MARCH 2015 ISSUE

VIDEO GAME FRANCHISES!

COSPLAYCELEBRATION...CosCon 2015 is about to hit Adelaide!Page 107

Game Reviews:

Page 34

Dying LightTerrariaSingstar Ultimate Party& more!

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Game Review & Preview Editors:Nick Getley & Kylie Tuttle

(Sticky Trigger)

Retro Writer: Jess Wilson

UK Writer: Elliott Buddo

US Writer: Serwa Aboagye

Sticky Trigger Writers: Kylie Tuttle Nick GetleyAlex HolmesSam Babu

Nick PearceAaron MilliganBen Rachow Elliott Buddo

Bridget SweeneySean Fox

Miranda NelsonTim Arnold

Matthew RaspeSasha KarenLiam Church

THE LIVE TEAM

INSIDE18 Video Game

Franchises

34 Previews & Reviews

82 Tech & Pop Culture

107 Cosplay

FROM THE EDITORCosplay is a celebration of art, creation, costumes, and character. This month the team at Live talk to some of the most amazing cosplayers around, in anticipation of the first ever CosCon being held in Adelaide, at the Convention Centre. CosCos is brought to you by Gametraders, and is held on Saturday 7 March 2015.

We’re also taking a look at Careers in Cosplay - something that’s on the minds of many. We talk to a number of cosplayers and ask - is there a way to make a living acting out your favourite character and making those amazing costumes?

We also look at game franchises that we love. Some of the best games on any platform are franchises including Assassins Creed, GTA, Super Mario and many others. We look at what makes them great as well as what the future holds for these popular titles.

Our board game specialist, Jess looking over the latest in board games, plus our retro, comics and collectables writers have got some good reading for you this month.

COVER:Featuring Harley’s Joker - www.facebook.com/harleysjoker.Full interview page 146.

MARCHGAMERELEASES!

Get ‘em at

DATE TITLE FORMATS

Scream Ride

Zombie Army Trilogy

Cooking Mama Bon Appetit

Gardening Mama Forst Friends

Assassin’s Creed Rogue

Devil May Cry Definitive Edition

Atelier Shallie Alchemists of the Dusk Sea

Battlefield Hardline

Bladestorm Nightmare

Final Fantasy Type 0 HD

Project CARS

Resident Evil Revelations 2

Ride

Mario Party 10

Grand Theft Auto 5

Bloodborne

LEGO Ninjago Shadow of Ronin

Borderlands The Handsome Collection

The Awakened Fate Ultimatum

Toukiden Kiwami

MX vs ATV Supercross

Tetris Ultimate

05/03/2015

06/03/2015

07/03/2015

07/03/2015

10/03/2015

10/03/2015

12/03/2015

19/03/2015

19/03/2015

19/03/2015

19/03/2015

20/03/2015

20/03/2015

21/03/2015

24/03/2015

25/03/2015

25/03/2015

26/03/2015

26/03/2015

26/03/2015

28/03/2015

28/03/2015

XB1, 360

PS4, XB1

3DS

3DS

PC

PS4, XB1

PS3

PC, PS3, PS4, XB1, 360

PS4, XB1

PS4, PC

PC, PS4, XB1

PC, PS3, PS4, XB1, 360

PC, PS3, PS4, XB1, 360

Wii U

PC

PS4

3DS, PSV

PS4, XB1

PS3

PS4, PSV

PC

PSV

WHAT’S NEW?

On the radar for cosplayers is CosCon in Adelaide on March 7th 2015.It promises to be the first convention for cosplayers full of workshops, demos and photographic opportunities. Whilst exciting for cosplayers, it’s also something for photographers who are interested in learning about taking photos of amazing people who cosplay. Plus we’re told there’s an after party that could be the party to end all parties. Get details from www.cosplaylive.com.au

COSCON 2015

Described as “live out your cop and criminal fantasy” this promises to be an action packed blockbuster. Unlike previous Battlefields, this one is based in the city of Los Angeles where instead of soldiers you take on the role of Special Response police or criminals. There are some very cool new game modes such as Heist, Blood Money, Hotwire Mode, Rescue and Crosshair. Coming out on March 17th you’ll be able to play on PC, 360, PS3, PS4 Xbox One. Get ready!

Pre-order now at Gametraders!

BATTLEFIELD HARDLINE

GAMETRADERS LIVE OPENS IN HORNSBY!Gametraders has just opened a new store in Hornsby, NSW - 3/2 William Street. If you’re in the area drop in and check out the latest Live Store!

IMMERSE VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSETFirebox launches virtual reality headset, from their website, featuring:- A high-quality and affordable foray into the world of Virtual Reality- Easily turn your smartphone into a fully-featured VR headset- Super comfy with face contact foam and adjustable head straps- Compatible with tons of VR apps, 3D movies and immersive games It’s just as exciting to watch someone else experiencing it.

WHAT'S HOT IN THE USGAMING IN THE US

WHAT'S HOT IN THE USGAMING IN THE US

There is always a little bit of antici-pation when a new instalment of one of my favourite games comes out. I’m either going to love it, hate it or sit on the fence about how I really feel! Sometimes developers get the next instalment to a franchise really right, and well sometimes is just a big old fail! Here are a few franchis-es with new instalments I’m keen to play when they hit the shelves this year!

Mario Party 10No one can deny that when Ninten-do bring out the next instalment of a game, its usually a winner! For those of you not familiar, the Mario Party franchise is a series of small mini games and actually the 14th in the series. Strange, considering its called Mario Party 10! Keeping with their tradition of the series, up to 4 players compete against either each other or the CPU on a board-game by participating in the differ-ent minigames on offer. For the first time ever, Bowser (yes, the big boss baddie!) will be centre stage with his own game mode called ‘Bowser Party’ where a 5th player controls Bowser and the other 4 have to fear for their lives! Users will also have the ability to play using Amiibo’s in the ‘Amiibo Party’ function where up to 4 Amiibo’s can play at one time!

This one looks like it will be a win-ner to me! It’s a light hearted and fun game that can be played alone or with a group of friends. And who doesn’t like to play games with friends? :D Mario Party should hit the stores this month!

The Witcher 3: Wild HuntWithout a doubt, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has to be one of the most anticipated games to his shelves in 2015. It was delayed at the end of 2014 which caused some tears and

a little uproar with some gamers, however from the game play and video’s circulting the net right now, its almost guaranteed to be worth the wait!

Picking up from where The Witcher 2 left off, Geralt of Riva, the witch-er, embarks on a new mission as a mysterious army from other worlds known as ‘Wild Hunt’ invades the Northern Kingdom leaving a trail or terror and distruction in its path, whereby a witcher seems to be the only power possible of stopping them! Developers CD Projekt Red have reported that the game will be 30 times bigger than the previ-ous instalments AND has over 100 hours of game play spread over side missions and story mode! I’m really looking forward to the final re-alise and have been itching to get my hands on the game for months! The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will hit the shelves around May 19th. Whilst I could go on and on, I’m only allow so many words each issue, so I will make my next pick short and sweet.

Just Cause 3Hitting the rumour mill some time back, Just Cause 3 is due to be released this year and its defi-nitely one I will be keeping my eye on! Set on a fictional island in the Mediterranean, Rico Rodriguez is the protagonist fighting against the control of the evil dictator, General Di Ravello. Like the previous instal-ments, Just Case 3 will be an open world action adventure game and is pencilled in to hit shelves in late 2015. I’m gonna make a guess at November/December 2015!

Well that’s me for this month as I’ve well and truly passed my word al-lowance, but I would love to hear what your favourite gaming fran-chise is and what game instalment you are waiting for! Peace y’all!

WRITTEN BY serwa Aboagye

WHAT'S HOT IN THE UKGAMING IN THE UK

WHAT'S HOT IN THE UKGAMING IN THE UK

Hello fellow readers! This month’s issue is all about franchises – what makes them so good and what’s keeps people coming back to play-ing the next instalment. My best memories as a kid were hearing that a new game of one of my fa-vourite old games was coming out and what new features it was going to have!

A few oldies, but goodies, here are my all-time favourite gaming fran-chises!

Tetris Yes, that addictive and often frus-trating game which requires con-centration and tactical moves of often oddly shaped pieces and became and worldwide. At first glance, the instalments which fol-lowed (Tetris DS and Tetris Attack) appeared to be polished versions of the original game; however Tetris Attack included Puzzle Mode, Time Mode, Stage Clear Mode and al-lowed 2 players to play at the same time! Arguments a plenty there were! When Tetris Ultimate hit current gen consoles, I was a very happy Pom! Same premise as its predecessors, but oh so shiny and new! It’s still as addictive even after all these years!

Sonic the HedgehogIn the early 90’s, Sonic the Hedge-hog became one of the most iconic gaming characters in homes world-wide! Sorry Mario, but Sonic was the kick ass version of you! Whilst the original 2D games were proven hits (are still played to this day by retro fans!) with the open world style, fast paced game, the 3D Sonic releases didn’t sell as many copies as the original instalment, however hard core and dedicated fans stood by their speedy little hedgehog icon

when he entered the next genera-tion of gaming on the Dreamcast console.

PokemonAhh… we just had to catch ‘em all! STILL to this day, Pokemon has to be one of the most popular franchis-es! Boasting basic game play, ad-dictive story lines and about 458251 different versions of the game (ok, that’s a slight exaggeration there LOL), the Pokemon franchise was rumoured to have kept Nintendo afloat in the late 90’s with not only the game, but also the TV series, merchandise and of course the trading card game. You can guar-antee what then a new handheld console comes out from Nintendo that a Pokemon game wont be far behind.

My last one is a little debatable as to whether it falls into the category of a franchise. I think it does, but you be the judge!

The LEGO gamesBe it an original LEGO game (such as LEGO Battles or Legends of Chima) which are based off of ac-tual LEGO sets OR a licenced LEGO game (such as LEGO Bat-man or LEGO Hobbit), I just can’t help get glued to them! They are fun, funny and make you get crea-tive! Whilst I have enjoyed both the LEGO branded titles as well as the licenced titles, I’m more of a fan of the licenced titles as im kind of al-ready aware as to the background and how the game will pan out. Plus I love how they turn my favourite characters like Batman into a little LEGO man who has no elbows and walks like he has a stick up his butt! Ahem… To date there have been over 50 LEGO game releases with more on the cards in 2015. This is Elliott signing off for another month! Happy gaming folks!

WRITTEN BY elliott buddo

HORNSBY, NSW IS NOW OPEN!

3/2 William St. Hornsby!www.facebook.com/GametradersHornsby

HORNSBY, NSW IS NOW OPEN!

3/2 William St. Hornsby!www.facebook.com/GametradersHornsby

Gametraders Live Hornsby OpeningSaturday 28 February 2015All photos by The Blake Image: www.facebook.com/theblakeimage

Gametraders Live Hornsby OpeningSaturday 28 February 2015All photos by The Blake Image: www.facebook.com/theblakeimage

The biggest sellers in the games in-dustry today are franchises, no doubt about it. While plenty of games have a complete story able to be told in one game, many games have the po-tential to begin a series that can have multiple compelling stories unfold within them. Funnily enough, many publishers don’t take the risk on a new game unless it has the potential to become a franchise – that’s just how bankable franchises are. Let’s take a look at some of gaming’s big-gest franchises as well as what made them so popular, as well as what the future holds for them.

When the first Assassin’s Creed game released in 2007, it had an interesting concept met with immense open-world acrobatic exploration. Players as-sumed the role of Desmond Miles, the descendant of several prominent as-sassins who throughout history have battled the Templars for control of the mysterious Pieces of Eden, powerful artifacts that have shaped the world throughout history. Thanks Abstergo Industries and their Animus device, Desmond is able to access the memo-ries of his ancestors which have been unlocked in his genetic code. Des-mond then accesses the memories of

his ancestor Altair, who lived during the third crusade.

Assassin’s Creed II saw Desmond re-live the memories of Ezio Auditore in Florence, Italy, with the series drop-ping the eavesdropping missions in fa-vour of focusing on its strengths (more parkour and assassinations!). Since then, the series has become more re-fined with each entry, and has seen players live as an assassin during the American Revolution , the French Revoution and even during the age of piracy in the Caribbean.

When the first Assassin’s Creed game released in 2007, it had an interesting concept met with immense open-world acrobatic exploration. Players as-sumed the role of Desmond Miles, the descendant of several prominent as-sassins who throughout history have battled the Templars for control of the mysterious Pieces of Eden, powerful artifacts that have shaped the world throughout history. Thanks Abstergo Industries and their Animus device, Desmond is able to access the memo-ries of his ancestors which have been unlocked in his genetic code. Des-mond then accesses the memories of

his ancestor Altair, who lived during the third crusade.

Assassin’s Creed II saw Desmond re-live the memories of Ezio Auditore in Florence, Italy, with the series drop-ping the eavesdropping missions in fa-vour of focusing on its strengths (more parkour and assassinations!). Since then, the series has become more re-fined with each entry, and has seen players live as an assassin during the American Revolution , the French Revoution and even during the age of piracy in the Caribbean.

It wasn’t the convoluted story that hooked players into the Assassin’s Creed universe, but rather the parkour-inspired movement and the assassina-tion missions. Here we had protago-nists who were able to climb almost any building or structure, and who could approach missions from a num-ber of different ways. They could blend in crowds and wait for the opportune moment to strike, or they could steal a guard’s musket and fire from a rooftop. It was non-linear mission-based game-play that still managed to carry a com-pelling story, something that very few other games could achieve at the time.

The Grand Theft Auto series is very well known for its car jacking, criminal activity nature. Early entries in the se-ries sported a top-down perspective and gameplay that allowed players to run around like lunatics in huge cities, creating havoc and mayhem. Rock-star ditched the top-down view in fa-vour of 3D graphics and a third-person perspective – and history was made. Grand Theft Auto 3 would be the game to popularise the open-world sandbox subgenre.

Players love the series for its cathartic potential and freedom to do whatever you wanted between missions. Con-taining an interesting story’s taking the player through some great movie tropes and insane situations, creat-ing more realistic landscapes for play-ers to get lost in and the series being known for its radio stations with unique recorded personalities and era specific music which sets the atmosphere and state of affairs in this crazy satire of America.

GTA’s developer, Rockstar Games, have confirmed an extensive down-loadable content plan is in the works for Grand Theft Auto 5, including sin-gle-player content. Beyond that, noth-ing has been announced or even hint-ed at. Perhaps the series will return to the beaches of Vice City, or back to the gritty streets of GTA 3’s Liberty City. It’s my hope though, that the series will go to a new and exciting locale for GTA 6, and with Rockstar creating an ab-solutely amazing title on last-gen con-soles we can be certain that the next entry in the series will be even crazier and even more epic in scope.

