught on to this, and have started taking some of the design elements of video games to use in contexts that are definitely not video games. This is called gamification.

I’ve been playing Pokemon games since the very first were released on the Game Boy in 1998. I put hundreds of hours in on that game on the school bus and elsewhere - and I’ve played every single game in the series since. Nearly all of them have followed the same basic formula. A professor gives you a Pokemon at the start of the game, and then you travel around through several cities, catching more Pokemon along the way, and defeating 8 powerful Gym Leaders, while also stopping some nefarious

For nearly two decades, Nintendo was the King of mobile gaming. The Game Boy, then the Game Boy Advance, then the Nintendo DS, then the 3DS. But after the launch of the iPhone, smartphones started to take over as the dominant gaming platform. They weren’t best for gaming, but they were way more convenient. Traditional game companies have been making games for smartphones for years, but for the longest time, Nintendo resisted. They thought that smartphone gaming would eat into the profits of

I think at this point, we’re all tired of 2016, but there is a lot to look forward to in 2017, especially if you’re into video games.

This commentary originally aired on December 19, 2013. With everyone home for the holidays, Christmas time is a great time to break out games to play with the whole family around.

I feel like there are a lot of games I’ve waited a long time to play. For example, Starcraft II was in and out of development for 7 years. But the first trailer for Final Fantasy XV was released over ten years ago - and despite numerous rumors over the years that it had been canceled, the game was finally released this week. When you start, it tells you it is “a Final Fantasy for fans and first-timers.” A lot has changed since the last Final Fantasy title came out in 2009. No longer is the game