7 Ways Games Tried to Make Hacking Fun (and Failed Miserably)

[@outsidextra]

Here are the ways games try to hold our attention during hacking sequences, but don't quite manage it. Can you think of any other hacking minigames that leave you cold? Or are there any that are genuinely fun? Shout in the comments if so, and enjoy!

[@IamaPERSON]

Outside Xtra I'm not gonna lie, this video pushed my buttons.

[@jacklyntree7752]

Outside Xtra what about Welcome to the Game?

[@matthewslates]

Outside Xtra Watch dogs.

[@whatevernameisclever8030]

Well, there’s a game called Amy, it’s hacking is like fallout except only with about 4 different shapes and they’re randomized, but the difference between this game’s hacking and fallout is its required to progress through the story.

[@gdaymate142]

Watch dogs 2 implemented the hacking really well

[@WeComeFromSpace1]

Ellen's figured out the trick! Make bad puns that Andy doesn't KNOW are puns!

[@waterlily7343]

You could say she... cracked the code?

[@EmApex]

I think that would have a variable amount of success

[@mackback319]

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[@bestpseudonym1693]

she just needs to be methodical and occasionally switch it up

[@johnoneil9188]

My favourite kind of hacking is still in Saints Row 4 which has you punch and pummel sophisticated alien technology untill it relents and bends to your will.

[@m.h.8077]

True - for everything that is not store hacking, that is. There it's another tedious minigame just like all the others...

[@sirprize275]

Don’t forget the dlc where you sabotage robot reindeer by shoving your fist up its ass.

[@Jakovdred]

But the SR4 shop hacking was a pile of shit.

[@sirprize275]

Sharpice Woods Kenzie’s job is easy

[@dannyrose4809]

Fuck with the simulation until your alien overlord gets mad and abducts your main hacker to make her play housewife for a psychopathic terrorist. Get help from the B team hacker and get only his genius ideas of using dubstep guns to fight giant armored trucks.

[@nihitkhunteta6137]

"I don't kill people, i just throw sharpened metal batarang in their faces till they submit" -Batman

[@oskarjeziorny7188]

Explosive gel... Destroys walls... Knocks enemies which were 1feet away from it

[@theldraspneumonoultramicro405]

or shoot people in the face with what looks like 100 mm rubber bullets with enough force to make them do 1-2 flips thru the air, landing 1-3 meters away, totally not dead. also, running into them with a heavily armored vehicle that looks to weigh about 10-15 ton and powered by a jet engine with about the same acceleration as a formula 1 race car and go almost as fast, but the car has some powerful electric field around it that electrifies and send people rag dolling 2-3 meters thru air, they totally wont die from the force of being hit by a 10-15 tons heavy armored vehicle hitting them at speeds of around 100 km/h.

[@mattig89ch]

Don't listen to them Ellen. Those programming jokes were amazing. Keep up the great work!

[@kailomonkey]

Indentations

[@handlebarfox2366]

We all live in a yellow subroutine?

[@AndorRadnai]

Her humour is puntastic..!

[@Turnaround72]

Shut

[@chriswillis4153]

I feel that Wheatley's "hacking" should've gotten an honorable mention.

[@ieuannicol6283]

**glass shatteres**

[@FlyingDominion]

Or speaking in an accent outside her range of hearing.

[@Mgl1206]

Flynn Curtis “look metal ball I CAN hear you”

[@limecyanizer4394]

AAAAAA. AAAAAB.

[@Turnaround72]

That was fun

[@emrys301st]

if(EllenMakesACodingJoke == true) { Laugh(); } else { ContinueWaiting = true; }

[@connorfreeman5825]

you missed an argument within Laugh(), and you haven't initialized main() or issued a return statement. Good try though.

[@PrimeGlaz]

@@connorfreeman5825 youtube, the place where i learn new things

[@joezachary2436]

@@connorfreeman5825 if it's pseudo, then it's legal >:(

[@NathanTAK]

You absolute fucking monster. Putting curly brackets like that...

[@hazrpg]

@@NathanTAK people will always call those differently depending on who you ask, but most texts and mathematicians will agree that they're called braces or curly braces not brackets - and yes that's both in the UK and the USA.

[@CaitlinRC]

As a computing student, I can confirm that the process of hacking is about as much fun as being one of the victims of Agent 47 or a bystander as Jane's space laser destroys the world.

[@eurusadventum2122]

Being an engineering student I call it a monday.

[@maxlittlewood]

Caitlin RC Being a bystander to Jane's space laser sounds pretty fun actually

[@kcollier2192]

It would depend on how close you are to the target area- unless you're the target, of course. Talk about swatting flies with an elephant gun...

[@misterthegeoff9767]

Could be worse. I was a student 20 years ago. At least you didn't have to learn Turbo Pascal like I did (I assume). I'd have got more use out of learning bloody cobol.

