Features

Six Weeks To Retirement: The life and times of the PlayStation 4

In the wake of the PlayStation 4 E3 2013 press conference, Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade called the event a “thunderously applauded public beheading.” Holkins’ assessment captures the moment with perfect clarity. So legendarily bungled was Microsoft’s unveiling of the Xbox One that all Sony had to do was gently, but clearly, rebuke it. Its…

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Xbox Series X accesories

All the Xbox Series X accessories you can preorder in Australia right now

After the insanity that was Preorder Day, we thought it might be a good idea to put together a list of all the Xbox Series X accessories you can preorder in Australia. Bare in mind, stock appears to fairly limited for launch so don’t be too disappointed if you miss out, and know that you…

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PS5 accessories

All the PS5 accessories you can preorder in Australia right now

The very first wave of PS5 accessories is on the way, and as we’re sure you can imagine, pre-order shipments are selling out fast. You’re going to need to move quickly if you want to snap any up. To make things a bit easier, we’ve rounded up all the official PS5 accessories dropping on launch…

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PS5 Showcase

Every trailer from today’s PlayStation 5 Showcase

The PlayStation 5 Showcase is here. The last big show-and-tell of 2020. A slew of brand new trailers and, as the curtain falls, the long awaited release date and pricing details. To say Sony left it all out on the court with this one is to undersell it. There’s a LOT to unpack here, so…

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Recipe: How to make the Pixieberry Cheesecake from Final Fantasy XIV

It’s not often that a game is so stacked with delicious food that it inspires IRL recipes. Final Fantasy XIV is an exception. As one of the most beloved MMORPG’s based on the classic Square Enix series, XIV maintains an enviable space in the world of video games, with a passionate fan base just as…

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The AU’s Father’s Day Gift Guide: Nintendo Edition

For the dad that likes to stay mobile, but still squeeze a bit of gaming in, there’s no better platform than the Nintendo Switch. An ideal Father’s Day gift idea, the Switch can be a constant entertainment companion. Hardware Nintendo Switch Lite This one’s for the dad who doesn’t spend much time in front of…

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The AU’s Father’s Day Gift Guide: Xbox Edition

The Xbox One is a console with serious Dad Energy, and we say that with love. It’s full of military shooters and high-quality racing sims, the kind of games that get dads of all stripes a touch excited. If you’ve run out of ideas for Father’s Day gifts, look no further. We’ve got this handy…

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The AU’s Father’s Day Gift Guide: PlayStation Edition

Father’s Day approaches. Dad’s doing the right thing, he’s staying home and helping to stop the spread! He loves his games, but all those weeks cooped up in the house have left him a bit starved for entertainment. He’s actually managed to chew through the old Pile Of Shame, the games he bought but never…

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Audio Settings: Songs to prepare you for Ghost of Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima marks the end of an era. It is the final first-party exclusive for the PlayStation 4, which is both bittersweet and hard to believe. Ghost of Tsushima is an open-world samurai adventure developed by Sucker Punch. It recalls the drama and majesty of Kurosawa in full flight, putting players in the shoes…

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Ubisoft Forward

Here’s every trailer from today’s Ubisoft Forward broadcast

In case you weren’t up at 5am for this morning’s first-ever Ubisoft Forward broadcast, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Below you’ll find every major trailer from today’s show in order of appearance. We’ve got AAA blockbusters, new mobile addictions, next-gen peeks and more. #CheckALook below. Watch Dogs Legion Brawlhalla Mobile Might & Magic: Era…

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D&D Live

D&D Live is a perfect introduction to Dungeons and Dragons

Have you ever wanted to play D&D but you aren’t sure where to start, or even how the game works? The latest D&D Live festival, an annual celebration of the world’s most popular role-playing game, may be the best, simplest, and most instructive lesson in how to play this side of Critical Role. Playing Dungeons…

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The Last of Us Part II

Audio Settings: Songs to prepare you for The Last of Us Part II

The Last of Us Part II is almost upon us (finally!). One of the most anticipated video games of the last seven years, it promises to take the story of Ellie and Joel in an entirely new direction. Its soundtrack features licensed tracks from folk acts like Crooked Still and Shawn James, but the main…

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All the video games you can play for free right now

Free games. Are there two more beautiful words in the English language? We’re no linguists, but we don’t reckon there are. As the world commits to staying at home in isolation, we naturally turn to video games as a way to pass the time. But as the economy crumbles and jobs disappear every day, it…

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Final Fantasy VII Remake Preview: Home to Midgar

When your goal is to remake a game like Final Fantasy VII, where do you even begin? Lets set aside its legendary status and the pressure of delivering on such a project. Consider instead the more intricate moving parts — its characters, mechanics and systems, its visuals, art direction, and score. Its sheer size presents…

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Xbox Game Pass May

A last minute holiday gift guide for the lazy gamer

Time to admit it: you need a gift guide. It’s a few days to Chrimbo and you’ve only just realised because you’ve been playing Death Stranding. You’ll be at the shopping centre this weekend to see Star Wars which presents an opportunity to do some last minute Christmas shopping. But what do you get the…

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The AU Review’s Game of the Year 2019

It hasn’t been easy to choose as a Game of the Year for 2019. This has been a pivotal year for the games industry. With new consoles on the horizon, and several high profile AAA titles delaying into early 2020, independent games have been able to take the spotlight in a big way. The games…

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The AU Review’s Game of the Year 2019: Runners Up

If you read over our Game of the Year list for 2019 and thought there were a few missing titles, there’s a reason for that. We simply can’t fit them all. In fact, there were so many great titles to come out in 2019 that we felt running a single list didn’t feel quite fair….

