from the Editor...
Hello, 2015! Not only is it 2015, but we are already in FEBRUARY! Time is flying past as the world keeps moving. The holidays are over, everyone is heading back to either work or study, but we must never forget to set aside some time for some much needed gaming!
We are all still getting over the holiday times and getting back into the swing of things. This also involves trying out some new things with the magazine as it grows, so always be sure to let us know on our social media pages (seen on the next page) what you think!
The 2014 voting for our Gaming Awards has closed, which brought in a large number of votes! You can see who the winners and runners up were on page 6. Were you surprised? Did your favourites make it in?
Well we hope you enjoy the February issue of Anti-Gravity Gaming Network magazine and behalf of everyone here at AGGN, thanks for being so supportive of us over this time. If you feel like you want to be even more supportive and show us some love, check out the rear cover!
Ryan 'LemonHunter' Sattell
Editor in Chief
meet some of the TEAM...
Jordan Antonelli
Brooke Geller
Brett 'Red' Sellar
Noel Wheatley
With a weakness for all things Fantasy and Sci-Fi, Jordan turned out to be quite the dreamer, awaiting a chance to trade his pen for a lightsaber. Avid gamer and musician.
Brooke is a secret reptilian humanoid who is hopelessly addicted to coffee, video games and exclamation marks.
As a gamer since the days of DOS, Brett loves all things geek. Console, PC or Tabletop, he has probably wasted many hours playing it.
Gamer, Nerd, Console collector, Amateur Gaming Historian, Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.
>>Have your say on our facebook page @ www.facebook.com/antigravnet and you could feature in the magazine << 2 | Anti-Gravity Gaming Network
Anti-Gravity Gaming Network | 3
Contents >>
Anti-Gravity Gaming Network | Issue 5 | February 2015
6
ARTICLES
22 REVIEWS
8
Fans Gone Wild
22
Razer Seiren
12
Trouble with Resellers
24
Pokemon Alpha Sapphire
14
Video Game Funerals
26
16
Witcher 3 Preview
Saints Row IV: Gat out of Hell
28
Super Smash Bros 3DS
30
Razer Chroma
18 20
Maintaining a Healthy Gaming Habbit
FEATURES
12 RESELLERS
Are resellers screwing up everything for the rest of us?
Women in Games
8
FANS GONE WILD
When fans go one step (or many) too far to defend their game.
BE OUR FRIEND 24 POKEMON /ANTIGRAVNET
A review of the latest Pokemon game, Alpha Sapphire, with all of it's water.
@ANTIGRAVNET
26 GAT OUT OF HELL /AGGNTV
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Saints Row IV heads down under. Not to Australia, I mean right down under, to visit Satan.
16 THE WITCHER 3 WILD HUNT A SNEAK PEAK AT THE NEXT INSTALMENT OF THE FAMOUS FRANCHISE
18 HEALTHY GAMING HABBITS
22 RAZER SEIREN
A SATIRICAL PIECE TO STAYING HEALTHY
TOP NOTCH AUDIO RECORDING
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Fans Gone Wild
When defending your beloved games go too far Author: Brooke Geller
There’s nothing quite like a good old fashioned nerd fight. Arguing over which fictional character would win in a hypothetical battle! Fiercely debating the specifics of various PC builds! And of course, everyone’s favourite: the console wars! Yes, these fights are often as pointless as they are slightly pathetic, yet somehow they’re a reflection of just how passionate and dedicated those fans can be. From comic books to films and every game adaptation in between, there’s bound to be a nerd fight going on about it somewhere. Most likely on the internet. Sometimes people can take it a little too far, crossing the line that separates Enthusiastic Fan Boy from Fox News Scapegoat. Here are a few instances in which someone maybe should have stepped in and uttered those four dreaded words: IT’S JUST A GAME.
"sounds a tad overdramatic, doesn't it?"
Threatening developers When feeling an immense bout of rage regarding a trivial aspect of one of your most treasured and sacred games, who better to direct that hate at than the people who made it? Yes, many developers have found themselves the target of insurmountable abuse from unhappy customers or seemingly disappointed diehard fans of their games. Is there anything worse than busting your ass for monthspossibly even years- only to have some greasy little git threatening to murder your entire family for some of the small decisions you made during the creative process? Jennifer Hepler, a senior writer on Dragon Age II, actually quit BioWare due to morbid threats made towards her children. Minecraft’s Notch also received death threats following a
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Above: Zoe Quinn, developer and target of abuse in the midst of Gamergate.
Below: LEAVE PHIL FISH ALONE
server shut down. Call of Duty’s team are no strangers to online intimidation either, with developer David Vonderhaar and former Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling both being subjected to a good deal of virile internet troll vomit. Though most developers familiar with these sorts of intimidation tactics admit that they mostly deal with empty threats, it still doesn’t change the fact that people are threatening to straight up sniper people’s children because someone decided to make a slight change to someone’s player experience. Sounds a tad overdramatic, doesn’t it? Real-life retaliations to in-game situations In April last year, a SWAT team surrounded the home of 17-year-old Long Beach resident Rafael Castillo after receiving news that he had murdered his own mother and was still armed, resulting in a two-hour standoff involving more than 60 police officers. Castillo, however, was completely oblivious to the
entire situation unfolding outside his house; he was still in his room, unarmed, headphones blaring as he played a few more rounds of Call of Duty. Earlier that day, he had beaten another young player in the game, who had decided to seek revenge by ‘Swatting’ his virtual killer. His mother was out shopping. It’s not just dumb teenagers who are ruining it for everyone. In 2011, a 46-year-old man called Mark Bradford stormed in to the house of a 13-year-old player who had been tormenting him in a similar game of Call of Duty and choked him. The two were neighbours and family acquaintances, and Bradford claimed the boy had been tormenting him in-game all day. He described his violent retaliation as a ‘moment of madness’ and was charged with assault. Actual murder We’ve all experienced the frustration of trying to explain the
Above: Mark Bradford choked his teenage neighbour after a heated Call of Duty game.
lack of evidence to link violent video games with actual violence over, and over, and over. It’s painful. Unfortunately, the case against video-games-turned-my-son-in-toa-serial-killer isn’t exactly helped by actual, real-life cases of people being killed over games. In 2013, 18-yearold up and coming US rapper Lil Snupe was shot and killed by his 36-year-old friend Tony Holden after the two were caught up in a heated argument over a video game. In a similar incident a few years earlier, a man named Luke German was beaten to death with a metal rod after a game-related argument. In an ever more brutal incident, 16-year-old Daniel Petric shot both his parents after they confiscated his copy of Halo 3, killing his mother and badly injuring his father. Petric then attempted to flee the scene with the game, but was caught by police and later sentenced to life in prison.
