MAY 2015 ISSUE
A.I.
artificial intelligence in video games Page 20
Game Reviews:
Bloodborne Dark Souls II:
Scholar of the First Sin
Mortal Kombat X plus more! Page 23
Exclusive interviews with
THE WALKING DEAD STARS Sonequa Martin-Green & Chad Coleman! Page 62
INSIDE 20 26 60 86 THE LIVE TEAM A.I in Video Games
Welcome I think, therefor I am … Rene Descartes I’m not sure Decartes had AI in mind when he came up with this quote. But it’s an interesting topic. If a machine thinks, is it intelligent? Video games exhibit intelligence with clever programming that has us involved in the characters and being immersed in their lives. But often this simple AI can trip over itself and may even break your involvement in the game’s narrative. We decided to take a look at AI artificial intelligence in games plus a quick look at the history of AI. We also feature some awesome games in our preview and review section including Batman Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Dark Souls 2 and much more. Plus we spent time with Sonequa Martin-Green and Chad Coleman from The Walking Dead when they were in Australia for Comic Con. See our interviews on page 63. For retro fans, we look back at the Panasonic Q and, keeping with our AI and robots theme, Scott Sowter our resident comic expert looks at robots and comics. It’s a big month and big issue - hope you like it.
Rob Jenkins Editor
Reviews & Previews
Pop Culture
Cosplay
Publisher: Rob Jenkins (Gametraders Operations Centre) Art Director: Giselle Capozza (Gametraders Operations Centre)
Game Review & Preview Editors: Nick Getley & Kylie Tuttle (Sticky Trigger) Retro Writer: Paul Monopoli Board Games: Jess Wilson Comics: Scott Sowter UK Writer: Elliott Buddo US Writer: Serwa Aboagye Sticky Trigger Writers: Kylie Tuttle Nick Getley Alex Holmes Sam Babu Nick Pearce Aaron Milligan Ben Rachow Elliott Buddo Bridget Sweeney Sean Fox Miranda Nelson Tim Arnold Matthew Raspe Sasha Karen Liam Church
HARRY POTTER POPS!
2015
MAY GAME
RELEASES! DATE
TITLE
FORMATS
01/05/2015
Project CARS
PC, XB1, PS4
01/05/2015
Fallout 3 GOTY Edition
PC
01/05/2015
The Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition
PC
01/05/2015
The Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind GOTY Edition
PC
01/05/2015
Omega Quintet
PS4
09/05/2015
Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush
WiiU
09/05/2015
Puzzle & Dragons Z & Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros Edition
3DS
14/05/2015
Wolfenstein The Old Blood
PC, PS4
15/05/2015
Tropico 5 Limited Special Edition
PS4
15/05/2015
Dungeons 2 Limited Special Edition
PC
15/05/2015
Farming Simulator 15
XB1, PS4, 360, PS3
16/05/2015
Code Name STEAM
3DS
19/05/2015
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt
PC, XB1, PS4
19/05/2015
Trainz A New Era
PC
28/05/2015
Blood Bowl 2
PC, XB1, PS4
30/05/2015
Splatoon
WiiU
Get ‘em at
MORTAL KOMBAT X While console gamers will rejoice that the latest MK game is now out, smart phone gamers can also play this hardcore fighting game. We found it on iTunes and according to a number of sites it’s available on Android too - but we couldn’t find it in the store. The iOS version promises “jaw dropping x-rays and fatalities” allows you to challenge other players and summon allies into battle. Looks good on the small screen and the sound FX are brilliant. The game play seems a bit simple with tapping the opponent to attack and special moves revealed as you fight. But there seems to be a story to follow and is the sort of game that you’ll probably enjoy playing when you’ve got 5 minutes spare waiting at a train stop etc.
BOSS MONSTER 2 Boss Monster 2, builds on the original in every way! An all-new set of 160 cards, Boss Monster 2 is playable as a standalone game or as an expansion to the core set. Dark Heroes and Hybrid Heroes raise the stakes, while Epic Spells and “cycling” rooms give players more options and flexibility and with more Bosses, more unique cards, and more ways to slay helpless adventurers, Boss Monster 2 will take your dungeon to The Next Level! Boss Monster 2 will be hitting stores in May!
WHAT’S NEW?
APPLE WATCH Ok so while this isn’t a game machine, it could have some sort of creative use in future apps we don’t know about just yet. As a tech product it’s new and exciting for some. Live Magazine had one of its’ team book an appointment and try on the watch and here’s our thoughts. Firstly it feels very good on the wrist. It’s got a quality feel about it and the screen is bright, sharp and touching it is very responsive. Apps open quickly and moving around is intuitive once you know what the screen, the crown and the side button do. Visiting the Apple Store on the Saturday of the pre order launch, we found it extremely busy with people crowding around the watch displays, browsing and discussing the options. At a starting price of $499 (Aus) for the 38mm Sport and $579 (Aus) for the 42mm sport it’s not cheap. The price might be a stumbling block for some but considering what it does and the cost of a good quality watch that only tells the time, it’s a lot of product for the price. With over 1 million orders and growing daily it seems this will be huge.
CITIZENFOUR From our friends at Madman comes CITIZENFOUR, the 2015 Academy Award ® winner for best documentary. It is a real time thriller, giving audiences an exclusive front-row seat to the moment Edward Snowden changed history with his revelations of widespread government surveillance around the world. In June 2013, filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald met with Snowden confidentially in Hong Kong, where he handed over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA). As the story breaks, they are forced to manage the raging media storm around them, and find their personal security and that of their loved ones under threat. CITIZENFOUR not only shows you the dangers of governmental surveillance—it makes you feel them. After seeing the film, you will never think the same way about your phone, email, credit card, web browser, or profile, ever again.
WHY
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We have a huge range of pre-played games and consoles at discounted prices.
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CRABS ADJUST HUMIDITY “Love Cards Against Humanity but find yourself playing the same cards over and over again? Crabs Adjust Humanity, a crappy little third-party, unofficial, unauthorized expansion card set that blends seamlessly with the orginal game and adds 112 morally-questionable new cards to play!”
Blank Decks also available!
Because you think you’re so funny... Ask staff for details.
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NEWS April 2015
Digital Games Available at Club Nintendo Australia For the first time in Club Nintendo Australia, members are now able to purchase digital titles through the Club Nintendo Stars Catalogue. The titles, like other items in the Club Nintendo Stars Catalogue, are purchasable with already earned “Stars”, points that were earned through registering games on the Club Nintendo website and completing surveys about the registered games. Other items in the Club Nintendo Stars Catalogue in the past has included Nintendo video game soundtracks, stationary, shoe laces, posters, shirts, Nintendo DS accessories, notepads, notebooks, towels, bags, hats, Nintendo hanafuda cards, Year of Luigi paraphernalia, and recently digital downloads of desktop wallpaper and ringtones. The downloadable titles have come close to the closure of Club Nintendo internationally; the ability to register digital games ceased on the 20th of April in Australia, and the complete closure of Club Nintendo Australia will occur on the 30th of September. In comparison, Club Nintendo in the United States, have had the ability to redeem their “Coins” points for digital content since 2011.
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut to release on PS4 and PC June 11 SOEDESCO are bringing their critically-acclaimed platformer hit, Giana sisters: Twisted Dreams to retail stores! Releasing June 11th for the PlayStation 4 and PC, this is the perfect time for anybody who hasn’t experienced one of the best indie platformers in recent years to do so. More from the official press release: “Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams Director’s Cut is a challenging fastpaced platformer with atwist. Dash through tricky levels and transform the wholeworld at will in this fast paced award winning platformer. Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams Director’s Cut combines graphics that pack a visual punch and tight controls with the challenge of retro era platforming. Fluidly morph between
two dynamically different dream worlds to solve puzzles and combat gruelling enemies and bosses. This special retail release of Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams Director’s Cut contains a slew of DLC, crisp graphics and the game also has an amazing soundtrack. Giana Sisters is one of the top 10 rated titles for the PlayStation 4™ on Metacritic. The box art for the game was chosen by gamers via a special promotion on the SOEDESCO Facebook page. The game contains multiple DLC packs, namely: The Rise of the Owlverlord expansion and the special Halloween and Christmas levels”
Wii U Splatoon Premium Pack Squirts into Town 30th May at a Special Price! Everyone who can’t wait to get their tentacles on Nintendo’s upcoming action shooter Splatoon is in luck, with the Wii U Splatoon Premium Pack launching 30th May in limited quantities! This inkredible bundle includes a Wii U Premium console and a copy of Splatoon (game-disc) for a promotional suggested retail price of only AU$359.95. This specially priced bundle will provide another option for players looking to step into the world of Wii U, joining the currently available Mario Kart 8 Premium Pack available at SRP AU$429.95. Splatoon is a wild new game from Nintendo that combines the crea-
tive and family-friendly fun Nintendo is known for with ink-spraying, turf claiming action. In the game, players take on the role of the Inklings, customizable characters that can transform into squids at the touch of a button. After splatting opponents and covering a level with colourful ink, players can transform into squids and swim quickly through their own ink or use it to take cover and hide from enemies. Launching simultaneously with Splatoon on 30th May are Inkling Girl, Inkling Boy (SRP AU$17.95 each) and Inkling Squid amiibo figures, with Inkling Squid amiibo exclusive to the amiibo Splatoon
Triple Pack which includes all three figures at SRP AU$49.95. By tapping one of these amiibo to the Wii U GamePad, players can gain access to special challenge stages that will make it possible to earn special gear not found elsewhere in the game. Splatoon, the Wii U Splatoon Premium Pack and Splatoon amiibo figures launch 30th May in Australia and New Zealand. For more information about the game, visit: http://gamesites.nintendo.com.au/ splatoon
Star Wars Battlefront release date announced DICE, EA, and Lucasfilm confirmed Star Wars Battlefront will launch November 19, 2015. The official press release boasts “Combining an unprecedented collaboration with Lucasfilm and the award-winning Frostbite™ game engine, Star Wars Battlefront will deliver an incredibly authentic and immersive interactive entertainment experience featuring photorealistic visuals and epic action in iconic Star Wars™ locations.” Star Wars Battlefront will allow fans to live out a wide range of heroic moments and intense battle fantasies of their own – firing blasters, riding speeder bikes and snow speeders, commanding AT-ATs and piloting TIE fighters and the Millennium Falcon. These battles will take place on some of the most iconic
planets in the Star Wars universe, including Endor, Hoth, Tatooine and the previously unexplored planet, Sullust. Gamers will be able to play as some of the most memorable characters in the original trilogy such as Darth Vader and Boba Fett. Star Wars Battlefront will feature a wide range of modes tailored for different types of battles, from larger 40-person competitive multiplayer to crafted missions that are played solo, with a friend via split-screen offline or co-operatively online.
Fans who pre-order Star Wars Battlefront will be among the first players to experience the Battle of Jakku*, the pivotal moment when the New Republic confronted key Imperial holdouts on a remote de-
sert planet on the Outer Rim. Taking place in the aftermath of the Rebel victory in the Battle of Endor, players will experience the events that created the massive, battle-scarred landscape of Jakku shown in Star Wars™: The Force Awakens™. Players who pre-order Star Wars Battlefront can fight the battle oneweek early starting on December 1, 2015. All other players will get access to this free† content on December 8, 2015. Star Wars Battlefront will be available in Australia on November 19 and November 20 in New Zealand for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and on Origin for PC.
