LIVE FEBRUARY 2016 ISSUE
THE FUTURE IS NOW GAMING HARDWARE IN 2016
GAME REVIEWS: Yo-Kai Watch Star Wars: Battlefront Xenoblade Chronicles X Page 20
Is Nintendo back? Were they ever really away? Page 16
New board games, pop! vinyls, anime, manga, trading card products & tons more!
Page 48
WIN
$50 Gametraders Gift Card! Page 104
Welcome Welcome to February We’re looking at hardware… after all without a console or PC or mobile device, you can’t really play games too well. We look at future hardware like the Oculus Rift hardware and we even take a look at past, present and future technology. With the Oculus Rift coming out for consumers this year, gaming could get more immersive then ever before. We also talk to Nintendo - take a read and get excited about those character downloads. Our board game, comics and anime writers along with retro king - Paul Monopoly have started their years off flying so don’t miss what they’ve got in store for you. Finally - we’d love to grow this magazine so we need your help. Share the link to your gamer friends who’d love a free magazine each month - Oh did I mention the X-Files Competition… check it out on page 48 PLUS we have a competition for our Sydney readers to win a double pass to IMAX Darling Harbour (page 72), and a Valentine’s Day competition where you could win a $50 Gametraders voucher! (page 104). The Live Crew
INSIDE 16 20 46 106
Feature: Is Nintendo back? Game Reviews
Geek Out Cosplay
THE LIVE TEAM Publisher: Rob Jenkins (GTHQ) Art Director: Giselle Capozza (GTHQ) Game Review & Preview Editors: Nick Getley & Kylie Tuttle (Sticky Trigger) Retro Writer: Paul Monopoli Anime Writer: Jesse Richardson Board Games: Jess Wilson Comics: Scott Sowter Cosplay Editor: Anny Sims Sticky Trigger Writers: Kylie Tuttle Nick Getley Alex Holmes Aaron Milligan Ben Rachow Bridget Sweeney Sean Fox Sasha Karen Jason English Johnny Scene
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FEATURE
PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE User experience. Suspension of disbelief. Virtual Reality … when we look back at games from the 80s and graphics were starting to get interesting. Some developers pushed graphics chips and cards hard to bring us entertainment that tried to be lifelike. Of course those old systems could only do so much. But it was a time of fast paced development, experimentation and Moore’s Law. Systems got faster and more powerful and players got more immersed into their games. Titles like Doom with its’ first person graphics (crude by today’s standard but for the time, revolutionary) pushed hardware to give gamers a more realistic playing experience. The gamer had to coordinate mouse, keyboard, hand and eye to make their way through the game, battling creatures that could frighten you by jumping out and attacking you with blood curdling sound FX and music that set the mood. While PCs pushed graphics and sound in the 90s with 3D video
cards, consoles played catch up by using different media to deliver the game experience. Tapes evolved into disks. Cartridges became the norm for consoles, eventually floppy disks got smaller in size but larger in storage. Then came the CD Rom, single speed, double speed and faster. Blu-ray came along and offered massive storage and fast read times. Cloud gaming also grew but there is the challenge of large content versus download speeds and usage allowances. While different media gave us more - more graphics, more sound, more data, controllers also evolved from simple one button joysticks to complex flight controllers and steering systems for the hard core gamer. Consoles had their hand held controllers that changed with time. Offering more ergonomic units that felt great to play with. Responsive buttons, analogue sticks to move more smoothly and lots of triggers and pads to assign actions to.
Then in 2006, Nintendo released the Wii. A new way top play hit gamers, but it was the casual gamer that loved the system too. Suddenly you could swing a controller and hit a baseball or golfball. It felt more real, with more control. But there was a downside. The growing popularity of “first person shooters” meant that to play them you needed either a mouse and keyboard or a controller like the ones sold with Xbox or Playstation systems. The Wii controllers didn’t work with those types of games. So hardcore gamers who loved FPS games, tended to either buy the hardware based on the games they loved playing. The Wii was the fun system in the lounge for family time, and the hard core 360 in the room they spend most of their gaming time in. Then the Wii U hit with its’ tablet controller and the press loved it. But it seems the third party studios didn’t. Electronic Arts and Ubisoft didn’t really support it in a
big way and so great games were not as abundant as for the 360 or PS3. Current gen systems use the same style of controller as previous gen and in reality are not massively different from the first game controllers on the PSOne and the original Xbox. So while hardware has advanced with more powerful chips to push graphics and sound, has the user experience changed dramatically from the mid 90s? Maybe, maybe not. Better graphics add to the suspension of disbelief as does better sound, but the reality is we’re still pushing a button to shoot, kick, accelerate and using a small analogue joystick or pad button to turn. But is that about to change? The Future takes root! In 2011 a young Palmer Luckey cobbled together a prototype of what became the Oculus Rift. A virtual reality headset that John Carmack from Id Software favoured for a future version of Doom. Another major name also noticed the system and liked what they saw. So much so that with John Carmack joining Oculus as the CTO (Chief Technology Officer), Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook decided to buy the company. That’s some heavyweight names involved. With
those names you expect success to follow. The first consumer versions will be available this year and could change gaming dramatically, a new way to interact visually will produce new ways to interact physically. Sound too, will become even more immersive with sounds matching direction of action allowing the player to turn and see in real time a 3D environment. But it’s not just gaming this will affect. Education and entertainment could change in dramatic new ways. Imagine the teacher saying something like “ Ok children put on your VR sets and let’s visit ancient Greece…” reminds me of a Simpson episode. Imagine too, being able to interact with a movie or TV show… controlling the story perhaps, the outcome, the emotions of the other characters. Remind you of something …? The 2009 movie, Surrogates featuring Bruce Willis showed a reality where people plug in and live a better life through surrogate androids that take on their characteristics albeit in a younger, better looking body. The pros are that you are stronger, faster and of course, more attractive. The negatives are that you stop being you.
So where will we be in a year or two or ten? While we may not be controlling our own surrogates in the short term, hardware evolution promises us a more immersive experience. This year promises to be exciting!
Suspension of disbelief Philosopher Samuel Tayler Coleridge suggested in 1817 (yes that long ago) that if a writer “could infuse a human interest and semblance of truth into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgement concerning the implausibility of the narrative “ (Wikipedia) In video games that means you accept the limitations of the technical aspects of the game and enjoy it anyway. You’re in the game so much so that for that short time you’re playing you are totally involved and don’t really question things like being able to do crazy things without massive injury. Fighting games let your zap opponents with laser beams, cars can do amazing manoeuvres and you as a soldier might be fighting aliens on Mars…
PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
2016
will be the year vr becomes a reality!
VR is going to be big in 2016… that’s the hope of companies like Facebook who’ve invested in VR as well as Samsung, HTC and Sony. We see that pre orders for the Oculus will be happening in the U.S with shipments due from March 28th. The price is set at $599 U.S and yes, Australia is one of the countries listed as an initial launch country. The box includes the headset with built-in mic, sensor and an Xbox One controller plus the Oculus Remote. According to their website “The Oculus Remote is a new input device we designed to make it simple and intuitive to navigate VR experiences. With Remote, you can easily browse the Oculus store, explore 360 video content in Oculus Video, or experience a wide range of VR games and entertainment. It is the easiest way to introduce non-gamers to VR.” Games like Lucky’s Tale and EVE: Valkyrie are just 2 of the titles gamers will be able to play on launch and dozens or AAA games are promised by the end of 2016 - 100 in fact including Minecraft. We at Live Magazine are extremely excited by the potential for games and entertainment and we think this could be VR’s time… Get more info here: www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/oculus-rift-pre-orders-now-open-first-shipments-march-28/
nintendo special
NINTENDO IS BA Ok before all the angry fans send mail we know they’ve never really been away. But still it seems March is a massive month for the big N with some hot announcements that will bring joy to many gamers’ hearts. First up there is a trio of new releases beginning with - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, a remake in HD of one of the best ever games. Here’s the whole press release direct from our friends at Nintendo: March will be a blockbuster month for The Legend of Zelda fans thanks to a trio of new releases in Australia and New Zealand, beginning with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD for Wii U on March 5 and followed by the release of the New Nintendo 3DS XL Hyrule Edition system and Hyrule Warriors: Legends for Nintendo 3DS family systems on March 24. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD is an HD remake of one of the most critically-acclaimed entries in the series, first released on Nintendo GameCube and Wii in 2006. Link’s battle to save Hyrule from the corruption of the Twilight Realm comes to Wii U with high definition visuals and can be enhanced with the power of amiibo.
The new Wolf Link amiibo allows players to open the exclusive Cave of Shadows bonus challenge, a brand new area where skilled players can use the powers of Wolf Link and Midna to take on increasingly tougher enemies on each floor. The Wolf Link amiibo can store hearts earned in the game for the player to use while taking on the Cave of Shadows. After conquering the cave, you can save a record of your remaining hearts to the Wolf Link amiibo, and attempt to beat your score whenever you want.
The game will also be compatible with five other The Legend of Zelda amiibo from the Super Smash Bros. Collection. Both the Link and Toon Link amiibo will refill your arrows, while the Zelda and Sheik amiibo will refill the heart gauge. In a devious twist, the Ganondorf amiibo will cause enemy attacks to inflict twice as much damage until the play session ends. The new The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD amiibo Trailer on YouTube shows the game’s amiibo functionality in action. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD will be available at launch on March 5 on Nintendo eShop (AU$79.95/NZ$99.95) or in a Special Edition bundle at
retail that includes the Wolf Link amiibo and an audio CD with a selection of the game’s official soundtrack (SRP AU$99.95).
For Zelda fans who prefer gaming on the go, the portable New Nintendo 3DS XL Hyrule Edition launching on March 24 is a striking, gold-coloured console featuring an intricate Hylian Crest design on the front (SRP AU$249.95). Like other New Nintendo 3DS XL systems, it offers better controls, enhanced processing power, amiibo support, as well as access to a wealth of gaming experiences. From the NES original to The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, the lineup of games available for the system already features a selection of no less than nine games from The Legend of Zelda series’ thirty years of history*, and with Hyrule Warriors: Legends also launching on March 24, the tenth one is just around the corner. Hyrule Warriors: Legends for Nintendo 3DS offers players the chance to experience the actionpacked Hyrule Warriors game, originally released on Wii U, but with additional new maps and characters from The Legend of Zelda series. This time, Tetra, Toon Link and the King of Hyrule
NOT THAT THEY’VE EVER BEEN AWAY...