With every release of Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games manage to set the bar even higher – and they have no reason to change that yet!

Created by Japanese Developer Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear was the first game to fully utilize the element of stealth as its core gameplay feature, making it one of the first games of the stealth genre. Your mission: sneak into a secret base and stop the enormous mechanized weapon Metal Gear.

Released originally for the MSX2 home computer in 1987, the series has expanded over the years gaming consoles evolved, producing more and more entries in the Metal Gear fran-chise. It was the series first 3D entry, Metal Gear Solid that saw It explode with popularity and made it the jugger-naut it is today.

Metal Gear Solid’s merging of stealth-based gameplay with breathtaking 3D environments was truly unique – there was nothing quite like it at the time and no other developer has managed to achieve the same perfect mix of cin-ematic story and addicting stealth-ac-tion gameplay.

It wasn’t just the groundbreaking stealth gameplay that made Metal Gear what it is today. In regards to the develop-ment of these games, Hideo Kojima felt particularly inspired by Hollywood films such as Escape From New York for the creation of Metal Gear Solid’s protagonist, Solid Snake, and the James Bond series for its espionage action and secret missions.

Along with an unparalleled cinematic narrative, the series is highly regarded for its political themes with its referenc-es to events such as the Cold War and Cuban Missile Crisis.

The next entry in the MGS franchise is ‘Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’, which is being developed for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC. So far the game is looking both gorgeous and excit-ing, with Kiefer Sutherland lending his voice for the series’ hero Snake. This year marks the 28th anniversary for the Metal Gear series, and while Snake may be looking a little weathered, he still has plenty of years in him yet.

Initially, Call of Duty began as a rival to another long-time running war FPS series, Medal of Honor. As the series progressed, however, it became less about portraying war realistically and more about delivering high-octane ac-tion-fantasy.

The series stepped away from World War II and took a bold new direction with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which saw the introduction of the se-ries’ most popular storylines as well as iconic characters like John “Soap” MacTavish and Captain Price. For a number of years now, Call of Duty has

dominated the first-person-shooter landscape with its arcade multiplayer, killstreaks and Michael Bay-esque over-the-top action sequences.

The latest entry in the series, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare sees the se-ries take that over-the-top approach to its action one step further, with futuris-tic technology and weapons being the order of the day. With an amazing mo-tion-captured performance from Kevin Spacey, Advanced Warfare arguably has the best campaign that Call of Duty has ever seen!

For starters, there will be a total of 4 DLC packs for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. These will be multiplayer only, and include additional weapons and Zombies maps as well. For the next standalone game, however, any-thing is possible. Call of Duty now has three separate studios developing the majority of each new entry in the fran-chise, meaning that it’s a safe bet work is already well underway on the next CoD. Hopefully, the series will deviate from the futuristic setting seen in Ad-vanced Warfare, but not revisit World War 2 without having something in-novative or interesting up its sleeve. A new CoD set in the Vietnam War or World War 2 could be brilliant consid-ering how the series has evolved since Call of Duty: World at War.

You could argue that Call of Duty’s en-gine is what made the game so suc-cessful – running at a silky smooth 60 frames and looking particularly gor-geous (depending on the game). You might also that the action-movie style campaign narratives separated it from the FPS pack. Myself, I believe it was Call of Duty’s multiplayer that allowed it to become the FPS juggernaut it is today. Accessible, entertaining and re-warding, it’s hard to find an FPS player who hasn’t experienced the thrill of earning an exhilarating killstreak re-ward in a game of CoD at some point in their gaming career.

Call of Duty also delivered a (rela-tively) pain-free console multiplayer

experience during the online multi-player boom period for consoles. Sure there were times when servers would become interrupted or players would experience some lag but it was still a much better experience than a lot of other console shooters released at the same time (I’m looking at you, Perfect Dark Zero!).

It would be a disservice at this point, to not mention Call of Duty’s brilliant Zombies mode. Beginning as an end-game bonus, the mode was immensely popular and was expanded upon in lat-er CoD games, even containing voice-acting from Hollywood actors such as Ray Liotta and John Malkovich!

The king of platformers and one of the most popular video game characters of all time, Mario initially featured in the arcade game, Donkey Kong under the name “Jumpman”. While he did get his own games after Donkey Kong, it wasn’t until the phenomenon that was Super Mario Bros 3 that we received the classic Mario platforming action we all know and love.

Super Mario Bros 3 saw players run-ning and jumping from end of an ob-

stacle-ridden level to another, with se-crets, coins and ability-changing suits to find! It practically reinvented the plat-form game as we know it, and certainly made the genre a global phenomenon.Over the years, we’ve seen Mario’s core gameplay refined time and time again – with each game being a blast to play! He’s seen numerous spinoffs, partied and raced go-karts, tried his hand at role-playing games and is a fan-favourite in Smash Bros, Ninten-do’s platform brawler.

While there other platform games be-fore Super Mario Bros and even be-fore Donkey Kong, few developers achieved what Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto could. Miyamoto was par-ticularly inspired by anime and manga artists, and had a gift for creating char-acters and game concepts that was unparalleled at the time.

Miyamoto also created backstories for each of his characters and is credited as creating the first video games with actual stories. Before that, we gamers knew that we had to stop Space Invad-ers from destroying Earth but we did not know why. We knew that Pac-Man was able to eat and be eaten by ghosts

but the reasons for this were a com-plete mystery. With Mario, players fell in love with what was a fully-developed character. He had Koopas to squash and aprincess to rescue, and players were more than willing to help him achieve his goal and thwart the evil Bowser. Aside from lovable character design and the first fleshed-out stories in gaming, the Super Mario games also boasts some of the best side-scrolling action we’ve ever seen in games – in fact, people still play the early Super Mario games today, even competing in global speed run competitions. Acces-sible, but still providing a challenge for gamers of all levels, it’s hard to find a platformer anywhere near as amazing as the Super Mario games!

Out of all the franchises so far, Super Mario is the oldest and yet one of the ones with the most potential. While Nintendo are notorious for keeping their plans secret, we do know of two Mario-related games in the works at present. The first is a spinoff of the Puzzle and Dragons games, called ‘Puzzle and Dragons: Super Mario Edi-tion’. Puzzle and Dragons is a hybrid of match-3 puzzle games (think Columns or Puzzle Quest) and RPG games. The combination of Puzzle and Drag-ons and Super Mario is without a doubt an unusual mix but an intriguing one nonetheless.

The second game, is ‘Mario Maker’, an app/game where players create their own Super Mario levels from a variety of in-game resources. Players can choose from a variety of skin sets and asset packs, so levels can resem-ble something from every 2D iteration of Super Mario, including New Super Mario Bros. Mario Maker is looking very promising so far, as players are finally able to create and share their own unique Super Mario levels with friends!

A brilliantly written RPG series that sees players save mankind from al-ien annihilation, Mass Effect is eas-ily one of the greatest entertainment franchises ever created, regardless of medium. With an engrossing story, en-gaging action and Bioware’s talent for dialogue, Mass Effect is one of those rare gems every player should take the time to experience.

Taking everything they learned devel-oping the excellent Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, Bioware created their own unique sci-fi vision with Mass Effect. Rich in lore and filled to the brim with detail, Mass Effect was packed with believable tech-nology, detailed worlds and compel-ling dialogue, as well as third-person shooting met with RPG elements – you could call it the ultimate geek game!

Just about every element of the Mass Effect trilogy’s gameplay was enter-taining, whether you were venturing across uncharted planets in your M35 Mako, fighting an intense firefight while using your Vanguard abilities, engag-ing in conversation to discover more about your crew, or making difficult decisions that could change the fate of the entire galaxy. I cannot overstate how amazing an achievement that is, especially considering there are so many games where the story is the game’s weakest element! Mass Ef-fect made players want to learn more about the game’s various races, loca-tions, events and characters, and re-warded them for thoroughly exploring every option available.

With the original trilogy completed, Bioware have confirmed development on the next Mass Effect has begun. Rumours are it will be the beginning of a new trilogy, which gives fans of the original Mass Effect games a ton to look forward to. Will we venture further into the unknown than ever before? Will the events of the previous games shape the next entry in the series? Only time (and space) will tell...

WRITTEN BY nick getley, Chris Keemaat & Jason English

COMING SOON!

Ask staff for details.

HARRY POTTER POPS!

PRE-ORDER NOW!

Image from Funko’s Facebook page.

COSCON

7 March 2015CosCon & AfterpartyAdelaide Convention Centrewww.cosplaylive.com.au

Australia’s first dedicated cosplay convention & afterparty!

workshops . tutorials . demonstrations . activities . and more!

special guests:katyuska moonfox

hayley eliseplus more!

brought to you by:

2015

battlefield: hardline

battlefield: hardlinepREVIEW

Battlefield Hardline faces a tremen-dous challenge. Here we have a Battlefield game that both deviates from and adheres to traditional Bat-tlefield gameplay and design while ambitiously attempting to win over non-Battlefield fans while keeping veteran fans happy. It’s an industri-ous goal, to be sure, but one that many gamers may not expect to come to fruition given a problematic early beta.

I myself was impressed by Viscer-al’s ideas for the Battlefield fran-chise, but with many reused assets

and weapons, I wasn’t entirely sure this was a game that needed to be a full game, and not simply a down-loadable expansion. I was recently given the chance to sit down for an extensive hands-on session with Hardline and I can admit, I went in not expecting much in the way of improvements – but I was dead wrong.

Not only have Visceral fixed every problem I encountered within the early beta, but they have revealed new gameplay and maps that have made me thoroughly excited for the

release of the final game. Read on to find out why you should be too.

We gathered there at the Sydney Justice and Police Museum, some 20 journalists from a variety of back-grounds. Chatting to some of the oth-er guys revealed that we pretty much all shared one common hope: we all really wanted Hardline to be good. While some people had scratched their heads at just how an idea Hard-line’s cops vs criminals gameplay could work, we had all agreed that if anyone could make it work, it would be Visceral Games.

It wasn’t too long a wait before we were greeted by EA Australia and their friendly PR representatives, who processed us (mugshots and all) and led us to our gaming stations. We sat down to view a trailer of the game’s campaign mode, which in-troduced us to Nick Mendoza of the Miami Police Department. What fol-lowed next was a series of car chas-es, explosions and shootouts met with dialogue that wouldn’t be out of place in a cop action movie like Point Break, Speed or Die Hard. The tone was mostly serious, but I also got the impression that there will be some humour in the story as well – which will be great if done correctly.

Three members of Visceral Games’ staff were present at the preview: lead multiplayer level designer Jeff Zaring, senior producer Scott Probst and senior multiplayer designer Evan Champlin. They walked us through some of the challenges faced by the team at Visceral, but also how ex-cited they were with taking the fran-chise in new directions. The trailer for the single-player campaign il-lustrated that with Hardline’s story, more is more. Expect an over-the-top action extravaganza as opposed to Battlefield’s usual squad-based stories that predominantly have one foot planted in realism. Don’t get me

wrong, there’s still realism, but Vis-ceral also want to deliver a more satisfying and exciting campaign than what the series is known for.

After our briefing, it was time to jump into some actual gameplay. We be-gan with two rounds of Hotwire, a multiplayer game mode where cops and crims compete over control over various marked vehicles. Both teams spawn in their respective bases, creating a mad rush to reach the vehicles before their opponents. The vehicles are varied too, with the only determining factor of what ve-hicles are present being which map is currently being played. The city will see the occasional sports car, but mainly contain sedans, motor-bikes and trucks, whereas the de-sert town map we played featured four-wheel drive vehicles and off-road bikes.

The vehicles drive exceptionally well, and the focus on speed from Visceral hasn’t compromised con-trol or accessibility in the slightest. Everyone who was present was able to control their vehicles with precision, and it wasn’t long before the room was filled with laughter and positive reactions from crazy stunts and vehicle multi-kills. In all honesty, Hotwire’s objective seemed a little vague to me, as all the police and criminals had to do was drive around in their cars with-out actually securing them. Think a game of Capture the Flag only with multiple flags and instead of deliver-ing the flag to your base, you simply run around as long as you can with the flag in your possession. The lack of an end-game event didn’t detract from the overall fun though, especially as passenger players are able to sit on a car’s window sills and shoot at their enemies from it – a risky tactic that allows for a great range of visibility but also makes the player an easier target.

After cutting our law-enforcing and law-breaking teeth on Hotwire, it was time to play some Heist. Heist feels more varied than Hotwire, as there were layered objectives to complete and the action took place at a num-ber of different parts of the maps. My first game of Heist saw me assume the role of a criminal. I took breach-ing charges, a high-powered pistol and a ballistics shield into the match with me, as well as a rifle.

My team and I drove as fast as we could to the bank we were hitting. The atmosphere was tense to say the least – the pressure was on and we wanted to fill our loot bags and make a swift getaway. Our driver rammed our car through the front doors of the bank – a quick way of entering the bank but one that also wrecked our car. We sprinted inside and made our way to the vault room.

Piles of money littered various tables in the room which everybody franti-cally began to loot. I guarded the door and once everyone else was done, made my way into the vault room and loaded up my bag. By this time the cops had arrived and a hec-tic shootout had unfolded.

Luckily for me I had noticed that I could use one of my breaching charges to blow up the rear wall of the vault room! I destroyed a large section of the wall and made my escape through the cafe next door. After that, I rushed to the objective marker to secure my loot – which would have been a lot quicker had it not been for a number of police play-ers that had used grappling hooks

to secure a nearby roof as a snip-ing point. Pinned down behind a car, I managed to take out two of them with my .50 caliber pistol. I equipped my ballistics shield and used it to de-flect the sniper’s rounds, though af-ter I made my way past them, more police showed up behind me! Putting the shield on my back, I was able to crouch and slowly make my way to-wards my goal, securing my loot and being the first person on my team to do so – it felt awesome.

Now while Battlefield is known for its intense open-world action, a lot of the appeal of Hardline is how much broader the gameplay feels. Every single player in a game has the means and opportunity to cre-ate exciting moments, whether they blew up a hole in a wall for an es-cape (like me) or if they managed to climb a building with a grappling

hook and pin criminals behind a wall or other form of cover. There is a big-ger variety of tools and grenades to take into battle as well. I was feel-ing pretty adventurous so instead of taking my baseball bat into battle, I replaced it with a sledgehammer. While the sledgehammer was ex-tremely heavy and cumbersome to swing, I was able to bury it into mul-tiple players taking cover behind a police car – and I was able to use it to obliterate locked doors and other obstacles that would have normally stood in my way.

