Not too long ago, I brought you my “Top Ten Video Games of 1987“. Now it’s time for me to unleash my “Top Ten Video Games of 1988″ on you. 1988 was an interesting year in games and in the world. We saw Dan Rather clash with George H.W. Bush on television concerning Bush’s known role in the Iran-Contra scandal. Who would have known that we’d still have a Bush in the White House twenty years later? Hustler won their case against Jerry Falwell in the Supreme Court. Although it was a satirical story made up by Hustler, one still has to wonder if Falwell had sex with his mother in an outhouse. The world may never know!

Oliver North along with John Poindexter were indicted on conspiracy charges against the United States (North went on to found organizations such as the Freedom Alliance, where they used the skills of Jack Thomspson, the lawyer all gamers love, to go after Ice T and the song “Cop Killer”). Kirk Gibson hit perhaps the most memorable home run in World Series history. 1988 was certainly a very interesting year, but let’s talk about the games…

Here are my picks for top ten video games of 1988:

1. Dragon Warrior 3 (NES)
   
2. Mega Man 2 (NES)
   
3. Bionic Commando (NES)
4. Ninja Gaiden (NES)
5. Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (NES)
6. Contra (NES)
   
7. Shinobi (Arcade)
8. Phantasy Star (Sega Master System)
9. John Madden Football (Apple II)
10. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)

You are probably wondering why I didn’t find room for Zelda II on the list. Honestly, I wasn’t a big fan of the game. I felt it was stretched out too long, the game wasn’t put together well and was nowhere close to the great game we saw with the original Zelda. Despite my feelings for Zelda II, the NES certainly dominated my year in gaming. I was still more of a Sega guy at the time, but they really had nothing to compare to NES games of that year.

Dragon Quest III was certainly the greatest video game on 1988. According to Wikipedia, the game is the single reason why the Japanese government outlawed releases of Dragon Quest games on school days. Of the ten games I listed, Dragon Quest III is perhaps the most timeless. It’s as fun today as it was 20 years ago.

Whale image via Shirt.Woot

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: Apple II, Clash, Contra, Dan, Dragon, game, George H.W. Bush, Hustler, III, Jack Thomspson, Jerry Falwell, John Madden, John Poindexter, Kirk Gibson, NES, Oliver North, Quest, Sega, Simon, time, Top, United States, video, wasn, world, year, zelda, Zelda II

Each week, XBLA received either good titles or really terrible ones.  This week, it looks like we have two iffy games and one pretty good one.  Blazing Lizard’s Pirates Vs. Ninjas Dodgeball (800MP) will be available and I’m sure it will do fine, even though I wasn’t really impressed with anything I saw in the game.  Shred Nebula (800MP), the space-shooter will also hit the scene.  I’d probably say this is the safe bet for the week, because it’s at least a fun game.  Finally, they will be adding Gin Rummy (400MP).  The last time I checked, 80-year old grandmothers were playing the Wii, not the Xbox 360, so I have no idea who the hell is going to buy this game.  

One thing that continues to upset me with the arcade is the lack of quality “arcade” titles.  There are so many great old school games begging to be re-made, but we typically see mediocre titles released most weeks.  Shred Nebula isn’t the greatest game, but it’s still one worth picking up, so this week wasn’t a total loss.  At this point in the game, I expect better games.  XBLA has been around too long for this to keep happening most weeks.

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: anything, Arcade, Blazing, Dodgeball, game, Gin Rummy, Lizard, Microsoft, Nebula, Ninjas, Pirates, Shred, tomorrow, wasn, Week, XBLA

This may surprise some of you, but we love more than just video games on Kezins. It seems everyone on the web publishes their iPod playlist, so we decided to let our readers know what music we are listening to. The first list is Will’s favorite 20 songs. We’ll be publishing lists from the other writers (possible some from other sites too) in the near future. I currently have over 12,000 songs on my iPod plus all the stacks of CDs, so it wasn’t easy figuring out what my favorites were. Nirvana and The Killers are probably my two favorite bands of all-time, but I decided to only post one song per artist. Feel free to comment on my picks or list your favorites below, but no Coldplay bashing!

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written by Will Snizek \\ tags: Aimee Mann, Al Green, Alice, Ben Harper, Black, Coldplay, Don, everyone, Feel, future, gun, iPod, Janie, Jesus, John Mayer, Kezins, King, list, Music, Pepper, Playlist, Sunshine, Than Ezra, video, Want, wasn, web

(click on the above image for larger view)

When Assassin’s Creed came out in 2007, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the game.  Looking back on it, I’d say the complaints about AC probably fell into the “Fable problem”.  Basically that means that sometimes a game is so hyped by the media and publisher that you feel cheated once you play the game.  Fable was one of those games I waited years for and felt upset when I finally got my hands on it, even though it was still a pretty good game.  The same thing went for Assassin’s Creed.  I guess I was expecting medieval Sam Fisher assassin on crack and just got a regular medieval assassin experience with a sci-fi twist. With that said, there were still plenty of sites that gave AC praise from the jump.  I simply expected more at the time.