NEWS April 2015
Bloodborne sales surpass 1 million units worldwide! Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. announced on April 15 that the PlayStation4 exclusive title Bloodborne has cumulatively sold through more than 1 million units*1 worldwide as of April 5, 2015. The lauded action RPG takes players through haunting environments filled with terrifying creatures and exciting new multiplayer possibilities. Hailed for its unrelenting artistic vision and endlessly addictive gameplay, Bloodborne continues to garner overwhelming acclaim from gamers worldwide and has made a
great contribution to the expansion of the PS4 platform. “Bloodborne was a new challenge for us, and our goal was to create a title that took full advantage of the power of PS4,” said Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS). “I am thrilled that so many users have been enjoying the extremely rich and detailed world, beautiful melancholic atmosphere and palpable tension of Bloodborne. SCE WWS will continue to
bring exciting software titles that offer entertainment experiences only possible on PS4.” The latest collaboration between SCE JAPAN Studio and From Software, who previously partnered to create the award winning Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne expands on its proud legacy with an emphasis on deadly combat, exciting new multiplayer experiences, and the search of the unknown. Players become beast hunters in a story that revolves around an ancient cursed city of Yharnam.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided announcement trailer released After a leak from a Russian website, Deus Ex fans around the world learned that development had well and truly begun on a new Deus Ex title. Square Enix have responded to this with a droolworthy announcement trailer. Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on the debut trailer for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Not much is known about Mankind Divided’s plot details at the moment, but judging from the name (and the trailer) it seems as though augs are being rounded up, victimised and vilified through a vast conspiracy.
It’s up to Adam Jensen to put an end to the chaos. There’s also a Deus Ex app available for iOS and Android users called Deus Ex Universe. It’s great that Square Enix have confirmed Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and released an announcement trailer. Cyberpunks now have a lot to look forward to. If we could just get someone to leak some Cyberpunk 2077 screenshots we’d all be set!
Warner Bros takes on Toys-To-Life market with Lego Dimensions Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) has just announced recently their upcoming lego title from Travellers Tales, Lego Dimensions. Having released a teaser starring Community actor Joel McHale, Lego Dimensions is Warner Bros Studios take on the much successful toysto-life market. With games such as Skylanders and Disney Infinity currently dominating this market, Lego Dimensions is expected to be fair competitor, utilizing licenses shared by Warner Bros studios. With the starter bundled now confirmed, here is a description of it; “When a mysterious and powerful vortex suddenly appears in various
LEGO® worlds, different characters from DC Comics™, The Lord of the Rings™ and The LEGO® Movie are swept away. To save their friends, Batman™, Gandalf™ and Wyldstyle™ bravely jump into the vortex and quickly find themselves fighting to save all of LEGO® humanity. Let creativity be the guide to a building and gaming adventure – journey through unexpected worlds and team-up with unlikely allies on the quest to defeat the evil Lord Vortech. Play with different minifigures from different worlds together in one LEGO videogame, and use each other’s vehicles and gadgets in a way never before possible. LEGO® Bad Cop™ driving the DeLorean Time Machine…why not?! The LEGO® Ninjago™ Masters of Spinjitsu fighting alongside
Wonder Woman™…yes, please! Get ready to break the rules, because the only rule with LEGO Dimensions is that there are no rules.” Like every other Lego game released by Travellers Tales, the game is expected to be both single and multiplayer. Within the starter pack, it is said to include a toy pad, the video game, three mini figurines (Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle) and the Batmobile. At the moment, the starter pack has been set for $169.95 for Australia. Like the Skylanders figurines, more expansions packs are expected to be released later down the track.
For more gaming news head over to www.stickytrigger.com
NEWS April 2015
DOCTOR
COMING SOON -
Ask staff for details.
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FEATURE
A.I.
artificial intelligence in video games
In the realms of video game design, quality A.I. intelligence is one of the most important elements that we can find within any modern video game title. As well strong gameplay concepts and luscious graphical fidelity becoming a norm for engaging titles, quality game A.I. is by far the make or break aspect to all of gaming. Good A.I. is essential in player investment, and helps enhance no only the experience as a whole, but also the believability of the gaming world itself. Video Game A.I. and the way it’s been designed has only one sole function: to create both highly immersive and fun experiences for the player. In regards to learning, Video Game A.I. technology is fairly limited to that function. However with the exception of a few environmental based A.I. technologies, it’s becoming more and more probably that the industry will be adopting more clever aspects of this technology. In the more primitive times of arcade gaming, titles such as Space Invaders, Galaga, Donkey Kong and Pacman utilized on the basics of A.I. programming with simple scripting. Whilst limited, it served its purposes and was responsive to how the games were designed. Through player progression, the script would alter based on the players supposed skills in the game, providing both further challenges and engaging experiences. The FPS genre was no exception either. Games such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, adopted similar characteristics into their code, with enemies often fixed in place until triggered to go all guns blazing through the players movements.
As years went by, video game engines and A.I. of course became more innovated. With the pioneering titles such as Golden Eye changing First Person Shooter genre and Metal Gear Solid 2 changing stealth with its squad based detection system; the early realms of simple getting characters from point A to point B had evolved drastically with these advance approaches to A.I. technology. A lot these advance changes is thanks to the addition of both Situational Based Awareness and Pathfinding A.I. technologies. As games came out, developers acknowledged that A.I.’s should respond to not only just the player, but also the environment. Taking form in more advanced forms of AI’s responding not to just the player, innovated decisions such as having A.I.’s take cover, A.I.’s who flanked characters through the environment, or even having enemy AI’s somehow find their way out of a trap that the player created; helped innovate genres such as the First Person Shooter and Open World games, by creating a more sense of believability and immersion. As game worlds became larger as well, Pathfinding A.I.’s became one of the more ideal decisions to have in games as well. In games specifically where players have to direct a NPC from point A to point B, something as basic as that is essential in keeping players invested in the product. There is so much to say about A.I. technology, with so many variations of software that many talented programmers use. In competitive based titles such as Mario Kart, A.I.’s can be improved upon at certain points of a race, further
enhancing the competitive nature of the experience itself. With all this talk about NPC’s, it’s important to remember that the role of an A.I. doesn’t have to rely with just NPC’s. As our technology has improved, so has very ideas of the fundamental role of how an A.I. can operate within a game. Environmental based A.I.’s for one thing is a perfect example of this. From as something as simple as having a day or night cycle, to having players experience world that is heavily affected by their actions, Environmental A.I. adopts many of the same scripting principles as what NPC’s do. But I think out of all the A.I.’s used in the environments, the most sophisticated form of AI’s would have to be emergent and randomly generated worlds. Emergent AI’s for instance act in accordance of learning through player actions and presenting new and interesting side objectives to complete. In games Left 4 Dead 2, the games ‘director’ AI’s may chance change things such as pacing, enemy and item placements and difficulty depending on how well the players are doing. Other popular titles such as Skyrim adopted a more advanced aspect to this through its side quests. Through tracking player’s movements and their actions within the games, the game is able to sort through a series of quest templates, generating missions exclusively catered through the player’s actions of the games world. This course of action, provides a terrific example of how video game A.I.’s can easily be used to generate content based on the characters progression.
As well A.I.’s being used to learn from player’s interactions, Randomly Generated Worlds has also become a common factor found in modern titles. Randomly Generated Worlds - as the name implies - is where game worlds and levels are generated randomly every time the game boots up. In games like Spelunky, Minecraft and the Binding of Isaac, specific sets of algorithms and code are set in place in the games boot-up sequence and are used to generate random worlds and levels. Keeping things fresh and different, this type of A.I. coding is truly a work of marvel, and helps generate uniquely different experiences each time a user boots up the game. However this is not to say that these two have to remain separate. In games such as Animal Crossing, it can be argued that this is as being good example of both elements coming together, providing each new player a randomly generated world, with unique characters that respond to you and how you interact with both them and the village. As the future continues, the biggest question to be had of course has to be the future of gaming A.I. The market has certainly a long history of both advanced and dreadful A.I. intelligences, so it comes to no surprise the high expectations and standards that many show for the software’s that get released. But I guess from where this industry is heading, I feel that the next innovated focus for developers will be on promising aspects of randomly generated worlds and further unique experiences. With games like Skyrim, we’ve already seen the potential in random side quests through its engine. And in upcoming titles such as No Mans Sky and its openly generated universes, the future is bright for gaming and it’ll be no surprise for me if we end up seeing somehow a hybrid of these engines within the near future.
WRITTEN BY jason english WWW.STICKYTRIGGER.COM
WHAT IS
A.I. editor rob jenkins takes a look at what is a.i....
Alan Mathison Turing, a British computer scientist, mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, mathematical biologist and marathon runner proposed in his 1950 paper, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence, that should a human have a conversation with machine via a keyboard, and not be able to tell it was a machine, but instead believed the responses were from another human, then that machine would have achieved artificial intelligence by being able to generate human like responses to questions and discussion. This is called The Turing Test. Originally, Turing suggested that the machine would need to convince a human 70% of the time during a five minute conversation that they were indeed speaking to a human, not a machine. Imagine a person sitting at a keyboard in one room. Let’s call him the questioner. In another room is a human and in third room is a computer. The “questioner” would ask both the human and the machine questions, and if the “questioner” can’t tell they are talking to a machine over the period of say a five minute conversation, then the machine would have past the “Turing Test”. Sure there are some programs that emulate AI. Newer software like Apple’s Siri is a simple AI in that it tries to understand what you are asking and respond correctly. Commands like, “Siri, call my wife” seem to work pretty well. But ask Siri a deeper question and at this stage you can’t carry on a conversation that would see Siri pass the Turing Test. Back in the sixties a computer scientist, Joseph Wezenbaum created a program that appeared to pass the Turing Test. That program was ELIZA. A cleverly written piece of
software that worked by (according to Wikipedia) “examining a user’s typed comments for keywords. If a keyword is found, a rule that transforms the users comments is applied and the resulting sentence is returned.” For example, I asked ELIZA: “What day is it?” Eliza: Why do you ask? Me: I just want to know the day. Eliza: I see. Hmmm not so intelligent. Let’s try something else. Me: I’m worried. Eliza: Did you come to me because you are worried? Me: Yes I’m worried about artificial intelligence. Eliza: How long have you been worried about artificial intelligence? And so it goes on. Eliza turns your comments around in such a way that some people thought they were talking to an intelligence. Not everyone agreed that the Turing Test was the test that would determine if a machine had achieved intelligence. John Rogers Searle, an Amercian philosopher, wrote a paper in 1980 that proposed something called “the Chinese Room”, this experiment ( you can read about it online) hols that a program cannot give a computer a mind, understanding or consciousness, regardless of how intelligently it may behave. While the arguments about what designates true A.I. are still being discussed, Hollywood is ahead of science with movies such as the Terminator series, 2001: A Space Odessy, Artificial Intelligence, I Robot and The Matrix. In movies, A.I. is often portrayed as dangerous. Wanting to take over the world for good of the world or for the needs of the machines themselves. In The Matrix, humans were needed simply as batteries to power the
machines. Consider the problem A.I. could have in the future. Sure the movie I Robot stated that robots had to follow the Three Laws of Robotics as devised by Isaac Asimov. They are: 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given it by a human being, except where such orders would conflict with the first law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law. But what if a robot evolved to think beyond those laws. The same way humans think. In wars for example, some amount of civilian casualties might be deemed necessary for the greater good. Imagine an artificial mind or intelligence being given the task to help us create world peace. Knowing humans through history, that machine may determine that world piece can only be achieved by wiping out the human race… While video games exhibit some simple forms of A.I., how far away are we from forming close bonds with game characters due to their perceived intelligence? Bonds like the male character in the film Her. Where he falls in love and ends up dating his OS? Whatever your thoughts on A.I., we’re at the part of the journey where decisions we make now, will affect the world our kids and grand kids live in 50 years. Will machines be intelligent yet benign? Helpful and friendly? I tend to think some sort of A.I. is inevitable but hope that we keep control and no “John Conner” is needed in the future.
