STACK #192 Oct 2020

GAMING FEATURE

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She said, ‘It was something like day, week, month, year…’ I’m like, ‘Fortnite?’ and she said ‘Yeah!’.

I

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something I love is always a good thing. I

and she said ‘Yeah!’.”

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When it comes

also really enjoy it when parents come in confused and they’re not sure what

to all-time top games, two franchises

stand out for Beau. “ Kingdom Hearts and

Date ending: 18/09/20

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they’re looking for, and I can find it off the most obscure description ever.” Beau has a classic tale of one such befuddled parent whom he was able to save. “My favourite was a lady who came in for a game and she couldn’t remember its name. She said, ‘It was something like day, week, month, year…’ I’m like, ‘ Fortnite ?’

World of Warcraft , hands down they’re my favourites. I got so excited when they announced Kingdom Hearts III was finally being released. World of Warcraft I play mostly because I found my aunty through the game, and we’d been distant for like 12 odd years.” A love of the wild Kingdom Hearts extends to Beau’s home. “I have an artwork of Sora from Kingdom Hearts that a guy in Sydney drew up. I bought it and it’s framed up in my loungeroom.” At the moment, like many of us, Beau’s getting his hero on. “I just got the new Marvel’s Avengers , so I’ve been playing that, and Fairy Tail on the Switch.” As for what’s coming up, Beau’s longstanding love of PlayStation shines through. “I’m keen for the new Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time . Super-keen for that one, I grew up on Crash.”

S ometimes you luck out and enter at the top. It was like that for Beau Doble, the games coordinator at JB in Bathurst since it opened. But speaking with him, it’s clear that his landing the position wasn’t down to luck. Beau’s been playing since he was a kid, and perhaps appropriately, his first gaming memory is of Alex Kidd . “ Alex Kidd on the SEGA Master System. I was really little, I used to call it ‘Burger Boy’. That was the first console that we ever had.” That humble platformer sparked a keenness for gaming that remains in Beau today. Ask why he enjoys working with games, and he’s effusive. “For me I grew up on gaming, so it’s always been a huge part

1 SUPER MARIO 3D ALL-STARS SWITCH 2 TONY HAWK’S PRO SKATER 1+2 PS4/XB1 3 NBA 2K21 PS4/XB1//SWITCH 4 MAFIA: TRILOGY PS4/XB1 5 MARIO KART 8 DELUXE SWITCH 6 ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS SWITCH 7 MAFIA: DEFINITIVE EDITION PS4/XB1 8 RING FIT ADVENTURE SWITCH 9 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD SWITCH 10 GHOST OF TSUSHIMA PS4 franchises ever: Call of Duty . The first-person shooter has become a typically annual affair, with its 17th main iteration, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War , out next month. Super Pac-Man (1982) Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out (1987) Mortal Kombat (1992) Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 (2001) BioShock (2008) Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (2012) The Evil Within 2 (2017) GAMES RELEASED IN OCTOBER

Beau Doble at JB Bathurst assembles a few of his favourite things.

of my life, it’s something I’m passionate about. So being able to talk to people about

OCTOBER

A little slice of gaming history…

1987: The first Australian mobile phone call is made, action movie fans lap up Lethal Weapon , Predator and RoboCop , Charlene from Neighbours tops the year’s Aussie pop charts with a cover of ’60s hit The Loco-Motion, and The Simpsons make their TV debut (man!). October of that year also saw the debut of a new gaming console in Japan from massive electronics company NEC. Named the PC Engine, it was designed by Bomberman creators Hudson Soft and boasted seriously capable 8-bit and 16-bit combined hardware. A slew of top-quality arcade conversions – spearheaded by side-scrolling shooter R-Type – saw it gaining

much success in its homeland, and an overseas release was slowly rolled out. Known in the US as the TuboGrafx-16 (clunky name much?) it didn’t arrive until 1989, finding stiff competition from SEGA’s Genesis (aka Mega Drive), and sales were less than stellar. A limited European release dropped the ‘-16’ but still failed to ignite the market. Masses of US units

is happily housed on our shelves. Even now, some of the arcade hits that made it to the machine are outstanding, from Galaga ’88 right through to SEGA’s landmark After Burner …That latter title also made its western arcade debut in October of ’87. Inspired by the movie Top Gun , the aerial combat shooter was one of the first event video games, and hydraulic After Burner machines were an absolute thrill ride.

converted for PAL TV systems were warehoused at one point, only to be rediscovered years later and sold to many collectors who’d missed out originally – one unit of which

Speaking of event games, in October of 2003, Activision

unleashed a title for PC that would be ground zero for one of the most successful game

18 languages that the FIFA franchise has been localised in

3 character classes in Watch Dogs: Legion

20 million copies of Super Mario World sold

55 people that worked on Uncharted: Golden Abyss

7 years that the PlayStation Vita was produced

OCTOBER 2020

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