ACK BIG TIME!
from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD join the Skull Kid from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D on the battlefield. In addition, the new character Linkle joins the large cast of playable characters. Players will be able to command multiple characters on the battlefield for strategic moves and immediately switch between any of them to be in the thick of battle at all times. The game will also be compatible with amiibo of The Legend of Zelda series characters, including the Wolf Link amiibo. By tapping the Wolf Link amiibo onto the NFC area of a New Nintendo 3DS or New Nintendo 3DS XL system, or by using the Nintendo 3DS NFC Reader/Writer accessory with Nintendo 2DS, Nintendo 3DS or Nintendo 3DS XL systems, players will be able to unlock enhanced weapons for Midna. Other The Legend of Zelda amiibo from the Super Smash Bros. Collection will also unlock enhanced weapons for their respective characters in the game. Hyrule Warriors: Legends will be available as standalone software (SRP AU$59.95) or as part of a Limited Edition bundle, featuring a watch that’s a replica of Linkle’s signature compass, and a physical copy of the game (SRP AU$99.95). Get set for a blockbuster month for fans of The Legend of Zelda series, with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD for Wii U on
March 5, followed by the release of the New Nintendo 3DS XL Hyrule Edition and Hyrule Warriors: Legends for Nintendo 3DS family systems on March 24.
nally released on Game Boy Color)
*The following 9 games from The Legend of Zelda series are currently already available via Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS:
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
The Legend of Zelda (Virtual Console, originally released on Nintendo Entertainment System) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (Virtual Console, originally released on Nintendo Entertainment System) The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX (Virtual Console, originally released on Game Boy Color) The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (Virtual Console, originally released on Game Boy Color) The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (Virtual Console, origi-
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes.
gameS REVIEWS & PREVIEWS reviewS:
YO-KAI WATCH STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT XENOBLADE CHRONICLES X
S
YO-KAI
I WATCH review
REVIEW
YO-KAI WATCH
When it comes to Nintendo and RPGs, they have always been able to rely on two very dependable franchises: The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon. Both cater to action-RPGs and traditional JRPGs respectively, though there is always room for more RPGs as far as we’re concerned. In 2013, Nintendo published ‘Yo-Kai Watch’, an RPG from developer Level-5 (Dark Cloud, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch). Japanese gamers absolutely loved the title, which went on to receive a sequel with three diefferent versions, as well as manga and anime adaptations. Yo-Kai Watch: The Movie 2: King Enma and the 5 Stories, Nyan! even managed to beat Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the Japanese box office. It’s safe to say Yo-Kai Watch is an absolute phenomenon in Japan – it’s even being called “the new Pokémon”. So how does it play?
Yo-Kai Watch casts players as Nathan Adams or Katie (though they can enter their own name), a regular kid with regular interests. For the sake of the review I’ll be referencing Nate, the protagonist on the game’s cover (as well as protagonist of the anime). He goes to school, has
friends, and is an avid bug collector. One day, Nate ventures deeper into the forest near his village. Reaching a clearing, he comes across a strange capsule machine. Without hesitation, he turns the handle on the capsule machine, freeing the Yo-Kai known as Whisper. Whisper informs Nate that Yo-Kai are spiritual beings that are everywhere, though they are normally invisible to the naked eye. There are all different kinds of Yo-Kai, and they are able to influence people in many ways. Whisper hands Nate a Yo-Kai watch, which is able to locate Yo-Kai, and allow the wearer to see Yo-Kai. Nate heads home, with Whisper accompanying him.
From there, Nate embarks on a journey to help out the people and Yo-kai of his town, befriending Yo-kai as he goes. There are also bigger, more sinister Yo-kai behind some particularly fiendish acts that he must defeat. Though set in the real world (or “real”, depending on your spiritual beliefs), Yo-Kai Watch’s narrative is refreshing. There is no quest to be very best (like no one ever was), there are no magical crystals that have to be gathered
to thwart an evil sorcerer, and there is no princess to rescue. Instead, there is a charming and humourous story full of Japanese folklore, one that I’ve grown to appreciate more than any other JRPG in recent memory.
The story is also accessible, with many of the story’s events using Yo-Kai as an explanation for real-life events that might otherwise confuse or overwhelm a child. Early in the game, Nate’s parents are in a heated argument, with a Yo-Kai being behind it. There are also other, more minor occurences that can be explained by Yo-Kai, such as having a bad hair day or a day where you simply can’t concentrate in school. I cannot emphasize enough how much I believe the story will be engaging to kids. I’m an adult and I wish I had Yo-Kai Watch when I was a kid! That being said, people wanting a narrative as engrossing as other JRPGs such as the Final Fantasy franchise may be disappointed by Yo-Kai Watch’s simplistic story. Gameplay-wise, things are just as accessible as the game’s story – anyone will be able to
PROS: LOOKS GREAT, RUNS SMOOTH ACCESSIBLE AND ENJOYABLE GAMEPLAY TONS OF HUMOUR
CONS: COMBAT IS VERY LIGHT ON STRATEGY, FEELS REPETITIVE
pick up Yo-Kai Watch and have fun pretty much straight away. Players will guide their character along a number of quests, with optional side-missions that pop up along the way. You can also collect bugs or battle other YoKai, which provides the game with more open-ended and varied gameplay than other Japanese role-playing games.
All of them are simple, though in the heat of battle players may find themselves challenged by some of the screen prompts, such as tracing shapes, popping bubbles, or spinning they stylus on the touch screen. The only downfall to the combat’s accessibility is that it feels repetitive, and it lacks the strategy of other JRPGs like Pokémon.
Unlike Pokémon, Yo-Kai don’t evolve. They can, however, be fused together to create a number of powerful Yo-Kai varations. If Pokémon challenges players to “catch them all”, then Yo-Kai Watch challenges players to befriend and create them all – which is great!
Defeating opponents rewards the player with experience, as does completing quests and side-missions. Collect enough experience and your Yo-Kai will level up, which in turn boosts their stats. What’s great about Yo-Kai Watch is that experience is shared among all the player’s team, even if some Yo-Kai weren’t used in the fight itself. This eliminates a lot of grinding that is present in other RPGs, and allows the player to focus on what they want to do.
When faced by other Yo-Kai and boss fights, players will battle with a team of up to six Yo-Kai, with three in battle and three in reserve. The Yo-Kai are placed on a menu wheel, with the player able to rotate the wheel, swapping Yo-Kai in and out as they need. Yo-Kai will attack automatically, though players can trigger special attacks and abilities. Utilising a special ability results in one of numerous touch screen prompts that must be completed to launch the ability.
It would be a disservice of me at this point in the review to not talk about how gorgeous looking Yo-Kai Watch looks, as well as how well it runs. Sporting a celshaded look, Yo-Kai Watch looks as close to an anime as a game can get, full of bright colours and crisp characters. It also runs at
8.5 /10 a consistently smooth framerate – pretty impressive compared to other 3DS titles. There is just so much to like about Yo-Kai Watch, from the humourous and clever dialogue, to the colourful visuals and loveable characters. I also love how the story explains many reallife problems and predicaments with the Yo-Kai themselves, who always explain their actions. There’s just something to be said about a game that makes reallife less confusing for kids. There’s a reason why Yo-Kai Watch is a phenomenon in Japan: it’s charming, colourful, engaging and ultimately, a breath of fresh air. It has its roots in traditional JRPG gameplay, but it also has its own unique spin on just about every facet of it. It’s also both engaging and accessible, and will appeal to gamers of all ages with it’s sense of humour and fun cast. A must-play for JRPG fans, anime fans and kids looking to get invested in a game.
Click here to view the trailer! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n09kxeBHls
WRITTEN BY NICK GETLEY
WWW.STICKYTRIGGER.COM
STAR W
BATTL
WARS
LEFRONT review
REVIEW
STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT The original Star Wars Battlefront and its sequel were some of the most popular and beloved games from the venerable franchise. So with EA bringing Battlefront to the current generation many were excited. The end result is a game that Star Wars fans may love, but shooter fans not so much. To start with, there is no campaign mode. There are single player modes but they are either practice modes to help players learn how to play before going online or they are challenge maps of various types and stylings that can be played either alone or with a friend. There is nothing wrong with having a multiplayer only game – provided that the multiplayer portion truly does redirect the time and effort that would be spent in to making a single player campaign and making the multiplayer truly exceptional. And while DICE and EA have played lip service to that idea and though the multiplayer aspect of the game is quite entertaining it doesn’t re-
ally feel that the lack of single player campaign has been compensated for. To add more salt to the wound the season pass for the game costs as much as the game itself, and guarantees four more expansions into the future. That feel like an awful lot to ask of a game with no single player, and I would doubt that EA would need to make much money to recoup their spending for Battlefront. This can really sour the game which is a shame because a lot of the game is actually really quite good, especially if you are Star Wars fan. Star Wars: Battlefront takes the shape of a third or first person shooter, depending on the preference of the player, and plays much like a standard shooter would. Being mostly online the gameplay revolves around different types of matches. Star Wars equivalents of capture the flag or territory are always fun but the game really comes to life when it plays to its Star Wars strengths like with the excellent Walker Assault mode which sees rebels
desperately defending against the almost unstoppable behemoths. Playing as both Imperials and Rebels in the mode is a lot of fun and truly the game’s best aspect. The turning point mode in the newly released Jakku map features an Imperial force on the back foot defending fewer and fewer control points as they get pushed back. Players unlock blasters as they level up through the now ubiquitous levelling up system found in shooters. Sadly there isn’t too much variety between each blaster, though enough to help players find one that will match their play style. Instead of the class based system present in previous games players now find themselves outfitting themselves with blasters of their choice and a hand of three Star Cards. These cards allow for called upon perks like increased accuracy or thermal detonators and while they take a while to get used to they do very well in helping the game balance and suit player customisation. The only downside I can point out is that higher level players really
do get all the best gear and this could easily be disheartening to those who don’t have the time to devote to playing the many hours required to unlock all gear. Additionally the unlock process is nowhere near as deep as a developed shooter such as Call of Duty. This seems a deliberate choice by DICE to make Battlefront more user friendly and open to gamers who might not play shooters normally. This is a fine choice and I had no issue with it, but I can understand hard-core shooter fans being disappointed by a lack of depth. Graphically Battlefront is astounding. Everything looks fantastic and it’s something you have to see to really understand. Star Wars games have looked impressive in the past but Battlefront is about as close to actually being in the movies as many of us will be. Each environment looks crisp and alive and all weapons and vehicles look completely authentic. DICE have truly outdone themselves in this area. The same can be said almost for the sound design. Every sound comes straight from the movies and all the blasters, TIEs, X-Wings, Walkers, all of it feels just right. My only complaint is that there is a surprisingly lack of John Williams’ classic score in the background. Through headphones I had to supply my own Imperial March as I drove the rebel scum from Hoth. Music plays such a big part in Star Wars and
while not having it playing allows players to enjoy the excellent sound design DICE has put together I found myself more often than not putting some of my favourite Star Wars tracks on while I played. Replay value is high if you enjoy playing Star Wars shooters. I could player Walker assault for hours on end and not be bored, but I don’t know if I could say the same for some used to more competitive and complex shooters. Also a little disappointing is the launch set of only 4 maps, now 5 with the free Jakku add on. This can make playing through over and over feel a little thin but the maps are well designed enough it never gets truly boring. Server population is also an important consideration – how can you play a game with others if no one else is playing? Quite a few times I tried quite close to the release date to play some of the less popular game types and simply found no-one available to play. This was pretty disheartening and hopefully Battlefront will manage to keep an audience going forward. EA are playing a dangerous game though as having such an expensive season pass could splinter the player base going forward and with seemingly not a huge number around at the moment one would hope EA might consider the cost. Still, all things told, if you like playing shooters and star wars you will at least enjoy the first ten
hours of the game, and more if you enjoy it as much as I do. Star Wars: Battlefront has many things going for it. It has solid if uninspired gameplay for the most part, astounding graphics, and truly great sound design. It allows many of us to finally live out our fantasies as Rebels Fighting against the evil Galactic Empire or indeed as Imperials crushing so much pathetic rebel scum. These aspects really endear the game to me. But the trouble with Battlefront exists largely in its future. The large cost of the Season Pass could see the player base segment and online only games very much run the risk of losing people and not being able to actually play the game that you paid for. This might vary from platform to platform but on PC, and indeed on the home consoles, there’s always another game to play and DICE will have to put in the hard yards to keep players around, and I’m not sure if an expensive season pass will help this. At the end of the day, Star Wars: Battlefront is a pretty good game on its own and a great one if you like Star Wars as much as I do. But, much like the Force itself, there are dark and light sides to this game and they must both be taken seriously.
