October November Live Magazine

LIVE 

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2017 ISSUE 

Games 

Trading Cards 

Cosplay 

Product Catalogue 

+ more! 

SPECIAL EDITION 

WIN tickets! 

Interview with Director 

Denis Villeneuve 

SCI-FI 

SPECIAL!

Welcome to October’s special edition - special because we have an interview with Denis Villeneuve, the 

director of Blade Runner 2049, the much anticipated new sci-fi film which is the follow up to the classic, 

Blade Runner featuring Harrison Ford. And thanks to Sony Pictures - we’ve got tickets to give away - so 

check out the competition on Page 10. 

We’ve also gotten our hands on tickets to the new Jigsaw film thanks to the team at Picture This, after 

all it is Halloween and we just love horror here at Live! 

Speaking of horror we caught up with our special guest photographer, Mike Rollerson who is the king of 

horror photography with some brilliant horror themed cosplay, and Cosplay editor Tiffany Dean talks to 

us about her latest Wonder Woman project. We also take a long look at Instagram which seems to be 

the choice of cosplayers and cosplay photographers to promote themselves and gain a following - but 

is it? Take a look. 

We’ve also got our Trading Card feature with an interview with a local MTG player and our popular War 

Gaming section thanks to Ben! 

Finally the team at Live would like to thank everyone involved in the magazine, our writers, our readers 

and our stores. We do our best to give you a fun magazine for free each month, we’d love you to 

share it with friends and help us grow our community and our reach. It’s thanks to you that we have 

these brilliant interviews with people like Denis Villeneuve, and the many people our retro editor Paul 

Monopoli has caught up with over the years. We’re now getting more readers each issue then many big 

name online magazines and we hope to grow our audience and get you even more great content, free 

tickets and more! 

Have a great month

INSIDE 

6 

Blade 

50 

Video 

90 

Product 

134 

Cosplay 

Runner Special 

Games 

Catalogue 

THE LIVE 

TEAM 

Publisher: Rob Jenkins 

Art Director: Giselle Capobianco 

Game Contributors: 

VGChartz 

Sticky Trigger Entertainment 

Retro Editor: Paul Monopoli 

Entertainment Editor: 

Scott Sowter 

Cosplay Editors: 

Tiffany Dean 

Anny Simms 

Wargaming Contributor: 

Ben Makepeace

NEW PRODUCTS! 

BLADE RUNNER POPS! 

BOARD GAMES

HARRY POTTER WANDS 

PARTY GAME 

ASK STAFF FOR PRODUCT DETAILS / RELEASE DATES! 

Get it all at Gametraders! Order in-store.

YOUR MOVIESAY 

INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR 

DENIS 

VILLENEUVE 

Why is the original Blade Runner a 

film that fans, directors and designers 

love? 

Well I think that the first Blade Runner, 

when it came out on the screen, 

it sent a shockwave into the world. 

It was a collective shock. For some 

people it was a positive one, they 

were amazed, others were terrified. 

I feel that Ridley Scott and Hampton 

Fancher had a strong vision of 

what could be our future. It striked 

everybody. 

I think that the dream was so powerful 

and so seductive and frightening 

at the same time, that you had to 

choose your camp. Do you dream 

about this world? Do you want to be 

part of it? Or are you afraid of it and 

trying to avoid it? 

People had to choose between two 

camps. 

I think that we all felt when we saw 

the movie, that the filmmakers had 

created something that could be 

possible. That was fascinating, 

from a design point of view, but very 

frightening at the same time. And

that we will have to be careful what 

we wish for. 

And it was the first time that I was 

seeing a vision of what could be the 

future for real. The movie was aesthetically 

an extension of what was 

going on in the 80s. And it was the 

first time that someone was showing 

me the future, and it was fascinating 

and quite frightening at the 

same time. 

Ridley Scott is a specialist of hybridization. 

He had successfully 

merge science-fiction with horror 

with Alien... With Blade Runner he 

was blending SciFi and Film Noir. 

The film has been influential in 

terms of its visuals and aesthetic 

sense and ideas it raises. Would 

you agree with that? 

Yes. From a visual point of view, it’s 

a movie that took as its root, and 

was deeply influenced by the punk 

movement that was a very radical 

aesthetic movement at the end 

of the 60s and in the 70s. And we 

see that radical point of view in the 

movie. 

I will say it’s like a movie that revisits 

the Frankenstein mythology about a 

man that will want to play God. And 

for me the main idea of the movie 

is how angry we are towards God, 

towards our creator. How angry we 

are towards the fact that we have 

to deal with the human condition. 

And that anger is something that is 

very alive inside us. 

Ridley Scott just put his finger on 

it. I think that’s why the movie is so 

visceral, so powerful. It’s not a very 

intellectual movie, it’s a very visceral 

movie. 

You have a great story about when 

you came into contact with Blade 

Runner. What was the impact on 

you at that time? 

I vividly remember seeing the first 

images coming out on the fanzine, 

of Deckard flying above Los Angeles. 

And it was something that was 

so far away from anything we had 

seen before. This was so different. 

I remember seeing the first movie 

and being shocked by what I think is 

one of the most powerful openings 

of any movie in cinema history. 

Los Angeles, November, 2019. 

Then you see that field, that landscape 

of oil factories. It was so 

nightmarish and powerful at the 

same time. A very powerful dream. 

Aesthetically it’s a movie that influenced 

me. I didn’t know at the time 

I would become a filmmaker, but I 

know that it has had a deep influence 

on my work since then. 

Why did you want to direct the continuation? 

How did you come about 

doing that? 

I would have never dared, honestly, 

to propose myself for such a task. I 

vividly remember the moment when 

I was meeting with Andrew Kosove 

and Broderick Johnson about Prisoners. 

They stopped the meeting, 

and they said, “We have to stop because 

Ridley Scott will come in. He’s 

in the other room right now and we 

have to meet with him because we 

are planning to do a sequel to Blade 

Runner.” 

