You guys have any burning questions? About anything? This is Ask Me Stuff, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Leave me a question in the comments below and I’ll endeavour to answer it before the day is out.
Ask Me Stuff
Comments
77 responses to “Ask Me Stuff”
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Nick
Just wondering if imported games with a different classification (say M in the US) are technically allowed within Australia as well?
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James
It depends. It is only classed as a prohibited import if the game has been classified RC, or would be RC if classified.
If the game has been released in Australia without modifications, then Customs should have no problem with it. If it was modified for release in Australia or never released here, then things are a bit less clear cut.
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Mark Serrels
Importing games is legal as long as the game hasn’t been refused classification, as far as I can tell.
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Mark Serrels
When I was young I used to pirate a crazy amount of Spectrum games on tape. I don’t ever recall feeling bad about it, but I was only 7 years old at the time.
I’ve never owned an R4 cart, but had a chipped PS2 when I worked on the Official PlayStation Mag because it allowed you to play non-retail code for review!
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attila
Any news on the Kinect voicecontrol? The MS minion quoted at launch said he expected it late Feb/early March from memory.
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Jason Oliver
My brother changed his country from Australia to the UK (on XBL) the other week in order to download the voice control (they just got it)
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Trjn
If you were to lose your hands in a tragic accident, would you attempt to play games using your feet or would you help develop a new type of mind control interface for gaming?
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Mark Serrels
This was the only thing I thought about during the entirety of 127 Hours. I think I’d probably try and rig up one of those mad control schemes like the guy who played games with his chin.
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Mark Serrels
I lent my copy of DA2 to my sister in-law who is mega pregnant and can’t do anything except waggle analogue sticks all day…
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Ross Moir
Because you haven’t aquired the complete series on DVD yet.
And because the series finished before it jumped the shark. -
Mark Serrels
There’s always Henrik Larsson…
http://cultureofsoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/henrik_larsson.jpg
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Fistbeard McTavish
Have you seen / played a 3DS yet? Was it awesome?
Also… Have you played Dragon Age 2 yet? I loaded up Dragon Age Origins to do a comparison and then wham, my weekend was gone. It was soooooo goooood, even better than 7 gram rocks.
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Mark Serrels
I’ve spent a fair amount of time with the 3DS, although we don’t have one in the office.
The 3D effect is awesome – but surprisingly subtle. You’ll be surprised how quickly you forget it’s there and just sort of go with it.
It’s like when you first watched a Blu-ray on a HD screen – the first ten minutes you’re just sat there going, ‘look how crisp it looks, amaazing…’ then you sort of forget about it and just watch the movie itself.
Needs more and better games.
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The Insufferable Señor Steengo
When does the ICO/Shadow of the Colossus HD collection come out? I don’t care if you have to stuff someone in a burlap sack and roll them into the Yarra to find out!
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The Insufferable Señor Steengo
I did some googling over lunch and came up with this:
http://www.dealspwn.com/wait-christmas-team-ico-collection/
Depressing! Hopefully not true.
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f4cti0n
I have a steak burger for lunch. Made it myself, sure beats McDonalds! Especially handy when you can’t leave work.
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AmbroseIV
Indeed he does.
Burger was too small, chips were too salty, drink cup was 1/2 full of ice (for real!) and it all reminds me why I only get McDonalds a couple of times a year.
Feeding seagulls was more enjoyable than the food – particularly because a big one was fighting off all the others but because he was doing that he missed out on a feed! XD
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Plainview
………………………………………………………………
Ask Me Stuff: McDonald’s Edition.
……………………………………………
Ahoy-hoy, old friend.
………………………….
THE STORY SO FAR?
…………………………………………..
You’re sitting in your car, in the quietest
corner of the McDonald’s car park, waiting for
the “deal to go down”. And your ridin’ dirty – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtwJvgPJ9xw
with a Glock 9mm under the driver’s seat.
Near the drive-thru, (where they keep the bins) you
witness the Hamburglar steal Grimace’s McHappy Meal
before restraining the purple chap in a rock solid
choke hold before pouring a large Diet Coke
onto the popular, friendly monster.
Ronald McDonald is filming this vicious exchange
on his mobile phone.……………………………………..
What happens next?
………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………..
Sausage McMuffin Love & french fry kisses,
Plainview.
……………………………………………
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The Cracks
The giant purple thing that hangs out with Ronald McDonald. http://www.google.com.au/images?q=mcdonalds%20grimace&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1366&bih=667
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Bish
Oh, yeah, I know WHO Grimace is, but it’s just… WHAT is he?
