Tag: Australia

Feature

Aussie esports go global with Australian Cyber League

This article is part of a collaboration with iQ by Intel. A new partnership between the Australian Cyber League and Electronic Sports League gives the country an edge in worldwide competitive gaming. The Australian professional gaming scene has seen a boom in recent years, reaching ever further into the mainstream with the help of the Australian Cyber League’s new partnership. From Andrew Masterson of the Sydney Morning Herald  declaring that, “Your mum was wrong, videogames are not a waste of time, especially if you’re playing League of Legends (2009) for $3 million,” to Leigh Sales of the 7:30 Report stating that “competitive online multiplayer…
Feature

Fixing Australia’s game rating system for the digital age

This article is part of a collaboration with iQ by Intel. Australia is notorious for its strict approach to media bans and classification, coming down hard on videogames in particular. While the Australian Classification Board (ACB) has softened since the introduction of an R18+ adult rating in 2013, the list of banned games continues to grow. The more recent among them range from the hyper-violence of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, to the juvenile humor of South Park: The Stick of Truth. Aside from bans, many criticized the classification process itself, seeing it as a long and costly burden on creators and…
Feature

Revisiting the gloriously weird games of Australia’s golden age

This article is part of a collaboration with iQ by Intel. The Play It Again project preserves Australian games from the 1980s, one of the most creative and bizarre times for designers in the country. A collaboration between several universities and museum partners, the Play it Again project seeks to digitally preserve—and in the process, reintroduce—Australia’s illustrious videogame history. By making these great Australian games more widely accessible, the project reminds audiences of just how big a hand the country had in shaping game design during the era of power-suits and synthesizers. “We want to save Australia’s important screen history, and we…
Breath of Light
Feature

Breath of Light breathes new life into Australia’s game-making scene

This article is part of a collaboration with iQ by Intel. In 2011, curious creatures took over the music festival “Splendour in the Grass” in Woodfordia, Queensland. Jimmy McGilchrist designed “Curious Creatures” as an interactive exhibit for the public; silhouettes of strange animals were displayed on a large screen, as if fenced in on the other side. Attendees could approach and engage with them: Stick your hand out and the animal would dip its snout toward you; get too close and the large chicken-like thing might cackle and flutter away. By the end, the question of which creatures are meant…