Home // 2010 // March

After Hours returns with special guest, me!

March 20, 2010 Reply

Popular late night internet radio show After Hours returns to netGameRadio tonight with the first episode of season 2. Bench, Josh, and the rest of the NGR crew are joined by yours truly to discuss the latest in video games. So be sure to listen in tonight, however if you do miss out you can also subscribe to the show on iTunes. While your there check out episode 12 for the epic finale of last season and my first appearance on the show.

UPDATE: The show is now available for download from netGameRadio.com and iTunes.

Interview: Yug from The Mana Bar

March 18, 2010 3 comments

I was recently up in Brisbane visiting friends, one of which was Australian Gamer’s own Yug, and I decided to do an a quick interview with for mentioned Yug about the new video game bar, The Mana Bar, he is opening there with his good friends Yahtzee (of Zero Punctuation), Shay, and Pras.

Thanks to Yug for taking the time. The Mana Bar is looking to be a great venue, so if you’re in Brisbane this weekend be sure to go check it out.

MANA BAR GRAND OPENING

Australia’s first Video Game Bar

Saturday, 20 March
Midday to Midnight

FREE ENTRY, FREE GAMES

* Play the upcoming locally developed unreleased game Raskulls
* Gamer themed cocktails
* Wii Sports Resort, Guitar Hero, Street Fighter IV & MORE!
* Live entertainment inside AND outside
* Meet the Little Sister & Mad Moxy and win 2K Games prizes
* Meet local developers
* Challenge Yahtzee at Guitar Hero and Junglist at FIFA to win Activision and EA prizes!

For more info on The Mana Bar and it’s grand opening check out the links below.

http://www.manabar.com.au/
http://www.twitter.com/themanabar
http://www.facebook.com/themanabar

Review: Heavy Rain

March 11, 2010 Reply

Developer: Quantic Dream
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Available on: Playstation 3

The long awaited and greatly hyped Playstation 3 exclusive Heavy Rain is finally here. Is it as great and game-changing as we’d all been promised? Well, unfortunately no.

It’s just about impossible to talk about the game without spoiling the plot so I’ll try to keep this review as focused as possible on the mechanics and design.

You play as four people, weaving in and out of each others lives, who have all been touched in some way by the Origami Killer. A person who has been gripping the city with fear the past three years and whose modus operandi is to kidnap young boys, drown them in rainwater, then leave the bodies to be found by the railroad tracks with a small origami animal left in one hand and an orchid laying across their chest. Yep, if you hadn’t have guessed it already the world of Heavy Rain is made from pretty grim stuff.

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Review: Dark Void

March 9, 2010 4 comments

Developer – Airtight Games
Publisher – CAPCOM
Available on – Xbox 360, PS3,PC
Reviewed on – Xbox 360

Dark Void is a refreshing new IP developed by near unheard of Airtight Games and published by CAPCOM. The game takes place during the dawn of the second world war. It follows the story of a cargo pilot William Augustus Grey, who crashes into the Bermuda triangle and winds up in an inescapeable dementional in-between called ‘the Void’ in which a highly technologically advanced species of other-dimensional aliens called ‘Watchers’ rule. Will joins a resistance of people trapped in the void, including Nikola Tesla (father of commercial electricity), and accompanied by a love interest from his past (Eva), he must fight for his survival and search for a way out of ‘the Void’.

The game introduces a number of interesting game mechanics, including a jet-pack, and a strange verticle fighting mechanic, in which you cover behind ledges as you climb up and down cliffs or buildings. The game begins without a jet-pack on a jungle island where your plane has crashed, for the first forty minutes or so you fight against Watcher guards as you are led to a village of surviving humans. During this part the game plays very much like a poor-man’s Uncharted, this is not hurt by the fact that Will is voiced by Nolan North. Once you reach the village you meet with Nikola Tesla and he asks you to help him collect some parts for an invention of his he is working on, he gives you a proto-type jet-pack he has been working on to help you obtain the parts, this is where the game gets interesting.

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Canned Geek Podcast – Episode 35: Slightly Less Racist

March 1, 2010 Reply

The Canned Geek Podcast is a monthly geek-culture podcast featuring Will Owen and Kyle Evans from Canned Geek and Myself.

The theme of this month was politics and technology in Australia, starting with AFACTs ludicris lawsuit against iiNet where they attempted to place the blame of users committing piracy on the internet provided. Then we discuss the current media business model and advertising before moving onto the next topic: how the South Australian government placed a ban on anonymous commenting. Then we discuss Good Game’s rather good coverage of the R18 video game issue and then we add our much-needed thoughts on the usefulness or uselessness of Apple’s new gizmo: the iPad.

You can download the podcast and see the full show notes at the Canned Geek website.