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It's funny. Laugh. Entertainment Games

Humor in Games? 345

Posted by michael from the stick-around dept.
commiesubverter writes "Slate.com has an article up about humor in games. It's a decent summary of where the gaming industry has been and is going with its humor. From the article: 'Comedy is typically marginalized into background sight gags and interstitial cut scenes. Even games that generally strive to be funny incorporate humor into window dressing: In Grand Theft Auto, you can sow mayhem while listening to a mock-NPR that's broadcasting a roundtable discussion on violence.'"
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Humor in Games? More

Humor in Games?

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  • Monkey Island (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:03AM (#10741265)
    Nothing beats the Monkey Island series!

  • Misguided article (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ignorant Aardvark ( 632408 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [syewedyc]> on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:06AM (#10741272) Homepage Journal
    I play games because they're fun, and not for any other reason. Recently I've been playing GTA:SA, and I can see why WCTR is window dressing - because it gets old. It only has so much content, and after that, it becomes stale and repetitive. To make a good game that is genuinely funny the whole way through would take a LOT of work - and frankly, I'm not even sure it would be possible. It's much easier to make a game fun by allowing you to run over pedestrians or what not - this stays fun for awhile. But once you've heard a joke once, it's pretty much used up.

    • Re:Misguided article (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      To make a good game that is genuinely funny the whole way through would take a LOT of work - and frankly, I'm not even sure it would be possible.

      Sigh, youngsters nowadays are so deprived. You've never played "Monkey Island" I suppose?

    • Re:Misguided article (Score:5, Funny)

      by beacher ( 82033 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:14AM (#10741294) Homepage
      Talk about making up your own fun... Here's a shot from lineage [mindspring.com]. heheheheh

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:23AM (#10741315)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re:Misguided article (Score:3, Informative)

        by wadam ( 563519 )
        And don't forget the Spellcasting 101 / 201 / 301 series. I have fond memories of moments where I was laughing so hard that I had to take a break.

        Adam.
      • Don't forget Leisure Suit Larry 1 through 7. The new LSL Magna Cum Laude is horrible however, very disappointing.
        • The new LSL Magna Cum Laude is horrible however

          I'll say. You go from one boring mini-game to another mini-game and back to the first mini-game... Like playing a boring "Strip Simon Says".

        • Re:Misguided article (Score:3, Interesting)

          by parliboy ( 233658 )
          You know, considering the current market, and considering that they didn't run with Al Lowe (which was nonetheless a mistake), I thought the humor in MCL was a really good attempt. The gameplay was totally not fun, but the way it was depicted was, at times, inspired. If you stayed in it long enough to play the sendoff to Grease's "Summer Nights", you know that the new writers had some respect for what the game should have been about.

          "Went to her room, she begged me to stay"
          "We made love, now I am gay"
          "Co
      • The Simon the Sorcerer Series and Floyd (the game the same people made after Simon the Sorcerer) were fun to play as well.
        • Simon the Sorcerer were quite unappreciated games. In one part of STS 1, a discussion between three woodworms had me laughing so hard i had to stop playing for 10 minutes.

      • Re:Misguided article (Score:3, Insightful)

        by danila ( 69889 )
        I haven't played these ones, but I don't suppose they were very interactive, free-roaming do-what-you-like games like GTA, were they? You can make a traditional quest funny, that's right, but the truth is noone wants to play quests anymore (or so it appears from the sales charts).

        Frankly, one could make a GTA with all cut-scenes remade as comedy, not gangsta/mob films, but they they would be so out of sync with the gameplay itself. Jokes are something you create, not something that emerges from the gamepla

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
          Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • That's... not true at all.

          First, there's always going to be a market for more traditional games. They are still releasing new entries in the Myst series, a new (good) graphic adventure slips out once a year or so, etc. Hell, even side-scrolling shoot-em-ups still get made.

          Secondly, comedy is possible even if a game's primary goal is not comedy. I would use GTA as an example of this. Sure, you have your main mission arcs where the more serious events happen, but in between you're listening to hillarious so

      • What about Worms? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by FooAtWFU ( 699187 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @12:10PM (#10742020) Homepage
        Worms! If the idea of a worm with a bazooka isn't funny enough, you can blow up the other team with a sheep or banana bomb or the Holy Hand Grenade... not to mention the insane chain-reactions where you meant to kill the other guy's worm but ended up blowing up about three or four of your own instead, and then he finishes you off with the Prod.
    • Day of the Tentacle was funny all the way. Not only the dialogue, but also the situations made me laugh several times over. And the solutions you had to come up with. A classic for instance : you need a screwdriver, but can't find it anywhere. After 20min of searching you go back to your car where a burgler is forcing the window. By trading your car-keys (and your car) for his screwdriver, the game got going again.

