Arguably, video games are all about making you, the player, feel like a hero. You're meant to overcome incredible odds, employ every ounce of skill at your command to win through, defeat the villain, and triumph in the end. The denouement should be satisfying, and provide a cathartic sense of closure. You should feel as though you've been on an amazing journey, and no matter how difficult it was, or perhaps because of the difficulty, it was all worth it in the end.

However, massively multiplayer online games are a rather different beast. To wit: can you still feel like a hero when the journey never ends, you're only one of thousands, and there is no closure?

There is a further roadblock to heroism in an MMO, and that is the very nature of reality itself. Even the most epic, earth-shattering battle will have little effect on the political geography of the game world. The dynamic population numbers guarantee that every day, it's someone's first time playing. This means that there has to be some permanence, some way for newbies to learn the ropes, get accustomed to the landscape, and figure out how it all fits together. If the abiding stoyline constantly changed, it would become far too confusing for newer members, and the game population wouldn't grow. While many MMOs do well enough with a static playerbase, growth is a sought-after state for most online games.

So in the place of heroism, what do MMOs have to offer? Something perhaps even more important: community.

There is a reason this genre of video games exists. Whether or not you enjoy playing with people, many gamers enjoy playing alongside people. Even a world filled with people who can't spell well, say offensive things, and take every opportunity to prank and gank new players, is still a world that feels alive. You can generally turn to anyone nearby, ask for help, and receive it to varying degrees. As you play and grow in level, you will be invited to group with random strangers to tackle difficult and rewarding quests. You can even crow about your latest win and someone will congratulate you.

The days before online gaming, as Raph Koster suggested, were merely a phase in the development of our pastime. The goal has always been to play with, against, and alongside each other. Technology has now caught up with that desire, and thankfully, we're using it to build our own groups -- groups brought together out of a sense of shared necessity, which is a strong motivator not only for an initial grouping, but also for keeping that group together. In other words, creating a community.

Community can only come in a game that eschews personal heroics for cooperative enlightened self-interest. This is a concept that cannot be explicitly taught; like all the best lessons, it's learned internally, by observation and trial. As you watch others excel and have fun, you learn the value of working with others, of being reliable, of having something of value to contribute. If it's true that culture is the surest transmitter of a civilization's mores, then MMOs have a lot to teach us about how shared work can create strong communities, even at a distance. When satisfying the needs of the many also satisfies the needs of the few, then heroism -- a reaction to catastrophe -- is not only out of place, but no longer necessary. And that is a world to which we should all want to belong.

Larva Mortus is billed as a "retro horror action game" by developers Rake In Grass, and it more than lives up to its name. Calling it a cross between Smash TV and the X-Files would be too facile a comparison, but it's a decent starting point. Combining an intuitive interface with addictive gameplay, Larva Mortus will keep you saying "Just one more level" until the undead cows come home. Let's take a look after the jump!

Common wisdom has it that if you don't learn from history, you're doomed to repeat it. What, then, should we think of the recent trend in gaming to bring back, and in some cases revamp past video games? I'm thinking here mostly of Bionic Commando's recent upgrade to be both a completely new reimagining of the franchise (yes, now it's a franchise at last) and an update of the classic arcade hit which itself includes a version of the original. Developer Grin is covering all bases, giving die-hard fans what they want while at the same time bringing in new fans who may never have played the first release.

Is it a good idea to keep mining the past for the hits of the future? How much life do these games still have in them? Is it possible to revamp an old game sufficiently to make it feel new while retaining its old-school flavor? Let's take a look.

On today's MacMonday, we're going seriously old school, to the tune of 1993, when Ambrosia Software sold their first game, Maelstrom. Just as it's easy to dismiss last MacMonday's Big Kahuna Reef 2: Chain Reaction as a Bejeweled clone, Maelstrom takes as its source the classic coin-op Asteroids.

Yet the differences between the two titles are vast indeed, going beyond the color palette and updated graphics. We'll go into detail and examine why Maelstrom is just as addictive and playable today as it was 15 years ago.

In what might prove to be the most meta post ever, I'm going to talk about gaming journalism and how it's changed in recent years. Now, the mainstream media -- by which I refer to traditional magazines like Time and Life, and news outlets like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times -- have always worked diligently to maintain a high-quality standard for themselves. As a collective, they follow the rules set down in regulatory tomes such as the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook. Of course, every publication has its own house style to which its writers must adhere, but by and large there are many generally accepted guidelines concerning tone, editorial slant, and the like.

As video games grew as a phenomenon, it quickly became evident that the mainstream press wasn't going to give it the coverage its enthusiast audience demanded. Typically adopting an outsider's approach, traditional news outlets left their coverage at "Here's a new trend. It's kind of strange and we don't understand it, but the kids seem to like it." This journalistic void left the field wide open for a new generational voice to inhabit.

Now, before you get all reactionary and declaim this title as "yet another Bejeweled clone", let me just say two things right up front: 1) It is a Bejeweled clone, and 2) There's more to it than the standard Bejeweled swap mechanic. What's the big difference? Explosions. Read on for the full scoop!

Celetania is a rare beast indeed: a 4X MMO. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, 4X stands for "eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate" -- think of games like Master of Orion, where the game concept revolves around building an empire from the ground up. Now apply that concept to an MMO and you've got Celetania. The development team has been working quietly on this title for a while now, but new in-game screenshots have finally been released, giving us our first look at the universe.