This new-found flexibility also ap-plies to weapons themselves, with weapon attachments feeling as though they have a greater effect on

their respective weapons – definitely a good thing! When players unlock them in the final game, their game will improve and they will have a greater sense of being rewarded.

Before the Battlefield Hardline pre-view, I had a take-it-or-leave-it at-titude towards it. It looked like fun, but the gameplay didn’t vary enough from the traditional Battlefield games to get me excited for the game. Now that I’ve played a more developed build of the game, it has made its way to the top of my “most antici-pated games” list alongside Rain-bow Six: Siege, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD and Tom Clancy’s The Division. This bad boy can’t arrive quickly enough!

"..it has made its way to the top of my 'most

anticipated games' list.."

WRITTEN BY nick getleyWWW.STICKYTRIGGERENTERTAINMENT.COM.AU

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First SinpREVIEW

Dark Souls II did phenomenally well on last-gen systems, despite releas-ing fairly late into the generation’s lifespan. It only makes sense then, that it would receive a makeover and re-release onto the current gen. This new version is called ‘Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin’, and it contains all three of the previously-released expansions for Dark Souls II, as well as a number of tweaks and upgrades to the game.

Now while the game is coming to both last-gen and current-gen sys-tems as well as PC, there are some limitations as to what the last-gen version can handle. For that reason, the last-gen versions will not feature an increased online player count or the graphics upgrade. Still, the last-gen versions are hardly missing out as they still get all three previously released downloadable expansions,

as well as several tweaks and up-grades to the game.

I had an extensive hands-on session with Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin and I can honestly say that it’s the best version of a Souls game yet. Sticky Trigger played Scholar of the First Sin on the PlayStation 4, and it runs like a dream – smooth and gorgeous (in its own nightmar-ish death-around-every-corner kinda way).

Immediately noticeable, is the graph-ical upgrade. This is easily the pret-tiest Souls or From Software game yet, with improved textures and some amazing lighting. At a native 1080p resolution, the game looks

crisper than ever! Even though I was being pursued by spear-wielding un-dead, I still took the time to gaze at my surroundings in wonder. Not only that, the lighting has been drastically improved, giving a new sense of re-alism. Whether it’s a beam of light in an otherwise dark cave, or the sun setting in the background of the town of Majula, you’ll be praising the sun.

In addition to the impressive new textures and lighting, the game also runs at a much better frame rate – the coveted 60 frames per second each game aspires to achieve. If you’re an experienced Dark Souls player, you’d be right in assuming that an increased frame rate allows you to better read your opponents’ attacks – and counter them. That, or you now get to witness your demise looking smoother than ever before.

The hardware of the current-gen consoles also allows for a couple of game-changing tweaks. Enemies will now pursue the player longer than before, and even through fog gates – prepare to die even more. Experienced players can no longer rely on their memories of several areas of the game, as From Soft-ware have added more enemies and items, or moved them from some ar-eas completely. Some weapons that many people missed are now more obvious to spot, though some of the game’s more powerful weapons are less durable than before. The game is now “fairer” according to From Software and Namco Bandai, though part of me is still frightened as heck to become undead all over again.

I wasn’t able to experience the on-line-multiplayer, though it too has apparently been improved. For one thing, there is an increased player count as well as other improvements that From Software are being delib-erately mysterious about.

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin also features an expanded story and lore, meaning that players will now be able to learn more about the world and everything in it more organically. NPCs will also have a greater effect on the player and the story, and it has been hinted that an already existing NPC has been given an important new role, though exactly who this NPC remains shrouded in mystery.

So after my time with Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, am I excited to jump back in, die a few hundred times and fall in love with the game all over again? You betcha!

"...will now be able to learn more about the world and everything

in it more organically..."

WRITTEN BY nick getleyWWW.STICKYTRIGGERENTERTAINMENT.COM.AU

DYING LIGHTREVIEW

aged to tick just about every box a zombie fan could want – zombies? Check. A variety of colourful ways to kill them? Check. Combo weap-ons? Check. Multiplayer? Check. Yep, Dead Island had almost every-thing a zombie game should have, it just happened to have a woefully underdeveloped and bland story – and the less said about those “Aus-tralian” accents the better!

So when Techland announced a new IP (intellectual property) fea-

turing zombies yet again, part of me was immediately excited and another part of me was skepti-cal. Had Techland learned enough from their previous games to war-rant an all-new franchise? How could the series stand apart from Dead Island and Dead Island Rip-tide while simultaneously playing to their strengths? Could they actu-ally create an interesting story this time around? I have to be honest, I hadn’t set my hopes too high with ‘Dying Light’, but it has proved to be

Zombie games have been done to un-death in the games industry now, and it seems that while there have been a handful of decent titles revolving around surviving the zom-bie apocalypse, there are innumer-able others shuffling along at well, a zombie’s pace not really trying at all.

In 2011, Polish game developer Techland released a zombie game that while far from perfect, was im-mensely fun. Dead Island man-

Light’s story is merely there to carry the game along and be an excuse for the gameplay. Thankfully, the gameplay more than makes up for the game’s rather tedious setup (be prepared to take orders from an-noying NPCs and have them refer to you as a “noob” and “rookie” an almost unbearable amount of oc-casions) and free-running through Harran whilst dispatching hordes of the undead is truly one of the best zombie experiences I’ve played to date. Kyle Crane isn’t the best at free-running at the beginning of the game, nor is he the best at me-lee combat (I guess the GRE don’t have any zombie outbreak simula-tors) but he will improve, thanks to a very rewarding skill tree.

You see, completing various actions will reward the player with either Survival, Agility or Strength points. When a certain amount has been acquired, the player levels up and is rewarded a skill point. Unlike Tech-land’s previous zombie game, Dead

Island, there is hardly a useless skill in Dying Light, and players will have a tough time deciding which skill to unlock next, though all of them are ultimately worth it. When I finally unlocked improved free-running ability, I felt extremely satisfied as I was able to now run for longer, take higher falls and leaps, and vault over smaller obstacles with ease.

When you’re not vaulting over walls or breaking your fall into piles of garbage, you’re fighting the undead with every ounce of strength you have, which is made just that little bit easier by Dying Light’s crafting mechanics. Similar to Dead Island

"..FELT LIKE I WAS GENUINELY 'SURVIVING'..."

a game that is both fun and addict-ing. The story isn’t perfect, but it is leaps and bounds ahead of Dead Island‘s boring effort.

Dying Light is set in the fictional city of Harran. According to Techland, Harran is based off ancient Turkey, though I get much more of a Turkey-meets-Iran vibe, and some parts of the slums remind me off the favelas of Brazil. Players assume the role of Kyle Crane, an undercover opera-tive of the GRE, sent in to retrieve a stolen file from an unidentified crim-inal. His job is to infiltrate whatever organisation has it, retrieve the file and exfiltrate – though of course, things aren’t quite that simple for him.

Zombie games usually have your Romero-esque slow shambling zombies (Resident Evil, Dead Ris-ing) or your Boyle-esque “infected”, who aren’t quite zombies as they are usually the victims of a deadly virus and are able to sprint. Dying

Light has the greatest hits of zom-bie games, with both shamblers and sprinters littering the streets of Harran. Not only that, there are also “volatiles” who emerge at night. These volatile zombies are grotesque mutations, and make the regular zombies of Harran seem almost cuddly by comparison. I’ve played every major zombie game that has ever been released and Dying Light’s volatiles awoke a sense of panic in me. If one of your friends radios you and tells you to get inside before nightfall, you get your butt inside.

Similar to Dead Island, Dying

and other survival games, play-ers can search through containers in the world for materials to scav-enge. These materials can be used to improve and repair weapons, as well as create deadly modifications which have various effects. Electric hammers, pipes with razor blades – you name it and Dying Light almost certainly has it. There is a great deal more variety in the game compared to previous Techland games too, so even those who have thoroughly fin-ished both Dead Island games will find new combo weapons to fall in love with here.

While there is a lot to like (and even love) about Dying Light, the game is

of course not without its problems. As mentioned earlier, the story is rather bland but it is forgivable. It has a beginning and an end and enough to care about to keep the player engaged in between. Visu-ally, the game can be rather in-consistent as the lighting is abso-lutely sensational but then we see really annoying and cheap visual techniques like the overuse of film grain. While I don’t mind it in cer-tain games like Left 4 Dead (which aims to deliver a more cinematic presentation) it annoys the heck out of me in games like Dying Light – it becomes rather apparent that some of the game’s textures are ugly and this was a quick cover up. The be-

ginning of the game is also tedious when compared to the rest of the game, so much so that I was expect-ing the entire game to be riddled with annoying and uninteresting charac-ters, thankfully I was wrong.

Dying Light might not deliver an en-thralling narrative, but its gameplay more than makes up for it. I can’t re-ally remember the last time I’ve ac-tually felt like I was genuinely “sur-viving” in a survival action-horror, but Dying Light has had me afraid to go outside, overwhelmed by the sheer number of the undead, and even panicked by some of the vola-tile zombies. A must-play for fans of zombie games.

8/10PROS:

EXCITING AND REWARDING GAMEPLAY

EXCELLENT MULTIPLAYERSTELLAR LIGHTING

CONS:INCONSISTENT VISUALS

HORRID BEGINNING TO THE STORY

WRITTEN BY nick getleyWWW.STICKYTRIGGERENTERTAINMENT.COM.AU

Get ‘em at

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resident evil hd remastered

resident evil hd remasteredREVIEW

Mansion itself is what did and still does sell the experience, making players continually retrace their steps through the dangerous hall-ways, getting to know the place inti-mately rather than charging through dozens of shallow, uninteresting lo-cations. It’s a more focused sort of environment that’s been eschewed in more recent games: every room in the mansion and its surrounds acts as both its own puzzle and a part of the greater whole. Notes left scat-tered about – starting a long gam-ing tradition of people jotting down their thoughts while being chased by horrific monsters – add another layer of atmosphere, giving further insight into the people caught up in the horrors of the T-Virus.

In actual gameplay terms, most of the challenge lies in avoidance and inventory management. Choos-ing Chris gives you a lighter, more health, and six inventory slots;

choosing Jill gives you a lockpick and eight inventory slots. No matter who you choose, the enemies you face are stern. Any difficulty Nor-mal or above simply does not give enough ammo to defeat every ene-my. In fact, it’s often in your best in-terests to not take down everything you see and just find ways around. For players used to carrying 200 pounds of weaponry on their back, it’s a harsh reminder of reality. Resi-dent Evil expects you to pay atten-tion, to stay sharp, to read the notes scattered about and to work things out. After so many games where the greatest test of your brain func-tion is ‘follow the glowing reticule

"The appeal of the game is the world you're slowly unlocking..."

Upon an end table in a dimly-lit hallway within the Resident Evil mansion sits an innocuous wood-en board. As a much younger video game nerd, this board al-ways stumped me. No other puz-zle seemed to fit with it, no matter what I tried; every glance into the item box was utter frustration, the board sitting there, refusing to give up its secrets. Years later, I find out this was supposed to be applied on a woodcut map above the fireplace, searing a copy for your own use.

Applying that board to the fireplace in Resident Evil Remaster was deeply satisfying. It’s this level of problem solving that Resident Evil is known for, perhaps even more than the zombies within, and what keeps the series going and this first game, a 1996 classic, coming back again and again.

For people who played that PS1 original (or the Director’s Cut, or the Gamecube remake, or the cut-down DS version), you already know where you are. It’s Resident Evil with shinier graphics and achievements, and if you like Resident Evil, you’ll like Resident Evil again. The plot is as laughably simple as it ever was: as either Chris or Jill of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team, an elite section of the police force, you’re sent to the for-ested outskirts of Racoon City to investigate the status of your com-patriots, Bravo Team, whose heli-copter has been downed. Chased towards a mansion by strange, rot-ting dogs once you land, the team splits up and begin to investigate this strange building, zombies and puzzles around every corner.

Resident Evil’s hammy B-movie sto-ry isn’t where the fun lies, though. The exploration of the Spencer

and press the Use button’, an ex-perience which demands more grey matter than lightning reflexes is deeply refreshing.

However, not all of those 1996 ide-as are necessarily good ones. Were it not for this being a remake of an older game, it would be mind-bog-gling to include the use of Ink Rib-bons as a saving device. As their own limited item, you need to col-lect them, use them, then toss them back in the item box once you’ve saved to avoid a precious inventory slot being used up. The older style of tank controls, requiring players to turn on the spot rather than move freely, is a similar offender, but the ability to choose between the old ones (which I still like, but have not aged too well) and the new style helps avoid frustration.

Those aside, the voice acting is definitely the worst offender and

greatest joy: every character mum-bles their lines like they’re suffering from sleep deprivation, occasionally rising to a half-hearted attempt at hammy anger. Though the B-movie camp has its charm, having grown used to expressive animation and emotive vocal performances only makes the dead-eyed stare char-acters give each other all the more glaring.

Oh, and the door opening anima-tions initially used to cover up the loading times between each room? Still there in all their seven-second flow-interrupting glory. Great for nostalgia, not great for patience.

9/10

PROS:GORGEOUS VISUALS

SIMPLE, FUN GAMEPLAYGIANT NOSTALGIA RUSH IN

SHINY HD

CONS:LACKLUSTRE VOICE ACTING

SOME FEATURES HAVE AGED POORLY

WRITTEN BY aaron milliganWWW.STICKYTRIGGERENTERTAINMENT.COM.AU

All told, Resident Evil is not a game for someone who wants a deep sto-ry or interesting characters. The ap-peal of the game is the world you’re slowly unlocking, portrayed beauti-fully in pre-rendered backgrounds and shot like a master director. It’s a game you can knock over in an afternoon, if you’re good, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s a simple game with a single purpose and it exe-cutes that purpose as well as it did all of those years ago.

They just really don’t make ‘em like this anymore.

Ask staff for details.

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COMING SOON - PRE-ORDER NOW!DOCTOR WHO POPS!

terraria (current gen)

terraria (current gen)REVIEW

When one first lays eyes on ‘Terrar-ia’ they might be quick to label the game as “2D Minecraft” due to the games sharing simplistic art design as well as some common gameplay elements. Dig beneath the surface (sorry, I had to) and you’ll discover that Terraria is a very different game, where Metroid-style exploration meets the survival and crafting of Minecraft and spices it up with chal-lenging combat.

