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
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112 responses to “Ask Me Stuff”
I can send a lock of Mark’s hair.
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You can’t – he has no body hair and the hair on his head is slowly wilting away – what will he have left?
I’ll tell you what, how about you send out lock of tads hair instead
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Tad just got a Very Expensive Haircut. I’m too afraid to touch it.
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I nominate that roguishly handsome Blaghman for Kudos a thousand time over!
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Can I get a lock of Blaghman’s hair? His guineapigs wanted me to make a voodoo doll they can bite whenever he makes them dance or hasn’t fed them in the last 2 min.
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!!!
I’ve wanted to know this for a while now, IS there any sort of Collaboration between Kotaku Australia and Hyper Magazine?
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Nope! The only connection is Kotaku’s former editor is now Hyper’s current group editor, and I’m a freelancer for Hyper. The communities probably cross over a bit, but that’s about it. Any collaborations we’ve done with other publications or sites have just been one-offs (like when Laura from GameSpot and I did a piece together and it was cross-published on both sites), and we remain independent. 🙂
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Interesting, I asked because I’ve been an on/off reader of Hyper and I’ve probably been the last to notice a few familiar names in its list of editors, the obvious one being Wildgoose being the Group Editor. (but I already knew this)
As I said maybe I’m just the last person to notice this.
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Probably just a small community of Australian writers.
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Did you eat all the nutella in the house? Because that was my stash.
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We haven’t had Nutella at home for AGES. Also, I don’t eat white bread (which is all we have at home atm). So no, someone else must have eaten the Nutella. I think we have peanut butter?
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You don’t need bread to eat Nutella. All you need is a spoon, or fingers.
And if you mix milo with milk prior to consumption, your doing it wrong.
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Perhaps an obvious one, but how have you found your time with Kotaku. What you expected, better, worse, highlights, lowlights??? You know the drill. How are you settling in?
Also, any pranks for when Marky returns (turn every item on his desk upside down, cover everything in al-foil, that type of stuff?)
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Better – cover everything in LAYERS of clingwrap – man that would be SOOOO sweet 😀
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It’s a lot more time-consuming than I expected! I find myself obsessively checking Kotaku even after work hours, or preparing posts for the next day, or lining up “Remember This” posts days in advance, or formatting posts and scheduling them for the next day. I think the 9-5 part of the job is just getting the regular stuff up during the day while also doing interviews and liaising with publishers, which means if I want to do features or transcribing I usually do that when I get home. Fortunately, I really enjoy what I do so I don’t mind working outside of official work hours.
As for highlights… the community is pretty awesome! It’s really lovely to be able to engage with readers in such a positive and constructive way. But this can also be a lowlight when comments get nasty. :-/
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Do the comments get overly nasty here that often? I always thought that one of the more impressive parts of au kotaku is that it tends not to attract the people that comment on us kotaku (or is it just good moderation?)
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From what I’ve seen as a community member, while every comment was moderated there was a definite lack of nasty comments, though occasional ones would get through at times. Since the arrival of the insta-comments, there’s definitely been an increase in the number of dickweed comments that I’ve read, and I think this stems from us -as a community- not being sure about the use of the report button. If a comment is straight up offensive, insulting, or whatever, then I’m happy to report it, but if there’s someone who is just a bit of a twat, then it feels like it’s overkill to report all of their comments just for that. On top of that, because the insta-comments work on a name-approved basis, if you just drop in to make some inappropriate call or whatever, then it goes straight to the editor’s desk, and they have to deal with it.
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Maybe they need to add a dummy “this user is a wanker” button, people can hit that when they’re unsure and feel like they’re helping (even if it doesn’t actually do anything) and hit report when its actually needed
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I was considering asking Tad to add the exact same thing. Unfortunately I’d end up using it on myself far more than anyone else. :/
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Well, yes. That’s a pretty good description of “wanking” 😛
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That was so good I just clapped you. I’m aware that you couldn’t hear it, but still.
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Or just stream both to double dip for bonus ad revenue to charity?
Also, what are your thoughts about using gaming/online handles out in meatspace? You said yesterday that the Serrels refers to us by username instead of real name and there’s always that fun moment at the meats where people try to work out if they should use real names or the names they’re used to.
So in what situations do you use which names?
Bonus question, because this happens to me, are there people you have known for a while that you occasionally call by their online name out in meatspace (I get called Trjn/Bunny by friends I’ve known for years and I have a friend who is called “Void” more often than he’s called “Sam”)?
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Opened both, got distracted by something else, let them play in the background, completely missed both matches. STORY OF MY LIFE.
As for nicknames, I think it is always preferable to go by someone’s real name (when I worked on Good Game I still preferred being called Tracey to “Rei”, but that’s just a personal preference — I know Bajo liked being called Bajo).
There’s a writer on Hyper, James O’Connor, who I refer to by his nickname, though. It just stuck and now I can’t think of him as James — he will forever be known as Jickle.