7.6/ 10
Click here to view the trailer! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2xp-qtUlsQ
PROS: AMAZING GRAPHICS EXCELLENT SOUND DESIGN WALKER ASSAULT AND OTHER UNIQUE MODES STAR WARS WISH FULFILMENT
CONS: SEASON PASS COST NEEDS MORE JOHN WILLIAMS SCORE GAMEPLAY NOT DEEP ENOUGH SINGLE PLAYER LIMITED FOR NO TRADE OFF
WRITTEN BY ALEX HOLMES
WWW.STICKYTRIGGER.COM
XENO CHRON
OBLADE NICLES X review
REVIEW
XENOBLADE CHRONICLES X
The original Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii was a breath of fresh air to a stale JRPG genre bringing a triple threat of fresh story, gameplay, and world unlike anything that had been seen for some time. Indeed it remains one of, if not my favourite, JRPG of all time. Expectations were high then, to say the least, when Monolith Soft announced a spiritual successor in the form of Xenoblade Chronicles X. Whilst not quite the lighting in a bottle moment that its predecessor was Xenoblade Chronicles X succeeds for the most part and contributes one of the most indelible and unique experiences of the year while continuing to remain fresh and show other JRPGs how to adapt to modern times. Xenoblade Chronicles X finds the human race on the run and fighting to survive after the Earth is destroyed. Crash landing on the planet Mira humanity must now fight for existence from their city of New Los Angeles against not only the native indigenous life forms of Mira but also further
extra-terrestrial threats that have come hunting the human race. Unlike Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles X features a player avatar as the ostensible main character. Whilst customisation options allow players to create fun and distinctive characters that allow for arguably better player immersion on the game this comes at a sacrifice of a strong and immediate narrative. Compared to our previous Xenoblade outing where Shulk and friend’s quest felt epic and personal at the same time with a clear goal, Xenoblade Chronicles X’s trade-off for an avatar is narrative focus that feels a little lacking. That being said at the time of writing this reviewer is only one third of the way through the story (so I am told) and you’ll understand how massive this game is when you actually play it. That is to say the story might come together well in the end as Xenoblade Chronicles certainly had some last minute twists but it does seem that a tighter focused narrative has been traded off for a larger world and most
customisable player experience, and for my part I found that being given the opportunity to respond to characters in a way I chose wasn’t that thrilling; this is no Mass Effect in that regard. That being said Xenoblade Chronicles X features its fair share of memorable party characters as well as other NPCs and it’s easy to get invested in helping them out. The Xenoblade Chronicles X narrative experience appears to be very much what you make it; this is more Skyrim than it is Final Fantasy, but that’s not a bad thing. Xenoblade Chronicles X takes the combat from Xenoblade Chronicles and evolves it one step further. Similar to the previous game each character has a set of ‘arts’ which are essentially attacks or skills be they special sword attacks, more powerful rifle shots, increased evasion etc. Managing these arts in combat functions very similar to most MMO style combat and works great retaining the typical JPRG style combat but making
it fresh. The player avatar has a number of classes available to them which, in turn, unlock further arts, skills, weapons, armour and other modifiers which impact on combat. Smartly players aren’t locked into classes and can change their class on the fly, assuming that particular class has been unlocked, resulting in a system that results lots of combat in a positive reinforcement loop. Party members will be set in a certain class allowing players to build a party to suit their needs and tactical play style. Each character also has a set of soul voices, which are lines that the characters actually shout given a certain situation that cause a result. For example, you can have your avatar cry for healing when they are a low on health, or cry of a buff to boost their damage. This allows for further customisation of each party member and their role in the player’s team. There are roughly 30 voices per character with 3 options each so there is alot of room for customisation. In a delightful option players can actually choose who voices their soul voice, including the voice of Shulk from the previous Xenoblade Chronicles. This is a surprisingly important choice as you’ll be hearing them yell things for the next long while; thankfully I was pleased to hear Shulk’s classic “I’m really feeling it!” included. In additional to all this you’ll be able to invest in companies to boost the gear you have available, customise weapons and customise your living quarters as well. Xenoblade Chronicles X’s deep customisation options stand it in good stead and
it very much succeeds at turning party management into alot of fun, tweaking and customising one’s party. The add to this is the affinity system which relates how the different characters feel about each other. Build affinity through combat and affinity missions to increase the effectiveness of your team and how they respond to each other’s shouts. There is an awful lot going on in Xenoblade Chronicles X. Frustratingly though Xenoblade Chronicles X forgoes the party management system from Xenoblade Chronicles. Instead of all members of the party being present at all times and being able to be swapped in and out Xenoblade Chronicles X allows you only 4 active members at a time, the rest residing at various landmarks around New Los Angeles. While a cool concept with regards to immersion, this is actuality a pretty frustrating aspect especially when characters not in your party do not gain XP – another feature that was present in Xenoblade Chronicles. This means maintaining a wellbalanced party can involve quite alot of needless and frustrating leg work. The final crucial part of gameplay present in Xenoblade Chronicles X is the FrontierNav. Essentially what it does is use the Wii U’s gamepad as an extensive map. This map displays 3 different types of overlays over which ever of the 5 continents you happen to be present on at any given time. These overlays can tell you what quests are available in the area, how many have been
completed, and what resources are available for collection etc. These squares are unlocked by planting probes which in turn unlock your exploration rate – which is crucial for story and affinity missions unlocking. This can be very overwhelming at first, but it is critical to understand if you want to able to complete Xenoblade Chronicles X. Thankfully the Frontier Nav unlocks quick travel points wherever plant probes which helps make Mira that much easier to traverse and really helps encourage exploration. Also welcome is the ability to save anywhere any time, an exceedingly sensible design choice that too many games still eschew. The astute reader will notice that I haven’t mentioned the game’s iconic mechs the Skells. That is simply because, according to my information, they don’t appear till around 30-40 hours into the game and I simply haven’t made it that far yet. That being said from what I’ve heard, Skell management and play is similar to how the game plays regularly but also broadens combat and exploration abilities. Also, you have a cool robot. The big issue with all of this is that it takes an absurd amount of time to learn. It feels as if for each thing you’ve just learned Xenoblade Chronicles X throws another 2 at you. In the early stages of the game it’s not hard to worry that you’re missing crucial information on how to play the game and for all the game does tell you there’s an awful lot
it doesn’t. This reviewer had to consult the manual and the internet several times to figure out the intricacies of how some of the core mechanics worked, outside of combat. There are sub menus within sub menus that can have a critical effect on how well you play the game and it takes about 8 hours all up to really get the hang of the game. Once all the pieces come together and make sense the game reveals itself to be beautifully deep and intricate but those first 8 or so hours can be pretty painful. Graphically Xenoblade Chronicles X is a feat to be proud of, especially on the Wii U. Textures are great and the game runs smoothly at a native 720p. Not everything is perfect though as there were pop in issues even in the city of New Los Angeles as well as in Mira’s vast alien landscapes. However this isn’t true pop in as everything fades into view as you get closer which is natural enough for a game of this size. It is still, however, a little jarring to see giant creatures or people simply fade in and it would have been great if this wasn’t required to get the game to run. Additionally when characters speak their mouths and facial expressions often move a little out of sync it can really throw one’s enjoyment of the game. This reviewer suspects this was probably a result of the localisation from Japan but having no option to select Japanese as the in game language really is quite irksome, especially as Xenoblade Chronicles did.
Click here to view the trailer! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb8QpABNTPM
CONS: PROS: ASTOUNDING OPEN WORLD STELLAR SOUNDTRACK FRESH COMBAT SO MUCH CONTENT
MASSIVE INFORMATION DUMP TAKES ABOUT 8 HOURS TO GET THE HANG OF THE GAME SOME QUESTIONABLE COSTUMES FOR FEMALE CHARACTERS
Ultimately though these are minor quibbles when the game is taken as a whole. Mira is simply massive beyond belief and Monolith Soft deserves major credit for creating such a vast and unique landscape that really doesn’t ever feel monotonous or boring. Giant dinosaur like creatures roam the earth paying any attention to you and party. Everything looks familiar and yet, totally alien. Landscapes bleed naturally from forest, to swamp, to cave, to ocean cliff side and it all looks sumptuous and great. The character designs are great too with each of the party members sporting a unique look and all of their armour looks unique and really cool. There were some eye roll moments given some of the simply insulting armour, bikinis and the like, you can clothe the games otherwise great female characters in and it felt quite out of place in an otherwise great game. When all is said and done Xenoblade Chronicles X is definitely a game that showcases the Wii U’s underutilised graphics and shows that games of this scale are possible on Nintendo’s console. Xenoblade Chronicles X soundtrack and sound design may among the best featured in a video game, in a long time if ever. The soundtrack features a positively enormous depth of music from fittingly atmospheric ambiance for Mira’s beautiful alien landscapes to epic rock/ choral mashups for make those epic boss fights feel truly epic and special. I would not be lying if I told you I would buy this game and consider it money well spent if it were for the soundtrack
alone. There’s more breath taking variety in Xenoblade Chronicles X‘s soundtrack than in all other games soundtrack’s this year combined. The sound design is fantastic as well with all of Mira’s myriad of native creatures each giving off distinctive sounds that feel alien yet also seem to suit said creatures in a familiar way. These sounds are incredibly important in building Xenoblade Chronicles X‘s world and succeed completely. Along with Xenoblade Chronicles X‘s great art direction and graphics the sound design really helps sell the feeling you really are taking part in an adventure on this grand unexplored planet. The soundtrack makes the required long hours of playing a pleasure to one’s ears and I’d often find myself challenging bigger beasts to a fight simply to get a chance to listen to some sweet boss music and would get really into said fight as a result of it. It’s a similar feeling to when your favourite movie or TV show plays that theme that really gets you excited and pumped. Very few video games are capable of producing such a fantastic effect with their soundtracks but Xenoblade Chronicles X delivers in spades where others struggle. Xenoblade Chronicles X is almost definitely the literal biggest game this year and has hours and hours’ worth of exploring packed in. If by chance you somehow finish the game with 100% completion, a feat which no doubt would take hundreds of hours to say the least, you can very easily start the game again and play with different party members,
9/1 0 building different affinities and trying out different tactical combinations. The amount of value present is staggering and there is something to be said and applauded about the fact that Monolith Soft and Nintendo are offering such a massive game at the same price that most other AAA games are offered but with far less meat on their bones. If you like Xenoblade Chronicles X well enough you could conceivably play it until the next Xenoblade game eventually comes out, it’s that massive. Xenoblade Chronicles X is not a perfect game but it does a pretty great job of almost getting there. There’s a tendency for modern JRPGs to fall back on bland characterizations, exceedingly linear worlds, sterile combat and wrote plot lines. Xenoblade Chronicles X avoids all of these pitfalls and looks and sounds great while it is doing it. It certainly isn’t a game for everyone, if you didn’t like JRPGs before Xenoblade Chronicles X it might not win you over and it takes an awful long time to learn, but it excels at what it aims for and delivers on the promises it makes at the start of the game. Xenoblade Chronicles X is a game that gives what you put into it; if you take the time it asks you’ll be rewarded with one of the best games this year.