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Rockstar Games

We played Red Dead Redemption 2 on a $5000 laptop

The Asus Zenbook Pro Duo UX181GV is a legitimate monster. Two 4K touchscreens. A 9th Gen Intel i9 processor running at 2.4GHz, speed boosted up to a crazy 5.0GHz. A huge 32GB DDR4 RAM. A 1TB SSD. A 6GG GDDR6 Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card. One of the most powerful laptops I’ve ever encountered,…

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Playing Dungeons & Dragons at PAX Aus is great and you should do it

I’ve wanted to play a pick-up game of Dungeons & Dragons since attending the very first PAX Australia back in 2013. That inaugural year was the only time I’ve ever attended the show as a punter — by the time the show moved from Melbourne Showgrounds to Jeff’s Shed in 2014, I’d started writing here…

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Infinity Ward’s Dino Verano on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, producer life and the value of a community beta

Dino Verano has a long career in games, working as a producer on numerous Activision titles. He’s also someone who understands the value of community in helping to polish and balance a game ahead of launch thanks to his prior career in quality assurance. Now a producer and team lead on Infinity Ward’s Call of…

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Saints Row: The Third Holds Up On Switch, But the Sleaze Doesn’t

Gaming was a whole other world in 2011. Skyrim, Arkham City, Portal 2 and Dark Souls had arrived, changing the face of games as we know it. Open worlds were in vogue, indies were out, killing was cool and games were only for ‘true’ gamers. Saints Row: The Third was released in this strange hyper-masculine…

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D&D’s Stranger Things Starter Set turns kids into Dungeon Masters

Despite having 45 years of history, revisions and different rulesets under its belt, getting into Dungeons & Dragons remains intimidating for many. Between the dense rulebooks and multifaceted character sheets, on-boarding new players has ever been the game’s most significant hurdle. It’s not a great look when accessing The Fun Part of your game means…

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Sniper Elite V2 Remastered Brings Gnarly Nazi Nutshots to the Nintendo Switch

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered is pretty unimpressive to look at. After all, when you’re retooling an already murky shooter from 2012, there’s only so much you can do to improve things. Thankfully, Sniper Elite V2‘s gameplay surpasses its muddy visuals and pushes them to the wayside because looks don’t matter so much when you can…

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Final Fantasy XII began a new era for the series — but does it still hold up?

Final Fantasy XII is the latest in the iconic franchise to head to Nintendo Switch. This edition, The Zodiac Age, is an expanded version of an existing remaster localised for the first time in 2017 on the PlayStation 4. Like the majority of Final Fantasy remasters, ports and what-have-yous, the game looks slick, plays smoothly and…

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Borderlands 3 knows exactly what fans want

On the list of most ridiculous things that have ever happened to me, being flown to the other side of the world to play a video game for an hour and a half may take the cake. On Monday, 2K Games ANZ flew a small pack of journos and influencers to Los Angeles to be…

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Playing Final Fantasy X for the first time in 2019 is fascinating and frustrating

Final Fantasy X is often spoken of in the same breath as the phrase, ‘the best game of all time.’ Released in 2001, it was the first Final Fantasy title to receive a sequel, and both games have since been remastered for new audiences in the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster bundle. Originally released for…

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Borderlands: GOTY Edition is f***ing gorgeous

They say you always remember your first time, but the original Borderlands was determined to prove this wrong. With a muted colour palette, confusing map system and generic post-apocalyptic worlds, it was good – but not memorable. Borderlands GOTY Edition is memorable! The original game has been given a complete facelift with this remaster, and…

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PlayStation’s move to Nintendo-like State of Play updates makes total sense

There were a lot of raised eyebrows going around when PlayStation announced late last year that they’d be pulling out of E3 2019. PlayStation’s departure from the show floor and the cancellation of their annual press conference meant that competitor Microsoft would be the last of The Big Three hardware makers to have a press…

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The best part about One Piece: World Seeker is all the yeeting

I’m not far into One Piece: World Seeker. It’s a solid game with fun mechanics and a great cast of characters – but I’m having trouble making progress. See, in the game, you play as Monkey D. Luffy, One Piece‘s long-serving protagonist (going on a good 22 years now). He’s got rubber powers, which basically…

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Crackdown 3‘s Director Goodwin is the one villain the game won’t let me kill

Crackdown 3 is a game about an agency of highly trained, superpowered cops taking back the city of New Providence from the claws of an evil corporate empire called Terranova. Each sector of the city is overseen by a different brutal crimelord under Terranova’s control. The game’s main campaign has the player baiting these supervillains…

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