Human talking to human in one room, and computer in another room. If the human can’t tell the difference between the person and the computer during the conversation, than the machine can be said to have past the Turing Test.
gameS REVIEWS & PREVIEWS
BATMAN:
ARKHAM KNIGHT pREVIEW
final fantasy type-0 hd REVIEW
DARK SOULS 2:
SCHOLAR OF THE FIRST SIN
REVIEW
S BLOODBORNE REVIEW
MORTAL KOMBAT X REVIEW
BA
ARKHAM
ATMAN:
M KNIGHT
preview
BATMAN:
ARKHAM KNIGHT
PREVIEW
When Batman: Arkham City came out in 2011, barely only 2 years after its predecessor, Arkham Asylum, it blew the collective mind of gamers, comic book fans, and generally humanity as a whole. But as we know, all franchises come in threes, and it was a question of when rather than whether we would see the final game in what would be the Arkham trilogy. Developers Rocksteady knew that they had cap the series with something big and spectacular and with a new console generation so close around the corner it was decided that the final game, Arkham Knight, would be released only on next generation consoles so as to allow the new hardware to finally realise Rocksteady’s awesome vision for Batman. The downside for players was that a four year wait then ensued, along with the accompanying hype. We were given Arkham: Origins to tide us over and as fun as it was, it wasn’t the true sequel Arkham fans were hoping for. But holy final piece of the trilogy Batman! What will Arkham night actually have, and be about? Storywise Arkham Knight follows on directly from Arkham City, set on Halloween night one year after the events of the preceding game.
Batman’s greatest enemy this time will be none other than Scarecrow, who franchise players will remember from some of the most excellent parts of Arkham Asylum, and the titular Arkham Knight. But these two don’t stand as the only threats to Batman – his fully rogues gallery featuring Penguin, Two Face, Harely Quinn, Riddler, Firefly, and Poison Ivy will be also out looking to take a piece out of Batman. But lucky for Batman he has allies allies in the shape of Commissioner Gordon and Oracle, and he is a true superhero at the height of his powers, and he’ll need all of these if he wants to survive this hallows eve in Gotham. Indeed, Gotham itself serves as much of the setting for this epic story of Batman and is a draw dropping five times larger than the previous sandbox found in Arkham City. That’s not just big – but huge. The five times larger multiplier doesn’t just apply to the size of the world that players will fight in, it will also apply to the amount of enemies they fight. To this effect Rocksteady have stated that there will up to five times more enemies on screen than Arkham City, which should lead to some truly epic bat-brawls. Indeed
riots are a feature, and can contain up to a massive fifty on screen enemies interacting with the environment. Arkham Knight runs on the Apex physics simulation engine as well which allows for super realistic actions of Batman’s clothing, environments, and enemies. It will be as close to being Batman as you can get without being Batman, and as we all love our parents that is probably a good thing. The gameplay looks to maintain the same combo based brawling that Arkham Asylum first pioneered six long years ago that has now become an industry standard in third person action games. But Rocksteady were the first to pioneer its ingenious use of combos, blocks, and special moves and one should easily expect them to outdo themselves third go round and deliver the combat the Arkham series made its name on – tough, tactile, and terrific. Indeed slight improvements have been made, such as the ability to take out prone enemies without breaking a combo. Of course Batman’s many gadgets will make a return as well the now ubiquitous detective vision – also a recent staple of many games that saw its origins with the Arkham franchise.
The biggest addition to Batman’s arsenal this time around is the Batmobile. It is kind of astounding that we never got to play it till now but Rocksteady have clearly saved the best for last. The Batmobile can be ejected from at any time, and summoned at will either airborne or on foot and allows the player to do some sweet bat-jumps, bat-boosts, and generally all kind of awesome things that a bulletproof half tank half race-car could do. The Batmobile isn’t without firepower either, packing missiles that can immobilise enemy vehicles as well having the ability to smash through all kinds of obstacles. Anticipating the players varying needs for speed and power, Rocksteady have introduced two modes: battle and
pursuit which function much like they sound enabling the Batmobile to focus on speed or power (all of it non-lethal, of course), depending on the situation at hand. If that weren’t enough the Batmobile can also be controlled remotely for solving other puzzles or those Sunday afternoons when you just want to go for a drive and defend Gotham City. Good things come to those who wait, as the saying goes, and with Arkham Knight is almost here after four long years, like Batman coming out of retirement ala The Dark Knight Returns, it’s time to get excited. We can finally get the Batman game we both need and deserve.
WRITTEN BY ALEX HOLMES WWW.STICKYTRIGGER.COM
LIMITED EDITION BAT SIGNAL!
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BLOODB
BORNE review
BLOODBORN From Software are one of the most successful developers whose primary branch of games are aimed almost exclusively for a niche crowd. A veteran studio with an incredibly impressive pedigree, From Software are best known for their more recent games, the Souls’ series, or more precisely for their excruciating difficulty. While not part of the same universe as the Dark Souls games, ‘Bloodborne’ is most assuredly a successor, at a glance indistinguishable. Trust me when I say that’s not a bad thing. I don’t want to pick it apart and compare the two games, so I’ll leave it at this; Bloodborne is a perfect mix of the new and the old, familiar yet strange – perfect for both newcomers and Souls’ veterans alike. The city of Yharnam is undergoing a Hunt, an event which see’s Hunters take to the streets to cleanse the city of an epidemic that has turned most of its citizens into beasts and unspeakable terrors. Actual plot details are scarce, most lore and narrative delivered exclusively to those seeking it, through dialogue, optional exploration, cutscenes and a good helping of putting two and two together on your own. There’s been little in the gaming world as engaging as discovering, discussing and deducing all the hidden bits of story and lore of From Software’s games with fellow players over the years. This isn’t a game with objective markers or a players diary. You’re left to your devices, and must fig-
ure out the mysteries of your dark prison on your own terms. That’s the beauty of it all honestly, it’s so refreshing to not have your hand held. You’re thrown right into the thick of it, and must fight for your survival – and fight you will. The city of Yharnam holds more than its share of creatures, nasties and things that go bump in the night. Werewolves, insane humans, mutilated and indistinguishable towering monstrosities, the list goes on. Half the battle is working up the wits to step into the next area for fear of whats awaiting you. The other half is making it back there after whatever it was has ripped your limbs from your torso and stained your pants. Combat is fast and responsive in Bloodborne, the player expected – or is that needing? – to go on the offensive at every turn. With no block button, or effective shield, in sight, Bloodborne is all about getting up close and personal and causing some damage. In a game where every enemy is well capable of killing you in a hit or two, it adds a bit of a risk/reward equation, and when coupled with the ability to regain some health by causing some damage of your own in the few seconds after getting hit, turns the combat system into a constant struggle of quick thinking and quicker acting standoffs. Patience doth have no place here! While quick and constant, there’s still a huge degree of strategy and skill needing to go into combat. A
great feature are the games ‘Trick Weapons’, which can transform into entirely different versions of themselves. A longsword can become a towering greatsword, or even a hammer. A cane can become a bladed whip. A boy can become a man. It’s mastering these weapons that will earn you victory, able to be transformed on the go and even mid combo. I found that while I spent most of the game mastering and upgrading a particular weapon I favored, certain bosses showed a little too much resistance to it, and I was left having to try to use a weapon I had no real experience wielding and without upgrades. That actually adds to the game’s quality, forcing us to weigh up what
NE
REVIEW
we need to focus on or if we should be sharing the love. There’s so much fine tuning available to you to get the most out of the game’s mechanics, too much to jot down here. But know this; no matter what you think you’re packing going into a fight, there’s always a better combination of factors. There’s no be-all, end-all weapons, armors or abilities. It’s all in the eye of the beholder, and I think that’s what makes this game an absolute masterpiece. You will never have the advantage, yet with some experience under your belt, you’ll never have the disadvantage. The melee combat is some of the strongest I’ve seen in an RPG, and definitely one of the more thoughtful. But I was quite disappointed in
how the gunplay was handled, after being sold as if a major part of the game or a viable option for players wanting to focus on it. It’s nothing more than a complement to your melee abilities, and aside from being used to open up for one of the game’s strongest melee attacks, is essentially useless. I feel that From Software’s next RPG to utilize firearms will be a big step up, and hopefully doesn’t have them just thrown in as an afterthought. Its strange to call something so unnervingly dark, depressing and bleak beautiful, but there’s little other way to describe the world From have created for Bloodborne. The game is visually stunning, it’s entirely engrossing and detailed. The
large, interconnected world can be explored at will, you can head in any direction you please if you’ve the ability to unlock it or even reach it. You can skip right ahead to later bosses if you think you’re up to it. But you’re not only rewarded ingame for taking your time and doing all you can, but Yharnam is just such a treat to just take in on its own. Modeled as a Victorian-Gothic metropolis, Yharnam takes cues from numerous European cities, with touches of a steam-punk influence and a good dose of horror. It’s a frightening, tense place, but the painstakingly detail the developers have put into its every nook and cranny makes for an awe-inspiring journey you can’t help but appreciate.
For what little there is, the voice work here is very good. But it plays second fiddle to the ambient tones and the musical score, which both excel as pitch-perfect examples of what a game like this should deliver. The whole sound package just ties right into the atmosphere that the graphics have gone to great lengths to build. If the visuals are the foundation of the city of Yharnam, the audio is the coat of paint that seals the deal. Bloodborne is a game that has everything working together in unison, each part playing off one another’s strengths, the result of which is a game of essentially flawless design. Co-op and PvP are present, but not all that much of a deciding factor. The way the game is setup, players have to figure out all the mechanics and details on their own, so forgive me if I make a mistake here. From what I’ve seen, co-op is only available until you have beaten the boss for the area, which disables the use of your friendly-summoning item. So make the most of calling to others for a helping hand while you can, because as anyone who’s played through a Dark Souls game will tell you, it’s a lot more comforting to have a friendly sword by your side. There are a few opportunities
for offline players to summon help, also, but they’re restricted to certain places. Still a definite must for the tougher bosses, though! The only really hindrance the game has is unforgivable load times. A recent patch has helped a little, but still on loading and every death (and there’s a lot of those…) you have to stare at the games logo for far too long. We’ve been promised a fix, but in the meantime, prepare for some lengthy waits. The thing that irks me is that straight after death I don’t want to sit there and look at a loading screen – I’m on edge, I’m eager to kill something. Being given time to reflect is just plain angering. Let me back in there! Bloodborne is a triumphant achievement for From Software and Sony, nailing the appeal and true quality that a console exclusive needs. A lot of thought has gone into every part of the game, and the development team have brought their A-game to the table, working everything together into an almost flawless package. A peerless RPG that hopefully spawns Sony a long-running IP, and us gamers more violent, challenging and indefinitely rewarding gaming memories.