WRITTEN BY alex holmes
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geek o THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE... AGAIN THE X-FILES
the gamer diaries:
PART 4 retro
Amiga and Retro Computing Event 2016
retro
NINTENDO GAME BOY COLLECTIBLES
BOSS MONSTER 2 BOARD/CARD GAMES 2016: the year of the comic book movie comics
out
It is if your an X-Files fan. The new series is on TV and having watched the first few episodes we can say welcome back, Mulder Scully and Skinner! Fans had been hoping that Chris Carter would continue the iconic series in either a third movie or new season on TV and that prayer has been answered! The original X-Files series aired from 1993 to 2002 on Fox and became an international phenomenon. Catch lines like “Trust no one” and “I want to believe” along with that creepy theme written by Mark Snow have stayed the course and now we’re about to get a whole new mini season of 6 episodes. The new series of episodes is a continuation of the original series that was on air from 1993 to 2002. For those who’ve not heard of the X-files, it’s about two FBI agents, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) who are teamed up to investigate the more unusual cases that the FBI has an interest in. Or more accurately what Mulder has an interest in as his sister, Samantha, was abducted by aliens according to Mulder
when they were kids. While the series focused on a “monster of the week” style of story, there was an underlying and more important sub plot where a group of shadowy men, known as “The Syndicate” are liaising with extra terrestrials who plan on invading the Earth. We discover that The Syndicate are trying to develop a vaccine to stop the invasion (it gets complicated…) and our heroes, Mulder and Scully discover what’s going on piece by piece. We’re excited about the new series and to celebrate we’re giving away some great X-Files prizes to some lucky readers, including signed photos by one of the Lone Gunmen - Dean Haglund who played Langly as well as a board game and 3 sets of Mulder and Scully Wacky Wobblers.
To win, tell us the names of the actors who played these characters and who your favourite is and why: Mulder Scully Cigarette Smoking Man Skinner and the 3 Lone Gunmen.
Inbox us your answers at our Facebook page: facebook.com/GametradersAustralia.
First prize will win the board game, signed poster & 2 Wacky Wobblers. 2 runner ups win Wacky Wobblers of Mulder & Scully. Competition ends Friday 12 February. Must live in Australia to enter.
retro As 1990 progressed I found it more difficult to find games for my Amstrad CPC. Mr Computer was still “The Amstrad Specialist”, but the focus was less on the CPC and more on the Amstrad PC and PCW computers. In September of that year my Mum bought me the latest issue of the Australian magazine, ‘The Amstrad User’. In the pages of this issue I saw the biggest Amstrad mail order catalogue I had ever seen, as the magazine was supporting those who had difficulty finding software. I selected some game titles I was interested in, approached my mother and was told that I would not be ordering anything. This was the curse of having 2 children on a single income I suppose. With that said, every birthday and Christmas I would be given one or two blank discs that I would promptly fill with games I would acquire from my friends. Friends of friends would go on holiday to the UK, often returning with Amstrad games which would be copied around to everyone else they knew, and everyone else those people knew. Piracy was massive with my community of Amstrad owning friends and nobody even thought twice about copying games. When there were hardly any games available there wasn’t really much of a choice. James and I owned copies of many titles, though we both managed to get ahold of the odd original disc. I can recall my parents coming back from a Sunday market with a copy of ‘Monty on the Run’, which was a nice surprise.
The Gamer diaries: part 4
‘Monty on the Run’ is the the third in the Gremlin Graphics ‘Monty Mole’ series. A flick screen platformer, the game involves a working class mole called Monty who is on the run after being broken out of prison by his friend Sam Stoat. At the start you have to choose five items to help through certain sections of the game. The problem is, if you don’t choose the correct five items then the game cannot be completed. The music is intense and urgent which immerses you in the platforming mayhem. Each screen is made up of bouncing enemies, crushers and carefully timed jumps. One of my many blank discs ended up with a copy of the sequel, ‘Auf Wiedersen Monty’, a similar title where Monty has to travel to various European countries, raising enough money to retire. At the end of the year I knew I would be leaving Para Hills East Primary School and doing year 7 and high school at St Paul’s College. This would involve new friends, new experiences and a school that wasn’t a 2 minute walk from home. It would also mean that I did not have direct access to Mr O’Reilly, so I would
be on my own with my programming. My sister remained at Para Hills East for a few more years, so I did occasionally see Mr O’Reilly but it was never anything more than a ‘hello, how are you?’ I did continue to explore programming techniques I found in the pages of Amstrad magazines, though none of the projects that I started ever made it to completion. During the holiday break some friends of the family visited us. The daughter had recently purchased an Amstrad and was curious to see what I had in my games library. Last month I mentioned my love of Jack the Nipper, though at this point I had played it to death and was thoroughly sick of it. I hid the game under my bed so I didn’t have to show it to her. The family came over, I showed their daughter my Amstrad games and they left. Two weeks later I went to get Jack the Nipper out from under the bed but I couldn’t find it. I knew it wasn’t stolen as I was with this girl the whole time we were around the computer, and she had no way of knowing it was under the bed anyway. To this day I have no idea what happened to that game
1990 - 1991
and I never saw it again. Before I started my year at St Paul’s College I purchased a copy of ‘Computer and Video Games’ or C+VG magazine. This was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Special that featured Shredder on the cover. I picked up this issue as it featured screenshots of every port from the upcoming ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ platforming game, including the Amstrad CPC version. I continued to get a copy of C+VG every month until I noticed another magazine in the newsstand a late in 1991. We’ll get to that next month though. For my first day at St Paul’s College I took this magazine to read during break times. I was nervous and figured that I might need to take some reading material incase I didn’t immediately click with anyone. As it so happened this magazine was what allowed me to click with the first friend I made at St Paul’s, Clinton. Clinton spotted me with the magazine and mentioned that he owned that issue as well. We became good friends after that and I was introduced to Clinton’s social group. We were all gamers but with a difference. I’m not sure if it was maturity but gone were the school ground “my system is better than your system” debates and in place was proper discussion. Clinton and someone else in the group had Amiga computers and someone else had a PC. We would talk about the latest popular games that we had played or seen in magazines. ‘Rainbow Islands” was one of the most popular games on the market at this time and between us we owned
the game on Amiga and Amstrad. ‘Rainbow Islands’ is one of the sequels to ‘Bubble Bobble’ (there was also a ‘Bubble Bobble 2’ for the NES and Taito’s ‘Bubble Symphony’ which is also referred to as Bubble Bobble 2). In this game Bub and Bob are in their human form and have to climb to the top of each level using rainbows to attack the enemies and climb levels. At the end of each world there is a boss to challenge. A colourful game on both Amstrad and Amiga computers, the game features a world devoted to Taito’s ‘Arkanoid’. After playing both versions we discovered that the Amstrad version was easier and we could get a little further in the game. From memory the vampire boss was really difficult on the Amiga version. James and I started to make semi regular visits to our local Timezone at Modbury. They would have lock in sessions, similar to those at Intencity or Gameroom Essentials. We were exposed to classic titles such as ‘Outrun’, ‘Golden Axe’, ‘and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’. I played ‘Afterburner’ in the machine that had the moving seat. That was exhilarating at the time. Neo Geo cabinets were new on the scene at this time and having a cabinet which played four games was unheard of until now. Those early Neo Geo games didn’t make much of an impression on me. I remember the ‘Super Spy’ being a bit average, and though I enjoyed ‘Ninja Combat’ it wasn’t anything special.
In one of the issues of C+VG I saw a feature about a new console by Nintendo known as the Super Famicom. Screenshots were shown of Super Mario World and I knew that I had to play it. Platform games were my favourite genre and this looked like it was going to be something special. Prior to this my only experience with a Mario game had been the original ‘Super Mario Bros’, ‘Donkey Kong’, ‘Mario Bros’ and the Mario hack of ‘Great Giana Sisters’. Every month I would read C+VG from cover to cover trying to find some updates about ‘Super Mario World’ or the Super Famicom system. While I was waiting for the Super Famicom to be released I had a more immediate interest in the Gameboy. Nintendo’s handheld was making a big impact on the gaming world and everybody wanted one. Who would have thought we would have a quality gaming system that we could take anywhere and play a version of Super Mario that was as good as the original Nintendo Entertainment System version? I was aware of the existence of Sega and had played the Master System in stores (as mentioned last month), but Nintendo was making a much bigger impact on me. At school my friends and I decided to try and write a computer magazine that we could sell to other students. I mean, who wouldn’t pay to read our thoughts on games? We really were young and naive… We had a writing class at school and we thought we could use that time to write to write content for
1990 - 1991
the magazine. The teachers very quickly put a stop to the money side of the project but didn’t mind us writing something that could be distributed to students. The other problem was that the teachers wanted control over what was going to be written, so the project quickly died. While moving house recently I found the written draft for our magazine. Who the hell gave ‘California Games’ 94%? It’s not my handwriting… Actually, none of it is my hand writing, so I don’t think I have all of it. We also reviewed ‘Narc’, we had a cheat mode section, and I even have part of the draft for what was going to be the second issue. In 1991 I was obsessed with Fleetway’s British comics. This included titles such as, ‘Buster, Son of Andy Capp’, ‘Whizzer and Chips’, ‘Big Comic Fortnightly’ and more. One of my favourite characters was a character called Vic who starred in a comic called ‘Vid Kid’. Vic had a remote control that could be used in the real world, very much like the Adam Sandler movie ‘Click’. I started a ‘Vid Kid’ BASIC project on my Amstrad. The concept involved using Vic’s remote control to perform actions on items in his house. I got as far as drawing a picture of Vic on the computer, and starting to work on drawing the house before abandoning the project. It would be the last ever Amstrad BASIC project I attempted. The problem was a lack of time as, unlike my old school, St Paul’s gave us homework. I’m not going into the whole public school vs private school debate but I did get a better education at St Paul’s.
In writing class I had the idea to design my own Amstrad manual. This book included a lot of programming techniques that I learned from my time coding as well as a few bits and pieces I ripped off from Amstrad magazines. I received an A for the book which covered the Amstrad computer series, expansion peripherals and the basics of BASIC. At the back I featured a little game that had a spaceship flying through an endless screen of stars that had to be avoided. In the ultimate act of plagiarism I lifted that game line directly from a magazine I had lying around. While moving house I found the book recently so I might put it online at some point. In the pages of C+VG I had my first glimpse of what would become a worldwide video game phenomenon. Street Fighter 2 featured in a 4 page arcade review and the magazine featured Chun Li on the cover. The game looked amazing with large sprites, colourful backgrounds and the variety of different characters was impressive. I wasn’t even aware of the first Street Fighter game but, like Super Mario World, I had to play it! Thankfully I wouldn’t have to wait too long, but that’s all the time I have this month. Join me next month as I obtain my first Nintendo console and enter a whole new realm of gaming.
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90 - 1991 WRITTEN BY paul monopoli
Amiga and Retro Computing Event 2016
retro
Facebook is full of surprises. An event came up in my feed advertising an Amiga and vintage computing fair hosted by the Adelaide Amiga Club. Normally their events are exclusive to Commodore machines, but this time they were opening it up to all vintage computers. On Monday the 25th of January I went along to the fair to showcase my Amstrad 6128 Plus computer and to experience the other machines that people had bought with them. The Amstrad 6128 Plus was never released on our shores, so while many people had seen the old Amstrad CPC range of computers, few had seen a Plus. The computer garnered a lot of interest and I spent a fair portion of the
evening answering questions. On the same table was a Dick Smith computer with built in tape drive. It wasn’t in working order but was still an interesting museum piece. Other items included a Commodore 128D, various Amigas, and a Commodore 64 which housed a Raspberry Pi inside. For those who don’t know, the Raspberry Pi is a piece of hardware that is commonly used to emulate old computers and consoles. The event featured two presentations, the first of which was on the latest Amiga OS. Yes, updates to this operating system are still being released through the community. We were given a bit of a history lesson and then a look at Amiga OS4.1 Final Edition.
