Why I started writing about games, and why I’ll never stop, whether I have a million readers or three
If you’re reading this, then you are probably one of a handful of people who are. If you don’t personally know me, you’ve probably come across this article because I made the effort to share it to a gaming-related group I’m part of on social media. …
What happens to MMO communities when the industry moves on?
There is a particular genre of games that, in my eyes, stands as so unique that they can scarcely be referred to simply as games. …
Way back in 1999, Minh “Gooseman” Le and Jess “Cliffe” Cliffe released Counter-Strike, a mod for Valve’s Half-Life. Within a couple of years, Counter-Strike had become one of the most successful and popular multiplayer games of all time, and it’s popularity marked a shift in the first-person shooter genre towards…
More than ever, this is the game that could sink the franchise
The Grand Theft Auto series is nothing short of a games industry legend. No one could have predicted that 1996’s top-down chaos simulator from Scottish developer DMA Design would eventually become Rockstar’s golden goose that has spanned three generations of consoles, selling 145 million copies and raising an estimated US…
A country batting above its average
Australia is steadily approaching a population of 26 million, and while people in the cities might complain about traffic and crowds, the reality is that we’ve a tiny population compared to the size our sun-blasted land.
It might come as some surprise, then, that Australia’s contribution to creative fields has…
Many games are claimed to be “revolutionary”. Quake was one of the few that truly was.
On June 22, 1996, id Software released Quake. While the industry in 1996 was only a fraction of the size of today’s indie sector alone, it seemed the hype for Quake had seeped into every corner, and rightly so. …
The phone rings.
It’s mum and dad.
Some things never change.
A family of my own now.
Kids I’ll one day hassle myself.
Some things change.
How am I? I’m alright.
What about you? We’re alright.
Some things never change.
Dad is sick.
Really sick this time.
Some things change.
…
Managing expectations with a critical look at one of the modern era’s most beloved series; what it is, and what it isn’t.
I love BioWare’s Mass Effect series. I’ve played through it several times, and have had fun every time. It’s a great series, and captures so much of what people love about the science fiction genre. …
I’m currently about a quarter of the way through season 10 of Mike Duncan’s podcast, Revolutions. The podcast details the course of societal upheavals that result in sweeping cultural, economic, political and social change — beginning with the English Civil War in 1642, followed by the American, French, Haitian, Mexican…
Back in the early 2000s, when the kings of multiplayer shooters were Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament, there was a site hosted by GameSpy’s PlanetUnreal.com called CliffyB’s 0wnage. CliffyB is also known as Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer of the Unreal series, and his site was dedicated to reviewing some…