      Nuts...

    • Re:Misguided article (Score:3, Informative)

      by cje ( 33931 )
      Recently I've been playing GTA:SA, and I can see why WCTR is window dressing - because it gets old. It only has so much content, and after that, it becomes stale and repetitive.

      Keep playing, then. One of the differences between GTA: VC and GTA: SA is that the radio content is dynamic -- especially WCTR. As you progress through the game, the contents of the shows change (i.e., you hear new episodes of "He Said, She Said") and the news that gets reported changes in accordance with the missions that you've

  • Lucasarts Adventures (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Xpilot ( 117961 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:07AM (#10741273) Homepage
    I remember countless adventures from Lucasarts where the principle element is pure comedy. From Monkey Island to Day of the Tentacle to Sam and Max, these classic games were both funny and fun. They don't make many games like those any more ever since FPS's became popular (and hence, more profitable for the majority of game studios to develop).

    • Re:Lucasarts Adventures (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Lisandro ( 799651 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:12AM (#10741290)
      Agreed. If one game genre got humor right, it was graphic adventures. Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, DOTT, Grim Fandango, Simon the Sorcerer, even titles like Full Throttle. It always work well in such games, probably because most graphic adventures had great "scripts" to begin with.
      • The good thing of the adventure genre is that they not only have humor, they can also get quite serious with other emotions (fear, hate, love, whatever). From all the genres out there adventure games are really the only one so far that is really well suited to tell a movie-like story, all other genres kind of boil down with some action levels here, some cutscene there, but they don't give you much good feel of being really into the story.

        There are of course some games like 'DeusEx' or 'Beyond Good&Evi
      • The Longest Journey has some fine comic moments and the game sold well enough to warrant a sequel. Fallout, Planescape: Torment and others used humor effectively in strong, story-oriented RPGs.
    • Yesss ! :) For me, the Monkey Island series are the most humorous games ever :) Countless hours of fun and laugh on the jokes :)

      Hey, do you remember the rubber tree joke, or the scene when G.T. had to make the dogs sleep with the meat+y.petal (assuring they aren't dead just sleeping :) And I could go on 4ever :)

      When there's enough fun (meaning not only the jokes and humor, of course) with a game, it can be a long lasting experience, that's for sure.

    • Grim Fandango (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anaphiel ( 712680 )
      Possibly the most consistantly funny game I've played, with a very sophisticated sense of humor.

      "Run you pigeons, it's Robert Frost!"

  • Games are not funny (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Timesprout ( 579035 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:09AM (#10741278)
    For the simple reason that the first couple of times you play it a joke is amusing, the 200th time you play, its a worn out fucking nuisance.
    • Do you have any idea how many times I've seen the Parrot Sketch? The Cheese Shop Sketch? MST3K's treatment of "Manos, Hands of Fate"? 'The Producers'? Because I don't. I just know they're hella funny every time.

  • No One Lives Forever (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:09AM (#10741280)
    I've only played the sequel and that has to be the funnies FPS I've played. Some of the conversations between the guards were priceless, and the overall goofiness was highly entertaining.

    • Re:No One Lives Forever (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Inexile2002 ( 540368 ) * on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:35AM (#10741346) Homepage Journal
      The writing and voice acting in that game were priceless. Every gaurd you snuck up on was in the middle of a hilarious conversation. Dozens and dozens of times I found myself sitting in a shadow waiting for them to finish before I killed them. (Strange sentence.) The cut scenes, general camp of the game and some of the in game details were well done too. All in all, probably the best combination of comdey in an action game that I've seen. (Also one of the most amazing games I've ever played. Why this didn't do better I'll never understand.)

    • Agreed. (Score:2, Interesting)

      by antdude ( 79039 )
      Both No One Lives Forever [noonelivesforever.com] and its sequel [sierra.com] (not Contract Jack) made me laugh a lot. The dialogs and the humor.

