Royce Wilson

AS most serious PC gamers will tell you, getting the best graphics card you can is a must for a premium gaming experience – and the subject of this review certainly delivers that. As part of a rebuild of my gaming rig with support from Asus, Nvidia and Intel, my system now has an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Founder’s Edition GPU in it courtesy of the team at Nividia – and it is the most powerful graphics card I’ve ever owned. Let’s begin the review with the obligatory overview of the main technical specifications: As you can see, there’s a…

[This announcement has been provided by Wizards Of The Coast’s PR people and is presented by GOA for your information] Save the date, Adventurers! The Dungeons & Dragons team at Wizards of the Coast is excited to announce that D&D Direct [https://www.twitch.tv/dnd] is scheduled for Wednesday, March 29 at 3:00 AM AEDT Tune in to watch a jam-packed 30-minute video presentation to see exclusive reveals from Wizards of the Coast and its partners, including the latest about the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game along with entertainment tie-ins with the upcoming release of Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, video game reveals,…

THE Game Expo (TGX) inaugural event wrapped up in Melbourne last weekend, signalling the addition of a new gaming event to the city’s cultural calendar. TGX, held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre over the weekend of March 11-12, attracted more than 7000 attendees; representing ‘sold out’ status according to the organisers. Four of the Game On Aus team were at TGX (Myself, Mikeey, Natty and DoomCutie) and experienced different aspects of the first-time event, ranging from creator networking opportunities to playing retro games to browsing the artist stalls to sampling the refreshments in the VIP lounge. More than…

THE virtual flotilla available in World of Warships has grown larger with the addition of a (fictionalised) Australian cruiser and a (fictional) Australian bushranger-slash-pirate named Matilda Kelly. In real life there have been three ships named HMAS Brisbane – a WWI light cruiser, a 1960s guided missile destroyer, and a recently-commissioned (and currently in active service) anti-aircraft cruiser – but the version in World of Warships is more of a “What-If?” design, drawing inspiration from Korean War-era ships to represent a possible vessel that might have sailed with the RAN. According to the official announcement, the Tier X ship has…

[This media release has been provided by Ubisoft PR and is presented by the GOA team for your information] Sydney, Australia — March 8, 2023 — Today, the first season of Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 8, Operation Commanding Force is available now. This season introduces Brava, a new Brazilian Operator, and important gameplay updates including a more immersive reload update, the MouseTrap feature launching later in the season to address players using mouse and keyboard on consoles, and further anti-toxicity measures. Commanding Force unleashes Brava, an invaluable new Attacker equipped with the Kludge Drone gadget. This drone offers new ways…

What’s the foundation of a good gaming PC? Is it the CPU? The graphics card? RAM, maybe? All those things are very important, but at the base of it all is the motherboard – the literal foundation upon which the rest of a PC is built. I’ve recently embarked on an overhaul of my gaming PC, with support from Asus, Intel and Nvidia, which involves replacing the motherboard, CPU and GPU with current-generation gear, and since the motherboard is the base of any gaming rig, it makes sense to start the reviews from there. The Asus TUF Gaming Z790-Plus Wifi…

APPLE have announced their additions and updates for the Apple Arcade service in March 2023, and once again there’s something for everyone there. Whether you want cats, a whodunnit, or physics-based fun, there are titles coming to the service that will appeal. Here, direct from Apple, is an overview of what’s coming this month: Arcade Originals  Kimono Cats  This Friday, play Kimono Cats from HumaNature Studios. This cute cat-centric game is sweet, charming, and filled with mini-games galore. Kimono Cats (HumaNature Studios) — Kimono Cats is a charming and original social mobile game that blends skill, creativity, and friendly social gifting and competition.…

THERE is no doubt the standard PlayStation DualSense controller that comes with the PlayStation 5 is an excellent controller. However, as every hardcore gamer knows, you can never have too many buttons or controls on your controller – and PlayStation have come to that party on that front with this peripheral. At first glance, the PlayStation DualSense Edge is broadly similar to a conventional DualSense controller, but when you look a bit closer you’ll notice some important differences. The obvious visual one – besides the fact the touchpad, D-pad and main buttons are black instead of white – is that…

ALIENWARE have a very good name when it comes to computers, laptops, and monitors – and as it turns out, they can add headsets to that ensemble. The Alienware AW920H Tri-Mode Wireless Headset brings the company’s distinctive design flavour and aesthetic to headsets, and manages to be a serviceable product in its own right as opposed to an afterthought put out for branding/add-on sales reasons – although it’s not without some shortfalls. The name gives a significant clue to the headset’s major selling point – it has three different ways of connecting to a device (Bluetooth, 2.4Ghz wireless dongle, and…

ONE of the key selling points for a laptop –  be it a high-end gaming system or a one of the Apple M1/M2 Silicon Chip MacBooks – is that you can take it with you and play games (or work, I guess) in somewhere other than your house. While they are an all-in one system, most of us know that trying to game with a trackpad is not usually a practical proposition (especially in action-orientated games), and using the attached keyboard means you have to have the laptop essentially on your lap (or right in front of you) to get…