At that precise moment, I thought it 

was the most insane and beautiful 

idea at the same time. Because it’s 

such a challenge. It’s such a difficult

thing to go on with the story, to try 

to reproduce what had been a landmark 

in film history. It’s not a small 

thing. 

I remember saying, good luck guys. 

But knowing that Ridley was there, 

knowing that he was behind the 

project, I said to myself, wow, I can’t 

wait to see that. I remember being 

in their office and peeking in the 

boxes to see artwork that Ridley 

was doing. Such powerful visions 

and images. 

So, to answer to your question, it 

came out of the blue. One day Andrew 

said to me, I need to see you. 

I was in New Mexico at the time. 

We sat together in a small coffee 

shop. He said, this is the screenplay 

for the next Blade Runner. I was sincerely 

moved.. [LAUGHS] Because 

just to have the chance to read that, 

I was so moved that he would trust 

me to read the screenplay and give 

my opinion about it. For me it was 

the biggest compliment I’ve ever 

received because of that amount 

of trust that Alcon had, to put this in 

my hands. 

Once I read the screenplay, the first 

thing that I thought is, Will I be able 

to do this? I dreamed a lot before 

saying yes. It took a lot of time. One 

of the conditions was that I needed 

Ridley Scott’s blessing. Meaning 

that I needed to sit in front of him, 

looking at him in the eyes and saying, 

“You agree that I will take part in 

this dream with you.” And that was 

my only condition. I needed Ridley’s 

blessing. 

Asking for Ridley Scott’s blessing, 

how did that meeting go? 

Ridley Scott is one of my heroes, 

he’s one of the best directors in film 

history. So to meet him was intimidating, 

at first. 

He told me the genesis of Blade 

Runner for him, how he came up 

with those ideas. Where it came 

form, what was his goal. He said to 

me exactly what I needed to hear, 

which is that he would give me total 

freedom. But if ever I needed him I 

could call him any time to ask him 

questions about design, about concept 

art, about style, about actors 

– he was open to any kind of question. 

In fact he was there every time I 

needed him. At the end he said, 

looking at me in the eyes, shaking 

my hand, “Listen, it’s very simple. If 

you do your homework correctly, it 

can be fantastic. If you fuck it up, 

it’s going to be a disaster.” So that 

was the last thing he said to me. 

[LAUGHS] And I said, yeah, that’s 

honest. [LAUGHS] That’s exactly 

what he had to say. 

What about collaborating with Ridley 

and Hampton Fancher on the 

story. What was important to keep

from the original movie? Was that 

discussed? 

The thing I felt that was the most 

important thing for Ridley, is not 

what is shown in the movie. It’s 

what he didn’t show that was important 

for him. Off-world. The mythology 

behind how the replicants 

are designed and built, etc. When 

you think about it, Blade Runner is 

a very intimate story with a lot of 

scope. 

You have that fantastic world 

around you, but you are always on 

the human point, at the human level, 

and you are always just behind 

Rick Deckard. It was one of the 

strengths and the genius of Ridley 

to approach the movie in this way. 

So it means that they found ways to 

make us feel how big is this world 

without showing it. 

I think that is still one of the big 

strengths of that film. I think what 

Ridley wanted was to keep the mythology 

alive by not showing it. I 

needed to be very careful where I 

will put my camera. The first problem 

that I had to deal with was: I’m 

going to be in 2049, and what is in 

a Blade Runner universe? Because 

as we know, the first movie was set 

in 2019. 

We all know that it was prophetic in 

some ways, that there are a lot of 

things we saw in the first movie that 

are alive today. But, at the same 

time, it’s a different world. There was 

no Steve Jobs in the Blade Runner 

of 2019. So it meant that, for me, 

that I had to build an alternative universe. 

2049 is the extension of the 

original Blade Runner. It’s not an extension 

of reality like the first Blade 

Runner was. The first Blade Runner 

was inspired by the end of the 70s. 

I inspired myself from Blade Runner. 

That is a choice that made sense 

to me, and made sense to Hampton 

Fancher as well. He said, “Listen, 

stop putting pressure on your shoulders. 

The first movie was a dream. 

We just dreamt a lot, and you have 

to do the same thing. Don’t try to 

think about the logic of it, just dream 

about it.” That was the best advice I 

ever received to make my guideline 

to make this movie. 

I will say also that I was moved, because 

from time to time I received 

poems from Hampton that I kept, 

as a source of inspiration. 

At that point, what were your biggest 

hopes or fears as you entered 

that mission? 

This movie is totally different from 

any other project I’ve done in my 

life. I was used to creating worlds 

that were coming out of myself. I 

did an adaptation of a play. But still 

I had to create the images. Now 

the world was already designed by 

someone else, I was taking someone 

else’s dream. And that was a 

totally different experience. 

There’s such a responsibility. I never 

felt an artist take responsibility like 

that pushing on my shoulders. And 

it took me a lot of meditation to find 

freedom, to allow myself to do it. To 

let it go and just have fun with it. But 

it was a journey at the beginning to 

find my way. And I’m still grateful to 

Ridley for giving me that freedom, 

giving me the space to do it. 

The movie is the same kind of color 

palette but made by another painter. 

I don’t know how the world will 

react to that. 

What is the story of Blade Runner 

2049 to you? 

For me it’s a story about the dangerous 

power of desires over reason. 

It’s also an exploration of what 

defines a human being. More specifically 

about memories. Are we 

humans without memories? 

Why was Ryan Gosling the best actor 

to play K? How did you develop 

the creative relationship with him 

on set? 

One thing that was suggested when 

I read the screenplay, was that K 

could be played by Ryan Gosling. I 

think it was Ridley’s idea. As soon 

as I read the screenplay, I said yes, 

immediately. 

There is nobody else. He’s someone

that can express everything just 

by moving an eyebrow, you know? 