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Right: Anita Sarkeesian on The Colbert Report.
Gamergate Gamergate was one big, huge mess that has forever changed the way we see the term ‘gamer’. Despite an attempt to brand the fiasco as an analysis of ‘journalistic integrity’ in the industry, it instead proved to be a hateful witch hunt against many prominent and outspoken women in games. The entire incident started out with indie developer Zoe Quinn’s ex boyfriend spreading rumours and nude photos of her around the internet, accusing her of sleeping with critics for positive game reviews and inciting an internet hate campaign against her. Quinn was harassed and shamed to unspeakable lengths, receiving countless graphic rape threats. Her personal details, including home address and family members’ phone numbers, were leaked after her blog was hacked. Many rallied in support of Quinn, which resulted in further attacks. Actress Felicia Day and developer Brianna Wu both had their home addresses released after speaking out against Gamergate, and developer Phil Fish left the gaming industry completely after the subsequent harassment and
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hacking of his social media accounts after publicly supporting Quinn. Outspoken feminist games critic and social commentator Anita Sarkeesian was, as usual, dragged in to this sudden tornado of misogyny. Her address was also leaked, forcing her to temporarily leave her home. She also cancelled an appearance at Utah State University after three separate shooting threats were made to the college, which the police refused to act on. Stephen Colbert, who hosted Sarkeesian on his show to discuss the issue, speculated that Gamergate was a distinctly misogynistic attack on women due to the specific and intense retaliation towards women who were brave enough to voice their opinion, whereas most men who spoke out against Gamergatesuch as Will Wheaton- weren’t abused quite so harshly. Many women targeted by Gamergate supporters received rape threats. So what does all this madness teach us? That gamers are hateful, violent idiots ready to attack at the slightest change in game play, or critique of a perfectly subjective media product? No, of course not. We’re good people, really! Well, most of us. But maybe it’d be best for some of these angry young men
to take a moment to chill out, politely remove their sacred games from the untouchable golden pedestal they’ve built for them, and just play some Little Big Planet for a few hours to get some perspective. Or, you know, we could remove their internet privileges. Either one is good.
Below: Next time you teabag someone in Halo, just pray these guys aren't waiting outside your house. Far Below: Streamer was 'swatted' by one of people he was playing against.
The Trouble with Resellers A collectors rant
Author: Noel Wheatley I’ve been a collector of games, consoles and gaming paraphernalia for the best part of the last 2 decades so I’ve had more than my fair share of run ins with resellers over the years. Due to my need to obtain certain games, consoles or peripherals at times I’ve had to deal with them and cross over to the dark side of collecting. However in recent years I’ve seen reselling spread from just a few people here and there or mum and dad operations at weekend markets to people who make a living off reselling items to not only the classic or retro gaming market, but to current gen gamers and it’s really starting to tick me off. But that’s what it’s going for on eBay... That one phrase always sends a combination of fear and anger up my spine as it often means that the person selling the game has looked on eBay at the currently listed price and decided that’s what they can ask for it. In situations when I have encountered this I always ask if they have looked at the sold or listed price (I asked 50 different resellers over the space of year) and 47 (94% of the time) said they looked at the listed prices. This was sometimes admittedly due to their own lack of knowledge (and often after educating them they were grateful for the update and changed their prices…..slightly) but in other cases I was met with responses that ranged from “well people are obviously willing to pay that for it so why shouldn’t
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I charge it?” to straight out abuse because I was apparently trying to rip them off and/or bad mouth their businesses. The retail reseller Now there are some businesses out there that specialise in both the retro and modern gaming market like Gametraders and The Gamesmen. These stores work on a trade in and resell market and while their prices are often up there, it's rarely eBay listed prices bad, but it’s the rogue operators that seem to be the worst for stuff like this. I’ve visited a few smaller stores where I’ve seen people getting utterly rubbish trade in prices but then seeing those same games on sale a week later for 10
Above: Ultra rare 20th anniversary PS4s selling for rediculous amounts
to 20 times the price or credit they paid them and some of these prices make the eBay listed prices seem cheap by comparison. I understand that in this case it is a business but even still creating such a perception isn’t doing anyone any good. The modern reseller and the perpetuation of perceived rarity Over the last few years there have been more and more limited/ collector's edition games and consoles coming to market and quite a few will often be snapped up by those people who are looking to resell them rather than enjoy them or have them as part of
commented on the situation. Sony UK executive Fegal Gara was quoted as saying to Eurogamer regarding the consoles being resold “That’s not what we want to see happen”.
Above: New Majoras Mask 3DS XL has also quickly shown up on online auction sites before they have even released.
However sometimes the perceived rarity of an item is creating a whole new issue for gamers and collectors, Nintendo’s Amiibos being a recent example of a must have gaming
decided to use this to their own advantage. These people cleaned out retailers of every single one of these seemingly rarer models only to then try and resell them at anywhere from 2 to 6 times their original value. This in turn creates an even greater sense of rarity as the models are no longer available through normal means, retailers aren’t apparently able to get more stock and the supposed value of a $15 figurine skyrockets, creating a self perpetuating perceived rarity and artificially inflating prices even further for items like this. Am I just jealous? Should I just suck it up? Why does this annoy me?