Released on Steam in 2011, Terraria went on to be a chart-topper, and was released on last-gen consoles in mid 2013, where it also sold par-ticularly well. Comparisons between Minecraft and Terraria are inevitable, however, as both feature massive, open worlds that the player can re-build and reshape. Both games fea-ture the crafting of tools and building materials from rescources gathered from the game world, and both fea-ture common gameplay elements, such as day and night cycles, mon-sters, as well as weapons and ar-mour.

Terraria allows players to adventure through the game at their own pace – though at the start of the game they will need to create a basic shelter. Af-ter that, though, players can search for rare materials, defeat monsters and bosses (for even more rare ma-terials), or simply explore the world and build structures as they see fit. If ever the player is stuck, they can

consult their non-player-character (NPC) guide for tips on what they can do.

Like Minecraft, Terraria features a day/night cycle, with increased monster spawning at night. This means that if you haven’t upgraded your weapons and armour or cre-ated a shelter, you’re likely to die at night time. A more adventurous player may wish to sprint into the fray with nary a worry as hordes of the undead rise from the earth, but there is also plenty of things to do inside. It’s gameplay like this that allows the player to do what they want when they want – and the re-sults are addicting.

Despite being set on a 2D plane, Terraria packs loads more content than Minecraft. There is a stagger-

ing amount of enemies, crafting rec-ipes and environments to explore – and the worlds themselves dwarf those in Minecraft.

The current-gen version of Terraria features new items, bosses and other elements not released in the last-gen release, as well as some exclusive items (not in the PC ver-sion). The worlds can also be three

times as big as the last-gen release, meaning that even experienced Ter-rarians such as myself have plenty to content to get excited over with this new release.

Now while Terraria is exceedingly good fun, there is no story to speak of. This is by no means a deal-break-er (the game is still very much worth a download), however gamers looking for a story to experience and com-plete will have to look elsewhere. It would have been nice for the game provide some narrative for why the world is the way it is, as well as why there are so many monsters inhabit-ing it, though perhaps Re-Logic felt they couldn’t have incorporated a story without scripting or scheduling the game’s random events, which are one of its greatest strengths.

Overall, Terraria is a fantastic ti-tle with a huge amount of content. It’s fun (particularly in multiplayer), charming and offers more hours of gameplay than a ton of current AAA retail games. If you’ve grown weary of other survival/crafting games (or are simply after a fun new download-able title to play) then check out Ter-raria – you’ll be glad you did!

"...WHILE terraria is exceedingly good fun, there is no story to speak of...."

8.5/10PROS:

TERRARIA IS BACK, AND BIGGER AND BETTER THAN

EVER!DEEP AND REWARDING

SENSE OF PROGRESSION – ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU

UNLOCK WINGS AND MAGIC!

UP TO FOUR-PLAYER LOCAL CO-OP AND UP TO EIGHT-

PLAYER ONLINE CO-OP!

CONS:XBOX ONE PLAYERS HAVE TO PAUSE THE GAME TO ZOOM

THE CAMERA IN OR OUTLACK OF STORY OR

CLEAR OBJECTIVES MAKE PROGRESSION DIFFICULT AT

TIMES.

WRITTEN BY NICK GETLEYWWW.STICKYTRIGGERENTERTAINMENT.COM.AU

SINGSTAR ULTIMATE PARTY

SINGSTAR ULTIMATE PARTYREVIEW

One of PlayStation’s most popular franchises is Singstar. Since its de-but in 2004, Singstar has brought karaoke parties to countless homes worldwide, and it has become the highest-selling music property of all time with over 26 million copies sold.

It makes sense then, that Sony and London Studio would bring the popu-lar party game to the PlayStation 4. This latest version, ‘Singstar: Ulti-mate Party’, still uses microphones but also has the ingenious ability to use a free app which turns your smart phone into a microphone. While the accuracy and function-ality of the smart phone app truly impresses me, the songs present in Singstar: Ultimate Party and the removal of Singstar’s entertaining party features do not.

Singstar Ultimate party’s core game-play is identical to that of previous Singstar games, players choose a song to sing either solo or with a friend, jump in, and match the on-screen lyrics and pitches as best they can. While this is absolutely fun in itself, long-time series fans will miss the party features that Sing-star possessed in previous releases. Swap the Mic, Duets, and Medleys have all been removed – as have the various difficulties players can select. While the core mechanics of scoring and pitch recognition have

been refined (they are in reality the best they’ve ever been), the lack of party features truly does make for a fairly standard Singstar experience.

My own personal tastes can be pretty varied or even niche at times, which is why I held off playing the earliest Singstar games – they sim-ply didn’t appeal to me. With time, however, the SingStore began to cater to someone like myself with offerings from some of the more

popular grunge, alternative and hard rock artists from over the years such as Three Days Grace, Awolnation, Die Toten Hosen, Eva-nescence, and more. While the on-disc songs for Singstar: Ultimate Party are a pop lover’s dream, any-one else will be sorely disappointed by the pop-dominant soundtrack.

Seriously, it’s like they dipped Sing-star Ultimate Party in sugar before they released it. It’s crammed with the likes of Pharrell Williams, 5 Sec-onds of Summer, Carly Rae Jespen,

"...a large portion of Singstar's audience isn't

being catered to with Singstar: Ultimate Party."

Ellie Goulding, Kylie Minogue, and everyone else who bounces and dances everywhere instead of, y’know, walking. While this is great for kids and pop lovers, a large por-tion of Singstar’s audience isn’t be-ing catered to with Singstar: Ultimate Party.

Apparently, the PlayStation 4’s SingStore is going to be regularly updated with previously released tracks, meaning that people who have bought songs for PlayStation 3 versions of Singstar can port their al-ready purchased tracks across free of charge. Unfortunately, there is no word on exactly how long the resto-ration process is taking, so it’s luck of the draw if your entire library of downloadable content is available.

Singstar: Ultimate Party achieves the best core gameplay mechanics the series has ever seen. That is, the measuring of one’s singing is more accurate than ever. Unfortunately though, it omits gameplay features many have accepted as common-place in the series. Its soundtrack (while expandable through separate online purchases) will make or break the game for many, as it is entirely comprised of current and recent pop hits. Regardless, of its name, the “ul-timate party” this is not.

5/10

PROS:FREE SMARTPHONE APP

WORKS QUITE WELLAVAILABLE ON THE

PLAYSTATION 4CORE GAMEPLAY IS AS FUN

AS IT EVER WAS

CONS:OMITTED PARTY FEATURES HOLDS BACK ENJOYMENT

FROM ITS POTENTIALNOTHIN’ BUT POP SONGS IN THE ON-DISC SOUNDTRACK

WRITTEN BY NICK GETLEYWWW.STICKYTRIGGERENTERTAINMENT.COM.AU

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The mid 90s saw the decline of the 2D platformer. All of a sudden Mario was in 3D, Sonic would follow a bit later and even smaller characters such as Rayman would enter this amazing new world where that extra dimension is what matters. It would be a while before Mario featured in another 2D game, though Sonic kept the flame going on the Gameboy Ad-vance. I am a personal fan of the 2D platformer and this month I thought I would share some of my all time fa-vourites with you.

Super Mario World is a game I have mentioned on more than one occa-sion, as it is my all time favourite game. It was Mario’s first venture into the land of the 16-bits and it was glorious! The colours were vibrant and the controls were just as smooth as Mario’s previous entries. The mul-titude of power ups and costumes seen in Super Mario Bros 3 were

pared back which gave the game a more simplistic feeling. With that said, this game also featured the de-but of the spin jump and Yoshi. With multiple pathways and the genuine feeling of fun this game gives you, I can’t recommend it enough.

Treasure Island Dizzy is a true 8-bit gem. The controls are a little more rigid than the Mario series, but the

game isn’t trying to be a Super Mario Bros clone. The second Dizzy game expands on the first, where our little egg hero is stranded on an island and must collect and use items to unlock new areas, and eventually make his way to a boat and freedom. Dizzy would go on to star in multiple other games throughout the early 90s on the 8-bit and 16-bit systems of the day. If you haven’t played a Dizzy game then this is a good start-ing point. A Kickstarter campaign to resurrect Dizzy and drag him into the world of 3D sadly failed. This one is well worth tracking down if you want something different. It truly is an eggsellent game!

Turbo the Tortoise was released in 1992 on the Amstrad, Spectrum and Commodore computers. It was later given away as a free game on the cover of Amstrad Action magazine. You would have seen the protago-

nist Turbo before, in a way… Imag-ine a short Ninja Turtle with a triple exhaust pipe sticking out of his shell and wearing shoes not unlike a cer-tain speedy hedgehog and you have Turbo. A time travelling tortoise, Turbo has to battle his way through 6 platforming levels to gather parts for a science experiment. The jumps don’t have to be 100% precise, the enemies aren’t too hard to beat. The

difficulty and controls feel just right and the game looks great on those old computers. As the game was re-leased on 8-bit computers in a world where many had already upgraded to 16-bit machines, the game sadly went unnoticed by many.

Pop ’n Twinbee: Rainbow Bell Ad-ventures is a platforming spin off to the shoot em up series: Twinbee. This little known Super Nintendo ti-tle was released in Japan and PAL territories. The game lets you play as Twinbee, Winbee or Gwinbee, as they jump, punch and jet pack their way through various themed platforming levels. The Japanese and PAL releases vary, with the Japanese release allowing multi-ple endings, battery backup and cut scenes. With this in mind, the PAL release is generally considered to be the more inferior of the two, though is the more expensive on auctions sites such as Ebay. My ad-vice is to get ahold of the Japanese version, as you don’t need to know the language to play this gem of a game.

So that’s four amazing platformers right there. I have left off some bet-ter known titles such as Ufouria and Wonderboy 3. These games are definitely worth investigating if you haven’t played them yet, and there are many more to discover. What are your favourite 2D platformers? Why not let us know on the Gamet-raders Facebook page.

"Treasure Island Dizzy is a true 8-bit gem."

Greatest 2D platformers of all time

Greatest 2D platformers of all timeRETRO

WRITTEN BY paul monopoli

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TECH & POP CULTURE!

ContentsPlaystation TV ReviewCollectiblesCozzieconBoard Games

Every month we look at cool new stuff in the world of pop culture, technology & more!

TECH & POP CULTURE!

playstation tv

playstation tvTECH REVIEW

mend a wired connection wherever possible as I experienced slight hic-cups with a wireless connection, as well as a slight amount of latency (lag). The lag was more problematic playing an online shooter like Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, but for the most part the lag is negligible.

“So apart from playing your Play-Station 4 on another display, what else can can you do with the Play-Station TV?”

I’m glad you asked, loyal readers! While the PlayStation TV’s PS4 streaming is pretty darn cool, it’s also capable of more. You can also download PS One and Playstation

minis to the PlayStation TV’s on-board memory (1 gigabyte, though that it does have a Memory Stick Micro card slot for expansion) as well as PS Vita titles. Now while this sounds pretty awesome I must point out that not all games are compat-ible with the PlayStation TV – for a full list you can check out PlaySta-tion’s support website.

It might disappoint some to hear that the PlayStation TV is not capa-

"...i feel the device has been designed around soley streaming games..."

Since the invention of the home console, one problem has always arisen in a house with gamers and non-gamers: what if someone want-ed to watch TV while another per-son wanted to play games on said TV? Normally, you’d have to take your console to another display in the house – something not every-one is willing to do (I know I can’t be bothered a great deal of the time!), or at times, able to do. If you’re a PlayStation 3 or 4 owner though, your prayers have been answered with the PlayStation TV.

Not to be confused with the PlayTV (Sony’s HD TV tuner for the PS3), the PlayStation TV allows gamers to stream games onto other dis-plays in the house. After the initial setup, it’s as simple as turning on the PlayStation TV and connecting your controller to continue game-play.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time with the PlayStation TV and it surprisingly works quite well with PS4 games. While this is fantastic news, the PSTV does have problems with some of its other features, most no-ticeably PS Vita streaming.

Being a streaming device, the Play-Station TV needs to connect to your home network through an ethernet cable or wirelessly. I would recom-

ble of streaming apps like Netflix of Hulu. While this is somewhat disap-pointing, I feel the device has been designed around solely streaming games, which it does quite well for its pricetag. For better and for worse, Apple TV this is not.

Another problem the PSTV presents is the rather horrid up scaling of PS Vita games. Something has truly gone awry here as the Vita games look downright awful when scaled onto a TV or monitor. There’s also noticeable lag when using touch-screen controls, which is a shame.

The PSTV is a fantastic concept marred by a few problems. While it

is quite cheaper than buying a sec-ond PS4, the PSTV’s only real val-ue is in that is can play PS One and PS4 games without any real issues – something that might not match is price tag to a lot of people.

I’m optimistic that a revised version of the PSTV will be a vast improve-ment of the current model, though time will tell if this is something Sony wish to pursue or not.

PROS:PS4 REMOTE PLAY WORKS

QUITE WELLABLE TO PLAY A WIDE

VARIETY OF GAMESSIMPLE SETUP

CONS:PS VITA UP SCALING LOOKS

AWFULNPUT LAG ON PS VITA

GAMES, AND THROUGH A WIRELESS CONNECTION

NO NETFLIX OR HULUMENU CAN BE CONFUSING

WRITTEN BY nick getleyWWW.STICKYTRIGGERENTERTAINMENT.COM.AU

5/10

In the world of collectibles for gam-ers, something exciting is really about to happen in 2015! A new company out of Hong Kong called BigBoysToys will be releasing a line of Street Fighter statue sets that look simply amazing!

Coming up first in the late Feb/March timeframe will of course be Ryu, which they teased with some awe-some character artwork.

They then followed up that artwork with some teaser pics and videos of the final product, and it simply looks sensational! The set comes with a diorama featuring the iconic back-ground from Ryu’s stage in Street Fighter 2. The base also comes with a button in the corner that switches on the hadouken sound effect!

In addition to the sound effect, the fireball itself also has a great LED light-up feature. Combined with the sound and background diorama, this is pretty much a must-have display set for any Street Fighter fan!

Of course with the vast array of Street Fighter characters, they have announced potentially up to 9 more characters from the original Street Fighter 2 game. Recently they post-ed up the artwork and unpainted pro-totype photos of the next set in the line with Ken.

Ken also features his favourite back-ground of the boat dock in Street Fighter 2, with himself in mid-Shory-uken flaming action! It’s clear the lighting effect on Ken will be that flaming fist, which will really look amazing next to the lit hadouken from Ryu.

