David Smith is the former games and technology editor at The AU Review. He has previously written for PC World Australia. You can find him on Twitter at @RhunWords.
I’m going to open this review with a comparison that may lose some of you right away. Sometimes, in order to learn and grow in a meaningful way, we have to cut a significant part of ourselves off. It may take us a while to work up the courage to make that change, it may…
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With only a week remaining until the launch of what is arguably the year’s biggest game, Rockstar Games have released the launch trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s another more cinematic glimpse at the game, hinting at trouble within Dutch’s gang and the game’s broader story. From train robberies (and Arthur complaining that…
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It’s a warm spring Tuesday when I arrive at the National Art School in Sydney. The School is located on the site of the old Darlinghurst Gaol and is steeped in the history of the area. Its connection to DICE’s Battlefield V, a multiplayer-centric first person shooter set in World War II, is a bit…
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Veteran character actor Sean Bean has died a lot on-screen. Known for roles like Boromir in The Lord of the Rings and Ned Stark on Game of Thrones, old mate Sean always seems to bite it in the end. He’s died on film so many times that it’s become a bit of a running joke….
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One of the biggest competitions in Australian esports returns in early November. Gfinity Elite Season 2 returns to Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park from November 3 and will see teams from almost every major Australian city competing across of esports biggest titles. The Season 2 competition will comprise of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Street Fighter…
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A quarter of Australian and New Zealand gamers rated their skills as being “pretty damn good” in Dell’s State of Gaming Survey. Were you one of them? Even if you weren’t, we reckon this competition might be for you. Dell has turned up the heat with its G Series laptops and we’ve got one to…
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One of Australia’s most ubiquitous hotel groups, Mantra, have come around to their popular annual “Global Sale” to make holidaying for Aussies a bit more accessible over the next few months. And it’s the most substantial sale from the group yet, with a serious number of the country’s best properties – from budget to luxe…
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Ready to upgrade your smartphone? Our good buds at Motorola Australia have given us one of their latest and greatest Android handsets, the Moto Z3 Play, and a Moto 360 Camera attachment to give away to one lucky punter. The Moto Z3 Play is feature packed — it boasts an edge-to-edge 6″ Full HD screen…
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The Mario Party franchise has long established itself as a ruthless destroyer of friendships. From its earliest, controller-ruining days on the Nintendo 64, the series has sought to emulate the classic board game shenanigans of something like Monopoly. But, like Monopoly, a core part of its design involves regularly screwing over anyone unfortunate enough to…
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BlizzCon 2018, the biggest event of the year for fans of Blizzard Entertainment, is now only a month away. There’s so much to see at a convention this huge — from announcements for Blizzard titles like Overwatch, World of Warcraft and Hearthstone, to the pulse-pounding finale of the Overwatch World Cup — that it’s become…
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Before we begin, a personal note: Between Nintendo and Ubisoft, I have had to write out the word “Odyssey” so often over the last two years that I’ll never misspell it again. Big thanks to both companies for that little toward self improvement. One year on from Ubisoft’s drastic reconstruction of its most popular franchise,…
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It’s been three weeks since Forsaken, the latest expansion for Destiny 2 launched, and in many ways I’m still struggling to wrap my head around the enormity of it. I’ve got a life outside of my work on this website — I have a side job, I have obligations to friends and family, I have…
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I’ve come to look forward to new entries in the Forza Horizon series more than any mainline Forza Motorsport title. Eschewing the more serious simulation of its sister franchise, the heart of Horizon is built around a single question — are we having fun? In Forza Horizon 4, the answer is still yes. It’s just…
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Gaming and physical disabilities have a long history of not working well together. Back in the early days of arcade joysticks and two-button controllers, the hurdles disabled players had to overcome in order to enjoy a video game were fewer. Even if you didn’t have great dexterity in your fingers, you could rest your palm…
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The closest media analogue I can think of for Shadow of the Tomb Raider is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I’m sure I’m the latest in a long line of critics to make this comparison, but it’s an apt one on just about every level. Shadow represents a stark shift in tone, character…