I needed an actor that had an extreme 

intelligence and that sensibility 

to go through the story, making 

the character not a victim, but 

someone that wants to go through 

the wall of his own condition. 

When did you find out Harrison Ford 

was onboard? 

Right at the beginning when I read 

the screenplay. 

Harrison was a part of the project 

before I was. In fact he’s one of the 

reasons why I am here. Ridley was 

not available to direct the film because 

he was busy on another project 

and they needed a director, and 

that’s when I came in. 

Harrison was part of the project 

from day one. It would not be possible 

to make a Blade Runner without 

Harrison Ford, of course. 

What was it like working with him 

and bringing back that iconic character? 

For me, it was very special journey 

to work with Harrison because he’s 

someone that is linked with the 

birth of my love of cinema right at 

the beginning. I was raised on Star 

Wars and Blade Runner and all of 

those movies. Harrison in the past 

40 years is one of the biggest stars, 

someone that was part of all of our 

dreams when we were young. To 

meet him and to be in contact with 

him was really a huge privilege but 

also I got to meet one of my childhood 

heroes. 

He broke the ice very quickly by 

being the most warm and charming, 

thoughtful, generous, humble 

artist I’ve ever met. And working 

with him was like going back to 

film school. He’s someone that has 

so much experience and gives so 

much thought to the acting process 

in a way that I very rarely encounter. 

For me it was a really beautiful 

and unique experience working with 

Harrison Ford. 

Tell us all the wonderful things you 

think of Ryan Gosling. 

Well, I would have never been able 

to do Blade Runner without Ryan.

Ryan was a real creative partner, 

and was my muse. He became a 

very good friend as we were going 

through this experience, because 

he brought me so much energy. 

As a director I always try to find a 

muse on a project. You don’t have 

always one, but when you find one, 

it’s very powerful. 

That’s the dream, to find an actress 

or an actor that will become your 

main color, the soul that you are 

trying to capture with your camera. 

And Ryan became that muse very 

quickly. 

His passion, his relentless effort in 

making sure that we will nail it, always 

deeply moved me, because I 

felt it was important that we try to 

make a great movie together. 

The chances of failure were huge. 

And we both, at the beginning, 

agreed that what we were doing 

was insane, was deeply exciting, 

that it was a privilege. But that we 

would do it as a pure artistic gesture. 

Because we had no idea how 

the world will react to it, and we 

agreed that it made sense to both 

of us, and we had the same view 

about it. Very intimate approach to 

this project. 

Talk about the female characters 

and actresses that played Luv and 

Joi. 

I’m grateful to the producers for allowing 

me to find the cast that I did. 

We went everywhere on the planet 

to try to find the best cast possible 

for the characters. I found in 

Europe, in the United States and in 

Cuba, actresses that are amongst 

the best artists I’ve ever worked 

with, and that are new voices that 

we will hear more and more from in 

the future. 

It’s rare as a director to feel you 

are witnessing the birth of the star 

they’re becoming. They are powerful 

women. I’m thinking about Ana 

de Armas, who plays Joi. She’s a 

Cuban actress that has all the qualities, 

the energy, the sensibility and 

the skills to play that very difficult 

character. 

Sylvia Hoeks plays Luv. Honestly 

one of the best artists I ever worked 

with in my life, and I can’t wait to see 

what she is going to do in the future, 

because I think she’s going to blow 

us all away... big time. She’s an actress 

with a lot of profoundness, a 

lot of strength and she is not afraid 

to go and do wild things. 

I had the privilege to work with Mackenzie 

Davis as well. When I decided 

to make Blade Runner, she was 

one of the first ones I approached. 

Because for me, Mackenzie is one 

of the best actresses coming out of 

her generation. She was the most 

obvious choice for me and she was 

the first that I proposed to the producers, 

once we had Ryan and Harrison 

of course. 

And then there was Carla Juri, an 

actress from Switzerland, who has 

skills like you rarely see in actors 

today. Very impressive. Again, she 

had done movies before in Europe, 

but I think that Blade Runner will be 

a good breakthrough for her.

What about Jared Leto joining the 

cast? 

When I read the screenplay, Francine 

Maisler, the casting director 

and I, had an epiphany. Wallace 

should be played by David Bowie. 

And we said to ourselves, that’s it. 

It’s him, it’s going to be a long shot 

to get him, but let’s try it. Davie 

Bowie is like an icon that could had 

inspired Blade Runner. 

It made total sense for us to try 

to bring him back in this world. As 

deeply painful as it was for all of us 

in the world to lose such a fantastic 

artist, I felt in an intimate way also 

that it was like we had a muse, an 

ideal. I had to find someone that 

would have the same qualities as 

David Bowie. 

Which is not easy to find, you know. 

That kind of striking magnetism, 

that madness behind the eyes, 

that wish to transform yourself and 

to create a character bigger than 

life. And then Jared Leto came onboard. 

I heard stories that one of 

the first things he did when he won 

his Academy Award was he went to 

Alcon and said, I want to be part of 

Blade Runner.” 

Jared was very interested to play 

that part. To play Neander Wallace 

is a very tough part, because it’s a 

character that will deal with an insane 

amount of dialogues. Very difficult 

to say. And I needed an actor 

that has a kind of strength to embrace 

those speeches and to bring 

them to life with poetry. 

And what can I say? I chose a rock 

star, and he just blew us away. It was 

very impressive to see him working. 

You chose Dave Bautista for Sapper 

Morton and made some movie 

magic happen. 

Dave was one of the first names 

that came up, because he’s such a 

charismatic and strong presence. 

I needed someone that would be 

like a giant, but a gentle giant that 

can be also a scary giant. I needed 

someone that, when you see him at 

first, you have empathy for him. 

How does the new film relate to the 

original in terms of visual style? The 

original had an iconic look. How important 

was it for you to tie the two 

films together visually? 

That was one of the big challenges, 

to tie both movies visually, and 

at the same time create something 

that has its own identity. We all felt 

the same pressure and the same 

responsibility to honor the first movie, 

Ridley’s work, but at the same 

time to make our own movie coming 

out of this universe. 