"it is a business, but even still creating such a perception isn't doing anyone any good." their collection. With the recent very limited release of the 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4 there was no doubt that some of them would end up in the hands of resellers, especially given their rarity and that they were put on sale for the same price as the standard console. With each regions stock rapidly selling out they just as quickly ending up online with them being sold for prices ranging from $1200 USD to in excess of a staggering $20,000 USD, things got so bad that even PlayStation
item causing this phenomenon. When the first wave of Amiibos was released there had been some speculation around certain figures having lower production runs than others and therefore making them slightly rarer and more sought after than the other figurines. Collectors and passionate Nintendo gamers were quick to try and grab up all the figurines they wanted to either represent their favourite in game characters or just to have in their collection, but there were many that
Above: Little Mac Amiibos going for top dollar on eBay.
No, possibly and for a few reasons, it annoys me because its creating a situation where the perceived rarity of an item is making these sort of things inaccessible to the average gamer. I’ve always been a advocate that gaming is something that everyone should be able to enjoy and with people buying up stock just to resell and creating scenarios like this just annoys the hell out of me. I have nothing against capitalism and people making money, but when the majority seem to do it's the minority who suffer and that just sucks. The only way to get around situations like this is to sort of play their game and become better consumers, do some research up front to work out what you want and where to get it from, take advantage of pre-orders or lay-by offers and most importantly plan ahead. Either way whether you are a collector, passionate gamer or just someone who loves gaming and you’re trying to hunt down that hidden gem, nostalgic memory from your past or the latest release from your favourite franchise, from one gamer to another I wish you good luck and good hunting.
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Video Game Funerals What happens when gamers hit Game Over in real life? Author: Brooke Geller
To be entirely honest, the formality of a funeral, like most Western rites of passage, baffles me. They’re expensivesometimes costing tens of thousands of dollars. You have to wear all black. Afterwards, you have to go to a wake, which is essentially the after-party to the funeral- except that everyone’s sad, and it’s considered more than a little impolite to be jovially drunk, challenge people to dance-offs or attempt to pick up babes. Essentially though, funerals and memorial services are a way for people to pay tribute and fondly remember their loved ones. In recent years, members of the gaming community have decided to commemorate their fallen comrades in a distinctly unique and touching way: with virtual services. Late last year, dozens of Final Fantasy XIV players congregated
within the game to pay tribute to a friend, known as Codex Vahlda, who was brain dead and on life support in hospital. The ceremony, in which players spelled out the 29-year-old’s name with lights, was broadcast on Twitch, which meant his family were able to witness the moving tribute to Codex from his hospital room. Developers are also among those to utilise the digital realm to pay their respects. After legendary actor Robin Williams passed away last year, World of Warcraft was littered with in-game references in the game’s actual code, as well a one-liner-spouting genie in the Warlords of Draenor expansion beta. The World of Warcraft universe is no stranger to grief. An in-game funeral was held in Winterspring after the sudden death of a player known as Snowly, who suffered a stroke. Reportedly hundreds gathered to pay their respects by the
"there is still a shred of compassion left in the gaming sphere." 14 | Anti-Gravity Gaming Network
Above: No, not that kind of virtual funeral.
Below: Nelson Reynes, respected fighting game competitor.
icy river. Unfortunately, being a PvP server, her friends found themselves vulnerable and under attack by the infamous guild Serenity Now, who had decided to disregard the mourners’ requests to be left alone to grieve. They then proceeded to kill most of the attendees, and then upload the footage to YouTube. Apparently the notion of respect goes right out the window when there’s a potential bloodbath to be had involving a rival guild. In a similarly tragic tale of worstfuneral-location-ever, Planetside guild HMX-1 met to hold a virtual funeral for
Left: World of Warcraft's tribute to Robin Williams.
Above: A recent Final Fantasy XIV memorial.
Left Below: Infamous guild Serenity Now gatecrashed a player's funeral.
friend and comrade Raider05. The mourning players were, predictably, slaughtered- sadly, whilst kneeling in respect- by The Enclave, who literally blew them up with explosives. The Enclave scored more than 200 kills in less than 2 minutes, as well as eternal notoriety as some of the biggest douchebags in gaming history. Despite the unfortunate lack of maturity in certain circles, there still is some shred of compassion left in the gaming sphere. Nelson Reyes, a notable competitor in the world of fighting games such as Marvel vs. Capcom, died after experiencing an epileptic seizure at just 28 years old. His friends and fellow gamers raised over $13,000 in a memorial fund
to put towards his funeral costs, which was paid to his grandmother. Perhaps even more moving is the solidarity and compassion shown by the gaming community even outside of their immediate social groups. World of Warcraft players once again earned themselves some good karma points by helping out a grieving father on Reddit. The man was trying to understand and connect with his sonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hobbies and was struggling with keeping up with the demands of the game. After explaining his situation and struggle on a Reddit forum, he received dozens of offers of help, as well as countless heartfelt condolences- including one from a Blizzard employee. As usual, these tributes have shown us that the world of games is a strange mixture of blatant idiocy, moving beauty and of course, surprises- both pleasant and unpleasant. One thingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s for sure: thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potential money to be made as a virtual funeral planner.
