Posts by Logan Booker
News
3:30PM Logan Booker | Independent games need all the support they can get… as long as it’s not from a publisher. Kind of makes it dependent, really. But aside from publishers, you could always give your favourite indie game a leg-up, and nominate it for the GDAA’s 2008 Independent Game Awards. Heck, if you have a title on the boil, this could be your big chance.
Entries close on October 22, so you have over a month to get yourself sorted – just don’t leave it too long. The finalists will be announced and contacted in November, and must be prepared to make a trip to Brisbane for Game Connect 2008.
Press release with all the details, after the jump. More »
GDAA 2008 Independent Game Awards Open For Business
3:30PM Logan Booker | Independent games need all the support they can get… as long as it’s not from a publisher. Kind of makes it dependent, really. But aside from publishers, you could always give your favourite indie game a leg-up, and nominate it for the GDAA’s 2008 Independent Game Awards. Heck, if you have a title on the boil, this could be your big chance.
Entries close on October 22, so you have over a month to get yourself sorted – just don’t leave it too long. The finalists will be announced and contacted in November, and must be prepared to make a trip to Brisbane for Game Connect 2008.
Press release with all the details, after the jump. More » 
PC Port Of Mercenaries 2, Bad Graphics & Buggy As Heck?
2:00PM Logan Booker | I haven’t received a copy of Mercenaries 2 yet on any platform, so I can’t really comment, but reader Desi is less than pleased with his purchase for the PC version. He makes it sound like an abortion on DVD (urgh):
I cannot help but be wroth beyond measure. The PC version is a port of the PS2 version (couldn’t even give us 360-level graphics) so it has awful graphics; you can’t turn autoaim off, so you can never hit moving enemies; and there’s a catastrophic bug that makes the game freeze when it tries to play a movie — which is literally within the first second of starting up, when it tries to play the EA logo movie.
The only way to get it to play is to rename the movies folder, so that you play with no cutscenes and therefore zero exposition.
IGN didn’t think it was too bad, but I’m reluctant to use a single review as a yardstick. Maybe Desi’s PC just doesn’t like him, or the frustration’s making his eyes bleed. Regardless, let us know if you’re having similar issues.
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Commander Keen Pastes It Up In Adelaide
1:30PM Logan Booker | That’s Commander K. alright! He’s tearing it up as art all over the streets of Adelaide, running, standing, jumping and pogo-sticking his way between brick walls, street signs and other urban areas. Even pixelated, he’s still cute as a 2D button.
The gallery’s dated April 2008, but that doesn’t stop it from being both awesome and sweet. You can visit it via the link below, or hit the jump for some instant additional pics.
Defender of Earth [Flickr, thanks Alex] More » 
Spore Simulates Intelligent Design, Not Evolution
1:00PM Logan Booker | Spore’s about evolution? What are you thinking? It’s not evolution at all! Well, that’s what Tim Dean over at Trembling Hand theorises:
When you’re playing Spore, and you periodically pause to ‘evolve’ your organism, you’re not emulating evolution. But you are nicely emulating the way Intelligent Design works … Every time you meddle, it’s the hand of, um, whatever it is the ID crew think is running the show (just between you and me, I think they might actually think it’s God, but it could equally be a player of MetaSpore in another universe) that is shaping the direction of the organism. Not evolution.
The man does have a point. I’m not sure it’s what Will Wright intended, but that is how the game plays out, in a nutshell.
Spore: The Intelligent Design Simulator [Trembling Hand]
More » 
(My Last) Wrap-o-matic: Thursday Night
9:00AM Logan Booker | Well, today’s my last day as editor of Kotaku Australia. Which means, oddly enough, this is my last morning wrap. Thanks for putting up with me folks; I hope I was able to both entertain and inform, or even just one of those. Though probably the latter, really, with a bit of the former for spice.
Noooooo! George Lucas Involved With Force Unleashed Plot
Please find him another crappy movie project before someone gets hurt.
Diablo III Will Have Its Own ‘Unique’ Battle.net Needs
People play Diablo II like a ghetto MMO, so I can only imagine the demands the third instalment will vomit on Blizzard’s multiplayer service.
More Creepy Game Characters
Kirby, like you’ve never seen it.
