Half sports tournament, half trade show, all technology, all vaguely foreign to him. This is gaming editor’s Sam Brooks’ diary of the Intel Extreme Masters tournament in Sydney. If you don’t need to be convinced that eSports are a thing, skip down to Day One. If you need to be convinced, read on. The Intel … Read more
Commute Week: If you’re tired of scrolling through your bleak Facebook feed or your even bleaker Twitter roll, Adam Goodall has a few ideas to distract you from the mindless grind that is your commute. Look, I know. It’s hard to play Pokémon Go on public transport. You’re sitting on your Link bus going 50 … Read more
All that glitters is not golden, and the websites of our youth are no exception. Baz Macdonald explores the dark underside of not-so-pure browser-based games Neopets and Habbo Hotel. It’s 2001 and your intermediate class are in the computer suite. You’re supposed to be researching how grass grows, or something like that, but looking around the room … Read more
The recipients of the Play By Play International Games Festival’s Te Maunga Kai Kapua Awards Mario Wynands and Niamh Fitzgerald, talk with Adam Goodall about Final Fantasy VII and the future of game development in New Zealand. In 1997 – “20 years, 11 months and one week ago, but who’s counting” – Mario Wynands co-founded … Read more
It’s a new Dungeons and Dragons podcast set in the most fantastical setting of all…a crappy high school. Welcome to Waterdeep Mountain High, a below average school in the mystical land of Faerun. In this first episode, plucky teens Forrest Rivers and Kate Shepperd, their plucky teacher Hillardo Morrison, and plucky (psychotic) exchange student-goblin Peng, … Read more
As gamers grow up, so does gaming. Baz MacDonald writes about how gaming is maturing along with the people who play them, and what that means for the medium. Despite video games being one of the world’s biggest entertainment industries, there is still an undeniable stigma in telling some people you play video games – … Read more
For years, the larger centres in Aotearoa have had a headlock on the competitive gaming scene. But with the Waikato Arena Rampage, that’s all about to change. Horiana Henderson reports. In the ‘80s cool cats toted big square box ghettoblasters around. Nowadays, top dogs of the New Zealand fighting game community carry a big square … Read more
The latest addition to the vast and sprawling Harry Potter canon is out, and it’s a mobile game. Alice Webb-Liddall heads to Hogwarts in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. Apart from a very out of character (hungover) day last weekend when I played Little Big Planet non-stop for 10 hours, I’m not much of a gamer. I get … Read more
An epic tale of Scandinavian myths and the father-son duo that fight them, God of War is a defining AAA game that pushes the boundaries graphically and thematically. Don Rowe reviews. I wrote last month about German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s theory of the sublime, and how a select few games have transcended the medium by embodying it’s … Read more
The third annual Play By Play International Games Festival is spilling out across Wellington this week. Adam Goodall played all 16 contenders for awards at the festival… for 16 minutes each. If you’re a gamer who lives in Wellington it’s been hard to miss this week’s Play By Play events – a full-day conference of … Read more
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today: what is this Fortnite: Battle Royale thing that your kids keep talking about? Gaming editor Sam Brooks has you covered. So what… is it? Fortnite: Battle Royale is a video game developed and released by Epic Games! Think Pong, … Read more
Xbox have announced a re-release slate of old games, including one that is little spoken of now: the mythic Chinese fantasy Jade Empire. Sam Brooks writes about the game’s reception 13 years ago, and why it’s all but forgotten now. It’s 2005. BioWare are coming off Knights of the Old Republic, a Star Wars RPG that … Read more
From April 26, approximately 3% of all original Xbox games will be available in their original form on the Xbox One. That’s more than you can play on the Playstation 4 – but still far, far from what we hoped for, writes Adam Goodall. On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that they’d be bringing 19 games from … Read more
Rampage hits cinemas this week, and you might be surprised to learn it’s based on a popular video game. Gaming novice Alex Casey saw the film without playing the game, gaming expert Sam Brooks played the game and refuses to see the movie. Alex Casey I’m no expert on gaming, giant monkeys or crisis management, but … Read more
