The Queensland Games Festival (formally known as Game On/GO 423) is the biggest celebration of games made right here, in sunny Queensland. Held on the 22nd of July at the Brisbane Powerhouse, this year Zed Games got to witness more games, more developers, more teams, and more interest in this wonderful event.
Our role? To host the Game Dev Hot Seat throughout the day, interviewing devs live on stage so that they may tell us all about their projects. With a massive variety of games, from narrative to first person shooters, to VR games to board games, and games that blend the borders between them all, at this year’s Queensland Games Festival we got to see it all! And after a long day of gaming, it was a tonne of fun to wrap up with an End Game session, with notable figures in the games industry duking it out against the game-master (with a bit of help from the audience!).
On top of that there were also a number of workshops, and discussions, such as the Emerging Developers Room, for those taking their first steps into the industry, and Gameloft Creative Kids, where children had the chance to meet the artists behind My Little Pony, and create some art of their own.
Missed out? Want to know what was shown? Got there and had so much fun and want to check out the games? Here you go:
AND Metal Evil, Halloween Cat-tastrophe, On Point VR, Maiwar VR, Curses and Covens, Gem Hunters, Battlemage vs MechaDinos, Scarlet Pages, and Fossil Diggers VR!
The Queensland Games Festival is made possible with government support through Screen Queensland’s Culture Funding program.
Activision Blizzard’s Free-To-Play News Earlier this month in an Overwatch press release, it was revealed that the new evolution would be going free-to-play to commit to “…an always-on and always-evolving era… for many years to come.” Since then it has been revealed that they will be going against the model announced at BlizzCon 2019, where Overwatch prime and Overwatch 2 could play together. Rather, that because the monetisation model will now be free-to-play, the release of Overwatch 2 on October 4 will replace Overwatch. The Overwatch development team have confirmed that “Content unlocked in Overwatch will automatically carry over…” and matchmaking ratings will not be reset. In other news, the release of free-to-play Diablo Immortal in China, possibly its biggest market, has been delayed by NetEase at the last minute. It is speculated that this is not due to the newly found hidden mechanic of upgrading legendary gems pushing the average monetisation cost to max-upgrade a single character to over $500,000, but rather a Weibo post from Diablo Immortal’s official account which translates to “Why isn’t the bear stepping down…” This account has been banned from making further posts and hosting company NetEase could see further restrictions by the government which would affect other Blizzard titles distributed by NetEase in China such as Warcraft and Overwatch.
Minecraft gets the banhammer out Microsoft has upgradedMinecraft server moderation powers with in-game chat reporting coming to Realms and private servers to Java Edition in the 1.19.1 update. Players will now be able to report in-game chat text for violations of Minecraft’s Community Standards from within private servers. These reports will be reviewed by moderators, who will have the power to ban accounts permanently from online play, and may expand to the marketplace and Minecraft Earth. Players may lose access to their own worlds, as per Bedrock-edition Xbox bans. Reviews of bans will be available with players able to submit a case review if the ban does not infringe on Minecraft’s Community Standards, invalidate the End User Licensing Agreement, or break the Terms and Conditions.
Nintendo Direct Mini goes Big Nintendo had a Direct Mini Partner Showcase June 28 announcing several new games coming to the Switch in the next year. Some notable announcements were… Return to Monkey Island is coming to Switch as a console exclusive. The highly praised and long awaited game from the original developer and writer Ron Gilbert, Return to Monkey Island was announced as “launching first for consoles on Nintendo Switch this year.” So, while no release date has been set, it sounds like Switch players will be first to walk the plank. Persona 5 is finally coming to Switch. After being announced at the Microsoft and Bethesda Games Showcase this year as coming to PC, Xbox, and Game Pass October 21st with Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable coming in the future, Switch fans were feeling left out. But after rumours swirling around for years, it has finally happened. The Switch port for Persona 5 Royal has been confirmed to be releasing the same time as Xbox, leaving only those with a Steam Deck and Switch able to go portable with this JRPG. Oh yeah, and Portal 1 & 2 are now out on Switch, so that’s also a thing that happened.
This week in game releases On Thursday June 30 comes comedic adventure cross space combat game The Galactic Junkers to PC, Xbox One and PS4. The 30th is also day of the DLC’s, where Cuphead gets The Delicious Last Course for PC, Xbox One and Switch, Monster Hunter Rise gets Sunbreak for the Switch, and Outriders gets the Worldslayer “Upgrade” for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. And Friday July 1st the EA Sports Racing Sim F1 22 comes to PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. Also on the 1st, the 8-bit collection Parasite Pack containing 2D platformer Flea! and the grid-based challenge Tapeworm Disco Puzzle is coming to Xbox, PlayStation, and the Switch.
This week Tobi brings you the latest in Gaming news, Zahra interviews the wonderful Dylan from Vault Games and Maylee takes you home with a review of Dorf Romantik.
In studio: Razor, Lee May, Jody Macgregor, Candi Payne. This week: Lee and Razor review The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a stunning open world RPG based on the Polish novel series. Jody talks about steampunk/minigolf game Vertiginous Golf (PC). Aired 27 May 2015.
In Studio: Razor, Lee May, Jody Macgregor and special guest host Tim Dawson from Witchbeam.
This week: Jody reviews Pillars of Eternity(PC), an epic role playing game forged in tribute to the isometric RPG’s of the 90’s/early 00’s. Lee & Razor discuss their first impressions of Bloodborne (PS4). Tim gives us an update on the progress of twin-stick shooter Assault Android Cactus. Aired 1 April 2015.
In studio: Lee May, Jody Macgregor, Candi Payne and Razor.
This week: Razor talks about Final Fantasy Type-0 HD(PS4/XB1) an action RPG ported from the 2011 PSP version. Jody review Three Fourths Home (PC) a visual novel about a conversation that a family has while driving home from a holiday. Lee provides some first impressions of Final Fantasy XV‘s demo, Episode Duscae (Bundled with FF Type 0 HD).
In studio: Jody Macgregor, Lee May, Candi Payne & Razor.
This week: Jody, Lee and Razor review Dungeons & Dragons: 5th Edition; we discuss the history of the original pen and paper RPG and detail what is new with the latest iteration. Included is a bonus audio clip from the first session. Special thanks to guest players Grace and Sky from the 4ZZZ Book Club. Lee gives some first impressions of Dying Light. We recap the week in gaming news headlines including the Sega’s company restructure. Aired 4 February 2015.
This week, we shine a spotlight on some of the best mobile “rogue-likes” including Pixel Dungeon, Out There & Hoplite. These games are incredibly addictive and best of all, free or very cheap!
Lee stops short of giving Bound By Flamea glowing review.
In this episode, Razor returns to Middle Earth to review LEGO The Hobbit. Available for PS4(reviewed)/XBONE/PS3/360/Wii U. 3DS/PSV version also available (not tested).
Guest reviewer Sean Mccarthy (the devil’s favourite minion) provides first impressions of Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls (PC).
The crew have an impromptu discussion about whether it’s better to play alone or with strangers.