9/10 PROS: RICH, ENGROSSING AND VISUALLY STUNNING GAME WORLD HIGHLY POLISHED AND THOUGHTFUL COMBAT SYSTEM DIFFICULT BUT VERY REWARDING
CONS: GUNS ARE RUBBISH SOME VERY BAD LOADING TIMES
WRITTEN BY johnny scene WWW.STICKYTRIGGER.COM
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OUT 19 MAY 2015
DARK S
SOULS 2: SCHOLAR OF THE FIRST SIN
review
DARK SOULS
SCHOLAR OF TH
Prepare to die. Again. I could go on and repeat that this whole review and I wouldn’t be telling a word of a lie, but this time I’m not referring your inevitably strewn around corpses. No, Dark Souls II is seeing a release once again. Scholar of the First Sin a combination of the original game, all its DLC content and seemingly some free time the developers had to mix it all up with some new features and throw a bundle of changes your way. Unless you’ve not had the… pleasure? of playing through the game already, this release is only for the hardcore Souls fans. To be blunt, there’s not a lot of changes in Scholar, or at least not a lot of big ones. There’s been a lot of refinement to the games mechanics, and it’s polished very nicely, making for an overall smoother experience with few hindrances. I’m reviewing the Xbox One version, so was playing with the games bigger upgrades, but I have to admit, I didn’t see a noticeable change in the graphics. The framerate update was terrific though, and made the game run much better for quicker characters and in close range where it was really tested. In case you’ve not played the original Dark Souls II before, or any of
From Software’s similar titles, here’s the skinny; this is an incredibly challenging, difficult game that will test every fiber of your gaming talents. Or maybe just your patience. You’re largely left to your own devices, with next to no direction or narrative, but are done so in a super lore-rich world that is just as captivating and original as it is hard, which is really saying something. By and far this is a game for a niche audience, so don’t be surprised if it’s not your cup of tea. If you do invest your time and energy though, there’s a massive amount of value to be found in the confines of what Dark Souls II offers. It’s very lengthy, full of secrets and given the games approach to letting the player run wild, offers no end to the adventures which you can have, New Game +’s (which are stacked and stacked) actually having a real quality that you can test yourself – and the game – with. Dark Souls II certainly hasn’t aged gracefully. It’s a prominently ugly game now, which while the art direction and style was a major plus when we hadn’t seen it before, has lost a lot of impact now that most fans have probably played through a good handful of times. The brilliant atmosphere and character design is still intact, but the models and environments aren’t up to scratch, which is probably the one thing oth-
er ‘Remastered’ games have done better than Scholar of the First Sin. One feature that will never get old though, is the score we first heard back when Dark Souls II was released! The musical score still holds up as one of the best for a mature title, with some boss themes being true orchestral gold, and definitely gets the blood pumping. The NPCs have quality voice work, and the very few cutscenes that there are, are unbeatable. The biggest, and best, new feature in Scholar is the upgrade to Multiplayer. You have to have tried to play with mates in the original version to really appreciate how much better things are now. Dark Souls II has a unique and strange multiplayer system, with no actual matchmaking, instead you’re connected with others through in-game items which you can use to Summon help or invade (attack) others players world instances. The number of players able to be present in a single session has been increased to 6, meaning for some very insane battles for the PvP moments, and some very overpowering help when taking on the nasties in Co-op. It can be hard to find friends without some close communication, but there’s nothing as fun as calling on a mate and successfully taking down a beast who
S 2:
7.5/10
HE FIRST SIN
REVIEW may have ended your life more times than you care to admit. Dark Souls II will always be a modern classic. It was a labor of love the first time around, and Scholar of the First Sin is the same. It would have been easy for From Software to simply slap all the DLC into the main game and sell it back to us all the same, none of us the wiser. But they’ve gone one step further here, actually rethinking and designing most of the games encounters – enough so that veterans will still find themselves surprised, overwhelmed and… well, dead. The performance overhauls for the new versions are great. A bit unnecessary, given they’ve overlooked again what were already some of the poorer qualities, but welcome nonetheless. Unless you’re a diehard fan, there’s not that much to return too here shy of simply replaying the game again. But for those who haven’t done so, there’s never been a better time to indulge in one of this generation’s finest gaming experiences. Scholar of the First Sin has done a lot right, and I hope that if we do have to keep having these remakes and re-releases, some developers at least take a cue from this title and actually add in unique changes and content to make the game not just newer, but fresh.
PROS:
A Scholar of Differences While available as a standalone title on all platforms, there are some noteworthy differences between the game on the different machines. If you already own Dark Souls 2 and its DLC on Xbox 360, PS3 or PC, the new content is available for free through a simple update. However, the ‘next gen’ versions on Xbox One, PS4 and the new PC version (supporting DX11 as opposed to the original DX9), have overhauled graphics, sound and performance, and a new support for up to 6 players in a single session online (that’s crazy), and must be purchased anew.
MASSIVE, VALUE PACKED PACKAGE REFINED GAMEPLAY IS BETTER THAN EVER NEW CONTENT AND CHANGES ARE GREAT PERFORMANCE OVERHAULS ARE WELCOME…
CONS: … BUT IRRELEVANT AND UNNECESSARY LOOKS VERY DATED
WRITTEN BY JOHNNY SCENE WWW.STICKYTRIGGER.COM
final fa typ
antasy pe-0 hd review
final fantasy type-0 hd
REVIEW
There exists an aura of mystery around games that aren’t immediately released outside of Japan. Perhaps it just wouldn’t translate well or they were testing the market. Maybe the studio doesn’t have the resources to get everything done. I’m not sure why it took so long for ‘Final Fantasy Type-0′ to receive a release outside of Japan, given the immense success of the series. All I can say is it’s a must for any fan aiming to get the most out of FFXV when it’s released. At the outset of the game you’re immediately thrown into a warzone. The Militesi Empire, one of the four nations of Orience, has broken a peace treaty by attacking the Dominion of Rubrum. By disabling
Rubrum’s Vermillion Bird crystal, Militesi has rendered them defenceless – or so they thought. You take hold of Class Zero, a special group of students who are still able to use their magic thanks to their connection to the crystal. Once the initial attack is over the students are tasked with pushing back the invasion in other regions in an unstable political climate. Arecia Al-Rashia, a powerful figure the students call “mother” for some weird reason, places the students in the Akademeia, the magic school for the nation. There are 14 members in Class Zero, each with their own special traits and abilities. Two of them – Machina and Rem – are fresh recruits regarded with suspi-
cion by their new team. Machina is also searching for answers about his brother’s death despite being unable to remember him at all thanks to the power of the crystals. Much like every other Final Fantasy game, it’s hard to sum up exactly what’s going on without mentioning every little detail. It can also be hard to follow at times even when paying attention to the cutscenes because there isn’t much information offered. It’s expected that you’ll know what the l’Cie are and what impact they have on the world at the very least. You need to know you could play without knowing but it wouldn’t make much sense. Once you’re past the tutorial stage, you’re given free access around the
7.5/10 Akademeia. You get to choose how to spend time between missions and it’s important to spend it wisely to reap the rewards you need. For instance, actions such as listening to a lecture or chatting to people around the academy chew up a couple of ingame hours but can give you items and increase your magical skills respectively. It’s possible to switch between active members of the class and see the different reactions you receive around the campus, including new conversation options. Machina and Rem are well liked because they were standard students before being recruited but the rest of the gang are seen to be egotistical. After you’ve used up all your time buying/selling items and on various other interactions, an alarm will sound and it’s time to head out on a mission. Before you go, you build your active three-person team from the class and decide who will sit in reserve. Reserves can be called up if an active member dies but it’s best to avoid that for the best grades and experience. The real fun of this game lies in the combat. Type-0 uses real time combat and it becomes absolutely vital to your survival that you learn how to use it for every member of the team. It sounds daunting but the system is actually quite intuitive. While you control one member of the team, the other two will continue to attack using AI. Thankfully, the AI is not terrible and it doesn’t feel like you’re
fighting a battle alone. You can also switch between members instantly with one button if you feel like you need to redirect some skills. As with any JRPG, you need a bit of patience to play Type-0 correctly. Every class member needs to be levelled equally, their abilities built and matched, and equipment correctly applied. This really brings home the fact that there isn’t enough time to expand on every character’s backstory. Why should I care about crafting Nine or King’s skills correctly when I don’t care about them as characters? Just whittling the number of Class Zero members slightly would have gone a long way here. The bigger problems come in when considering the fact that this game was originally made for PSP. Some of the scenes and characters haven’t been remastered and look positively block-ish. It’s rare that a Final Fantasy game hasn’t impressed me visually at every turn but it’s an absolute distraction in Type-0 at times. The mission areas can also feel small and boxy, giving the impression of several hallways stitched together. I wouldn’t recommend Final Fantasy Type-0 to anyone unfamiliar with the current state of the series but it’s a bold, fast-paced title that really is a joy to play. Fans waiting for FFXV will find it a good distraction to fill the time and it should add to their understanding of later events.
PROS: HD ASPECTS AS STUNNING AS EXPECTED FROM FF SERIES FAST-PACED COMBAT WITH DECENT CONTROLS STRONG STRATEGY ELEMENT RUNNING THROUGH ENTIRE GAME
CONS: VISUAL EXPERIENCE VERY MUDDLED TOO MANY CHARACTERS INTRODUCED WITH LITTLE CONTRIBUTION TO STORY MISSION AREAS FEEL TOO SMALL FOR CONSOLE GAME
WRITTEN BY BRIDGET SWEENY WWW.STICKYTRIGGER.COM
MO KOMB
ORTAL BAT X review
MORTAL KOMBAT X The king of fighting games returns in Mortal Kombat X, seemingly the only series able to churn out a new instalment 20 years later without being bombarded with sequel hatred. That is of course, not counting the all-too-famous controversy surrounding the games. Mortal Kombat X is just as insanely brutal, violent and gory as ever so there’ll always be someone a little upset about it, but rest assured this is a game that never says sorry and holds no bars – MKX is a faithful instalment in the long running series that’ll please all old and new fans alike, read on to find out why. Continuing on from the story of the last Mortal Kombat game, MKX gives players a fairly epic tale for a fighting game, spanning over two decades and with a slew of fan favourite and brand new characters. Not that fighting games usually – or ever – have good story modes, but this here is at least a good way to experience what the title has to offer and introduce the new characters. But in terms of the story itself, it’s garbage stocked with some of the worst video game writing I’ve heard. I didn’t think you could jam so many bad clichés or unfitting angst into 2
hours of story. Daddy and relationship issues have no place in Mortal Kombat. Thankfully, the core gameplay experience here is a far cry from that. Mortal Kombat X has the most polished fighting the franchise has seen, if not that any modern fighting title has. The balancing is on point, there’s a ton of combos for every character, and the new fighting style system can really change things up. There’s essentially three versions of every character, some making for a very different combatant. I liked having to try out the different versions of my favorite characters to find what style best suited me. This is the first time there’s been a real generational jump in the series, with most of the new characters being related to some of the existing ones, the sons and daughters of some of Mortal Kombats longest running characters now carrying the torch for the future. It’s a neat way to introduce new characters and take on the next step of the lore and some of the newbies are brilliant to play as, but unfortunately it means there is way too much of a focus on the ‘Special Forces’ team, which
REVIEW
has always been a weak point of MK. The game’s 24 existing on-disc characters are quite substantial, but the actual choices in who they are weak. Some of the absolute best and most beloved characters from the franchise only exist as enemies in the story mode, and more are even without a cameo. It’s the worst choice in character selection I’ve seen since being a MK fan, and my biggest gripe with the game. I’m surprised to see certain offline modes missing, most notably the fan favourite two vs two tag-team matches, but MKX opted for a more online oriented approach. There’s a good few game modes available, and best of all are the Chat Rooms, which act like a lobby. You can arrange fights, challenge others to matches and get larger groups together for the likes of King of the Hill, what I would say is the premier attraction. Even when playing with other Aussie’s, we experienced lag spikes with full green ping, but for the most part it’s a stable system that some polish will make into a great online hub to test your skills.
8/10
The Krypt makes a welcome return to the game, and is better than ever, exploring its nooks and cranny’s is genuinely entertaining and enticing for those few desirable unlocks. A particularly important new feature is the games Faction War. Players pick from a handful of MK lore factions and earn points from everything you do in game, online or off. These add up, and provide unlocks for the players of the winning team, with unique – but admittedly nonsensical – Invasion modes happening on a weekly basis. It’s not very necessary to the main experience, but is a nice touch to help keep things fresh and something I think, and hope, evolves over time to prove a more noteworthy addition. In the meantime, the Hourly, Daily and Weekly Towers will keep you occupied when you want a change of pace, and are the best way to challenge friends on the leaderboards. One thing I can’t take away from Mortal Kombat X is that the game is seriously awesome to look at. The animation is chunky and solid, it adds weight to the fights, and you’ve never seen ultraviolence rendered so beautifully. The Fatalities are something to behold, and the x-ray abilities will have you cringing. The Mortal Kombat brutality is once again perfectly realized in game, Warner Bros. proving they’re certainly no push-over and let NetherRealms go to the deepest corners of their crazy imaginations to bring us the gore. But over-the-top violence and murdering aside, MKX is actually one of the best looking games this generation has produced so far. The character and environment modelling is superb especially, making everything else all the more satisfying. Forcefully removing someone’s intestines from their body and mashing them into a ball with your mind has never looked so good, and you’ll be coming back for more for years to come.
PROS: GREAT CORE FIGHTING MECHANICS DETAILED, POLISHED GRAPHICS WELL DEVELOPED ONLINE MODES In practice, Mortal Kombat X is one of the most plainly enjoyable and likable gaming experiences I’ve had in ages. But on paper, there’s a lot not to like, and it feels like a missed opportunity for NetherRealms to create a genuinely next-gen fighter with the amount of time they’ve put into it. With a questionable character roster and poor offline choices, MKX is a game with a pitch perfect core let down by poor design choices. That doesn’t change the amount of fun you’ll have ripping your mates limbs off or toppling online lobbies with some well-honed talents though, and once you embrace the new generation of Kombatants not even the sight of your own entrails will wipe the grin from your face.
