Glitching in video games has become as common place as playing the game itself. Glitching refers to trying to using mistakes in the game programming in order to accomplish something that you would not normally accomplish. This can be many things depending on the type of game you are playing.
In role playing games (RPG) and first person shooters (FPS) this can be venturing into places that the creators didn't intend for you to go, or changing some of the characteristics of your character or his equipment.
My first memory of intentional glitching in a video game was in Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64. Of those of you who remember the game, it revolved mostly around collecting the "power stars" and unlocking new doors. Once your received 120 power stars a cannon outside would open and you would be able to shoot up to the roof of the castle. However it was found out that if you jumped in the pond next to the cannon you could swim through the ground and into the cannon before you received 120 stars. The development of console fps turned glitching into commonplace.
My favorite glitching game is the Halo series. Mostly because the tricks and glitches are spread rapidly by all of the games fans. In the original halo on almost every single campaign level you could either simply walk out of the maps parameters or use a co op player to help you out. In the level Assault on the Control Room you could simply jump back in the pelicans that drop you off, and fly away with them, or you could venture out into the ocean to probably what would be the equivalent of 1 or 2 miles out. I also remember in the multiplayer level Sidewinder you could ramp a ghost off of a tank and fly "out" of the map.
With the onset of Halo 2, glitching went to a new high. Many sites were created such as High Impact Halo that were dedicated to finding and extorting many glitches. The first to be discovered were "super bounces", which usually involved crouching under an object and then jumping onto a certain spot. This resulted in the player being launch hundreds of feet in the air. These could be found on ever multiplayer map as well as most campaign maps.
There were perhaps thousands of different glitches that were found in Halo 2,not because of a lack of quality of the game programming, but simply the sheer number of people that were looking for them. A few of the cooler glitches are, making a clone of yourself, picking up three of four weapons instead of the usual two. Changing the color and effects of guns, objects and scenery in the game world.
In short, glitching in video games has been a rewarding experience for those of us who want to venture away from the norm, and try something not intended for us to do.
