STACK #187 May 2020

FEATURE GAMING

I

I love all three consoles evenly – you know, like what people say about their children!

STACK ROVING REPORTER

“As of September, it will be my 10 years. I was in DVDs part-time, and

when I was little and I did exactly the same thing.” Jack was playing games from an early age, too. “I’ve been gaming since my parents bought

BEST SELLERS at

then about two years after that I got hired full-time and put my hand up for games coordinator.”

Date ending: 24/04/20

SHOP TALK

I n these somewhat strange times that we’re going through, many are finding solace in Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch. Jack Kerrigan at JB Home in Gepps Cross is no exception. Not only is it currently his best seller, he’s also spending quality time playing it with his partner. “ Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been the big one for us so far. We were sold out in a couple of hours, it was insane! I share a Switch with my partner and we’re on the same island, so the first thing we realised was ‘Oh, we have to share our resources’. There was a lot of bickering at first, but now we’ve learned to share and plan together, which is fun.” Jack’s been at JB for almost 10 years now, getting his start as many other store veterans did. 1980: A legend was taken from us all too soon in former Beatle John Lennon, we found out who shot JR, Pac-Man gobbled dots – and the world’s coins - while a new toy hit the shops, the Rubik’s Cube. That last word wouldn’t figure yet in Nintendo’s catalogue, but they did release the first of what became a huge range of LCD Game &Watch handheld video games… It wasn’t until May in 2002 that Australia was able to be acquainted with Nintendo’s very own cube, the GameCube console. Looking somewhat akin to a Fisher Price toy with its boxy plastic shell and built-in carry handle, it was actually quite the powerhouse games machine for the time. While MAY

1 ANIMAL CROSSING : NEW HORIZONS SWITCH 2 FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE PS4 3 MARIO KART 8 DELUXE SWITCH 4 FIFA 20 PS4/XB1/SWITCH/PC 5 CALL OF DUTY MW STANDARD PS4/XB1/PC 6 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA BREATH OF THE WILD SWITCH 7 GRAND THEFT AUTO V PREMIUM ONLINE PS4/XB1/PC 8 JUST DANCE 2020 PS4/XB1/SWITCH

my family a Yoshi’s Island Super Nintendo pack. I’ve been a gamer since then – mainly consoles, never really PC. I’m a bit lazy, so with consoles I’m just like ‘I know the game works, put in in, I’ll play my little heart out!’” While he started out a Nintendo “I love all three consoles evenly – you know, like what people say about their children! I’m really impressed with the Xbox One X, my partner has the PS4… It’s just about exclusives, if there’s a really exciting exclusive like Death Stranding, Spider-Man or a new Halo game coming, you better believe I want to play that. I love them all evenly, but for the really chilled games the Nintendo Switch is my baby – don’t tell the others that!” kid, Jack finds himself more console agnostic nowadays. plus the first western incarnations of Animal Crossing and Pikmin , the GameCube didn’t set the world on fire as Nintendo had hoped, with sales eventually sputtering out at around 22 million. That was compared to competitor Sony’s shifting of 155 million PlayStation 2 units. Still, while not exactly having the last laugh, Nintendo did find a very good use for their GameCube technology – reinventing it (with just a wee bit of internal tinkering) as a little thing first known as Revolution, but ultimately better recognised as the Wii. As well as going on to sell over 100 million units worldwide, it also introduced gaming to many who had otherwise previously not been

Working in DVDs was fun, but the games section really is the place where Jack belongs. “It’s pretty much in my blood now. I get really excited about parents buying consoles for their kids, when the kids have saved up all their money for it. That’s when it really hits me, and reminds me of

9 MOVING OUT PS4/XB1/SWITCH/PC 10 SNOWRUNNER PS4/XB1/PC

Jack Kerrigan and Poké-pal Squirtle at JB Gepps Cross Home, SA

A little slice of gaming history…

converts. This was mainly thanks to a GameCube prototype accessory that evolved into the Wiimote. So, not such a flop after all! Dragon Quest  (1986) Golden Axe  (1989) Wolfenstein 3D  (1992) Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six  (2000) Mario vs. Donkey Kong  (2004) Alan Wake  (2010) Watch Dogs  (2014) Total War: Warhammer  (2016) GAMES RELEASED IN MAY

previous Nintendo systems had been launched under the watchful eye of Mario, this one took a different tack and let his bro Luigi lead the way, with the original spook-fest that was Luigi’s Mansion . However, despite iterations of Nintendo favourites such as Super Smash Bros. , Wave Race and, eventually, Mario (in Super Mario Sunshine ) and The Legend of Zelda in various guises,

29 years old when Alexey Pajitnov released Tetris

$ 800 million in sales that  GTA V made on the first day of release

82 staff that worked on Half-Life 2 

7 years since The Last of Us  released

1 million units sold in the first five months of  Halo: Combat Evolved

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