CONS: POOR CHARACTER ROSTER AWFUL STORY MODE AND WRITING LACKING OFFLINE CHOICES
WRITTEN BY JOHNNY SCENE WWW.STICKYTRIGGER.COM
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POP CU SONEQUA
MARTIN-GREEN INTERVIEW
CHAD
COLEMAN INTERVIEW
PANASONIC Q
RETRO
Sega Dreamcast S.T.A.R.S version and Claire Version
COLLECTIBLES
ULTURE "daddy i'm alive..."
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X-FILES BOARD GAME REVIEW
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INTERVIEW
SONEQUA
MARTIN-GREEN THE WALKING DEAD: SASHA
Comic Con hit Adelaide and Live Magazine was invited to talk to Walking Dead stars, Sonequa Martin-Green and Chad Coleman. Martin-Green plays Sasha, a former firefighter in the series who, with her older brother Tyreese (Coleman) join Rick’s group in their quest for survival. Over the course of her role, the character of Sasha has grown harder and colder due to the deaths of loved ones. Though a loyal member of Rick’s group, Sasha is a loner who struggles with the loss of her loved ones, particularly Tyreese and Bob. We got to spend time with both stars at the Hilton Hotel on the Friday before Comic Con began, first up we spoke to Sonequa Martin-Green, and her role as Sasha. Live Magazine: When you land a part in a good series with a huge cult following, excellent writers, plot points at every turn… what does that feel like? Sonequa: (laughs) It feels like a blessing of a lifetime. When people ask me what’s great about the show
I tell them what you just said, you know, such rich story telling, such amazing artists in front of the camera and behind, and then to have the reach that we do, to have the fan base that we do, you know the family that we do, the collective family enjoying this one story. It’s just amazing. I’m very honored and humbled by it. We then asked her about how she keeps up the energy with the constant emotions connected with the character on set. After all, playing games like the Walking Dead and others where the player get emotionally involved is draining… what is it like for actors on the set of one of the best shows on TV? Sonequa: Wow… Well it’s consuming, that’s for sure. It’s what’s expected of us, it our duty, to go there, to dive in and to be effective and bear these burdens. It takes a lot out of you but I definitely consider it to be a calling, and so I go forward with gratitude… I die with gratitude. You definitely have to let it go when it’s
time to let it go. You have to learn the best method of decompression for you. You have to… I’ll speak for myself, you have to at least, keep the importance of what your doing at the forefront of your life. With Walking Dead having some of the best zombie effects on screen, how does she react when that “fourth wall” disappears? When you have some of the best special effects on TV, how do you react to them? Sonequa: Well you’re fighting to survive aren’t you. I tell people when they ask about the walkers… I always go back to the first experience I had in my first day on set in Season 3, we were in rehearsal, the man playing the walker of course with make up and special effects are so brilliant, he looked real. He looked like a real walker, and he came at me in rehearsal and I thought .. Whoa! Ok… I am not going to have to imagine this part at all. I am just going to have to be present and respond, I just have to believe what I’m seeing right in front of me and respond
“
...it feels like a blessing of a lifetime
to it and I think… it’s what you want to have is that instinctual jump, you want to do that, that’s when you’re so deep into the story that’s what right in front of you is real to you.
What was it like on your first day when you became part of the family that had already been through so much together? Sonequa: It was a huge, it was a goliath when I came in, it was already this massive success, with this tremendous following and they had already defined their family on the show. The amazing part of it all is that Chad and I came in together and we were welcomed as family from the very beginning. Talking of family and character we asked how on set the characters don’t trust each other as part of the story line but in real life they are like family. Sonequa: Definitely that duality, but we all know we’re all telling the story and between action and cut it’s all about the story, and when “cut” is called it’s all about the family. How does the family side of the team handle it when someone leaves the show? Sonequa: It’s the worst part of the show. It’s the worst part of… being on the show. To know that their character is leaving, to know that
character’s legacy is done. And then also to have to say goodbye to your friend who will no longer be on set. We all have busy lives and you might not see that person again. You don’t when you might see them again. It’s horrendous, it’s heartbreaking, it’s devastating, I was particularly hurt by Chad leaving, especially since we came in together. We are very much brother and sister. it was so hard to say goodbye… but I am seeing him now which is great! (laughs). We talked more about how actors know it’s part of the job, knowing that sometimes characters have to leave to keep the story real and believable. Like life, characters in movies and TV shows sometimes die or move on. But like good video games, it keeps shows like Walking Dead fresh and unique. Sonequa adds that in a world like the Walking Dead is set in, people do die, it ads to the authenticity. Then unfortunately, our time was up and we said our goodbyes to one of the nicest people we’ve met. Sonequa MartinGreen is a genuinely nice person. She has enthusiasm for life and for her role on what is one of the best shows on television at the moment. The good news is, the Walking Dead is still as fresh and full of drama as its’ first season, and with the “family” including Rick, Darryl and Michonne, settled in to their roles, we’re hoping that the role of Sasha hangs around for many seasons to come.
”
Here’s one of the Live team, Dustin Wilson posing with Sonequa and Chad whilst the real work’s being done behind the lens by editor Rob Jenkins :)
INTERVIEW We sat down with Chad Coleman, who’s done some great voice acting roles but is probably best known now as for his role as Tyreese from the Walking Dead and before that as Dennis “Cutty” Wise in the HBO series, The Wire. Coleman voiced The Coach in the video game, Left 4 Dead 2 and soon will appear in the new Syfy channel space opera, The Expanse. We asked him how he got ready for the Walking Dead series… Coleman: I had to trust the creators you know, they’re pretty smart guys, and um I was just taken with the heart of the character, you know, I was a big guy with a good heart, trying to take care of some folks. Such a varying of roles you’ve done, from The Wire to end up in the Walking Dead, with such a huge following, what was that change like? Coleman: I don’t know if it was a change but It’s been an incredible thrill ride, its probably the most popular show I’ve been on, The Wire, is the most critically acclaimed, this gives me an opportunity to experience what rabid fans are like (laughs) all around the world so it’s pretty exciting. It’s fortunate that Robert Kirkman saw me on The Wire… felt like I was the guy to play Tyreese... and then I looked online and people were having polls on who should play the role and they had my name thrown in the hat so that was cool… it’s a good fit. We chatted about his new role in the series, The Expanse, a sci-fi space opera/mystery drama set in the future where the solar system has been colonised. Coleman plays the role of Fred Johnson, the leader of the rebel “Outer
CH COLEM
THE WALKING DEA
Planets Alliance - OPA, we asked him about his role: Coleman: It’s based on the New York Times best selling novels, Leviathan Wakes, it’s a space ship drama, you know, that we don’t have about Mars and the belt of Mars and all different kinds of ethnicities and people and dealing with pretty heavy weighty stuff. Thomas Jane is one of the major names in it, but it’s a major international cast and these writers were amazing and I’m excited about that. It fills a void, a need. The scifi fan is a passionate fan, that deserves that space ship drama.” We asked if he agreed that television had matured over the past few years with better production values, major stars being involved (X-Files for example had great production values thanks to the dedication of Chris Carter). Coleman agreed... Coleman: Absolutely. The Walking Dead, every week is like that. The
substance of it, the weighty nature of the material is bringing a lot of people back to television… with all these different outlets, to tell stories that are rich… We touched on how major characters are not immune from being killed off from a TV series like Walking Dead, even thought it’s sad for both the people involved in the show and the fans it add realism to the show. Coleman: I just know that in life we have to experience profound loss, we all do, no body goes unscathed, somebody in your family, your friend… just 2 years ago I lost my sister to pancreatic cancer, 49 years old… so that’s an incredible loss. Maybe having Tyreese pass away can help somebody out there deal with their grief and loss. Also how they were to kill off Tyreese was important to Coleman
HAD MAN
AD: TYREESE
Coleman: The main thing was how they going to do it, how am I going to go out. I thought that Scott Gimble and Robert Kirkman were just genius in what they wanted to do with the episode with my demise. It was very bold story telling and it was exciting having other actors come back who I admire like David Morrissey, Lawrence Gilliard, Emily Kinney, it was pretty amazing, I was excited about how precious they were with the character. I couldn’t have gone out any other way… Talking to both actors you get the feeling they are comfortable with where they are in their careers and the roles they’ve chosen. The Walking Dead looks like it’ll be around for many years to come, with record ratings and high praise from critics, we can’t wait to see what the team will face next. As for The Expanse, we’ll keep an eye on it and give you the latest news as we come across it.
“
...maybe having Tyreese pass away can help somebody out there deal with their grief and loss.
”
retro I’ll open this article by saying that “this is the console that the GameCube should have been”. There, I said it! With that opinion out of the way, allow me to give you some context to go along with it. In September 2001, Nintendo released their first ever disc based console. Code named ‘Dolphin’, Nintendo would eventually give it the name ‘GameCube’ to reflect the cube style appearance of the unit. As cartridges were now a thing of the past developers could look forward to the freedom of developing games on optical discs, just as Sony and, newcomer to the gaming world, Microsoft allowed on their consoles. Sadly, those discs would only allow a paltry 1.5GB of storage, a limitation the other consoles did not have. With this in mind, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 2, Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart Double Dash and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is not a bad legacy to leave behind. When developing the optical drive for the GameCube Nintendo had already limited its options. Sony was out as they had their own console in development and were considered to be a rival. Philips was one of the companies that suffered as a result of the Super Nintendo CD system debacle, so they may have had reservations about dealing with the Big N again. Who else was out there who could develop optical drives and that Nintendo hadn’t potentially burned their bridges with? The answer to that question was Panasonic. When developing the Super Nintendo CD, Nintendo had made a series of mistakes with its development partners. The Playstation was one consequence, the other was a series of awful Mario and Zelda games released on the Philips CDi. This time around Nintendo agreed
PANAS that Panasonic could make its own version of the console. Whether there was more to that agreement is something that is unknown at this point in time. There are rumours and speculation, but nothing concrete to report. Two months after the release of the GameCube Panasonic released their ‘Q’ console just in time for Christmas. The Panasonic Q had all of the features of the Xbox and Playstation 2 and more. Unlike the GameCube’s flip top lid, the ‘Q’ features a slide-out DVD tray. As the console is also designed to be a Panasonic DVD player the tray size is standard, though with an indent to hold the smaller discs. The rear of the console contains standard AV and S-Video out, with the option of using the, rather expensive, GameCube component cable, though this is for GameCube mode only and will not work when playing a DVD. You can use any region of the original GameCube with an Australian AC adapter, as the adapter itself manages the voltage output (same as with the N64, Wii and Wii U). However, as the ‘Q’ features AC input using a standard cable the console must be plugged into a step down voltage adapter. There is a Dolby 5.1 digital sound output option, though as I haven’t tested it I can’t say whether it only works in DVD mode.
In its original unmodified form the Panasonic Q will only play region 2 DVDs and Japanese GameCube games. Select video game exporters would modify the console prior to sale to allow all region DVDs, and both US and Japanese NTSC games to be played. The console came bundled with a Panasonic branded GameCube controller and a remote control. My personal Panasonic Q did not come with the controller, and I had to track one down. A few exporters would provide an English language face plate for the remote control. The bottom of the console features the same expansion ports as seen on the original GameCube. This works fine if you want to use a broadband adapter, but if you want to use a Gameboy Player then you will run into problems. The legs on the Panasonic Q are too long for a standard Gameboy Player, so a specific ‘Q’ model was released. If you can manage to find one you’ll be shocked to learn that the Gameboy Player costs almost as much as the ‘Q’ itself, and that averages around the $400 mark! The console itself is considerably larger than the GameCube and it weighs a fair amount more. The digital display screen will let you know if you’re playing a game or watching a DVD (incase you didn’t know what you were doing), and it happily says
SONIC Q
Yahoo Auctions and purchased simply because I wanted to try something different. I’ll be honest, I don’t know the storyline or what I’m supposed to be doing, but it’s a lot of fun! Croket plays like a 3D Mario game, except your character wields a giant hammer which can be used to take out the enemy or destroy buildings. Later levels can be very difficult with moving platforms and jumps that need to be timed, but there is a real sense of satisfaction when you get past a tricky spot.
