There are many games on the Steam platform that can be quite expensive. Especially if you add DLC for skins, characters, and stages, the amount you need to spend might reach thousands of euro. But what is the price you need to pay if you are looking for Steam’s most expensive single, standalone game? Well, one of the newest games available on the platform, The Hidden and Unknown goes for a whooping 1.949,09€! No, your eyes are not deceiving you. The game was developed by ProX, a person or studio (we are not sure) famous for bringing you…eh…The Hidden and Unknown. That’s it. That is the only game they have ever released on Steam. We haven’t played the game (obviously), but there are some walkthroughs on YouTube about..
Chess is known to be one of the most challenging mental exercises. Boxing is known to be one of the most challenging physical ones. What happens when you combine them? That was the question that Dutch artist Iepe Rubingh had when, in 2003, and inspired by a comic by Enki Bilal, he announced the inauguration of “Chess boxing,” a sport that brings together chess and boxing. Uhmm… Sorry, what? The idea is simple: you play three minutes of chess, followed by a round of boxing, and then you repeat. You can win, mainly, by either knocking out your opponent or checkmate. A player needs to be able to switch fast from thinking chess moves to protecting their body and punching the opponent (and vice versa). After hosting an..
Probably you have heard of the word “modding” or “mods.” And probably you have seen games such as Garry’s Mod that allow you to interfere and mess around with game software. Modding is, pretty much, changing some software in order to make it function differently. And many video games have been modified by skillful programmers to perform different functions -and sometimes to the extent of being a totally new game and experience. In fact, someone could claim that the whole gaming industry began from modifications that some people did on pre-existing software. Today, we are going to have a look at three game mods that were so good and so popular they became their own, standalone games. Counter-Strike The reason most of us know video game mods. The..
There are series, such as God of War or The Last of Us, which it’s easy to locate and play all the games in them. There are also series that have spawned multiple sequels, it becomes difficult to track its origins. And sometimes those first entries are-on purpose-left forgotten. Today we will have a look at the less known “ancestors” of popular games. Team Fortress 2 Well, if a game has “2” in its title, it makes sense it is a sequel. Team Fortress 2 has been one of the most beloved shooters, and despite it was released in 2007, it remains popular in online fan communities. However, not many players seem to know about its predecessor. The original Team Fortress debuted as a modification for Half-Life, and..
People say that overexposure to video games can be hazardous to your health. But has there ever been a game that was intentionally dangerous? According to the legend, the US government, in 1981, produced some arcade cabinets which were shipped off to various arcade halls. Those cabinets contained the game Polybius, named after the ancient Greek historian. Polybius was supposed to look like your typical space shooter game, but it came with a twist. It was said to be addictive and would cause effects, such as seizures and hallucinations…on purpose. All these happened under the watchful eyes of “men in black” who would frequent those arcade halls and monitor the behaviour of people playing the game. Some versions of the story claim that the game was the product..
Today we are going to talk about playing. But we will go deep. In fact, we will travel to the 20th century, when an entire new academic field, the field of Game Studies, was being developed. What? You didn’t know games can be studied academically? Well, you are in for a surprise! You see, playing games has always been part of human nature. As the famous Dutch historian Johan Huizinga would put it, we are “Homo Ludens,” which is also the title of a book he published in 1938. Then, Roger Caillois, a French sociologist, elaborated further on that in 1961 in the book Man, Play and Games. Caillois separated play into two types: ludus and paideia. Ludus, a Latin word, concerns the type of play that is..
At the Arcade Hotel, we love figures and retro toys. If you walk around our lobby or stay in one of our rooms, you will have the opportunity to gaze at our wonderful collection of items from series, such as He-Man and Marvel comics. However, there are a few figures out there that is almost impossible to get for the regular collector. We selected three very interesting cases for you, to have a look as to what makes them so special. Vinyl Cape Jawa This one is highly sought in collector circles and always a part of rare figures discussions. Jawas in the Star Wars universe are known to collect scraps, but this rare Jawa figure with a vinyl cape (instead of the regular cloth one) will cost..
While the market is replete with Super Smash Bros.-like games, a new platform fighting game is about to drop and has already drawn a lot of attention. MultiVersus is a game pitting various characters from popular culture (more specifically, Warner Bros. properties) against each other in some really wacky battles. So, if you ever wondered what would happen if Taz, Harley Quinn, the Iron Giant, and Jake the Dog duked it out, now it is the time to find out. We have managed to obtain access to the closed alpha testing of the game, and we are bringing you our first impressions. And no, it is not just another Smash clone. Gameplay-wise, MultiVersus reminds, as expected, Nintendo’s series. However, it does so by adding a few twists. The..
Rob Alvarez is a teacher at IE Business School in Madrid, B2B product expert, and the host of the “Professor Game” podcast about gamification (for which he also interviewed our own Dan Salmanovich). He recently visited Amsterdam and stayed at our hotel. We met him at the Arcade Hotel’s lobby and had a chat with him on gamification and its application to our lives. Don’t know what gamification is? Well, keep reading! Arcade Hotel: What is it exactly that you do? Rob: It all started with a podcast called “Professor Game,” where every week I have a guest who talks about how to do things with games that are not just entertainment. Based on that, I have done talks, workshops, and teaching all over the world about gamification..
Easter is here, and we are back with some unnecessary but cool knowledge for you! A few years ago, we treated you to some nice Easter eggs, collecting some of popular culture’s most interesting secret messages. However, now we would like to share with you the grandaddy of them all: an Easter egg so old that it predates Easter itself. Yes, ladies and gents, history’s first Easter egg goes waaaay back! As we read in the Journal of Geek Studies (yes, that is a thing!), artists in Ancient Egypt would never receive credit for their work. That did not sit well with Senenmut, an architect tasked with building a temple for the pharaoh Hatshepsut. Senenmut, then, decided to hide an inscription behind a door, which featured his image..