[@CaitlinRC]

Oh god I'm very grateful I've never had to touch Turbo Pascal. Though 80x86 assembly language nearly killed me.

[@urface151]

I actually chuckled when Luke said subscribe from his KZbin lol

[@D34dP1x3l]

Eurogamer has that thing booked!

[@AnanasVert]

So did i... what has my humor become, you monsters !

[@mirulon]

KZbin? More like RedTube.

[@kadosho02]

That tube is so awesome =D

[@Jlerpy]

You are not alone.

[@nedcurfman3486]

I personally LIKE Fallout hacking. I enjoy the process of pattern recognition, cross-checking, and process of elimination. It rewards you for thinking instead of just blindly guessing.

[@lordbanetheplayer8844]

I don't like it. Maybe because I'm bad at it.

[@1roman1738]

I hate it so much

[@odeo5691]

@@lordbanetheplayer8844 just take the time to get rid of the duds. Its worth it. Although I usually do 2 guesses first so that the reset is useful

[@kazneal7717]

When I first played fallout 3, I just highlighted the first three words I could, pressed the button, and if they didnt work, back out, then try again. It took me months to figure out that it was more fun to try the hacking the way it was meant to be.

[@Navajonkee]

@@odeo5691 I never even knew dud removal exists. I mean, as far as I've seen, it's always 100% doable even without that, too.

[@trueevil3527]

I'm kinda bothered how the biometric scanner worked even when batman is in costume

[@kamenanew9867]

Same

[@cookiecraze1310]

me to

[@sofacoin]

Maybe it only works when he's in costume: it's not actually biometric, just looks like one in order to camouflage it.

[@jessicalee333]

Maybe his gloves have the same pattern as his actual handprint.

[@allenstanley3418]

@@jessicalee333 or the suit has it's own distinct set of prints! Like how Bruce had a credit card under the Batman name in that one movie.

[@TheB]

Luke: "Ellen, was that a coding joke?" Ellen: "Maaaaybe." *(Meanwhile, Andy on the other side of the room turns to his computer and starts typing)* 10 PRINT "BOOOOOO!" 20 GOTO 10 RUN

[@blackhatfreak]

I appreciate your coding jokes Ellen .

[@QuickishFM]

I am the 1st person who appreciates it. You are the 0th

[@blackfireweb]

Congratulations, you are the 255th person to appreciate those jokes!

[@ragegamer561gaming5]

#ERROR//OVERFLOW

[@wuzuolong8896]

Hahaha

[@Singeferno]

Nervous Chihuahua? I'm pretty sure that is a character from Metal Gear

[@TsuladanGaming]

The Bioshock one is actually a reference to an older computer game, I remember having Pipe Dream in the late 90s/early 2000s. It was an entire PC game built around similar mechanics.

[@Jolis_Parsec]

I was just about to say this! The current generation has no idea at all what we millennials got up to back in the day. 😆

[@420sakura1]

I think I saw e game on one of lgr videos.

[@kamenanew9867]

I had it for super Nintendo I think, maybe regular Nintendo, and me and my mom had hours of fun playing pipe dreams. As such, I loved the bioshock hacking because of the memories

[@conorphillips5370]

It still sucks and somewhat spoils the game. The hacking mechanic in Bioshock was much better and didn't take you out of the game either.

[@booty_hunter4207]

@@Jolis_Parsec many gen z kids grew up with the same games

[@GingahNinja47]

As a programmer, Ellen’s coding jokes actually made my day

[@HavocHounds1988]

She actually knows a little bit about coding.

[@tylerlawson5923]

Agreed

[@HovektheArtist]

So am i the only one that enjoys most of these hacking dreams, i mean frogger, line jumper on an apple of eden, pipe dreams and word guess are fun to others.....right

[@soki324]

OXOTNHK aka D3ath Patr0l THANK YOU! No, you are not the only one

[@sawyer7560]

At this point I'm just happy that somebody remembers that pipe dream used to be a game all on its own lol. I loved that game.

[@MarqZePancakeNinja]

I loved pipe dream. I looked forward to hacking in BioShock. Reminded me of being a kid

[@lazyperfectionist3978]

Same. Some of those mini games were actually interesting, and with Pipe dream I purposely played the games instead of using autohacks XD

[@woolyflipper]

Yeah, tbf I was a little upset they included the hacking in bioshock, I never used autohack since it was so much fun. I thought the hacking in Bioshock 2 actually WAS tedious and less fun, and that didn't make the list ;(

[@timothymclean]

I do like a class-y programming pun. They're quite function-al. I guess I should put a code-a on this joke before anyone gets angry.