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Hands on preview event Author: Noel Wheatley
Have you ever played a game that has suddenly inspired you to want to go out and play the rest of the series, read all the books and appreciate all the fandom for the main character? I have and it only took 3.5 hours to take me from unknowing player to fan and hell, the game isn't even released yet! Recently I was invited along to the Bandai Namco offices in Sydney to get some hands on time with the 3rd instalment of the Witcher series, Witcher 3: Wild hunt. I’ve never played any of the previous Witcher games, for some reason they never really popped up on my radar but now after having some hands on with this game I think this may have been a massive oversight in my gaming experience. To start the game off, as with most games, there is a tutorial to get new players use to the controls and introduce them the storyline. We were playing on an almost final build of the game and the developer pointed out that they still had 4 months of refinement left to include into the game and more importantly look at the feedback given to them by those who had played the game already to try and make it the best it could be for their fans/ community. Even with them talking about the development left, from what I saw on the day I’m already impressed. I was playing the Xbox One version and found the graphics and environment absolutely stunning. I intentionally didn’t skip any of the cut scenes to help gain further insight into the characters, story line, the level of voice acting (such as Emperor Emhyr var Emreis voiced by the one and only Charles Dance ) and emotion of the characters and NPC’s, each of them seemed emotive in their language, tones, facial
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"to do it all... you should probably set aside about 140+ hours and say goodbye to the real world"
at about 50hrs if you rush through it, 100+ hrs with most side missions, but to do it all, well you should probably set aside about 140+ hrs and say goodbye to the real world for an extended period of time. With all the praise I have for this game there were a few issues and once again this isn’t the final build and the developers were fantastic is asking for feedback. There were some glitches with the NPC’s getting stuck in the terrain, when you call Roach (Geralts Horse) he would come to the spot he was called and not the player, not move out of the way for battles, sometimes also somehow got stuck or lost. expressions and body language with the conversational choices seeming to garner the appropriate different levels of responses or unique types of reactions. However I suspect that even with all this choice we were able to experience within the time we had, it would still lead the to a linier story progression within a beautifully crafted open world. As you start to play through the Witcher 3 you are given just enough information about the storyline to keep you intrigued and guessing about what will happen next without it being too aloof or too obvious. To really get the most out of this though you need to let each of the cut scenes play, even though
skipping them will not impact the gameplay or evolution of the story they do go a long way in creating the narrative of the game and establishing a lot of the back story for some of the characters and their motivations. During the games tutorial (re: first 2 hrs of game play) you’re given a great look into the storyline that awaits you while also showing those of us (like myself) who hadn’t played the series before a bit of an insight into the history of both the game and the Witchers. Now what would an open world RPG be without a good side quest or two and in the Witcher 3 there are quite a few, but not so many as to completely halt the storyline but just enough to add to the main story without overwhelming it, however if you’re a bit of a completionist I would expect that you will need to invest quite a few hours to get them all done. To give you a rough idea of the time needed for this game, to complete the core storyline you’re probably looking
While playing the game and using the meditation ability, the other players and I came to a similar conclusion about this game mechanic and that there was a huge missed opportunity. With the world within the game being so expansive and breathtaking when meditating why not show the world around the player as a time lapse style montage to showcase the games environment and weather mechanics and breathtaking scenery, luckily enough one of the games developers (Philipp Weber- Quest Designer) was in the room with us and giving us a few pointers and just generally hanging out with us seemed to like the idea as well, so you never know what we might see in the final release of the game. I have to say a massive thank you to Bandai Namco and CD Projekt for not only a fantastic afternoon of getting a sneak peek into the upcoming world of Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, but also for giving for me insight into a series that I somehow underestimated and now I cannot wait for. Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is set for release on May 19th for PC, Xbox One and PS4.
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Maintaining a Healthy Gaming Habit Without ever having to leave your desk! Author: Brooke Geller
Have you ever been accused of having an ‘unhealthy’ obsession with gaming? Sick and tired of nagging relatives constantly throwing you concerned glances over Sunday lunch? Well fear not, friend! Our handy howto guide will show you exactly how to function as a healthy, grown up digital entertainment enthusiast whilst putting your loved ones’ minds at ease- without ever having to leave your desk. Fuel your body You would’ve thought that by now we’d be controlling our consoles with the sheer power of our minds. Unfortunately, science fiction has once again lied to us all, and we’re forced to use our physical limbs and stuff to power controllers like archaic schmucks. This requires energy, and where does our body get its energy from? No, not from harvesting demon souls- from food. You know, that stuff you’re always finding jammed behind your computer’s keyboard (I myself once found an entire dried piece of macaroni wedged behind the R key). The world of nutrition can be a daunting realm of information overload and conflicting opinions. But do you really want to trust nutritionists? I mean, these are the guys who are telling you to eat salads made from seaweed, and ‘super foods’ harvested from impoverished communities in third world countries. If you want to keep your body running like a well-oiled Starfighter, then you really just need to make sure you’re eating a wide variety of food groups. Fortunately we live in an age of convenience where all the best, tastiest foods are happy colours! Ever heard of ‘eating the rainbow’? I’m talking multicoloured candy shaped like fruit, chips covered in bright orange
cheese powder, and energising sugar water in hues of sparkling magenta and emerald. Ah yes, a veritable smorgasbord of nutrition. And before you worry about the salt and sugar content, just remember that sugar and salt are harvested from the earth. So they can’t be bad, right? No, don’t google it. Just shut up and eat your French fries. They’re technically a vegetable... Let’s get physical! According to those know-it-all doctors, sitting on your ass all day isn’t so great for your health. You should be doing things like running in a park from nothing in particular, or playing team sports. However, running shoes can cost at least as much as a next-gen game, and team sports usually require socialising with people who frequently make use of terms like ‘carb up’ and frown upon your luminescent, snowwhite gamer tan. So why not just
"shut up and eat your french fries. they're technically a vegetable." 18 | Anti-Gravity Gaming Network
Above: Now you, too, can be the picture of health!
live vicariously through your character? You can play tennis, practice yoga, ride a horse, and even ride a dragon! My god, the fitness possibilities are endless. And if your character starts to get a little worn out, just top them up with a few stamina potions. Feel free to brag about your athletic exploits on your preferred social media platform, using the relevant annoying hashtags where required. Being a fitness junkie has never been so easy! Look to a higher power Day-to-day life can be a crazy rollercoaster ride of stress and worries, especially for a gamer. Spontaneously spending your rent money in Steam sales, the frustration of painfully slow Australian internet and even the dreaded blue screen of death are all stressful scenarios that we’ve all had to deal with at one time or another. During times like these, it’s always a good idea to release your worries and seek the counsel of a spiritual guru. In real life, this usually means getting up too early on weekends to go sing about some bearded dude who died almost two thousand years ago, or promising to remain virtuous until you find someone stupid enough to marry you. Video games, on the
Left: Red Dead Redemption, all the beauty of the desert minus the heat stroke.
levelling up at a brag-worthy rate. But don’t you dare think that you should be cutting in to your precious gaming time to do something like read a book or actually attend one of your uni lectures (for once). A lot of games, especially those of the RPG persuasion, have mini games built in. Gameception! Head on down to the local virtual saloon for a quick hand of poker with your pistoltoting drinking buddies, or even seek out old school arcade-style games hidden inside that game with the awesome graphics that you probably paid eighty bucks for during that regrettable Steam sale splurge. Once you’ve powered through a quick brain warm-up, you can happily return to shooting rival gangsters and hours-long dungeon crawls that result in way more loot than you could ever know what to do with. Find solace in nature Left: Stretch those limbs! No, not your limbs. Michael's limbs.
