By Lewis Empson Microsoft has set out to revolutionise portable gaming with the launch of their long anticipated ÔÇÿProject xCloudÔÇÖ. This new streaming service utilises your Android phone or tablet to stream your Xbox One games library on the go; all you need is a stable internet connection and a compatible Xbox wireless controller. Although this new service is in its early days I have … Continue reading Thoughts on: Xbox xCloud
By Megan Evans If you had told me that I would be trialling this ÔÇÿonlineÔÇÖ dating, not just via apps such as Tinder or Bumble, but through the means of FaceTime and general texting without the actual meeting up, I wouldÔÇÖve laughed hysterically. To me, dating in the twenty-first century, whilst it is nice that you can connect with people wherever you are in the … Continue reading Tinder: Dating in a Pandemic
By Lewis Empson and Marcus Yeatman-Crouch Gamescom is one of the biggest gaming conventions on the calendar, and while coronavirus has prevented the usual hordes of fans from showing up at the convention centre in Cologne, that didn’t stop the organisers from presenting a virtual conference – similar to the type we’ve seen from Ubisoft, Sony, and Microsoft – with a lineup of 38 games … Continue reading Thoughts On: Gamescom
Words by Lewis Empson Depictions of status have varied massively throughout time; wealth has been attributed to sports cars, designer accessories and lavish clothing. However everyday items of technology are beginning to occupy this space and have provoked discussion, both in tech-centric and non technologically minded communities, about how we identify within society using our technology.┬á Of course the first thing that comes to mind … Continue reading Technology and Status
By Marcus Yeatman-Crouch Reddit is a social media platform that tends to hang around the fringes of other popular sites like Twitter or Instagram, often escaping the public eye. This is despite having 330 million active users per month – the same as Twitter – and 168 billion page views in 2018 alone. While it is gaining popularity, reddit is often considered a bit of … Continue reading Internet Deepdives: reddit
By Catarina Vicente ThereÔÇÖs no denying social media has become a powerful tool for brands in their marketing and advertising. Nowadays, any company that wants to have a bigger presence owns several social media accounts, in order to advertise their products, attract new clients, and to create an identifiable ÔÇÿpersonaÔÇÖ to further enhance their brand. With the resurgence of this new marketing strategy it was … Continue reading Corporate Twitter – Hip or Miss?
By Marcus Yeatman-Crouch and Lewis Empson With the inability for massive conventions like E3, Gamescom or PAX to take place due to the coronavirus pandemic, many large publishers have taken to hosting their own online conferences, giving fans a host of trailers and talks about the games we can expect this year as we transition to next-gen consoles. Ubisoft recently hosted their own, dubbed Ubisoft … Continue reading Thoughts On: Ubisoft Forward
By Josh Ong |ÔÿàÔÿàÔÿàÔÿà | Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout appeared from relative obscurity. Just a few days ago, I had no idea about the title. Having spotted the game appearing on multiple Steam friendsÔÇÖ profiles over the last few days, I was very intrigued, mostly due to my lack of knowledge surrounding it. However, after one particularly low day, two of my friends bought it for … Continue reading Review: Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
By Lewis Empson and Marcus Yeatman-Crouch After 7 fine years of service, the Playstation 4 and Xbox One alongside their various Pro, S and X iterations are soon to be put out to pasture; passing on the baton to their more powerful, faster and sleeker successors. The Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X and their upcoming games have all been unveiled in live-streamed presentations spilling … Continue reading Next Gen Revealed
By Evie Nicol |ÔÿàÔÿàÔÿàÔÿà | The Last of Us Part II is a masterpiece that, like itÔÇÖs predecessor, sets a benchmark for storytelling in gaming. Taking the player on a complex, intense and often heart-wrenching journey centred around humanity, it presents profound moral questions and bold twists on what appears on the surface to be a typical revenge tale. Naughty DogÔÇÖs highly anticipated sequel has … Continue reading Review: The Last of Us Part II
Since EA took over the coveted Star Wars IP, you could say theyÔÇÖve given us a mixed bag. Mobile game Galaxy of Heroes aside, EA have published two revamped Battlefront titles and a singleplayer Souls-like in Jedi: Fallen Order. Of the former, Star Wars: Battlefront I was critically panned and deemed just another EA money grab, whilst its successor only achieved a steady playerbase after … Continue reading What Next for EA’s Star Wars Saga?
