Seven of Nine

“We are the Borg.” – My personal favorite. She is also what prompted me to create this illustrious list. I’ve been on a Star Trek Voyager kick for the last month or two and have decided to re-watch all the old episodes in chronological order. I never realized how utterly boring the show was until they added Seven of Nine to the cast of characters in the fourth season. This buxom Borg made the pain of enduring the previous seasons well worth it. Seven is a by far one of the more interesting characters I have come across in realm of science fiction.

Star Trek: Voyager

Kara Thrace

“Frak.” – Battlestar Galactica is, without a doubt, my favorite television show ever to be aired. When I first heard that they were remaking the original series, I was ecstatic. When I heard that the part of “Starbuck” was going to be played by a women, I was worried. Maybe even a little offended. But all my fears and doubts were laid to rest the moment I actually watched the show. Kara Thrace is a more complex version of the former Starbuck. She is also far better looking and much tougher than her male counterpart ever was. Sorry Dirk, Kara for the win.

Battlestar Galactica

Princess Leia Organa

“I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board.” – For all of you younglings out there still daydreaming about Padme, stop it. She couldn’t hold a candle to Princess Leia Organa (Skywalker) (Solo). At age 20, this young spitfire was the leader of the Rebel Alliance against the well established and all powerful Galactic Empire. She even told Grand Moff Tarkin that he stank, right to his face. Let’s see Padme do that! Oh, and this is all while she was being escorted by the Dark Lord of the Sith, the most feared being in the universe. Don’t be fooled by her cute little buns people. By that I mean hair buns naturally. This princess is the kick ass mother of all sci-fi women to follow. Except for Padme of course, who actually is her mother…

Star Wars: A New Hope – Empire Strikes Back – Return of the Jedi

Leeloo

“Multipass.” – Every geek, male or female, has had a crush on Leeloo at some point in their life. Perhaps it’s her flowing orange hair or the fact that her whole outfit looks like one big distorted belt. Maybe it’s her cute incoherent babble or her innocent blue eyes. No, it’s more likely the fact that she could kill you without even breaking a sweat. Sweet and deadly, sort of like a twinkie.

The Fifth Element

Trinity

“Dodge this.” – Finally, this brings us to one of the most celebrated female characters in the realm of science fiction, Trinity. The Matrix spawned a slew of iconic figures and Trinity is at the top of that list. Clad in latex, this cyber-goth-goddess is one hacker that isn’t to be trifled with.

The Matrix – The Matrix Reloaded – The Matrix Revolutions

And there you have it, my top five greatest women in sci-fi list is complete. This list was not an easy one to make mind you. Quite a few of my favorite sci-fi vixens didn’t make the cut for various reasons. Take the women of Firefly for instance. After BSG, Firefly could be my favorite TV series, and a lot of that had to do with the great cast, both male and female. Alas, I didn’t feel that as individuals they could bump anyone off this list. Sorry girls. Below are some of the other gals that almost broke into the top 5, but were snubbed out at the last minute.

The Runners-Up

	Sarah Connor – Terminator 1 & 2
	Max Guevera – Dark Angel
	Mystique – X-Men 1, 2, & 3
	Ripley – Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, & Alien Resurrection
	Lara Croft – Tomb Raider 1 & 2

Discuss or post your own list here…

That’s it. Do you dare disagree with my sci-fi expertise? Post your own list here.

The first thing I want is a huckleberry attachment for my MacBook. It’s a little webcam mirror that will turn the built-in webcam around and allow me to shoot things in front of me. I can’t think of a practical use for this, but I want it nonetheless.

The second thing I’d like to add to my list is this Web 2.0 poster that would look absolutely smashing in my office. You have to order this one from Europe, so I’d get a move on.

While you’re at it, you might as well throw a Zune on that list. The brown one please. It will look nice sitting next to my iPod. They can fight it out for my affection.

Mmmm, Scarlett…………………. sorry, what? I drifted off there for a second.

