Author: David Smith

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.

Ubisoft Forward

Here’s every trailer from today’s Ubisoft Forward broadcast

In case you weren’t up at 5am for this morning’s first-ever Ubisoft Forward broadcast, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Below you’ll find every major trailer from today’s show in order of appearance. We’ve got AAA blockbusters, new mobile addictions, next-gen peeks and more. #CheckALook below. Watch Dogs Legion Brawlhalla Mobile Might & Magic: Era…

Read More
Far Cry 6

Far Cry 6 formally announced, coming in early 2021

Unceremoniously outed on the PlayStation Store earlier in the week, Ubisoft have formally announced Far Cry 6. Set in Latin America amid a moment of explosive revolution, players control a guerilla fighter named Dani Rojas. Dani is attempting to wrest control of their country from a ruthless dictator named Anton Castillo, played by Breaking Bad…

Read More
Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gets new trailer, launches November

A new deep dive into Assasin’s Creed Valhalla has premiered during today’s Ubisoft Forward broadcast. The trailer represents the first significant look at the game in action. It features a little bit of everything, from viking combat and raids, the construction of your new settlement and classic AC stealth. At every turn, the Saxons will…

Read More
Watch Dogs Legion

Watch Dogs Legion gets pair of new trailers

The first new look at Watch Dogs Legion since it was delayed earlier this year have arrived. Both new trailers debuted during this morning’s Ubisoft Forward broadcast. The first is a short film called Reclaim Your Future that paints a dystopian picture of the game’s vision of London. Between rapid-fire shots of police brutality and…

Read More
Shadowlands

World of Warcraft Shadowlands‘ Morgan Day on work-from-home design, new players, and roguelikes

Plague is a part of the fabric of World of Warcraft. There are whole cultures in the game’s world that are built around sickness and decay. Since the outbreak of the real world Covid-19 pandemic, Blizzard have complied with Californian work-from-orders, transitioning the entire WOW team to working in isolation. What an odd situation for a…

Read More
Surface Book 2

Surface Go 2 Review: Your new favourite travel buddy

The Surface Go 2 understands there’s always room in the PC market for something more portable. Business customers are always looking for something lighter. Something that can travel more easily, but doesn’t sacrifice the overall power and nimbleness of a full-blooded ultrabook. That’s the niche into which the Surface Go 2 has neatly folded itself….

Read More
D&D Live

D&D Live is a perfect introduction to Dungeons and Dragons

Have you ever wanted to play D&D but you aren’t sure where to start, or even how the game works? The latest D&D Live festival, an annual celebration of the world’s most popular role-playing game, may be the best, simplest, and most instructive lesson in how to play this side of Critical Role. Playing Dungeons…

Read More
Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077’s new trailer gives most detailed look yet

Last week, CD Projekt Red debuted Night City Wire, a new web series dedicated to their upcoming RPG Cyberpunk 2077. It aired very early in the morning here in Aus so there’s a chance you may have missed it. If so, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. Hosted by CDPR UK’s head of communications Hollie…

Read More
Marvel's Avengers

Marvel’s Avengers gameplay blends Spider-Man with Destiny

A question that has dogged Marvel’s Avengers since it’s rocky unveiling at E3 2018 has been: What the hell is it exactly? During today’s Avengers War Table broadcast, developer Crystal Dynamics finally began to answer that question in detail. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes The short version? Its Spider-Man meets Destiny. If that sounds like an odd…

Read More
Crash Bandicoot 4

Crash Bandicoot 4 revealed at last, coming to PS4 and Xbox One

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time has been officially revealed. The game will become the fourth mainline entry in the series, and Activision’s first new Crash game in a decade. Back in time Crash Bandicoot 4 is canonically set after the end of Crash 3. When Naughty Dog departed the series, Crash had successfully locked…

Read More

Tash Sultana releases gorgeous cover for The Last of Us Part II

With the launch of The Last of Us Part II in Australia today, PlayStation have roped in Australian muso Tash Sultana to cover one of the game’s most haunting tracks. The song, Through The Valley, was originally recorded by Shawn James. It was later featured as an in-character cover by Last of Us 2 star Ashley Johnson…

Read More

A new Pokemon Snap is coming. This is not a drill

It finally happened — after decades of waiting, a brand new Pokemon Snap game is on the way. The announcement came during last night’s Pokemon Presents broadcast, which highlighted a number of brand new Pokemon games coming to the Nintendo Switch. Though it only ran for 10 minutes, the broadcast had a lot to cover….