The lockdown over the past few months has led to boredom – long swathes of time where some of us find we’re lacking a substantial activity to sink our teeth into. Video games are a perfect outlet for excitement that many have turned to in order to alleviate the monotony of life stuck inside the house. Here are just a few games that we and … Continue reading The Games Getting Us Through Lockdown
By Mike O’Brien Do me a favour and watch the embedded video below. ItÔÇÖs not graphic, I promise, but I would highly recommend headphones. When YouTubeÔÇÖs ever-inscrutable algorithm brought this video to my attention, I assumed it was merely a hilarious exemplar of todayÔÇÖs surreal avant-garde meme humour. But when I noticed it was uploaded almost eight years ago, a hunch brewed within that there … Continue reading STR Wars: The Holesome Odyssey of Bruno Powroznik
Featured image credit to Red Bull Esports. By Mike O’Brien Esports has a bad rep. Between cringy intros in the Overwatch League, and the conservative insistence that video games cause everything from social anxiety to mass shootings, public perception of competitive gaming has some growing up to do. Despite being a billion-dollar industry, Esports faces an uphill climb against its uninitiated critics who see the … Continue reading INTERVIEW: George ‘isdsar’ Diamanto
By Emma Murphy Who hasnÔÇÖt enjoyed a good video of Steve BuscemiÔÇÖs face superimposed onto Jennifer Lawrence during a press conference? Or Nicolas Cage in very un-Nicolas Cage places? Maybe you found some solace in the obviously fake footage of Kit Harrington apologising for that final season (just me?) If you have, welcome to the realm of deep fakes. WeÔÇÖre hearing of them more and … Continue reading Deepfakes for Dummies
By Mike OÔÇÖBrien Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Red Dead Redemption 2 and Spec Ops: The Line, and minor spoilers for Grand Theft Auto IV. In 1969, Mario Puzo wrote a novel called The Godfather. Despite his working-class heritage in HellÔÇÖs Kitchen, PuzoÔÇÖs hobbies included lavish six-course meals and ignoring the bill. Fortunately, he was a magazine staffer at a mythical time in … Continue reading Ludonarrative Dissonance: The Elephant in the WriterÔÇÖs Room
By Mike OÔÇÖBrien Since the NES infiltrated households in the 80s, gaming has been assailed for its corrosive effects on our precious youth. In the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, journalists were all too keen to emphasise Eric HarrisÔÇÖ hobby of developing custom levels for DOOM, a graphic first-person shooter. When Anders Breivik murdered eight people in Oslo and another 69 in Ut├©ya, … Continue reading Games and Minds: The Duality of Gaming and Mental Health
By Mike O’Brien Netflix sensation Black Mirror is Charlie BrookerÔÇÖs occasionally brilliant exploration of human conflict through the lens of future technology. But could these technologies ever truly exist? And if so, are the scenarios likely to occur? IÔÇÖve painstakingly analysed every single episode of the show and assessed each oneÔÇÖs prophetic vision, rating them out of 10 based on their social and technological foresight. … Continue reading Just how prophetic is Black Mirror?
By Molly Sedgemore ItÔÇÖs hard to believe that the creations of Silicon Valley were once a thing of dreams, a far-off unattainable notion where technology could help us rule the world. What started as a means to create more jobs after the Great Recession has become home to the worldÔÇÖs leading innovators in technology. Some of the most progressive inventions of the modern age were … Continue reading Prejudice in Silicon Valley
By Chris Colbourn iPhone owners can now apply for an Apple credit card in their phone’s preinstalled Wallet app, on any iPhone running iOS 12.4 or later. To apply, users need only input their date of birth, income, and the last 4 digits of their social security number, all in the app. This data then goes straight to the bank issuing the card, Goldman Sachs … Continue reading The Lowdown on the Apple Card
