Latest News And Features

So, Tol Barad. How about that Tol Barad.

While wangling my way around the Twilight Highlands I decided to queue for PVP - mostly because the ‘Guild’ button is J and the ‘queue for PVP’ button is H, so when I jammed H instead of J and saw Tol Barad was on in some 4 minutes, I had to check it out. I’m writing a WoW diary, after all.

I saw two Alliance while there. As it turns out Blizzard recently patched TB to give 1800 Honor Points(HP) to the side that wins TB, while the losing side gets 180 HP. (This was hotfixed today, the winning team now only gets 360 Honor).

On Barthilas this has translated into win trading. For those not familiar with the concept - the Alliance takes Tol Barad, facing little to no resistance as they do. After two hours and 30 minutes the Alliance let us take it back with ease. Anyone in the run scores an easy 1800 HP and everyone leaves one step closer to PVP blues.


For whom the bell Tols.

This is kind of cool - using Minecraft and more technical know-how than I have a guy who calls himself mwd has rigged it so his Minecraft server can interact with the real world - well, to a limited extent.

The he can manipulate switches in the building game to activate lights in real life and he can feed the paranoia he has regarding visitors on his server by watching a small panel of LEDs.

Ok, so it's a loose definition of Augmented Reality. Who cares, it's still cool! Watch the video below!

Minecraft Augmented Reality via Hack-A-Day

A few groups of hackers claim to have found their way into the belly of Sony's beast over the last few weeks, discovering the code needed to sign applications so the PS3 will run it.

First announced by fail0verflow at the end of the year and subsequently followed up by Geohot today, the details have been posted on various websites - as well as an interesting announcement conference on youtube.

The video is especially interesting as the speakers discuss the reasons behind hacking the console - as well an in-depth look at what is going on inside the PS3.

As they say in the video, piracy is a reality when a console is hacked but the real focus is homebrew software - those familiar with any other hacked systems might be familiar with all kinds of these. The Xbox had XBMC - still probably the best media player any where - for example.

Watch the video for a little more insight into the thinking behind cracking consoles!

The latest Benny & Richie Show takes us to sunny Afghanistan to check out Skateistan with Oliver Percovich - truly an epic undertaking! Nicky Carle from Sydney FC shows up while Aussie Michael Puterflam breaks the world record for FIFA playing, and finally Dragon Age 2 Producer Heather Rabatich joins the show to talk her game!

Watch the latest Benny & Richie show in our videos library or download it to watch it in HD from our files library!

The R18+ Rating issue gamers in Australia are exceptionally concerned about suffered another blow two weeks ago - but as far as setbacks can be considered, it’s more like a pause than a full stop.

Ahead of the actual decision it was revealed that where the Gillard Government backed the R18+ movement there was a section of the WA government pressuring WA AG Christian Porter to vote against an R18+ Rating.

We contacted both MP Nick Goiran’s office and the Australian Classification Board. The Australian Classification Board responded with ‘no comment’. Mr. Goiran took a bit more time to reply, but we thought it was worth sharing regardless of the timeliness.

On the 9th of December GameArena’s 5 Inch Floppy host, Jeremy Ray, wrote a piece on opinion site The Punch disowning the Australian Christian Lobby - the most vocal opponent of an R18+ Rating - for their sensationalist tactics when debating the issue.

‘Being an engineer is awesome,’ thought Croikey as he clapped his hands above his head - the self hi-five - and activated his Ultrasafe Transporter to Gadgetzan, ‘Lamers without a teleporter would probably have to find their own way to get to Uldum’s starting quest chain, mostly because they’re all chumps.’ He wasn’t capable of not insulting people when thinking to himself, because he’s an *******.

The teleporter finished charging and for a brief period Croikey got the feeling like he didn’t actually exist, despite having the presence to realise his place between space and time. Existential crises during teleporting are probably a normal thing, though he’d noticed there was a distinct reluctance to actually talk about it amongst engineers.

The fact that you occassionally return as your own evil(er) twin probably had something to do with that. It was thinking about the unintentional side effects of using the teleportation device that panicked him the most - there was a pretty good chance he’d appear somewhere outside of Gadgetzan... 100 metres up.


A dramatic re-enactment

The regular crew of Junglist, Heath, Jae, Luke and I are joined for a second week by the legendary Yug - of Mana Bar and Australian Gamer fame - to talk about the highlights of 2010. We discuss our favourite stories and games of the year - plus Yug attempts the Chicken Challenge! This episode goes for 3 hours and contains coarse language.

The GameArena Podcast was listed as one of the Best New Podcasts for 2010, and everyone on the GAP wanted to thank all our fans for making that happen!

The GA Podcast Episode 69 - The Year in Review

There'll be now podcast next week, or the week after - but then we'll be back and... just as good as ever!

This is the last Weekly Update for the year! Andy checks out the new Battlefield Bad Company 2 expansion pack - Vietnam. We check out Pac-Man Championship Edition in the PSP Minis range and a new Lego effort before wrapping up with some more Sally Arnott, because why the hell not.

Watch the latest episode of the Weekly Update in our videos library or download it from our files library to watch it in HD!

When Bulletstorm drops on the 24th of February next year keen players will be able to pick up the 'Epic Edition' of Bulletstorm to get their hands on not just the Gears of War 3 beta, but a whole heap of other content for the game,

...gives players bonus in-game Bulletstorm content when playing online, including 25,000 experience points, visual upgrades for their iconic leash, deadly Peace Maker Carbine, boots and armour.

The Epic Edition will set you back $109.99(RRP) and is only available for the Xbox 360 - though the game itself will be on the PS3 and PC as well. If you're not sure what Bulletstorm is, check out the new video in our videos library.

Me - I want a new PS3. My launch console died last week and I'm starting to have withdrawals. I went to watch Total Recall on Blu-Ray the other day and remembered. Worse, the PS3 isn't the greatest media player in the world, but it smashes the Xbox 360 for usability. Obviously I'm getting off topic - there's a new episode of Street Talk up now, and Sally Arnott is back and finding out what other people want for Christmas!

Watch the latest Street Talk in our videos library or download it from our files library to watch it in HD!