Given our experience with the game the past few weeks, obviously it was a horrendous oversight that DEFCON was left out of both my Top 10 Games of All Time list, and Jonsey’s Top 100 Games lists. 

Let’s figure out where it belongs!

Here’s my original top 10 list:

10. Pyro II
9. NetHack
8. Super Mario 64
7. Grand Theft Auto III
6. Infocom Game
5. Warcraft III
4. Asteroids
3. Far Cry
2. Rollercoaster Tycoon
1. Civilization IV / GalCiv 2

Where do you put DEFCON, a stylistically brilliant, flawless execution of a fast, simple, yet deceptively deep and engrossing strategy game that anyone can play and enjoy, particularly if you were young and impressionable circa 1983?

I look at #4 and I realize, no, I can’t put anything else above Asteroids at this phase of the game. So, that’s the “ceiling”.

Would I trade my experience with WC3 (or the upcoming SC2, which will immediately go to the top of this list) for DEFCON? Ehh. No. WC3 had such a great feel to it, and was so entertaining for so long, that I just don’t think a game as simple as DEFCON can beat it, no matter how unbelievably cool it is.

I’d take it over Pyro II, so it’s up to 10 at least. FUCK YOU PYRO II.

I’d never play Nethack again if I could keep my precious DEFCON. You’re out, HACK!

Super Mario? An amazing experience! That’s a tough one. It basically comes down to who would win in a fight, Mario or Matthew Broderick. Gotta go with Brods. LATER MARIO.

Man. I’m so sick of the fucking GTA games that I really feel like knocking it down too. But until you get sick of them, wow, right? Hmm. Sprawling, unlimited freedom, or a strategy game with like 3 buildings and 5 other units. Know what? Hooray for the little guy. GRAND THEFT FUCK OFF.

So, Infocom or DEFCON? Eh. I can’t deny my roots like that. ‘Com beats ‘CON.

So there you have it.

DEFCON is the 7th best game of all time.

On Jonsey’s list it should be #23.

Well, the maiden voyage of Defcon Nite is over. There were some ups and downs, but taken all together, for a first time attempt, I’d say that even though there were a few glitches here and there, still at the end, it was a complete and utter failure in every respect.

Now let’s do one of those time-worn, time-weathered, time-honored, dumbass traditions of listing the Winners & Losers!

WINNER

Me, in the two games any collection of the contestants were able to complete. This is of no importance though, since the point was just to have fun.

LOSER

WORM. He did his usual “three days of bitching about GAME NITE before GAME NITE occurs”, then finally decided to HONOR us with his presence at the last minute, and then COULDN’T EVEN FUCKING CONNECT TO THE SERVER, when everyone else in the universe could. Once again, Worm did his best to ruin GAME NITE, and it’s easy to make a strong case that he succeeded.

WINNER

Hygraed, for having the stones and integrity to show up and give it his best shot, even though he had no idea what the hell he was doing.

LOSER 

ICJ’s internet connection. He got booted off five minutes into the first game, and continued to get booted off every five minutes thereafter during the entire evening. Only by having HIM host a game was any semblance of continuity established.

WINNER

ICJ, for never giving up, sticking with it, actually managing to have a good time, and even bought the game afterward, which bodes well for further DEFCON NITES.

FUCKING LOSERS

The unbelievable fucking man-child DICKNUTS over at the Defcon forum. Look at this thread. This is all you have to know.

WINNER 

ICJ, for his post in the above thread, which hopefully will not have been deleted by the time you read this.

LOSER

WORM.

WINNER

DEFCON itself. Putting aside both its nearly unrivaled elegance and atmosphere, as well, as my own personal bias toward the game — being EXACTLY the game that I have wanted since I was 13 years old, with that desire never wavering, even after the cold war ended and I grew up and got three dogs, each disabled in their own special way — the deeper I delve into it, the more the genius of it shines through. Not as the deepest, most complex strategy game ever, but as a perfect mix of strategy, simplicity, fun, lack of micromanagement, and being able to complete an entire game in under 45 minutes, which is about all that people with 3 dogs (or 5 cats) have time for. It’s a joy to play, it’s a joy to watch, it’s a joy to just experience, and it’s the least frustrating strategy game to lose that I’ve ever played.