Fable is best remembered for the disastrous, over-the-top promises made by its designer Peter Molyneux. But maybe, Adam Goodall argues, we’re remembering it all wrong. “There is something I have to say. And I have to say it because I love making games.” So opens an October 2004 post on the Lionhead Studios forum written … Read more
Lee Henaghan travelled to Canada for a special Gears 5 preview event at The Coalition studios in Vancouver. Could this be a return to form for the game that gave the world the chainsaw bayonet? Franchises, sequels, spinoffs, reboots, remakes and remasters – for an industry supposedly built on innovation and creativity, modern gaming is … Read more
Crackdown 3 is one of the most notoriously delayed games of all time, but it’s finally out next week. Lee Henaghan caught up with the game’s top creative talent to find out if it’s going to be worth the wait. With the possible exception of Hollywood, there is no industry more obsessed and fixated on … Read more
The fourth instalment of the globetrotting Horizon Festival is the series’ most ambitious effort yet. Lee Henaghan took the open world racer for a test drive ahead of its October 2 release. When the first Forza Horizon was released in 2012, it was seen as a light-hearted spinoff looking to capitalise on the popularity of … 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
This weekend Minecraft had its very own global live streamed convention, Minecon Earth, in which new developments and updates for the game were announced. Jessica Alouette talked to corporate VP Matt Booty about the big picture. Minecraft’s next evolution is called “The Update Aquatic” and will be focusing on the wildly popular game’s ocean environments to add coral, … Read more
There’s a new version of the Xbox out and its makers reckon it’s the most powerful home console out there, complete with 4K output and very high FPS. José Barbosa gives the One X a hoon. Regardless of the context and circumstances, when you get your hands on a new console it’s a good buzz. … Read more
Welcome to Top of the Pile, a gaming series in which the participants are forced to play a game at the top of the ‘just released’ list. This week José and guest Joseph Harper actually play a game they might be good at: Tour de France 2017. Joseph is a dedicated cycling nut, so we … Read more
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road set the standard for our current film fetish for post-apocalyptic desolation. Ashen, the first game from Wellington-based Aurora44, looks to do the same thing with games. Don Rowe speaks to CEO Derek Bradley and Animation Director Simon Dasan about the maturation of game design. You might expect that a game developed in Avalon Studios, … Read more
Resident death artist and rampager Morbid Slang Angel 69 gets his blackened fingers on Dead Rising 4. The zombie murder-thon series has many fans and one of those is The Spinoff’s own Morbid Slang Angel 69. Here he outlines his favourite kills after a week with the game. It’s pretty safe to say there’s plenty … Read more
Got a hankering for a bit of split-screen co-op? Tough bikkies, writes Don Rowe, because local multiplayer is all but dead. There once was a time where myself and several associates kept Griffins afloat in the snack business. Slouched hideously forward and wrapped in blankets like miser pilgrims, we’d play the Halo 2 campaign from start … Read more