Video games on The Broughall Shuffle

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 09:41:51 +1000

Rock Band 4 will be delisted this weekend, with its DLC to follow THE LICENSES FOR THE GAME’S CORE SOUNDTRACK WILL EXPIRE ON ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY

-https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/rock-band-4-will-be-delisted-this-weekend-with-its-dlc-to-follow/

Damn. Better go spend some money on all the tracks I never got around to buying before it’s too late.

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 21:45:29 +1000

Before Christmas, I got to the final mission in Star Wars Outlaws. Instead of playing it, I decided I would explore and do some extra side missions.

Friends, I haven’t played it since. Instead I’ve been playing FC24 and WWE 2K24, and enjoying both way more than I should.

I feel guilty about it, too.

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 22:09:30 +1000

I just smashed through two consecutive decks in Balatro and now I feel like the greatest human that ever lived.

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 19:21:41 +1000

I’ve spent the past few hours listening to Nintendo Music and I have to say, the urge to go and play Nintendo is strong.

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 10:01:13 +1000

So after finishing Jedi Survivor last week, I decided to move straight into Star Wars: Outlaws. It’s been a bit slow to start, but I’m actually really okay with that. I like exploring, and trying to discover things on my own, rather than chasing icons on a map.

I finally finished Jedi Survivor yesterday

Sat, 26 Oct 2024 10:23:24 +1000

It was pretty fantastic. The Jedi games are great additions to the Star Wars universe.

I won’t spoil anything, but the twist towards the end got me - I was not expecting it at all! I still feel it…

Can’t wait for the third game. I’ll play Outlaws next, and hope they captured the magic of a galaxy far, far away there as well. 🎮

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 10:11:16 +1000

I am really keen to play Star Wars Outlaws. Regardless of the reviews, I’m pretty sure it’s exactly my style of game.

But, I only started Jedi Survivor not that long ago. It’s going to be a while before I get to Outlaws…

How L.A. Noire Conquered The Uncanny Valley With Aussie Technology Depth Analysis (Gizmodo Republish)

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 15:12:08 +1000

With the shuttering of Gizmodo Australia, I’m pulling a few of my favourite articles over here for safekeeping. Hopefully this won’t upset any of the Copyright Gods, as I don’t own the Copyright. But given the current owners are shuttering the publication I want to make sure this stuff isn’t lost forever.

Originally Published: December 17, 2010 at 8:00 am

From the moment Rockstar unveiled their trailer for upcoming detective thriller, L.A. Noire from Aussie developers Team Bondi, we’ve known that the bar for motion capture in video games has not only been raised, but sent through the roof. Animators have been flirting with the edge of the uncanny valley for years, but now using some incredibly intelligent and advanced technology, the guys from Team Bondi have created the 21st century version of Pinocchio, turning digital game characters into realistic, animated people. A few weeks ago, we got to see the technology behind this amazing step forward up close.

“Match me, Sydney”

– Sweet Smell of Success, 1957

You’d never know it from the outside of the nondescript building in Culver City in Los Angeles, but the US home of Australian company Depth Analysis houses some of the world’s most advanced motion capture technology. Dubbed “MotionScan”, the technology is a combination of high definition facial scanning and intelligent algorithms that can capture high definition video of an actor’s face in stunning, true-to-life detail, and then convert it to a virtual three-dimensional head for placement within the game.

The story of how this Australian technology came to be is almost as impressive as the end result. The brainchild of Team Bondi founder Brendan McNamara, Depth Analysis began its life back in 2004 as a small research project. According to Rockstar VP of Development Jeronimo Barrera, it was born from a longing to capture more detail in the motion capture studio.

“Brendan had a lot of experience with motion capture and he wanted to be able to capture performances, meaning the face. Doing traditional motion capture you’re capturing the bones, and he didn’t want to capture what was on the inside, he wanted to capture what was on the outside. So they came up with a plan and he and Oliver Bao developed MotionScan, which is now called Depth Analysis.”

The road from research project to functional technology has been a long one. Despite the fact Team Bondi and Depth Analysis have been developing the Motionscan technology since 2004, it was only this year that they actually began filming actors in the studio for L.A. Noire. Since January, more than 400 actors have been put through the Depth Analysis capture room and more than 2200 pages of script have been acted out for the game. Aaron Staton, who plays the game’s lead protagonist, Cole Phelps, has put in more than 80 hours of MotionScan filming himself.