[@maxlittlewood]

Timothy McLean HAHA coding puns that I totally get and find hilarious

[@misterthegeoff9767]

someone should compile a list of all of these.

[@CaitlinRC]

im so proud of these puns. You're all top of the class, inheriting from the best ;-;

[@Crazzzzzzzziesandus]

Your programming jokes are Objective-C bad

[@sdasda7777]

Those are not programming jokes but programming puns. Programming joke would go something like this: "Developer enters a bar. Orders a beer. Orders 0 beers. Orders -1 Beers. Orders 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 beers. Orders a snake. Orders a dbhfsd."

[@Ferus711]

Remember the old days when you could just slap omni-gel on everything?

[@MonoDree]

Chase McFarland I love you for this quote 😂

[@SolusWhite]

Chase McFarland Too true... I miss the days I could just say "screw your security" and blow it up... Now the only gel we get to use is Medi-gel... I wonder if that would work in a similar way... I mean it can be used to heal Legion and EDI...

[@MonoDree]

Solus White I think it similar to nano tech that's why. Probably creates or repairs atoms. Since everything is made up of atoms. So it can't damage, it can only repair since it was made for that purpose. Plus everybody would have tried it already lol

[@jordancarcutt5324]

That security upgrade made a lot of people unhappy.

[@MonoDree]

Jordan Carcutt Yeah including Liara and Shepard 😂

[@christopherfloody5555]

Ok, that joke with the "you-tube" that Luke shouted "subscribe" down was so dumb. Like, super dumb. But it still made me laugh for some reason

[@thoruktor8005]

If they had gone for a "U" shaped tube it would have been better. Marginally. But better.

[@GreenQueen69420]

"... In fact, you can use brackets for a vast array of reasons." "Ellen, was that a coding joke?" "Maybe." *Me, someone taking a coding class, nodding behind my computer* "Nice."

[@GreenQueen69420]

*nods harder at the second joke.*

[@thornwall6303]

@@GreenQueen69420 *nods so hard at second joke my neck breaks*

[@ObligatoryBook]

If she’s going to make a programming joke, she should at least know the difference between brackets, braces, and parentheses. Grrr

[@GreenQueen69420]

@@ObligatoryBook Hey, it's the thought that counts. How many times do coding nerds get jokes? Practically never. Let us have this one.

[@ObligatoryBook]

Katherine Winship Hmm, fine... but I’ll be watching... Jk, I do think it was funny, but I’m being taught proper programming conventions right now and, since I’m not in school, I can’t tell anyone about it. I needed to get it out of my system lol.

[@Sol-mr1lv]

That You tube just became the star of the whole show

[@jedichris85]

peter solfeldt That thing was hilarious, but I thought Ellen’s programming puns were the star of the show myself.😁

[@maxlittlewood]

Hey the Bat tank doesn't kill. It just...puts enemies to sleep. Permanently.

[@jennifervalentine8955]

Naw, Commish, they are just sleeping, like my parents on that farm they never come back from

[@maxlittlewood]

Jennifer Valentine Or Robin. He's fiiiiinnnneeee just uh taking a nap

[@timothymclean]

They're comatose, not dead. Loophole!

[@Azure-Flame-Bee]

The tank is inflicting grevious bodily harm, not Batman LOOPHOLE

[@icebear7698]

They do wake up batman just isn't around to see

[@KatieCunningham]

Ellen totally needs to teach a coding course, if only to slay her students with endless puns. It would probably go over better than mine, where I make snarky, oblique asides about how we should all go raise llamas and bunnies instead of yelling at computers.

[@crotchet6439]

Katie Cunningham public var ellenCoding{ Console.writeline("Ellen needs to teach us how to code"); }

[@panchosaavedra5777]

While (Life==100) { If(ellen==teach) { Console.join} Else { Console.Cry } }

[@jakebrady7426]

Ellen: "maayyybe". That was so adorable! 🤣

[@greyrifterrellik5837]

1:00 But then who *wrote* the walkthroughs?

[@thepinapple8829]

The devs?

[@greyrifterrellik5837]

You missed the joke but that's okay; this conversation would need a walkthrough to do anyways.

[@ijones36]

Actual hackers, obviously :P

[@57thorns]

Some games has hotlines you could call for support (expensive of course). Other had official printed guide you could buy.

[@exotrrc1636]

Uhm..... Them that made The walk through?

[@rakitoboktoso]

IF (user == programmer) { $lovedEllensPuns = TRUE; } ELSE { $sad = TRUE; }

[@rakitoboktoso]

*yes I loved the programming puns Ellen said shut up*

[@thewanderer5506]

I quite loved Deus Ex's hacking minigame, i find it really fun how you still have a chance of success if detected, or the random chance of success/fail

[@lonelyratgirl3688]

The Wanderer Same! I always felt like a total badass whenever I successfully hacked a level 5 computer lol.

