Email Author Chris Ward

2006 Stories by Chris Ward

• Wii Love It

  published December 14, 2006

  Nintendo has achieved the impossible: My 50-year-old, non-gaming father wants a Wii for Christmas. Either I've been whisked to Bizarro World, or... More >>

• Encore Performance

  published November 23, 2006

  Guitar Hero gave party games a much-needed kick in the ass. No one expected this rhythm game -- sold with a miniature plastic guitar -- to... More >>

• Dejá Dance

  published November 2, 2006

  Few phenomena are as hugely popular and bitterly mocked as the Dance Dance Revolution series. That's probably because humanity falls into... More >>

• Brush With Greatness

  published October 12, 2006

  You've seen Bob Ross -- the afro-sporting TV artist who painted "happy trees"? Well, if he had redesigned Legend of Zelda, it would look a lot... More >>

• Monkey Trials

  published September 14, 2006

  What could be more fun than monkeys trapped in plastic hamster balls? That's the strange philosophy of Super Monkey Ball, a puzzle series that... More >>

• Glacial Profiling

  published August 24, 2006

  For most people, the words "role-playing game" conjure images of sweaty Dungeons & Dragons-obsessed weirdos, wearing cloaks and screaming... More >>

• Trail of Tears

  published August 3, 2006

  Native American heroes are a rare commodity in videogames. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, released a decade ago, is the most prominent example. Now... More >>

• Jesus Wept

  published June 1, 2006

  If the creepy, self-flagellating albino monk in The Da Vinci Code really wanted to suffer, he'd drop his flesh-shredding cat-o'-nine-tails, pick... More >>

• Beat Down

  published May 11, 2006

  If you've gazed at a record player and imagined you could scratch as well as the next guy, you're not alone. Guitars, drums, bass -- all these... More >>

• Cowboy Up

  published April 13, 2006

  With scrappy warblers like Kellie Pickler and Bucky Covington trying to out-twang each other on American Idol, country music is hotter than a corn... More >>

• X-Man Reunited

  published February 9, 2006

  Maybe it's because we're hung up on our past more than ever -- riding a wave of giddy, nonstop nostalgia and absorbing anything that will help... More >>

• Monkey Shines

  published January 19, 2006

  Movie-based videogames have a well-deserved reputation for sucking. Ever since Atari's E.T. -- a game so ill-conceived that thousands... More >>