Classic rally games – The best and most memorable of all

If you’re any sort of motorsport fan then you’ll likely agree that rallying is a hugely challenging sport that pushes both drivers and the cars involved to their limits of endurance and even beyond. It’s also often a breathtaking sport to watch (let alone partake in) as rally cars charge through straights and turns on loose-grip terrain surrounded by beautiful but also treacherous scenery. Wonderful.

If you became a fan of the motorsport rallying in the past couple of decades then a factor that likely sealed your interest were the computer games based on the sport.

Sadly these days the sport feels like a shadow of what it was, the pinnacle championship for the sport (the World Rally Championship of course) has startlingly little media presence around it (no TV coverage in the UK). Furthermore the number of manufacturers participating today is very little compared to past decades, and the standard of driver competition has declined to the point one man was able to dominate the championship for nearly a full decade.

It’s sad to see the current state of rallying today, one can only hope that in the future under better economic circumstances the sport can return to a form closer to its best years.

Until then motorsport fans can at least remind themselves as to why they fell in love with rallying in the first place, with the help of some of the great rally computer games that have been made. But which are the best? Which are the most memorable? Which games have really captured the essence of the motorsport? Plus, which are old but nostalgic?

Cool custom-designed game consoles

A console is more than just a mere tool for playing computer games. These pieces of hardware can take on their own iconic status and on certain evidence can be seen as an area of opportunity for inventive new custom art design.

If a particular game, franchise or even a kitchen appliance comes close to someone’s heart they may choose to reflect that passion on to the game consoles they use to play.

Here is a just a selection of some of the coolest examples of custom-designed game consoles both retro and modern.

Remembering the Playstation 2: The weird and the wonderful

You may or may not have heard already, but just before the end of 2012 the news broke out that Sony was finally ending production of the Playstation 2 (PS2) console.

In a way the console itself had already become an irrelevance some time ago, after all its successor (the Playstation 3 of course) was first launched over six years ago. However within the first three years the Playstation 3 became available, the Playstation 2 managed to outsell that and other consoles representing the “next generation”.

In total Sony is believed to have sold over 153 million PS2 consoles worldwide in total, from the moment it first hit stores in Japan back in March 2000, before arriving to Europe later on in November the same year.

On top of that impressive feat it’s also estimated that 11,000 different game titles have been released for the Playstation 2.

Daft Christmas themed computer games

As another Christmas nears once again you may well be hoping/expecting to get yourself a hot new computer game or console as a present. A recently launched and in-demand blockbuster title from the biggest game publishers is a popular present choice these days, but what if you really focus your attentions to a game that can really capture that Christmas spirit?

While there are all sorts of different kinds of games that could appear in the stockings this year, are there any specifically Christmas-themed games to get you in the mood for the holiday season?

Well over the past few decades some games have cropped up with some distinctive Christmas theme, to an extent. They can fall under a wide number of different genres but within them you can find elements which many would associate with the theme like snow, Santa, snowmen and elves.

The most expensive gaming DLC ever – value for money?

A couple of weeks ago I played through a piece of single player downloadable content for the game Mass Effect 3, which is called Omega.

The sci-fi action RPG has in fact been subject to a lot of downloadable content, also known as DLC of course, since the title first launched back in March 2012.

For Mass Effect 3 we’ve seen several expansions and add-ons for both the multiplayer and single player segments. The recently launched Omega expansion was an example for the latter.

Anyway while some of the DLC for Mass Effect 3 has come free some of it, mostly the single player add-ons have instead required you to pay with some cold hard virtual cash from your debit/credit card in order to download.

Omega is ME3’s most expensive example of this yet, costing me £11.99 to play on my Playstation 3 (or the equivalent of 1200 Microsoft points if I was on Xbox 360).

While I would say the gameplay from this single player expansion was fine, I couldn’t help but be slightly startled by the price to gain this extra piece of content, and the thought still lingers with me now.

20 awesome gaming weapon replicas

Guns, swords, turrets, whatever the choice a weapon from an action/adventure game can become just as iconic and celebrated as the characters that use them.

For year the brains behind many loved computer games have conceived a huge variety of memorable concepts for fictional weapons to shoot, maim or baffle.

Not only that but some companies or single talented individuals will go as far as to recreate replicas of the most famous gaming weapons. While the majority of them will never actually work like they do in-game, the reputation they hold can make them an appealing model/toy to own.

But which are the best? Gaming Kick has gone searching the World Wide Web to bring you twenty of the most awesome gaming weapon replicas which brings the memorable pieces of fiction to the real world. The list includes (for the most part) weapon replicas which have been built by official manufacturing companies, and they are either available to buy, or at least used to be.

The most ridiculously expensive gaming replica figures

Fans of one of today’s popular gaming series can pretty much guarantee they can find relevant replica figures across online stores and in specific street shops even, if you happen to be interested.

While a lot of these figures are fairly basic and can be bought for under £20 each, there are some insanely detailed alternatives available to buy, albeit from niche manufacturers who will sell their work for rather crazy prices.

To get the best quality gaming action figures on offer, you’ve got to have plenty of disposable income available and perhaps be somewhat unhinged, before you even contemplate ordering one of them. Here are just five incredible examples of ridiculously expensive gaming replica figures you can order online. (Not including life-size statues)

The “real life” cars in the Grand Theft Auto 5 second trailer

One of many cool things about playing the Grand Theft Auto series particularly if you’re a fan of cars (like me) is seeing and driving all the various vehicles which feature.

Since Grand Theft Auto 3 and the following sequels, we’ve seen a lot of cars including many saloons, roadsters and supercars which have clearly been designed with heavy inspiration from famous real life creations.

The next upcoming entry in the series, Grand Theft Auto 5, will be no exception in this case. Having watched the second trailer released earlier this month, one couldn’t help but notice all the various cars up close and be reminded of some real life models both classic and modern.

Classic games to be revived by Kickstarter

Is there an old and classic computer game you’d like to see revitalised for the latest modern generation regardless of its popularity or obscurity?

Well thanks to websites like Kickstarter such dreams can become the reality for you and like-minded people. If you’re not familiar with what Kickstarter it is a website where members of the public can receive funding for a project of theirs or back the projects of others.

These crowd funded projects can lead to the making of a large variety of things including indie films, music, food products and computer games, the latter of which can be released online digitally. Typically when someone makes a donation to a project they’ll get a special reward in return like a thank you credit, a branded t-shirt or the chance to test out the supported product.

30 bizarre gaming controllers

You play a computer game; you play it with either a controller or with a keyboard and mouse possibly if you’re on the PC. This is the tradition; so long you’re not throwing a Wiimote or your limbs near a Kinect of course.

The game controller is not only a vital part when playing computer games but in some cases it can become an icon in its own right. Think of the amount of merchandise which has been created based on the design of the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) controller or the Sony Playstation controller which has changed little in terms of basic design after three generations of consoles.

Over the past few decades we have seen both console makers and third party organisations come up with curios and varied designs for controllers to give players a new and in theory “enhanced” way to play our games.

Many of these ambitious or unorthodox approaches have seen the creation of controllers which can be best described as infamous, absurd or just downright bizarre.

In recognition Gaming Kick has compiled thirty of the most bizarre computer game controllers ever sold on markets worldwide.