[@thewanderer5506]

Lonely Rat Girl Yeah, the first few hacking attempts before you really start gaining Praxis were nail biting, especially since it was a 60% detection

[@moosemaimer]

It also takes place in realtime in the game, meaning you can be spotted while hunched over the keyboard, so they let you peek around the screen to see if someone was coming!

[@Cunnysmythe]

Me too, it was fun and infuriating. Very rewarding when you’d pull it off

[@immortalmonk2891]

I too found it very entertaining. you could also Farm it 4 tons of credits and XP as well.

[@jarlbalgruuf2415]

Some of these were actually fun in my opinion

[@liamc4514]

Jarl Balgruuf My Jarl? Is that you?

[@gjones3625]

Jarl Balgruuf deus ex is

[@Heartshapedbox81]

Jarl Balgruuf same lol

[@Tenma2411]

I liked the ones in ME2

[@RandomPerson-gt1jt]

Yeah I actually liked the Bioshock one

[@ConradTheLonelyStump]

Ratchet and Clank had some pretty good hacking mini-games in the series; the Trespasser puzzles in 1 and the Infiltrator puzzles in 2/Going Commando were my favorites.

[@mar_speedman]

I think they redid the trespasser for the reboot, too Definitely one of the best minigames

[@goldenbasil]

*"ANDY WE NEED TO HAVE A TALK"* my friends when they find my wattpad account

[@yourlordandsaviorarceus8048]

I thought the bioshock minigame was cool

[@ethanwagner6418]

YourLordAndSaviorArceus the safes were a pain in the ass.

[@AlexFoobar104]

the fallout thing is actually quite nicely done. the numbers at the start could be hexadecimal memory addresses. they differ in 12 which corresponds to the number of characters shown in each line. you're looking for the password in the ram, if you want (artistic freedom of course still applies, see the bracket stuff ^^)

[@DrakeAurum]

Yeah, my headcanon for the Fallout minigame is that it's an admin backdoor that got left in the operating system. It would've been patched out within days, but then the apocalypse happened, and we're left with what is now a commonly-known security flaw that's never going to get fixed.

[@thehunter4873]

DrakeAurum was there even internet in the fallout universe?

[@DrakeAurum]

Nope. They'd probably have had to send software updates out on holotapes.

[@thehunter4873]

DrakeAurum idk if they would actually because you see terminals that have emails from places in different city so their might be a very simple internet that allows for messaging

[@ZeldaTheSwordsman]

That hacking process is in all the Bethesda-based Fallout games (including the subcontracted New Vegas), not just 4. And I think it's an attempt at quasi-realistic cracking. The Bioshock one is meant to be an aesthetically-fitting one. Tubes carrying conductive gel suits the Jules Verne-esque aesthetic. What about hacking in GTA?

[@ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Okay, so, update on the Bioshock hacking. The idea of it being steampunk-appropriate conductive gel was just me interpreting based on what's in the final game. I recently learned that the vending machines were originally meant to have captive human operators who were drugged up, and the "hacking" process originally represented you increasing the flow to them - and getting extra goodies as thanks. Of course, the presence of hackable vending machines at all is rooted in the game being based off System Shock

[@unknown-cz5gq]

@@ZeldaTheSwordsman cheers for the update. But what the hell drugged up vendor? Damn

[@jillianlee2615]

I love Ellen's spots on the lists. Also her jokes on here made my day.

[@Videosaurus_Wrex]

I unsubscribed so I could subscribe again just for that KZbin joke 😂😂😂

[@preciousrogue1833]

I totally didn't look at a walkthrough! No, I'm totally not lying Ellen. Why are you staring at me Ellen. Please stop using your psychic powers on me Ellen...

[@anarchyantz1564]

It's ok if Ellen does it, the side effects are you feel more inclined to play Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (which you should as it's awesome). If it is Jane on the other hand well............you wont have to worry about that pulsating headache for much longer.

[@domlocke3845]

Anarchy Antz Jane doesn't have physic powers, the pulsating headache is just the good poison kicking in.

[@Auraknight]

I didn't, but I also spent 20 minutes on one of the orb ones. *shudder*

[@trod146]

Beth Bloomer you feeling okay?.. Normal people don't usually play pretend in a comment..

[@RandomizerYevhen]

Looked at 8th and 10th puzzle. 8th after trying half of possible combinations, 10th because was quite close-minded and saw that game is lost, so wth?

[@Yuhara_rev]

{"hip", "hip"} for ellen, that was an awesome array pun joke

[@marhawkman303]

There's just so many variable to computing puns that you need several megabytes to list them all.

[@Corsaka]

Uplink and Hacknet make hacking really fun, honestly.

