My blog will normally be about something distinctly Aussie or something relating to Australian gaming. Always some exceptions to the mold though. Enjoy the read (or try to) and feel free to comment or send me PM's about any of the topics I write on.
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• 12Mar 08

  Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin and innovation

  I picked up Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin on Tuesday and after playing it a little, have found it really good, if not very similar to Dawn of Sorrow.

  So far I've defeated the first few bosses and apart from having two characters and less touch screen compatability, PoR is pretty much the same in gameplay to DoS. This is not necessarily a bad thing...as DoS was a great game for the Nintendo DS, but a little innovation may have been nice.

  This brings me to my next topic...innovation. And the heaps of sequels which land on our gaming shelves each year. I am the first person to admit that I cannot wait for a host of sequels; MGS4, GTA4, SSBB, FFXIII and the inevitable sequels in the Zelda and Dragon Quest series. Hell, I even find myself hoping that they'll announce that Metroid Prime was a quadrilogy and not a trilogy but at the same time I crave new types of games and new ways to game in.

  I guess what I am trying to figure out is, how much of a good thing is too much... and when do developers decide to clean the slate of an old IP and try for something completely new and revolutionary (Bioshock, Assasin's Creed). I believe that the answer to this question is becoming almost the holy grail of gaming. Because without innovation gaming will stagnate...but if we abandon our favourite series and our old ways of gaming we may never enjoy playing games as much as we have again...

  A leap of faith is what may be needed from the gaming community if we are going to completely change the way we play video games, but it is one which the community may not yet be able to take. For now I guess we can hope some daring developers can continue to push the envelope and find new ways to entertain while we continue to play as our favourite characters at the same time. Because as much as innovation excites me, I know I can't wait to take Solid Snake on one last mission to bring down Metal Gear...can you?

  • Posted Mar 12, 2008 3:19 am PT
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• 10Mar 08

  I didn't get brawl...

  Unlike many of you, I did not get Super Smash Bros. Brawl over the past couple of days. This is due to the fact that us 'Australian gamers' are still stuck with a TBA date for when it will hit our shelves. I am glad to see that it has been recieved with such joy by most gamers and that the critics scores have been high for the game...can't wait to play it soon!

  Also the other day i went to see 10,000 BC which has just been released in Australia on March 6 and contrary to the reviews of critics (which absolutely canned it) I found it really entertaining and to be honest I enjoyed it more than any movie I've seen recently. IMO it struck a good balance of adventure and action and although critics have been claiming that it is not an accurate representation of the actual year '10,000 BC, I think it is plainly obvious that that was not the intention of the film-makers. So overall I'd recommend it to anyone looking to see and entertaining action flick, 9.0/10

  • Posted Mar 10, 2008 12:09 am PT
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• 6Mar 08

  Chains of Olympus Countdown

  Well, God of War for PSP has been released in the US and will soon be coming out in Australia on the 31st of March. For me this has a huge upside but as well it has a bit of a downside as well...

  For the past months my PSP has been out of action thanks to a shattered screen and to replace it I may as well buy a entire new PSP. Therefore with the release of God of War I hope to buy a PSP in order to play it. I just have to find the cash to buy one which at the moment may be hard. I now just have to make the decision whether or not it's worth buying a PSP to play God of War and make a few other sacrifices or not...I want to buy one eventually because I've got a pile of games sitting there unused but I seem to keep putting it off. So I find myself wondering if God of War alone is worth buying a new PSP for...

  • Posted Mar 6, 2008 2:40 pm PT
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