Introduction

"What is your favorite video game?"

It's a simple question, and for most people it's likely a simple answer that requires little thought.  Personally, I've never been able to provide a response I'm satisfied with.  Depending on the day, it can any of at least a dozen titles, depending on my mood, what I've played recently, articles on the "Best Games of All Time" that I've read, and so on and so forth.  That's not good enough for me, and after years of not even knowing myself what I think, I think it's time to finally figure out what my answer is.

While it may be simpler to start from that list of a dozen titles and whittle away from there until I've picked "the one", I've decided to take a more interesting route.  I'm going to look at my entire gaming history (as best I can remember it), from my earliest arcade experiences to the console and computer games of today, and attempt to discover what my favorite is in the context of my whole life.  Instead of operating with a short list of what's currently on my mind, I'll be able to really put my experiences in context and learn what really stands out from the crowd.  Even if I end up with the same few games, I'll stand to gain a lot of perspective about what makes them so special.  It may be a lot of work, but I reckon the experience will prove worthwhile.

Let me answer a few questions first:

Who are you?
The name is Alex Schroeder, and I'm a senior Computer Science major at the College of Charleston.  I'm a life-long gamer and nerd who hopes to make creating video games a career, should I be lucky enough to make it into the industry.

What are you doing?
I've compiled a list of every game I've played enough to have an opinion of, based off available information like my Xbox LIVE profile, all the games I currently have, and whatever else I can remember.  From there, I'm going to start looking at each game in rounds, analyzing them by specific criteria I establish each round and eliminating those that fail to make the cut.  Eventually, I'll narrow the field down enough that I can compare games more directly, at which point I'll be cutting one by one until a favorite is determined.

Why are you doing this?
A few reasons.  One, like I said before, I'd like to able to answer the question of what my favorite video game is.  It doesn't come up that often, but it's a relatively important one personally and one I've never been able to answer satisfactorily.  Two, while I've long been fairly opinionated, I've rarely had the nerve to actually write my thoughts down.  With any luck, this will help me start writing on a more regular basis, whether it be to share with others or just personal enjoyment.  Three, I'd like to preserve my memories of my gaming history in writing so I can read and enjoy them later.  Even in compiling the list I found many games I barely remembered, and as time goes on those memories will only fade more.  Best to save them now before I lose them for good.  Finally, I simply think it'll prove to be fun.  Time-consuming, but fun.  Nothing wrong with that, right?


But why should I care?
Honestly, I don't think anyone will really care what my favorite game is.  Rather, I think readers might enjoy the journey to finding that game.  Maybe you will learn of games I enjoyed that you've never heard of, or maybe you'll enjoy some nostalgia for your favorites as I describe my own experiences with them.  It's going to be a very personal, very opinionated ride, so hopefully some readers will enjoy that, and if not, at least I'll finally have the answer I seek by the end of this quest.  I can't say I know if anyone else will like this, but I guess I'll find out, right?

Still with me?  Nice!  First, there's the list.  I've already finished it as best as I currently can, and you can find a spreadsheet with all the games and the platforms they're for right here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Apgn60pjF-zPdG9hOVM1MUxPY3MzZHRFRXVYb2hNblE

476 games?  This could take a while.  Next, there's the round one criteria.  I've decided to keep it pretty simple: I'll have to answer the following two yes or no questions for each game:

1. Do I like this game?
If I at the minimum liked a game, it gets a yes.  If not, it gets a no.  Easy, right?

2. Is this game important to me?
This one's harder, and can mean many different things depending on the game.  Maybe I spent a lot of hours on the game, or maybe it left a really strong impression on me, or maybe it caused a significant shift in how I view games as a whole.  I figure that for a game to be my favorite it will have surely made an impact on me somehow, so I've set this early mark for games to meet before they can continue.

If a game gets a yes on both questions, it moves on!  Get a no on either question, though, and it's out of the running.  Finally, I'll need to split up games into groups, since doing this for all 476 games is very impractical.  Thus, my next post will be tackling games for the Nintendo 64, the first home console I ever owned and the home of some of gaming's greatest triumphs (and at least one of its worst failures).  Which games will prevail?  We'll find out next post as my quest formally begins...