[@Aarkwrite]

I was looking for an uplink mention 👍🏽

[@DRakshasa]

I actually liked the Deus Ex mini game :( But to answer your question, a great hacking "mini-game" is the Shadowrun matrix. Granted, it isn't really a mini game as it is part of the main game, but it's still different from the rest of the game, and in most cases it's optional. Well now with that being said their newest installment (hong-kong) also has a rather fun simon-says minigame for hacking specific nodes. It's very well done imo.

[@jerrjohnpresti]

ah, the matrix. i like that's there's stealth

[@preciousrogue1833]

That ending. Please never stop being so entertained by your own jokes Luke ❤

[@Geek-LDS]

How did that hand scanner work for Batman when he was wearing a glove?

[@lordfuzzybear]

VG Philosophy he is able to put hand prints on his glove as seen from Batman arkham city

[@lordfuzzybear]

Arkham knight not city

[@nickm-s]

*deep inhale* BECAUSE HE’S BATMAN!

[@mcoy6689]

It was secretly a glove scanner

[@paperbullet1945]

Dear Strong Bad, how do you type with boxing gloves on?

[@EmApex]

The Deus Ex minigames are actually really fun and in-depth, especially when you realise that capturing every security node captures every single node, giving you all the rewards and finishing the hack instantly.

[@GamerPony]

It's also kinda like the real thing in as much as you are navigating a network topology and the hack programs are doing the grunt work

[@GwresYnKernow]

The Deus Ex system was REALLY GOOD though!

[@vladdracul5072]

True. I hack everything for the data store boni and xp, even if I have the code. Also in the Fallout games for the xp, and even in Prey, just for the heck of it.

[@mikem2849]

The hacking in Bioshock was literally old DOS game Pipe Dream. Look it up.

[@DrakeAurum]

You missed out the original System Shock, which had actual cyberspace. At least if you think cyberspace consists of lots of mazey rooms and passageways portrayed in gaudy vector graphics. It also had a variety of minigame door-panel hacking / repairing puzzles on the general theme of rewiring circuits, all of which could be made anywhere from trivially easy to frustratingly tricky by adjusting the game's multiple difficulty sliders.

[@michellee1190]

I liked the hacking system in Fallout 3! It gave the player a chance to open the lock even if their character had a bad science skill! That's way more fun and interesting than a system that won't let you do anything if your character's skill isn't high enough.

[@michellee1190]

I will say that giving the player an active roll in lock-picking and hacking was one of the things that were definitely an upgrade when Bethesda took over Fallout. In Fallout 1 & 2 you just click on the terminal and it checks your stats. If your skill isn't high enough you can't do anything, which is the opposite of fun.

[@thehunter4873]

Michelle E if I’m not mistaken (might be haven’t played it since it came out) you did need a high enough skill to even attempt to hack a terminal

[@h-ideas7217]

The Hunter as well as lock picking

[@katanasteel]

anyone remember "Uplink"'s Lan hacking, or basically just the hacking in general from that game :D

[@Edwardbanks]

I laughed a little too hard at the coding jokes

[@ThePonz87]

"Man, these gun-arms are so fun!" classic Jane :D btw, those AC4 hacking minigames were so awful indeed, no wonder I totally forgot about them

[@thundercookie3214]

Forgotten, repressed the memory of, tomato, tomato.

[@madalice5134]

ThePonz87 The upsides of drinking to forget...

[@zarbixii]

Now hold on a minute, Batman only promised to keep the criminals alive. Whether or not they enjoy living isn't his problem.

[@SolusWhite]

I like the hacking game for Outsidexbox's bank, it's pretty fun and you get to keep real mone-I mean that one from Alpha Protocol... nuff said.

[@Dakuu75]

7:19 Her smug-ass-face when she told that joke. lol I love it. XD

[@rileyhoffman440]

I literally love all the mini games you just mentioned XD

[@HunterHerbst]

What about Alien: Isolation? Sure all you had to do was match pixelated symbols, but you had to do it with a freaking xenomorph running around.

[@boomxhakalaca3660]

The Sly Coope games had a sort of space invaders type mini-game which was challenging and fun!! It can be done!!!

[@stevenn1940]

It was also done 4 times in this video! But we've already established that the oxtra/box crews hate minigames. Lord help them if they find out mario party exists.

[@kchgamer1788]

Do you mean Sly Cooper?

[@nightbeard5876]

Ah the fabled you tube, I must have it. Now to only get past outside xtra security system. Hang on it’s just a sign saying “NO..... STOP IT”

[@DamnedEyez]

"The green aesthetic made you feel like Neo from The Matrix.." ...it just makes me nostalgic. Dumb terminals for mainframes, or an old monochrome monitor we had when I was a kid.

[@mutsuhanma7807]

7:20 that come hither smile gets me every time damn it Ellen!