And to top it off for February, they have just posted the artwork for the third in the line with Guile! In fact, they have posted two options, with Guile either in the sonic boom pose or the flash kick pose! They have asked fans to vote for their favourite on their Facebook page, so go and check them out!

For me, the flash kick looks great, but with a lighting and sound ef-fect I think the sonic boom will go

much better with the hadouken and shouryuken of the other two.

Either way, having this new com-pany BigBoysToys release such an awesome tribute to the original char-acters from Street Fighter 2 is just great! And with such nice art, sculpt-ing, dioramas, and light/sounds ef-fects, I am sure they are on a winner with this line! Can’t wait to see what they announce next!

New Street Fighter Statue Sets by BigBoysToysHK

"...pretty much a must-have display set for any Street Fighter fan!"

New Street Fighter Statue Sets by BigBoysToysHKCOLLECTIBLES

WRITTEN BY KHAI AT KOOL KOLLECTIBLESwww.koolkollectibles.netwww.facebook.com/KoolKollectibles www.youtube.com/user/ckly76

I reviewed a couple of months ago the first release in this Horror Bish-oujo line by Kotoubukiya. The Fred-dy Krueger statue from Nightmare on Elm St was a gorgeous piece on its own, but of course it was meant to be paired with Jason Voorhees statue from Friday the 13th. It took a while to arrive, but it was definitely worth the wait!

The statue captures everything that fans love about the Bishoujo line (means “pretty girl” in Japanese), be-ing a sexy take on some iconic char-acters from movies and comics. The detail in the sculpting, and the way the paint application brings all the lit-tle features to life, is truly amazing and makes this arguably better than the Freddy statue! This set also comes with the mag-netic base that works well to hold the

statue firmly upright. It also comes with two weapons as accessories in the axe and machete. The paint application here perhaps could have been more vivid in the gore depart-ment, but still has a nice overall ef-fect when placed in her hands. The head sculpt is another perfect Bishoujo rendition, this time partial-

ly covered by the iconic ice-hockey mask. It’s a nice little effect with it placed to the side, and goes well with the tousled hair.

The tattered jacket also looks great with the dynamic look of it blowing in the wind, perfectly placed to reveal the fan service inherent in the Bish-oujo line. The torso and torn jeans reveal a lot of flesh in all the usual places, but still looks sexy and not overly gratuitous.

The way the paint has been added to the jeans to accentuate the tears is quite a nice effect, and all the skin that is revealed has that pearlescent tone that comes with every Bishoujo statue. Together with the Freddy statue, this pair makes for a striking, sexy, and head-turning display setup in any

collection. They certainly got their fair share of attention when some friends visited my place recently!If you’re a fan of these classic horror movies, then it’s almost certain that you’ll love this unique take on the characters by Kotobukiya. I highly recommend them! ☺

Kotobukiya Horror Bishoujo Jason Voorhees Review

"...this pair makes for a striking, sexy, and head-turning display..."

Kotobukiya Horror Bishoujo Jason Voorhees Review COLLECTIBLES

WRITTEN BY KHAI AT KOOL KOLLECTIBLES

www.koolkollectibles.netwww.facebook.com/KoolKollectibles www.youtube.com/user/ckly76

Last year we saw the passing of an Australian Cosplay legend, Justin Costello. His tragic passing shocked all of us fortunate enough to call him a friend. In January the cosplay com-munity also lost Paul Kerr. Two great men in such a short span of time left many beside themselves. On Febru-ary 7th I helped out in a great event called ‘Cozziecon’. An event put to-gether by some of Justin and Paul’s dearest friends and let me tell you, what a day it was!

The cosplay community came to-gether to celebrate the lives of two of it’s best the only way any of us knew how… A convention. A great deal of money was raised to help out the families and fun was had by all. A few tears were shed, it was an emo-tionally charged day, but so worth-while. As far removed as I am from the cosplay scene as I am I couldn’t

help but get into the spirit, cosplay-ing myself as Bigby Wolf from ‘The Wolf Among Us’, although only one guy recognised me… A pain I’m sure felt by a lot of obscure cosplayers… But alas it was all in the name of honouring our fallen heroes.

We had wrestling to honour Justin’s wrestling persona ‘Cobra Tai’ as well as a Latin dance show to honour

Paul who was also an accomplished dancer. There was a great tribute display of Justin’s famous Man of Steel costume and Paul’s Penguin costume. There were raffles and the epic silent auction featuring an amazing Batman statue donated generously by Gametraders Black-town. All money of course going to the families. There was a karaoke completion, Justin was a fiend for some good ol singing. Some tribute videos that did bring a tear to many an eye. It was a fantastic day.

I am deeply honoured to have been a part of the whole thing, as well as getting to sit here and write about it. It blew my mind how many lives these men touched and how eager everyone was to pay a little back. A special mention to Kat Watson and Rob Wilson for pulling the event to-gether and also a shout out to every-

one else who helped pull the day to-gether. I was fortunate enough to be there for the planning and I can safe-ly say all expectations were blown away. These two men got one of the best send off’s imaginable! While we miss them dearly at least we can al-ways think back on the memories we all shared.

"It blew my mind how many lives these men

touched..."

COZZIECONPhotos by JJ Maher Photographic Studios

Photos by JJ Maher Photographic Studios

WRITTEN BY SCOTT F. SOWTER@SCOTTFSOWTER

Monopoly has been a staple edition in many games nights over the last 70 years. Although the game play has barely changed since its initial release as the Board Game we all know and love, the game has kept itself popular and relevant by team-ing up with a large variety of com-panies to produce some amazing licensed editions. Take a look below at some of my favourite Video Game Editions:

Nintendo – The Nintendo Monopoly Collector’s Edition was released July 2006. Featuring Nintendo’s iconic characters such as Yoshi, Link, Don-key Kong and Samus players take up the challenge of owning Ninten-do’s hottest property. Unsurprisingly the Mario Brothers are placed as the prestigious Park Lane and Mayfair. The board is organised perfectly with each property set featuring a quintessential game from Nintendo’s long established history. The Hous-es have been replaced with Super Mushrooms whereas Stars are used in place of the Hotels. In 2010 the board and game box were rede-signed. Originally a large image of Mario and Luigi was featured in the centre of the board with the redesign featuring a line-up of the characters featured on the board. The main change was the removal of the Star Fox Characters from the Light Blue property set. They were replaced with characters from the Animal Crossing Series.

The Legend of Zelda – “It is Dan-gerous to go Alone. Take This Zelda Monopoly”, however it can be just as dangerous to compete with friends

when the chance to rule Hyrule and other well know Zelda locations are up for grabs! One of the most recent Video Game editions of Monopoly is the Legend of Zelda version which was released late 2014. Featuring many iconic game favourites as both properties to purchase and tokens to play as, this version is the ultimate edition for any Zelda fan. The game features six token to play as. These include the Triforce, Hylian Shield, Bow, Slingshot, Hookshot and the Gale Boomerang. The dollars on the notes have been replaced by Ru-pees, Empty bottles become Chance Cards, Treasure Chests have taken

on the role of Community chest spaces and the Deku Sprouts and Deku Tree feature as the houses and hotels. Each coloured property group features various popular loca-tions form a Zelda entry.

Both Pokémon editions – “Gotta Catch em All” perfectly describes the aim of game in the Pokémon themed Monopoly versions. Two editions have been released for Pokémon with the first being released in 1999 and the second Kanto Edition in 2014. The Original Edition captures all of Pokémon’s glory and main aim with the property sets being re-placed with the 8 gym leaders and their Pokémon. The houses have been represented as Poke Marts and Poke Centres are the hotels. Once again the money has been up-

graded to the in game currency with Poke Dollars now featuring on the notes. The Legendary Zapos and Articuno perfectly replace the Elec-tricity Company and Water Works spaces respectively. The 6 plastic coloured tokens include Bulbasaur, Charmander, Blastoise, Pikachu, Clefairy and Mewtwo. Unlike many Monopoly games the original Poké-mon Edition features Doubles Pow-er Abilities. If a player roles a dou-ble they can choose to move and roll again or activate the Pokémon ability based on the double rolled. These abilities add an exciting dy-namic to the game and can help

to plan new strategies or help from landing on a developed Gym set. In the Kanto Edition the coloured plas-tic Tokens have been replaced with metal tokens. The Pokémon have also been changed with Squirtle re-placing Blastoise, Jigglepuff takes Clefairys spot and Mewtwo gives way to Eevee. The board features an updated image of the map of Kanto in the centre.

Street fighter – When is the best time to use a Hadouken? When you are running low on Bison Dol-lars and all the Training Rooms and Dojos have been bought! The Street Fighter Monopoly features 6 well known aspects of the game as the tokens. These include M.Bison, Ryu, Blanka, The Hadouken, Ve-ga’s Mask and Chun-Li’s wrist cuff.

"..this version is the ultimate edition for any Zelda fan."

video games + MONOPOLY...

video games + MONOPOLY...board games

The title deeds have been changed to match stages and characters fea-tured in the game. The houses have been updated to be Training Rooms and the Hotels are now found to be Dojos. Bison Dollars feature as the currency of the game which includes a photo and signature of M.Bison. The centre of the game board features a tribute to the char-acters with a montage of most of the Street Fighters being featured.

World of Warcraft – The World of Warcraft Collector’s Edition was released in 2012. Descend into magic, myth and legendary adven-ture status while buying and trad-ing locations in the epic lands of Azeroth. Once again players must use their most cunning strategies to dominate the land! The board game features a custom board which was designed by Blizzard and it features faction capitals and zones located in the well-known Realm of Azeroth. The zones feature in the order they increase in value and prestige in the game. The 6 tokens were voted by

WRITTEN BY jess wilson

fans and they feature WoW favour-ites such as a Hearthstone, a Mur-loc, a Fly Point winged boot, a two headed Core Hound Pup, Thrall’s Doom Hammer and a Gnome Engi-neered bot. The houses have been replaced with towns that represent

little inns, the hotels are now cities which have been depicted by Castle Towers and the money is now repre-sented by gold.

Assassins Creed – The Assassin’s Creed Monopoly just like the Zelda and Pokémon Kanto Monopoly is one of the most recent video game editions. Unlike previous entries in Monopoly’s video game range As-sassin’s Creed was not released in America due to USAopoly not hav-ing the licence for the game. It was released exclusively in Europe. Once again the rules have stayed the same for this edition and eve-rything else has been changed to

match the aspects of the game. The 6 playable tokens include Altair Ibn-La’ Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Ratonhnhake:ton (Conner Kenway), Aveline de Grandpre, Edward Ken-way, and Arno Dorian representing the series Assassins. The title deeds have been updated to represent his-torical locations from each of the Assassins time period. The money has been altered to the currency of the games, Abstergo. The centre of the board features the design of the Animus with Mr Monopoly wearing an assassin’s hood peering over the Monopoly title found on all boards.

These Video Game varieties of Mo-nopoly had insured people keep buying and playing the classic game. As well as the Licensed releases fans have also made some amazing versions of their own. Two amazing creations are the Bioshock and King-dom Hearts versions. My favourite edition mentioned above is my Origi-nal 1999 Pokémon Monopoly. I love

the addition of Doubles Power Abili-ties. If anyone gets a chance to play this version do not hesitate to grab friends and family and give it a go. Monopoly will continue to thrive with the endless possibilities available via licensed deals. Hopefully everyone’s favourite video game, movie, TV Show and Pop Culture get the Mo-nopoly makeover.

"THe money has been altered to the currency of the games, Abstergo."

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In the city that never sleeps there is always something happening. Whether you’re caught in the fast-paced and hectic atmosphere, lost in the world renowned lights or wit-nessing giant monsters trying to demolish the area, the city is sure to not disappoint. Playing as one of these giant monsters you face many obstacles in you path to be-coming King. To gain the lofty sta-tus you must attack the other giant monsters, crush buildings, buy new abilities and watch out for the pesky humans who haven’t given up on losing their city just yet. A dice roll-ing, card drawing, player elimination game which is easy to pick up, has an awesome premise and is a whole lot of fun to play makes King of New York a great addition to any board game players collection.

King of New York has the same premise as King of Tokyo which was released in 2011 by game designer Richard Garfield however this stan-dalone title introduces new ways to

play. The aim of King of New York is to win via one of two different meth-ods – be the first monster to col-lect 20 victory points (VP’s) or to be the last monster standing. On each players round up to 5 actions can be completed. These steps must be completed in a chronological order. On your turn you: 1. Roll the dice (up to three turns), 2. Resole the dice (mandatory), 3. Move (generally op-

tional but sometimes mandatory), 4. Buy cards and 5. End your turn.

Once a player has rolled the six dice up three times they then carry out the actions on the dice. Hearts heal damage to yourself, claws do dam-age to other monsters, energy is gained as currency used to purchase power cards that provide unique ef-fects, broken buildings allow you to bring down buildings in your area giving you VP’s but also bring the Army, damaged skulls allow the newly arrived Army to deal damage to your monster and the new addi-tion to the game, the star allows for that monster to be a superstar. Once a player rolls and keeps three star icons on their turn they can take the Superstar card giving them one VP and plus one VP for any star they roll while still holding the card. The card is lost when someone else rolls the three stars. The Superstar card definitely provides the holder with easy VP’s but your fame can only be for a fleeting moment so enjoy your

time in the spotlight and do not rely on the card to win the game for you. The board for King of New York represents the City of New York comprising of 5 different boroughs: Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan. While up to two monsters can occupy four of the boroughs at one time, only one mon-ster can be in any of the three zones

of Manhattan (Lower, Midtown and Upper). In the borough you are cur-rently occupying you have the op-tion of destroying building (depicted by tiles) if the number listed for the destruction of the building is met on the dice. Once the building is destroyed and the VP’s gained the tile is turned over and the army has now appeared.

Depending on how many buildings you have destroyed there will now be that number of army units in your borough. Strategic playing now comes in to play as per step three of your turn, you can choose to move. Do you flee or stay and reap the re-wards of taking down the army?

At all times of the game there must be one monster in Manhattan. While occupying Manhattan you gain bo-nuses depending on which level you are currently poised at however all monsters outside of Manhat-tan attack only you when the claw is rolled whereas the monster in Manhattan attacks all monsters on the board. The monster occupying Manhattan can quickly be wiped out with a few lucky rolls from the other players however the rewards of staying can win the game for you. The only way to leave Manhattan is after a monster attacks, you have the option of swapping places.

The board and all pieces included are very good quality. All 6 mon-sters are creatively designed and really stand out. The art design of the cards is beautiful and detailed. The only problem with the art on the cards is that you do not get to

KING OF NEW YORK REVIEW

"the only way to leave manhattan is after a monster attacks..."