So the good news is that the 

screenplay was allowing me to get 

out of Los Angeles. And that gave 

me the opportunity to think about 

what the world will look alike around 

the vicinity of the city. The areas 

around California, to dream about 

this place and to make sure that 

it will be logical from an aesthetic 

point of view. But at the same time 

it will bring a different look to the 

movie. 

There was one element that, for me, 

was deeply inspiring, and that was 

the fact that the climate will have 

totally changed between both movies. 

First movie was more inspired 

by bad days in London where Ridley 

is coming from. Me, I’m coming from 

Montreal. So, the movie is more inspired 

by bad days in Montreal, 

where it’s all snow and sludge and 

cold. And that necessarily brought 

visually a difference in the atmosphere 

and in the color palette. 

And you bring us to Las Vegas, what 

can you say about that? 

One of the big challenges of the 

movie was to recreate another city. 

What would Las Vegas look like in 

2049? And for that there was only 

one man that could give me the 

answer. I went back to the original 

creator of Blade Runner, the main 

dreamer, the architect of Blade 

Runner. I went back to Syd Mead. 

I felt that he was the only one who 

could bring Las Vegas into the Blade 

Runner universe. I met the master 

I explained my challenge and 

he agreed to help me. He brought 

back those insanely beautiful views 

of Las Vegas that I’m very proud of. 

And that I know that honestly, no 

matter what people think about the 

movie, I know that Las Vegas, the 

Las Vegas we created, is a Blade 

Runner Las Vegas. I’m very happy 

about that. [LAUGHS] 

Let’s talk about the sets. Whose 

idea was it to have these practical 

sets? 

It’s a decision that came early in the 

film process, that we would use as 

little green screen as possible. That 

we would use as many practical 

sets as possible, and real vehicles

as much as possible. Basically it 

was for my own mental sanity. I hate 

green screens. I’m not comfortable 

with that color, I’m not comfortable 

with what it means to work in a virtual 

world. 

I need tangible things. I need real 

objects, I need real props, I need 

real environments, because those 

environments will trigger ideas, will 

trigger shots, will inspire cinema. At 

the end of the day, my movies are 

inspired by actors. And those actors 

need to be fueled by a world. 

My movies are dreamed by actors 

first. And for me I need to give them 

all they could need to be inspired. 

So that’s why it’s the first thing 

that I decided with Roger Deakins, 

my cinematographer, to construct 

everything. 

We used very little green screen on 

the movie. Of course there will be 

CG in extension, because obviously 

you were creating a whole world. 

But, everything you are seeing in the 

movie is, at first glance, at the beginning, 

in the foreground, it’s real. 

That is a big victory and I’m grateful 

that we went in that direction. 

How was the work with Roger 

Deakins, on set and prior to shooting? 

Roger came onboard very early in 

the process because I was doing 

another movie and I felt I needed 

a lot of prep. And I wanted to have 

time to dream about the movie, to 

design the movie with a very, very 

small unit before I starting the official 

prep. I spent weeks in a little 

hotel room with Roger Deakins and 

my storyboard artist Sam, to storyboard 

the movie, to design and create 

the world that we will be in. 

So Roger was part of the birth of 

the cinematic language of Blade 

Runner 2049 from the start. So I felt 

that, at one point, in a great way for 

me, it was as much Roger’s movie 

as mine. And he cares about the 

movie as much as I do. 

I said to him, from the start, “For 

once, you could go an impressionistic 

way, you could let it go. You’re 

totally free. You can do whatever 

you want.” 

So I think that people will be blown 

away by what Roger Deakins did in 

Blade Runner 2049 because I think 

it’s among his best work. And we’re 

talking about the best work of one 

of the best cinematographers of 

all time. So honestly, people won’t 

be disappointed. Visually it’s very 

strong. 

How do you make advertising 

evolve in this new movie? 

Los Angeles in 2049 will look like 

the worst days of Beijing. Multiplied 

by ten. So it means that the 

atmosphere is so thick that you 

can project things and the world is 

in 3D. So the ads are not just huge 

billboards in 3D dimension, they are 

among us. 

We tried as we were designing the 

movie to do what they did in the first 

movie, which is to try to feel what 

it’s like in the world, what will happen 

in 30 years. And we met scientists, 

doctors, architects, computer 

designers. People that told us what 

they thought could be the future. 

And that inspired a lot of the design 

of the movie. 

Talk about using miniatures in this 

movie. Talk about the process, and 

where did you use those? 

The dream was to do as much as 

possible in the practical way. To 

use as little CG as possible, that 

was my dream. It was a success 

sometimes, but sometimes less of 

a success. There’s always a link

with reality in every shot. But one 

thing that was difficult was finding 

out that the architecture I wanted to 

shoot doesn’t exist. 

To my great happiness, WETA in 

New Zealand agreed to build Los 

Angeles and to build some elements 

that will be seen in the movie 

as real miniatures. Those miniatures 

were gigantic. It’s very moving 

to see them building this world. But 

it’s striking, when you shoot real 

things, you feel it. 

How do you imagine the world in 

2049? 

A big problem today is that it is very 

difficult to dream about the future. 

All the sci-fi movies are dystopian. 

There is no more utopia, meaning 

a beautiful dream. It’s something 

that I’m asking myself, I should think 

about that, try to find a way just for 

myself or for other people to dream 

a bit in a positive way about the future. 

Because right now it’s like the 

future is pretty frightening from a 

political view, and from an environmental 

climate view. 

Let’s say that we didn’t make things 

more bright, going from 2019 to 

2049. It’s like the world just became 

more nightmarish. But there’s 

some good news: In 2049 we are 

still alive. [LAUGHS] So we are still 

there. That’s the only thing I can say. 

But I think we need more positive 

dreamers right now.

YOUR MOVIESAY 

win 

A DOUBLE PASS! 

