GamingAnt.com

The touble with gaming in Australia

anthonylee@iprimus.com.au — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:44:00 GMT

Living in Australia can be pretty hard on gamers, especially for the people who are strapped for cash. In today’s economy, you need to save every cent, so people aren’t buying games as much as they used to, especially in Australia where prices are ridiculously high in stores. It also doesn’t help when games you may have wanted to get, get banned or heavily edited due to having no R18+ classification for games in Australia. The OFLC, or more specifically Michael Atkinson, is the only person on the OFLC that is against adding an R18+ classification, which needs a unanimous vote for it to be added.

The average age of a gamer these days is 30 years old. With most of the gamers being over 18, one can see why there is such an outcry when games get banned from Australia for being over the MA15+ classification, the highest a game can be rated in Australia. The reasoning behind not having an R18+ classification is to keep those sorts of high impact violence, or nudity, out of Australia and away from children, who might be influenced by the games they play. The common argument against that is with that rating, it should be up to the parents or guardians of the children to keep them away from games which they are not old enough to play, as well as stores asking for ID, not a guy in the OFLC controlling what the people of Australia are allowed to play, especially the people who are legally allowed to do so, which is the majority of gamers.

Apart from the price of games, and the classification, it also does not help when games are released up to a month or two after being released in other places in the world. With all these issues, people have turned to importing games from overseas, which is cheaper, unedited, and getting it before everyone else in Australia.

With games costing so much in stores, more and more people are buying games online, and downloading them straight to the computer through online stores such as Steam, which works out a lot cheaper compared to retail. A perfect example is Left 4 Dead 2, which is selling for $110(AUD) at EB games, while on steam it costs around $60(AUD). The only incentive for buying it retail is for the box, but to pay an extra $50 just for the box, it just does not seem worth it.

The latest controversy surrounding classifications and the OFLC is Left 4 Dead 2 which the OFLC refused to classify it due to the level of violence in the game. Valves, the makers of Left 4 Dead, have modified the game to release in Australia which greatly lowers the visual gore and dismemberment from the game, to lower the high impact violence. With this game being released only 1 year after the first, causing much anger, boycotts and petitions, with people claiming it is too soon, and just like the first, as well as it costing $110(AUD) in retail stores, and now being only a watered down version, it won’t be surprising if Left 4 Dead 2 is not a big success on launch day.

- Antman

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Domain name change

anthonylee@iprimus.com.au — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:31:00 GMT

Finally got the domain name changed. Welcome to Gamingant.com!

- Antman

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site updates

anthonylee@iprimus.com.au — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:48:00 GMT

List of changes I’m trying to do:

the way it looks now, is crap I know haha... and it’s been like this for a couple of months, but I am going to change it until it looks halfway decent.
The domain name. I have had a few problems changing that. terapad says you can have your own domain name if you have one, so I bought gamingant.com but cannot seem to get it working... this is going to be my main priority
New gaming blog. I will try to post one as soon as possible.

Hopefully these changes will be showing up over the next month and thank you for your support.

- Antman

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new name!

anthonylee@iprimus.com.au — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:50:00 GMT

The site has a new name! Welcome to gamingant.com! well soon to be gamingant.com. if you see antman's place written anywhere, tell me and ill replace it with Gaming Ant. next i just gotta come up with a logo...

- Antman

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New forum

anthonylee@iprimus.com.au — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:53:00 GMT

This place has a dodgy forum so i made a new one at http://gamingant.forumup.com.au

- Antman

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The cost of gaming... + Trine review

anthonylee@iprimus.com.au — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:15:00 GMT

Game prices are always causing a stir. Well they do here in Australia anyway, with games now costing over $100AUD for a new release. But these high costing games still get sold. Usually due to the amount of advertising, production cost and all that, so they need a high price to make a profit. There there are games, that are way over hyped, and usually a sequel to something, that no matter how bad it is, will still sell. It seems the price of a game is judged by how well known it is, not the quality of the game. I mean sure, there are decent games out there for high prices, but we must admit, not ALL of them are great moments in gaming… Then there is games that have a higher then expected price, not due to production cost, or hype, but the quality of the game makes up for the price, and makes you satisfied you made a decent purchase. This is what the game Trine comes under.

Trine is an Indie game, created by the team from Frozenbyte, also known for making Shadowgrounds, and its expansions. Before the game even came out, people were complaining about the price of it. Not wanting to pay $30USD (around $40AUD) for an indie game.

It took me almost 9 hours to beat Trine. Now some people might say that’s not that long for a game worth that amount, but a game isn’t just judged by its length, it’s about quality, and the content. I beat Trine in one 9 hour sitting. Now if a game can get me to not put it down for that long, then it must be doing something good. The graphics are great, it has just enough combat and physics puzzles so neither feels too dragged out, and a nice range of skills and abilities to keep you interested. It has replay value, as you only unlock the very hard difficulty after the first play through, plus for the people who try for achievements, there is a wide range to get, which will have you playing through each level multiple times, trying to find that last experience.

I was surprised that I could play through a level a few times in a row, and it rarely got boring, due to the range of ways you can do things. Such as swinging around with the thief, building bridges with the wizard, or just charging through with the knight, or a combination of all of them. And this is just single player! Though co-op is limited to local, meaning you and 2 other friends on the same screen, I have barely heard anything bad about it. It adds another layer of fun to the game, adding co-operation among your friends to get through the levels.

Now, there was one downside to this game that a lot of people have complained about. That is, as I mentioned, the co-op is only limited to local. Frozenbyte, have said they will think about TRYING to add LAN and/or online co-op, if they have enough sales, and the time to work on it.

To answer the original question, is this game worth $30, id have to say yes, it’s the perfect price for it. Lots of people are saying that they aren’t buying the game due to there being no online co-op. Well, that’s their loss, they are missing out on a unique and fun gaming experience, that is a great time filler if you have a few hours to yourself and not sure what to do. But be warned, if you start playing this as a time filler, you may in fact lose track of time, and by the time you notice, its 4am and you have to get up in a few hours like what happened to me! If a game can do that, it’s worth at least $20. But with the features this game has, its replayability, and the co-op it does have, it definitely is worth the $30USD. If it had online co-op, I believe people would be happy to pay $35 - $40 at least. Trine may not have the longest play time to get through it, but what it has got looks fantastic, and deserves your $30.

- Antman

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Antmans Place is now open for business!

anthonylee@iprimus.com.au — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:19:00 GMT

Hi, my name is Anthony Lee, otherwise known as Antman. I live in Brisbane, Australia,I am 19, and studying Multimedia and Graphic Design, with the aim of one day creating my own popular indie game. I have a genetic disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which makes me weaker, but i don't let that get to me, as i love going to the pub and out with a few friends.

I love online reviews, its always good to see other peoples views and opinions. A stand out for me is Zero Punctuation. He is a critic, and a funny one. and the comments about his clips are almost as good as the review itself. the views of one person are not the views of everyone, if only everyone in the world was aware that every single person thinks and likes things differently the world would be a better place.

This is Antman's Place. I created it because ive always wanted my own site, and thought this was a good place to start. I will be adding my views and thoughts to things that interest me in the gaming world and sharing them with the rest of you. This is still a work in progress so don't judge me just yet.

- Antman

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