KING OF NEW YORK REVIEWboard games

experience the gorgeous pictures as often as you would like due to the cards being underutilised. Due to the large amount of currency need-ed to purchase the cards I found that these were often forgotten about with all other options selected on the dice over them.

Some of these cards gave amazing abilities that could easily put some-one in last place straight to the front making for an ever changing experi-ence but they felt like a missed op-portunity. A small, but not discour-aging in the slightest, point is the size of the monsters in relation to the game board. The board is quite small and as these giant monsters are depicted on their playing pieces as just that it could sometimes be hard to see around the pieces to the building/army tiles on the board. We stopped using the pieces half way through and replaced them with four Lego Star Wars Minifigures which was much easier to use and see the whole board at once. A neat option the creator has included is the ability to play as the Monsters from King of Tokyo if you own the game.

King of New York is an excellent, en-gaging and all round fun board game for any casual or hard core board game player. The strategic aspect of the game is perfect with one de-cision being able to wipe out your monster, it constantly keeps you thinking and on your toes. The game was easy to learn and quick to pick up, includes an extremely well made and presented board game, detailed art depicted cards, brilliant character design and two sided attack cards,

there is nothing not to love in this edition to the King of series. The main weakness of the game being the cards can hopefully be integrat-ed more freely in the next instalment of this engaging board game series to give an extra edge to the game. I am eagerly awaiting another game in this new awesome series! Defi-nitely give this one a go!!

WRITTEN BY jess wilson

Available on PC, PS3, 360, PS4, XB1

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In the near future, crime is patrolled by an oppres-sive mechanized police force. But now, the people are fighting back. When one police droid, Chappie, is stolen and given new programming, he becomes the first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself. As powerful, destructive forces start to see Chappie as a danger to mankind and order, they will stop at nothing to maintain the status quo and ensure that Chappie is the last of his kind.Starring Hugh Jackman, Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Ninja and ¥o-Landi Vi$$er and Sigourney Weaver, Chappie will release in cinemas on March 12.

(c) 2015 CTMG. All Rights Reserved.

CHAPPIEwww.chappiemovie.com.au

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WIN TICKETS!WATCH THE TRAILER HERE:www.chappiemovie.com.au

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Cast: Hugh Jackman, Sharlto Copley, Sigourney Weaver, Dev Patel, Ninja and Yolandi Visser

Genre: Sci-Fi / Thriller / Action

Directors: Neill Blomkamp

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LARK VISUALS

MISA ON WHEELS

GINNY MCQUEEN

THE ARTFUL DODGER

HARLEY’S JOKER

SEE INSIDE FOR FULL INTERVIEWS!

HARLEY'S JOKERwww.FACEBOOK.COM/HARLEYSJOKER COSPLAYThis month Live Magazine took time out to talk to American Hary-ley’s Joker about his Cosplay and his partner in crime Jokers Har-ley Cosplay - two cosplayers who specialise in specific characters.

You’re a big fan of The Joker, why is that?

I grew up on Batman, it was always a part of my childhood. All the films from the ‘89 Burton feature, through to latest Nolan project were all seen in the theatre. That has quite an impact on a person. Also the ani-mated series debuted while I was in elementary school: perfect timing. I also always greatly admired the art-work of the comics. Honestly I think I would have rather been Batman, haha, but I just don’t have the body or face for it. The Joker’s an incred-ible character, and I think this can be attributed in part to how long he’s been around. When you give a char-acter that many writers and illustra-tors to breathe new life into him over and over again thoughout seventy-five years, you’re going to build up quite a lot of rich, layered and multi-faceted baggage. He’s fun. Have you cosplayed other charac-ters?

Nope. There are a number I’ve thought of and always wanted to do, but I’ve accidentally set the bar kind of high with the Joker, I’m not sure anything else I could do would top that. As a creative individual I’m

always looking to challenge myself and push things a bit, and it’s hard to imagine what could ‘wow’ an audi-ence more the next time around in some other character’s shoes.

Tell us about the first ever con you visited - what was it like?

I was born and raised in San Diego, California, so naturally my first con-vention was San Diego Comic Con. I think it may have been 1997 or ‘98. It wasn’t as gargantuan as it is now, but it was still the biggest of it’s kind. It was amazing, and because it wasn’t as crowded as today, eve-ryone there, guests that is, were so incredibly accessible. I was like a kid in a candy store, then again, I liter-ally *WAS* a kid in a comic conven-tion, haha, so there you have it.

Do you do any guest appearances as promotions?

I’ve had the immence privilege of being invited as a guest to several conventions over the last few years, including Puerto Rico Comic Con, BigWow! Comic Fest in San Jose, California, La Mole Comic Con in Mexico City, Con Comics in Guada-lajara, Mexico, and Carribean Expo in Puerto Rico. I should really learn Spanish, haha, I’m quite liked in Lat-in America.

What about photo shoots, you’ve done a few of those, tell us how you plan them and what a typical shoot involves.

Every shoot is deifferent, there’s nothing “typical” about any of them. I do nearly all the shoots myself, the staging, lighting, photography, edit-ing, etcetera. It’s all about planning. Sometimes I spend months plan-ning out and preparing for a shoot. It’s hard to explain the process how-ever, it’s like asking one to type out how they paint. I have an image in my mind, I do as many rough drafts and test shoots as possible leading up to it. I get every element, prop, costume piece, lighting design, all figured out in advance so when it comes time to take the actual photo-graph of the subject (typically myself or Alyssa, my Harley) it runs smooth-ly. I’m a perfectionist. I’ll take dozens of photos of the exact same pose with subtle variations therein just in case I decide I need to compos-ite elements from all of them to get the final product just right. My “Kill-ing Joke” cover recreation is actually almost a dozen photographs, but it looks like just one simple shot. Truth be told my right hand was in a better position in one photo, my left hand in another, my smile was better in one photo and my eyebrows in another. So forth and so on. It’s all to create a final experience that will illicit a genuine response from an audience. This is why I love cinema so much as a medium. It’s a culmination of so many artforms all working together toward one singular vision with the intention of creating an emotional reaction from an audience, leaving a lasting impression, it’s brilliant.

Photograph and editing by Harley’s Joker himself!

HARL

EY'S

JO

KER

Any advice for new cosplayers?

Have fun and never stop reaching creatively. Try to impress YOUR-SELF, no one else. If you’re trying to impress others you will fail and never know what direction you’re heading. If you strive to impress yourself, and then actually manage to do it, you’ll be so genuinely satisfied it won’t matter what others think, and luckily you’ll probably get a better reaction from others in the process. We are our own worst critics, so if we can win ourselves over, the world is our oyster.

Finally where can readers go to see your cosplay?

They can find me at: www.facebook.com/HarleysJoker And they can find my partner in crime at: www.facebook.com/Joker-sHarleyCosplay

Photographs and editing by Harley’s Joker himself!

Featuring Bruce Timm - creator of Harley Quinn.

Featuring Brian Bolland - comic artist.DON’T

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MAJOR SAM COSPLAYwww.facebook.com/MajorSamCosplay COSPLAYAustralian Cosplay Major Sam sat down with Live Magazine and talked about her experience as a cosplayer. Hi Sam, Tell us a bit about how you got into cosplay and where you’re from...

I grew up in Toowoomba, Queens-land and looked for a career in cos-tume making without any knowledge of cosplay.

It wasn’t until I went to my first con-vention in 2011 where I had a bit of an understanding that people dressed in costume but I didn’t know how many people would be in cos-tume and how amazing their cos-tumes were. From that, I knew that I wanted to make costumes for myself mostly for fun but also practise. I’ve been cosplaying at every Brisbane Supanova since. Do you create your own cos-tumes? What’s been the most dif-ficult?

Absolutely! Making the costume is where I find my love and joy for the craft. I’ve been sewing for at least 18 years and has always been my favourite hobby. It has only been lat-er in my cosplaying that I’ve found a love for wearing and modelling my costumes. My most difficult costume to date would be Moon Moxxi from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel due to the large number of highly detailed props and a very short time frame to make it in.

What materials do you use?

Anything and everything that will give me accuracy to the design. I do prefer and specialize in fabrics but I love learning to use a variety of prop making materials to make armour and weapons. Tell us a bit about the cons you’ve visited and what’s been a high-light so far.

I travel to most Supanovas each year. Supanova was the first conven-tion I’ve been to and the one where I discovered cosplay. It is so hard to pick highlights as their has been so many! But I’ll never forget my first cosplay competition win where I won Best Cosplay as Jessica Rabbit and also perform my first skit. I was pret-ty proud! What about this year? Any plans to visit cons?

I’ll be at most Supanovas but plannning on a big international con-vention holiday next year to San Die-go Comic Con. I also love attending the smaller conventions and festi-vals around South East Queensland. Have you done many photo shoots and what’s a typical shoot like? How long does it take to prepare and what happens on the day?

I haven’t done as much as I would like to. It takes a lot of time from multiple people to pull of a success-

ful photo shoot. Most of my cos-tumes take about 2 hours to get on which includes make-up, corsets, shapewear, eye contacts and wigs and these things can’t be hurried. After speaking to the photographer before hand about location, we gen-erally have a scout of what back-grounds we can use in the photos that suit the character and style.

The quickest shoot I’ve done was 45 minutes, the longest is 5 hours. Pho-to shoots at a convention are much more relaxed and quicker and gen-erally funner because you have a ton of friends around. Conventions are for fun; you can shoot seriously an-other time.

Can cosplay become an income in your opinion?

It absolutely can because people al-ready are. But is it an easy income? Not at all. Like a lot of cosplayers, the ultimate dream would be cos-playing for a living but it takes a lot of patience, and guts to be able to do it. I hope in the future I can, but right now I’m doing the best I can with what I am given. Do you make costumes for other people on commission?

I have in the past but unfortunately due to lack of time as I have a full time job, I don’t have the chance to do commissions. I struggle enough finding the time to make my own costumes!

With so many fans on social me-dia, what tips do you have for new cosplayers starting out on sites like Facebook?

My main pieces of advice for new cosplayers looking to find a following for their art would include:

- Don’t get caught up with the num-ber of “likes”. They have no indica-tion of your skill, it’s just a number.

- Make what YOU want. As soon as

you start making costumes that you think will get you attention, cosplay will be a chore.

Branch out. Get a Twitter, get an In-stagram, a Deviantart. Contact peo-ple and show them what you have made.

- Have fun and find your confidence. If you aren’t having fun, stop, think and remind yourself why you started cosplaying in the first place.

Where can your readers go to ask about a costume or see more of your work? My Facebook page is: www.facebook.com/MajorSamCosplay

My Twitter is: www.twitter.com/TheMajorSam

My Instagram is: www.instagram.com/msmajorsam

Photographer: Lorenzo So | www.facebook.com/lorenzosophotography

Photographer: Lorenzo So | www.facebook.com/lorenzosophotography

Photographer: Lorenzo So | www.facebook.com/lorenzosophotography

MAJOR SAM COSPLAY

Photographer: Lorenzo So | www.facebook.com/lorenzosophotography

MAJOR SAM COSPLAY

Photographer: Carlos - Mayenco | www.facebook.com/TheSolarGlare

MAJOR SAM COSPLAY

Photographer: Lorenzo So | www.facebook.com/lorenzosophotography

MAJOR SAM COSPLAY

Photographer: Newton Thaiposri | www.facebook.com/riotsarmory

MAJOR SAM COSPLAY

Photographer: Kiara Lee Maas | www.facebook.com/KiaraLeePhotography

the artful dodgerwww.facebook.com/ theartfuldodgercosplay COSPLAYRecently we got to spend some time with the Artful Dodger, an Australian cosplayer based in Brisbane. First up, can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into cosplay.

Thanks for the chat! I’m a lady cos-player based in Brisbane and I start-ed doing this crazy cosplaying thing about three years ago, although I’ve been taking it much more seriously in the last year and a half. I started out the way most cosplayers do - a friend told me about an event in Brisbane purely for geeks and pop culture. Unsurprisingly, I jumped at the chance to go as I’d always felt I was on the outskirts of what “nor-mal” people were into, I tended to-wards action movies, comics and weapons whilst most teenage girls were into partying and other main-stream activities - and here was an entire weekend just for alternative people to go and be weird together! I couldn’t wait. Pulling together an awfully dodgy Ramona Flowers cos-tume that I was enormously proud of at the last minute, I went up for the weekend.

It was amazing. Absolutely amaz-ing. From Brisbane Supanova 2012 I was hooked, and my cosplay skill set has been growing each conven-tion I’ve been able to attend!

What sort of cosplay do you love most - what genre?

As I said before, I’ve always been

into weaponry and war, and that tends to show up in most of my cos-plays. Show me a hardcore charac-ter with an attitude and a gun and I will likely put her on my cosplay list - which is miles and miles long by the way! I’m currently working hard on Artemisia from 300: Rise of an Empire and I’m hoping to be able to debut her at Gold Coast Supanova this April.

Cosplay is such a complex art form - with the costumes, the make up and hair/wigs. Tell us a bit about how you go about plan-ning and then making a costume.

Absolutely! There are a few key el-ements that make a good cosplay great, I personally think a good wig is crucial. If you don’t happen to have the right hair colour for a cosplay, please for the love of eve-rything nerdy, get yourself a qual-ity wig. Arda Wigs are one of many excellent wig companies. I’ve seen so many otherwise great costumes been let down because of a cheap, overly shiny wig. In the words of Tom Haverford, treat yo’ self!

When I decide on a cosplay I want to make, I always start with collect-ing as many reference photos as humanly possible. You really need to see the costume from every angle so you can make accurate choices when buying fabric and prop mate-rials - which aren’t cheap! Nothing’s worse than looking at a reference picture after getting back from the

shops and realizing you’ve gotten the wrong fabric after spending an obscene amount of money on it. Crying over fabric is undignified and easily avoided.

If you’re stuck on an element of your costume, Google is your friend. The RPF forum in particular has been a blessing when I’ve been working with trickier materials such as wood or Worbla - there are so many help-ful threads and people on that site who are happy to give you a hand.

Where do you get your materials from?

I generally work with fabric, Worbla, foam and wood. One day when I have very deep pockets, I may also start using leather, but for now I can achieve a very similar look with vi-nyl and foam. It’s incredible what you can make when you have a tight budget! Fabric is easily sourced from Spotlight or Lincraft if you’re looking for basic materials, there are also many fabric sites online with great prices, you just have to do your research. I get all my wood from Bunnings or Masters, I’ve recently started working with pine and it’s fantastic! It’s easy to cut and sand and the finished product looks gor-geous. Most craft shops stock craft foam, but if you’re looking for more sturdy stuff, Century Foam and Rub-ber and other similar shops stock foam by the metre, which is great for armour-making.