Thanks to Sony Pictures and Gametraders, you could win a double 

pass to see Blade Runner 2049 - in cinemas 5 October. 

Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJMDvbyNtJ0 

and tell us what Ryan Gosling replies to Harrison Ford when he asks 

“what do you want?” while pointing the gun at him. 

Email your answer along with your name, age and address to 

gtlivemagazine@gmail.com. 

©2017 CTMG, Alcon and WBEI. All Rights Reserved.

THE 

TRUTH 

DID YO 

GAME & POP CULTURE FU 

This month some sci-fi trivia... 

One of the highest rated sci-fi movies 

on Rotten Tomatoes is E.T The 

Extra-Terrestrial released in 1982. 

Directed by Steven Spielberg in 

made $792 million at the box office! 

The club scene in The Matrix was a 

real S&M club with real patrons who 

were asked to come in costume for 

the scene... 

According to IMDb the most profitable 

science fiction film is Star Wars: 

The Force Awakens that grossed 

$939M and was the first of the new 

films directed by J.J. Abrams. 

Avatar comes in at number 2 and 

made $760M

U KNOW... 

N FACTS & TRIVIA 

Every issue I search the globe 

for game and pop culture trivia, 

I get sent out across the globe, 

(first class) to scout the world of 

video games to bring you some 

fun facts. 

Johnny Depp auditioned for the role 

of Marty McFly in Back to the 

Future. 

(Um... no. We gave you a crappy 

old laptop and told you to search 

the web... Ed.) 

Some bloopers in sci-fi include the 

classic scene in Star Wars from 

1977 where the Storm Trooper 

bangs his head on the door frame... 

https://youtu.be/dBQaLuqwtl8 

Images from Wikipedia.

YOUR MOVIES SAY & TV 

To Boldly Go! 

BLADE RUNNER 

1982 

Dir: Ridley Scott 

Blade Runner, the neo-noir masterpiece. 

Blade Runner is just stunning 

from beginning to end. A great, 

thought provoking plot, awesome 

cast and some of the best visuals 

ever on screen. It cements Blade 

Runner at the top of my list. The 

detective story of Harrison Ford’s 

Deckard trying to track down rogue 

robots, who only want to know who 

they and why they are. It sets up the 

villains as truly sympathetic, and it 

makes them the most interesting 

part about the film. The final moments 

of Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty 

is one of my favourite scenes in all 

of cinema. His speech about life and 

death is just incredible and amazing 

testament to the script and to Hauer’s 

outstanding performance. 

THE FIFTH 

ELEMENT 

1997 

Dir: Luc Besson 

The Fifth Element is possibly the 

most fun and entertaining film on 

this list. Honestly its just so damn 

fun to watch! I love it in films where 

little explanation is offered and you 

just kind of have to roll with the 

punches. The Fifth element is one 

of those films. It just throws you 

head first into the utterly bizarre future 

and you have no choice or time 

to think about it. Ok, sure, they have 

flying cars, and there are weird aliens, 

and the church hides an alien 

prophecy, and a giant space monster... 

thing is coming for us. You 

just have to accept this vision, you 

have no choice or explanation. It’s 

just a joy. I love the show don’t tell 

approach. Its one of the few films 

you can tell Bruce Willis is actually 

having a good time. 

THE PLANET OF 

THE APES 

1968 

Dir: Franklin J Schaffner 

The Planet of the Apes, a film that 

launched a massive sci/fi franchise 

that is still going today. The original 

film though is just a masterpiece of 

science fiction. Astronauts arrive on 

a strange planet to find humans enslaved 

to a race of intelligent apes. 

only to discover at the end of the 

film, (spoiler alert...) they have actually 

arrived in the future, where 

apes have taken over the planet. It 

is this twist that shocked the world 

and launched this series into the 

stratosphere. Before that point in 

the film it is just a seemingly run of 

the mill since fiction film. Then out 

of nowhere BOOM, it is the future. It 

adds so much to the overall drama 

of the plot and makes it all the more 

impactful and thought provoking. of 

the plot and makes it all the more 

impactful and thought provoking.

Science fiction is a one of a kind genre. It can take us to places that can only exist in our 

imaginations. It can show us the future be it bright and optimistic, or dark and frightening. 

It is a genre built for the screen. I’m going to take a look at my top five favourite sci/fi films 

and my five favourite sci/fi Tv shows. 

DISTRICT 9 

2009 

Dir: Neill Blomkamp 

This is one of those films I knew I 

was going to like but I didn’t expect 

to love it as much as I did. It is just 

an incredible film. District 9 tells the 

story of a group of alien refugees 

that get stranded on earth and seek 

asylum in South Africa. We see the 

intense persecution these aliens 

suffer at the hands of human beings. 

They are filed into slum and 

basically left to rot. The film has an 

interesting take on the whole alien 

genre. The aliens are seen as persecuted 

and innocent, just wanting 

to survive. It is inspired by the true 

life horror of District 6 during the 

apartheid period in south African 

history. It stands as a fascinating 

social study using aliens as a metaphor. 

CLOSE 

ENCOUNTERS 

OF THE THIRD 

KIND 

1997 

Dir: Steven Spielberg 

Close Encounters still stands as 

one of my favourite films of all time. 

Spielberg knows who to draw us in. 

The story of seemingly regular people 

all connected through an experience 

they can’t understand, just trying 

to work out what is happening. 

Its simple and effective. The film 

presents us with a very optimistic 

view of aliens. Most sci/fi films see 

Aliens coming to kill us all. Close 

Encounters just shows us two species, 

wanting to communicate. It is 

an amazing film that is utterly captivating 

from beginning to end.

