About Games Blog
Fallout 4: A Guided Tour of Warwick Homestead
Standing in front of Cait’s living quarters, I can see the sun setting over the settlement. It seems my settlers are having a gathering beneath the market on the right, celebrating how lucky they are to be living in the best location in the Commonwealth.
Welcome to Warwick Homestead, a settlement where I have spent an outrageous amount of my time and resources after first arriving here and noticing how interesting the space would be to work with. I have officially moved to Warwick Homestead from my (predictable) Sanctuary Hills base, and I have never looked back.
Let me show you around.
Read more »The Beginner's Guide and Walls
When somebody insists that I simply must play the next big thing, it’s not uncommon for me to respond with “I’m really busy at the moment, but I’ll get to it”. That’s why I was so late on the bandwagon for The Beginner’s Guide. Now that I’ve played this masterpiece, I’m infinitely ashamed of myself for not putting aside an hour and a half to experience it sooner.
Read more »PAX Rising at PAX Aus 2015
One of the greatest things about the Penny Arcade Expo is the PAX Rising area in the exhibition hall. PAX Rising at PAX Aus 2015 showcased approximately 70 games, predominantly developed by locally grown talent. It was wonderful to see so many quality games supporting the Australian games industry. The following is a list of indie studios and game titles that were featured in PAX Rising (according to the PAX event booklet) so you can look at and enjoy a number of the titles I saw over the PAX weekend. I have also written a few words about some of the titles that I had the opportunity to play.
Read more »Sick Heroes at PAX Aus 2015
Have you thought about how chronic conditions, like pain and mental illness, are represented in games? Portrayals are often one-dimensional and inaccurate. In horror games, these conditions are seen as villainous, while in action games they are seen as weak and are often erased. This negative portrayal adds to societal stigma. Our panel of health professionals, researchers, game writers and budding game developers discuss the changes that need to be made in how chronic conditions are represented.
Read more »Discussing Queer Representation at PAX Aus 2015
Queer representation is a subject close to my heart. Increased positive, relatable representation of queer identities in literature is my chosen research area for my masters-possibly-turned-doctorate, and I have also spent time researching existing and ongoing queer representation in videogames. I’ve even made a videogame exploring queer themes, and am in the process of designing another. Because of all of this, I was ecstatic when I heard that queer representation was going to be a topic discussed at PAX Aus 2015 during the Queer Geeks of Oz panel.
The panel, held next door to PAX’s Diversity Lounge, featured the voices of host Sonja Hammer and panellists Liam Esler, Lauren Halstead (better known as Lauren Stardust), Dylan Adler, Rachel Humphries, and Jake-Derek Franklin. Overall, these wonderful people did a good job of introducing an incredibly important topic to the PAX dialogue and I am very supportive of what they attempted, but sadly, after much anticipation and excitement for this panel, I left the Galah Theatre somewhat disappointed.
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