“Louie, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship”

– Casablanca, 1942

At the centre of the seemingly magical setup that makes the entire scanning process possible is a soundproof and lightproof room, kitted out with a very precisely aligned 32 camera rig in a 360 degree arrangement around the actor’s central chair. Like a scene from Kubrik’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the room is uniformly lit in a bright, sterile white light, to ensure that there are absolutely no dark spots on the actor’s face. Having a well lit subject is essential to the technology working.

The 32 Machine Vision cameras are very precisely positioned in pairs around the chair, like numbers around a roulette wheel. Even the slightest bump of the rig could offset the alignment, and fixing it can take up to four hours for each pair. The setup – which was moved from Sydney to LA over the Christmas holiday period last year – took Head of Research and Development at Depth Analysis Oliver Bao over ten 16-20 hour days to install the 1000-plus pieces in the rig. Each $6,000 camera is capable of sending 1080p video at 30 frames per second directly to the server room simultaneously, which can then be turned into a status scan in as little as 15 minutes. Bao tells us they’re the same cameras NASA uses during space shuttle launches to give them a few seconds of footage before melting away.

Each camera is fixed focused on the actor, who has to sit extremely still and act with their face – there’s only about 50cm worth of leeway for head movement during the acting process – which makes it a tough proposition for the actors involved. One of the main reasons the studio was moved from Sydney to LA was because many of the Australian actors being used in the early days struggled to manage the US accent while sitting extremely still. While on the chair, the actors have to wear an orange shirt with three green balls attached, which act as reference points for the development team back in Sydney when they add the Depth Analysis footage to the motion captured acting done at a separate facility.

“It’s very streamlined. We get geometry, colour, plus body orientation and voice, and it’s all recorded in one go. [The dots]are to track where your vertebrae is, so you know where the neck join is in animation, we use those three points to deduct it, And once it’s found, we just plunk the head onto an animation like a Lego head” explains Bao.

In addition to the 32 camera setup, there’s a 33rd camera that connects directly to an adjacent room for the director to watch the performance in real time and a screen which can display the script for the actor, play back footage or allow the actor to see the director in the next room. A lapel microphone and reference mic makes sure the actor’s voice is properly captured without any popping or background noise.

Considering the amount of data coming in from 32 FullHD cameras, the server setup in Depth Analysis is breathtaking. Nine servers, each capable of 300MB/s speeds, are used for the video recording (although the ninth server is redundant), while a 45TB buffer sits alongside the server tower, working away at 650MB/s. Footage is captured to the video server, then moved to the buffer after it’s been edited, before being copied to tape and sent back to Sydney to be processed.

“Experience has taught me never to trust a policeman. Just when you think one’s all right, he turns legit”

– The Asphalt Jungle, 1950

The Depth Analysis setup is capable of capturing 50 minutes worth of footage in a day. That may not sound like a lot, but compared to a traditional motion capture setup’s 10 to 15 minutes, it suddenly becomes a much more efficient venture. It also completely does away with the need to animate a character’s face.

“We basically just select the processing configurations, the presets, and just let it go. So there’s no character artists or animators touching up the face. We just hand it over to them to put onto the body and do the head orientation adjustments. So basically we just cut out traditional animation – it’s a lot faster this way,” explains Bao.

The end result is not just faster – it’s also breathtakingly detailed. The team from Rockstar showed us a level from L.A. Noire called “The Fallen Idol”, a case about a B-Grade actress and her 15 year old niece surviving an attempted murder at the hands of a movie producer. Just like every crime show you’ve ever watched on television, as the evidence comes to hand it becomes clear that there is more at play than just an attempted murder… There’s blackmail, rape, underground pornography and organised crime all mixed up in the case.

But what’s most striking about the mission as it was played out – and what makes LA Noire the ideal launch vehicle for a technology like MotionScan – is that the act of interrogating witnesses and suspects relies so much on the performance of the actors, and how that is shown on screen. The subtlest shift of the eyes from the actress; the slightest twitch in the character’s voice or the smug tip of a curved lip all influence your decision as a player as to whether or not you are being lied to. Unlike any video game that has ever come before it, using these facial cues is a necessary part of the gameplay, and it feels natural because the expressions are so natural.