THE EXPANSE 

2015-Present 

The Expanse, or as I like to call it, 

‘Game of Thrones in Space.’ The 

Expanse is the best science fiction 

show you haven’t watched yet. We 

are presented with a dark, political 

and intense vision of the future. We 

see The Earth and Mars locked in 

an intense cold war, with Earth being 

a capitalist superpower, and 

Mars a military dictatorship. Both 

superpowers are ready to strike 

each other at any moment, and in 

the middle we have the belters. The 

poor people who work in asteroid 

fields to mine frozen water. It’s a 

power keg ready to explode at any 

moment... And it sure does. The first 

season is half detective story, half 

military/spy tale. Both stories come 

together with shocking results as a 

sinister organisation has unleashed 

a terrifying new experimental weapon 

on the universe. Its damn good 

television. 

STAR TREK 

1966-Present 

Ok, so Star Trek... So I just kind of 

mean ALL of Star Trek. The movies 

the many different TV versions. 

Just all of it. It’s fantastic. Star Trek 

presents us with one of the most 

optimistic versions of the future. 

Somehow we all just get along, well 

humans anyway. We as a society 

banded together with some of our 

space neighbours and are setting 

out to explore the universe. There 

is something so remarkably fun and 

joyous about that. Star Trek never 

fails to bring a smile to my face. It is 

just a joy to behold. It also gave us 

probably the greatest character in 

pop culture, Spock. Spock is possibly 

the most recognisable character 

in all of fiction. People who don’t 

know Star Trek know “live long and 

prosper”. 

FIREFLY 

2002 

Ahh Firefly... The greatest heartbreak 

in television history. This show 

is good... DAMN GOOD! It takes us 

to a future that feels almost real. 

Dirty, hard work, the problems facing 

the characters isn’t aliens, or 

some greater than the human race 

issue, it’s literally, “I need a job”. 

Joss Whedon introduces us to the 

world of Firefly with great effect. 

Space cowboys just trying to make 

a living. The cast is brilliant and all 

become characters you fall in love 

with. Not to mention an amazing 

ship that just steals your heart. The 

show was unjustly canceled only 

one season in. Although we did get 

the feature film Serenity to more or 

less give us closure, we were all left 

wanting more... You can’t take the 

sky from us!

BATTLESTAR 

GALACTICA 

2005-2009 

The Battlestar Galactica reboot 

could have easily failed, instead it 

soared. This show is the pinnacle of 

what good science fiction can be. 

It deals heavily with the idea of religion, 

artificial intelligence, politics, 

the military industrial complex, well 

the list goes on and on really. The 

show starts off swinging and just 

gets better and better. An amazing 

cast, great special effects and 

killer twists, the show just keeps 

you on the hook all the way to the 

conclusion. Ultimately the show is a 

religious parable, and a cautionary 

tale. The human beings believe in 

many gods while their robot enemies 

worship one true god. As a robot 

really can only worship its creator. 

This religious conflict explodes 

onto the TV screen and is simply a 

must watch. 

STRANGER 

THINGS 

2016-Present 

Stranger Things was a wonderful 

surprise. Encapsulating everything 

about the 80’s that we loved and 

polishing it into one smooth sci/fi 

package. The show became an instant 

phenomenon. The quality of 

the show comes down to the clever 

writing of The Duffer Brothers as 

well as the performances of one 

outstanding cast. The elements 

come together in one insanely addictive 

TV show. I just needed to 

know what was going to happen 

next. Coming from the Twilight Zone 

school of sci/fi we see a group of 

children squaring off against a sinister 

government agency while 

searching for their missing friend 

trapped in a nightmarish alternate 

dimension. The big foe of course, 

one of the denizens of the nightmare 

world, trying to break through 

into ours. Great science fiction fun. 

WRITTEN BY SCOTT F. SOWTER

YOUR MOVIES SAY & Tv : obituaries 

The Saw Is Family 

Remembering Tobe Hooper 

Yet again sadly we lost another 

master of the horror genre. Tobe 

Hooper was an astonishing director 

who created possibly the most terrifying 

film in the genre. With a title 

like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 

how could you go wrong. It evokes 

such incredible imagery, matched 

only by the sheer ferocity of the film 

itself. 

Tobe created a true American 

nightmare. Texas Chainsaw presents 

us with the degradation of 

the American dream. The film is 

a product of its time and it’s environment. 

Vietnam was in full swing. 

The summer of love had ended with 

the Manson Family and the flower 

generation were left shell shocked. 

Along comes Tobe Hooper with his 

nightmare take on America. A group 

of teenagers torn apart and literally 

eaten by a family of cannibalistic 

serial killers. 

He gave us Leatherface a real 

nightmare come alive. A serial killer 

that literally wears his victims. 

He is also seemingly suffering from 

some form of mental disability. He is 

almost as much a victim of his family 

as the teenagers are. The film is 

just layered and subtle. It is harsh 

and feels icky to watch. The dinner 

scene is still one of the most frightening 

scenes ever put to film. 

He also directed Texas Chainsaw 2 

which is a wickedly funny film that 

is very under rated. He showed that 

he had a sense of humour and was 

more than happy to make fun of his 

own monsters. 

Tobe knew how to create tension 

“I don’t believe in using too much graphic 

violence, although I’ve done it. It’s better to be 

suggestive and to allow the viewer to 

fill in the blanks in their minds.” 

- TOBE HOOPER 

and fill the audience with dread. 

Sadly he never really got the credit 

he deserved. He directed Poltergeist 

which is an incredible film yet 

he had his credit seemingly stripped 

with rumours that Spielberg had actually 

directed the film, and his career 

never really seemed to reach 

the heights a man of his talent deserved. 

His other really notable film 

work was the adaptation of Salems 

Lot, one of Stephen King’s best 

tales. He brought vampires into the 

home and made them scary again. 

Ultimately Tobe will always be remembered 

as the man who created 

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 

Which is a legacy that will live on for 

years to come. He manifested our 

nightmares. 

RIP Tobe Hooper.

The Dead Will 

Walk The Earth 

Remembering George A. Romero 

In July we lost one of the great gentlemen 

of horror. George A. Romero 

is the man who created the zombie 

film. His film Night of the Living 

Dead was a game changer in cinema. 

