The Verge - The Classics: cultural artifacts for the new millennium

The Classics: Lush, 'Spooky'

2013-05-18T17:00:05Z

The Classics are must-see, must-read, must-play works revered by The Verge staff. They offer glimpses of the future, glimpses of humanity, and a glimpse of our very souls. You should check them out.

British band Lush’s first full-length album, Spooky (4AD, January, 1992) is a relic of a past which no longer exists, but which incessantly reminds you that it once did. You hear its reverberations in predecessors like Black Tambourine and in successors like Wild Nothing. What ties them all together is a dialogue, a certain way of looking at the world, which has everything to do with the tone, the sound, the feel, and often nothing to do with actual meaning. The meaning is conveyed in the delivery.

Spooky operates on the listener like...

The Classics: 'Tales of the Unknown Volume 1: The Bard's Tale'

2013-03-16T15:30:06Z

The Classics are must-see, must-read, must-play works revered by The Verge staff. They offer glimpses of the future, glimpses of humanity, and a glimpse of our very souls. You should check them out.

The year was 1986. A much-younger version of myself went over to my friend Frank's house to play games on his dad's Apple IIe. My gaming experience had been fairly limited up to that point — highlighted by Karateka, Oregon Trail, and some frustrated fumblings around the Zork trilogy (my love for all things Infocom wouldn't blossom for another year). I was about to be introduced to a new game, however; one that would burn its way fiercely into my brain.

Frank handed me a grey cardboard gatefold. Tales of the Unknown Volume 1: The Bard's...

The Classics: 'Everyday Shooter'

2013-03-10T16:00:06Z

The Classics are must-see, must-read, must-play works revered by The Verge staff. They offer glimpses of the future, glimpses of humanity, and a glimpse of our very souls. You should check them out.

It's rare that I go back and replay games. It's more a matter of time than anything else: there are just so many games out there, I'd rather be checking out something new than give something a second go. Everyday Shooter is the exception to that. It's like comfort food. It's a game that I can pick up, play for a few minutes or a few hours, and feel like I've gotten something out of the experience.

The Classics: 'It's a Good Life'

2013-03-02T17:00:07Z

Have you heard the one about the omnipotent six-year-old? Even if you've never seen the episode, by now you probably know the gist — maybe from The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror takeoff, or a late-night description from an older brother. There was also the movie version, or the ‘80s sequel. Like the best Twilight Zone episodes, 1961's "It's a Good Life" has traveled far.

The Classics: 'Transmetropolitan'

2013-02-23T17:00:04Z

It’s the future, but nobody actually knows what year it is. Humans are mass-cloned and sold as fast food (or occasionally as fresh-faced politicians), extraterrestrial life has become a fashion statement, and universal matter replicators not only exist, they can get hooked on their own manufactured drugs. Income inequality and health problems are covered over by slick public relations and short attention spans. Climate change has led to the rise of city-destroying superstorms. And telling the truth at the right time can change the world....

The Classics: 'System Shock 2'

2013-02-16T16:30:05Z

Despite the recent push for more nuanced and realistic narratives, some of my favorite story-driven games earned their place with grand gestures, and the recently re-released System Shock 2 is right at the top. Though the game follows 1994 Warren Spector title System Shock, it stands solidly on its own. It’s a first-person shooter set on a massive spaceship, trillions of miles from Earth, about godlike beings — but it’s also an evocative, rewarding, and personal piece of survival horror that feels more like myth than fiction.

System...

The Classics: 'The Invisibles'

2012-12-22T18:00:05Z

A bald, leather-clad horror novelist who’s also a deadly assassin, now grown weary of killing. A redheaded witch sent back from the future with nanomachines in her blood. A transvestite Brazilian shaman known for facing down Aztec gods. A former NYPD officer still grieving for her kidnapped brother. And a foul-mouthed Liverpudlian truant who just might be the next Buddha. Five freedom fighters trying to prevent an apocalypse scheduled for December 22, 2012.

Trying to summarize the plot of 'The Invisibles' is a losing proposition

That’s...

The Classics: 'Carnival'

2012-12-08T18:00:03Z

The Classics are must-see, must-read, must-play works revered by The Verge staff. They offer glimpses of the future, glimpses of humanity, and a glimpse of our very souls. You should check them out.

The 1980 arcade game Carnival, released by Sega, is before my time. So too, really, is the 1982 port for the Colecovision. But, growing up, I had one friend who, in addition to her NES, also had an aging Colecovision in her basement. On that system, we spent hours playing the first two or three levels of BurgerTime, with most of our sessions ending in frustration at the game’s impossibility. To be fair, though, we were pretty young, and not very good at video games.

A few months ago, when I finally got around to downloading a Colecovision...