GameCritics.com Podcast Bonus Episode: What is the Citizen Kane of Video Games?

The assumption in this discussion is that electronic gaming is the only form of gaming, when in fact games have been around much, much longer. So the question I have is not what is the Citizen Kane of gaming, but what is the Go of film? In a few thousand years and I seriously doubt anyone will even know what Citizen Kane was. Pretty sure people will still be playing Chess and Go however.

But as far as single-player electronic games go, my vote for the paragon of medium would be SotC.

I pondered that game too - it's one of my favourites of all time, and I replay it WAAAAYYY too much. But I had to dock it for the voice acting and horrible "plotting." I know, there had to be something driving the game forward, but it's not "flawless" like Citizen Kane.

That was a big part of the discussion, separating the wheat and chaff of gaming. As you heard, it's really hard to even determine what that exactly is.

There's one thing about your refutation of Heather Chaplin's tirade that bothers me, and it's in the part where you guys said that there are casual gaming segment in the market that she's ignoring. The issue I have with this is that it seems you are dichotomizing “hardcore” and “casual” games as exclusives for “male” and “female”, respectively. That is, “casual games” are the kind women want.

Please tell me I thought wrong. I'd like to think that women who are into gaming are just as hungry for the complexities offered in the non-casual gaming market as men are.

I'm not sure what gave you that impression since the whole thing starts with Dave talking about how much his wife enjoys Gears of War 2 on Insane Mode and I talked about how I twittered with a woman who was a enjoyed playing Onechanbara.

I haven't listened to the podcast for 2 days since, so my memory may be a bit hazy at this point. What gave me that impression was when Dave said something like "Heather was ignoring all the casual games that can be found on the store shelves".

I think anyone can tell from the packaging that a lot of these casual games are lousy. Why would any women who are young adults (and what more, women gamers) want to play Horsez or Imagine Baby?

I also think that Dave's having a wife who enjoys Gears of War or you knowing a woman who liked OneChanbara hardly discredits Heather Chaplin's claim. Sure, some women may not mind, but given the choice, they'd still prefer it if they can play quality games -- and those aiming for the "blockbuster success" -- that aren't overly macho-chauvinist.