“Goodbye” when you turn the device off. The metal case feels sturdy and tough, like it could survive a few knocks. Those are the main features of the Panasonic Q. The next question would be, why would I want one? Well, you might not unless you’re a bit of a hard core collector. There are some amazing Japanese exclusive games that might entice you to consider either buying a ‘Q’ or a standard Japanese GameCube. Allow me to introduce you to some of my favourites: When I talk about Japanese exclusive games, Battle Stadium D.O.N is always first on my list. Featuring characters from Dragonball, One Piece and Naruto, D.O.N has a very ‘Smash Bros’ feel, but it’s different enough to keep you interested even if you own both games. The levels feature backgrounds from all three animated series, and there are hid-
den characters to unlock. The controls are as simple as Smash Bros, and it’s a great game to break out at parties after everyone has played Mario Kart/Party/Smash Bros to death. Naruto: Clash of the Ninja 4 would be next on my list. In the West we received the first two games in the series, but there were a further two released. There are positives and negatives. If you’re a fan of the English dub of Naruto then you’ll be out of luck here. The English language releases did feature the dub, but these games only contain the Japanese language track. If you can get past that, then you’re in for a treat. The game plays similar to the other three titles in the series, though each game gets progressively better, the gameplay feels less confined, and it’s just a much better experience. Croket! Banking no Kikiwosuke is one of those games I saw on Japan
PC Kid is a classic title released for the PC Engine. In the West it is known as either “BC Kid” on the Nintendo and Super Nintendo consoles, or the “Bonk’s Adventure” series on Turbografx 16. If you love platform games and haven’t experienced PC Kid then do yourself a favour and give it a try. In 2003, developer Hudson Soft released 3D remakes of several of their games under the “Hudson Selection” banner. PC Kid was one of those titles released on PS2 and GameCube. It’s a challenging title, but it’s not ‘cheap’. If you make a mistake then it feels like it’s your fault and makes you want to try again. So there’s an in-depth look at the Panasonic Q and some exclusive Japanese GameCube titles you can enjoy on the system. The Panasonic Q is a great addition to any console collection and I highly recommend it for its games and DVD quality. Visually it outperforms the Xbox and Playstation 2, and watching a movie is a much clearer experience. My model is region locked but if you can find a hacked, region free console then it can be your one stop gaming/movie station.
WRITTEN BY PAUL MONOPOLI
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Sega Dreamcast S.T.A.R.S version and Claire Version. This rare Resident Evil version of the Dreamcast came in 2 versions. The Claire version of which 1800 were made and the ever rarer STARS version of which only 200 were made. They were made to celebrate the Japanese release of the Resident Evil game. In 1999 Gamespot online had a post about the release with the U.S price tag of around $340. The boxset included the Resident Evil game - Code Veronica. Plus a VMU, controller pad and of course the unique console. According to Segafans website it was released on February 3rd, 2000 and is a transparent dark purple plastic. Trying to find one to add to your collection might prove difficult as searching online doesn’t yield too many. On Ebay there is one of the red editions (of which they made 1800) and it’s listed at $3900 US ($5,100.04 - AU). This listing currently has 26 people watching and 4 offers. At the time of writing it only has a buy it now or make an offer purchase option - no auction. There is one other we could find currently listed for around $1500 AU and is the red Claire version. So if you’re wanting to find one to add to your collection… good luck!
The picture is from the original Japanese product announcement on Sega.jp and you can see it here: http://sega.jp/corp/release/1999/1206/
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"daddy, i'm Robots are no strangers to comic books. There are countless robots, good and bad. From The Vision to Cyborg and beyond. Robots have earned their place in the pantheon of science fiction storytelling that propels comic book stories forward. Of course there will always be that one robot close to my heart. One robot, so powerful and so evil he puts the others to shame. That robot is the mighty Ultron. Ultron is the ultimate big bad. Marvel’s diabolical droid came to life in 1968, a robot created by Hank Pym (Ant-Man) using his own neural information. Unfortunately for Hank, Ultron became self aware and turned on it’s creator. He then went on to develop a god complex and deemed himself the only being worthy of life and began his war against planet earth and The Avengers. Ultron stands apart from the rest of science fiction robots. While there are many robots in fiction who seek to annihilate humanity, Ultron has a great sense of personality and ego. Skynet in the Terminator and the countless other science fiction robots that can be compared to this stock standard formula, are simple single minded machines with destruction as a sole goal. These robots rarely have character or emotions, ther are simply killing machines. There is no doubt that Ultron is a killing machine, but he has a complexity to him that
these other evil androids lack. Ultron feels, he thinks, philosophises and plots. He genuinely believes himself to be alive and better than the rest of humanity. He has feelings and depth, all which mask a burning hot rage, his biggest emotion that he hides well, but is always under the surface, his desire to murder and destroy. This all gives Ultron a fantastic presence and makes him a worthy foe of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Ultron’s first form resembles a giant trash can, he then begins to upgrade himself. Each time he was thwarted by the Avengers he would retreat into hiding and upgrade his body and try again. Eventually Ultron would become one of the first to successfully manipulate Adamantium, the metal found on Wolverine’s bones. He progressively grew more and more powerful. He would eventually become damn near unstoppable. Becoming one of the most feared of all The Avengers’s foes. He would learn to make allegiances with other villains. All of his changes have led him to become one of the most compelling foes in the Avengers rogues gallery. Ultron has maintained his popularity amongst Marvel fans for years. Ever changing and ever the threat he always was. This year he achieved mainstream recognition with his ap-
pearance in The Avengers Age Of Ultron, Marvel Studio’s eleventh film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ultron is put front and centre as the villain raging war against the Earth and must be stopped by The Avengers. In this version of the story Ultron is created by Tony Stark (Iron Man), as Hank Pym is yet to be introduced to the film universe. Ultron is portrayed by the fantastic talents of actor James Spader through voice over and motion capture. The Ultron presented in the film is slightly less powered than his comic book counterpart but is just as complex and just as dangerous. Joss Whedon (the films writer/director) brings us a fantastically complex and delightfully dark version of the character that certainly delighted me as a fan of the comics and as a great fan of Ultron himself. I always find myself rooting for the bad guys and Ultron is certainly one of those epic bad guys you can’t help but fall in love with. I can’t wait for new comic book fans to see the film and delight in Ultron’s darkly comic presence and feel that undeniable need to learn more about the character. If you haven’t seen the film yet, see it now! It’s lots of fun. While there are many robots near and dear to my heart in comics, well, there is only one Ultron. There are no strings on him...
m alive..."
WRITTEN BY SCOTT F. SOWTER @SCOTTFSOWTER
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board games
X-FILES BOARD GAME REVIEW
The blurb on the box says “Trust No One..” The X-Files: The Board Game is a paranormal investigation game for 2-5 players, inspired by the first 3 seasons of the TV show. One player takes the role of the Cigarette Smoking Man, while the others become Mulder, Scully, and the rest of the XFiles team (Skinner and Krycek) as they solve cases, uncover conspiracies and attempt to bring down the Syndicate once and for all. Sounds good right?
Pssst… don’t tell Jess our regular board gamer that I grabbed this one cause I’m a massive X-Files fan. Mulder and Scully along with Skinner, CSM and of course the Loan Gunmen are some of my favourite TV characters of all time and the chance to play one of them was just too much. So we sat down and unwrapped the box which is covered with very nice artwork showing the main 3 characters. Inside you get: 1 rule book 1 board 9 puzzle pieces 4 agent cards / pawns 4 stands 4 agent credentials 1 syndicate screen
1 evidence bag 40 evidence tokens 20 cigarette tokens 1 agent token 1 syndicate token 65 X-Files cards 50 agent cards 50 syndicate cards 20 wound tokens 40 influence tokens 40 progress tokens 1 agent token 1 syndicate token 65 x-files cards 50 agent cards 50 syndicate cards 20 wound tokens 40 influence tokens 40 progress tokens So a lot of gaming materials to work with.
Well it is good, kind of. What I mean is you play the game in turns - moving around the map, playing agent cards to investigate the X-Files. But in reality it’s a game made up of set mechanics that is quite simple. You gain evidence that lets you get pieces of the puzzle (Mulder’s I Want To Believe poster) whilst the Syndicate plater is concealing evidence by playing cards that take away evidence tokens. If the agents get enough evidence tokens to put the puzzle together - they collectively win. If the Syndicate character conceals 25 total evidence then they win. It’s interesting and competitive but I didn’t feel drawn into solving cases. It’s more of a game of mechanics collect enough of this and you win the other player tries to stop you so they win. The graphics are all very good and do add to the intrigue and fun. My view is play it with friends who are XFiles fans and get some drinks and nibbles and get into the feel of it and you’ll have a ball. Recommended for fans
WRITTEN BY ROB JENKINS
board games
ARCADIA QUEST
BOARD GAME REVIEW
Arcadia quest is a fun dungeon crawl board game in which 2 to 4 players do battle in the mythical land of Arcadia. Determined to dethrone the evil vampire lord players must claim the land for their guild. Leading your guild of intrepid heroes throughout a number of different scenarios you must battle against monsters, defeat rival guilds, collect and complete quests , gather money and buy upgrades all while trying to stay alive. Arcadia Quest created by CoolMiniOrNot was successfully funded through Kickstarter on March 17th 2014. The gameplay of Arcadia Quest is quite simple and the game is extremely entertaining to play. Each player controls one of the four guilds which include three members. The game features 12 different heroes each with their own stats and special ability. In the rule book it suggested for the players to look through the heroes and create the best team they can. As we didn’t feel this was fair due to the last player to choose would end with the weakest team we
shuffled the 12 cards and dealt them out. This provided us with a more even playing field. At the start of your turn a player can choose to activate a character or rest. If you activate a character they can move up to three spaces and attack or attack and then move. When attacking the player selects one of the weapons attached to that particular member and exhausts it once the battle is completed by placing a token on the weapon card. When a player chooses to rest this ends their turn straight away and results in any exhausted card being back in play and reviving any dead characters. It does not however heal any characters who have taken a hit. This can only be done by potion tokens found on the board. Arcadia Quest can be chosen to be played as the standard campaign battling your way through three different board set ups or by choosing your own scenarios for a different experience. Once a scenario is selected the board is arranged and set up as per the scenario booklet. Each
scenario features quests that must be completed before moving on to the next. Quests are either PVP or PVE. The PVP quests consist of defeating a certain amount of other guild members. The PVE quests are the more interesting as they consist of killing a specific monster, collecting quest tokens or defeating a certain amount of monsters. While there is no limit on how many times a PVP quest can be completed there is a limit on how many guilds can complete the PVE objectives. The game gets really interesting when multiple guilds are trying to complete the same PVE quest that may only be able to be completed once. Finishing a scenario allows players to spend the coins obtained from defeating monsters, other players and completing quests on better weapons and abilities to take into the next round. Any players who died in the round exchanges their death tokens for death curse which affect the characters in the following scenarios. When a battle is started the player
selects the weapon attached to the character they wish to use. Each weapon has a number printed on the card determining how may dice are to be rolled to try and defeat your chosen monster opponent. If you roll enough of the sword symbols for a melee attack or arrows for ranged attacks equal to a monsters health the monster is defeated however they still have the chance to do damage to you before being removed from the board. The player to your right takes the black attack dice and rolls the amount equal to the number listed on the monsters card. If the correct symbols are rolled your hero takes damage or also dies. If you roll enough dice symbols to match the monsters overkill level they are removed from the board without attacking you back. In the first scenario monsters do not have any defence but this changes as you move onto higher levels in Arcadia. The other option to attack in battles is a rival
guild member. Unlike monsters other guild members do have defence and will roll the white defence dice to try and equal out the attack dice rolled. Also different to monsters is that other player’s guild members do not attack back. When making a melee attack your opponent must be either to you left or right or in the space above or below you. Diagonal attacks are not allowed. This differs with ranged attacks. Ranged attacks bring in the added addition to battles with line of sight. Each tile on the board has a little star printed in the middle where you place you member. If an opponent is on a space which the stars line up without any walls, closed doors or two enemy pieces occupying the same space this is counted as line of sight and a ranged attack can be used. The basics of the rules are very simple however the game is confusing to learn and to play to begin with.