Left Below: The cheese powder is considered dairy, right?
other hand, provide an environment where you can not only meet with you deity of choice, but participate in religious activities often deemed inappropriate or ‘illegal’ by modern society. From Hubology to Unitology, and every other cult in between, there’s surely a fictional faith just perfect for your needs. After all, isn’t it about time we take some time out from our day to thank Talos for his bountiful blessings? Or sacrifice an innocent companion to appease your cave-dwelling demon of choice? Take some time to keep your mind active Let’s face it: the older we get, the stupider we feel. That’s probably because you are getting stupider as you get older, and stupidity isn’t going to help you gain that mad XP. You need to keep your brain in tip-top shape in order to keep
Ah, nature. That place with all the beautiful big trees, cute little animals, and ravenous monsters hiding in forests. Wait, did you think I was talking about real life nature? Aw, hello no son. Ever tried to get a wifi signal there? It’s not going to happen. Take a break from running errands for the Jarl in Skyrim and put on your best dragon scale armour to take in some beautiful mountain ranges. Or jump on a speed boat in GTAV and drive as far as you can towards the horizon, then jump in to the water an attempt to punch a shark to death. Getting close to nature is a serene and humbling process. There’s nothing quite like camping out in a lush forest and stealth killing every deer in sight for absolutely no reason at all. So peaceful. Well there you have it, folks. Your complete cheat sheet to becoming a super fit, smart-as-a-tack, spiritually enlightened gaming machine.
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Women in Games Embracing the feminine Author: Brooke Geller
The pink peripheral debate is an interesting one. Forever a topic of controversy, the place of ‘girly’ gadgets in the games industry is one that even the most seasoned female gamers are still made to feel slightly unsure of. Are they an insult to all that is fair and true in the name of equality, or have they justified their place in gaming culture? Of course, to understand the social meaning behind pink peripherals in the industry, we have to look at why they even exist in the first place.
Right Top: Women playing video games... acceptable...? Right Bottom: "Hey Susan, now you can finally join in on Call of Duty night thanks to those clever lads in marketing!"
Not too long ago, in a galaxy not at all far away, women were fighting for their right to play video games. No, I’m not talking about challenging their male counterparts to intense Tekken matches or calling shotgun on who got their eager hands on the controller first. Women were simply struggling to be acknowledged by the community as just another group of people who also happened to enjoy playing games. Cue the whole “girls play games too!” uproar of about ten years ago, and you get the picture. The struggle of female gamers to gain equal recognition was real, and eventually the industry
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relented- well, kind of- in the form of marketing. In an effort to cash in on this whole equality hoopla, the market was suddenly flooded with candy pink headsets, keyboards and even cases. Because obviously, women were avoiding the gaming community because they hadn’t yet found a controller that looked like Hello Kitty had vomited all over it. “Look how inclusive we’re being!” shouted the executive geniuses behind this new wave of female-friendly gadgetry, highfiving each other enthusiastically. Meanwhile, a large majority of female gamers were quietly throwing up in their mouths.
that’s what my bank was probably thinking when they sent it to me. Pink peripherals suddenly had a stigma attached to them. You see, the world of games was a bit of a boy’s club, and if you wanted to be considered a member then you’d better not let on that you might actually be female. You think any self-respecting bro dude would be caught dead screaming obscenities into a pink headset? Hell no! If women wanted to be accepted into the wolf pack of aforementioned bro dudes, then they’d have to conform.
Above: Admit it, the blue one is ugly as hell.
But then something strange happened. Rather than continuing to
gamer I am? Will I compromise my feminist beliefs by choosing to cosplay a cleavage-flaunting Triss Merrigold at a convention? Am I simply adhering to some tired cliché of your typical ‘girl gamer’ if I dye my hair rainbow neon colours, or am I truly expressing myself? The truth is none of this really matters. These are grown women we’re talking about, not tiny little girls being brainwashed by advertisements for Bratz dolls. Female gamers are more than privy to the sexism-in-games debate, and I’m going to bet that yes, they are aware of the possible connotations behind that pink mouse.
"from fitness to hardware, nowhere is safe from the gender-specific colour branding epidemic." This brand of slightly insulting marketing wasn’t restricted to the games industry. From fitness to hardware, nowhere is safe from the gender-specific colour branding epidemic. I know that when my bank sent me a hot pink Visa card, I wept with joy over now being allowed the privilege of buying crap online just like the menfolk can. At least,
reject this never-ending pink wave, many women in the community have chosen to embrace it. It’s as though they’re defiantly rejecting the notion that women who want to be taken seriously as gamers should avoid anything considered traditionally feminine, and thus are sending the message that it’s totally okay to choose to conform to certain colour spectrums. Should I reject pink peripherals in order to prove how serious a
Above: "Honestly, how do you expect my delicate feminine hands to utilise this masculine black keyboard?"
What is of actual importance right now is that women feel that their beloved games community is a place where they can be safe to embrace or reject these traditionally feminine things without judgement or exclusion. Let’s face it- there are far more pressing issues pertaining to diversity and equality in this industry than the colour of someone’s tower case at a LAN party. Yes, I own a pink 3ds- because it was the cheapest colour available to me at the time. But if I’d paid even a little extra money just so I could have the pink model, that would be totally fine too. It wouldn’t compromise my gaming credentials (whatever the hell those even are), and it definitely wouldn’t make me any less of a feminist. There’s a lot of ways we can help make this community a happier and more progressive place, but judging our fellow gamers simply isn’t one of them.
