In 1964, Donald Horne published The Lucky Country. It was a scathing yet insightful and totally accurate deconstruction of Australia, its national identity, and its view of the world. The central thesis of it is that Australia, which has grown to become a regional power and exert global influence despite our relatively small size and isolated location, achieved that remarkable…
“505 Games lays off 30% of staff, will focus on sequels and “previously successful” games because that’s what works.” It’s the latest headline in what has been a bloodbath year in the games industry as developers and publishers, large and small, have hemorrhaged staff and slashed their plans. Earlier this…
Some news today on Microsoft acquisition journey towards a monopoly: The company…
Illusion Software is one of the genuine trailblazers in video games. The…
In 1964, Donald Horne published The Lucky Country. It was a scathing yet insightful and totally accurate deconstruction of Australia, its national identity, and its view of the world. The central thesis of it is that Australia, which has grown to become a regional power and exert global influence despite…
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“505 Games lays off 30% of staff, will focus on sequels and “previously successful” games because that’s what works.” It’s the latest headline in what has been a bloodbath year in the games industry as developers and publishers, large and small, have hemorrhaged staff and slashed their plans. Earlier this…
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Some news today on Microsoft acquisition journey towards a monopoly: The company announced that it has signed a “binding agreement” to continue to produce Call of Duty games for PlayStation. This comes off the back of much hang-wringing about the PlayStation being locked out of such a critical load of…
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Illusion Software is one of the genuine trailblazers in video games. The studio has been around for 22 years, having been founded in 2001, but it’s all over now. The company has announced its imminent closure, and in its shutdown notice, also said that it would also be taking all…
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As anyone in PR or communications will tell you, the best time to make a catastrophic announcement is when everyone is busy looking elsewhere. You don’t want to hide it, but you want to push it through the news cycle at a time when you’ll only generate half as many…
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“New US$69.99 price may negatively impact PS5 game unit sales, data suggests. Reports indicate that PlayStation users are buying less (sic) games, and Sony’s data suggests that higher costs are a reason why unit sales have dropped.” This lede, published by TweakTown, seems ludicrous. It’s one of those real stating-the-obvious…
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Babylon’s Fall had the makings of a great game. It had exceptional art direction and an amazing aesthetic. It had Platinum Games, with all their talent for combat design, giving us a new action experience with some interesting mechanics, and it had an intriguing setting and hits of what could…
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David Cage’s studio, Quantic Dream, is certainly a controversial one. There are some that love the company’s output, including such titles as Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human. However, there are also plenty who find the studio intolerable, in no small part because of the behaviour of Cage himself. In…
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The big news in gaming this week is that Embracer Group has gone on yet another one of its spending sprees. This time around it has picked up everything from Tolkien’s Middle-Earth (from film to games), to Snow Bros. (Toaplan, in the company’s first-ever Japanese acquisition), and Limited Run Games…
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Nintendo has finalised an agreement with Dynamo Pictures for 34.5 million yen (USD$245,000) that will see the house of Mario acquire the Tokyo-based CG company. As part of the deal, Nintendo will be renaming it Nintendo Pictures, and integrating it into the vast Nintendo group by October 3 of this…
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