It presented us with a bleak vision 

of a world torn apart when the 

dead return to life to eat the living. 

He showed us a horror film where 

there were no good guys or bad 

guys, simply the living and the dead. 

He introduced us to the first African-American 

protagonist in a film. 

That’s right the hero of this horror 

was a black man. This had never 

been done before. George never 

thought he was making a statement, 

yet he did. 

George continued his work in the 

zombie genre with Dawn of the 

Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the 

Dead, Diary of the Dead and Survival 

of the Dead. He was known as 

the king of the zombies. However 

some of his other films are well 

worth looking at. 

Creepshow is an amazing film, 

his partnership with Stephen King 

showed the dark sense of humour. 

Martin took a unique and incredibly 

intelligent look at the vampire genre. 

The Crazies set us up with the 

viral outbreak sub genre of zombie 

films. 

“My stories are about humans and how they react, 

or fail to react, or react stupidly. I’m pointing 

the finger at us, not at the zombies. I try to 

respect and sympathise with the 

zombies as much as possible.” 

- GEORGE A. ROMERO 

More than just a director he was always 

described as a nice guy. Genuine. 

In interviews he was always insightful 

and funny. He always made 

appearances and worked hard to 

be there for his fans. He was a gentleman 

of horror. Dawn of the Dead 

may stand has his masterpiece. It is 

an exceptionally good film. His commentary 

on our flippant and consumer 

driven society was ahead of 

its time. It still stands as a powerful 

and thought provoking film. 

We have lost a master of horror. 

Without him we wouldn’t have 

things like The Walking Dead or 28 

Days Later or World War Z. He was 

a legend of horror and people will 

continue to find his work both insightful 

and terrifying. 

RIP George A. Romero 

WRITTEN BY SCOTT F. SOWTER

YOUR RETROSAY 

The Gamer 

THE CONTINUING STORY 

The time for my Brisbane trip was 

here and while I was excited to be 

travelling interstate and seeing 

family, I was mostly excited about 

heading to Blade Electronics. 

I packed my copy of SNK vs Capcom: 

Match of the Millennium, as 

well as my clothes, boarded the 

plane was met at the airport by my 

aunt. While there was a list of things 

that my family wanted me to do with 

them, they continued to work during 

the day, so my time was my own 

for the most part. On the first day I 

caught a bus to Stones Corner, the 

other side of the city to where I was 

staying, and found my way to Blade 

Electronics. 

I remember it being a small shop 

front with some imported consoles 

scattered around the place. A Virtual 

Boy was on display, and I spoke 

to the owner about my own Virtual 

Boy back home. He was surprised 

to learn that I was there for a Neo 

Geo Pocket. I mean, I could have 

just had him send me one via mail 

order, I didn’t have to travel to another 

state to get it. This is just a 

thing I have, where I put off buying a 

console because I want to buy it in 

person. I did the same thing with the 

PC Engine Duo RX that I purchased 

in Japan in 2016. I had plenty of opportunities 

to buy one online, but I 

wanted to do it in a Japanese video 

game store. Anyway, back to the 

year 2000... 

I purchased my camouflage blue 

Neo Geo Pocket and a copy of 

Gals’ Fighters. I wanted to buy King 

of Fighters R2, but they didn’t have 

it in stock. The shop owner assured 

me that I would enjoy Gals’ Fighters, 

so I thought ‘why not?’ I also 

purchased an AC adapter, as it’s 

always good to have something to 

use incase you run out of batteries. 

After I made my purchases I 

boarded the bus back, exploring the 

console during the long ride home. 

I had bought SNK vs Capcom with 

me, and plugged that into my new 

console first. 

I relished being able to use tag team 

ups like Terry Bogard and Ken Masters, 

or Chun Li and Mai Shiranui. I 

also still began the long process of 

unlocking characters like Akuma, 

Geese Howard, Violent Ken and 

Orochi Iori. The control stick on the 

console looks a little awkward, but 

your thumb sits on it nicely, and the 

clicky controls work very well. As a 

beat em up the game is very satisfying, 

and I still go back to every 

now and again. Though I have purchased 

other coloured Neo Geo 

Pockets and games over the years, 

that camouflage blue console is the 

one that currently sits in my bedside 

table and gets played when I feel 

like some handheld fighting. 

As for Gals’ Fighters, the store clerk 

wasn’t wrong about me enjoying it. 

The game play is identical to SNK vs 

Capcom, but it’s much faster! The

OF RETRO EDITOR, PAUL MONOPOLI’S GAMING JOURNEY... 

diaries: 

roster includes female characters 

from previous SNK titles, including 

Mai, Athena, Nakoruru and more. 

Also hidden away is the mysterious 

Miss X, who is actually Iori Yagami 

from The King of Fighters in drag. 

After playing this for a while, it was 

hard to play SNK vs Capcom again, 

being that it’s so much slower. 

In Brisbane I checked out some other 

gaming stores and found a copy 

of a Japanese World War 2 game 

for Super Famicom, and Star Wars 

Rogue Squadron for N64. Rogue 

Squadron offers an immersive Star 

Wars experience like no other at 

that time. It’s not a simulator like the 

X-Wing and TIE Fighter games, it’s 

more arcadey than that, but you still 

feel yourself getting sucked right 

into the Star Wars universe. The 

music and graphics are amazing, 

and the controls are very precise. 

Upon my return home I hit the internet 

hard, looking for more Neo Geo 

Pocket accessories and games. I 

managed to score a copy of King of 

Fighters R2, which uses the same 

game engine as the other 2 fighters 

I already owned. There are some 

hidden characters, and alternative 

versions of characters, but that’s 

pretty much all there is to it. It’s a 

common game, so if you have 2 

consoles and a link cable then you 

should be able to find 2 copies fairly 

easily and cheaply. 