Through either fortuitous timing or a part of some Rockstar masterplan, the Depth Analysis studio was actually reshooting scenes from The Fallen Idol mission on the day of the tour. Sitting in the reception area waiting to be shown the technology that makes the whole operation possible, an attractive young girl with a cut across her right eye walked past. The immediate thought was that she looked familiar. It took a few seconds, but eventually we realised that it was the actress who played the teenage girl, Jessica Hamilton, in The Fallen Idol mission of the game. In a city like LA you expect to see some celebrities, but you don’t necessarily expect to recognise video game characters. As the tour progressed and we watched her refilm her lines from that episode, it was an amazing just how lifelike the in-game character actually was.

An even better indication of the detail captured by the Motionscan process was watching a scene from the game being acted by a floating head – captured from an actor in the Depth Analysis chair and rendered on a screen. One scene in particular, where the character seems unsure about whether or not he actually killed someone the previous evening shows the true power of the technology. By capturing a real actor’s performance, you can see every nuanced expression, from the confused sadness in his eyes, to the quivering voice and trembling lips as he considered the weight of what he may have done, played out on a computer monitor by a floating head that could be manipulated in real time.

Thanks to Depth Analysis, L.A. Noire is already blurring the lines between video games and cinema, which is far from an easy task, as Jeronimo Barrera explains:

“We’re trying something new that’s never been done. We’re not just releasing a game – everybody looks at this who hasn’t seen it in person, even from the screenshots you look at it and go, ‘Oh, it’s GTA with Fedoras on’. But the reality is that it’s a whole new different concept, it’s a whole new way of looking at interactive entertainment. I think we’re starting to blur the lines between a television program and a video game.”

“I caught the blackjack right behind my ear. A black pool opened up at my feet. I dived in. It had no bottom.”

– Murder, My Sweet, 1944

One surprising aspect of the Depth Analysis scans in L.A. Noire is that they are pretty heavily compressed. After showing a line played out by the floating head of Aaron Staton, Oliver Bao explains:

“The raw image is actually much better quality. It’s suitable for film and post-production use. So it’s not limited to just games – This actually started as a capture for cutscenes, but we ended up using it for full game face. At the time, nobody thought this was actually possible, and nobody knew how to use it. So once it was working, people started thinking how they could actually make use of it and that became part of the core gameplay”.

Given that the technology used for L.A. Noire is so advanced and offers such a new level of immersion to gameplay, you may want to assume that it is the future direction of all games from Rockstar. Not so, according to Barrerra:

“Are we going to use MotionScan in every game? Probably not. But where it fits we will definitely use it.

“It’s kind of a hard thing to do because you look at this thing and you instantly go, ‘Oh, they’ve got this new tech, so they’re gonna do some gimmicky tech demo game’, and it’s not at all what this is. It helps, and it’s there, but it’s also the amazing writing by Brendan, it’s [Head of Production and Design at Team Bondi, Simon Wood] ’s amazing eye for detail, it’s all the artists, all the animators… It’s been a huge collaborative effort to make this thing.”

But given that LA Noire is just the first practical implementation of MotionScan, the future looks pretty bright for the small Australian company.

“We’ve only got two senior programmers and one junior programmer at this stage – it’s a very tiny team. Basically the three of us pretty much created the whole lot,” explains Bao.

“[We’re] all Australian… for now. We’re looking at setting up a permanent state studio here, and we’re also looking at doing more R&D work [in the US] as well, because we need to work more closely with clients, they need to have someone here that’s technical to work with them.”

Yet despite spending six years creating the technology and watching it slowly move from research project to a potentially game-changing motion capture technology, Bao still hasn’t subjected himself to the process.

“I refuse to. There’s nowhere to hide. Reality can be cruel and it’s not DA’s fault… That’s what I say”.

Yet for Rockstar and Team Bondi, the fact that there’s nowhere to hide will prove to be their greatest strength.

Red Dead Redemption Hands On: So I Want To Be A Cowboy (Gizmodo republish)

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 11:31:13 +1000

With the shuttering of Gizmodo Australia, I’m pulling a few of my favourite articles over here for safekeeping. Hopefully this won’t upset any of the Copyright Gods, as I don’t own the Copyright. But given the current owners are shuttering the publication I want to make sure this stuff isn’t lost forever.

