Walking into a small room in Darling Harbor I was greeted by a scene from a medieval play, except of course for the line of TVs and Xbox 360s taking up the centre of the room. There was clearly some PR magic going on here setting the scene for me to get my first taste of a game that I have been following closely for some time now, Kingdoms of Amalur. I sat down with my 12 companions and listened as lead designer Ian Frazier and producer Sean Bean walked us through some of the game’s features. They outlined a unique character system, their goals for the combat mechanic and showed us some of the more complex abilities that will be on offer later in the game. Read the rest of this entry »

The war of war games has sparked a storm of dispute like no other, and the Battlefield series in particular has drawn a great deal of attention to its most recent offering, Battlefield 3. Thanks to publisher Electronic Arts I recently had the chance to get some hands-on playtime with the game on the PS3. Read the rest of this entry »

Mass Effect 3. The title alone has the potential to send a legion of fans into frenzy. This frenzy is almost what I experienced when I was presented with an opportunity to play and preview an early demo of the game. Hosted by the series’ publisher Electronic Arts, an evening’s session on console provided me ample opportunity to sample the latest instalment of the Mass Effect series. The demonstration provided was by no means a reflection of the final product but served as an insight into the gameplay of Mass Effect 3. Read the rest of this entry »

It was a beautiful afternoon on Friday the 20^th May. The birds were singing, the traffic was humming and the sun was beating down on me as I strolled through the swanky city of Sydney. I was warm, I was comfortable and I was stoked to be heading to the Shadows of the Damned PR event. But as soon as I walked down those stairs into the small dark room lit by only a red glow, I immediately felt ill at ease. I was surrounded by industry luminaries, including American McGee and, of course, Suda51. Nervously I snatched at the first glass of champagne to pass my way and observed the place I was in under heavy lashes. I was excited, yet nervous, pumped, yet scared out of my brain. A simple staircase had transported me to a whole other world, but it wasn’t until later that I’d realise; “This must be what Garcia Hotspur feels like”. Read the rest of this entry »