Ronald McDonald is the clown of nightmares, Hamburglar is, well, self explanatory, that bird chick was a, uh, bird lady, but what the **** is Grimace supposed to be?-
Jakob Smolinski
Grimace = brain left-overs after a bad acid trip…
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Jimu Hsien, down with derivatives
Plainview
I will never forgive you for linking me to that clip.Good to see you back, pal!
How’s the telly???-
Plainview
Ahoy-hoy, old sport.
In retrospect, i confess, the link does appear
entirely inappropriate & without moral
justification. Guilty as charged as it were.
If i could turn back the clock, of course, i would
change a great many things with a fierce
vigour and urgency.
Please don’t blame the Chamillionaire, this is just
another Plainview misdeed.
But just maybe, perchance: to err is human, to
forgive is divine?
I await word of the television from places far
away, of distant horizon and
untold mystery.
At present, it is my design to escape this tangled
wilderness and return to something more
civilised; there is nothing further left for me on
this uncharted path, and i must turn back.
My journey threatens to take a
dangerous turn; something that, only now, at
this very moment, seems most immediate and
certain – a clear and present danger if
you will.
Everywhere all i see is red lights and the constant
gnawing reminder that leaving the boat was a most
irreversible mistake and the delusional actions of a
too curious fool; this i know to be true.
Love & kisses, your old friend –
Plainview.-
Dr Q-Bo
I’m starting to worry that the extra dimension you’ve yet to receive would be in good health… You haven’t copped a blow to the noggin have you? It’s this Dr’s advice that any television should be sent via me, so I can assess (for several years) whether it will damage your mental state.
Oh, and there’s a $95 surcharge at the desk.
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Plainview
Doctor, are you there? is that you? Has my
attorney been in contact? I hope these questions
reach you before it is too late; you know what
i mean and you know what to do. Make
haste! Alas, i am hopelessly lost and
without safe recourse. Brought this on
myself, as it were.
i got myself into this and I can get myself out
and all that malarkey.
The end is closest to the beginning and it’s
always darkest before the dawn, so to
speak.
Remember, Meredith is to find you at the train
station, 0-600 hours, she has the suitcase.
A straight swap; money for old rope, as it
were.
You’re the man for the job, i can see that now
more than ever. And remember: The Red Fox Runs
at Night.
Over and out and Love as always,
Plainview.
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James Mac
What the hell happened to Ruffles Crisps?
One moment they were on sale everywhere, now, when I want them… they aren’t available anywhere!
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Qumulys
I said Ripples!
ahem!and ahoy there! 😀 I hope these new smarts your gaining are worth it, cause I’m lonely now! grrrr!
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Brewer74
Hey,just be thankfull we got Toobs back. That shit is super tang. And yes, we call them “Chips”
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James Mac
I’ve always called them crisps.
Much like I’ve always said chips instead of ‘fries’.
Chips are something else, bought at a fish and chip shops and given to seagulls. They’re different to crisps, hence the different name.
Beside which, I didn’t want confusion with crinkle cut chips.
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jamesmacusedmyhandle
They are called “Tasty Jacks” in SA now i think, which ever one Arnotts owns….
More of a Kettle Chip Man myself…-
Jason Oliver
Yeah but even Tasty Jacks seems to have disappeared (in Vic at least) all there is now is Smith, Samboy and 152 different brands of Kettle Chip (seriously enough already with the Kettle chips).
Meanwhile they had that competition for new flavours and that Kebab flavour never got up – mighty pissed.
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Dean
Alex Navarro of Giantbomb noted that the reviews for Homefront on metacritic were on average 10 marks higher than those reviews that waited for the embargo to expire. Wondering your thoughts on this. Is this manipulation from a marketing point of view? Or just a coincidence?
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Mark Serrels
I’m don’t necessarily think that exclusive reviews are shady – just that THQ were probably been selective in the outlets and writers they select for ‘exclusive’ reviews, making sure they choose people who had already declared themselves fans of the concept or enjoyed earlier previews.
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CF2K
The Japan situation is so bad, is the Kotaku community planning to do anything to help. As I’m willing to contribute money or something.
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Mark Serrels
I’ll be donating to IGN Australia’s cause, which I think is a great idea – http://au.ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1155622p1.html
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Chuloopa
So they’ve molested Prey… a game i thought was neater than an anal maid! (i also think that’s the name of a movie, but that’s not what i mean).