Originally published: April 13, 2010 at 10:45 am

My eyes squinting as the sun rises over the harsh desert landscape, it’s time to pack up the campsite and mount up. I kick dust over the smouldering fire, holster my six shooter and get ready to take on the Wild West. I’m playing some early code of Red Dead Redemption, and I’m wishing I were a real cowboy…

##It’s all the same, only the names will change

Set in the early 1900s as America goes through a time of huge social upheaval, Rockstar’s upcoming open world game Red Dead Redemption is spectacularly gripping. It was a time when the good guys were bad guys and the bad guys could be good guys, when government was beginning to take greater control in regulating the frontier and the world was changing as industry began to revolutionise daily life.

As you gaze out, mounted on your horse and observe the dusty world as it stretches out before you, you realise this is not just Grand Theft Auto set in the Wild West. After all, there are no real cities – just shanty towns, remote houses and miles of wilderness in between. The sun rises and sets as you make your way through a world of fictional characters and fictional towns, as the weather dynamically changes from a beautiful sunset to vicious storms that leave you desperately wanting to find shelter. The level of detail – even in the early code of the game the guys at Rockstar let me have a play with – gave the impression that the game world and early 1900s frontier America wouldn’t be too different.

##Everyday, it seems we’re wasting away

There’s only so much time you can ride your horse along dusty trails, watching the spectacular vista of rock formations and tumbleweeds drifting past a field of cactus. Being an open world game where most of the landscape is, well, open, could be a sure-fire recipe to boredom. Fortunately, Red Dead Redemption is full of really clever ways to keep you interested.

The biggest, and probably most important, are the NPC interactions. As you ride along the path, you’ll encounter random situations, like a criminal about to be shot, or a woman being chased by a herd of wolves, or simply some cowboys galloping past. And you can choose to interact with them or not in any way you see fit. You can save the criminal by killing the lawmen, or you can save the cops a bullet by doing their work for them. Each action (or sometimes inaction) plays a part in your characters progression.

##Another place where the faces are so cold

The way your character is viewed by non-playing characters is managed through a combination of honour and fame, with your actions throughout the game influencing both metrics. Take down a wanted criminal by using your lasso and capturing him alive and your honour and fame meters will both grow in the positive. Kill a coach full of innocent civilians, and your honour will decrease, but your fame might rise.

As your character grows, NPCs will interact with you differently, perhaps offering discounts in stores, or challenging you to a dual.

##I’d drive all night just to get back home

Imagine every Western ever made, and what do you see? Dusty towns, wide open spaces, gunslingers drinking and gambling at a local bar. Ladies travelling around in stage coaches. Steam trains. Red Dead has got them all, and they all look spectacular. And you can enjoy them all. One action sequence shown by Rockstar has you driving a stage coach full of TNT into a fort controlled by the Mexican army. Another has you drinking in a bar. You can generally bust your way into buildings, making it a truly “open” open-world game.

##I’m a cowboy

You play as John Marston, an outlaw trying to make a proper life for himself after a heist gone wrong. You have a wife and child, and have left the criminal life behind you… At least until a couple of real nasty guys working for the government take your family hostage until such times you hunt down the other members of your old gang.

The story is still a pretty close kept secret in terms of details, but one thing that stands out is the voice acting – even in the early versions I saw and played, John Marston has the perfect cowboy voice. It also sounds insanely familiar, but I can’t place it and Rockstar won’t tell me…

##On a steel horse I ride

It wouldn’t be a western if it didn’t involve horses, and lots of them. At any time, you can whistle for your horse and have it come running to your side, ready for you to jump on and ride away. Although horses are just another animal in the RDR universe, which means they can be killed from underneath you. Just like GTA, you can hijack a man’s horse – and sometimes they’ll even be hijacked from under you. Sometimes, you’ll need a new steed, and all that will be available is a donkey.

But you can also upgrade your horse by capturing and breaking a wild horse, herds of which roam the wild. Sure, they’ll try and kick you off, but successfully breaking in a superior horse means better stamina and speed, which can mean life and death in some situations.

##I’m Wanted: Dead or Alive

Break the law, and the law will break you. Or try to, in any case. If you’re caught committing a felony, you’ll get a wanted level. It won’t go away either, and the more crimes you commit, the higher the bounty on your head. Get it high enough, and gangs of vigilantes will come hunting you, day and night, until you either pay off your debt to society or you gain a full pardon for doing something really good.