Despite five numbered entries over eleven years, Suikoden remains a much loved but little known RPG series. Sam Brooks writes about one of his favourite video game series ever, and what makes it so special. If there’s a niche that I occupy that very few other people do, it’s that I love video games based on 14th-16th … Read more
With the latest entry in the Far Cry series, Ubisoft has shown they can master open world gameplay – but when are they going to master telling a story? Sam Brooks reviews. Far Cry 5 starts off engagingly enough. Taking a well-worn page out of the Elder Scrolls book, you’re placed in a highly controlled and cinematic scene and … Read more
Chuchel, the new game from Amanita Design, is a fun romp of a game. But why the hell is the title character perpetuating blackface? Chuchel is a little ball of dust and soot. That’s what his name means in Czech, ‘ball of hair and dust’. He’s a “fuzzy critter”, a “hairy ball of uncontrolled emotion”. He’s … Read more
A game where two dudes break out of prison isn’t groundbreaking, but A Way Out still tries to play with expectations. But is it successful? Sam Brooks reviews. About a third of the way into A Way Out’s five hours there’s a classic co-op game moment. You and your heroes have to navigate your way up two opposing … Read more
In the space of 13 years, the Yakuza series has turned from a clone underdog into a cult classic, and the latest game is their most anticipated yet. Sam Brooks reviews Yakuza 6. It’s 2005. I’m wandering in the United Video in Papakura trying to find a game to rent out for the weekend – … Read more
The latest from Sam Barlow pushes the form of both video games and TV – but the writing lags behind it, Sam Brooks writes. Back in 2015, I was a big fan of Her Story, creator-writer Sam Barlow’s award-winning game that precedes the recently released #WarGames. In Her Story, you were left to figure out … Read more
Back by lukewarm demand, On The Reg is The Spinoff’s regular gaming session streamed live! This highlights package sees Sam Brooks and Rhys Mathewson play Sea of Thieves, the highly anticipated game from Rare Studios, make the ill-advised decision to play it solo, and somehow manage to have fun anyway? This post, like all our gaming … Read more
Through clever manipulation of scale and mythos, the latest iteration of God of War makes the most of Immanuel Kant’s theory of the sublime to deliver a truly beautiful game. Don Rowe travelled to Sydney to gets his hands on a preview. German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s theory of the sublime, devised in what I’d imagine … Read more
On Thursday night, a now iconic trio came together to play a video game and broadcast it to the world: Popular Twitch streamer Ninja, hip hop superstar Drake, and controversial New Zealand dance musician and political dilettante Kim Dotcom. Adam Goodall was watching. Wildly popular Twitch streamer Ninja and hip hop superstar Drake had been … Read more
The Allegory of the Cave, and Madden: Haimona Gray muses on how the two are actually pretty similar, using his own (limited) experience with sport and his (not-so-limited) experience with sports video games. I have never dunked in real life. Plato probably didn’t either. What makes Plato and I different – besides location, era, and cleanliness … Read more
The new Tomb Raider film comes out this week with a bright new reboot and plot. Sam Brooks goes back eighteen years to see what made the first films so successful – and how they’ve ruined video game movies ever since. A blocky 540-polygon woman with triangular breasts wanders through a snowy hallway; she’s in a cave … Read more
Sam Brooks is a devoted consumer of Let’s Plays – to the point where he uses them to sleep. He explains what it is about narrated playthroughs, and one kind in particular, that he loves so much. If you’ve been living in one of the many corners of the internet where people don’t watch other … Read more
Tof Eklund goes deep on the historical context and significance of Dandara, a newly released Metroidvania-style game about the famous-in-Brazil folk hero. I was certain, from the first screenshot I saw of Dandara, that there were layers to the world and narrative of Brazilian studio Long Hat House’s jump-warping Metroidvania. Reviewers seemed not to care, noting that … Read more
In January, Sam Brooks made a studio visit to Rare Studios outside Birmingham in the UK to play the studio’s game Sea of Thieves, currently in open beta. He tells the story of an enchanting and slightly bizarre trip with a group of gregarious goofs. You start off in a bar, with four strangers around you. … Read more
Romance of the Three Kingdoms addict Sam Brooks has spent a lot of hours on Dynasty Warriors 9 and it’s… not good. So why can’t he put it down? Dynasty Warriors 9 is not a good game. I know that. The critical drubbing it has received, even from fans, has been huge. A lot of these are … Read more