[@TheJeffersonKellence]

That You Tube joke was gold. Pure gold.

[@bronwynjames5542]

"Look for brackets" Yes.... That's what I did. I didn't just run the cursor over each symbol or letter until it auto-hilighted the bits I could click. No, you did!

[@safetytheflamewolf]

Bronwyn Elizabeth James that's what I did xD in Fallout 3. Though I usually waited until I had 1 attempt left that way I wouldn't accidentally select the "Reset Attempts" one.

[@joejosa8467]

Didn't know that. Didn't know I could just leave and come back to the terminal.

[@stephenwilhelm]

Mass Effect 2 had much better hacking than ME1 did. ME1 was either a game of Simon Says (console) or Frogger (PC). But I guess you already mocked Frogger based hacking...

[@57thorns]

Some of those min games are interesting on their own. Routing puzzles, when well made, can be really fun. Frogger is an all time favourite of mine, but seeing that cracking game makes me realize how important the story and graphics are even for a one screen multi level arcade game from 1981. But when they are part of bigger games of a completely different genre, they become chores.

[@ladyicondraco]

Ellen's expression after the coding joke is life.

[@daxiuskeller5891]

Is anyone else mad that they think Fallout 4 was the first fallout with the word hacking? It was fallout 3 and new Vegas that did, with 3 being the original.

[@itsdeonlol]

I liked the hacking in the Deus Ex games!

[@Roxor128]

I think one guy actually tried his hand at making a standalone game of the Deus Ex Human Revolution hacking minigame. No idea if he ever finished it, though.

[@stevenn1940]

I mean, in the end, there's a subgenre of it already. I don't remember any titles off hand, though.

[@panicfire3613]

Right? Probably one of the best minigames ever.

[@stevenn1940]

It's a mini strategy game! It's a great change of pace from a stealth/action rpg. Even great games need breaks.

[@Venetas]

Hacknet and Uplink

[@KatieTP]

I dropped my You Tube in water and I don't know what to do! Maybe the old rice trick?

[@mackback319]

put some gum in there too

[@usbiv223]

Katie Penkert that explains why the interwebs is slow today.

[@muskdeer]

What about hacking in Pony Island?

[@umnikos]

You watch Liveoverflow, too?

[@DANNY1TDM]

OH YEAH,THAT

[@ragegamer561gaming5]

Hacking in pony island was actually good though

[@RanMouri82]

7:14 Okay, Ellen rules. More than usual.

[@nathanreece1154]

I love the majority of mini games on this list. I don't understand why they're boring, but then again I just love puzzles.

[@BFedie518]

I know a lot of people hate it, I like the Fallout hacking Minigame, but then I do like playing Mastermind.

[@budemawa411]

I liked the tubes from Bioshock ._.

[@maxmeantm9381]

#1: watch dogs

[@IamaPERSON]

MaxMeanTM I'm still waiting for the side game: Wash Dogs to become Dlc

[@maxmeantm9381]

I am a PERSON lol

[@kaozspartan9289]

#2 Watch Dogs 2

[@happypasta6]

That’s Watch_Dogs to you! Never forget the _ !

[@kaozspartan9289]

happy pasta xD

[@lionocyborg6030]

You missed System Shock 1, where you had VR hacking in cyberspace that was basically a more obtuse version of Descent, and lockpicking in the form of hotwiring hacking where you solved either a wire combo or logic gate puzzle, depending on what was set for that access panel. Splinter Cell Double Agent has waiting for code numbers to fill up columns and you speed it up by clicking on frozen code numbers to fill that column. These above two are really good examples that did make it fun. I also found Prey's hacking to be piss easy and really enjoyed it. Some others where one's mileage may vary are: System Shock 2 has a very unforgiving X & Os game which only allows vertical or horizontal lines that you need to pay in-game money to play. It even recycles it for repairing or modifying weapons. Perfect Dark Zero has the Datathief, where you wait for a cursor to highlight blue blocks and click on them The PSP Splinter Cell Essentials has you line up two transverse waves under a time limit with obnoxious sound effects, which is as interesting as it sounds. Bioshock 2 has you do a quick time event where you stop an oscillating metre in green or blue areas. And apparently the universe is about to explode as a QTE has actually _improved_ a game. Unless you count Shenmue's or Dragon's Lair's ones. Another Code R has an in-game Wii mote that is used to decrypt electronic locks and such, vibrating the actual Wii mote depending on angle. Marathon was going to have System Shock style cyberspace in its terminals for talking to the AIs directly, but it was scrapped in development: instead of a Descent minigame though, you would have entered a Dark World version of the current level, with unique monsters (I think), presumably the AI avatars as entities and you could affect the real world by messing about in Cyberspace. The only parallel to it that I can think of in recent games not counting Zelda: Triforce of the Gods is the Ultrareality in Fran Bow.