If you do develop a wanted level and gangs are hunting you, you can escape them temporarily by running. You can also aide your criminal intentions by buying and wearing a bandanna during your criminal activities, which decreases the chances of being caught significantly.

Other nice touches include only getting a wanted level for crime if you’re witnessed – after accidentally shooting an innocent horserider, his partner rode to the nearest town to inform the authorities. Had I shot his partner down, nobody would have known I was a cold blooded murderer.

##Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it’s not for days

Multiplayer free mode is a sure-fire recipe for long, sleepless nights. As the in game clock cycles from day to night and back again, you and your friends will be able to roam throughout the entire game world, either shooting each other to smithereens, or forming posses, and travelling the world to hunt, take down gang hideouts or search for rare herbs to access new areas of the map.

Each of your actions in free mode earn you XP, which helps you level up like an RPG, the benefits of which include being able to upgrade your horse and weapons as well as unlocking new challenges.

##And the people I meet always go their separate ways

Red Dead Redemption is the game Rockstar made their impressive Rage physics engine for. While it was impressive in GTA IV, the company has tweaked, fiddled and improved its performance for Red Dead. And coupled with the Euphoria character engine, the end result is realistic reactions from characters both physically and virtually. The combination means that the same scene will always be ever so slightly different, no matter how many times you play it.

It also allows for some pretty awesome sharp shooting challenges and reactions – shooting a pistol out of an enemy’s hand is the Red Dead equivalent to saying “Pwned”.

##Sometimes you tell the day by the bottle that you drink

While still a far cry from being an RPG, Red Dead does place a lot more importance on the use of items. Bandanas for improving your criminal activities, upgraded campsites and booze are all purchasable, while you can sell items you come across during your travels, either from your hunting escapades, treasure hunting experiences or stuff you just happen to stumble across.

##And times when you’re alone all you do is think

After a shootout, look up at the sky and watch as the vultures start circling above, shoot one down and it’ll launch into a sharp shooter mode, which will help your character level up.

##I walk these streets, a loaded six string on my back

The weapons in the game are actually modelled on the weapons from the early 1900s, which adds that extra level of authenticity Rockstar does so well. There’s a huge variety of firearms, including pistols, rifles, early sniper rifles, sawn-off shotguns (and regular shotguns), plus your trusty lasso and hunting knife. Not that you’ll notice the intricacies of early 20th Century ballistics as you’re blowing the head off an outlaw to collect the bounty…

##I play for keeps, ’cause I might not make it back

One of the key differentiators for Red Dead is the use of Dead Eye, a skill that slows down time and allows you to target enemies a lot more accurately. As you progress through the game, the skill develops – originally you can just slow down time, but eventually you paint targets on your enemies, allowing you to empty your pistol into a bad guy or headshot three approaching enemies effortlessly.

The best part about Dead Eye is that it works in multiplayer too, giving you that extra second or two to steal a kill from under an opponent’s nose.

##I’ve been everywhere, and I’m standing tall

Hunting down wanted criminals is a great way to earn some extra cash and fame. At police stations in various towns, the local constabulary will place wanted posters on their walls. If you want to be a bounty hunter, wander over to the wall and grab the poster – you’ll pop it in your pocket and a waypoint will be placed on your map.

You get a lot more fame and honour if you capture the leader of the gang alive with your lasso, so make sure you don’t kill him. Try shooting him in the leg and watch him try and crawl away, before you hogtie him and throw him on the back of your horse.

##I’ve seen a million faces an I’ve rocked them all

If you’re after a more competitive multiplayer experience, Red Dead also has a whole series of game modes to keep you entertained. Typical shootouts, deathmatches, team deathmatches and capture the flag match types are all available, done in true western style. As each match loads, you’re given the opportunity to gain a slight advantage over your competitors in a “last man standing” shootout.

As all the players stand around in a circle, or in two lineups opposite each other, you must try and survive a bloody shootout where every player is told that they will probably die.

On top of that, there’s also western-specific matches, like a free for all goldrush match where you have to collect as many bags of gold as you can and drop them off at the nearest collection point while preventing other players from doing the same.

##Wanted: Dead or Alive

Despite the fact that I’ve only had a limited hands on session with small sections of the game, it’s impossible not to be smitten with the massive scope of Red Dead Redemption. The game launches on May 21, and without a doubt is going to be one of the biggest games of the year. And it’s definitely sitting comfortably at the top of my Wanted list.