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With the explosion of nostalgia around Nintendo’s foray into retro consoles over the last two years, it was only a matter of time before PlayStation came through with a retro console of their own. The PlayStation Classic, a miniaturised version of the venerable original PlayStation console, is on its way and it looks to be…
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Mephisto, Diablo‘s Lord of Hatred himself, has entered the Nexus. We spoke to Heroes of the Storm Lead Content Designer Matthew Cooper to find out what it takes to successfully weave a character like Mephisto into a game like HotS, and we pick his brain on the recent Hanamura map rework, one of the comprehensive in…
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There’s a sense of excitement that runs through the entire industry in the moments before a new Nintendo Direct broadcast. What will they talk about? What crazy new titles and ports will they announce for the Switch? Today’s broadcast, ahead of the launch of the new Nintendo Switch Online service, was a rapid fire streak…
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If Assassin’s Creed Origins was to be the new franchise blueprint, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey feels like series with its mission statement clarified. It stands on the edge of a big leap, the way one of its protagonists might. So what’s it waiting for? Its release date, probably. The build of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey I played…
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As a game, Insomniac’s Spider-Man is a bit like it’s hero. Spidey is good (but not great) at his job, and you forgive him his missteps because his heart’s in the right place. If you created a checklist of tropes and mechanics found in open world adventure games, Spider-Man would tick every box. It doesn’t…
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On paper, the idea behind the Razer Core X might sound like the pinnacle of PC Gaming Master Race wank. At first blush, it seems like Razer took the PCMR drive to squeeze every last ounce of power out of one’s gaming rig, no matter the cost, and made it a physical device. I sound…
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The Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 + 2 is a warts-and-all look at a series that began with an instant classic and ended with a sad trombone sound in the mid-00’s. I don’t think it was Capcom’s intention when they created a retro package of all eight games in the X series, but it’s…
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I have a hard time justifying the cost of a new pair of shoes, much less $4,000 AUD on a television. It seems insane. $4,000 is a lot of money to spend on anything, but a tele? What might be crazier is that, having used the Sony A8F 4K HDR OLED TV for just over…
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Razer have made a real name for themselves in the gaming hardware industry. Their aggressive look combined with a brand that courts the hardcore gamer has seen them rocket to stratospheric success within the industry. It didn’t come as much of a surprise when the company moved from peripherals to actual gaming hardware, specifically ultra…
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My experience with the Jaybird Freedom 2 was decidedly up and down, often in the same ways my experience with the original Freedom model was. I would use them for a while, and be happy to do so even though I knew I had another pairs lying around that were quantifiably better. Its not even…
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Xbox Australia are celebrating the launch of PLAYERUNKNOWN’s Battlegrounds 1.0 with an extremely limited new Xbox One controller. On the surface of it, it doesn’t appear different to any other themed hardware — new colour scheme, limited run tied into a popular title — but there is a difference. It’s greaseproof. Yeah, no, you read…
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Anyone who tells you esports aren’t real sports hasn’t met an Australian. We can turn anything into a sport. We’re the country that turned waiting in line at PAX into a sport (you’re welcome, other PAXes). If there’s competition afoot, as a nation, we want in on it. Held across two of Australian tennis’ most…
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The BenQ Zowie range of esports monitors has become something of a quiet achiever in the world of PC gaming. They represent a viable alternative to bigger, sometimes much more well-known brands and place a higher premium on user consideration than any of them. The Zowie XL2546’s full name, the “BenQ Zowie XL2546 240Hz DyAc…
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I don’t know when it happened precisely, but at some time in the last few years I became a huge fan of the Yakuza series. If I weren’t working as a games critic, it’s likely I never would have played them. And to not have played them would have been a tremendous shame. The Yakuza…
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Sony’s had a few up-and-down months with their PlayStation Plus freebies. After the 2018 high water mark of Bloodborne, they’ve haven’t really had another title come through that lives up to the same lofty stature. Until now. September’s offerings bring both Destiny 2 and God of War 3 Remastered into the PlayStation Plus freebie fold. That’s…
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