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RAZER SEIREN >> FEATURE
Author: Ryan Sattell The Razer Seiren is a studio grade USB microphone developed by gaming overlords, Razer, aimed towards those who want the very best audio for their YouTube videos and live streams. Of course, this microphone is at a level that can be used for musicians or other artists that need a good, crisp audio recording. One thing I noticed when I opened up the Razer Seiren is that it definitely feels like a solid microphone, not only the excellent build quality of the mic, but the base that it comes with as well. The base is awesome for those who will be operating at a desk (such as streamers or YouTube gamers) but if you need to use a free standing microphone stand, you can easily take the Seiren off its stock base and pop it on one of your own. For those who want to go one step further than that, there is also a shockmount and pop filter available from Razer if it takes your fancy. Now, I've used condenser microphones before, some of which were a bit of a pain to set up. I was a little taken back after setting up the Seiren, thinking I had missed a step. I plugged it in via USB and it updated Synapse 2.0 by itself, ready to go. Now, I already had Synapse 2.0 installed due to my other Razer products, but that's a quick download to have everything ready to go. I
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straight away started playing with all the dials on the Seiren, working out what does what. Unlike other free-standing USB microphones I've used, being able to change the microphone gain, the recording pattern or mute the microphone completely all from the microphone itself was a pleasant surprise. This brings me to my next point, the recording patterns. There are 4 different recording patterns available with the Seiren, each one best suited for a different scenario and all very easily interchangeable directly from the Seiren using a control knob, as seen in the table below. The omnidirectional setting does a great job of picking up audio from every direction evenly, however it did feel a little echoey at times. The other settings, such as cardioid, which Is great for streamers or single source audio needs, was beautiful and crisp. Another useful function of the Seiren is the 3.5mm headphone output. This is handy for a zero latency monitoring of what your
viewers are going to hear. This can be used in many different ways, such as hearing what your microphone is picking up, or even having another person monitor the audio. It can also be turned up and down from yet another control knob on the Seiren. Overall, for someone who is looking to step up their game with content creation, I definitely recommend considering the Razer Seiren when looking for a new microphone. I found the microphone very easy to set up, which is great. The audio quality is beautiful and crisp, actually much better than I was first expecting. One of the other things I'm very happy with, which some people might think is stupid, is the fact the microphone looks great. If you have a facecam in your videos, you want your hardware to look good. One thing a lot of people don't take into consideration is audio. Never overlook audio. People want to hear your pretty voice.
FEATURE <<
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Pokemon Alpha Sapphire Heading home to Hoenn Author: Jordan Antonelli
I've been playing Pokemon for a long time, maybe even longer than I can actually remember. I've played all of the titles, on probably every system. For people like me, Pokemon is an infinite. A universal constant. Something that always has been, and always will be. It's always a ride on the nostalgia train when I decide to go back to an old Pokemon title. Someone will always manage to find me dusting off the old GameBoy Advance, or frantically searching for some elusive cartridge. This time however, the railway has brought the nostalgia train straight to your house, or rather, straight to your 3DS. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (ORAS) are the latest incarnations of the beloved third generation Ruby/Sapphire team. What you'll notice straight away, is the modern look these old favourites now possess. In an old-meets-new, dream-team mash-up, ORAS have taken these classics and given
them a fresh look reminiscent of Pokemon X/Y. Don't let your interest wane there however, as the new and improved titles boast an array of new add ons and features which are sure to catch your eye, and if you're anything like me, it'll be a big ask to put these games down. I got the opportunity to tinker around with Alpha Sapphire over the Christmas break, and while it is technically a separate game to Omega Ruby, most of the content is shared between the two. Now players might be a little anxious about their beloved Pokemon being changed, but it really did feel to me like it was business as usual. Where the game changes is in incorporating some of the changes to the franchise that have happened in the mean time. One of the more recent of those is the Mega Evolution. These game changing power up abilities are present in the new titles, but keep in mind that the list of
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compatible Pokemon is still relatively small. Making its appearance this time around is the Primal Reversion ability, a derivative of the lore behind the ancient Pokemon in the game. One of the detractors to the game is something I never thought I'd find myself saying. At time, Alpha Sapphire just feels too slow. Really slow. This could be merely the result of playing through Pokemon Y a week earlier, but many a time did I just feel like Alpha Sapphire was dragging on for too long. More's the pity. There can
be no doubt that ORAS is packed full of things to do, but it couldn't really keep up with Pokemon X/Y, which seemed action packed in comparison. In all honesty I'm not sure I could come up with a solution to this, as I didn't dislike the story, even with all that goddamn water. Maybe the Pokemon standard has just evolved a little bit past what we were used to back in the day. Does it say something about our Zeroattention-span generation who can't sit still for two minutes? Probably, but still it really is something I wish hadn't bothered me. Going into the game I knew there'd be some new features over the originals, but I was surprised to see even some changes have made it into the story, you'll have to
wait till the end of the game for the really cool stuff, but plenty of fun is to be had over Hoenn. In regards to training your Pokemon, players will find many similarities to other recent titles, hopefully giving you some consistency and dealing away with any sense of regression. This includes some of those training mini games, as well as the online trading system and random trade, which are compatible with previous Pokemon versions. To the poor guy who traded a level 48 Ditto for my level 2 Spearow, well sorry about that old chum. The dexNav is a really nifty little add on. You'll find it as an option in your Pokedex, and it'll completely revolutionise your catching process. It was easy for me to write off the new mechanic as a gimmick at first, later on I realised just how cool a feature it is. The app will help you catch Pokemon, by showing you where some are hiding, and requiring you to tiptoe over to them to attempt to catch them. As you use this system the better and rarer Pokemon you'll find, which have better sets of moves and skills over your standard catches. For me I wish Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d had this feature as a child. Some method to the madness that was diving head first into tall grass, not knowing what I would find. While Alpha Sapphire isn't the greatest Pokemon game I've played, it gets bloody close. The few problems I did have with the game are things I'll mostly chalk up to being a cynic, because for the 30+ hours I put into the game, I loved every second of it. Whether you're a youngster who's playing for the first time, or you just wanna hop back on the feels train, ORAS has your back. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are welcome additions to the Pokeverse in my book, and if this is an indication of how the franchise is doing after this long, I think it's in good hands.