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 19:10:17 +1000

I’ve been playing through the _Mass Effect _trilogy for the past year and a bit 🎮. I’m in the end game stages of ME3, and I’m so emotional. I love these characters.

There’s a scene after one of the last missions where Tali - an alien character who has to live in a special suit to keep herself safe from infection - decides to get drunk after a mission.

It’s great, you have a nice conversation with her as she battles her demons. You only experience it if you opt to go to her after you complete that mission.

But then, after talking to Tali, I went to visit another character on the ship - the last survivor of a long-dead alien race who was in stasis for 50000 years before I saved him - and Tali was drunkenly talking to him over the ships intercom.

It was sweet, hilarious and cute at the same time.

There are so many of these little interactions between characters (and my character of course) that I really feel like I know them. It’s not something I’ve experienced in too many games.

I’m going to be sad when I finish it, that’s for sure.

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 21:02:30 +1000

I just finished playing Skyward Sword and I have to say, it seems very much like a prequel to Breath of the Wild. Some of the game mechanics, sure, but also the story.

Could Tears of the Kingdom bring about the return of Demise? I reckon it might. 🎮

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 06:51:22 +1000

I’ve started trying to begin my day with the daily puzzles in Good Sudoku on Apple Arcade. I find that the simple logic and structure helps my brain focus a bit.

It’s better towards the end of the work week when the puzzles are a little challenging, but not impossible.

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 16:07:55 +1000

It’s still school holidays, and today my daughter has pulled out Disney Infinity.

I’ve watched her play through both the Inside Out game and the Star Wars Clone Wars missions.

She is having the time of her life.

I know the toys to life games were such a ridiculous money grab, but I still love the variety of Disney Infinity.

It was such a fantastic implementation of Disney’s many, many IPs. Not just from the characters themselves, but also the story-mission games they launched. Plus there were consolidated games, like the racer and the Marvel brawler game!

I’m still disappointed they cancelled it.

I can’t help but wonder what they could have introduced over the years since it was scrapped.

Combining all the Marvel characters to take on Thanos and the Infinity stones?

Rescuing Grogu as The Mandalorian?

Branching into all the Fox franchises? Imagine a Simpsons game! Even better, being able to play in the Toy Box with Homer and Luke Skywalker.

I guess I should still be thankful for the games we did get in the series.

But I can’t help but wonder what could have been…

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 15:29:32 +1000

I finally got around to finishing Luigi’s Mansion on the Switch last night.

Was cute, simple fun, but I have no desire to go through again collecting Gems and ghosts, or playing any of the multiplayer stuff.

Next up I think I’ll work Skyward Sword off the pile of shame.

Sun, 18 Dec 2022 15:40:56 +1000

Today I pulled out the Rock Band instruments and rocked out with the kids all day. My fingers ache, my shoulder is sore and I regret nothing.

It was worth every single second.

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 17:25:18 +1000

I think I’ve hit the point in Arkham Knight where it’s time to quit. New game plus, most of the AR challenges, and the story driven DLC campaigns all done.

Just don’t think I have it in me to try and Platinum this game. It was fun, but not as fun as the first 2 Arkham games.

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 12:14:54 +1000

My Nintendo Switch play summary for 2022 shows I probably didn’t play as much Switch as I should have.

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 08:39:49 +1000

This year’s gaming wrapup from PlayStation. So happy I bought a PS5 on launch day to play PS4 games this year!

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 14:38:16 +1000

Today was the first real day I haven’t had to do anything since quitting, and I was planning on doing things. Chores, Christmas wrapping… you know, things.

Instead I played PlayStation.

It can’t last - I have to do things tomorrow - but it was fun for today.

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 10:52:30 +1000

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been playing through the Batman Arkham games for the past few months. It’s an incredible franchise, though now that I’m close to finishing Arkham Knight (again), I feel I can say that Arkham City is the best of the three.

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 08:35:52 +1000

The PSVR2 is going to cost $879.95 in Australia.

The disc PS5 will set you back $799.

PS+, which is required for any online gaming and is therefore essential, starts at $79.95 a year.

