manual) you can go back to Atari and Coleco's Adventure(hrm, maybe pitfall, but as far as I know, there is no winning in pitfall) As far as a self contained story theres wasteland, and bardstale on the commodore and apple, The FF games of course, though I would have to agree that the first full experience game has to be myst, or did Wing Commander III (I think it was Heart of the kilrathi?) come out before myst, with Mark Hamill and Ginger Lynn in the cinematica? I'm pimping for a friend here, but Clive Thompson has been doing excellent columns for Wired on video games. I would call them more cultural criticism taking off from the video games than a Kael-style (or Sarris, or Kehr, or Hoberman) film review. But Clive is both well-versed in game play, as well as a stinkin' Canadian/New York intellectual, so he brings a good, broad perspective to the topic. Kael, and to a lesser extent Bangs, made a living writing only about that topic. Clive would starve in a hovel if all he wrote about was video games. Until you can have a "game critic for the New Yorker", along with the book and movie and theater reviews that every reader expects to see, then that writing market won't be mature enough to develop distinct and outstanding voices. My current gaming obsession, _Guitar Hero_, has no story, no map, crappy graphics, a strictly linear skill ramp, and no narrative beyond the merest dusting