You’ve done some amazing photo shoots- what goes into planning a shoot?

Thank you! I’m lucky enough to work with some truly excellent photogra-phers who are based in Brisbane and attend the same cons that I do. When I’m planning a shoot with a photographer, we choose a loca-tion that best fits the character and a time of day. Afternoons generally work best as the light is perfect then. From there we just wing it! I’ve found that excessively planning the shoot doesn’t always work out exactly how you’d hoped, so going in with an open mind and just having fun with it makes for the best photoshoots.

Are you a visitor to any cons and what plan do you have for 2015?

This year I’m planning to attend Gold Coast Supanova, Sydney Supano-va, Melbourne AMC, PAX and Bris-bane Supanova. If anything comes up in between I’ll probably be there, we have too few conventions in Aus-tralia for my liking so I try to get to as many as possible. I love derping around and being stupid at conven-tions so please come say hi if you see me! My cosplay list for 2015 is huge, but some of the costumes include - Marvel’s Silk, Galadriel, Injustice Catwoman, Princess Jas-mine, Artemisia (300), Odette (The Swan Princess), Lagertha (Vikings) and many, many, maaaaaany more. It’s exhausting just thinking about it but I’m pretty pumped.

Finally where can we get readers to go to see more of your work?

You can find me at www.facebook.com/theartfuldodgercosplay and on Instagram and Twitter as @adcos-play. I don’t really understand Twit-ter so I’m not on it much, however if somebody wants to hold my hand and guide me through it that would be great!:) Catch you on the flip side!

Photographer: Pixels of Shae | www.facebook.com/pixelsofshae

Photographer: Fiathriel | www.facebook.com/fiathriel

THE ARTFUL DODGER

Photographer: Charmaine Morgan | www.facebook.com/charmaine.morgan88

Photographer: Fiathriel | www.facebook.com/fiathriel THE ARTFUL DODGER

Photographer: Steven Brown | www.500px.com/skjb

Photographer: Pixels of Shae | www.facebook.com/pixelsofshae THE ARTFUL DODGER

THE ARTFUL DODGER

Photographer: Shazzsteel | www.facebook.com/shazzsteel THE ARTFUL DODGER

Photographer: Beethy | www.facebook.com/beethyphotography

THE ARTFUL DODGER

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Misa is an awesome cosplayer based in the US, and we caught up with her recently to chat about Cosplay, costumes and the chal-lenges of being a Cosplayer with a wheelchair. Misa! First up tell us a bit about yourself.

I grew up in Southern New Hamp-shire and currently reside there. I am a huge video gamer, board gamer, and anime fan. My first video game console I ever owned was a Playsta-tion 1 and my first game being Spyro the Dragon. I was diagnosed with a form of Muscular Dystrophy, called Charcot-Marie Tooth, when I was 2 years-old and had to start using a wheelchair at age 10.

How did you get into cosplay?

I got into cosplay years back when a group of friends were planning to attend a convention. I was watch-ing Death Note at the time, and the first time I saw Misa Amane, the rest kinda just fell into place.

Tell us about your favourite cos-plays. What’s been your chal-lenge with creating costumes and what’s the planning process in creating the cosplay?

My favorite cosplays so far are Misa Amane (of course!) from the anime Death Note, Yuna from Final Fan-tasy X, and Daenerys from Game of Thrones. For me, the biggest chal-lenge is not spending too much mon-ey on materials/outfits/accessories! :) I’m a bit of a shopaholic.

Following your social media, you often comment about the chal-lenges of being a wheelchair based cosplayer, I would say you’re incredibly inspirational, have people reached out to you in that area..? Maybe other wheel chair cosplayers?

I have had so many people reach out to me regarding this, and it is such an amazing thing. To inspire some-one to the point where they message you and want to talk about their dis-ability/experiences is such an honor. I am very open in talking about my condition, and for those who are not to confide in me means so much. Plus, I like to think that I give good advice! :P

Do you attend many cons and what’s on your calendar for 2015?

Quite a few! This year, it’s Anime Boston, Anime North has invited me to be a guest, Granite State Comic Con , and Another Anime Con in New Hampshire for sure.

Have you done any photo shoots and what was the experience like? Many. My favorites are the ones where I get to work with those who really love what they do and photog-raphers who do the same.

Most of my photoshoots have been pretty candid and fun (the best kind!) One of my epic photographer friends and I even shot in an old cemetery, which was so cool.

What cosplay are you working on next?

Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service and Yuki from the anime Vampire Knight.

Finally where can our readers go to find out more about you?

The best place is my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MisaOnWheels.

misa on wheelswww.facebook.com/misaonwheels COSPLAY

MISA ON W

HEELS

All photos taken by Tony Noto

MISA ON WHEELS

ginny mcqueenwww.ginnymcqueen.com COSPLAYThis month Live Magazine spent time with a very special cosplayer from Los Angeles in the U.S but Ginny McQueen is more than a cosplayer. She’s an actress, mod-el, social media guru and voice against online bullying, some-thing we here at Live totally re-spect. Ginny, please tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into cosplay and acting.

Tell us about your cosplay pro-jects. How do you decide on what you’re going to cosplay? I choose my outfits for any number of reasons. I like the character, I like the outfit, I am part of a group, or maybe found a perfect place for a particular photo shoot. There have been a few times where I was con-sidering cosplaying a certain charac-ter, but someone has already done it perfectly and I think “Well, there’s no point now! They did it so well!”

What do you think about cosplay as a career? Is it possible for someone to make it a full time oc-cupation? This is a complicated question. I know some cosplayers that are seen as or call themselves “professional cosplayers” but it’s usually not what it seems. The investment that cos-players put in to their costumes, pho-tos, web presence, etc is not a small number in terms of both time and money. I’ve been in the cosplay com-munity for 17 years, and the ones

that are making a “living” from cos-play have spent tens of thousands of dollars on their appearance, pr, agents, and anything else you can think of. I think it’s possible, but it’s the same as trying to be a model - the up-front investment alone will be crazy, and the odds of it working out are pretty slim!

You’re also a social media direc-tor/consultant too, we’ve talked to many cosplayers and it seems one thing that regularly pops up is the negative and abuse that is out there. What do think about it and what advise do you have for cosplayers getting abused?

Any time a woman (or man doing something that is seen as feminine - e.g. dressing up in costume) puts themselves out there in a visual me-dium, people feel entitled to judge them. Bottom line is that internet bul-lies suck and you should never let them scare or shame you away from being yourself.

You’d think with the fun and friend-ship that cosplay brings people would be more supportive and I’m guessing most fans are. Have you had experiences that have really given you a positive lift that you’d like to share?

For every 1 negative comment, there are 100 genuinely nice ones. And because I put myself out there as a person rather than a personality, I’ve had so many sweet, supportive

comments and messages. I try to be honest with my fans because so many are young women in the cos-play and fandom community who are just starting out and looking for guid-ance.

Back to costumes, do you make your own and how long does it take to put a costume together?

Yes, I make all my own costumes. Every costume is different. It de-pends on how complex it is and how much time I have to make it! I always work best under a deadline, other-wise nothing gets done!

Cosplay and photography go to-gether like bread and butter, do you do any photo shoots and can you walk us through a typical photo shoot.

Again, each photoshoot is differ-ent. Getting photos of my costumes is probably my favorite part of cos-playing, and I like to find great set-tings. My favorite was probably in Germany when we hopped a fence to shoot in an actual castle with my Final Fantasy Tactics costume. Per-fect setting!

Finally where can our readers go to find out more about you?

The internet! :) www.ginnymcqueen.comwww.patreon.com/ginnymcqueenwww.youtube.com/ginnymcqueenwww.twitter.com/ginnymcqueen

www.facebook.com/theginnymcqueenwww.instagram.com/ginnymcqueenginnymcqueen.tumblr.com/ SNAPCHAT: ginnymcqueen

ginny mcqueen

ginny mcqueen

coSPLAYLIVE PRESENts tHE

2015 coScon afterparty:

Tickets available at www.cosplaylive.com.au, Gametraders stores and at the door!

• Live performance from Australia’s Katyuska Moonfox, the voice of an angel the power of a demon hunter

• Live Music featuring a Dalek Invasion, exterminate your fear

• Cosplay onstage performances, see your passion alive on stage

• Completely themed room, no High School Prom nightmare flashbacks

• DJ Jaki J, your Cosplay Afterparty is never low on energy

• Tickets include both a drink and a meal, you can dance the night away!

Adrian, tell us a bit about your photography and how you got into cosplay photography

My photography tends to lean to-wards portrait photography. I love photographing people and their ex-pressions. I usually won’t edit a pho-to without the proper expression that tells a story.

As for cosplay photography, I’ve al-ways wanted to do cosplay photog-raphy but I was too shy to ask cos-players during cons. When I went back to Indonesia for a holiday my best friend wanted me to shoot her Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan and I found it very fun and re-warding to do. Ever since then I’ve decided to use cosplay photography as a platform to grow my skills fur-ther.

Who inspires you with photogra-phy?

My photography started because a friend of mine introduced me to Gredy Xu of Cotton.Studio (www.facebook.com/cottonstudio.photog-raphy). I was fascinated by his ability to tell a story with each picture. A re-ally good friend of mine is also a tal-ented photographer and I’ve learnt a lot from him in my early days.

My biggest inspiration is Benjamin Von Wong, a Canadian-based pho-tographer who combines both pho-tography and graphic design as a form of digital art. His style inspires me a lot and has influenced the di-

rection of my cosplay photography for the past few months. With eve-ry project he does, he attempts to break the limits of the extreme. It has pushed me to always step up from the previous projects I’ve done.

How long is a typical shoot and what is the process you go through

A typical shoot doesn’t last that long. Two or three hours is typically enough if it’s only 1 person, 1 loca-tion and 1 outfit. If it’s the first time I’ve worked with someone, I need extra time in the beginning for ice-breaking and matching the rhythm of the model.

However, a photoshoot isn’t made up of that 2 or 3 hours of shooting. Pre-production consumes a lot of the time. In pre-production I think through a lot of things including the planning of the lighting, location scouting, research, and plan Bs in case of a weather failure. I like to book shoots at LEAST a month in advance so it can slowly cook in my mind. By the time of shooting I would at least have some idea of the con-cept and scenes I’d like to create.

After that the post-production be-gins...

How do you find cosplayers for shoots or do they find you?

Both. Mostly I find cosplayers that I’d like to work with and reach out to them. Because of my inclination to-

wards portrait photography, I mainly look at the expressions and confi-dence of cosplayers in pulling off their characters.

Cosplayers can also find me and pitch their ideas and if I like it and I think I can pull it off, we would go from there. I also take paid commis-sions for cosplay and non-cosplay photography.

(Rant: I know some people think some photographers are arrogant for being so selective with what they do, but I urge you to look at it from a photographer’s perspective. If we were to blindly accept 5 photoshoots a month, that would be 5 weekends gone if the photographer work an-other full-time job, not to mention the post-processing part of it.)

With regards to post processing, what sort of things do you do with your photos?

With post processing, I rate photos in 2 or 3 rounds. The first round is to filter out all the out-takes and the “derp” shots. I glance at it for a sec-ond and if I don’t like it I move to the next photo. The second round I com-pare photos from the same scene and pick off the ones with misfocus or just not satisfactory. Then the third round, I pick out the ones I will po-tentially edit.

After that, I choose ones I want to edit, making small adjustments in Lightroom to correct exposure be-fore moving it to Photoshop to refine

LARK VISUALSwww.facebook.com/larkvisuals PHOTOGRAPHER

the colours, and add special effects when necessary.

From a shoot, getting 2-3 polished photos (or 1 epic photo) is a suc-cess.

What gear do you prefer to use for a typical shoot?

I use a Canon 6D and 24-70mm f/2.8 Mark I. I love the wi-fi capabilities on the 6D, which lets me potentially take photos from impossible angles.

As for lighting, I have 2 types. For smaller projects, I use Yongnuo 560 Mark III & IV as my main light, dif-fused through an umbrella or an oc-tobox. Also a couple of kicker lights for rim lighting or colour effects. This lets the crew travel light and be mo-bile.

For larger projects, I use bigger, more powerful lighting. I usually don’t do the lighting myself. My good friend Barney from shortgirls.net (www.fa-cebook.com/shortgirls.net) actually owns the light and basically operates and directs it during the shoot. Most of my recent works won’t be as good as it is now without his assistance and lighting direction.

Any tips for those getting into ei-ther cosplay photography or cos-playing in general?

I’ll give a tip for photographers since I don’t really cosplay. For getting started into cosplay photography, try to get in the community. I started by messaging A LOT of cosplayers in Sydney and asking them for a shoot. A lot of them ignored me or probably thought I was a creep, but it let me introduce myself and it was easier to ask them for photos during Animania in 2014. After that, people see my work and I started gaining credibility.

Also, be respectful of the cosplayers. For instance, don’t touch them or their costumes without asking them first. If there is something that needs to be fixed and the cosplayer can’t do it themselves, ask their friend or politely ask them if you can fix it for them.

When doing shoots that require more hands on deck, assistants are your valuable assets. They will make your work so much easier so you can fo-cus on what you’re doing, which is producing awesome images. Try to get an assistant that has knowledge in photography so they know what to do in certain situations. Also, find a mentor that can assist you and guide you in several shoots so you get the hang of things.

The last tip that I’d like to give for cosplay photographers is that they should be selective of what they publish. Only publish the best ones. If they’re not good enough to pub-lish, don’t. People see your best work and they’ll think “Oh, wow that’s great!”, then they see your second best and they’ll think “Oh, that’s nice too!” Then they see your third best or the “okay” ones and they’ll think the best ones are a fluke. I see a lot people starting cosplay photography post up tens of photos, and often in similar poses. It’s normal to just get 2 photos out of a full day of shooting. Make sure they’re the best ones.

Last last tip: be open to criticism. “I’m new to photography” and “I don’t know how to use Photoshop” are not valid excuses to reject criticism.

Finally, where can readers go to see more of your work?

You can find my works at www.facebook.com/larkvisuals. I post my work there, including my ramblings. My official website is cur-rently in the works, but check back from time to time on www.larkvis-uals.com

DAHLIA THOMAS

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COSPLAY AS A CAREER?