Is anyone else feeling like their hobby is trying to take advantage of them? 🎮

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 08:09:23 +1000

EA is making an Iron Man game. it’s crazy that it took this long, given how awesome it felt to fly around as Iron Man in Disney Infinity. 🎮

Looks like Nintendo has found out how to take more of my money

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 20:36:38 +1000

I have been holding off on the expanded Switch online offering since it launched. I just couldn’t see the value. But this… this could change things. 🎮

GoldenEye 007 Has Online Multiplayer On Nintendo Switch But Not On Xbox press-start.com.au/news/nint…

Replaying the Batman Arkham games 🎮

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 13:23:34 +1000

I recently decided to replay the Batman Arkham games. Great decision - they hold up really well, with fluid combat, a tight story and an immersive world to explore.

I even managed to get the Platinum trophy for Arkham Asylum. I had so much fun I decided to try for the Platinum trophy in Arkham City.

Not a great decision.

I’ve spent weeks replaying a single fight in the hopes of unlocking the Perfect Freeflow 2.0 trophy. It involves doing an unbroken combo of 13 different moves during a fight.

I would get to 11, or even 12 moves so frequently, but somehow could never pull off the final move to trigger the trophy. I would leave it, work on another mission, then come back, but still couldn’t manage the combo.

But last night, at last, I succeeded. A different map, a couple of glasses of wine, and boom! The trophy is now mine.

I still have to complete all the side missions in New Game+ to pop the platinum, but I’ve been working at this for what feels like weeks now.

But still, it’s an incredible game.

Where The Hell Did All The Guiter Hero Bundles Go?

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:36:16 +1000

What’s the deal, Activision? I’ve been looking for Guitar Hero: World Tour (full band kit) for the Xbox 360 for about three weeks now, and it’s sold out everywhere. Not only that, but apparently stores aren’t getting the next delivery until January. Meanwhile, you can pick up a full-band Rock Band at pretty much any store you walk into…

Now, I did a fair bit of research before deciding what I wanted, and I decided on the 360 GH:WT because you can a) play Rock Band on the GH Instruments and b) there is sooooo much more downloadable content for both games on the 360 as opposed to the PS3. Is it possible that everybody else in Australia looking for some full-band gaming action over Xmas thought the same thing?

In any case, it looks like this Christmas will be without any Guitar Hero action in our house, and I can’t tell you just how heartbreaking that is…

The Force Unleashed: Awesome

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:29:50 +1000

[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch I just finished playing The Force Unleashed on Xbox 360. When I say finished, I mean I completed the story mode for the first time. My verdict: awesome. I’ve hardly enjoyed any game, let alone a Star Wars game like this for a long time.

The game takes place in that 20 year period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. You play as Darth Vader’s Sith apprentice, an assassin sent to kill Darth Vader’s enemies. And being a Sith means you get to control the Force like an angry, bitter teenage boy.

You can use the Force to pick up and throw pretty much anything not tied down. Hell, even stuff that is tied down can be used. Coupled with your trusty lightsaber, you have the gifts to destroy pretty much anything that crosses your path.

The game’s controls are easy to master, at least on the Xbox version I was playing. The graphics are spectacular (although it certainly helps if you’ve got yourself a nice 1080p TV). And the storyline is probably the most engaging since the original trilogy. You care about your character, even though he’s a Sith and you don’t know his name (at least, I don’t recall it).

If you’re a Star Wars fan, then you owe it to yourself to play this game. It’s as simple as that.

I Am Iron Man

Sun, 11 May 2008 20:19:00 +1000

Finally saw Iron Man on Saturday afternoon. If you haven’t seen it already, get out to the movies as soon as you can to check it out – it’s fantastic. Robert Downey Jr is perfect as Tony Stark… I can’t wait for the sequel to launch in 2010…

Lauren and I also picked up Wii Fit on Saturday… It’s great, although it does involve exercise, which is something my body isn’t quite used to. Which is obvious to Nintendo, apparently, because I have a Wii Fit Age of 40. Lauren’s is 20. I know, it’s a farce. :)

Saw Jordy for the first time in months today – Andy, Sarah and Lyn all came over for a Mother’s day lunch. He’s such a litle cutey. Laclan’s gorgeous too, but he wears me out so quickly. Seriously, if scientists could find a way to bottle his energy, the world would be so much more active. And I probably wouldn’t have a Wii Fit age of 40.

This week’s going to be a busy one – I’ve taken on a few freelance jobs which will be very handy money -wise, but a lot of work in the meantime. I’m also starting my PR presentations this week. Hopefully all that will go well.