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. In a PC gaming era when the first-person shooter was king, Quake was set to push expectations beyond what anyone dreamed.

With the names behind the game, it’s impossible to imagine the hype being anything less than immense. id Software had practically invented the genre (at least as the market then recognised it) in 1992 with Wolfenstein 3D. Then in 1993…

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.

For us, back to work as usual.
The little ones to daycare, school.
Some things never change.
For him, appointments, doctors.
Mum, stressed, worried for the future.
Some things change.

How are you? We’re alright.
How am I? I’m alright.
Some things never change.
It’s me that’s calling every day now.
It’s me that’s…

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. In fact, I even enjoyed Mass Effect 3, although I admittedly did not play it until after BioWare released the Extended Cut DLC that addressed the critically panned ending.

What makes the Mass Effect series great is that it really captures the fundamental elements of pulpy sci-fi stories of eras gone by. Commander Shephard, depending on how you play the character, can be like a…

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 and Russian revolutions, as well as seasons dedicated to the European revolutions of 1848, the Paris Commune, the July Revolution, and Simon Bolivar and the South American wars of independence.

The so-called Age of Enlightenment is a period of history I find incredibly fascinating, but this hasn’t always been the…

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 of the thousands of custom Unreal Tournament maps released by map designers (a.k.a. “mappers"). Map design in Unreal Tournament was one of the game’s greatest strengths, and for a custom map to receive the blessing of none other than the creator of the game was every mapper’s dream. One of…

This week I’ve eschewed the PC to take some time working through the console Pile of Shame. I have, throughout my life, primarily been a PC gamer, but have owned consoles from time to time. Most recently, I was lucky enough to secure an Xbox Series X, and alongside playing Cyberpunk 2077, I’ve been gradually working through a couple of series, one new and one old, that have been sitting on my Pile of Shame — Yakuza and Halo.

Yakuza 0 (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, 2017)

So, you might have noticed that there was no “Week 8” of this series. Well, as it turns out, I was tragically crook last week and was simply not in a state to do any writing. So, there goes the New Year’s Resolution out the window, right? Of course not. If we give up on something at the first stumble, then we weren’t really ever committed.

Of course, another important part of taking on a challenge is to be honest — with yourself most of all. And while I definitely was too sick to do any writing, I have to…

The year was 2009. RPGs hadn’t disappeared, they never really have. But it had been a long time since a gripping, story-driven fantasy epic had really taken the industry by storm. Then, in November, BioWare released Dragon Age: Origins.

It was every bit the epic fantasy that they had promised, and everyone so desperately craved. Deep, meaningful character creation and origin stories that were varied and had significant impact on the gameplay. Mature and interesting character development. A central plot that masterfully balanced high and low fantasy. Beautiful graphics, detailed environments and a complex combat and spellcasting system. Amazing voice…