The second presentation was on the MITS Altair 8800 computer. This 1974 computer was able to run the original version of Microsoft BASIC, the first piece of software written by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. The owner of the unit popped the hood and we were able to take a few pictures of the inside. Upon inspection I noticed that it was surprisingly empty. The events are held regularly, so if you’re interested in attending the next one go to Facebook and like “Adelaide Amiga & Retro Computing Group”, or check out their blog at: adelaideamiga.blogspot.com.au
WRITTEN BY paul monopoli
NINTENDO GAME BOY
COLLECTIBLES Back in 1989 Nintendo released an 8-bit handheld game device that used cartridges - the Game Boy. Created by Gunpei Yokoi and Nintendo Research Development 1 it is the second hand held system by the big N. The first being the Game Watch which came out in 1980. At the time of release both Atari and Sega had handhelds in progress, but Nintendo beat them to the consumer with their relatively simple and clear design that allowed anyone to get into mobile gaming. Launch titles included Super Mario Land, Alleyway, Baseball and Tetris among others. In 1995 Nintendo released coloured cases with the same internal workings. This cases came in red, black, clear, yellow and green and blue. Blue was limited to Europe and Japan and white was Japan only so it’s pretty rare. Transparent was U.S only. in 1996 the Game Boy Pocket came out which was lighter and required less batteries to run. Then in 1998 Nintendo released the Game Boy Color and this too was a tremendous success and included launch titles of Tetris DX, Wario Land II and Poket Bomberman. Overall the Game Boy systems in all their variations sold around 120 million! In 2001 they released the Pokemon Mini which of course had only Pokemon games and due to only being made for around 12 months is now a bit of a collectable.
In 2004 the DS was released with it’s 2 display system, stylus, wireless LAN and classic games like Super Mario 64 Ds and Metroid Prime Hunter - a multiplayer demo for the U.S market. Two years later the DS Lite came out followed by DSi and DSi XL in 2009. Nintendo followed the success of the DS up with a 3DS version in 2011 and a 3DS XL in 2014. Nintendo have kept the spirit of portable gaming with their brilliant hand held systems and gamers around the world love them. Today with many people using phones for gaming, it warms this gamers heart to know that true handheld gaming lives on with the classic game play mechanics with tactile buttons working hand in hand with touch screens and a stylus. Somehow those buttons are reassuring to use when playing a frantic button mashing blast.
NINTENDO GAME B “You can’t go past the original Game Boy in all of its grey glory! It was so exciting to finally have an actual hand held console that I could buy individual cartridges for (before that I was all about the Game & Watch games). As for games, Tetris was obviously a really big one but I think my favourite back then was Kirby’s Dream Land. I had sooo much fun playing that and loved the fact that you could inhale your enemies and either swallow them or spit them back out like bullets! Ahh the good old days when there were no auto-saves, invincibility codes or unlimited lives...” - Nicole Woods “The only Game Boy I ever owned was the very first one Nintendo released. The game I probably enjoyed playing most on it was Battletoads.” - Benjamin Woods “I had the Cyan and Purple Game Boy Colours and I rocked at Pac man. I remember one time doing better than I had ever done before and the power died mid level. I was quite devastated as we still had an hour drive to get home.” - Jaydn Barltrop
“I’ve collected a few Game Boys over the years but for me, the Purple Game Boy Colour is forever my favourite Game Boy. Tetris DX and Pokemon Yellow are both equally my favourite games.” - Emmanuel Photakis
BOY:yoursay
“Tell us which Game Boy you loved most, what colour it was (case) and your favourite game and why...”
“I got the purple see-through Game Boy Colour for Christmas with Pokémon Gold. It was a hot summer and we went up to see my grandparents in Healesville. The pleasant weather and shady trees along with a whole slew of new Pokémon to catch, a new region, all in COLOUR was a blast. It’s one of those gaming memories that you can not only remember where you were but also how you felt and who was there.” - Lucas Andrew “Ah pretty sure I had to share a green gameboy colour with my older brother. Had to be my favourite as it was my first gameboy and I could play it anywhere. Good memories heart emoticon I remember only playing pokemon games on it as I was a total pokemon fan girl even to this day. My all time favourite game would be pokemon gold! The amount of batteries I went through was ridiculous. I probably restarted the game more than 100 times and never got sick of it. Even if I had to sit there with a flash light under my chin to see the screen, Good times!” - Paz Valdez
“This is a no contest i still own all my gameboy stuff while i played alot on the original. The pokemon edition of the gameboy color was my best friend growing up. And as for favourite game pokemon silver i played 250 + hours on the combination of the 2 where i got to 241 pokemon and 17 shiny pokemon never got the 250 though due to not having gold version. But this was a huge part of my childhood and wouldnt trade it for anything.” - Jarrad Bradbrook
NINTENDO GAME B “My first ever game was a gold gameboy pocket. I immersed myself in the Pokemon universe for countless hours, playing through Pokemon blue on this. I remember buying rechargeable batteries so I always had one set charging as I burned through another one playing for hours.
“I grew up with four different Game Boys. I loved my purple Game Boy Colour the most and remember playing Donkey Kong Country all day long!”
I think I loved Pokemon so much back then (and to this day) because it was truly a new concept of adventure to me, and I could imagine my way through every battle and journey!”
“I had the old grey brick Gameboy. I had a fair few games for it too. Super Mario Land was a favorite early on, until I got Pokémon Yellow.”
- Hamish Pellew “I still remember getting my white brick on Christmas morning many moons ago. I would spend hours playing Tetris and Battletoads. I still have it but sadly it doesn’t work anymore. I will never part from it though as it brings back so many great memories of an easier time in my life....Childhood!” - Jade O’Shea
- Kayla Hogben
- Aaron Yanner
“Green & Gold Olympic Editition Still have it, still works, but haven’t used it for about ten years. Was great being able to link up to the friends Gameboys to battle.” - Robert Darroch
“My favourite Gameboy was a clear blue Gameboy Pocket with the clear carry case along with Pokemon Blue, got it as a birthday present and being such a huge fan of Pokemon, it was one of the best presents I’ve ever gotten to this day” - Dan Cameron
“Best Gameboy? Would have to be the Gameboy colour, they’re the best, mine original was white and got slightly misplaced, but I still play my translucent purple gameboy to this day, and what better game to play then Pokemon Yellow? Without it I wouldn’t be the person I am today, it gave me a experience to try a new world and a new life, and in my opinion the gameboy colour and most games still hold up with the new hand held gaming devices, it really is gaming gold as far as I’m concerned, and whenever I get bored of playing the newest games I always take a step back and play my Gb Colour, and I think I always will.” - Codi Piccolo Wiseman
BOY:yoursay
“Tell us which Game Boy you loved most, what colour it was (case) and your favourite game and why...”
“It was a joyful Christmas morning. Everyone was up and waiting to open up their presents. I was anxiously waiting for my turn to open, and finnaly when the time arrived I dived under the tree and grabbed my pressie. I sat down and ripped the paper off like someone would carelessly rip a bandaid off. To my surprise and excitement, that’s right. A Gameboy Colour in Kiwi Green sat on my lap with the price sticker still attached from Harris Scarfe of $120.12. I remember the first games I owned for my Gameboy Colour were Pokémon Silver, Quest for Camelot and some unlicensed 8 in 1 cart made by Sachen in Taiwan that dad picked up from GoLo which no longer exists. I remember the days in Primary School I’d play Pokémon Silver with friends and battle and trade nearly everyday. It was how I grew up, a way of life if you will. I can recall many hours and batteries spent, just playing my Game-
boy Colour whether at school or at home. Then, one day, during school one of my “friends” “borrowed” my precious and when it came to me to collect it later on, he had told me he wasn’t sure where it was (most likely lied and stolen). I remember asking my teachers and every peer in class. I’d search recess and lunch just looking for my Kiwi Colour, i even remember going through some classmates bags with them to check if it had been misplaced. Unfortunately it was never returned or found, and to this day i still grieve over the loss of my first ever handheld system. I check in at second hand shops like Cash Converters and even Gametraders in search of the Kiwi Green console to be returned to its box sitting here at home. Here’s a picture of the box I still own and the unlicensed game I have!” - Matthew Tsentidis
NINTENDO GAME B “My favourite gameboy was a see-through purple gameboy colour. I loved playing ‘The Land Before Time’ on it and I still have the gameboy but sadly lost the game which is sad :( It was my favourite because of the amount of entertainment it would give with it’s tricky platform levels and the colours that suited the gameboy so well. Now I play games like ‘Pokemon Red’ and ‘Super Mario Land’ but i always remember my first game I played.” - Freya Jane “I was always jealous of the other kids in my early school days who all had Gameboys. I’d sometimes get the opportunity to play games on theirs. Then some years later I got a Gameboy Advance, with Sim City and the Worms game that was out at the time. Not long after that, I got Pokemon Ruby and then proceeded to invest hundreds of hours into it, defeating the Pokemon League over 80 times and managing to complete the Regional Pokedex after trading between friends. It still works to this day, although it has been well loved.” - Matthew Caust
“I’ve collected a few Game Boys over the years but for me, the Purple Game Boy Colour is forever my favourite Game Boy. Tetris DX and Pokemon Yellow are both equally my favourite games” - Emmanuel Photakis
“Gameboy Colour in Green. Pokemon Yellow was my game of choice well into my teen years. I loved it so much, even as other consoles came out, i still wanted to play yellow on the gameboy. I regret ever giving them away. Kids these days will never understand the struggles of playing under the covers with a torch in hand, listening out incase the folks came and busted me after bed time.” - Jess Field
“Game boy colour blue and yellow pokemon one and pokemon blue Because it was my first gameboy and game. Still play it 16 years after I got it.” - Jamie Jamedog Smith
“I only got my first Gameboy about 2 or so years ago as a gift from a friend who no longer wanted it, I was excited because I had really gotten into the older gen of Pokemon games that you couldn’t play on the ds and such. So, with my limited knowledge my fave would have to be the Gameboy Advance SP model AGS-001 in black. I love playing the Pokemon games on it but my favourite of those would be FireRed.” - Steff Robinson
BOY:yoursay
“Tell us which Game Boy you loved most, what colour it was (case) and your favourite game and why...”