      Examples:
      1. "Are you insulting my monkey?!" --a moroccan civilians line"
      2. "Do not be apprehensive about this apprehension!" --the HARM guards in Morroco
      3. Cate: "Spare yourself the suffering and you might walk out of here with clean underpants."
        Harm Guard: "Too late for that!"
      4. Cate: Who is your favorite historical character?
        Baron Dumas: Hmm...I would have to say....er....Beowulf.
        Cate: Ah... I was thinkin
      • That is incomplete. :P See post [slashdot.org] for the correct one.

        Remind me to sleep. ;)
      • So, you're saving up for something special, huh?

        Yep, had my eye on a turnip for quite some time now

        A turnip?

        Not just any turnip. The world's biggest turnip.

        Uh-huh. So what will you do - eat it?

        You don't just eat the world's biggest turnip.

        What, you make a wish on it or something?!?

    • Agreed. Some quotes as examples... (Score:4, Informative)

      by antdude ( 79039 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:49AM (#10741372) Homepage Journal
      Both No One Lives Forever [noonelivesforever.com] and its sequel [sierra.com] (not Contract Jack) made me laugh a lot. The dialogs, cutscenes, etc.

      WARNING: SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THE GAMES!!

      Examples:
      1. "Are you insulting my monkey?!" --a moroccan civilians line"
      2. "Do not be apprehensive about this apprehension!" --the HARM guards in Morroco
      3. Cate: "Spare yourself the suffering and you might walk out of here with clean underpants."
        Harm Guard: "Too late for that!"
      4. Cate: Who is your favorite historical character?
        Baron Dumas: Hmm...I would have to say....er....Beowulf.
        Cate: Ah... I was thinking of historical rather than fictional individuals.
        Baron Dumas: Beowulf is a historal character.
        Cate: You mean the Beowulf who slew Grendel and is mother?
        Baron Dumas: Ah, yes: thats the one.
        Cate: He's a FICTIONAL character.
        Baron Dumas: YES, I know that, but there was also an HISTORICAL one.
        Cate: The Beowulf who fought the dragon?
        Baron Dumas: Indeed.
        Cate: But there AREN'T any dragons. Unless you count the dinosaurs of course, but there weren't any of those wondering around during the time that Beowulf WOULD have lived, had he been a REAL person instead of a fictional one.
        Baron Dumas: Are you quite sure?
        Cate: Yes.
        Baron Dumas: I see...
      5. Funny scenes with the HARM's director keeps getting nagged by his mother thru the entire NOLF2 game.
      6. "Bend over and kiss yer potatahs goodbye!" --combat taunts
      7. Two words: Human cubes
      8. Many more funny scenes in this thread [thegluefactory.com].

        Thanks to NOLF Girl [nolfgirl.com] for a lot of these. ;)

    • Re:No One Lives Forever (Score:3, Interesting)

      by jnd3 ( 116181 )
      Tron 2.0 (by the same company that did NOLF) had some good humor as well ... enemies known as "Resource Hogs" would often carry names like "lookout.exe" and "wordwin.exe" and other assorted plays on Microsoft programs. Definitely more "geeky" humor, but still good.

      LucasArts' Armed & Dangerous is pretty fun slapstick as well -- from the tea-brewing robot to shark launchers and topsy-turvy bombs -- and the cutscenes are just a hoot. And to top it off, it's hit the $10 bin.
      • It all makes sense now. For some reason, both games were frustratingly hard and I quit both after about a week.

        Humor works a lot better if you don't piss off the player first. Such a waste, too, Tron 2.0 had such great sound, music, and graphics. But they had to screw it up by giving the enemies god aim and the player no way to restore health frequently.
        • I'm generally 'not very good' at most games. Yes, even though I play a LOT of games, I still generally suck ass.

          But how in the world could you think that Armed and Dangerous was difficult and frustrating? This was one of the few games that I was able to breeze through fairly easily. Only 3 or 4 areas caused me problems- and those just meant that it took me 10 tries instead of one.

          I thought it was a great game, and some of the funniest stuff I've seen for a long, long time.

  • Humor in games in the past 20 years (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BrotherZeoff ( 776525 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:10AM (#10741283)
    Actually I thought that a lot of the earlier games were firmly tongue in cheek.

    Infocom's Zork and Enchanter series had a lot of gags. Planetfall and Hitchhiker's Guide were, too.

