It happens with a frustrating reliability: a single player game RPG (you choose if the ‘R’ stands for ‘role’ or ‘roll’) is released that contains a large world to explore and threads of emergent gameplay, leading to a large number of people wonder why they don’t see the same in the massively multiplayer online space. … Continue reading
Bitching About Odd Narrative Things In Batman: Arkham City
I completed Batman: Arkham City (B:AC) recently, including the Catwoman DLC narrative content. There’s been a bit of controversy about the game’s narrative, but I wanted to experience things first hand before commenting on them (which is unusual on the internet, I know, and I promise it won’t become a trend). There will be SPOILERS … Continue reading
The Party Was A Bust: The Short Life of Playboy Party
Back in May 2009, I wrote an entry that covered the announcement of Jolt Online’s Playboy MMO and how no-one cared about it. Following that article, I’d kept half an eye on the (now offline) official site because I was interested in seeing what actually happened with the title. And I waited. And waited. And … Continue reading
McNamara On LA Noire Development: “Nobody Died Making It”
Brendan McNamara, former head of now-defunct Team Bondi, has been interviewed by Eurogamer. Part of that interview covered the end of the studio and his opinion about some of the allegations levelled at him as the head of the studio as being a “bully” among other things. You can read the interview here, but be … Continue reading
Cheap Internet Filler: Enter Telephone (Lady Gaga ft Beyonce vs Metallica)
I’ve got two long-ish posts in the wings, but neither of them are quite ready. Batman: Arkham City has been getting in the way. So for a musical interlude: Lady Gaga vs Metallica in a mashup. I don’t get Lady Gaga as a music phenomenon, but love this mashup. It’s a hell of a combination.
Baby Got Cat – Batman: Arkham City’s DLC Follow-Up
It took about three days, mostly due to time differences, but I received a working Catwoman DLC code from Chris Z. at Warner Brothers Support. So thank you, Chris Z. I’ll do a longer post on Batman: Arkham City at some point after I’ve finished it. It’s a fun game with an odd narrative tone … Continue reading
Spammers Say The Nicest Things
My post on the unholy crossing of gaming journalism and celebrity journalism obviously triggered some sort of spambot spider sense – I’ve received about 20x more spam on that article than I have anything else I’ve written. And the spammers were so nice about it. “Great post!” they’d say. “You am really am are professional … Continue reading
The Trouble With Cats – Batman: Arkham City’s DLC Issue
Having won some money on the sweeps from the Melbourne Cup, I went off and bought a copy of Batman: Arkham City. I was fully aware that a new copy of Batman: Arkham City came with a code that unlocked the Catwoman sections to play through. I enter the code fresh from the box. “This … Continue reading
The Creepiest Video Game Character in History
In honour of Halloween, it’s time for the creepiest video game character in history. Who could it be? Alma from the FEAR series? The Long-Armed Man from Fatal Frame / Project Zero? Doorman from Silent Hill 2? Nope. It’s Watson. Yes, Watson, as in “Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson”. Don’t believe me? Feast your eyes: … Continue reading
Goodbye, Joker! An Issue With Big Name Voice Over Talent
Mark Hamill has officially called it a day on the Joker voice which is a role that he’s made his own for near on two decades. For people of a particular age / interest in Batman, his Joker voice is pretty much the definitive characterisation for the Clown Prince of Crime, first appearing in the … Continue reading
World Class Villains 