Did you play prey? how do you feel about this new dude and the fact that it’s basically not goin gto be prey…
In fact, how do you feel about titles that just put another games name on it just so people will say “hey, i remember that – i’ll keep an eye on this one”
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Marathon
Anyone know where I can get a copy of this? Pref on PC. It’s one of those games I missed when it came out.
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Chuloopa
Plenty on 360 here..
I have it on pc – but i love it so i’m keeping it – sorry hehe
on pc on ebay
http://videogames.shop.ebay.com.au/i.html?_nkw=prey&_sacat=1249&_odkw=prey&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313
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Mark Serrels
I played roughly 2 hours of the first Prey I think…
And yeah – the whole sequel but not a sequel thing bugs me. Sometimes it actually drags down a great game. I wish Red Dead Redemption was just called ‘Redemption’. That would have been badass. There was no need for that game to be attached to Red Dead Revolver in any way.
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Brewer74
Just wondering what the go is with the Text all over the Thumbnails from links on the front of the site? I think it looks pretty terrible, and I cant tell what the picture is with all this massive font and writing all over them. I think it is mainly the US guys, but it is really pissing me off! I might be the minority, and if that is the case, I will quietly crawl into a fetal position and move to the corner…
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Mark Serrels
It’s because of the redesign – we’ve got our own redesign in the works and that kind of stuff will be fixed. Awesome feedback though – it’s a good point, and one I’d kinda overlooked.
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Adam Ruch
This isn’t really industry related but site related. It may also take your tech guys a little while to work out, design-wise.
Can we get a better archive system for this blog? I am sure all the old articles still exist, but browsing for them is a giant pain in the ass! A page with all the tags you’ve used alphabetized would be a good place as any to start, I think.
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Mark Serrels
I’ll speak to Mr Ben White – our designer who is hard at work on our redesign. Good suggestion.
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Marathon
Is there any hope for a quality single player FPS experience on the horizon with a good narrative, gameplay etc? Like Half-Life.
Just had more hopes for Homefront soured by the reviews its getting.
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Adam Ruch
Bioshock… Infinite? is coming out eventually, that’ll be awesome.
Deus Ex isn’t FPS is it? But would be another fairly engaging action game.
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Marathon
Oh yes. I’ve sprouted it on on this site a few times that Deus Ex is my all time favourite game.
Mmmm may just have another play through in prep for the prequel. You know what they say, “Every time you mention it, someon re-installs it.”
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Mark Serrels
Homefront has a good universe and a decent story – just average shooting mechanics.
And yeah – I think games will get there. There are a lot of reasons why they struggle, and I think most of them are to do with the way in which games are developed and sold. I’d totally recommend reading ‘Extra Lives’ by Tom Bissell. There’s a great chapter in that about this topic.
And yeah – Bioshock Infinite!
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James Mac
What’s going to be the fallout if LA Noire (made by an Australian Studio) gets banned in Australia?
I’m hearing it’s pretty graphic, and I’d imagine that if it gets RC’d then they wouldn’t be allowed to release it overseas either.
Would that be the deathknell of the Australian AAA industry?
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Adam Ruch
Oh oh I have another one. How come FatShady hasn’t sent me an invite to the Minecraft server?? I want in pleasepleaseplease!
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Grandmaster B-Funk
so if i have heard correct you are quite an anime/manga fan, so my question is, what do you prefer to do, watch the anime of a series, or reading the manga?
i always try and watch/read whatever came first, so if it was a manga first i’ll read that, because that is how the original makers wanted it to be
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crotchdot
8pm, I may be too late to this party, but I think it’d be interesting for Kotaku to ask the more popular import sites why they’re not selling Mortal Kombat to Australians (Play-Asia and OzGameShop, I’m looking at you), and whether there was Australian Government intervention involved, or whether it was simply their own initiative. I mean, I’d do it myself, but I don’t carry the weight of a respected gaming website. That and I’m dead bastard lazy.
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SupremeBeans
Mark – do you have any advice for someone who’s interested in getting into games journalism? How did you navigate the field before getting gigs with several games magazines? How did you go from a PhD on kayfabe and dirtsheets in wrestling to games journalism?
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James Mac
Just checked the MassEffect website.
It’s gone, but been replaced with a blank page and the words: Hello World.
reckon an announcements coming?
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Matt H
I would like to purchase a stand alone xbox 360s 250gb however i have been told from JBHiFi and the like that they don’t do stand alone they are only doing bundles, then in the next breath I am told maybe at the end of March 2011 they will release stand alone units. Are you able to confirm or deny or just make any comment on this. thanks.
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