Posted on in 2016, Current Writing, Essays, Gaming, Guest Writer

Our Favourite Games of 2016

Hey all, so I wanted to compile my list of favourite things for 2016. However, I’m not doing it alone. I’ve brought in some of my previous collaborators from Geeked to discuss their favourite picks of the year. You can find their social media links at the end of the article. Enjoy!

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Zoe – Broforce

(Editor’s Note: Broforce was technically released in 2015 initially. However, it was released on PS4 this year so, technically a 2016 game.) My favourite game of 2016 was Broforce. The fast-paced, side-scrolling action combined with the aesthetics of the 16-bit era made for a game that was easy to like. Playing as iconic macho action heroes of the 80s and 90s and having them die over, and over, and over again, with death being a mere slap on the wrist, made for a game that was endlessly playable. But it’s okay, because every time you die, you are resurrected as one of your favourite actions heroes. Maybe it’s Chuck Norris, maybe it’s Jean-Claude Van Damme, or maybe it’s Lawrence Fishburne.

Zoe can be found on her website, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter at zebrafishdm.

 

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Posted on in 2016, Current Writing, Essays, Guest Writer, Music

Our Favourite Songs of 2016

Hey all, so I wanted to compile my list of favourite things for 2016. However, I’m not doing it alone. I’ve brought in some of my previous collaborators from Geeked to discuss their favourite picks of the year. You can find their social media links at the end of the article. Enjoy!

 

Zoe – Alive by Sia

My favourite song of 2016 was Alive by Sia. 2016 was a challenging year, and Alive as a song has this energy to it that made it the perfect song to unwind with. I’ve always been a fan of Sia, even before she got her big break in America. The imagery of the lyrics are so strong that I can picture them so vividly, and working in videography, that’s an important aspect for me. ‘Alive’ has so much passion and movement, and I always love to repeat “I’m still breathing, I’M AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Zoe can be found on her website, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter at zebrafishdm.

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Posted on in 2016, Current Writing, Essays, Gaming

My First Game

With Christmas coming up I wanted to write something festive. I talked about this with my brother and together we sort of came to this idea. I received my first gaming console on Christmas 2002. I knew that my Mum had been discussing the present with my uncle, who had suggested it. The present was codenamed ‘Zebra’, and we had no idea what it was. There were three consoles on sale that Christmas. We had never had a console before this point and it seemed that fate was to coalesce to provide us with a console that had also recently burst onto the scene. You may have already guessed from the header image but the console we were gifted was the original Xbox. A bulky, black box with slightly more in common with a PC than a console (guess the Xbone is more a return to form than anything). The original Xbox was ultimately winner of second place in that generation, losing out to the best-selling console of all time, the PlayStation 2. My brothers and I didn’t care. The original Xbox is remembered fondly amongst us and I’m sure we aren’t the only ones.

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Posted on in 2016, Current Writing, Essays, Film

Spider-man Fatigue

So, the new Spider-man Homecoming trailer came out. I watched it a couple times. Now, I should preface this with some stuff. Ever since Avengers I’ve gone to see every Marvel movie, and ever since Thor: The Dark World I’ve been to every new one with my partner. It’s rather easy to hear about and see a new Marvel movie every six months. I’ve enjoyed most every entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe on some level. I watch the TV shows. I’m generally quite an involved individual in the MCU. There have only been a couple of MCU things that I had no interest in: the now-cancelled Marvel Most Wanted, and Spider-man Homecoming. This isn’t Spider-man Homecoming’s fault (in fact Michael Keaton’s Vulture could another great villain for the MCU if he lives up to his trailer presence), or the fault of Tom Holland, or fatigue with the whole MCU. No, now you might have guessed what I’m feeling due to the title. I’ve got Spider-man Fatigue.

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Posted on in 2012, Earlier Writing, Literary, Sci-Fi, Short Stories

Reckoning

(Authors Note: This piece was originally written in 2012. It has been edited because there are some thematic issues I have with the text looking back. Part 1 remains largely intact as it wasn’t too awful, looking back. Part 2 required some severe editing. The piece was originally written in my Year 12 Literature class. It was an attempt to ape the novel ‘Atonement’ in its style and plot elements. Brownie points if you can spot the other literary references)

Part I

Perhaps he should not have come at all. Something about this meeting felt incredibly forced. She had sent him a message. Clemens St, Tuesday, 7pm. In her usual fashion, she was infuriatingly brief. Did she mean he was to wait outside on Clemens? It was a cold New London night and he hadn’t had the forethought to bring his jacket. No, she definitely meant the café. It was their place. The café was irrefutable a fact in their relationship as the war, and if there was one thing Milton know about her it’s that she was as sentimental as she was fanciful.

