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Six months ago, my Atari 2600 stopped wanting to recognize its controller. Given that the console is older than me, I didn't begrudge it finally dying, but I was a bit sad. It joins the ranks of my bullet-riddled Intellivision and corroded Coleco Gemini. Someday I will go back and fix any loose wires and clean up all those bad connections, but I'm simply too busy to rip apart consoles these days.

On August 30, Activision released an app for its Atari 2600 releases called Activision Anthology. For $6.99, you can unlock 44 old games, including my favorite 2600 title: Keystone Kapers. I was pretty excited since I felt Microsoft's Game Room was largely overpriced for how few games you got. 

Atari has their own retro app out as well (called Atari's Greatest Hits), and over Labor Day actually unlocked the entire thing to play ... if you accessed the app over the holiday weekend. Even if you didn't, downloading it gives you access to another 100 titles across Atari's arcade and 2600 releases that you can buy in bits and pieces whenever you want.

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Fractured Soul is a damn difficult game. The isolated platforming and run-and-gun sections in this Nintendo 3DS eShop title aren’t that bad. In fact, they're almost easy at times. The real challenge comes from having to manage all the parallel action across two screens at once. But everything is quite manageable ... once you get in tune with the game’s rhythm.

Endgame Studios put together a solid, basic 2D platformer with easy-to-learn controls (move, jump, shoot, switch dimensions). The main draw comes from sending the robotic hero from one screen to another, leaving behind an invincible, mimicking ghost in the protagonist's place. In a sense, it’s like the shoot-em-up Ikaruga where the player could toggle the playable ship between a black and white paint job which determined whether it would absorb or die from corresponding-colored bullets, except two-fold.

From here, the game throws out different challenges where, for instance, certain platforms or enemies will only be on one screen of the game, forcing you to teleport between areas to make a jump or shot. Then, the game will add some type of predictable variable to switch things up. Normally, a progression like that is pretty standard. But when you have to divide your attention to make sure the path through both areas is clear, it becomes significantly easier to end up hearing the hero death scream.  

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Not all World Warriors are created equal. The Street Fighter series may have revolutionized fighting games with its diverse cast of characters, but making sure that they all have a chance against each other is an arduous balancing act. Whenever a new game comes out, it doesn’t take long before message boards erupt with “tier lists” that attempt to rank the cast by strength.

The best of the best are known as the top tier. These are the ones who have the strongest options, dictate competitive play, and receive the most colorful insults. As Street Fighter celebrates its 25th anniversary, let’s look back on some of the greatest versions of these competitors.

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While first-person shooters are among the most common and easiest pick-up-and-play games available, the awful amount of bitching from the online community is clear proof that not everyone is aware of how to play.

The annual FPS fest is nearly here. But let's not forget that no matter if you're celebrating it on November 13 (for those who faithfully attend the traditional release of a Call of Duty game), November 6 (for those who worship the fourth coming of our savior, Master Chief, in Halo 4), or early on October 23 (for those silly people expecting something called Medal of Honor), in the end you'll all end up complaining about basically the same thing.

The following flowchart should cover the different stages of gameplay that most have to endure when interacting with any game of this genre.

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You might say the developers at Jellyvision do know Jack. They've been creating irreverent trivia, writing good (and bad) comedy, and recording hours and hours of smart-ass dialogue for their You Don't Know Jack video game series since 1995. 1995! That's 17 years of...well, a lot of pointlessness. And with the company's recent Facebook release, it's not looking to stop the fart jokes anytime soon.

We asked Jellyvision to stop screwing around for a few minutes to dig through its long history of work for some interesting numbers and stats. Here's what they told us:

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Few titles polarize gamers as much as From Software's action-role-playing-game Dark Souls. Its unforgiving nature and brutal difficulty turned many players away...and won it a legion of fans. Count me among the latter. I played it, finished it, and moved on as gamers do.

But now I've found new reasons to jump back into the realm of Lordran: the story. To quote a message left by another player in the game world itself, "The real Dark Souls begins now," one year later.

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Screw modern art.

Did I do that right? That eye-catching intro?

Ahem.

Over the time humans have been creating art, we've also been innovating it, even if those innovations resisted against aesthetic conventions.