[This media release has been provided by Nvidia PR and is presented by the GOA team for your information] Nvidia GeForce Gamers continue to reap the benefits of RTX ON Upgrades, with seven new DLSS games and six new Reflex games. NVIDIA DLSS has revolutionised graphics rendering, using AI and GeForce RTX Tensor Cores to boost frame rates while delivering crisp, high quality images that rival native resolution. And DLSS 3 adds new Frame Generation technology to multiply performance, along with NVIDIA Reflex, for the fastest and most responsive gaming possible. This month, DLSS arrives in another seven games, including: Atomic Heart (launches February…

I’VE long had a special fondness for Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games – Dune II: The Battle For Arrakis on the Sega Mega Drive was a seminal experiences for me back in 1994, and when Command & Conquer showed up the following year (complete with full-motion video, no less!) I knew I’d found a genre that really appealed. When you combine RTS games with WWII, you get a winning combination – which is why the Company Of Heroes series has been so successful. Developed by Relic and published by Sega for the PC (with console version on the way), Company of…

IN Soviet Russia, killer robots hunt you! Come on, there’s no way I could start this review without referencing that meme, and now that I’ve done it, we can get on with reading about Atomic Heart, developed by Mundfish and published by Focus on PC, Xbox and PlayStation. Atomic Heart combines two of my many interests – in this case, retro-futurism and the Soviet Union. I’m quite fond of Soviet firearms and consumer goods, because their rugged simplicity appeals to me – along with the fact that you can buy Soviet wristwatches and cameras on eBay for very reasonable prices;…

I LOVE a good book. Obviously my preference is for the kind that have words and/or pictures in them, but from an aesthetic perspective the look of a leatherbound book (particularly if located in a room that smells of rich mahogany) is very appealing too. What’s this got to do with technology, though? Glad you asked. The TwelveSouth BookBook range of covers and cases is designed to make things like an Amazon Kindle or Apple iPad look like a leatherbound book, and very stylish they are indeed. I had a BookBook cover on my old Kindle Paperwhite 7th Gen for…

[This media release has been provided by Samsung PR and is presented by the GOA team for your information] SYDNEY, Australia – 16 February 2023 – Samsung Electronics Australia has today announced its first OLED gaming monitor, the Odyssey OLED G8, is coming to Australia in March 2023 (RRP $1,999). The Odyssey OLED G8 is available for pre-order between 16 February 2023 and 5 March 2023, and customers who pre-order the gaming monitor during this period will receive a Samsung SSD 990 PRO 2TB worth $389 RRP as a bonus gift while stocks last. First announced at IFA 2022, the…

DIRECT from Apple themselves and presented by the GOA team for your information just how we received it, here is what’s new for Apple Arcade this month! Arcade Originals  Castle Crumble From the makers of Spire Blast — Castle Crumble lands exclusively on Arcade this Friday. Cannonballs, Magic Beams, and Freezing Mortars are just a few of the weapons in your arsenal as you set out to destroy many different castles in a far fantasyland. Castle Crumble (Orbital Knight) — Embark on an adventure and conquer a variety of kingdoms and unique biomes. In Castle Crumble the goal is clear — castles must crumble.…

HAVING a decent gaming headset is all well and good, but it helps to have somewhere to store it when you’re not wearing it. A headset stand is the obvious solution – but what about if you could charge your phone at the same time (or while you’re using the headset?). Satechi have obviously asked themselves the same question, because I’m reviewing the result. The Satechi 2-in-1 Headphone Stand with Wireless Charger is, essentially, a Magsafe/Qi-compatible wireless charging base with a metal headset holder above it. It sounds simple because it is – and it’s also very useful, although they…

[This press release has been provided by Samsung PR and is presented by the GOA team for your information] SYDNEY, Australia – February 2, 2023 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today unveiled the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23, marking a new era of Samsung Galaxy’s ultimate premium phone experience. Samsung Galaxy’s epic camera gives users freedom to explore their creativity, like capturing truly cinematic Nightography videos with transformative AI. The “Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy” unleashes premium experiences, including ground-breaking AI, future-ready mobile gaming features and powerfully sustained game play with one of the…

READERS of my writings over the years will hopefully be aware that I am very fond of Grand Strategy Games and the Victorian Era – and have been very much looking forward to the combination of the two that is Victoria 3. Developed and published by Paradox for PC and Mac, Victoria 3 is the third iteration of the popular Grand Strategy series, and like the others, it is not for the dilettante – and ultimately proved too complex and opaque for me to really get into on the level I wanted to, either. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOI-RJGHJxc While the game launched late…

AUSTRALIA Day 2023 is here and in addition to the traditional BBQ/backyard cricket/beach trip/generally enjoying a day off work, it’s also a good opportunity to celebrate some of the great video games developed right here in a land down under, where you can watch the lightning crack over canefields, laugh and think “This is Australia”. Bet you thought I was going to go with the obvious Men At Work reference there, didn’t you? Anyway, because it’s Australia Day 2023, here are five of my Australian video game recommendations, in no particular order: BIG BASH BOOM (Big Ant) Australian summer…