STACK #224 June 2023

THIS MONTH at

GAMING FEATURE

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STACK’s ROVING REPORTER

What’s your all-time favourite game or game series?

BEST SELLERS at

My favourite game series have been Life Is Strange and The Last of Us. They both have such amazing storylines, and characters that you end up falling in love with.

MAY 2023

MADISON ALLSOPP-TAYLOR @ JB Hi-Fi Geelong,VIC

1 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM

What have you been playing most lately?

What’s the best thing about working in games at JB?

2 HOGWARTS LEGACY

I’ve mostly been playing Stray on the PlayStation 5, as well as the remastered edition of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy .

The best thing about working in games is helping customers with their purchases, whether it’s a family purchasing their first ever console or someone who’s after the latest gaming accessories.

3 AFL 23

4 STAR WARS JEDI: SURVIVOR

You can only have one games console from any era – what would it be and why?

What’s your earliest video gaming memory?

5 MARIO KART 8 DELUXE

Either the PlayStation 3, because of all of the games I played as a kid that would give me massive nostalgia, or the Nintendo Switch because of all of the exclusives that are always fun no matter what your age.

6 DEAD ISLAND 2

It was probably opening up the PlayStation 3 console at Christmas time and setting it up, that was when I started to get into gaming.

7 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD

MERCH MONT H M H of the Can you believe that Pac-Man’s 43rd birthday is coming up? Join the celebrations with some of this cool merch!

8 NINTENDO SWITCH SPORTS

Pac-Man High Score Notebook

9 LEGO 2K DRIVE

Pac-Man & Ghosts Light

10 FIFA 23

Pac-Man Maze Black Mug

Pac-Man Keychain

GAME CHANGERS! A YEAR IN GAMING With players lapping up hot recent hardware arrivals, it was time for the games developers to start pushing them – and push them they did! A raft of great new IPs arrived, as well as several inspired continuations and adaptations of existing ones… 2007

In November of 2007 we were introduced to the intriguing world of Assassin’s Creed , Ubisoft’s stealthy open-world adventuring franchise that has gone on to spawn numerous sequels and even a movie. While fictional, inspiration was taken from actual history, as we met the freedom fighting Order of Assassins, and their opposite, the control-hungry Knights Templar. An interesting plot device was introduced for the player whereby a modern-day man, Desmond Miles, stepped into the shoes of his ancestor, Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad, via genetic memories processed by a machine known as the Animus. To date the influential series has delivered 12 mainline games, plus numerous spinoffs.

As well as Assassin’s Creed , 2007 also saw the arrival of several other new games that both wowed players and went on to become popular, sequel spawning franchises. 2K’s BioShock has already become a heavy influence on several newer

It wasn’t just the thrill of the new in 2007, with established franchises delivering inspiring sequels, or variations on existing themes. Nintendo’s Mario may have been old hat to some decades after he first kicked off his adventures, but in Super Mario Galaxy on Wii he was the star of one of the more innovative gaming changeups in quite a while, heading into space and taking advantage of all that offered play-wise. Meanwhile, Guitar Hero creators Harmonix went solo with Rock Band , delivering licensed songs on guitar, bass, drums, and vocals for a truly social experience, while

games, while Valve’s wicked puzzler Portal has spawned mainstream memes. BioWare’s Mass Effect series has captivated millions, Crytek’s shooter Crysis is soon to have another sequel, and Travis Touchdown’s adventures have continued on from his first outing in Suda51’s No More Heroes . Add the TV series-inspiring The Witcher and movie-launching Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune from Naughty Dog and 2007 really was a banner year for gaming.

Codemasters relaunched their Colin McRae Rally franchise as the still ace DiRT series.

JUNE 2023

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