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Saint Row: Gat out of Hell
Taking Saints Row to Satan's playground Author: Brooke Geller
What do you get when you combine cliché, cheesy sci-fi motifs, organised crime and political power struggles with the dark recesses of hell? That’s right boys and girls, the new Saints Row has arrived, and this time that trademark ludicrously inappropriate humour has been toned down ever so slightly to give us a chance to run amok in Satan’s very own diabolical playground. For the first time in the series’ history, the player is presented with a choice of two playable characters, rather than a customisable protagonist. Foul-mouthed, wise-cracking Johnny Gat and his unwilling accomplice Kinzie Kensington are forced to enter an ominous portal to the underworld in order to rescue the infamous president from the clutches of old mate Lucifer, who believes the political power figure to be a fine suitor for his beloved daughter. To describe this satanic ghetto as ‘fun’ would be an absurd understatement. Exploring the apocalyptic wasteland of New Hades is ridiculously entertaining right from the word go; the cracked streets of the slums ooze with pockets of explosive lava, and beat-up bomb versions of typical Saints Row rides cruise around, blasting ass-kicking rock and metal riffs- despite the complete absence of radio stations in hell. Bald, emaciated tortured souls wander the streets, resembling cranky and indignant I Am Legend mutants. They’re completely, harmless, and totally perfect for monster truck fodder. Speaking of which, monster trucks are the fuzz vehicle of choice, complete with jet streams of angry flame and massive horns.
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"a gun that shoots exploding frogs? another gun that attacks your enemies with swarms of blood-sucking insects?" These are piloted by highly irritable, super buff red demons, who act as peace keepers of New Hades. In a surprising and almost progressive decision on Deep Silver’s part, Kinzie features as a playable character alongside Johnny, and the two are interchangeable throughout the game; however, the twisted fairytale storybook device utilised to narrate the story and fill in plot gaps only ever refers to Johnny as the protagonist, even if the player decides to use only Kinzie. Kinzie and Johhny side with Dane Vogel, who has set up shop with Ultor in New Hades and has quickly involved himself in the many political power struggles of land rights in hell. The narrative moves quite fast- almost too fast, in fact. It seems as though the player is being whizzed through the story at an unreasonably fast pace, with sudden bursts of hectic combat thrown in to cover this up. Almost every mission involves killing swarms of enemies in a brazenly gung-ho style, which proves to be far too easy and very repetitive. The fights do, however, make for a chance to utilise the many fantastically ridiculous weapons. A gun that shoots exploding
frogs? Another gun that attacks your enemies with swarms of blood-sucking insects? How about a reclining armchair with heatseeking missiles attached- that you can ride around the streets? Weapon upgrades are fantastic and totally justify spending that hard-earned in-game currency. Supernatural abilities are equally as entertaining, and varied enough to keep things interesting. With most games, I find myself sticking to just a couple of favourite powers, but this time there’s a great range to add to you frequently-used arsenal. The standout power is the ability to fly by utilising Lucifer’s cracked halo, which bestows Johnny and
Kinzie the majestic wings of morning star. The flying is satisfyingly smooth and easy to control, even when bouncing through chaotic rubble. The ease of flying actually makes the Saints Row tradition of carjacking an unnecessary novelty; why struggle with the game’s irritatingly clunky driving controls when you could just soar over that giant pool of lava with wings that look like they’ve been copied exactly from Infamous: Second Son? There are some familiar faces thrown in as well, with the return of classic characters Troy, Dex and of course the ever-charming blonde nightmare Dane Vogel. However, the depiction of historical figures as enemies of Satan (and your potential allies) seems sightly shallow. For example, Shakespeare may be one of the most prolific
playwrights of all time, but in New Hades he’s a dull nightclub owner and DJ, spurting badly written verses riddled with cheap puns. Similarly, Black Beard is essentially a run-of-the-mil, hipster-beard pirate who still lives on his ship. Move on, dude. It seems like this game had an opportunity to do so much with these characters, but simply chose to waste an opportunity. For such a small game, there are an immense amount of side quests and mini games. Sadly, it’s difficult to even differentiate these from the main quests due to their similar and repetitive nature. This seems to be the case for the entire game, really. As exciting as exploring this new environment is, there’s just not enough substance to really let it shine. Even that signature Saints Row shock factor seems to be lacking. Maybe it’s time to for Deep Silver to atone for the sin of poorly constructed story and repetitive combat in the slums of New Hades?
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Super Smash Bros 3DS Kicking it old school with Smash for 3DS Author: Jordan Antonelli
Super Smash Bros holds a very special place in my childhood. I remember huddling around the TV as a 7 year old with my brother and 3 cousins, scrambling over the flimsy controllers for the N64. I always had to wait a few rounds, I was never quick enough to snatch one straight away. I always played Link, showing my LoZ roots. I always lost as well. Since then, the franchise has gone through a few make overs, in the way of popular titles Brawl and Melee, but it is still the Smash Bros that I so fondly remember. Each looked a little different, brought a few new characters to the roster, and had a slightly unique feel. Smash Bros seems to be a hard game to get wrong. With the release of Super Smash Bros for 3DS and Wii U, there was no discussion, I was taking them home day of release. Now we've reviewed the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros already, and it really is a fantastic release. At some point however, we must have overlooked its baby brother, Smash Bros For 3DS. Oh what a mistake we made there... As it turns out, having Super Smash Bros on a portable platform is incredible. It's the bees knees. While I did play it on release, like many others, I got caught up in waiting for the Wii U version, so stepping into my blue Police Box, we're going to take a jaunt back to the 3DS release date of October 3rd. The
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battle. With Smash Bros in mind, apparently I can't win any battle.
two different versions of Smash Bros aren't exactly identical, and playing with a different controller does make the experience differ, but if I had to opt for one, I think I might just take the hand-held.
Stereoscopic 3D graphics make that lovable dream-team of arena combatants just lovely to look at, although you will notice the difference in quality to a Wii U copy, for obvious reasons. The art style does differ from previous iterations in the franchise, but overall everything was pleasing to look at and very well rounded. Adding in the constantly moving arena maps, and dazzling effects, and the 3DS version will manage to take your breath away just as easily as the other titles in the franchise.
