STACK #260 June 2026

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What’s your earliest video gaming memory?

MAY 2026

JUNE

Getting a pink PS2 for Christmas when I was seven.

’ s ROVING REPORTER

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

Crash Bandicoot, Stardew Valley, Baldur’s Gate 3.

1 TOMODACHI LIFE: LIVING THE DREAM

What have you been playing most lately?

MADISON PERRIE @ JB Booragoon,WA

2 LEGO BATMAN: LEGACY OF THE DARK KNIGHT

At the moment I’ve been replaying Kingdom Come: Deliverance II , one of my favourite games of 2025, as well as Palia on PC, and Pokémon Pokopia on Switch 2.

3 007 FIRST LIGHT

4 POKÉMON POKOPIA

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

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

5 FORZA HORIZON 6

PS5 from now – it creates variety as I can play older games and still enjoy new releases, and the joys of VR!

Getting to talk gaming all day – new and exciting releases, and different perspectives on games.

6 YOSHI AND THE

MYSTERIOUS BOOK

7 SAROS

GAME EXAM 1. What was the original Super Nintendo game Star Fox known as in Australia? 2. On which console did Final Fantasy VII first release? 3. In 1974, the first arcade racing game released. What was its name? 4. In what year was the original Gothic released? 5. Which legendary arcade manufacturer released the vector graphics Star Wars game in 1983? 6. What was the name of the first UFC game, released on Dreamcast in 2000? 7. What is the name of the alien protagonist in Destroy All Humans! ? 8. Which characters were spawned from the Rayman series, going on to star in several of their own games? Are you up to answering all eight of this month’s game related posers?

8 CRIMSON DESERT

9 MARIO KART 8 DELUXE

10 SUPER MARIO GALAXY + SUPER MARIO GALAXY 2

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ANSWERS on page 44

1 What was the first game that you played? Sonic the Hedgehog on the SEGA Mega Drive. I must have been about six years old, and I can remember the first time I completed the final boss and freed all the animals that Robotnik had captured. My first ‘achievement’! 2 What was the last game that you finished? Probably The Last of Us Part II , because I’m not quite at the end of Ghost of Tsushima yet. 3 What’s your favourite video game/series of all time? What a question! Gears of War , maybe. It’s the reason I bought an Xbox 360 and an Xbox One, so there’s a lasting appeal too. I also thought that the opening missions of Gears 5 were some of the most intense in the series. 4 What do you think is the most underrated video game of all time? Crackdown – no doubt about it. The first one was a gem, with a unique visual style, iconic narrator, impressive open world, an impactful levelling system, and orbs. 5 What’s the game that you most wish you’d worked on? I would have liked to have worked on a Kane & Lynch game. I really liked the underdog personality of the two of them and, as you might be able to guess from the other answers, I quite enjoy a third-person action game.

Global communications manager at IO Interactive TRAVIS BARBOUR

Gears of War

26 JUNE 2026

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