Presented throughout a rule book of 30 pages the creators go into great detail with multiple examples and diagrams to try and ensure that all areas are covered. Where the confusion can arise from is during the monsters face of guard attacks and the line of sight rule. After coming across a few run ins during our play and consulting the rule book constantly you fall into a routine which was easily understood by all players. Every item in and including the box is extremely well presented made from top quality materials and there is a lot in the box. The miniatures for the 12 heroes and the monsters are extremely detailed and while look quite good in their plain grey plastic, painting them to match the character cards would have them looking gorgeous. The cards are thick and shiny with adorable chibi art styles, the rule book and scenario book also have thick glossy pages with lots of colour and detail, the tokens and coins are bright and easy to identify and the game board pieces are extremely detailed. The whole game looks amazing set out on the table with its gorgeous art style. Arcadia quest reminded me of a simple tactics game with short, thrilling battles and the need for planning to ensure your guild members are not exposed to other deadly enemies. While it was initially hard to learn the gameplay is simple but satisfying. Arcadia Quest is fun and immensely enjoyable as you try to take the land for your own. Having the range of scenarios ensures play throughs can be very different each time and this is something great in a board game. It makes you want to keep coming back and taking on Arcadia again and again and this is anything but a bad thing.
WRITTEN BY JESS WILSON
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COSPLA SALLY
JEANNIE INTERVIEW
KALSERU COSPLAY
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ATAI COSPLAY INTERVIEW
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COSPLAY
Tell us abit about yourself, where you are from & how you got into cosplay? I’m a busy mum, that works in a retro/rockabilly clothing store. I love to read, hang out with my friends, watch anime and I LOVE scary movies. Do you make your own costumes? tell us abit about the process? Sometimes, I do make my own costumes, however, most of the time I do not. I am very busy and don’t have much time to spend making costumes. Often I will just make what I can and buy other components of the costume. I cosplay as a hobby, so I prefer to do things the easiest way possible. On the occasion that I do make my own costumes, I’ll, for example, buy the boots and then make a part such as armour to stick on the boots. Glue guns are the best things ever, especially when using foam to build parts! Do you have any favourite characters to cosplay? And how do you choose which character to cosplay? My favourite character to cosplay is Harley Quinn because I think she is a bad ass and I’m a little bit crazy like her. When I’m not cosplaying Harley, I usually decide to cosplay other characters because I like them, and
SALLY
JEANNIE www.facebook.com/sallyjeannie
I can accentuate their crazy personalities.
(adorable) - does she know much about cosplay?
Do you attend many cons? any coming up that you’ll be attending?
My daughter has grown up around Cosplay and has always been around games, cartoons, movies, anime and comic books! There’s never been an occasion where she doesn’t know what she’s dressing up as, or what I’m dressing up as. She chooses a lot of the characters she wants to cosplay herself and genuinely enjoys it. I’m in the process of making a Young Maleficent costume for her at the moment as she loved the horns and wings.
So far I have only been to Supanova in Sydney, SMASH Anime & Manga Convention and the EB Games Expo. This year I plan to go to all three! Do you have any tips for cosplayers starting out? HAVE FUN! Don’t let anything stress you out and don’t compare yourself to others. Ask for advice if you need it. And above all, always try to enjoy yourself, because if you aren’t, then what’s the point? We noticed you share some Cosplay photos with your daughter
Finally where can our readers go to find out more about you? If you wish to find out more about me and my cosplay, you can visit my Facebook page called “Sally Jeannie Cosplay” or visit the link at: www.facebook.com/SallyJeannie.
Photographer: E Photography | www.facebook.com/ecks.photography
Photographer: Steve from Exposure Studios | www.facebook.com/Exp0sureStudi0s
Photographer: Kris Ezergailis | www.facebook.com/WhatABigCamera
Photographer: Kris Ezergailis | www.facebook.com/WhatABigCamera
Photographer: Cliff Dorian
Photographer: E Photography | www.facebook.com/ecks.photography
Photographer: Sally Jeannie
Photographer: Ice Photography
“
There’s never been an occasion where my daughter doesn’t know what she’s dressing up as, or what I’m dressing up as. She chooses a lot of the characters she wants to cosplay herself and
”
genuinely enjoys it. - Sally Jeannie
COSPLAY Hi there - tell us abit about yourself, and where you are from.. Well hello! My name is Kalseru aka Lindy de Klerk and I’m from the Netherlands! I’m 24 years old, and I am studying to become a teacher in visual arts & designs, have photography as profession and am working in the fashion industry! I am a crazy cat lady and I’ve been cosplaying for a little while now! I mostly gamingbased cosplays or original designs! :) How did you get into cosplay? Cosplay founds it’s way in my life thanks to friends! During my first year of college some friends and I where hooked up to anime. They wanted to go to a convention, cosplaying Naruto characters. Sadly my father wasn’t so fond of the idee me making a fool out of myself by dressing silly and wasting money in order to get dressed that way. So that kind of ruined my interest the first time, haha. ;-) Second time it got me hooked up, thanks to a friend of mine! She cosplays as well and started talking about it shortly after we met for the first time. She got me curious and I wanted to try it out myself! But I’m a kind of person who can’t make up her mind easily and want to plan things before executing them, it took me a while before I actually started! Do you make all your own costumes - tell us abit about the processes and materials you most commonly use? Yes I do make everything myself! Well...except t-shirts or pants, or socks.... I rather buy these since I am terrible at sewing things, still need to learn how to do this properly.
KALSERU COSPLAY www.facebook.com/KALSERUCOSPLAY
The materials I mostly use are: Cartboard Roofmate Thermoplastics: Worbla, Wonderflex, Cobracast (+ heating gun) EVA-Foam & craftfoam Arylics paint Sewing machine The process in a nutshell: Most of the time I start by sketching out my ideas. Some details, overall sketches. After that I work out all the materials I will be needing to make this costume, for that I use the mobile app: “cosplanner” and my boyfriend, who helps me out a lot! Then it’s time to create a cosplay mess! I lose my tools all the time, I won’t clean up my mess for a few days and my room will be filled with materials, props, tools, junk... I injure myself by accident alot, knifes, heating gun, paper cuts, you name it! It’s a big mess! :-) And next to emotional breakdowns, nergrages and ragequits I mostly get things done in time! (As in... a few hours before the convention/event takes place.)
Do you attend many cons? Sadly not... Next to a fulltime education I also work during the weekends. And since all the conventions are during the weekends I can’t always get days off. And sometimes traveling & tickets are just to expensive. Sometimes we try to borrow a car from someone we know, but that doesn’t always work, and public transportation can be kind of.. awkward if you’re all dressed up and such, haha! Mostly I go to conventions where friends told me about, where friends are going to or conventions where I have been before, like Gamescom. I think I attend 2-3 conventions a year, sadly, I wish it could be more! What or who inspires you as a cosplayer? Actually... Everything inspires me. If it’s not a cosplayer, it’s a flower. If it isn’t a flower, it might be a image of a landscape or a bird! Inspiration can be found everywhere in life, as long if you just look around!! (even though I walk with my eyes fixated
Photographer: Guerrillaphotography | www.guerrillaphotography.tk
“
Then it’s time to create a cosplay mess!
”
on the ground, no clue why though.. Inspiration comes at you at the most craziest time/ place!) Next to a hand full of cosplayers who I follow on facebook (for example Sosenka, Shappi, Lightning Cosplay and many many more!), my schoolmates, family and friends also inspire me! They show true interest in my work which motivates me to continue even if it’s getting nowhere at that point! And a special kudos to my boyfriend! Sometimes we argue a lot about my project, but he always lends me his knowledge and he is always willing to help me out! <3 Where can our cosplayers go to find out more about you? You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and I also have a blog :) feel free to leave messages, I love to get to know people, chat about cosplay and I even LOVE to help out others with their cosplay problems! www.facebook.com/kalserucosplay www.instagram.com/ladylinnie www.kalserucosplay.blogspot.nl Xox
Photographer: Guerrillaphotography | www.guerrillaphotography.tk
Photographer: HSpierenburg | www.haroldspierenburg.nl www.facebook.com/HaroldSpierenburgFotografie
Photographer: HSpierenburg | www.haroldspierenburg.nl www.facebook.com/HaroldSpierenburgFotografie
Photographer: Kalseru Cosplay
Photographer: Kalseru Cosplay
“
Photographer: Kalseru Cosplay
Everything inspires me.
If it’s not a cosplayer, it’s a flower. If it isn’t a flower, it might be a image of a landscape or a bird! Inspiration can be found everywhere in life, as long if you just look around!!
- Kalseru Cosplay
Photographer: Tim Verhoeven | www.facebook.com/TravelsinMedia, www.travelsinmedia.nl
COSPLAY
Hi Atai - welcome to Live Magazine. First off tell us abit about yourself and where you are from. Hi there! I am from Wroclaw, Poland. Cosplay is my hobby for about 2 years. How did you get into cosplay? What is the cosplay scene like in Poland? Actually I always was into costumes. Sadly, here in Poland we have only 2 occasions for costume parties (New Year’s Eve and Carnival; no Halloween tradition here). I was envious of my western friends having Halloween and I was watching their costumes all the time. One picture lead to another and suddenly I became a cosplay fan. In Poland we have in my opinion quite a big community. There are about 5 thousands people somehow involved into cosplay. I also believe that my polish cosplay friends have a lot of skill because we are winning prestigious contests in Europe. The best thing is that we are really close to each other and we constantly share our new experiences. Do you make all your own costumes - tell us abit about the processes and materials you most commonly use? All of my costumes are made by me except for one or two of the first. First thing I always do BEFORE actually buying anything is doing research. It is really a difficult process, but it pays off because later you save
ATAI COSPLAY www.facebook.com/ataicosplay
time, materials and money. I tend to make costumes with fabrics, but I’m not afraid of making armor. By now I’ve learnt how to sew, make sewing patterns, use EVA foam, paint, make jewellery and even how to work with blades. Do you attend many cons? I am trying to be at every bigger con here in Poland (approximately 7 cons a year). I would love to go to Comic Con in San Diego one day with one of my costumes. What or who inspires you as a cosplayer?
I am inspired when cosplayers increase their skills. It is pure magic when you see how fast a person can learn! When I see that a cosplayer is using new techniques and he/she is getting better at it I believe I can do the same. I often try new things and techniques just for the pleasure of learning new stuff. Where can our cosplayers go to find out more about you? www.facebook.com/AtaiCosplay www.youtube.com/channel/UCs0Yf5bV51eieVz6ZyMT0dQ www.instagram.com/ataigemino
Photographer: Magdalena “Drache” Majchrzycka from Silverclock www.facebook.com/pages/Silverclock/158462567522379
Photographer: FotoCzarny | www.facebook.com/pages/Foto-Czarny/150931648441947
Photographer: MLC Foto | www.facebook.com/MLCFoto
Photographer: Otaku with camera | www.facebook.com/Gerentex
Photographer: MLC Foto | www.facebook.com/MLCFoto
â&#x20AC;&#x153;
pure magic
I am inspired when cosplayers increase their skills. It is
â&#x20AC;?
when you see how fast a person can learn.
