BlogThe federal and state Attorneys-General met in Canberra and on the agenda was an R18+ rating to be introduced for video games. They failed to come to a decision however have not rejected the idea just yet.
Federal Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said:
Read onGamers have grown up. Games have grown up. We need to make sure we have a classification scheme that's grown up as well.1
BlogInception trailer audio matched with Psychonauts footage. I must re-visit this game.
BlogNot having played for more than a few minutes overall I managed to encounter a player called 'Your Dad'. Some things never change!
BlogI haven't had as much time as I would have liked so far to play around with Final Fantasy XIV but I can share some impressions. Read on
Alex
BlogThe Final Fantasy XIV Open Beta is up now (and has been for a little over 7 hours), head over to http://entry.ffxiv.com/ to sign up. If you're like me and couldn't get a key all day due to server congestion, you might want to consider skipping the line just as I did. Read on
BlogThe Final Fantasy XIV Open Beta has been postponed and at this time has no release date. Read on
BlogThe Final Fantasy XIV open beta begins on Tuesday the 31st of August at 19:00 (PDT) or Wednesday September 1 at 2:00 (GMT) depending on which timezone is more relevant to you. Read on
BlogAn amusing video which explains some of Australia's political history in a Pokemon battle.
Alex
BlogIt occured to me a few days ago that I have far too many unfinished or even unplayed games. Yet despite these I have continued to purchase more? Why? This blog post will be a confession of the horrible atrocities I have committed.
Read onAlex
BlogThis lady has managed to sum up my job at an IT helpdesk in less than 6 minutes. I filled with rage just like I was the guy on the phone.
Alex
BlogSquare Enix Music Online has revealed that pianist Benyamin Nuss will be releasing a piano album of Nobuo Uematsu's work on major label Universal Music (Deutsche Grammophon/DECCA).
Nuss is working with supervisor Thomas Boecker, the man who produced the world's first video game concert outside Japan in early 2003. This generous and passionate man (I say this as I have spoken to him before) has since produced many concerts and albums including drammatica The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura and Vielen Dank Masashi Hamauzu. Read on
BlogPopular film critic Roger Ebert (who writes for the Chicago Sun-Times) is standing by his previous argument that "video games can never be art".
He refers to a talk by Kellee Santiago (video game designer, producer and President & Co-Founder of thatgamecompany1) who made various points against Ebert's claim. His core argument is:
Read onNo one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great poets, filmmakers, novelists and poets.
Alex
BlogAs reported by Kotaku Shigeru Miyamoto (Nintendo's creator of Mario, Zelda, Star Fox and Donkey Kong among others) has advised he's in no rush to retire at all.
Well, I am one of the company workers and the company has to retire me some time. So from that perspective, yes I may have to retire from Nintendo some day. But when I look around and see how aged cartoonists continue to work on their manga and how movie directors create new movies all the time, I understand that they would never retire. And by the same token, I guess I will still be making games somehow. The only question is whether the younger people will be willing to work with me at that far point in the future. Read on
Alex
BlogThis video argues the case for an R rating in video games in Australia in simple animation form and presents clear arguments to those who may not be familiar with the issue.
As a budding politics student it makes be extremely angry that the public is slowly flowing to this side of thinking and no government opinion exists (outside the Attorneys General).
Alex
BlogWandering the internet in search of anime news/events today I found an interesting opinion piece on Anime News Network's 'The X Button' column.
It felt very familiar to me. In the days of my youth I discovered (somewhat later than most) Final Fantasy VII. I have enjoyed the many many hours of slogging through various Japanese RPGs since then as complicated tales of political intrigue, romance and betrayal unfolded in between furious battles. Yet in more recent times I have become bored with the genre. I've half finished Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, only played about 5 hours of Final Fantasy XII (yes, that's right, I said it) and only played the first hour or so of Star Ocean: The Last Hope (I blame the terrible voice acting). Read on
Alex
BlogWell I'm now a level 3 Tarutaru black mage on Fenrir. The setup for Final Fantasy XI is still extremely annoying, and it no doubt was complicated by my purchase through Steam. Here are a few gripes and (to my suprise) pleasantries I have found so far while playing/installing/setting up. Read on
BlogI've tried Final Fantasy XI before, twice in fact. Yet my boredom with World of Warcraft has hit the point of me taking a break again. A break that will see me simply play another MMO. The void that is left when you stop playing an MMO is scary, I haven't even played that much WoW in a long time, haven't raided for at least 6 months. Read on
BlogMichael Atkinson who was the Attorney-General in the state of South Australia has resigned from the front bench. This means that while he still retained his seat after the recent state election he will no longer be the Attorney-General of South Australia. Why does anyone care? Because as previously stated Atkinson was the only man out of the country's Attorney Generals (one for each state and one federal) who publicly opposed the introduction of an adults only rating for video games. Read on
Alex
BlogAn Australian named James Burt illegally uploaded New Super Mario Bros. Wii to the internet on November 6 2009, 6 days before the November 12 release date. The Federal Court of Australia case settled outside of court for Burt to pay Nintendo $1.5m (AUD) in damages as well as $100,000 in court costs. Read on
Alex