    Bard's Tale, as the aticle mentioned. But Keef the Thief and Escape from Hell were funnier. There were quite a few funny cut scenes in one of the Duke Nukem games--I remember Duke ripped off a defeated alien's head and, uh, took care of business down its throat...

    I think gaming used to be geekier and have more self-depracating and sarcastic humor. Later, console systems opened gaming up to a younger and less geeky population, and games became more fast-paced and serious.

    These days, it seems that Blizzard is keeping up the humor tradition more than most other publishers.

  • What about games (Score:5, Funny)

    by antifoidulus ( 807088 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:14AM (#10741293) Homepage Journal
    where how the user plays creates the comedy? I laugh my ass off when I am playing Monkey Ball with friends because of some of the wonderfully random ways you can kill your monkey. The best comedy is usually unscripted, and the best games usually provide lots of unscripted comedy(whicih is also another reason why I don't play 1 player games or games on the internet, too boring)

    • Re:What about games (Score:5, Funny)

      by AEton ( 654737 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:37AM (#10741348)
      I laugh my ass off when I am playing Monkey Ball with friends because of some of the wonderfully random ways you can kill your monkey.

      Usually before I kill my monkey I make sure there aren't other people around. Common courtesy, you know.

      But whatever works for your friends, sounds great!
    • Tons of interactive user-created violent slapstick occurs in FPS/action games, especially during multiplayer. Everything from some guy rocket-jumping and exploding on impact, to accidentally driving the Hellbender off a cliff when two other teammates are riding on top is FUNNY. It's just very unsophisticated humor, which is part of what the article is complaining about.

      Sadly, I always sucked at the funniest games - even Monkey Island had me reaching for a walkthrough every ten minutes or so, because whil
    • Two words: Katamari Damacy

      I was laughing my ass off when I saw footage of that game. You may have seen it before. It's that one where you have to roll a ball around streets and parks, etc., and have to pick up objects with it. Eventually, the ball gets big enough that you're picking up innocent old ladies and then cars, buses and buildings. By the end, there's so much crap rolling around it just looks hilarious.

  • Monkey Island is still good for a laugh but (Score:5, Funny)

    by fussili ( 720463 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:15AM (#10741295)
    ... if you want an FPS which will make you laugh check out Giants: Citizen Kabuto. Absolutely hilarious plot as a bunch of Cockney Aliens end up on a planet with a magic using race of merfolk and a 300 foot tall beast.

    The cutscenes are brilliant but the comedy is left out of the action with the exception of the various cockney aliens chiming in with progress reports and saying things like "Oooh my leg!".

    And as for comedy being annoying upon repetition. I could play Monkey Island till Guybrush Threepwood actuall becomes a mighty pirate.

    Come on people! Bob, Float, Drift? What's NOT to love about that series!?

  • Who wants to see Mario do slapstick over and over? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BetterThanCaesar ( 625636 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:16AM (#10741299)

    Maybe the reason games are low on humour is because most jokes are only funny once or twice, whereas a game needs to be playable many, many times. If playing the game a second time is like watching reruns of Fresh Prince in Bel-Air, I'd rather not.

    Of course, there is comedy that will always be funny, such as Monty Python, but who dares create a complete game hoping that all or most of the comedy will last?

    The Incredible Machines and Day of the Tentacle are two of my favourite old games with lots humour. But I think the reason I still like them is because I haven't played them for a long time.

  • Games should be fun (Score:4, Insightful)

    by RealProgrammer ( 723725 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:16AM (#10741300) Homepage Journal
    ... so why does humor seem like a distraction? Maybe it's because the game designers aren't comedians, they're geeks? Geeks can be funny, as seen on these very pages, but to step out and design a game that tries to be funny is way too risky. What if someone buys the game and doesn't laugh? Bad news.

    Comedy takes a certain mindset. You have to program the user with a setup, then redirect them to the punch line. That's a different plot than blowing up an alien mother ship or whatever.

    Comedy is usually only funny once. By the time the designer has seen it for the six hundredth time, it's not funny to them any more. By the time the user has seen the gag a few times, they're bored with it. By contrast, I still pull out Doom 2 now and then.

    • Re:Games should be fun (Score:5, Insightful)

      by 0racle ( 667029 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @04:10PM (#10743079)
      I know its been said, but you do know that the programmers don't write the story except in the smallest of game projects right? Just like the actor doesn't usually write their lines, there is a professional writer or team of writers making this up.