April turned into Clemens St, her brand-new heels clicking along the pavement and digging into her heel. She had half a mind to take them off but she persisted. She couldn’t appear weak in front of Milton. It had been five years; no contact between them. True, the war had not made things easy. Upon seeing her again, he would probably wring her throat. He was the type. The man had a violent streak, and his years in the army were unlikely to have satiated his bloodlust. April was drawn out of her thoughts by the realisation that she was supposed to be looking for Milton. She looked around. Clemens St was no longer the bustling street of eateries it had once been. All along the street there used to be little cafes with idyllic, outdoor dining areas. Half the shops were now closed, the other half were little more than rubble. The German had bombed New London, and Clemens St had suffered for it. Then she saw it, the humble little café they had visited years ago. By some stroke of luck, it still stood. Open, waiting for her entrance. Back when they were on friendlier terms Milton had stared bewildered at the French name of the place. Boire, she had told him, It means to drink. Of course, the word on his boorish tongue, he had mispronounced it. She had laughed. What had made her laugh in those days now made her wrinkle her nose in displeasure. Indeed, there seemed to be little to laugh at these days.

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Posted on in 2016, Current Writing, Essays, Film, Music

Dead Celebrities in 2016

For many, 2016 is the year of the dead celebrity. Now celebrities die every year but the sheer girth of icons we lost this year is staggering. David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Gene Wilder, and Prince were some of the biggest icons taken from us. The loss of Bowie and Rickman so close to each other at the start of the year led to an outpouring of grief from many on social media. The day each of these men died, my Facebook page was awash with grief. Some saw the deaths of Bowie and Rickman as an omen of the dumpster fire of a year that followed. With the shroud of celebrity death upon the year, every new announcement of a dead celebrity hit home for someone and defined 2016 as the year of the dead celebrity for some. Now, that’s probably not true. People die all the time. Celebrities, by virtue of being people, have to die sometime.

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Posted on in 2016, Current Writing, Essays, Gaming

Thoughts on No Man’s Sky

So, with the Foundation Update coming out for No Man’s Sky I figured now was a good time to talk about the game. Now I don’t hate No Man’s Sky but I have some very specific gripes that mean I might never return to the game. For those unfamiliar, No Man’s Sky is a space simulation game where you begin crashed on a randomly generated planet. After fixing your ship you begin to explore the galaxy, hoping from planet to planet. There are allegedly 18 quintillion worlds to explore as you make your way to the centre of the galaxy. Thus, begins a lonely journey as you mine resources, encounter abandoned settlements, meet alien traders, upgrade your ship, and scan new creatures. My personal favourite aspect of the core gameplay was encountering monoliths and slowly uncovering the languages of the three other species you encounter in the world. No Man’s Sky was also the perfect game to listen to podcasts while playing. There are quite a few instances where getting from point A to B might take a minute or two at most so while you wait you listen to your podcast. Now, from what you’ve heard No Man’s Sky sounds like a great game. Well, now to get into the bugbears.

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Posted on in 2011, 2016, Current Writing, Earlier Writing, Extract, Fantasy

Maelstrom – A Look Back at My Writing

I’ve decided that this week I’m going to return to a piece I wrote around 2011. During 2010 I had a lot of spare time because I had open contempt for my VET IT course (It wasn’t what I expected and in terms of knowledge base it was either too basic or too advanced). Anyway, during that time I wrote a work of fiction that in some way a response to Twilight. It began life as a script but quickly morphed into a novella length story and at 30,000 words is still the longest thing I have written. I finished the work in 2011 and rather enjoyed it. However, on reflection, the main goal of the text (to satirise the Twilight scenario by making the Edward character intensely unlikeable by every metric) somewhat failed whereas the interesting plot threads still hang on to me to this day. There were many subplots that rather interested me and might be worth returning to. So, without further ado, here are the two pieces of writing separated by five years.

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Posted on in 2016, Current Writing, Essays, Gaming

#Buttgate Got Me Interested in Overwatch

What is Overwatch?

Overwatch is an online multiplayer first-person shooter. It’s one of the biggest releases of 2016 and two months before its release I had no idea it existed. Overwatch was developed by Blizzard, a company whom my only previous experience with was playing Diablo II on a relative’s computer. Most people know of Blizzard through World of Warcraft but apparently, they’ve been quite busy since the days of Diablo and WoW. Overwatch represents their first new IP in 17 years.

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