Battle Arena Melbourne: Day Three

By Josh Clark in Features

Day three of the fifth annual Battle Arena Melbourne, game faces were on for all attending this final day. The finals for many of the games were being held and everybody wanted to win their games. Day three saw several games complete their competition for 2013, the morning beginning with Injustice Finals and the night finishing with Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. 

Amongst the battles were the appearance of a few special people who helped spice up the already electric atmosphere. Hong Kong player Humanbomb competed as well as playing in the Casual Play area...

Battle Arena Melbourne 5 in pictures

By Jake Baldwin in Features

Words only do so much to describe Battle Arena Melbourne. Enjoy this selection of images following the details that comprise this explosive annual event.

Battle Arena Melbourne 5: Day Two

By Josh Clark in Features

As you walk into the CQ Function room in Melbourne the first thing you see are the cheering, laughing crowd and a familiar clacking of buttons. These people have gathered for one reason: to do battle in some of the best fighting games around. Battle Arena Melbourne is celebrating its fifth anniversary in 2013; five years this event has been one of the biggest e-sports events in Melbourne and is host players both local and international. Battle Arena Melbourne isn’t just a place for fighting game enthusiasts but helps the community expand and they welcome new players and lovers...

Tt eSports Knucker Keyboard Review

By Jake Baldwin in

The Knucker is impressive. Sitting in the budget market it opts for rubber plunger keys, rather than more popular mechanical keys, but if price is a deciding factor for your next keyboard purchase don’t be afraid to consider the Knucker, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Out of the box

The Knucker claims to have anti-ghosting of up to 12 keys and a lifetime of 15 Million keystrokes, both very standard features for modern keyboards. Out of the box the Knucker doesn’t boast some of the same striking aesthetics as some of it’s sister products do. It has a simple...

50 Things I Learnt Playing Half Life 2: Episode 1

By Harrison Engstrom in

On Thursday the 21st of March, I had my wisdom teeth removed from my face. At the moment, I am currently finishing my Uni degree and working on a few game concepts. Never having ever made a proper game in my life, I’ve started to read different books about game design and writing for games to help me on my way.

This includes stuff from Ian Bogost, Robert Chipman, Katherine Isbister and a few others but what I’ve found has helped is actually playing games and writing down my experience with them. Writing what areas work, what doesn’t, what I feel when I go through...

Tomb Raider

By Josh Clark in Features
Story

Tomb Raider, Square Enix’s newest entry in the long running franchise, serves as a reboot of the series telling the origins of Lara Croft and her transformation into the tomb raiding heroine we all know and love.

The game begins with Lara setting out on her first expedition about the ship Endurance, with the intention of finding the lost kingdom of Yamatai. The Crew who is led by celebrity archaeologist Dr. James Whitman heads into the dangerous Dragon’s Triangle, east of Japan.

It quickly becomes a fight for survival when Lara is separated from her friends after the...

Tt eSports Yellow Theron Mouse Review

By Josh Clark in Tactical Advantage

Thermaltakes Theron mouse is one which has been designed with RTS gamers in mind, with input from pro tte-sports starcraft player Zhan “Softball” Zhenyu  the mouse has been crafted with all the touches to keep the user comfortable and movement intuitive whilst providing some customisation. To celebrate its success Thermaltake have released four new editions of its Theron Mouse. A lot of effort has gone into the design and engineering of this mouse and its RTS tuned features and ergonomic shape have made this one of the finest mice I’ve used recently.

The ...

The New Social Features of Heart of the Swarm

By Jake Baldwin in Tactical Advantage

Heart of the Swarm brings major changes to the core gameplay of Starcraft. A chaotic new metagame, new units, and updates to old units are some of the most important things to consider. But what really holds the meaty goodness of the core game in shape are the less explicit features added as sides to the delicious main course of the game.

While a username is purely a matter of familiarity and team-player recognition, the addition of paid name changes is a luxury players have been pining after for a long time. Blizzard even apologised recently for their lack of...

2012: The Year of Realism in Gaming

By Harrison Engstrom in The Next Level

2012 was a year where I can officially say a lot of developers were able represent realism with all it’s flaws and yet still provided a highly enjoyable experience.

We saw games that not only challenged players worldwide but were able to stir something even greater within the average gamer. Games that challenged morality and questionable topics. Games that challenged how we interact with characters and the way stories are told.

They provided a great example to hold up to people and say, “This. This is why we love gaming.”

When I talk about realism, I talk about...

Newell muses "biometric data" as input

By Jake Baldwin in Features

In an interview conducted by The Verge at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, Valve’s Managing Director and every gamers favourite tease Gabe Newell discussed the current state of the Steam Box; what forms the Box might come in, and what it can offer that other competing tech can’t.

While the interview covers topics from the Steam Box acting as a server to the importance of user-generated content for Steam as a platform, what really piqued my interest was the talk of using “biometric data” over the more analog motion controls that are quickly becoming a common theme in casual and...

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