Online Gaming, We Love You! <3

I swear the "heart" in the thread title is the first of those things I've ever made. I hopefully will never make one again.

Anyway, as a part of my new Gaming Review series (see my Animal Crossing: City Folk/Let's Go to the City thread), I have decided to tackle the almost-completely-overshadowed-by-home-consoles-and-handhelds (gotta love obnoxiously-hyphenated words) category of gaming known as...online gaming (sometimes known as "flash gaming")!

For those of you who could not see through the huge, thick shadow of video gaming to see online gaming, I'll tell you what online gaming is. Online gaming is one of the most self-explanatory things I've personally ever heard. It's gaming online, as opposed to on a TV or portable device. These usually use a scripting thing (I think it's scripting) called "flash", which can be viewed on a flash player, such as the most common one, Adobe Flash Player. A few online games are scripted in java (not the beverage), and are viewed in, well, Java.

Online games range from simple puzzles with retro, pixelated graphics to heavy-duty shooters with photoshopped backgrounds and 3D-ish graphics.

I spend more time playing online games than I do playing video games. I tryout all kinds of online games, and will probably start reviewing some at some point (my WW segment in the June 2009 podcast was not the original plan; I was actually going to do an online gaming review segment! Seriously!).

Here's my list of recommended online gaming sites/games:

(My online game rating system:
G=General Gamers=All Ages
PG=Parental Guidance Suggested=10+
PG-13=Parental Guidance Strongly Suggested for Children under 13=13+
M=Mature=17+
E=Explicit=21+)

(Ratings are by me based on content, not the respective developers, etc.)


Jmtb02 Studios (online gaming/animation site)

Ball Revamped II: Metaphysik (by jmtb02) (G) (Note: skip the first BR game. It's pathetic and ridiculously difficult. I've beaten all the rest at least 3-4 times. I've beaten the first one once, somehow.)

TBA (by jmtb02) (G)

Parachute Retro (by jmtb02) (PG-13 for frequent animated blood and comic mischief)

Dark Cut 2: Bivouac (by jmtb02) (E for realistic surgical procedures, blood, pus, very disturbing images, and alcohol use) (Note: the first and third Dark Cut games are great, but I like this the best)

Achievement Unlocked (by jmtb02) (PG for some comic mischief) (NOMINATED FOR AT LEAST THREE AWARDS INCLUDING A TANK AWARD AT NEWGROUNDS!!!!!)

Armor Games (online gaming site) (If you haven't noticed, jmtb02 is my favorite flash developer! He's the head of game development at AG!)

Crush the Castle (by Joey Betz) (PG-13 for violence and some blood) (NOMINATED FOR A COUPLE AWARDS!!!!!)

Epsilon (by Dissolute Productions) (G)

Antbuster (by Marcel Stein) (PG for mild violence)

Colony (by Krin) (M for intense sci-fi violence---online interactions are not rated)

Feel free to let me know how you liked these! The point is, online gaming has a lot to offer. More people play video games than flash games, even though they can be the same thing. Try out some of the ones I listed. The are in a variety of genres. Because, yes, there is still variety in flash gaming, too. Think of flash games as video games made by 1-6 people or so. Try out online gaming. You may find yourself addicted...!

This has been EzloSpirit, reporting for Gaming Review! Farewell!

The days of goign to the arcades to hang out with my friends and play games or my younger family members and friends coming to my house and play video games and being social, I missed those days. **** you, online gaming.

To be honest, I can't stand most Flash/Java games. They're merely a time killer for the most part.

I know I've probably spent more time playing a simple Flash game with terrible graphics and barely any gameplay than I have console/PC games with hundreds of developers and millions of dollars poured into them.