Another important note, this very well could be the last time I’m allowed to write on my blog once my girl friend reads this entry. It’s been real nice knowing all of you…

Umm, I’m not sure how Ralph Fiennes made it on this list. That’s just plain weird.

That same night she bought a game called Lunar: The Silver Star Story for $80.00 on Amazon. For the average gamer, $80.00 is a bit high for a used Playstation 1 title, but for a collector, it’s a steal. I played this game when it originally debuted on Sega CD back in 1993. It was by far one of the most memorable gaming experiences I’ve ever had. The ambiance and design of the game was so incredible and alluring that one of my best friends watched me beat the entire game from beginning to end. We were geeks back then too.

This got me thinking about all the other great games that I’ve played over the years, and which games I considered to be the best of the best. The problem with creating a list like this is making sure people understand the criteria for such a list. In an effort to jog my memory for games long forgotten, I’ve been reading other “best games ever” lists around the web. Some of the lists I found were absolute crap, while others I found to be very interesting. Again, the problem is criteria. How do you make a list like this? What is the criteria?

1. Are they games with the best graphics at the time of its release?
2. Are they games with the best story lines?
3. Are they games that have sold the most copies?
4. Are they games with the best replay value?
5. Are they games that have had the most significant impact on the gaming industry?
6. Are they games that are just considered to be the most fun?
7. Or does a list like this need to take all of these aspects into consideration?

I’ll tell you right now, based on what I wrote above, I could make 7 very different lists. That’s why I want to make sure everyone knows what I’m basing my list on. A game must meet all of the following criteria to make the cut.

1. I must have played it.
2. I must have really, really, really liked it.

Simple enough, right? Well then, here we go.

A quick side note, this lists consists of games starting with NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Although I loved my older systems like Atari, Colecovision, and Intellivision, I feel that the real gaming revolution began at the original NES, and thus, this is where our journey shall begin. By the way, I’ve ordered the list by platform and then by year released, not by preference.

• Super Mario Bros.
  Nintendo – 1985
• Metroid
  Nintendo – 1986
• Legend of Zelda
  Nintendo – 1987
• Rygar
  Nintendo – 1987
• Lost Vikings
  Super Nintendo – 1992
• Star Fox
  Super Nintendo – 1993
• Mortal Kombat II
  Super Nintendo – 1994
• Street Fighter 2
  Super Nintendo – 1996
• Lunar: Silver Star
  Sega CD – 1993
• Alien vs Predator
  Atari Jaguar – 1994
• Wave Race 64
  Nintendo 64 – 1996
• Golden Eye 007
  Nintendo 64 – 1997
• Mario Kart 64
  Nintendo 64 – 1997
• Twisted Metal 2
  Playstation – 1996
• Resident Evil
  Playstation – 1996
• Tomb Raider
  Playstation -1996
• Resident Evil 2
  Playstation – 1997
• Final Fantasy VII
  Playstation – 1997
• Metal Gear Solid
  Playstation – 1998
• Gran Turismo
  Playstation – 1998
• SSX
  Playstation 2 – 2000
• Doom
  PC – 1993
• Quake II
  PC – 1997
• Half-Life
  PC – 1998
• Starcraft
  PC – 1998
• Team Fortress Classic
  PC – 1999
• Counter-Strike
  PC – 1999
• Unreal Tournament
  PC – 1999
• Diablo II
  PC – 2000
• Deus Ex
  PC – 2000
• Undying
  PC – 2001
• Command & Conquer: Renegade
  PC – 2002
• Soldier of Fortune II
  PC – 2002
• Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
  PC – 2002
• Battlefield 1942
  PC – 2002
• Ghost Recon
  PC – 2003
• Call of Duty
  PC – 2003
• Planetside
  PC – 2003
• World of Warcraft
  PC – 2004
• Unreal Tournament 2004
  PC – 2004
• Half-Life 2
  PC – 2004
• Battlefield 2
  PC – 2005

DONE!! That was a blast. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few games. I’ll add them as they come to me.