      Good comedy is not funny just once. How often will you throw in a comedy into the vcr/dvd you've seen a hundred times and laugh just as hard as you did the first time? If it was well written and done write, you'll do it every time. Most games do not fall into the well written category.

  • Scripted comedy... no thanks (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ldm ( 676254 ) * on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:21AM (#10741312)
    Surely this depends on what you personally find amusing? I have fond memories of Dungeon Keeper & DK2, which I thought were wickedly funny... torture, anyone? Similarly, Carmageddon & Carmageddon 2 had me laughing out loud as zombies exploded around me whilst pulling off utterly insane stunts. A whole bunch of LucasArts games (Sam & Max, Day Of The Tentacle, etc) are funny. Grand Theft Auto's gouranga bonus. Simply playing Unreal Tournament and for example, jumping at an oppenent, emptying a weapon at them, completely missing, and they pick you off with one shot... I find that funny (or maybe I suck at UT ;)). Max Payne. Countless sub/side games in countless titles.

    Maybe I'm just twisted.

    I don't think traditional comedy will work in games... you tend to get in-jokes in games, which is ok because those playing the games will usually get it. Jokes that are scripted and get forced at you again and again as you replay, whilst they may have been funny the first few times, they almost certainly aren't after a few dozen.

    In my opinion, scripted humour can not replace gameplay touches that allow the player to make their own fun.

  • Who needs intentional humor (Score:5, Funny)

    by mfivis ( 592345 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:26AM (#10741324) Homepage
    Someone set us up the bomb
    or
    The President has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the President?

  • My favorite in game humor... Warcraft/Starcraft (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:33AM (#10741341)
    Everyone knows if you click the people in Warcraft/Starcraft enough, you get some funny jokes, but my favorite was in WC3.

    "I'll attract the enemy with my human mating call. I'm so wasted! I'm so wasted!" -- The Dryad

  • Not any more (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tarnin ( 639523 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:34AM (#10741342)
    Straight up comedy games ala the original Lucasarts ones wont work now. A lot of those were filled with injokes and specifically geeky jokes. Now that the demographic has changed to the non-geek and general populace they don't work. Not only do they not work, but to create a game that would the humor would have to be so broad as to be either unfunny or work once.

    I have seen some humor left but it is either background, in jokes, or specific. Case in point, alot of the quest givers in WoW have some funny stuff to say and the voice emotes are a riot but the game itself is pretty serious.

    One thing that people fail to mention is the switch in humor in the games has worked. People are buying these games or subscribing to the serives in record numbers even in this declining economy. Weither or not any of us agree with humor in games in its current incarnation it moot really. Pander to the lowest common denominator and make lots of money. Sad but true.

  • They praise HHGTTG (text-based game), yet I know several people who found that game very, very unfun, due to the gameplay.

    Its not enough to have gags if the gameplay has problems.

    Just my $.02

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:49AM (#10741370)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • sierra (Score:5, Funny)

    by Triv ( 181010 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:55AM (#10741389) Journal
    Old-school sierra games were designed for comedy and problem solving. Well, some of them were, anyway. The Space Quest series was designed to be funny, and Leisure Suit Larry wouldn't've won any awards for its gameplay.

    Triv

    • A new episode in the Leisure Suit Larry series (Magna Cum Laude) is out for the PC/X-Box/PS2.

      Maybe not a great gameplay, but lots of dirty jokes...
  • Might want to have a look...

    http://www.omnytex.com/ [omnytex.com]

    Specifically:

    http://omnytex.com/kgarcade/ [omnytex.com]

    and

    http://omnytex.com/products_invasion_info.shtml/ [omnytex.com]

    They have two games for the PocketPC, Invasion: Trivia! and K&G Arcade. They both star two aliens named Krelmac and Gentoo. You could describe them as a cross between Kang/Kodos and Beavis/Butthead. The games are rather fun but most importantly are comedy-focused. Naturally as with all comedy whether you find it funny or not is subjective, but ple

  • Space Quest! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by A Boy and His Blob ( 772370 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @08:58AM (#10741394)
    Space Quest and the Quest for Glory series are what really got me into gaming. Some of the later Icon based Sierra games were half-way decent, but in my mind the text-input games were the ones that really shined.