- Atai Cosplay
Photographer: Ijidofoty | www.facebook.com/Ijidofoty
COSPLAY Hi and welcome to Live Magazine, tell us abit about yourself, where you’re from and how you got into cosplay? Hello and thank you! My name is Anna Lee, and I have been a hairstylist for 8 years. When I am not doing hair I am a gamer, cosplayer and all around nerd. I grew up in Amarillo, TX, but after moving to Dallas a few years ago I began going to larger comic cons and noticed all the amazing costumes. It inspired me to make some of my own, and I’ve been hooked on this fantastic hobby ever since. We found you’re also a blogger (www.glitzygeekgirl.com) did you start out cosplaying or with this blog first? Tell us abit about your blog...
GLITZY
GEEK
I started blogging in 2012 with the hope of sharing my geeky yet girly adventures. I wanted to share with others that stereotypes really don’t hold true, and that a person’s interests can be a range of things. Once I began going to more and more comic and anime conventions, I would blog about my experience and fun activities there. Soon I after that, I learned new techniques while making my own cosplay costumes and would document the process so I could share guides and tutorials for other costume makers and crafters online.
GIRL
What video games are you most looking forward to coming out in 2015?
closely following news and updates related to Heart of Thorns and eagerly await the chance to play it!
The game I am most interested in is Guild Wars 2. I was able to attend PAX South in January where ArenaNet announced it’s first expansion for the game titled Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns. Even though a release date hasn’t been set, I’ve been
Do you make your own cosplay costumes?
www.GLITZYGEEKGIRL.COM
What I love most about cosplay is experimenting. I try my best to brainstorm ideas of how to make a costume with a budget in mind. This
means I typically reconstruct or recycle other items to create something new. It’s fun to think outside the box and see every day objects as a chance to turn them into an amazing prop or armor piece. If there’s a part of a costume that is outside my skill level, I have absolutely no shame in searching online to have it commissioned or bought from a store. There’s no limit to your creativity and
Photographer: MineralBlu Photography | www.facebook.com/mineralblu
my favorite part of cosplaying is the creation process. What or who inspires you as a cosplayer? Inspiration comes from all around me. It may be by walking through the hardware store and finally finding the right size PVC Pipe for a prop or the perfect shade of fabric at the craft store for a dress. If I can find materials for the cosplay then I’m more likely to dive right into a new project. When I’m feeling out of ideas, I love to follow other local cosplayers on Facebook or Instagram and see their art form come to life. Pinterest is also a fantastic source for inspiration with posts on armor tutorials, wig and prosthetic instructions, and makeup guides. Do you attend many conventions? Any coming up that you’ll be attending? Lucky for me, the Dallas area has an amazing convention and cosplay
scene. The last few years I was attending a convention about twice a month! We have a great support system here and many cosplayers plan group events months in advance. A few of the cons I plan to attend this year are the Dallas Comic Con, AKon, and Screw Attack Gaming Convention. If I don’t have a new cosplay to wear I still enjoy blogging about the guests, vendors and activities at the event. What tips do you have for new cosplayers/bloggers starting out.. The best tip is to have fun! There’s nothing better than embracing your favorite fandom or interest with all your heart and showcasing your love for it whether it’s by cosplaying or writing a blog. If you have a passion for something and you feel your creativity flowing then run with it and don’t look back! For many years I felt judged and put down for my interests in “geeky” things, and now that I have taken confidence in it I have never been happier. If you are un-
sure how to make a cosplay, start by choosing something easy first that you’ll feel comfortable in both mentally and physically. There are many resources online for the cosplay and blogging community now which makes it great for newcomers to feel welcome and right at home! Where can our readers go to find out more about you? My blog www.glitzygeekgirl.com is the best source of information with links to all my social media platforms (I’m @GlitzyGeekGirl on pretty much everything.) There you will also find my tutorial guides for many of my costumes and other craft ideas. Most recently I’ve began learning how to stream my gaming adventures on Twitch and also updating my YouTube channel with short, fun vlogs. I’m always happy to answer questions and chat with new friends so be sure to follow and leave a comment any time!
Photographer: Aperture Ashley | www.facebook.com/apertureashley
Photographer: April Miller | www.glitzygeekgirl.com
- Glitzy Geek Girl
What I love most about cosplay is
”
experimenting
“
Photographer: Eli Luna | www.eliluna.com
Photographer: Eric Daugherty
Photographer: April Miller | www.glitzygeekgirl.com
Photographer: April Miller | www.glitzygeekgirl.com
COSPLAY photography This month Live Magazine sat down (literally) with the gang from I Got Super Powers - a photography group that’s dedicated to cosplay photography. We spoke with founders, Angelo and Nathan and the newest member, Charlie Nicholson. Welcome to Live Magazine. Can you start by telling us a bit about how and why I’ve Got Superpowers (IGSP) got started.. Angelo: This goes way back in early 2010 when Nathan and I decided to start a blog so we can talk and review about our favourite comic books, video games, anime and anime pvc figures. We had no idea that cosplay was a big part of what we were about to jump into. Nathan: It was almost a natural progression for us, as we both had interest in photography. We made the jump to do cosplay photography and we haven’t looked back since. You’re big fans of cosplay, do you do any other styles of photography? Angelo: We’re quite a versatile team and each member has their own strengths and specialty that they bring value to the table. Nathan and I specialise in glamour and fashion. Charlie with her ethereal portraiture. And Alex is our studio lighting expert. Is there any other photo groups around like yours? Angelo: To our current knowledge we are the first recognised cosplay photography group in Australia. We can be compared to Super Cosplay Girls who are based in the UK and Photographes Sans Frontieres which I believe are based in Argentina.
I GOT
SUPERPOWERS www.facebook.com/GOTSUPERPOWERS
Do you think Cosplay photography is competitive in any way?
is comprised of four highly skilled photographers.
Angelo: There will always be competition. Everyone wants to be the best and there’s nothing wrong with that. We encourage and welcome it as it drives the community forward. It’s your attitude and personality that will influence or determine the outcome.
At Live we’ve interviewed dozens of cosplayers and cosplay shooters, what’s different about your approach?
Nathan: We welcome healthy competitions that would drive the communities, photographers and cosplayers, forward and be better at we do. So tell us a bit about your team. There’s four of you right? Angelo: When we first started it was just Nathan and I. And as we grew so did the demand and the need to diversify. Since then we’ve recruited a few others to join our organisation. And currently the core creative team
Angelo: We know our characters. Nathan and I are big fans. We try our best to represent the characters the way they are in the books and games. And each of us have our own favourites and we’re always on the lookout for cosplayers that are best suited for that character. Nathan: In essence we are not that different in our approach to the photography itself. Just like different chefs bring their own specialty dish to a banquet. The only thing we have in common within IGSP is that individually we love what we do and we are driven to be better at it!
Some people say cosplay photography falls into two camps - either very much dedicated to the art and by that I mean the character and the costume or it’s simply a chance to show off some slightly provocative photos of attractive costumes and people, what do you think? Angelo: Cosplay is an art form that is open to interpretation. There are no set rules. As individual photographers we each have our vision and style. It is up to us how the final product is going to look like. If the cosplayer wants an ethereal look we have Charlie that can do that. They want more of a sexy and action oriented look, we have Nathan and I that can do that. And if they want to shoot in a studio they need to go to Japan where Alex is currently residing (laugh). Ok let’s switch direction a bit, tell us how a typical shoot goes with IGSP… how do you start the process of organising a shoot? Do cosplayers approach you or is it the other way around? Angelo: We are a non-profit organisation. We use our own personal time and resources to conduct all of our projects. Having said that, we only engage in projects that interests us. Cosplayers do approach us and if they have something interesting to offer we will take on the project. Is post processing important in cosplay photography? Angelo: You bet it is! It’s what sets you apart from the competition. What gear do you take on a typical shoot?
Angelo: We are a run and gun team with the exception of Alex. He will bring his entire studio if he could! (laugh). We like to be mobile as much as possible so we only carry minimum gear that will get the job done. And it varies for each shoot. Ok what’s your favourite bit of gear? Angelo: Alex would love to answer this question. He would probably do a complete rundown of his gear list (laugh). But Nathan and I love our prime lenses. While Charlie is in love with her 70-200mm zoom. What’s coming up for the team in 2015? Angelo: That’s top secret. However we can say that we will continue to improve on our skills, innovate and set new trends keeping in line with our mission and vision. Finally where can readers go to see your work? Angelo: You can find us on igotsuperpowers.com, facebook.com/gotsuperpowers and instagram.com/ gotsuperpowers.
“
We know our characters.
Nathan and I are big fans. We try our best to represent the characters the way they are in the books and games. And each of us have our own favourites and we’re always on the lookout for cosplayers that are best suited for that character.
- Angelo Beltran
”
COSPLAY TUTORIAL
4 ways to attach your
armour! WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/HayleyEliseCosplay
Thanks to the wondrous product that is worbla, it’s now easier than ever to make beautiful, intricate armour pieces for your costume. But when videogame armour often seems to float on the characters with no visible means of attachment, actually wearing the pieces can be a bigger challenge than making them! Here’s four different methods that might be useful in your next big project – so get out there and get experimenting!
1. Binder Rings and D-Rings
D-rings can be bought in bulk from most craft stores, and are the perfect thing to attach all your myriad armour
pieces together! Attach the flat side of the D to your armour piece with a heated strip of worbla and you’ve got an easy and secure attachment point. I also like to use card binder rings, found mostly in stationary stores, to attach it all together. These binder rings have a hinge in the middle and clip together on one side, making it a way to easily attach and detach D-ringed pieces as the need arises.
2. Leather Ties
My method of choice when making historically inspired or realistic armour, leather ties can look messy on delicate fantasy armour, but add a level of realism to more gritty cos-
tumes, like your favourite knights from Game of Thrones! Traditionally, medieval plate armour was worn over a garment covered in lacing to tie armour pieces onto, so why not give this tried and tested method a go in your costume! You can incorporate ties with the D-Ring method, or even punch a hole through the edge of your armour piece to tie it straight on.
3. Velcro
Believe it or not, Velcro can be a great choice for attaching pieces of armour that seem to hang off the character with no visible straps, buckles or attachment points. Make sure to get extra wide Velcro pieces
Photographer: Steamkittens | www.facebook.com/steamkittens
for maximum grip, and be careful of using them in places where there needs to be high mobility, or excess weight in the armour! Careful placement is key when using Velcro – you don’t want to be making Velcro-ripping noises all day as you’re trying to walk around!
4. Magnets
How do they work? No one knows for sure, but they can definitely be useful in building your costume! Neodymium or Rare Earth magnets are far stronger than your average fridge magnet, to the point where they can be used to reliably anchor armour pieces to your costumes! The advantage of magnets over Velcro is that you can glue your magnets to the backside of your costume’s fabric, meaning that there is no visible method of attachment once you take your armour pieces off. They look clean, easy, and it makes a great party trick at the convention! Make sure when removing pieces attached by magnets that you always slide the armour piece off sideways, rather than trying to pull it straight off, as these magnets can be strong enough to damage your costume!
WRITTEN BY HAYLEY ELISE
PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS
KEEP IT
CLEAN
“
One rookie mistake we all do and still see is when a photo is taken in a busy location that has no context to the actual photo or story you’re trying to tell. Check the first photo of Adelaide cosplayer, Tiffany Dean. It’s a messy picture with cars, fences, trees and all sorts that distract from the subject. In the second photo we moved Tiffany to a plain background and now she’s the focus of the image. When you’re doing photos try to remember the background. Simple is often better except where the background is part of the story. For example you might be photographing a Batman style image and want a city at night in the background. Or if you’re doing a scene featuring a mountain or fields then sure, include them. But again positing the subject so they are the main focus with the background as part of the story, not distracting from the story. Go out and take some photos and share them with us - we’d love to see your cosplay photos. Simply email inbox us on our Gametraders Facebook page www.facebook.com/Gametraders. Australia See you next month
Model: TIffany Dean Cosplay - www.facebook.com/TiffanyDeanCosplay
BY ROB JENKINS
ADELAIDE OZ
PHOTOS BY CREED PHOTOGRAPHY WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/CREEDPHOTOGRAPHY
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