Read More
PAX Online

PAX Online will replace Melbourne and Seattle shows for 2020

ReedPop has announced PAX Online, a web-based version of the traveling video games convention. It will take the place of both the PAX Australia and PAX West conventions for the remainder of 2020. The announcement follows yesterday’s news that PAX Aus 2020 would no proceed as planned, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. PAX Online…

Read More

PAX Aus 2020 has been cancelled

We knew in our hearts there’d be no PAX Aus 2020 this year, but we dared to dream. ReedPop, the company behind the world’s biggest traveling video games convention, has announced that PAX Aus 2020 will not go ahead in October as originally planned. The cancellation is due to health concerns surrounding the ongoing Covid-19…

Read More

The Last of Us Part II Review: I won’t take the easy road

The Last of Us Part II is not a game for everyone. It’s a game that builds on the original in unexpected ways. It seeks to challenge the player emotionally and philosophically, posing hard questions to which you may not have an answer. It’s likely not the game you are expecting at all. And that’s…

Read More
PS5

Your first look at the PlayStation 5

The day has finally arrived: Sony is ready to talk about the PlayStation 5. The show-and-tell has been a long time coming. Between bowing out of E3 and the outbreak of a global pandemic, an event that must have wrought havoc on their production pipeline, Sony have been biding their time. Missives were light on…

Read More
The Last of Us Part II

Audio Settings: Songs to prepare you for The Last of Us Part II

The Last of Us Part II is almost upon us (finally!). One of the most anticipated video games of the last seven years, it promises to take the story of Ellie and Joel in an entirely new direction. Its soundtrack features licensed tracks from folk acts like Crooked Still and Shawn James, but the main…

Read More

5 things we love from today’s The Last of Us Part II State of Play

The Last of Us Part II is finally, actually, nearly here and the hype is building. It is the subject of the latest episode of PlayStation’s State of Play series, offering fans an in-depth look at one of the most anticipated games of the year. There’s a lot to break down here. Let’s talk about…

Read More
BlizzCon

BlizzCon 2020 cancelled, will move online next year

Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed that BlizzCon 2020 will not go ahead owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. BlizzCon is an annual fan convention at which Blizzard usually makes its biggest announcements and hosts its largest esports competitions. In a post on its official blog, Blizzard stated that it had “come to the very difficult decision to…

Read More

HyperX Cloud Flight S Review: Take flight

It’s been a minute since I’ve reviewed a Hyper X headset. Over the last few years, HyperX have gone from a PC hardware manufacturer famous for high performance memory and gaming drives, to a real contender in the peripheral space. With the Cloud Flight S, the latest premium tier addition to their lineup, HyperX looks…

Read More

Mafia II: Definitive Edition Review: Back in business

Hindsight really is 2020. Mafia II: Definitive Edition has become the latest in a slew of remakes and remasters to fill out this very strange year’s release calendar. Originally released in 2010, Mafia II is a fairly standard crime family story. You play as migrant son Vito Scaletta, freshly returned to the fictional Empire City…

Read More
Paper Mario

Paper Mario: The Origami King coming to Switch in July

Paper Mario, the king of Mario RPGs, is finally back. Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach are on their way to the kingdom’s annual origami festival, but something is amiss. Peach seems to be acting a bit strange. You might say her character has suddenly become … paper thin. All of this is surely the work…

Read More
GTA 5

GTA 5 is free right now on the Epic Games Store

GTA 5, one of the most popular and successful video games of all time, is free right now on the Epic Games Store. The reason the game has had such a dramatic cut in price is due to the Epic Mega Sale, a mid-year event that applies significant discounts to popular games. Throughout each week…

Read More

18 minutes of gorgeous Ghost of Tsushima gameplay

Today’s new PlayStation State of Play broadcast was all about Ghost of Tsushima. Ghost of Tsushima is an open-world action-adventure game set in Feudal Japan. It follows a wandering samurai named Jin, who wages a solitary war against Mongols invading the island of Tsushima. In short, it’s exactly the sort of game PlayStation look for…

Read More
Unreal Engine 5

New Unreal Engine 5 demo promises eye-popping PS5 visuals

Epic Games have unveiled Unreal Engine 5, the next iteration of their popular software development kit. The trailer, released this morning on social media, shows a lengthy real-time demo that spotlights two new systems — Lumen and Nanite. Lumen is a new system for dynamic global illumination. Its job is calculating how light should look…

Read More
Mafia Trilogy

Mafia Trilogy announced, full reveal coming May 20

2K Games has announced Mafia Trilogy, an apparent collection of all three mainline Mafia titles. This would include the original Mafia, Mafia II and 2016’s Mafia III. All we have to go on right now is the teaser trailer. The most interesting part is that footage from Mafia II lookin’ real good. You can check…

Read More
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 remaster launches in September

The Birdman has returned. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 finally remasters the first two games in the legendary series. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC via the Epic Games Store on September 4, 2020. Fans who preorder the game get early access to a…

Read More
Xbox 20/20

Every trailer from last night’s Xbox 20/20 broadcast

At 1am last night, Xbox began the most critical step on the path to launching a new console — they started talking about the games. The latest episode of Inside Xbox was the first stop on the Xbox 20/20 video tour and was all about the kind of third-party developer support fans can expect on…

Read More
Gears Tactics

Gears Tactics Review: A winning strategy

Gears Tactics is a smart bet on almost every level. The Gears of War franchise has reached the same point in its life as the Halo series — a point where it must diversify or die. For Halo, that moment came in the form of Halo Wars, an RTS that made use of the series’…

Read More