STACK #225 July 2023

THIS MONTH at

GAMING FEATURE

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STACK’s ROVING REPORTER

What’s your all-time favourite game series?

BEST SELLERS at

Red Dead Redemption is my all-time favourite game, but Fallout is my favourite game series.

CAMERON STEPHENS @ JB Springvale,VIC

JUNE 2023

What have you been playing most lately?

1 DIABLO IV

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

I’m playing Star Wars Jedi: Survivor . I’m a huge Star Wars fan and it fulfils my dream of being a Jedi! I’m trying to get through that as quick as I can, so I can start The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom .

2 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM

I love being part of the experience. Seeing new games come out, helping customers make decisions on games software and hardware, and the sense of pride I have in the look of my department.

3 FINAL FANTASY XVI

4 HOGWARTS LEGACY

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

My brother and I got a NES for Christmas. We took it to our family Christmas lunch and my uncle showed me how to clock Super Mario Bros. with pipe portals.

An old school Nintendo Entertainment System. It holds a very special place in my heart and it’s responsible for my love for video games.

6 STREET FIGHTER 6

7 F1 23

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10 STAR WARS JEDI: SURVIVOR

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2008

GAME CHANGERS! A YEAR IN GAMING As sequels continued to pour in, and music game franchises such as Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and SingStar kept wannabe popstars busy, hot new hardware arrived, user-generated content found a new champion, and two sworn enemies came together…

If you take a peek into a gamer’s storage nowadays, you’ll likely find a Wii Balance Board. But if you looked at their setup in 2008 the device, looking akin to an elongated set of bathroom scales (which it basically was), was probably found in pride of place. Packed with the Wii Fit game for Nintendo’s all-conquering Wii, which presented a bunch of minigames themed around such workout pursuits as yoga, aerobics, and strength training, the idea was to harness your Wii to increase your fitness. While it’s a thing of the past now, Wii Fit and sequel Wii Fit Plus have sold a combined 43.8 million units, making it the 13th

With a cry of “Play, create, share”, a new breed of puzzle infused platformer arrived on the PlayStation 3 in the shape of LittleBigPlanet . Complete with an insanely cute protagonist in Sackboy (not to be confused with a similarly named Trainspotting character), the PS3’s

If you were gaming in the 1990s one thing was absolute: the rivalry between Nintendo and SEGA was full-on. What was basically a war between the two console companies was fought in many ways by their two mascots, ever-reliable Mario, and speedy-come-lately Sonic the Hedgehog. So, when a game called Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games was announced, coinciding with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, eyebrows were raised by gamers worldwide. While the very nature of Olympic

then fairly new PlayStation Network allowed more online interactivity than ever before, and it was this service that LBP harnessed. While there was plenty to do without getting into the online space, those who ventured in could create their own content with the game’s creation tools, then share it with the world, while also enjoying (or otherwise) content made by others from all over the globe.

events saw the two mascots and their various compatriots competing against other, it was still seen as a massive de-escalation of hostilities, one that has continued every four years since.

best-selling game ever. That’s a lot of cupboard space!

36 JULY 2023

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