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Poor ickle Jickle :p
Just so you know, those streams are going for 24hours (probably about 12 hours left), so leaving it open and watching when you can be bothered is a pretty good idea. You know, seeing as the ad revenue is going to charity and it doesn’t care if it’s in a tab that you aren’t paying attention to.
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Are there anymore ‘Training With The Pros’ interviews coming? If so any chance of finding out who? 😀
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Conversely, will there be any “Training with the n00bs” interviews? Because that would be HILARIOUS!
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I was going to start writing something about learning to not suck at Starcraft. That’s almost the same thing :p
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I could interview a turnip if you guys would like.
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Finally, my 15 minutes of fame.
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Oh man, I could do that so well. “Got any tips? Yeah, hotkeys are over-rated, you can click stuff just as well as you can use a hotkey. Trust me, I’m in gold league.”
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I wouldn’t mind getting interviewed for CSS or CS 1.6 =D
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Drop me an email with your ranking etc. and we can have a chat about this! tracey [dot] lien [at] alluremedia [dot] com [dot] au
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As long as we’re still talking about Harli’s ‘Training with the Noobs’ idea, I’d consider it.
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I retract my offer to interview you. 😛
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you know what…
I actually like this idea. For the lol factor.Especially for fighting games. with video aid.
Like if it were me I would be interviewed for SF4.
“…yea and here’s a pro combo I always use. You jump in, press hard kick, then crouch and hard kick again. Instant 2 hit combo! Whether it hits or fails, back off and do it again!”
“…another pro-tip. Pick Ken. Everyone is afraid of Ken. He is a very unpredictable character, even to himself. When you are mashing buttons like a pro to shoot a fireball, sometimes Ken does a Shoryuken uppercut! And sometimes even a super move! woah! no one will see it coming, not even you.”
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*Throws hand in the air*
Ohhhhh!!!
Over here
Yep! I’m putting another one up today. I’m waiting for more responses to come back from interviewees because I don’t want to run two people from one team consecutively (like I did with Team Immunity last week). I’ve got an interview with an e-sports commentator, because while he may not be a ‘pro-gamer’, I think it would be interesting to hear from a ‘pro-commentator’. 🙂
Do you see ‘gunmetal grey’ tampons financially succeeding and widening the target audience for tampons?
Also have you copyrighted that yet? I’m sure Activision would love to steal that, copyright it and keep releasing the same product every year with a new texture pack until the only people left using them are 12 year old boys.
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I am hanging onto the patent for that. It will eventually become my retirement fund.
Hi, just a after some advice. Buying a new Xbox, what’s the best way of getting the stuff off the old xbox onto the new one?
Using a USB or the HDD cable?
Also if I just log onto the Xbox live on the new Xbox what can I retreive from the cloud?
Many thanks.
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DLC can be redownloaded on a new console, but you will need to reassign the licences to the new console. You can find out more, and start the process, here.
Your gamertag can be recovered onto the new console with no problems via Live.
Installed games will need to be reinstalled.
Saved games were the problem, though. As far as I know, it’s a lot easier now, as you can us USB flash memory (<16Gb) as storage, so you should be able to transfer your files easily with a memory stick.
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Hope The Cracks answered your question. 😉
ps. Thanks The Cracks!
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Kool, thanks The Cracks for the help.
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Would you buy this on the strength of the listing?
Your thoughts on bacon? CHOOSE YOUR ANSWER WISELY!
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Is there something better than best? Because that’s where I hold that delicious porcine goodness.
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Cheesecake. Cookie dough. Both things are better than bacon.
Though bacon is more versatile that cheesecake. But cookie dough is also quite versatile. This is making me hungry.
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Then you’ve probably never had REAL bacon.
The best bacons are made from wild boars which have gored at least 5 jaguars in its lifetime.
They are then caught and fed tabasco sauce and Mother for a week. They are then given a pistol and sent to infiltrate Iraq. The ones that make it back alive with enemy info are awarded a blue ribbon, then they are promptly slaughtered and made into bacon.
This bacon is infinitely better than cookie dough…
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Shiggy, I am still disappoint in you.
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I agree with this. You’re breaking my heart, man!
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D;
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In moderation…
What do you do in your time outside the 9-5 Kotaku(excluding still doing Kotaku stuff)? And how much has your time thus far here affected any life you may or may not have had?
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I go to uni (I’m still enrolled as a full-time student)), work as an online producer (at night) for the smh.com.au, learn Indonesian on Tuesday nights, skip rope, and play Lumines (lol).
The only affect Kotaku has had on all the above is I feel a lot more rushed now, and I probably don’t sleep enough.
Why do I keep pronouncing your name ‘Trace Alien’ in my head? :S
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It is not the worst name you can give me.
Jim Wallace of the ACL is on the panel for Q&A next Monday night. Is Kotaku or anyone going to send in a question?
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I’ve already dispatched my favourite T-1000….
What are they discussing? *hopes it’s not games*
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Personally, I am not sending in a question. I think Jim Wallace has had many opportunities to voice his opinion and those for the ACL, and Seamus Byrne has already posed the tricky questions to him on Sunrise.
