Halo Season 3 Still Isn’t Confirmed Despite the Huge Cliffhanger

This Halo article contains spoilers. There’s no denying that the Halo season 2 finale delivered the goods, not only finally getting Master Chief and Cortana to the ring itself but also setting up storylines from the original game that will hopefully pay off in big ways in a third season. But despite a cliffhanger finale […]

The post Halo Season 3 Still Isn’t Confirmed Despite the Huge Cliffhanger appeared first on Den of Geek.

Though it’s easy to get caught up in fruitless debates over genre classifications, genres are a fascinating part of any medium’s evolution. Yes, they sometimes oversimplify complex works for the purposes of classification. However, a deeper look at the origins of those genres often reveals fascinating facts about the evolution of art and entertainment.

That’s especially true of gaming. Many of us have been alive for most of the notable history of video games. Yet, it’s still remarkably easy to forget how some of the more unique and prevalent video game genres actually began.

Today, we’re going to take a look at the birth of some of those genres. Some were clearly created by the release of a revolutionary new title, while others can trace their origins to games that took an existing concept in a new direction. Some are world-famous, while others have been forgotten and never really got the full credit they deserved. However it happened, these are the games that helped create entire genres.

(image)

Battle Royale – H1Z1: King of the Kill

Technically, variations of the “Last Man Standing” game mode have existed for decades. If we’re talking about games that exemplify the post-Koushun Takami Battle Royale idea of that concept, though, then you have to look at Minecraft’s Survival Games mod or Arma III’s DayZ mod to see the foundations of what we now consider a battle royale experience. However, those games didn’t really feature the proper proportions of battle royale concepts and were actually closer to what we now consider to be the “Survival” genre in many ways.

So far as that goes, 2015’s H1Z1: King of the Kill should be considered the first proper Battle Royale gaming experience. That mode utilized the survival mechanics of titles like DayZ, but converted them into a more match-based multiplayer contest that revealed the Battle Royale’s potential as an evolution of the classic Deathmatch/Last Man Standing concept. H1Z1 directly paved the way for PUBG, which inspired Fortnite, which really turned Batte Royales into blockbusters. 

(image)

Beat-Em-Up – Kung-Fu Master

While there were many early games that emphasized some kind of combat-based gameplay, the Beat-Em-Up is a genre unto itself. These titles made the action the star of the show by pitting you against seemingly endless waves of opponents with limited means to defend yourself (your fists, usually, with weapons and powers later becoming more common). Though later Beat-Em-Up games would expand upon that concept in various ways (including the addition of light role-playing mechanics), the roots of the genre have remained surprisingly strong over the years.  

Well,