If you didn’t get a chance to play AC, it’s currently selling for $29.99 at GameStop which is truly a steal for what you are getting.  Forget what the critics said back in 2007 because it’s certainly worth 30 dollars now. The game (’Assassin’s Creed’ Director’s Cut) still looks and plays better on the PC, but if Xbox 360 or Sony PS3 is your platform of choice, this is the way to go. 

The great things about Assassin’s Creed:

• The graphics were awesome.  This was perhaps the most visually appealing game of 2007.
• Sound effects and music were spot on.
• Environments were huge and made you feel like you were in a real city.
• The controls were fairly fluid.
• Free running environment is great for the adventurous type.
• Missions can be completed through various methods.
• The main plot was interesting.

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: Assassin, assassin's creed, Creed, deal, Fable, fan, Fisher, game, Gamestop, hot, medieval, Microsoft Xbox 360, problem, publisher, Sam, Sony PS2-PS3, thing, trilogy, Ubisoft, wasn

For some reason our eNews & Updates form at the top of the site wasn’t working, but we have it fixed for your viewing pleasure. If you’d like to receive updates from our site, this is the easiest way to get them. Subscribing to the feed will send our daily content to your inbox, which is a lot more convenient than having to check an RSS feed or browse the site each day. We’d still appreciate a comment here and there though. You can use the form at the top right of our site or the one I posted below. Thanks for checking out our site!

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: com, Content, Feed, form, inbox, Kezins, Live, pleasure, reason, site, Top, Updates, wasn, way, working

In a move that further proves what we said a while back about the “Qore” initiative Sony launched a couple weeks back, subscribers and those who purchase Episode 4 of the series will get into the Motorstorm: Pacific Rift a month early before anyone else does.

Now, wasn’t it PS3 fanboys who complained about not having to pay for premium demos like on Xbox 360? Difference is: you get demos a week later if you don’t pay for Xbox Live…in this case, it’s a month.

To be fair, though, at least you don’t have to be a loyal subscriber to “Qore” and you can just buy the episode for $2.99. Hate to do it, but this writer might just dump a couple bucks to play the demo…dammit, Sony!

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: anyone, couple, Demo, Episode, initiative, month, MotorStorm, move, Pacific, Qore, Rift, series, Sony, wasn, while, Xbox

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Kezins.com wasn’t able to trek out to the smog-filled vistas that the Los Angeles’ downtown sprawl has to offer this year for E3, but we will be filling you in on some of the more exciting things coming out of the week-long “festivities.”

The biggest show stopper was the reveal that Final Fantasy XIII is no longer a Sony exclusive and the PS3 version will be releasing alongside an Xbox 360 version day and date in the U.S. and Europe, as Perez just reported.

Hit the link for a quick rundown of everything else that was revealed, shown, and affirmed (as the pre-E3 leaks can attest to)…

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written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: Alex Rigopulos, Bob Dylan, Cliff Bleszinski, co-op, Dashboard, DLC, Europe, FINAL, game, Hero, Hero III, Inis, LOS ANGELES, Microsoft, multiplayer, N Roses, North America, November, Online, Peter Molyneux, Rock Band, show, Star-Ocean, twist, US, Van Halen, wasn, XBLA, Xbox, XIII

I enjoyed the first film a few years back.  Spider-Man 2 was iffy and Spider-Man 3 simply annoyed me.  Last year, I was rewarded with the news that Sam Raimi wasn’t interested in continuing the series and it would probably be passed to a new director, which might bring a fresh look to the film.  Now it looks like they may actually make a Spider-Man 4 with Raimi.  Since last year, he has changed his mind and it now looks like he will be directing the final film.  I hate to sound negative about the series, but I am a die hard Spidey fan who simply felt let down by 2 of the last 3 films.

Last summer, it looked like Sam Raimi was ready to walk away from the Spider-Man franchise, but he’s singing a different tune this summer. Coming Soon recently talked to Raimi about his status as the most profitable superhero series ever gears up for its fourth film. 

Via get the big picture

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: die, director, fan, Film, look, man, mind, movie, news, Raimi, Sam, series, Spidey, summer, wasn, year

Hoboken, New Jersey lies on the west bank of the Hudson River just a rock throw away from New York City. Hoboken is the archetypal American port town and has a deep and rich history.  Although the city isn’t really known for superhero action, many great people in American history hailed from the city such as Frank Sinatra.

In 1994, a weird DOS based game titled ‘Superhero: League of Hoboken’ hit the scene and it’s one of the few games based on Hoboken that I know about.  

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written by Will Snizek \\ tags: adventure, archetypal, bank, Captain Excitement, CITY, Dr. Entropy, Frank Sinatra, game, Gameplay, history, Hoboken, Hudson River, Juan, League, Mademoiselle Pepperoni, Matilda, New Jersey, New York City, northeastern US, Old, Rock, School, Superhero, time, US, wasn, west

After a month long hiatus, Destructoid’s GameJew returned with another interesting singing review.  I’ll be honest that this is the first time I have even though about City Connection (NES) in many, many years.  Although it wasn’t really a great game or anything, I did enjoy playing it back in the day for what it was worth.

Via Destructoid

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: anything, CITY, connection, day, Destructoid, game, GameJew, hiatus, month, Mushroom, NES, Review, Singdom, singing, time, wasn