Tag Archives: video games

Article – My 10 Years With Minecraft.

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TL;DR – I look at the highs and lows of the last 10 years of my Minecraft story, the video game I have probably spent more hours playing than anything else.

Minecraft. Image Credit: Mojang.

Article –

This year is Minecraft’s 10 year anniversary, and if you are like me and can remember when it first came out, well that is one of those numbers that will just make you feel old. In those 10 years, Minecraft has gone from this small Indy darling that you heard about through whispers on the internet to a full-on industry juggernaut. There have been countless videos and tutorials, and while there have been a lot of imitators, nothing has ever reached the heights of the original.

As I thought back through the last 10 years, I had the sudden realisation that I have probably spent more hours in Minecraft than any other game I have played, bar maybe Civilization thankfully Minecraft was never on Steam so there is not a tracker out there with the exact hour count. That was of course then a prompt to get all nostalgic about a simpler time, a time of dirt and cobblestone, and when zombies dropped feathers for some reason.

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Video Game Review – Surviving Mars: Green Planet

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TL;DR – It builds on everything that worked in the base game and then adds features that make it a must play

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Surviving Mars: Green Planet. Image Credit: Paradox Interactive.

Review –

Last year I had a look at a really interesting strategy game about starting the first ever colony on Mars. Just in its name, Surviving Mars, it told you just how hard it would be to build and sustain life on a hostile planet. You could set up a colony only to sit there and watch it die because you accidentally set up a negative feedback loop. But while this can be devastating, the game is always there tempting you to try again, and when you succeed there is so much joy in that moment. While I enjoyed my time in Surviving Mars, it did feel like it had yet to reach its full potential. Well, today we are going to look at the newest expansion Green Planet to see if this helps to fill in the gaps in the base game with copious amounts of Martian concrete.

So to set the scene, you are the commander for the first colony being sent to the red planet. When you arrive Mars is a bleak, hostile, but also a deeply beautiful place. It is a planet filled with promise but also death. You need to build up resources, construct domes to protect your people, provide oxygen and water, and keep it safe from all the disasters that can strike. However, while surviving is fine, there is a next step that you could take. Because what if we can shape Mars to be friendlier, what if we could turn it into a green planet?

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Video Game Review – Diving into Sea of Thieves: Anniversary Update.

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TL;DR – A visually beautiful and fun game, even though there are still a couple of rough edges in places.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Sea of Thieves: Anniversary Update. Image Credit: Rare.

Review –

Last year the world was introduced to Sea of Thieves a game about sailing the open seas, digging for buried treasure, and sinking pirate vessels. As a concept, it looked like a great idea, and I watched a couple of streamers like Stephanie Bendixsen have a lot of fun on the open ocean. However, while it looked like a really fun game the price point was just too high here in Australia for me to be able to dive into it myself, something that has only be amplified by being out of a job for four months. Recently the game released its one-year anniversary update which seemed to add in a lot of the features people mentioned were missing, so I was glad the game was getting continued support. But one day I opened up my email to find a surprise, my friends had bought me a copy of the game. This meant that for the first time I got to explore the world and discover the highs and lows of Sea of Thieves.

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Movie Review – Detective Pikachu (Pokémon: Detective Pikachu)

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TL;DR – I had a smile on my face for the whole film, filled with joy and heart.     

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Detective Pikachu (Pokémon: Detective Pikachu). Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Review –

Before we start I should mention that I am probably the easiest sell when it comes to a live action Pokémon movie. I grew up with the show and the video games, so this is honestly the perfect setting for me if you want to hit that rose-tinted nostalgia that people in the industry crave. With this in mind, I walked into the cinemas with a sceptical mind, but I have to say it got caught up in the world almost instantly.

So to set the scene, we open in on Tim Goodman (Justice Smith), there was a time long ago when he wanted to be a Pokémon trainer, but that time has passed and now he is happy being an insurance claims adjuster (which I think they chose because it sounds like the most boring job in the world if you were a child … or adult). His best friend Jack (Karan Soni) is about to leave town to be a Pokémon trainer and he fears for his friend being left all alone, so they try and catch a Cubone, this way he will have a companion. After that all falls apart they walk back into town only to discover Tim has several missed messages from Detective Hideo Yoshida (Ken Watanabe) from Ryme City where his dad works. There has been an accident and his father has been killed in the line of duty and Tim needs to come to the city to settle his affairs. However, when he arrives he finds someone lurking in his dad’s apartment, a Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) that only he can understand.

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Video Game Review – Civilization VI: Gathering Storm Expansion

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TL;DR – While the big up-front features are interesting, for me it was a lot of the small quality of life changes that really stood out

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. Image Credit: Firaxis Games.

Review –

Now, if you have read anything on our site before, you will likely know that I quite like the Civilization series. Well, I have had my hands on the new expansion Gathering Storm for a couple of weeks now and have been able to play a number of games with many of the new civilizations, so I think I have reached the point where I can give the game an informed review. With that in mind in today’s review, we will be looking at the civilizations, the main features, the improvements, and then the production to see what sort of expansion Gathering Storm is.   