You know, while making this list I discovered some interesting facts about my tastes in games. The most obvious is that I’m a huge first person shooter fan. I didn’t need this list to tell you that. However, one interesting fact is that I have no favorite games on Sega Genesis, Nintendo Game Cube, or XBOX. It’s not because I didn’t own those systems, because I did. This kind of surprised me, so I thought about it a bit and here is what I came up with.

1. Sega Genesis -
   Sega competed head to head with Super Nintendo. I think back then you were either a Nintendo guy or a Sega guy. I was a Nintendo guy. There’s not much more to say. I guess Sonic the Hedgehog just didn’t cut it for me.
2. Nintendo Game Cube -
   The truth is, I don’t think I ever gave this system a fair shake. It was always kind of in the shadow of the PS2 and the XBOX. From what I hear, the Zelda series on NGC is incredible, as is their Resident Evil series. But don’t lose hope yet, you Nintendo fans may be happy to know that since my daughter’s interest in video games has surfaced, her platform of choice is the Game Cube. Naturally, being her gaming mentor, I have to pick up the controller every now and then and show her how it’s done.
3. XBOX -
   The first reason I never played the XBOX is simple, the controller. XBOX’s controller has, does, and will forever suck. Don’t try to defend it. It sucks. The other reason I never played the XBOX is because I’m a PC gamer. All the great titles that have ever been released on XBOX have been released on the PC a year earlier and ten times better. I’m sure Halo was a great game, but that’s only because it’s the first real game of it’s kind to hit consoles. Games like Halo are a dime a dozen on the PC.

Am I droning on? This is such a fun topic for me though. While doing my research I read dozens of “top games” lists from different magazines and game sites. None of the lists were even close to identical, but I was able to find some common recurrences. A lot of these games made it on my list. Some, however, did not and that piqued my interest. What have I missed! I’ll list some of these games below and my pathetic excuses for never playing them. And I call myself hardcore, please!

• Chrono Trigger for SNES
  Out of all the games I have never played, this one appears on the most lists. I’m embarrassed to say I really know nothing about this game. I have, however, already downloaded the rom to my hard drive. I shall be a Chrono Trigger master by the end of the week.
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for N64
  This game claimed the most #1 spots of any game I saw. It also got a perfect 10 on Gamespot. I have no excuse for not playing this game. It just slipped through the cracks. It isn’t too late I’m happy to say. This just happens to be one of the games Meg bought on her game buying spree.
• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos for PC
  This game made its fair share of lists. The truth is, it’s just not my genre. True, Starcraft is on my list, but I think that was caused by some kind of wierd cosmic anomaly. I may dig it out and play it someday.
• Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow – for PC
  Again, no excuse. I own it (actually I stole it from Meg), I’ve installed it, I even went as far as setting up the controls. I’ll get around to playing it once I kick my addiction to World of Warcrack.
• Super Mario 64 for N64
  To tell you the truth, I was suprised to see this game show up on list after list after list. It just doesn’t seem appealing to me. But alas, the people have spoken. It just so happens that Meg owns this game too, what luck.
• System Shock II for PC
  Being an avid fps fan I’m ashamed to say I’ve never owned or played this game. There’s no excuse for my obvious disrespect to the genre. This game is also on almost every Top 100 gaming list I read. It looks very Deus Exish, I’ll be buying it.
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for PC
  Own it, haven’t played it, I suck.
• Beyond Good and Evil for PC
  I remember when this game came out. There was little to no hype about it, but every now and then you would here someone say what a terrific game it was. Then some more people would say it. Then some more. Now it’s considered one of the best sleeper hits of 2003.

Alright, I’ll shut up now. I’m sure I missed a ton of games that deserve to be on this list, but my brain hurts right now. Like I said, I’ll add them as I remember them.