“I still own my Black Gameboy and accessories! It’s still in perfect condition. I treated it like gold and played it obsessively for years. My favourite games were donkey kong land and mortal kombat 3. It brings back memories of my youth and when games were much simpler and easy to play.” - Meagan Bartlett
“Gameboy Light, the case was yellow and my fave game was Tennis (The first game I ever played). It was my first console that I ever owned. I remember I got it from the airport in a bundle, which came with a shoulder bag to put games and game boy in and Tennis (the game). I think that was the game which got me into tennis. I spent all those bus rides to school trying to beat my opponents in fast tennis action.The lobs, the fast hitting action and serves. The sound of the crowd cheering at change of ends really pumped you up. I had some fist pumping moments when I hit a fast serve or fast shot and also had some tantrums like throwing my “racquet” (i.e. gameboy to the ground and yelling with disgust every time the ball hit the net (resulting in cosmetic damages and a long black line in the middle of the screen every time I turned the game boy on). Unfortunately my gameboy disappeared on the school bus, did I drop it ? I’ll never know” - Wesley Ung
BOARD/CARD GAMES
BOSS MONSTER 2 REVIEW
Boss Monster 2 allows players to experience more of the great game play which was established by the first Boss Monster. The second full game entry in the series sees much of the same as the first and does not bring a lot of new elements to the series however it is still just as fun and entertaining to play the second time round. The original Boss Monster was released after a successful Kickstarter Campaign in November 2012. Game play in Boss Monster is card based however it has one major difference to most other games within the characters and who players play as. This time you play as the Boss of a Dungeon and must keep those pesky heroes at bay. Take two many wounds and you are eliminated from the game however if you are the first Boss to defeat and collect the soul of 10 heroes you are declared the winner. Building the ultimate dungeon while making it appealing enough to the heroes is the main strategic aspect of the game. If your dungeon is not appealing enough to the heroes leaving the village they will venture to a neighbouring dungeon however if you make your dungeon to easy this will result in your Boss sustaining a wound and this is the where the great strategic play comes into
the game. Included in the box is a Boss deck, Room deck, spell deck and the hero and epic hero deck. At the start of the game the Boss deck is shuffled and one Boss card is randomly dealt face down to each player. Once all players have their Boss cards the cards are turned face up and the Boss with the highest XP is the first player with the remaining players decided in XP order chronologically descending. Players also receive 5 room cards and 2 spell cards. To start the game players build their first room to the left of the Boss card. Players must now build their dungeons during the following rounds to try and trap and defeat the heroes. If the hero completes the dungeon and makes it to your Boss you take a wound with 5 wounds being needed for the Boss to be defeated. The game is played over rounds which are broken up into three phases, the Build phase, Bait phase and the Adventure phase. Before the build phase the heroes appear in town. The hero cards are set up in the middle of the table and the cards are drawn and laid to the left of the stack in order of drawing with the amount drawn matching the number of players. All hero cards must be drawn before the epic hero cards are used.
Players then draw a room card in XP descending order. Once the heroes are lined up the Build phase begins. The build phase beings with the highest XP Boss holder choosing to play a room card or not. Room cards may be laid in either of two places, to the left of your most recent room or on top of an existing room. Ordinary rooms can be placed on top of any room where as Advance rooms can only be placed on top of a room with at least one matching treasure icon. Room abilities and spells cards with the hummer (build) icon can be used during this phase. Once all players have laid their room cards and completed any abilities and spells they wish to play the game play moves on to the bait phase. The bait phase is where the heroes are lured to the dungeons. Each hero features a treasure which they wish to obtain. Room and the Boss cards also feature one or multiple symbols of one of the treasures. At the start of the turn treasure values are countered. The player who has the most amount of a particular treasure a hero is after results in that hero being lured to that dungeon. If there is a tie or no players have the particular treasure the hero stays in town till they are lured out. Spell and room cards cannot
be used during this phase. Now the Adventure phase begins. The heroes enter the dungeon with the turn going in XP descending order. All heroes have a HP counter and the rooms also feature an Attack power. As the hero moves through the dungeon the rooms deal any damage and any abilities they feature are activated, spells featuring the Axe (Adventure) icon can be used and if a hero dies before reaching the Boss this is counted as a soul. If the hero survives the dungeon it results in a wound to the Boss. The strategic nature of this game is compelling and fun without it being too hard. Laying and destroying rooms to create your perfect dungeon is exciting and it creates a hard line to be able to build something that will be both appealing and difficult for the hero. Also playing a spell card during another players turn to raise the power of the hero or activating a room ability which can only be used once is something which needs to be completed with perfect timing as one change in a design can result in these one use cards being nullified. The game can be played with between two and four players and is adapted depending on how many people are playing. The hero cards feature player icons in the bottom middle section of the card. Depending on how many icons are featured determines if it will be used in a two, three or four player game. The game is fully playable by itself and can also be incorporated in the first game and its expansion. The difference
in the two games is the cards. All new rooms, spells and Bosses have been created for the second entry. These cards like the first and expansion all feature gorgeous pixel art. Many of the pictures and cards effects are based off a game or pop culture in history, mainly drawing its inspiration form the NES days. Save points feature an image very similar to a Rupee from Zelda, the Blockpile Puzzle card recreates Tetris and the Bullet Builder depicts Bullet Bills being loaded into Bill Blasters. Looking at the card for the first time is an absolute joy as you reminisce over the material which inspired it. The Box and manual are also designed in the NES style with the box layout and art depicting a NES game box. Boss Monster 2 is a great addition to the series. While it does not bring a lot of new aspects to the game play it is a fun, addictive card play. Being a standalone entry allows new players to experience the great game while
being able to incorporate it with the first game and expansion allows fans of the series to have a much larger selection of cards to develop and perfect their fierce and alluring dungeon. A lot of fun has been had with this game and I expect and look forward to many more game nights featuring the amazing title.
WRITTEN BY jess wilson
anime
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F REVIEW
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F was quite slow moving at first, but thoroughly enjoyable when the action started. I’ve never been a fan of the Dragon Ball series, but this was quite a nice touch-up to the Lord Frieza theme. While I have nothing incredible to say about Toei Animations in general, it was still amazing to see such fluid motions in one of these stocky anime. I’m sure that lots of Dragon Ball Z fans will enjoy this anime, probably a lot more than I did though. Story: The remnants of Frieza’s army, led by an alien named Sorbet, head to Earth where they convince Pilaf, Mai, and Shu, who have collected the Dragon Balls to summon the wish-granting dragon Shenron. Sorbet makes a wish to revive Frieza, but Shenron can only bring him back to life in the form of the pieces that Future Trunks cut up, which Sorbet’s minions reassemble using their advanced technology over the following two months. Once restored, Frieza plans revenge against the Super Saiyans, but upon learning that Goku has gotten stronger to the point of defeating Majin Boo, he postpones the
invasion so he can train himself for the first time in his life. Jaco the Galactic Patrolman travels to Earth to warn Bulma that Frieza is approaching, and she gathers five of the Z fighters. With Goku and Vegeta training with Whis on planet that houses Beerus, the God of Destruction, unaware that Frieza has been revived, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Master Roshi, Tien Shinhan and Jaco fight off Frieza’s soldiers. But the five Z warriors are unable to beat Frieza, even with Gohan in Super Saiyan mode. This Anime had fluid motions, which is expected of the world renowned Akira Toriyama, screen writer for Toei Animations Studio, and it’s always nice to see a new look on an old series. This Anime has always been a hit with most anime watchers, and it never ceases to deliver heart pounding action, fluid animations to fill in the cracks and storylines that always amaze its viewers.
Art: [10/10] The art is outstanding. As expected of the screenwriter, Akira’s
work is never short of exceptional. There is never an underuse of detail and always an exceptional use of colours to liven up the entire experience. There is so much attention to detail in this anime, that even muscles contort clothing as they are flexed.
Character: [8/10] There was quite a hole is the character design in this. You really need to watch the entire dragon ball z series to understand what the characters stories are, but this is not meant to show character development. Of course, there is some character development, but I won’t spoil when or where it happens for you.
Overall: [9/10] The anime, Dragon Ball Z, is exceptional in so many ways, but I just can’t get involved in Dragon Ball Z. This anime is filled with intense action, laidback attitudes and lots of food, but it just doesn’t appeal to me as it does for others. But I can see that it is amazing in its own way, which is why it gets a 9/10 from me.
9/1 0
WRITTEN BY Jesse Richardson
comics
2016: the year of th
As we enter 2016 we can clearly see the dynamic shift in cinema to super hero domination. While this trend has been fairly constant for the last few years, 2016 seems to be the clearest example yet. Super Hero Domination, as I like to call it is what’s often known as a cinema fad. So, in the 1950’s there was a massive trend in westerns being made. Eventually that bubble burst. The 70’s had a great deal of anti-establishment films. The 80’s saw the action man take the screen, with the likes of Stallone and Schwarzeneger, as well as the “franchise”. Now what we have is the super hero film. Nearly every major summer blockbuster or action film, finds it’s roots in comic books. This year alone we get, Deadpool, Captain America Civil War, Batman V Superman, Suicide Squad, X-Men: Apocalypse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, Gambit and Doctor Strange... Deep breath.
Now while most geeks I assume, are breathing heavy and are tickled pink by excitement for this coming year I for one would like to take a step back. What we have this year is over saturation of the market. While it might be a good year for geeky films, it could see the burst of the super hero bubble. Soon enough people might become sick of these films. There
are only so many times we can stand to see Batman on screen, growling behind his mask. Or the Avengers get together to beat the bad guys. The point is, they all start to feel a bit samey after a while... My concern is that studios are starting to rush these films out and trying to make a quick buck, that scripts are starting to suffer and the quality of the films is starting to drop dramatically. Last year saw Age of Ultron and AntMan, both of which were massive disappointments. Sure they made money, but neither were particularly remarkable from a film making perspective. Joss Whedon’s first Avengers film was a delightful triumph, fun, action packed, great jokes and some serious character development for the cast. Age of Utron, to which even Whedon himself has admitted... Was a major misstep for Marvel Studios. Batman V Superman looks like a depressing washed out mess... Civil War looks like another hyper glossy Good guy Vs Bad guy (Well sort of Good guy Vs Good guy) Marvel punching match. We haven’t seen anything for Doctor Strange yet (which I really want to be good), but I’m worried it will once again be like AntMan, pushed to the background of the Marvel Universe and sort of an afterthought. The only two I’m really looking forward too
are, oddly, Deadpool and Suicide Squad. Now this is odd coming from me... Firstly I have no love for Deadpool. It’s a juvenile, immature waste of time. I don’t get the characters appeal at all. Maybe I’m just becoming a grumpy old man... But wow the film looks like a breath of fresh air. Just a silly, over the top, swear and gore fest. Which I am OK with. Ryan Reynalds has amazing charisma and obvious love for this character. So It actually puts Deadpool as the comic book movie this year I’m most looking forward too! The other is Suicide Squad, or as I like to call it, Fan Service: The Movie. This movie looks like fan pandering at it’s most toxic. Throwing in characters willy nilly into a script that runs the risk of being a bloated mess with obviously three characters that are going to be fleshed out while the rest are fleeting background characters. BUT... The latest trailer that utilises Bohemian Rhapsody warmed my frozen heart! It really looks fun!!! Stupid... but fun. Which is really all I want out of it.
Ultimately I want to be proven wrong. I want these movies to be good! That’s the only way more great comic book movies get made. I want to go see them all (and will) and I want them to be amazing. Obviously they wont be... But it would be great if this
he comic book movie comic book movies trend could continue. In the meantime, some of these movies are based on some amazing comic book stories, from Civil War to The Dark Knight Returns. So I implore you, read a book. Don’t get caught up in movie hype. Take the time to enjoy these stories in their original art form, and then go see the movies. Remember, just because you are excited about it, doesn’t mean it’s going to be good. Well this was dark... But hey, someone had to say it. Don’t burst the bubble!
click to view the trailers!
