NPR covers 2007's games that got away

by Christopher Grant { Dec 27th 2007 at 6:00AM }

NPR's All Things Considered has been spending a moment each day this week reflecting on "the ones that got away." Whether it be books, which they covered on Monday, or television shows, which they covered on Wednesday, or video games, which they covered on Christmas day (a present from them to us? We think so).

Journalist Heather Chaplin, author of Smartbomb and friend of the 'stiq, discussed three games which may not be getting the attention they deserve as the year wraps up. While BioShock is busy mopping up nearly every single game of the year honor out there, we're glad to hear a mainstream outlet like NPR take the time to honor ought-seven's unsung heroes of gaming.

When area/code's Frank Lantz refers to the "rococo" aesthetic of modern games relative to Portal's minimalism, you can practically smell the title bout between the aforementioned BioShock and Valve's infectious puzzler, which Lantz calls one of his favorite games of all time. But Portal wasn't the only onetime indie game on their list to make it to the big leagues: they also covered Everyday Shooter, the IGF finalist turned PlayStation Network title, and Desktop Tower Defense, the addictive web game that recently won its own game of the year honor. It's a great listen, even if they're preaching to our choir.

Tags: Desktop-Tower-Defense, Everyday-Shooter, Heather-Chaplin, NPR, Portal

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Geist @ Dec 27th 2007 7:06AM

Didn't really say anything that the browsers of Joystiq wouldn't know about. I'm surprised they mentioned Portal at all, the popularity that game has received is crazy, and I'd hardly call it easy to miss.

Breserk @ Dec 27th 2007 7:12AM

Calling Portal an indie game is a tad overdone, isn't it?

SyphonBlue @ Dec 27th 2007 8:27AM

Narbacular Drop was a DigiPen student-made game, and the precursor to Portal. The students who made ND were hired by Valve for their technology, but Portal is 100% Valve property, and not in any way an indie game.

Christopher Grant @ Dec 27th 2007 10:50AM

Understood, that's why I called it a "onetime indie game" that made it "to the big leagues". Similarly, Everyday Shooter, in its current form for PSN, was done for Sony and is different code from the original IGF title. Same with flOw. Are those not indie games anymore?

Sure, Portal is more of an adaptation of Narbacular Drop than a port, like those titles, but the huge success and promise of the indie game seem is represented by something like Portal which, through Valve, has managed to reach a huge audience. Unfortunately, that promise seems to be lost on most mainstream outlets in their year-end writeups (not Joystiq, mind you. We're *obsessed* with it).

samfish @ Dec 27th 2007 12:06PM

I think Portal would be an indie game if it weren't funded by Valve. But as soon as they got that kind of massive budget along with the promise of wide spread, mainstream distribution, it ceased to be indie and instead is just a game made by a team of promising, young upstarts.

Of course, if Portal wasn't funded by Valve (which I'd find hard to believe), then disregard what I just said!

tyetheczar @ Dec 27th 2007 8:46AM

Woo-hoo! NPR Kicks ASS!

baby sea tuna @ Dec 27th 2007 8:48AM

Buffering...buffering...buffering...

Fucking Active Directory.

roxxxo @ Dec 27th 2007 10:49AM

portal was cool and all, but bioshock was way better imo.

Kael @ Dec 27th 2007 12:08PM

Bah, another Desktop Tower Defense plug. You know what? That game can't compare to its progenitors. Tower defense really began in Starcraft user-made maps, and made even better in Warcraft 3. Blizzard themselves even made an official Tower Defense map for Warcraft 3 that blows the socks off of this "Desktop" charlatan. You can find Warcraft 3 on store shelves today for less than what you spent on lunch. For one, Warcraft 3 is still a great game you should play if you missed it. Two, if you think you like Desktop Tower Defense, do yourself a favor and love the Tower Defense made by Blizzard Entertainment.

That sounded like I work there. Were it so easy...