Things are looking pretty good so far, with a nice clean interface, classically sci-fi-looking ships on display, and the ubiquitous resources at hand. Whether or not any of this will translate to the open-ended nature of an online, persistent world remains to be seen. One interesting aspect of gameplay, however, is that even when the player is offline, events will continue to happen -- by which we take it to mean that if you begin a project, or start mining a resource, you can log off and the process will continue in your absence. This could be something great; we'll keep you updated on Celetania's progress.

In what can only be considered a triumph for the MMO community as a whole, beleagured French title Saga of Ryzom, after enduring great hardships, has returned. Typically, when these things go away, they don't come back. Even more so when control of the assets gets passed on to others to be auctioned off. Yet against all odds, Ryzom has cheated death and is set to fully open itself up to new players soon.

Ryzom was always more of a fringe title, with its completely unique look and feel, but the larger MMO sphere needs games like this to really flesh out the potential of persistent online gaming -- tired of the standard fantasy hack and slash? Think science fiction is played out? This game might just be your cup of tea. As an added bonus, the Ryzom team has made the game free for past subscribers, and kept everyone's game accounts as they were when things went down. It's a win-win for everyone. Welcome back, Ryzom. Let's hope this puts an end to your previous troubles once and for all.

Harvey Smith, Lead Designer for the classic Deus Ex, will be the keynote speaker for the Game Career Seminar at this year's Austin Game Developers Conference on September 17th. The keynote will focus on careers in game design, and is titled "Luckiest People Alive" [sic].

Smith, currently with Arkane Studios, will be speaking on what he foresees as "an imminent explosion of change, creativity, and possibility within the world of interactive entertainment." Being a publication that loves explosions of all types, we're all for it. Other speakers will include representatives from Aspyr Media, Game Developer Magazine, and Vicarious Visions.

[Thanks, Gryphon!]

The last Big Ideas focused on the idea of identity, and what it means to see yourself truly represented in a video game. In this installment, we take a look at gender portrayals for both men and women and try to shine a light on some invisible assumptions.

To begin with, it used to be a commonly-held -- and trumpeted -- belief that "girls don't play video games". Certainly, the Boys Clubs that most video arcades became in the 1980's managed to make video games unattractive by sheer atmosphere. Dimly-lit, smoky, and raucously loud, is it any wonder that gaming might not have been a draw to females until it entered the home? Peering over the shoulder of a big brother as he played Combat on his Atari 2600 might have sparked some interest in a dormant gamer if she weren't brusquely told to go away.

Similarly, the rise of media coverage of the pastime perpetuated the stereotype of video games as a male-only pursuit, bolstered in the main by the focus of its advertising. Typically featuring sexy female models clad in ridiculously fetishized fantasy costumes, these ads titillated pubescent males into buying games based solely on the perceived value of the model. Sadly, content in the games themselves followed suit.

Reflexive Entertainment's The Great Tree is a game containing elements reminiscent of other titles while still retaining its own unique identity. Regardless of which other games it might remind you of, it's as addictive as anything else, belying its fairytale appearance.

In The Great Tree, you play as a fairy, charged with collecting free-floating pollen to nourish the titular tree that grants life to all fairies. Don't let the faltering voiceover get in the way of your enjoyment of the game; the story itself can be safely ignored. It's really all about the increasingly frenetic gameplay. More on this after the jump.

Download The Great Tree Demo [Windows]
Download The Great Tree Demo [Mac]

Identity is a fluid concept, particularly in today's Internet Age. When your self is displayed by an avatar whose image is infinitely mutable, the potential for mischief is great -- as is the potential for true representation. Some people use their avatars as masks to hide behind, while others see them as a means to finally show the world what their real selves are like.

In games, however, there is often a more limited set of choices available to the player. Massively multiplayer online games offer a wide range of options, and non-MMOs usually have far fewer. When you're playing a first-person shooter, for example, regardless of the ostensible story, you are the gun, not an actual character with a personality. The question is, then, does it matter if you don't get to play as yourself? How important is the concept of identity in a game?

Spider-Man is generally a light-hearted hero. Always ready with a quip in the face of danger, he's known for his high-flying acrobatic antics. The newest footage from the E3 2008 floor, however, is decidedly dark and moody, with an atmosphere of dread and just a bit of squick. It's the latest trailer for Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, and it's got no action sequences, just a lot of darkness.

We've seen the revamped combat system, and it's gotten us pretty interested in this title -- more so, we dare to say, than this piece, intriguing as it is. Who's behind this web infestation? Are those symbiotes running around? What's happened to the city? All these questions and more, in the HD version of the trailer, available now on Big Download.

Download the Spider-Man: Web of Shadows E3 2008 trailer now!

The narrator of this Singularity trailer possesses an air of weary resignation. "This may be the last time my voice is heard," he says in an Eastern European accent. He goes on to tell us, without giving any details, that something really bad has happened, and continues to happen. And then all sorts of electrical phenomena occurs, intershot with images of military personnel and a mysterious, glowing figure.

So what exactly is Singularity? And what's going on, anyway? See for yourselves in the HD version of this E3 2008 trailer, downloadable right here on Big Download. And if you find out, maybe it's better that you keep it to yourselves, so that later, you won't have to say "I told you so."

Download the Fallout 3 E3 2008 trailer now!