So to set the scene, if you are not familiar with the game, Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy game of the 4X persuasion. This means that instead of moving all at once, each player takes their turn to build wonders, move troops, and explore the map or whatever they are trying to do. Your aim is to build the biggest empire through economic, military, scientific, cultural, or religious means (or all of the above). Thus you eXplore, eXpand, eXpolit, and eXterminate. Gathering Storm is the second expansion pack for Civilization VI after Rise and Fall, which has historically meant that this is the last expansion for the game, but we’ll see about that.

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Map-It Civilization VI: Gathering Storm Full Map

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TL;DR – Every single feature of Civilization 6 (at time of posting) in one map

Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. Image Credit: Firaxis Games.

Article –

This week, well two days ago at the time of writing, the new and second expansion for Civilization VI called Gathering Storm was released. It added new Civilizations, City States, World Wonders, Natural Wonders, and most interestingly Geographical Features (see all new features HERE). With that in mind, I knew I had to immediately jump in and update our Full Civilization VI Map.

Now as always, a couple of notes before we start, first the Civilization boundaries on the map are based more on clarity than anything else, so in most cases, they conform to their modern counterparts. We have also worked using the commonly implemented political borders, not necessarily what nations claim, and this means making some judgement calls which you will see below. Also, while all attempts have been made to make sure that everything is accurately placed, putting this together meant working from multiple different sources, and map projections, and as such, no matter how much you try there might be some slight discrepancies here and there.

Finally, after the break there will be a lot of large images, so now is the time to check that you are on WiFi and are not using Mobile Data.

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Eleanor of Aquitaine First Look and Analysis – Civilization VI: Gathering Storm

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Eleanor’s Bonuses

Eleanor of Aquitaine leader of France in Civilisation 6 Gathering Storm


Civilization Leader: Eleanor of Aquitaine
Leader Agenda: 
English Capital: 
French Capital:  
Leader Bonus: Court of Love – Great works in Eleanor’s cities leads to a loyalty deficient in other civilization cities withing 9 tiles. If a city leaves a civilizastion and Eleanor is the the Civ with the most loyalty pressure the city skips the Free City phase.

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Phoenicia First Look and Analysis – Civilization VI: Gathering Storm

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Dido leading Phoenicia in Civ 6 Gathering Storm.

Phoenicia Bonuses

Civilization Leader: Dido
Civilization Agenda: Sicilian Wars – wants to settle coastal cities. Likes those who settle inland. Dislikes those with mostly coastal cities.
Civilization Capital: Tyre
Civilization Bonus: Mediterranean Colonies – embarked Settlers get +Movement & Sight, Cities on the coast on the same Continent as the Capital will always be Loyal
Leader Bonus: Founder of Carthage – Can move the Civilization Capital to any city with a Cothon by completing a Special Project, +Trade Route for every building in the Government Plaza, +Production to Districts in the same city as the Government Plaza.
Unique Unit: Bireme – +Combat Strength & Movement, protects near by Trader Units
Unique District: Cothon
Rivers: Litani River
Deserts: Tanezrouft Basin

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The Ottomans First Look and Analysis – Civilization VI: Gathering Storm

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Suleiman of The Ottomans in Civilization 6 Gathering Storm. Image Credit: Firaxis Games.

The Ottomans Bonuses

Civilization Leader: Suleiman
Civilization Agenda: 
Civilization Capital: Istanbul (not Constantinople)
Civilization Bonus: Great Turkish Bombard – +Production of Siege Units, +Combat Strength for Siege Units, Conquered cities do not lose populations, Cities not founded by The Ottomans get +Amenities and +Loyalty.
Leader Bonus: Grand Vizier – Can use Ibrahim a Unique Governor
Unique Unit: Janissary – Starts with a free promotion, Stronger and cheaper than the Musketman, cost a Population to build (unless built in concurred city)
Unique Unit: Barbary Corsair – Cost no movement to Coastal Raid, Can not be seen unless units are right next to it.
Unique Building: Grand Bazaar – extra accumulation of Strategic Resources in city boarders, + Amenities for each improved Luxury in the city boarders 
Rivers: Litani River, Kızılırmak River  
Mountain Ranges: Balkan Mountains
Deserts: Tanezrouft Basin

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Movie Review – Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

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TL;DR – While there is some clear potential in the interactive story model, my particular playthrough of Bandersnatch was less engrossing and for me more frustrating than anything else.     

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

Black Mirror is a series that is always looking to be on the cutting edge of narrative storytelling. It twists worlds in on itself, leads the viewer down the garden path only to cut their legs out from underneath them, or destroys the nostalgia we have for the past, or indeed the hope we have for the future. So, when it dropped a couple of days ago that there would be a feature-length episode, well that was some interesting news, but then when it was announced that it would be a ‘chose your own adventure’ with multiple endings and user interaction, well this went from intriguing to must watch in a heartbeat. However, now that I have seen it I feel that maybe the idea did not match the execution. Also, because this is a chose your own adventure, it actually makes it difficult to review because my experience is going to be possibly a lot different to what yours will be. Maybe I just drew the short straw and hit all the frustrating options, maybe you’ll be luckier than me, which from the discussions on the internet might just be the case, I just simply do not know. Well with that in mind let’s take a dive into a world with multiple paths and endings.

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