[@BayMom9]

My dad: hey son, wanna toss some beanbags around with the dog? Me, with that sick "non lethal bat beanbag tank",: *Yes, Father.* My dad: why do I hear mission impossible music?

[@Geek-LDS]

The only hacking mini game I enjoyed was the one in Bioshock 2. It was quick, over in a moment, and the game didn’t pause while you were doing it.

[@AlmightyPolarBear]

That's some of the reasons I didn't like it compared to the first game.

[@Plundarr]

I really enjoyed the first game's version of hacking. The second game made it too easy.

[@Geek-LDS]

Zachary Johnston Each their own. Yes, it did make it easier, but it got you back to the game quicker, which is what most players want, myself included. Most hacking games tend be boring drudges I have to get through to get to the good stuff.

[@Geek-LDS]

khamjaninja Not a bad prospect if you ask me. The gameplay was well refined and escalated from the original game, while Infinite threw out all the gameplay elements I liked. I also enjoyed the how the moral dilemmas in Bioshock 2 are more difficult compared to the original! Each their own, which I may have already said! I really enjoyed Bioshock 2!

[@JoshWalker]

My favorite thing about the hacking system in Bioshock was that if you used the winter blast plasmid on whatever you were hacking, it made everything move slower. I always thought that was clever.

[@GuyTarx]

As a developer, I"m always up for a coding joke XD

[@puckgroth7808]

I met this girl in a bar, and after a few drinks she said she wanted to see my python, but I only know java.

[@mayowankenobi]

varchar and 40 years ago

[@akmal94ibrahim]

Ellen, I think you forgot to put a semicolon on the puns you made. No wonder it's not working on Luke.

[@blackhatfreak]

It's a cardinal Syntax error.

[@ivanpetrov5255]

2:25 - wait, what? Did Batman opened a handprint lock... with his glove on? Are you sure that this is secure? I disagree about Deus Ex and ME - they were fun. In Deus Ex I would try to conquer everything, and ME gave you some variety. And for realistic hacking in a game - try Hacklab. Even the BSOD is so realistic, your heart will skip a beat when you see it. Trust me. It will.

[@DavidJones-tp7td]

I like the Fallout hacking minigame for the most part, and it does feel more like actual hacking than most. I would like it more if they gave a "Force" option for terminals below your level like they do they lock picks. And I love Ellen's coding jokes--please do more.

[@lucasm.3864]

Not enough StackOverflow

[@leonardooliveira843]

Been playing Fallout since I was a kid but just in Fallout 4 I came to understand the hacking mechanic.

[@thehunter4873]

Vaas Montenegro I figured it out when I switched from Xbox to pc, use a mod cause it’s boring to do

[@conformistbastard9842]

I figured it out pretty quick when fallout 3 came out. But I had no idea about the bracket trick until my friend told me about it years later lol

[@gaymanlover]

the true strat: choosing the first 4 options and quickloading if you fail

[@thehunter4873]

Daniel West quick loading? Any loading in fallout takes forever

[@jarlbalgruuf2415]

The Hunter Then exit after three attempts and retry

[@MrACABification]

Every single one of these examples is actually somewhat interesting, perhaps with the exception of Batman and ME2, but both minigames are so brief that it doesn't matter. Deus Ex hacking is great, just like almost everything in that magnificent game.

[@erieriderschillingcorner1595]

MrACABification Mass Effect 2 hacking was good.

[@MrACABification]

I mean, it's fine. I don't think it's anything special, and at least they shake it up a little with several different types. It's definitely an improvement on ME1 hacking ie. QTEs.

[@erieriderschillingcorner1595]

MrACABification Yeah me1 hacking wasn't good. Thats why i always had some omni gel with me lol. Too bad tgey didn't add something interesting in me3. MEA on the other hand did something interesting.

[@snoips2921]

Deus Ex hacking was pretty simple, idk why they said it was the most complex stuff on the planet.

[@cookiemunsta5420]

i only hit like because of ellen's puns

[@geminiguy1064]

If anything I always enjoyed some of the hacking minigames in the later iterations of the Sly Cooper games ranging from tanks, sidescrolling shooters, and the sometimes frustrating marble run.

[@Shirker12]

Kinda sad Nier:Automata didn't make the list. While I actually really enjoyed the hacking in that game, I've heard a bunch of stories about people who hated it.

[@MoonPatch]

I'd say the biggest problem with it is how effective it is So you end up using it a lot, which cuts off dialogue But aside from that I think it's actually really fun, and it gets pretty challenging too

[@maxlarsson1152]

I really like that hacking mechanic.

