Games

Friday question: What are your gateway games?

James Dominguez Have you ever hooked a non-gamer onto games? What were the games you used as a gateway drug?

Your Turn: Guilty games

dishonored samuel

Screen play reader Corey Lee In today's Your Turn, reader Corey Lee talks about how good it is for a game to invoke emotion in the player, even if it's a negative emotion like guilt.

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Playing those mind-games: a preview of Remember Me

remember me nilin

James Dominguez Remember Me is a gorgeous, stylish science fiction adventure with enough fresh ideas to spice up its mostly been-there-done-that gameplay mechanics.

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Dragging games away from their violent roots

nathan drake uncharted

James Dominguez Most of the games we play centre around killing scores of enemies. Is there a change coming? One independent developer thinks there is.

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Friday question: Do you like games to scare you?

evil within

James Dominguez We are entering a small renaissance for survival horror, with several high profile titles out in the coming year. Today we ask readers if they like games that scare them.

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What if people really mimicked video games?

pac-man

James Dominguez One of the primary complaints from those who would censor video games is that players will mimic what they see in the game. What if this were actually true?

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Friday question: Which games have made you ragequit?

trials evolution

James Dominguez It's Friday again, and in lieu of a jigsaw we once again have a conversation starter. This week, which games have made you switch off your console in a rage?

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Games

Robots, murders and mazes enliven touch-screen games

Machinarium

Kit Eaton Early adventure games can't rival the fun, intrigue and drama of playing a point-and-click adventure on a touch screen.

Kids' mag criticised for adult games content

Cool kidz

A British magazine aimed at primary school children has been featuring images of adult-rated video games.

Zynga shuts door on 11 games, opens one to gambling

zynga logo

Social game maker is chasing more profitable ventures.

R18+ video games rating comes into effect

r18+ rating

An adults-only rating category for computer games has come into effect across the nation.

Video games in crosshairs after Newtown shootings

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Politicians and other public figures rush to apportion blame to video games - but do games really train killers?

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Kids using coding skills to hack online games

Addiciton

Camille Bautista Kids as young as 11 are using coding skills to hack accounts on social media and gaming sites, according to one report.

Video games slump as apps, downloads bite

A screenshot from <em>Far Cry 3</em>.

Asher Moses Traditional retail video game sales in Australia slumped 23 per cent in 2012 as consumers increasingly shifted towards game apps and digital downloads.

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Terror, horror, and the gross-out: games that made you squirm

dead space necromorph

James Dominguez It seems to be official: Dead Space isn't scary any more. DexX takes the opportunity to look back on games that have scared us, horrified us, and revolted us.

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Companies must stop making bad games

operation raccoon city

James Dominguez Aliens: Colonial Marines is terrible, but it is only the most recent of a huge number of recent bad games. DexX argues that companies need to stop producing turkeys.

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All funds and games as arts gets $20m shot in arm

L-R Matt Clark Simon Joslin and Tom Killen made the game train conductor and so far it's doing very well. Photographed at the Collingwood Train Station.
Simon O'Dwyer
The Age Newspaper
14th November 2012

Karl Quinn Arts Minister Simon Crean announces a three-year $20 million fund to assist struggling sector.

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Shooter video games seek to 'humanise' refugees

frontiers

Asher Moses Could a video game placing players in the shoes of asylum seekers trying to reach Australia help change opinions about "boat people"?

Genre fatigue - Where now for driving games?

need for speed most wanted

James Dominguez After spending many hours playing Need for Speed: Most Wanted, DexX wonders just how much potential remains in the driving genre.

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Melbourne to host giant games festival

kids gaming

Mark Morrison One of the world's biggest games festivals will have its first offshoot outside the United States in Melbourne next year.