Poll: Which is videogames best sci-fi universe?

[JeanLuc761]

I don't understand all the love for the Mass Effect universe. It steals liberally from both Star Wars and Star Trek.

Eh, I'd disagree. While it's obviously inspired by both, I don't see much in common past some of the visual design and the fact that they're all space operas. The actual story is really quite exceptional (if not always original) and the universe feels more fleshed out than in most games.

 

[Savvz]

There's a noted lack of Warhammer 40K in that poll.

 

[New York Patrick]

Mass effect for me. Awesome aliens (Especially Turians), distant planets, wicked tech and Asari strippers! Whats not to love?

Not to mention Wrex exists... Mass Effect is officially a Chaotic Utopia..

 

[Skratt]

I wanted to pick Mass Effect, but I have a soft spot for crowbar wielding scientists.

 

[Terminate421]

You forgot gears but I wasn't gonna vote it anyway.

Although I love mass effect and metroid. I have to go with Halo still.

 

[Dexiro]

Gonna go with Half Life. Just love Aperture Science ^_^

 

[Yoshemo]

What!? No Mushroom Kingdom option!?

 

[oktalist]

Deus Ex is sci-fi, clearly. It may also be cyberpunk. That's okay; things are allowed to be two things.

 

[djlukaluke]

I also didn't add Star Wars, or Dune or the like because these need to be sci-fi universes that had their roots in videogames.

Also, Star Wars is Fantasy. There is no science involved with that fiction.

Star Wars is not fantasy. Star Wars is an epic space opera.

semantics

 

[Axle_Bullitt_19]

Metriod and Half-Life are my favorites, but I prefer the metriod universe since I have more fond memory's in it.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

Does Fallout not count? You could say it's "post-apocalyptic", but that's really a subset of sci-fi. I mean, it's in the future, and there's laser guns and power armour and virtual reality, and a hint of alien activity. How much more sci-fi-y could it get?

 

[Omnific One]

Mass Effect. That's not even a contest there.

 

[rockoffanddie]

im aware that it did not start as a videogame sci-fi universe, but the best by a mile (at least as far as im concerned) is the warhammer 40k universe

 

[HuCast]

I also didn't add Star Wars, or Dune or the like because these need to be sci-fi universes that had their roots in videogames.

Also, Star Wars is Fantasy. There is no science involved with that fiction.

Star Wars is not fantasy. Star Wars is an epic space opera.

Star Wars is what's known as Science-Fantasy. If it has aliens, lasers, explosions in space and such, it becomes science-fantasy. Science fiction is more plausible, things like 1984, or The Running Man.

My vote was cast for Mass Effect, despite it too falling into the 'fantasy' category (relying on the existence of aliens is akin to believing in demons and monsters and such), since it by far has the most vibrant, living universe. A lot of games I know love to add a little backstory, but Mass Effect's is the only one I really got into.


P.S: I do believe in aliens. I do. I do. I just wouldn't count them as science fiction since they're not that plausible.
-So what category would Firefly fall into?

Sorry, but I think you are wrong with your definition of science fiction/science fantasy.
Aliens and laser weapons belong to the science fiction genre since the war of the worlds frightened millions of americans.
Orwells 1984 is way more of a drama or dystopian fantasy then just simple science fiction
And when you check out how many scientists and millions of $ are involved in the SETI program you might agree that the search and believe in aliens is by no way comparable to the myth of silly things like ghosts.
The term "science fantasy" usually means that typical fantasy elements like swords, kings and wizards are thrown into and mixed with the science fiction genre and "space opera" means that you get plenty of booom for your bucks.
Your definition of science fiction is what real nerds call "science faction"

 

[David_G]

Mass Effect, it just seems the most believable.

 

[Woodsey]

I also didn't add Star Wars, or Dune or the like because these need to be sci-fi universes that had their roots in videogames.

Also, Star Wars is Fantasy. There is no science involved with that fiction.

I call bullshit. What were the spacecrafts and blaster rifles run on? Magic pixie powder?

Just because it didn't explain the science doens't mean there wasn't any.

Science fiction has to have some grounding in reality - so the "science" they use has to be in some way a foreseeable option. That's how I've understood it at any rate.

Both Star Wars and Mass Effect are space operas anyway.

Then anything with inter stellar space travel isn't science fiction, unless it takes the crew 6000 years to cross a galaxy.

You could only really call anything science fiction if it was in the foreseeable future by that definition, because beyond a few hundred years any amount of technological advances that might seem ludicrous to us are perfectly reasonable. See the technological singularity theory.

I other words I disagree with that definition.

Alright, let's get the actual definition:

"a literary genre that makes imaginative use of scientific knowledge or conjecture"

I can see where it gets fuzzy, but Star Trek (*shudder*) is a sci-fi because it takes things we know and envisions what that could become.

Star Wars and Mass Effect make their own things up for the most part, and again, they're space operas because of their story-telling style (i.e. big epic shit going on in space).

 

[NCLWC]

if there was a Firefly game...

whos with me on this?

 

[zhemis]

This poll seems limited even though I'm a Mass Effect fanboy (<--see I capitalize games I like). But games like X3 (other X's apply, but X is kind of a crappy title) should be included.