"Shtick 'em Up, the Shooter Gets Weird"
http://1up.com/do/feature?cId=3147303&did=1
A few excerpts:
Shooters are the foundation of the video game industry, dating back all the way to the 1960's with Steve Russell's classic Spacewar. Since that time, the genre has been responsible for bringing much depth to the world of interactive entertainment, popularizing vital concepts like the power-up and the end-of-level boss which are still used in many of today's greatest games.
Also a nice write up from last year on the Guardian Legend (still need to complete it), by Ben Turner:And as grim as ever. Shooters can be fun, but you wouldn't know it from the deadly serious plots and generic sci-fi aesthetics that accompany most games of this variety. Fortunately, not everyone has a serious story to tell with their shoot-em-up, which is where satirical shooters come into play. If you ever grow tired of brave heroes fighting evil alien empires, look no further than this collection of outlandish, offbeat and sometimes just plain bizarre takes on the genre.
http://1up.com/do/feature?cId=3142613&did=29