At Live Magazine we’ve been for-tunate to interview and get to know dozens of great cosplayers. Some are well known in the cosplay uni-verse, some are are just starting out. All of them do cosplay out of their love for the characters, the cos-tumes, the creativity and their pas-sion for their art.

It got us here at Live Magazine won-dering if a cosplayer can make a paying career from their art? After all

painters, photographers and sculp-tors have the option to sell their crea-tions so what about cosplayers? We asked some of our cosplayer friends what their thoughts were on careers in cosplay.

First up we spoke to Dustin Wilson the Project Leader of CosCon, a cosplay event in Adelaide on March 7th that has a focus on workshops and cosplay events and demos.

DUSTIN WILSON

JUSZ COSPLAY

What is Cosplay? Cosplay is Fun. What is a Dream Job? A dream job is Fun.

What is a Cosplayer’s Dream Job? Cosplaying!

Despite the elegance of the equa-tion there’s a lot of work that goes into the background of making that dream job a reality. Out in the world at the moment you have a handful of international Cosplayers living that dream, Jessica Nigri, Yaya Han and Australia’s Eve Beauregard. Pop Culture convention appearance in-come, selling prints and other mer-chandise can be the map to sail you

through financial waters. And once that personal brand becomes big enough, more and more pop culture business opportunities will present themselves.

But what if you’re not one of the in-ternational names of Cosplay com-manding millions of fans through adventures in social media? As a cosplayer, you have a foot in the door, your ability to create both the outfit and character of your pop cul-ture idol.

Here at Cosplay Live we made sure we could get the ball rolling for the start of your career, having Cosplay-ers from around the nation register

Justine from JusZ Cosplay in Ade-laide has been cosplaying for almost four years, here’s what she said about cosplay as a career...

“Cosplay is not a career option for me yet as I simply don’t have the popularity or fan base to sustain it. As much as I would LOVE to make cosplay my career, you need to have enough interest in what you do and who you resonate with to be invited to conventions and sell prints and be shared. That’s something that you just can’t force. People will ei-ther connect with you or not and, as much as I would like it to happen, I can’t make people like me. “

So how do cosplayers make money?

“Cosplayers make money mainly by selling prints of themselves, which can be helped by being invited to conventions and featuring in media. Some cosplayers, like Yaya Han and Nicole Marie Jean, also sell a product (costume ears and wings for Yaya, and hand sculpted acces-sories for Nicole) and some get ad revenue from a YouTube channel, host events, or are sponsored by a company. Cosplay as a career is still new and mostly uncharted and most people are blazing their own trails, succeeding or failing as they go.”

on our Jobs Agency, we offer this portfolio to potential employees look-ing for a unique pop culture angle for their brand. While having only been alive for a very short amount of time, the Job Agency has been able to place Cosplayers into paid position for events around Australia. Can you make a career out of Cos-play? By always improving on your cosplay creation methods, by net-working your Cosplay as a brand and by seeking out opportunities to display the creative talents cosplay-ers possess; yes you can make it a career. Registering at the Cosplay Live Job Agency doesn’t hurt either; www.cosplaylive.com.au.

GINNY MCQUEENGinny McQueen, Los Angeles based cosplayer, actress and social media expert:

“This is a complicated question. I know some cosplayers that are seen as or call themselves “professional cosplayers” but it’s usually not what it seems. The investment that cos-players put in to their costumes, pho-tos, web presence, etc is not a small number in terms of both time and

money. I’ve been in the cosplay com-munity for 17 years, and the ones that are making a “living” from cos-play have spent tens of thousands of dollars on their appearance, pr, agents, and anything else you can think of. I think it’s possible, but it’s the same as trying to be a model - the up-front investment alone will be crazy, and the odds of it working out are pretty slim!”

TIFFANY DEANTiffany Dean, an Adelaide based cosplayer who’s ran workshops for Gametraders had this to say on ca-reers in cosplay...

“The first thing that comes to mind are the cosplayers that have it as their career eg Jessica Nigri, Yaya Han, Kamui Cosplay etc.

For actual careers within it for me it’s things like attending Cons as a guest and being paid to do so, to be a paid workshop or panel presenter, a guest judge for cosplay comps etc. Also being a model for companies releasing new games, anime, com-ics etc as in they ask you to make a

costume of their character and you promote it with them.

I guess it’s anything that enables a person to leave their day job and pursue it full time and be paid a wage that covers what a normal day job is. I think a lot of it is who people know and where they are too, and also how they present themselves and their brand. Even being spon-sored by companies ie Worbla, gam-ing companies etc is a huge step for people as it gets your name out there and really lets people know it’s something taken seriously and skil-fully.”

want to meet some of australia's most popular cosplayers? you can at coscon!

katyuska moonfoxhayley elise

special guests:

a. k. wirru

7 march 2015. adelaide

convention centre.

get your tickets now!

www.cosplaylive.com.au

want to meet some of australia's most popular cosplayers? you can at coscon!

Resin casting isn't scary!Safety first!

Whilst the process is of resin casting is very straightforward, it is important to always remember that you are working with dangerous chemicals, and mishandling them can lead to skin conditions and other problems. Remember to always read the safety advice on your products and always wear gloves, a respirator and eye protection!

There are many types of resin and just as many types of pigments and effect powders to use with them, so it’s important to know what you want from your resin cast. You can get both clear and opaque resins – clear tends to be more expensive, how-ever, and is also much more toxic so make sure you’re only using clear when it’s necessary! Look into metal powders (cold casting) and pearles-cent powders for some interesting effects.

Pouring your resin works very simi-larly to pouring the silicone for your

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/ HayleyEliseCosplay

mould. Make sure your mix ratio is right and you’ve mixed the parts to-gether properly, before beginning to pour the resin in from the lowest part of the mould. Just like with silicone, we don’t want any air bubbles in our resin! Pour to just below the top of your mould, and leave it to set on a flat surface without disturbing it. Don’t mind any overflow – you can trim and sand later.

When the resin has set, you can pull it out of the mould and admire your handiwork! The first pull out of a mould is never the best, however – it often picks up little imperfections and impurities that were left in the mould by the positive, but the good news is that you can cast as many of your object as you want. This photo shows a comparison of a raw pulled piece at the bottom, and the sanded and trimmed pieces at the top.

Resin is very easy to sand and paint, so from here you can go crazy with whatever you want to do to it. The possibilities are endless!

Part 3: casting

your piece

Resin casting isn't scary!

WRITTEN BY HAYLEY ELISE

COSPLAY TUTORIAL

cosPLAY photographyThis month we’re all excited about the first cosplay convention in Ade-laide just for cosplayers by Cosplay Live. It’s called CosCon 2015 and promises to be an amazing experi-ence for cosplayers and photogra-phers. CosCon not only features a ton of workshops on cosplay, cosplay projects, demos and things like how to model, how to do action moves for photos but it also is running a number of photography based workshops. So with that in mind I took a look at what workshops generally charge and found that many charge quite a bit more then a ticket to CosCon. Many charging hundreds and thousand of dollars. CosCon tickets are $33.

With that in mind I though I’d look at what sort of things photographers can learn at CosCon. Talking to

Coscon project leader, Dustin Wil-son, he tells me that there will be a lot for photographers at CosCon. The key thing we discussed was that even non-cosplay photographers will learn a lot at this event.

Well known Adelaide photogra-pher, Peter Lay is running the main workshops in the stage area of the Convention Centre teaching 2 major workshops on working with cosplay-ers and showing how to model and pose them for still photos. This event is ideal for both the beginner and seasoned photographer. Plus where else can you go where there will be hundreds if not thousands of cosplay-ers all in costume and all looking for photos. I for one, know my portfolio will be overflowing with great images after Saturday the 7th March!

Dustin also explained there will be 4 additional workshops on the day at the event including:

Beginner DSLR - how to use your camera, what the settings all mean and how to get well exposed and sharp images.

Advanced DSLR - a workshop for the more advance user featuring in-formation on the more advance cam-era techniques and how to create amazing images

Working with Flash - how to use flash successfully to add light and creative shadows to photos. Set-tings, techniques and much more

Camera Phone - Beyond the Selfie - with most people having a smart

phone with a good camera, they seem to be the first choice for many cosplayers and photographers. This workshop will look at ways to get the best photo you can with your mobile.

So if you’re in Adelaide and got a spare $33 get down to CosCon and get amazing images, make a ton of new contacts for photo shoots and learn heaps at a friendly and fun venue. Oh did I mention the amazing after party? It promises to be huge with over $20,000 spent on the party - tickets for both the con and the after party at www.cosplaylive.com.auabout cosplay photography, lighting

cosPLAY photography

“A little bit of preparation can go a long way when photographing cosplay. Here’s a little checklist of things you can consider as you are planning your shoot.

SettingCan you get to a location that looks anything like the character’s natural environment? Make sure you get per-mission from private property owners beforehand or you might find yourself in trouble!

LightingWhat time of day are you shooting? Sometimes it’s worth planning the an-gle that the sun will rise or set and be-ing there super early. Night time and ar-tificial lighting can completely transform locations as well.If you can bring flashes or a reflector you can light the cosplayer to be the fo-cus of the photo.

cosPLAY photography

”BY Kris Ezergailis

ReferencesHave you got a hero image that you are trying to recreate? Look at how re-alistic it is and how it’s been shaded, try to have an idea how similar you are capable of making your end photo look and work towards it.

HelpersDoes your cosplayer need help get-ting into and staying in their costume? A lot of the time one of their friends can help out with the little details while you are busy concentrating on setting up your photos. They can potentially help off camera holding capes, lights or reflectors too. Be careful to choose the right number of helpers as too many can start to make the photos a lower priority than the party you invit-ed them to.

HazardsWatch out for wildlife, angry neigh-bours, sun burn, light stands, prop malfunctions…

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PHOTOGRAPHY TIPScosPLAY photography

”BY Kris Ezergailis

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...Trading cards, tournaments, accessories & more. Get it all at Gametraders.

SA INGLE FARM No current tournaments.

MARIONPokémon - Monday 6pm

Cardfight!! Vanguard - Tuesday 6pm Yu-Gi-Oh - Wednesday 6pm Magic the Gathering - Friday 6pm (Arrive 5:30)

MT. BARKER Yu-Gi-Oh - Saturday 4:00pm

SEAFORD Yu-Gi-Oh - Thursday 6pm (5:30pm registration)

Cardfight!! Vanguard - Friday 4:30pm Magic the Gathering - Monday 6pm (5:30pm reg)

Pokémon - Sunday 1pm (12:30 registration)

My Little Pony - Tuesday 5pm (4:30pm registration)

Future Card Buddyfight - Thursday 5:30pm

Board Game Nights - Wednesdays from 5-8pm

SALISBURYYu-Gi-Oh (Advanced Format) - Saturday 12.30pm

NSW BLACKTOWNAdvanced Yu-Gi-Oh - Saturday & Sunday 10am

Pokémon - Saturday 2pm

Magic the Gathering - Thursday 6:30pm

Cardfight!! Vanguard - Sunday 2pm

MACARTHUR SQUARE (CAMPBELLTOWN)Yu-Gi-Oh - Wednesday 5:30pm

PARRAMATTA Yu-Gi-Oh - Thursday 6pm, Saturday 2pm

Magic the Gathering - Sunday 11am

Cardfight!! Vanguard - Sunday 2pm

Weiss Schwarz - Saturday 10am

School Holiday Additional Tournaments: Yu-Gi-Oh - Monday, Wednesday & Friday 2pm Cardfight!! Vanguard - Tuesday & Thursday 2pm

GAMETRADERS LIVE PENRITHCardfight!! Vanguard - Saturday 5pm

Yu-Gi-Oh - Saturday 5pm & Sunday 11:30am

Magic the Gathering - Friday 7pm

Weiss Schwarz - Saturday 6pm

Board Game Night - Wednesday 6pm

Nintendo Fight Night - Thursday 7pm

GAMETRADERS LIVE HORNSBYPlease check their Facebook page for details.

VIC BACCHUS MARSH Magic the Gathering - Friday 5:30pm

HIGHPOINT Yu-Gi-Oh - Sunday 3pm

MILDURAPokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic the Gathering and Cardfight!! Vanguard every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Check their Facebook page for times and event details.

QLD CHERMSIDE Yu-Gi-Oh - Sunday 3pm

Cardfight!! Vanguard - Wednesday 6:30pm Pokémon - Saturday 3pm Magic the Gathering - Tuesday & Friday 6:30pm

LOGAN HYPERDOME Magic the Gathering - Friday 7pm (doors open 6pm)

Yu-Gi-Oh - Sunday 2pm (doors open 1pm)

Cardfight!! Vanguard - Fortnightly (Check FB)

Pokémon - Saturday 2pm (Check FB. Doors open 1pm)

Tournaments held at: Unit 5 20-22 Ellerslie Road, Meadowbrook Qld 4131.

MACKAY Yu-Gi-Oh - Sundays 3:45pm

Magic the Gathering - Friday 6:15pm

MORAYFIELD Magic the Gathering - Friday 6:30pm (5:30pm registration)

Yu-Gi-Oh - Sunday 2pm (1pm registration)

ACT HYPERDOME Yu-Gi-Oh - Saturday 10am

Pokémon - Saturday 2pm

MARCH STORE EVENTSGAMETRADERS

did you knoweach store has their own facebook page! just search gametraders followed by their store locatioN OR VISIT WWW.GAMETRADERS.COM.AU/STORES.

South AustraliaIngle Farm ................................. (08) 8265 7283Marion ...................................... (08) 8296 1144Mt Barker .................................. (08) 8391 6300Salisbury ................................... (08) 8281 0966Seaford ..................................... (08) 8327 1966ACTHyperdome ............................... (02) 6293 3751

QueenslandChermside ................................ (07) 3861 5000Logan Hyperdome .................... (07) 3801 5599Mackay ..................................... (07) 4944 0998Morayfield ................................. (07) 5495 7705

New South WalesGametraders LIVE Penrith.........(02) 4731 3894Blacktown................................. (02) 9676 1411 Macarthur Square (Campbelltown) (02) 4620 0750 Parramatta................................ (02) 9633 2833Gametraders LIVE Hornsby..... . (02) 9477 6477Victoria Bacchus Marsh ........................ (03) 5367 0717Highpoint .................................. (03) 9317 0188Gametraders LIVE Mildura ....... (03) 5023 7702

FIND YOUR NEAREST STORE... For more info visit:www.gametraders.com.au

Terms & Conditions March Magazine valid until 29/03/15, unless specified otherwise. Stock is subject to availability and change without notice and may vary from store to store. No Rain Checks. All dates and prices are correct at the time of printing.

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