Paintings used to serve as tributes, and they eventually developed into status indicators for the wealthy. Then, skipping a few centuries, we arrived at the murky modern-art era and a transition to emotion where we're required to interpret people's creations.

Art is still in this phase of purpose, but with the invention of time-based media, we're able to influence a consumer's emotions. This means that a video game's success is based on an analog response, an up-and-down spectrum of emotion whereas earlier art usually evoked one response.

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Actually, I really enjoyed the novel Catch-22, but the point I’m trying to make is that the game Catch-22, a puzzler -- unrelated to the book -- that was one of the PAX10 (a selection of the best indie games at the recent Penny Arcade Expo), is truly delightful.

I am extremely bad at puzzle games. I Googled my way through many spots of Portal, I watched a lot of YouTube videos for Braid, and I even looked up how to get through a couple of spots in the demo for A Book of Unwritten Tales that I played. I don't even feel bad about the internet searching I do for answers and experiences that aren't my own, so it’s notable for me to get really hyped for a puzzle-type game.

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Rollercoaster Tycoon is one of my favorite series, so I'm really geeking out over this video depicting a man with the power to play the game in the real world. Of course, it wouldn't really be Rollercoaster Tycoon without a couple horrible, horrible ride accidents. Now, excuse me while I go rummage through my old PC games. I've got some parks to build.

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If you ever see me on a bus, don't talk to me. Even if I know you extremely well, I will not engage you in conversation. Why? Because public transit is horrible, and everyone should try to get through it with little-to-no unnecessary interaction.

Mostly, though, I'm trying to play a game and would rather you not disturb me.

In the times I need to hastily throw up a barrier and/or make the would-be conversationalist seated beside me uncomfortable, I pull out my iPad and start playing a few games with ... unsettling themes. They aren't overly explicit, but when someone sees you playing them, he or she might reconsider talking to you. 

So, if you've ever needed a media wall during your travels, these iOS games might help.

1) Unpleasant Horse

The goal in Unpleasant Horse is to see how long you can jump across the sky without falling into a horrible pit full of saw blades. Along the way, your throughly reprehensible protagonist jumps on pretty ponies, throwing them down into the blades to save himself.

Unpleasant Horse is actually a PopCap game, part of the 4th and Battery projects the company published last year. I like it a lot more than the studio's other game Candy Train, and find it is the perfect way to keep chatty people from pursuing me for too long. The idea of throwing innocent ponies to their death is a certified deal-breaker on the friendliness front.

Also, I'm really bad at this game and always look angry when I play it. 

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The Community Spotlight features some of the best unedited articles that didn't quite make the front page. This week, we check out the demo for Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, visit the Smithsonian's video-game exhibit, explain why now is the perfect time for new consoles, and more. No need to hide in a box to read on.

Deciphering the Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes demo
By Jason Rose

At PAX Prime, Metal Gear maestro Hideo Kojima introduced the next entry in the long-running stealth-action series, and Jason's broken down all the details for you. Are you ready for more sneaking, shooting, and monologuing villains?

More than just a game
By Billy Guinigundo

Billy recently visited the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and he documented his trip through the Art of Video Games exhibit for our enjoyment. "What the exhibit does best is create an opportunity for the gaming community to come together," Billy writes.

Right now is the best time to launch a console
By Jourdan Cameron

Jourdan's not pointing this article just at the Nintendos and Sonys of the world; he says that the gaming market is primed for independent console makers, too. "A small niche audience could be the best way to make money in the industry as a hardware manufacturer for the next several years," Jourdan says. Do you agree?

Because Silver isn't good enough
By Avery Tingle

Avery's fed up with being left out. He can't afford to pony up for the full Xbox Live Gold membership, and that's preventing him from checking out lots of games -- the Resident Evil 6 demo, in this case. "Just tired of being treated like a second-class citizen because I can’t afford to be one of the cool kids," he says.

5 great JRPG battle themes you've (probably) never heard
By Nate Ewert-Krocker

Game music! You know I love me some game music. Nate's got a list of less obvious tunes that accompany the over-the-top fights of the Japanese role-playing genre. I'm a fan of Eternal Sonata, myself.

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