  • Duke Nukem 3D (Score:5, Interesting)

    by turgid ( 580780 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @09:07AM (#10741408) Journal
    May years ago there was a DOS game called Duke Nukem 3D, which was very similar to Doom in many ways.

    One of the things I found very funny was that you could actually "use" the toilets in the game. If you walked up to one of the urinals and pressed the "use" button, Duke would do a wee wee and flush the toilet.

    One day I was playing it over a direct modem connection with a friend. He shot me in the face with a rocket. I jumped up and backwards, breaking my chair in the process.

    I don't have time to play games nowadays, and I don't have Windows, so my choice is severely limited anyway. Xbill is about my limit now.

  • Minesweeper (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anne_Nonymous ( 313852 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @09:13AM (#10741423) Homepage Journal
    That wacky Minesweeper game just cracks me up!

  • Mario (Score:2, Troll)

    by Zorilla ( 791636 )
    For some reason, I find the original NES Super Mario Brothers jump sound to be hilarious. "Bleeeeeeeeee!" Hopefully that doesn't make me retarded or anything.

    Similarly, the sound the 1-wood makes when you miss the ball while swinging in Lee Trevino's Fighting Gold is extremely funny to me.
  • One of the funniest games I have played in recent memory is "Simpsons: Hit And Run", a GTA-like game in The Simpsons universe. It's nothing but comedy wall-to-wall, and it's great. I replayed it several times and, at least to me, the humor didn't lessen.

    Of course the Lucasarts classics are still the best, but in today's age where mass appeal is crucial, it's hard to find jokes that everyone will get, let alone find humorous.
    • The mark of a good game is when funny things happen that were unplanned. The funniest moment for me in Simpson's H&R (and I realize this is subjective) was when, playing as Marge, I ran right over the little schoolgirl at full speed and sent the kid scraping along the road for hundreds of feet, and Marge just said, "Oops!"

      And the other night in GTA:San Andreas when I was trying to escape the po-leece, and I drove off a cliff. :-)

  • That game contained a few of the most hilarious moments i have encountered in games. (of course my other favourites are the MI, SQ and QfG series)
  • For some reason, I used to find the "KillBill" game included with some versions of Linux very enjoyable. And then there was the "PieBill" game in which I racked up many hours of fun...

  • Unscripted is the best comedy (Score:4, Insightful)

    by hugg ( 22953 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @09:44AM (#10741525)
    The author of the article probably has not experienced "emergent comedy" in a game. Take the Sims, for instance as a recent example -- it's funny when your party guests get stuck in a corner, fall asleep and urinate all over themselves. No, but being a writer for Slate, the author probably has only gone to real parties of this type.

    What do you bet a producer somewhere is reading this and saying "A-ha! If unscripted comedy is funny ... Let's make a reality show game!!" Which would then, of course, be designed with a linear storyline :)

  • System Shock (Score:2, Interesting)

    by dr bacardi ( 48590 )
    The first one... the elevators played, well, elevator music. "The Girl from Ipanema" specifically.

  • Sierra's Space Quest (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DoorFrame ( 22108 ) on Saturday November 06, 2004 @10:28AM (#10741653) Homepage
    Space Quest by Sierra was a funny game. You're travelling around in the crazy future universe that's kind of an odd combination of every future universe you've seen in movies and films. You'll occasionally see a Star Wars ship thrown on a trash dump or a reference to a Star Trek charachter.

    The games were also very self referential. In one game (SP3) you had to save thinly veiled versions of the two guys who wrote the game. In another (SQ4) you travelled back in forth in time within the Space Quest series jumping from the original game into a game that hasn't yet been made like Space Quest 14).

    My favorite line came from a moment when you asked to "get" a ladder and the game responded. "You get the ladder and put it in your pocket... Ouch."

    Ah, the memories. That's some good abandonware.
    • My favorite game response for the the Space Quest series was in SQ2 (I think), when you change out of your space suit. My friend and I tried to wear the normal set of clothes by typing "get naked" and the game responded "I'll get naked if you get naked. You go first."

  • King's Quest (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MrByte420 ( 554317 ) * on Saturday November 06, 2004 @11:45AM (#10741925) Journal
    The first thing I thought of when I saw this was the old king's quest games - I miss the old school sierra pythonesque humor.

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