[@imjustagirlnotathreat2289]

Yeah the reason i hated playing as 9S -.-

[@Sheffdawg2305]

Shirker1990 I feel the same way about the hacking in feed fallout. The hacking is so simple yet I hear people complain about it being too hard. I feel like they just didn't take the time to learn it.

[@Borderlines]

Yea 9S is lame

[@MoostachedSaiyanPrince]

As uninteresting and boring as Mass Effect 2's hacking and bypass minigames were, they were still better than the one in the first Mass Effect. It was basically a series of QTE's that were about as fun as being the victim of a God of War QTE. Plus you could bypass every single one of them using Omnigel! Even Bioware realized how unfun this was and gave you a way to skip it by covering locks with the liquefied remains of your old weapons and armor!

[@joenesvick7043]

Hey, despite my lack of experiencing the PC version with frogger (just gotta press ABXY), wasn’t slapping Omni-gel on everything still an option? Liara: “That security upgrade made a lot of people unhappy.”

[@lnt305]

God, the Mini game in mass effect 2 was at least doable. The one in the first one made me use all my omni-gel

[@CatoNovus]

Missed Opportunity: "Was that a coding joke?" "Well, *IF* it was, *THEN* you should laugh.*

[@Kinglink]

No Alpha Protocol love/hate? Bonus points if you played on PC, because it made that hacking minigame seem to run too fast, and impossible to play.

[@valiang8867]

I personally loved playing the minigame in black flag I also enjoy all the hacking in Fallout 4

[@Heartshapedbox81]

Valian G yep the hacking in AC 4 was pretty much the only fun and tolerable thing for me when you had to get out of the Animus

[@Sol-mr1lv]

Correction: The hacking system in Fallout 4 is the same as the one in New Vegas, I don't know if it is the same in Fallout 3 I haven't played that, yet. But you are technically wrong about Bethesda developing it for Fallout 4, when it existed in previous games.

[@kcollier2192]

It was the same in FO3

[@Sol-mr1lv]

Thanks

[@mcoy6689]

I'm not sure they've changed it from the first fallout

[@No1StarWarsFangirl]

They used Fallout 4 because it's the most recent game

[@Sol-mr1lv]

GaoGaiGar-The-King They spoke about it as if it was developed exclusively for Fallout 4.

[@IronicCliche]

The Fallout 4 one is actually based on a real life method of hacking. Several internet systems had errors that made your password displayed in their coder if you knew where to look.

[@lzmc9707]

repeat { while not(ellen.exe status == makingcodingjoke) { wait == 10(); } then { exec dont_understand.emt(); } }

[@Reilly-K]

There _is_ a game that successfully makes the task of hacking interesting and fun, and it's called *TRON 2.0: Killer App* I friggin' love that game... Still have it for my Xbox Classic (formerly known as the 'Xbox one').

[@hudsonball4702]

GTA V HACKING!!!!! it's as basic and boring as you can get!!!!

[@MindFlayeR57]

fleeca job heist hack i still want the 3 hours of my life back

[@Megalopros]

what about Nier: Automata? hacking was just a pseudo bullet hell shmup that was really easy, i get that it is an action game but come on, crates too?. even against a horde of enemies it was OP and i never used 9S melee because of it (and it doesnt help that you had to wait an entire playthrough to hack even though 9S was right there)

[@donhooplah]

I really liked this. Yeah it was overpowered (shouldn't have been so powerful against multiple enemies) but it was at the very least dynamic and not completely removed from the rest of the action. And getting a whole load of new abilities on the second play through is awesome and shouldn't be complained about. I think that game is the best game we've had in a long time (with the exception of the Witcher maybe?)

[@lnsflare1]

There was hacking going on in the first playthrough, you just couldn't do it yourself since you weren't 9S then. And I found that it being so powerful counters the fact that 9S can only equip one weapon at a time. Not to mention that it goes a long way towards explaining why 2B was capable of surviving situations that apparently killed tons of YorHa Androids before she arrived: she was being backed up by Death incarnate to anything with an operating system.

[@carlackersii]

Never knew about that bracket thing in Fallout 3. Would have been nice

[@PhobosDynami]

Am I weird if I like most of these? And I liked the circuit bypass in Mass Effect, I actually use my electric science degree since the symbols are close to a real circuit diagram (they at least make sense).

[@liquidminds]

there are a couple of pretty cheap hacking-games on steam that have quite interesting concepts for hacking. I think Hacknet used different types of protections for systems and you had to collect the hacks to use on them. Basically breaking into weaker systems to unlock skills that let you break into more complex systems. I kinda liked that approach. I also played mu complex and uplink, but they didn't stick out as much.

[@DeathGodRiku]

If Bioshock isn't on here, I will riot *edit* Ok, we're good

[@AlmightyPolarBear]

If you look at the thumbnail it featured Bioshock 1. P.S. I enjoyed its hacking.