WRITTEN BY scott f. sowter
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GAMETRADERS LIVE MILDURA Saturday 13th of February Pokemon VGC Premier Challenge (Blaziken Series) at 11.00am Sunday 14th of February MTG - Oath of the Gatewatch Game Day at 12.30pm We also run: Pokemon both TCG & VG, MTG FNM, MTG Constructed Tournaments, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Star Wars X-Wing, Warhammer 40k, Cardfight!! Vanguard, Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros & Ultra Street Fighter IV Tournaments, plus heaps more. For event details and times, please check: www.facebook.com/GametradersMildura/events
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY HYPERDOME Yu-Gi-Oh - Saturday 10am PokĂŠmon - Saturday 2pm
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GAMETRADERS LIVE PENRITH Cardfight!! Vanguard - Saturday 5pm Magic the Gathering - Friday 7pm Pokémon - Saturday 12pm X-Wing - Wednesday 7pm Dragon Ball Z - Thursday 6pm Force of Will - Friday 7:30pm Buddyfight - Saturday 12pm My Little Pony - Saturday 5pm Demo board games from Wednesday through to Saturday.
GAMETRADERS LIVE HORNSBY Saturday 6 Febryary - GPT Beijing Modern 10am Saturday 27 February - PPTQ Sydney Sealed Yu-Gi-Oh - Sunday 12pm Pokémon - Sunday 2pm Magic the Gathering - Friday 6pm Board Games - Thursday 6pm Dungeons and Dragons - Wednesday 6pm Super Smash Bros - Saturday 1pm
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MT. BARKER Board Game Night - Thursday 6pm Yu-Gi-Oh - Saturday 4pm Magic the Gathering - Sunday 1pm
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COSPLA bindi smalls interview
SARE
RESPECT YOUR MODELS: ALWAYS photography tips
interview
lightish red cosplay interview
ROOSTER TEETH AUSTRALIA
WRAP UP BY THE BLAKE IMAGE
AY
COSPLAY
bindi smalls www.FACEBOOK.COM/bindicosplay
Hi & welcome to Live Magazine! First up where did you come up with your cosplay name, Bindi Smalls? Bindi Smalls, has been my gaming name for the last 10 years. Most of my friends at one point knew me by Bindi. “Bindi” was a randomly generated name from World of Warcraft that I altered by one letter, and “Smalls” came from my stature -- I’m 5’ 3”! Now you’re based in the U.S, where about in the U.S? I’m based in northern Colorado at the moment. I’m originally from Florida, and lived in Northern Virginia for a while as well. Why do you cosplay? What I mean is there is a lot of work in costumes and make up and going to cons. Do you make an income out of cosplay or do you plan to? Cosplay is a fun medium for creative expression. There’s something special about wearing something you made, it’s a statement about ownership of the way you present yourself to others. When I was younger, I distinctly remember seeing characters in
video games or animated series and wishing I could exist in that world. I guess that desire never really left me. Making and wearing cosplay helps me live out that childhood dream while meeting people who feel the same. I do not make an income out of cosplay. I’d like to, but I don’t want to give up my day job for now. I’ve been balancing life doing both for 3 years and while it’s stressful, I’m happy! I’m opening my print store again soon, and that can help recover the costs for making cosplay and traveling to conventions. Would you say cosplay is for the love of the art, for the “likes” since it is rarely a career option or is it a combination of things? I can’t speak for others but I can speak for myself: it’s for the love of the art. I do appreciate getting noticed, and like to have a platform to display my work, however I find that creating cosplay and props has become a compulsive activity for me -- I find myself planning for projects without realizing it, and I start to feel depressed if I don’t have any new projects to work on. I want to imagine other
cosplayers feel the same, but I know it’s different for everyone. There are definitely cosplayers who cosplay for attention, but can we really blame them? I’m sick of automatically assuming a negative view on people who welcome attention -- wanting attention is normal, humans are a very social species. Getting attention for an accomplishment or even just your state of being feels good. I’d like for us all to admit that, finally. And if getting attention is not done with the intention to harm anyone, who cares? It doesn’t affect me, or my work, in the end. Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but you should embrace the attention you receive and shouldn’t make others feel bad for it. Cosplayers are kind of like chameleons in that they take on multiple characters and in turn, the personalities of those characters. How far do you go with your cosplay projects with regard to details of costume etc? I tend to get lost in the details, so I try to choose costumes that won’t completely consume me! When making a new cosplay, it’s easy to go a little insane over accuracy or the minutiae of a design. I try to learn my tools and work on my
Photographer: Elysiam Entertainment | www.elysiament.com
skills before I start a project, but I also tend to choose a new cosplay based on whether I learn any new techniques while making it. What happens with your costumes after you’ve worn them? Historically, they sit in a closet or storage box. I wear a cosplay multiple times after I make it, but once I’ve completely retired it, they’ve gone into storage. I will eventually get around to selling them! Do you ever re-visit characters that you’ve previously cosplayed? What I mean is let’s say you did Black Cat a year ago, would you ever do it again and if so what sort of things do you differently? I have yet to re-visit a character, but I plan on re-visiting some of my favorite cosplays. I would like to remake my Poison Ivy and my Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite. These were some of my first selfmade costumes, so I would like to remake them now that I know more about sewing and how to make corsets. I might also make a few more props for them, and rotate between the props to keep it fun when wearing over and over again. On to something a bit different, tell us about 3D printing and what you use it for. I use 3D printing every day. In my personal life, I use 3D printing for objects around the house or printing small but necessary
items. For instance, a light-switch cover broke in my house -- so we printed a new one. The greatest thing about 3D printing is that the machine works for you, so that you can do other things! Is this something you think more cosplayers will be trying out? I think this is something a lot of cosplayers are very interested in. There are more and more cosplayers getting into 3D printing everyday, and I try to keep up with their work and their progress. There aren’t a lot of us, compared to the grand total of all cosplayers, but I think we’re doing some pretty cool stuff and turning some heads! And as the technology becomes even more accessible, more people will want to try it out. On to social media, what are you doing there and how did you grow your audience? I use social media as a way to display my work and connect with fans. I don’t have that many fans when compared to the most popular cosplayers, but I don’t really care. My fans are very appreciative and I love them very much -- it feels great to show off a project or finished cosplay and get positive reinforcement. I also love connecting with other cosplayers via social media. Often, I’ll meet cosplayers that I follow in-person, and they have seen my work from my social media accounts. It feels like meeting a friend for the first time! Do you have any tips for new cosplayers?
My best tip would be this: Do not be afraid of hard work. It’s more of a life tip, really. Do not be afraid to put tons of time and energy into a project. Even when you run out of motivation, and even if it fails. Just continue to work hard, and learn from your successes and mistakes to form a better plan to accomplish whatever it is that you are doing. One day, you’ll see that hard work is the gift. Hard work will be what you strive for, what you desire. You will become comfortable working hard when all others have quit. Hard work will define you and force you to refine your skills. It is the one true thing that will separate you from others. There will be other people that are naturally better than you, in every aspect. That’s okay. That doesn’t mean you can’t keep trying, and it doesn’t mean you cannot succeed. In fact, you’ll find that your endurance and dedication, which have reinforced by the hard work that you’ve done in the past, will be the very things that make you successful when everyone else has quit. You will feel the glory of a job well done, and personal satisfaction from what you have accomplished. And where can readers go to find out more about you? Find me on Facebook, Instagram, and my website! www.facebook.com/BindiCosplay Instagram: @bindismalls Website: Bindismalls.com
Photographer: Elysiam Entertainment | www.elysiament.com
Photographer: Elysiam Entertainment | www.elysiament.com
Photographer: Elysiam Entertainment | www.elysiament.com
Photographer: Elysiam Entertainment | www.elysiament.com
Photographer: Elysiam Entertainment | www.elysiament.com
COSPLAY Thanks for taking the time to talk to us today Sare, and welcome to LIVE Magazine! Let’s start with you telling us a little but about yourself... Thanks for having me! I’m a cosplayer based in Sydney, Australia. I’m originally from the outskirts of a coastal town in mid-northern New South Wales. It was there that I met my best friend when I was thirteen, she introduced me to anime and manga, and we went on to cosplay and attend cons for the first time together. I’m very lucky to still be swapping manga, watching anime and cosplaying with her to this day! Like any 90s kid, I grew up watching Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon and Sailor Moon on Cheese TV, but I had no concept or understanding that they were anime originally from Japan (or how much of an impact Japan would come to have on my life). I’ve always had a fascination with good stories, foreign cultures, language, acting and drama, and arts and crafts, so cosplay became a way for me to combine all of these elements into one hobby. I love the feeling of becoming someone different for a day- it’s fascinating to see how you can transform yourself into someone entirely different as you put on a costume, wig and makeup. I love the construction side of cosplay, but I also love how much confidence it can bring to the wearer. Often it feels as though I’m putting on the character’s personality and mannerisms as much as I am their clothes. As I really love the characters I cosplay, I’m al-
SARE www.FACEBOOK.COM/sarecosplay
ways trying my best to bring them to life as much as possible! What’s the costume you’ve enjoyed wearing most? Do you have any funny stories about wearing it? I think that would have to be the Tennis Club Captain Omiko Hakodate from Kill la Kill, first worn at SMASH! Sydney in 2014. I love the animation studio Trigger’s designs and stories, they’re always crazy over the top and so much fun. And when you’re wearing a tennis dress that contains (literally) 100 tennis balls suspended from a petticoat, just about everything becomes funny- getting in and out of a car, sitting down, running, dropping something on the ground and having to pick it upeverything! Add to that the oversized binocular eyepiece sticking out of my face, a visor and long fringe, shark teeth and a two-metre long tennis racket, and suddenly my ability to talk easily, my peripheral vision and my depth perception are all shot- I whacked
myself in the face a LOT that con! Omiko is just such a fantastic, hammy villain- I always have a lot of fun as her. What do you think are your unique experiences and strengths in cosplay? I think my unique strength would have to be a real passion for the characters that I cosplay, to not just make the costume but to tell a story through photos and connect with audiences on an emotional level. For experiences, I’ve been fortunate enough to take that passion overseas and cosplay and perform on stage in Japan! I was really happy to get the chance to meet other anime and manga fans from around the world. You went and performed on stage in Japan? What was that like? I really can’t do it justice in words, so just picture me flailing at the
Photographer: Carlos Mayenco | www.facebook.com/CarlosMayencoPhotography
Photographer: Fiathriel | www.facebook.com/fiathriel
Photographer: Lark Visuals | www.facebook.com/LarkVisuals
Obviously the characters you cosplay mean a lot to you; how do you pick and choose who you’re going to be next?
keyboard and possibly crying a little. But seriously, I am incredibly grateful that I was given the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful initiative. Loverin Tamburin (the band behind the event I performed in) is so passionate about connecting people all around the world through anime music, and the International Anime Music Festival definitely achieved this. Despite cultural and language barriers, every performer sang or played from the heart in their own unique style. You could really hear how much the series meant to them and I think the Japanese audience were amazed to see how much of a far-reaching impact anime has had around the world. I am still very new to performing but I can’t wait to do more. It’s my dream to help unite people locally and overseas through our shared passion for Japanese pop culture! What are some differences in Australian vs. Japanese pop culture scene?
Japanese fans of anime, manga and games are said to be pretty conservative about their hobbies compared to their Western counterparts. In my experience, this is pretty true! Cosplayers will go to great lengths to bring their costumes carefully prepared and packed in luggage so that they can get changed at the location of the event, rather than disrupt the public by wearing/carrying large or unwieldy costumes and props on public transport. Once they’re at the event and in their element, however, they’re just as approachable, enthusiastic and happy to discuss their fave series as anyone else around the world! If you’re in Japan, meeting new people and hoping to make friends with similar interests, keep an eye out for telltale signs of fellow pop culture fans- character and fandom key chains, badges, pencil cases and stationary items and other small, subtle personal belongings are a dead giveaway!