Over Christmas I sat down for a 3 person battle with my girlfriend's two brothers, each of us using our own 3DS. Now both of them slaughtered me, but that's beside the point. It was a huge amount of fun. To have that multiplayer experience I remember from my N64 as a kid on a hand-held device, and if anything, props to Nintendo for ensuring that such a system works so well. This kind of multiplayer is very easy to set up, you don't even need to be on a router. Your 3DS will find those around it, and you'll be ready to play. One point I will make is that during multiplayer, staying in close quarters becomes a must, as even
Accompanying the games gorgeous visuals are an equally impressive set of sounds. The musical accompaniment for the game is just great, as we've come to expect from recent title releases on the Wii U such as Mariokart 8. Something 3DS players should keep in mind is that we were slightly gimped on the hand-held release, which feature less of the score than the living-room counterparts. While I found this annoying, I do understand the need for it with storage limitations, so I might let Smash Bros off this time, since what was included made up for it.
"the musical accompaniment for the game is just great, as we've come to expect from recent title releases" some slight zooming out will impair your vision, and limit your ability to pick out what's going on. I reached a point where I had to put the game down for this reason. If you can get past this annoyance, there are a few different game modes for you and your friends to tinker around with, and while I personally wish some more had made it into the game. Fans of the series will notice some new additions to the pack such as the Animal Crossing villager, and
the Wii Fit instructors. I did feel additions like Pokemon's Greninja were a bit random, as I would have preferred some better known characters, over purely the most recent ones. While I applaud the effort made to open the game up to the greater Nintendo universe, I was grumpy to see such combatants make the list ahead of some of my other favourite characters, but hey, you can't win every
Super Smash Bros for the 3DS was an excellent place to take the franchise, but I can only speculate on where the games will go next. If I had to pass on some advice to Nintendo it'd be this. These games were amazing. Be happy with that. Let us enjoy this Smash Bros for a while. Take the Smash line up and put them all into the next racing title, as they did with Link in Mariokart 8. Super Smash Racing, let's make it happen. Until them we'll need to keep ourselves busy. Get ready to fight in 3...2...1...
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Razer Chroma
A look at the Chroma BlackWidow and DeathAdder Author: Jordan Antonelli Right: The Razer DeathAdder.
Often as gamers, we're judged more by our peripherals than our machines themselves. Keyboards and Mice are our medals of honor. Just like designer clothes, gamers covet the best brands, and often we're willing to pay top dollar for them. With the end of 2014 upon me, I finally decided to retire my humble Microsoft Sidewinder gear. Now, like many gamers, I'm very stubborn with how I pick my gear. mixing brands and conflicting lighting schemes, both no-nos in my book. In looking for replacements, I wanted to purchase something that would give me flexibility as my needs changed, and after quite a bit of searching, I decided to pick up some of Razer's new Chroma gear. Adorning my gaming desk now sits a Razer Blackwidow Chroma, as well as a DeathAdder Chroma. The Blackwidow is a name people have come to know in the keyboard game, and for good reason. Over the
course of its various iterations, the Blackwidow has become one of the most prolific mechanical keyboards on the market. Like the other devices in the Chroma range, Razer have outfitted the new Blackwidow with multi-colour lighting, which can be configured to your heart's content. One of the things I always love in a keyboard is weight and stability. The Blackwidow is about as solid as you can get, which means no sliding around on the desk. The palm rest on the board is more of a palm dent, and while this might matter to some people, that suits me just fine. It would be interesting to see Razer add a proper palm rest, perhaps as an optional extra, or as a separate model. One thing I miss from my Sidewinder is the modular keypad, which I believe have only appeared in one Razer keyboard anyway. While I'm not suggesting that this model needs
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that feature, it's certainly something Razer could think about for future iterations. The Blackwidow is equipped with a row of extra macro keys, as well as added function keys to increase efficiency. Last but not least is the key quality. The mechanical keys, feature Razer's new Green switches. The Stealth model of the keyboard features quieter keys, so if you buy the 'clicky' version, expect it to be loud. That noise does have a point however, and is the result of some very responsive keys. Moving to a mechanical keyboard is a step many gamers are making, and for me, trying to go back was just too difficult, even in theory. This board is one of the better Mechanical keyboards on the market, however it also happens to be one of the more expensive. For that price you do expect quality, and even I can admit that you do get a quality product. The second addition to my new peripheral partnership is the latest iteration of Razer's DeathAdder. I've been lucky enough to tinker with many a computer mouse, and there seem to be two main schools of thought. Extremely simple, or overly complex. The DeathAdder Chroma is an example of a simple mouse, whereas something like Razer's Naga is an example of a complicated one. This isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world, it is however something to be prepared for. One of the most well known gaming mice on the market, the Razer
Left: The Razer BlackWidow Chroma Edition.
Razer have really pulled out all the stops, boasting a 16.8 million colour spectrum. With recent updates to the Razer Synapse Configurator, one can literally have a separate lighting behavior for every single key on the keyboard. Where previously, the Razer tool only allowed users to map one preset across the complete set of keys, the recent updates limit you only to your imagination. Razer Synapse gives you a few simple options to make the custom lighting easy to pick up, such as wave, breathing, and reactive mode. One of the better little features to make an appearance is a little button which will map your current light configuration to other Chroma devices. As simple as that sounds, it makes it easy to get both your keyboard and mouse set-up together.
DeathAdder Chroma is a product for people that don't necessarily have the time, or the interest, to configure an extra dozen keys and features. The DeathAdder takes care of most of this fuss. It features two extra mouse buttons, and multicoloured lighting, housed inside a plastic and rubber body. The mouse is easy to set up, and even easier to use. Having the extra mouse buttons will give you that extra functionality in-game, but not to the point of being overwhelming. Lighting is the biggest feature behind the Chroma range, and
Above: Razer's own mechanical switches used in their BlackWidow's.
BlackWidow
I've certainly got to the point as a gamer where I've used enough gear to open up my own store. If you've had previous iterations of the Razer keyboards and mice, you may not benefit from an upgrade. In saying that, these products are perfect for gamers looking for an excuse to make the leap over to Razer. Being the cynic I am, I'm always quick to be critical to some of the bigger brands in the gaming market. Razer products are expensive, perhaps too expensive. BUT. In this case, I'll be the first to admit that if you do choose to go with the Razer Chroma line, you will be getting some quality products, ones which you'll hold onto for a very long time.
DeathAdder
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