For those outside of Australia, it’s very expensive to buy video games within Australia. The Australian Consumer’s Association has presented a submission to a parliamentary enquiry about that difference in cost. For those in the US: right now I can buy L.A. Noire for AU$108 off EBGames.com.au. (It’s AU$110 in stores when I checked last … Continue reading
Filed under Controversy …
SOE Back Up, But Don’t Tell Anyone
So, after being down for almost two weeks, Sony Online Entertainment is back up (in some places, anyway). After a lot of complaints about SOE’s ability to communicate with its customers, here’s a reassuring sign: SOE is bad in communicating with its staff too. I get why any relaunch was quiet: SOE doesn’t want a … Continue reading
Duke Nukem Forever: Duke Nukem, Makes You Feel…
I had a “say what?” moment recently when reading some of Randy Pitchford’s further comments about the character of Duke Nukem. And how Tony Stark slaps around women. Here’s the quote. “In this case, Duke is like a Tony Stark style character,” begins Pitchford. “You just played the Capture the Babe mode – you know … Continue reading
R18+ Classification in Australia: When We Give, We Also Take Away
When I wrote that Australia probably wasn’t going to be seeing an R18+ classification for games soon at the end of last year, I hadn’t considered that perhaps one Attorney-General (basically: head government advisor about State / Territory law) might try to go it alone. For the rating to apply Australia-wide, all the Attorney-Generals need … Continue reading
Duke Nukem Forever: Respect Yo’ Momma, Slap The Rest
Part of me is dreading the launch of Duke Nukem Forever. As a horribly misogynistic, outdated franchise that is more remembered for containing pixellated boobs and ripping off Bruce Campbell than great gameplay (and for a game development cycle from hell) it is something that should have died off long ago. Sadly, no – Gearbox … Continue reading
PvP and the Mutually Exclusive Dilemma
Inspired by Keen’s RIFT post on the subject of PvP:
Mortal Kombat: Flawless PR Work, But…
Warner Brother Interactive Entertainment’s approach of “we failed the first time, but here is the same thing again but this time we’ll point out how wrong you are” around getting Mortal Kombat classified in Australia hasn’t worked, with MK being refused classification a second time. WBIE then thanked “the thousands of Mortal Kombat fans in … Continue reading
Full Contact Coin Collecting: Untold Entertainment Exploits GDC 2011 Panel
It’s a great story: Ryan Creighton finds a way to hold the most coins in order to win a spot to rant at a GDC panel – he manages to get his hand on one of the coin bags, then holds onto it. When it comes time to check who the winner he, he is … Continue reading
An Open Letter To WBIE re. Mortal Kombat
Dear Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment, I have noted with interest your reactions to the recent news that Mortal Kombat has been refused classification in Australia. It probably wasn’t a surprise to you in the slightest; there was a pretty high potential for a game with slo-mo bone breaking and a focus on brutal finishing moves … Continue reading
Dead Island: Where Creative and Design Clash
A wonderful trailer for the long-in-gestation zombie title Dead Island was released a few days ago – it manages to portray the terror of zombie invasion in a very artful way. It’s a bit gory, but it is a very well crafted trailer that shifts the focus away from how awesome zombie killing is to … Continue reading
World Class Villains 