I believe anyone should be able to cosplay any character they want, but I’m also constantly trying to make my cosplays as accurate to the original design as possible... so you can see how this can be problematic, especially when my favourite character is simply a body type, age or design that I don’t think I can pull off! Make up, prosthetics and creative tailoring can go a long way towards altering your appearance, so the more I can improve in those areas, the more characters I feel become ‘available’ to me as cosplay options. I’m always on the lookout for new characters to cosplay when I watch series, but normally I don’t have to look too hard- my favourites always jump out at me very quickly, based on who I identify with, whose personality appeals to me, and whose design looks like a fun and interesting challenge that would also suit my physical appearance. Where can our readers find you after this? If you’d like to follow my work, please head over to: www.facebook.com/sarecosplay :) I’m also on Instagram and Twitter, and I’m always happy to chat about series or cosplay advice!
Photographer: Fiathriel | www.facebook.com/fiathriel
Photographer: ShortGirls.net | www.facebook.com/shortgirls.net
Photographer: Fiathriel | www.facebook.com/fiathriel
Photographer: Fiathriel | www.facebook.com/fiathriel
COSPLAY
LIGHTISH RED COSPLAY www.facebook.com/lightishredcosplay
Hi & welcome to Live Magazine! Tell us a bit about you. How you got into cosplay and the background of your cosplay name. I was raised with a passion for video gaming and pop culture as well as a love for costuming. My inevitable long-standing relationship with cosplay began the night before AVCon 2010 – a friend and I decided to go last minute and raided my dress-up closet, haphazardly putting together a Link and Navi which at the time we were very proud of. Conventions quickly became one of the highlights of my year and I slowly progressed from purchasing cosplays, to commissioning them, and now I craft my own. I made my page, Lightish Red Cosplay, late 2014 in order to better interact with people in the community and keep a personal record of my creative pursuits. The name is a cheeky reference to one of my favourite lines in Rooster Teeth’s Red vs Blue – “It’s not pink, it’s lightish red!” It’s fun, memorable and fitting as many of my recent cosplays have been inspired by Rooster Teeth. Now you’ve been cosplay for a short time, a couple of years. How have you grown as a cosplayer over that time? What’s
been your biggest changes? Cosplay has had a massive impact on my life! I’ve become a far more outgoing person as part of regularly getting into character and made some great friends because of it. Making a character you love from scratch and getting to share that passion with others is a huge confidence builder – on the technical side of things, that’s translated to working with a lot more different materials and methods. I’ve grown from just sewing simple things with the help of family to making prop weapons and armour on my own and no longer shy away from a creative challenge! What have been your favourite cosplays so far…? That’s such a tough question to answer! Commander Shepard was very special to me as I love the Mass Effect series and getting to meet Jennifer Hale while cosplaying made for a very memorable experience. Another character I really enjoy cosplaying would be Yang Xiao Long – she has a fantastic, optimistic personality I love to draw upon and interacting with other RWBY cosplayers as her is always a lot of fun.
What about the most challenging cosplay? Commander Shepard was a very intimidating cosplay to commit myself to – prior to her, I had never worked with EVA foam or made armour before and deciding to do a full N7 suit was definitely throwing myself in the deep end. Looking back, there are quite a few things I’d alter and improve now I’ve developed more experience. Kinzie’s dubstep gun was another prop I didn’t think I was able to do, but a friend was kind enough to help me out with the majority of the woodwork and although I still have yet to complete adding the lights and other electronics, it’s probably my favourite prop to display so far. Woodwork and electronics are two areas I’m looking to improve on and learn more about – my next few cosplays are characters where I’ll really need to experiment with these aspects to bring them to life! Have you done many photo shoots yet and how have you found that experience? Most of the photo shoots I’ve done have just been at conventions or other small events – I’d love to eventually work more indepth with a photographer on a location shoot and really tell a
Photographer: Steamkittens | www.facebook.com/Steamkittens
Photographer: Maetogrophy | www.facebook.com/maetogrophy
“ having fun At the end of the day, cosplay is about
and sharing your passion for pop culture – but it’s up to you at what standard you’d like to pursue that at.
”
Lightish Red Cosplay
Photographer: Creed Photography | www.facebook.com/creedphotography
story through images! All the photographers I’ve had the privilege of working with so far have been some of the most fantastic, supportive and courteous people in the cosplay community. It’s always a huge amount of fun being able to let loose getting into character, and looking back on some of the awesome pictures makes it a really rewarding experience. Do you have some tips for new cosplayers just starting out? Be realistic but kind to yourself! At the end of the day, cosplay is about having fun and sharing your passion for pop culture – but it’s up to you at what standard you’d like to pursue that at. Little things like extra research, better time management, quality materials and even just make-up and posturing on the day can elevate a good cosplay to great. I’m quite open with myself on things I can improve on and other constructive criticism, and that’s probably what has helped me grow the most over the years as a cosplayer (Although I feel I still have a very long way to go!) Also, reaching out to other members of the community for their experience, advice and support has helped me many a time – don’t be afraid to ask for help! And finally where can readers go to find out more about you? For now, I’m just on Facebook: www.facebook.com/lightishredcosplay/ Photographer: Creed Photography | www.facebook.com/creedphotography
PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS
RESEPCT YOUR MODELS: ALWAYS!
I think if you’re going to photograph cosplayers this is probably the most important thing you can learn. Respecting your cosplayer models is key to building a good relationship with him or her and then meeting and engaging with other cosplayers. Here’s my 5 tips for a happy and respectful cosplay shoot.
1 - Get to know them and their character. They’ve spend hours/days and months crafting a costume, studying hair and make up so the least you can do is understand who you are shooting.
2 - Be aware. Be aware of inappropriate angles, bad lighting, smudged make up, and maybe too much showing in your shot. Your model may not want her underwear showing in the shot if that’s not what the character is about. So don’t get low and shoot up to be sneaky. You’ll be called a creep and those photo sessions will rightfully dry up. No creeping.
3 - Consider angles. Consider angles to show off the cosplayer and the character the best. Shoot from above if the character is portrayed as a bit submis-
sive or gentle. Shoot slightly below eye level if the character is strong.
4 - Respect their time. Don’t turn up 30 minutes late. If the are arriving at 12pm - you be there 20 minutes early and do some light scouting - finding good light, and angles to shoot.
5 - Be polite. No swearing. No talking down to people. If you’re not sure of a character’s personality - ask. If mum or their partner comes to the shoot get them involved and talk to them too. One more tip - hygiene. Make sure you don’t have body odour or bad breath. It’s hard to talk to someone close when showing them a photo if you’re gassing them with smells!
Cosplayer:
Natalie To
nks Cospla
y | www .face
book.com
/NATCosp
layMedia
ROOSTER TEET
23 - 24 JANUARY 2016 .TECHNOLOGY PARK SY
Photography by Blake Robertson: The Blake Image www.theblakeimage.com.au www.facebook.com/theblakeimage
TH AUSTRALIA
YDNEY
The first Rooster teeth convention was held at the Australian Technology park in Sydney this past weekend. RTX Australia sold out months before the event, and the thousands of fans lucky enough to get a ticket lined for hours to see the stars. The con atmosphere was buzzing with The Lazer Team stars and Funhaus team drawing massive crowds, especially with the hype surrounding the new film. Panels, signings and live events of stage kept the fans busy. Noone left without their goodies either. The Gametraders booth was swamped and the official Rooster Teeth merchandise sold out on the day. Cosplayers and gaming enthusiasts were at the game stations around the main hall, multiple pop culture stores and popular Bethesda Doom Bar. Conference talks ranged from the hilarious to the informative but live games of Rocket League on the main stage had wild applause and cheering. Some fans missed out on the day as everyone was desperate to see their favourites, resulting in huge queues and crowd control. The fans and organisers will no doubt make RTX 2017 even bigger and better at the Sydney Convention Centre. You may have to buy your tickets early to avoid disappointment though as the Rooster Teeth Community in Australia is clearly not to be underestimated.
ROOSTER TEET
23 - 24 JANUARY 2016 .TECHNOLOGY PARK SY
Photography by Blake Robertson: The Blake Image www.theblakeimage.com.au www.facebook.com/theblakeimage
TH AUSTRALIA
YDNEY
HOW RATINGS WO The Australian Classification CTC
CTC - Check the classification. The content has been assessed and approved for advertising unclassified films and computer games. Any advertising of unclassified films and games must display the CTC message on posters, trailers, on the internet, and any other types of advertising. G - General. The content is very mild in impact. The G classification is suitable for everyone. G products may contain classifiable elements such as language and themes that are very mild in impact. However, some G-classified films or computer games may contain content that is not of interest to children. PG - Parental Guidance. The content is mild in impact. The impact of PG (Parental Guidance) classified films and computer games should be no higher than mild, but they may contain content that children find confusing or upsetting and may require the guidance of parents and guardians. They may, for example, contain classifiable elements such as language and themes that are mild in impact. It is not recommended for viewing or playing by persons under 15 without guidance from parents or guardians. M - Mature. The content is moderate in impact. Films and computer games classified M (Mature) contain content of a moderate impact and are recommended for teenagers aged 15 years and over. Children under 15 may legally access this material because it is an advisory category. However, M classified films and computer games may include classifiable elements such as violence and nudity of moderate impact that are not recommended for children under 15 years. Parents and guardians may need to find out more about the film or computer game’s specific content, before deciding whether the material is suitable for their child.
ORK: Board
There are two separate Boards that are independent from the government and from each other. There is the full time Classification Board that decides the classifications of films, video games and certain publications and the Classification Review Board that meets only to review a decision of the Classification Board when there is a valid application for review. The Board bases its’ classifications on six elements: Themes, Violence, Sex, Language, Drug Use & Nudity Below are a list of classifications you’ll find on games and movies:
MA 15+ - Mature Accompanied 15+. The content is strong in impact. MA 15+ classified material contains strong content and is legally restricted to persons 15 years and over. It may contain classifiable elements such as sex scenes and drug use that are strong in impact. A person may be asked to show proof of their age before hiring or purchasing an MA 15+ film or computer game. Cinema staff may also request that the person show proof of their age before allowing them to watch an MA 15+ film. Children under the age of 15 may not legally watch, buy or hire MA 15+ classified material unless they are in the company of a parent or adult guardian. Children under 15 who go to the cinema to see an MA 15+ film must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian for the duration of the film. The parent or adult guardian must also purchase the movie ticket for the child. The guardian must be an adult exercising parental control over the person under 15 years of age. The guardian needs to be 18 years or older.
Parents and guardians may need to find out more about the film or computer game’s specific content, before deciding whether the material is suitable for their child. R 18+ - Restricted to 18+. The content is high in impact. R 18+ material is restricted to adults. Such material may contain classifiable elements such as sex scenes and drug use that are high in impact. Some material classified R18+ may be offensive to sections of the adult community. A person may be asked for proof of their age before purchasing, hiring or viewing R18+ films and computer games at a retail store or cinema. There is also an X 18+ for adult films and these titles are only available for sale in the ACT and the Northern Territory. Sometimes games are refused classification. This can cause gamers to be frustrated, citing that the R18+ classification should take care of adult content. But still some games don’t get classified until the publishers/developers have addressed the concerns of the Classification Board.
CTC
Want to know more? Visit the Australian Classification website - www.classification. gov.au
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