That said, I think it would be great if Kotaku readers submitted questions to challenge him on Q&A.
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Great idea Tracey!! Send Seamus!!
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Or sweater vests! Prefably both!
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I used to read ‘MANIA’ magazine when I was about 8-10, just wondering what parts of the mag you were mostly contributing to. I always liked the sections on films, art & games… and using the attached whoopie cushions.
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I was writing for them from the end of 2007-the beginning of 2010, and as the editorial assistant I was mostly responsible for all the reader pages (Right2Write, all the prize pages, Animania, etc). I also did a lot of gaming stuff, some book and music reviews, and features. It was a very small team of only three people + a designer, so we all wrote everything. I filled in as games editor for a few months when Eliot was on holiday.
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Thanks! So a little bit of everything. I remember it was always quite a small team – once I think it was made up of only two people but it worked, we came back every month for some time.
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I didn’t even realise Mania was still running in 2007! I was reading it around 2002, and it appeared to be struggling against K-Zone and a resurgent D-Mag. I thought it had died!
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Why are ponies so imba?
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What?
Ive got a good one for you that I have been throwing out there:
How did Dead island not get banned or a bastardized rehashing, when it plays quite a bit more violently than that of L4D2, which had to come out with a completely ruined experience upon release?
Im still shocked to this very day that the current version of Dead Island is still on shelves, and have been pushing for ny friends to buy asap just in case!
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The Classification Board works in mysterious ways…
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“Works” seems like entirely the wrong word.
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From what I recall, part of the classification board’s reasons for RC-ing L4D2 originally was because the enemies in that aren’t actually undead zombies – they’re referred to as “infected”. Apparently that crossed some kind of line with the board (perhaps something to do with portrayal of the sick/disabled? Not sure…), which isn’t crossed by plain old undead zombies. This is why something like Dead Rising also gets through fine despite the amount of slicing and dicing and splattering going on there.
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There’s a couple of factors, and they all add up to Tracey’s conclusion. Firstly, the use of the term zombie. While it’s very clear that L4D has zombies as its antagonists(unless you consider the ai director to be the primary bad-guy :P), they chose to call them infected humans, and as part of the fiction they are still alive. Dead Island on the other hand has zombies, some of whom just happen to have the title of “infected,” but all of whom have died first. As trivial and stupid as this sounds, it has a psychological effect and changes how the ratings board sees the game. Of course, Dead Island has human people that you kill, but I’ve only seen like 2 of them, so I can’t comment on how you’re able to destroy them, and if it’s as nasty as what there is with the Zombies.
Another factor is the destruction as it occurs in the game. In my opinion, that featured in L4D2 is more “realistic” than that in Dead Island, and I found that it feels more “visceral.” Admittedly, this one is a fairly subjective point, so whether or not it altered anything could remain a mystery.
As a final thing, there’s also the scale. In L4D you’re dealing with scores of Infected at any time, and you could quite easily kill 5 of them in one blast of a shotgun, or rip three of them apart with a blow from a katana, Dead Island however has comparatively few Zombies on screen at any time(the most I’ve seen was maybe 15, though again, I’m fairly early into the game), and I’ve never had to fight more than six at once.
So, yeah, little things which add up to the point that the review board is silly. (I’m sure there are many other points too, I’m just too lazy to think of them)
I noticed you write for Hyper>> Tracy, +100000
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Hellz yeah! Wrote my first game review for them. 😀
I’ve been thinking about woodchucks.
Specifically the amounts of wood they might capable of throwing if they were capable of throwing wood.
Theoretically speaking, of course.
Your thoughts?
Which game are you most looking forward to in the next few months?
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Arkham City is look pretty darn good.
Do you remember that bit in last week’s Ask Me Stuff when you took a sacred vow to find the info on The Last Guardian that Mark has been holding back and share it with us? How’s that coming along?
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Still keeping it a secret.
Is anyone from Kotaku going to the EB Expo next month here on the Gold Coast? I’m going to safely assume that there will be coverage of it 😛
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I’m pretty sure Mark said somewhere that he would be going to it.
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Sweet, I might spot him there if I end up going!
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I have no plans to go but I don’t know about Mark.
You got any news on Forza 4s multiplayer?
The last was just dominated by 1-2 cars in each class, that was its only flaw.
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Given how much they go on about realism… is it not possible that those 1 or 2 cars are actually superior?
I mean, car makers don’t adjust their cars for multiplayer balance.
I recieved a FB pic today from a certain other aussie ‘news site’. i told them the photo was sexist and peurile. A conversation ensued with myself defending the statement. i am now bannned. it was interesting to note that my comments were deleted and the banning began when I said kotaku was better. Perhaps you could do a follow up to your previous piece (the email conversation) and ask WHY its ok for editors to post said demeaning photos on FB in order to gain readership??
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Strangely the editor is Ex hyper
Where in south west Sydney are you from Taacey?
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Damn fingers 🙂
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