Uwe Boll Bitches About Movie Industry, Has Action Plan
Oh, not this crap again. More »
News
5:00PM Logan Booker | Seems Pete Hines is quite talkative now! First the news that the Aussie-edited version of Fallout 3 is the only version, and now the one (yes, single) change made to the game to conform with classification guidelines. First, some background from Pete:
The chems in the original Fallout used fictional names…Buffout, Jet, Rad-X, etc. Those all appear in Fallout 3 in exactly the same way as before. We had added a new chem to Fallout 3 and had given it a real-world name, Morphine. Questions were raised about the use of that real-world drug, not only in Australia, but other territories as well.
Even though Australia’s a good example of classification gone wrong, I understand it’s not the only country with issues. So, what concession was made to appease aging conservatives the world over?
This Is The Only Change Made To Fallout 3
5:00PM Logan Booker | Seems Pete Hines is quite talkative now! First the news that the Aussie-edited version of Fallout 3 is the only version, and now the one (yes, single) change made to the game to conform with classification guidelines. First, some background from Pete:
The chems in the original Fallout used fictional names…Buffout, Jet, Rad-X, etc. Those all appear in Fallout 3 in exactly the same way as before. We had added a new chem to Fallout 3 and had given it a real-world name, Morphine. Questions were raised about the use of that real-world drug, not only in Australia, but other territories as well.
Even though Australia’s a good example of classification gone wrong, I understand it’s not the only country with issues. So, what concession was made to appease aging conservatives the world over?
News
1:30PM Logan Booker | Dead Space might have been banned elsewhere, but in Australia, it’s free and clear with not one, but two MA15+ ratings – one granted on April 21, and another on August 29.
A few readers touched base about the anomaly, with concerns that something might have been altered, given how touchy our classification laws are. Turns out there’s no need to worry – EA Australia has happily confirmed that nothing’s been changed, and that the later submission was just a courtesy. How kind of it!
Dead Space search results [Classification Board] More »
Why Does Dead Space Have Two Classifications?
1:30PM Logan Booker | Dead Space might have been banned elsewhere, but in Australia, it’s free and clear with not one, but two MA15+ ratings – one granted on April 21, and another on August 29.
A few readers touched base about the anomaly, with concerns that something might have been altered, given how touchy our classification laws are. Turns out there’s no need to worry – EA Australia has happily confirmed that nothing’s been changed, and that the later submission was just a courtesy. How kind of it!
Dead Space search results [Classification Board] More » 
Sidewinder Is All About Mice
1:00PM Logan Booker | Years ago, I was wary of mice priced above $60. I just didn’t understand the difference between cheap and expensive models. And then I came into possession of a Logitech MX500, and I was a changed man. It might have been more to do with the fact I upgraded from a Honeywell, but regardless, I had a new regard for quality peripherals.
Microsoft’s gone a bit peripheral-mad of late, with the most recent instalment being the Sidewinder X8. Older gamers will remember Sidewinder as MS’ joystick brand, but it’s been expanded to included gaming-orientated keyboards and mice.
Going by the press release (after the jump) it sounds like your standard “gaming” mouse – wireless, DPI switching, seven buttons and macro recording. There’s the mystical “BlueTrack Technology”, which has MS all excited, but doesn’t mean much to anyone else.
I don’t know if the X8 is worth $150, but I quite liked the Habu, so who knows. Hit the you-know-what for more info. More » Wrap-o-matic: Wednesday Night
11:00AM Logan Booker | No More Heroes Conceived While On The Toilet
What, you’ve never heard of the toilet epiphany?
Left 4 Dead Demo Coming For Xbox & PC
Happy and joy: two things you should be feeling right now.
Frankenreview: Spore
Will Wright’s best simulation title yet, or a gigantic flop? See what the major gaming sites have to say.
NC Europe, NC Austin and ArenaNet Transform to Become NC West
I guess they levelled up.
BioShock PS3 Versus BioShock 360
I know, I know! One’s on PS3 and the other… is on Xbox 360! Do I win anything?
Read The ‘Ensemble, You’re Done Here’ Email From Microsoft
Sad email is sad. More » 
JB Hi-Fi Cuts Price On Preowned Games
1:00PM Logan Booker | In the market for a second-hand game? Anthony from EcoGamer sends word that JB Hi-Fi has done some price tweaking on its range of preowned titles. Here’s a teaser:
- Assassin’s Creed $34- Devil May Cry 360 $39, PS3 $49- COD4 $49- Viva Pinata $14- Haze PS3 $34- Lair $34
The rest, over at EcoGamer.
JB Hi-Fi Preowned Price List [EcoGamer]
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