2000 - 2001

I discovered one of the few RPGs 

for the system, Biomotor Unitron. In 

this game you use a robot to fight, 

and along the way you upgrade 

its parts to increase its stats. The 

game looks quite Pokemon-esque, 

though at the time I hadn’t experienced 

the Pokemon video games 

outside of a brief stint with a Gameboy 

emulator. My full Pokemon experience 

was to come in the following 

year, but for now Biomotor 

Unitron fulfilled my RPG cravings. 

Another game I purchased was 

Rockman Battle and Fighters. I purchased 

this game online, along with 

King of Fighters: Battle de Paradise 

from Burn Electronics. Similar name 

but different store. I believe they 

were both based in Brisbane too, 

but both are long since gone so I 

can’t check. 

Rockman Battle and Fighters is 

a port of the 2 Megaman arcade 

games that were released in the 

arcade on CPS2 hardware. Bright 

and colourful games, they were 

really only arcade versions of the 

Megaman boss battles. I had played 

them to death on my CPS2 emulator, 

but wanted to have a version 

I could take with me. Playing as 

Megaman, Bass or Protoman you 

fight the boss characters from a 

series of Megaman titles which you 

choose. It’a a fun game in short 

bursts, but not really something 

that’s going to take up hours of your 

time in one sitting. I would beat the 

game, then move on to something 

else, picking it up again when the 

mood took me. 

King of Fighters: Battle de Paradise 

is a Mario Party style board game 

featuring characters from the long 

running beat em up franchise. It 

looks like a lot of fun, and it’s nice

and colourful. The problem is that 

the game is in Japanese, so it’s unplayable 

to someone who doesn’t 

understand the language. I still own 

the game and would like the opportunity 

to play it at some point. It 

depends on whether I can learn the 

language or not I suppose. 

Not long after I returned from Brisbane 

James came to visit. I introduced 

him to Amy, and I met his girlfriend 

as well. We went out to lunch 

and caught up, though I can barely 

remember what we spoke about. To 

date it is the last time we have actually 

seen each other, though we 

keep in contact on Facebook today. 

That Christmas Amy’s parents surprised 

me with a copy of Star Wars 

Episode 1 Monopoly. I didn’t have 

many board games, and this was 

an expensive and kind gesture from 

my potential in laws. Unfortunately 

things were about to fall apart shortly 

afterwards. In January 2001 my 

life was turned upside down as Amy 

decided to end the relationship. Her 

reasoning was that I didn’t get along 

with her friends, and that she wanted 

to focus on her education. That 

last reason seemed like a cop out, 

but I was confused as I thought I got 

along with them. Anyway, that left 

me single again, though it wasn’t to 

be for long. 

I drowned my sorrows in more online 

purchases, and game hunting. 

I continued to venture out to Cash 

Converters stores, and I discovered 

a small video game shop on Port 

Road. It was closing down when I 

got there, but they had a bunch of 

games and an Acton Replay Mark 3. 

I didn’t own an Action Replay at this 

point, and I thought that the Mark 3 

would be the best unit to have. I took 

it home, plugged it in and it didn’t 

work! As the shop had closed there 

was no way I could get my money 

back. I still own the cartridge, so I 

might see if it can be fixed. 

Ending the relationship with Amy 

#2 was more amicable than Amy 

#1. I don’t mind admitting that I was 

devastated, but she said she wanted 

to remain friends and I took her 

at her word. Within 3 months I was 

with someone else who I will refer 

to as *Evie, though this isn’t her real 

name. I was at an emotional low 

point when Evie paid me the attention 

that I sought. We started seeing 

each other and within a week 

she had broken up with her current 

boyfriend and we were dating. She 

lived with her father, and asked me 

to move in with them too. It was all 

moving very quickly, but I wasn’t in 

the drivers seat at this stage and 

was allowing myself to be swept up 

the mayhem. 

Evie didn’t have a job and used to 

sleep all day and spend all night on 

the internet. Even though I had a 

job, it was a lifestyle that I quickly 

adapted to and I found myself often 

tired. Still, with the personal crisis 

ongoing the video game collecting 

continued. 

Evie had some retro games herself, 

some of which had been taken 

from her ex boyfriend. Among them 

were some Sega Master System titles. 

This wasn’t a system I was collecting 

for at that time, but I promptly 

ordered a Master System 1 on 

Ebay, along with Wonderboy 3. Both 

arrived and I spent a few weeks 

getting through the game, eventually 

giving up at the Lion Man stage. 

I would return to it later on, but on a 

different platform. 

2000 - 2001

For the first few weeks we were 

together, Evie and I played The Secret 

of Mana, a game that we both 

owned. I’m not sure why we stopped 

playing after such a short time, but 

we did. For the 12 1/2 years of our 

relationship we never ended getting 

that game back out and finishing it. 

Evie introduced me to the world of 

Pokemon, something that I had dismissed 

as childish at the time. We 

went to see the 3rd movie in cinemas, 

and immediately ordered it 

on DVD from the US (as it was already 

available there). I also started 

importing the anime series on 

DVD and catching up on the adventures 

of Ash and co. There were 

some interesting anime trailers on 

the DVDs, including one for a movie 

called Ranma 1/2: Big Trouble in 

Nekonron, China. The musical track 

in the trailer invoked a sense of excitement, 

and I was keen to find out 

more about this series. 

Evie had her copy of Pokemon 

Red, so I purchased a copy of Blue 

so that we could play together. I 

was always a fan of JRPGs and 

Pokemon is one of the finest on the 

market. While it is often criticised 

for its childish cutesiness, there is a 

solid game underneath it all. It’s also 

quite a mathematical game once 

you know the mechanics, though 

it would be a while before I learned 

the ins and outs of IV and EV training. 

On my copy of Pokemon Blue 

I was simply trying to ‘catch em 

all’, and that was almost exactly 

what I did. Of course, I was unable 

to catch Mew as he was a special 

event Pokemon, and the events 

had long since ended. Evie had one 

on her cartridge, and she had her 

ex boyfriend’s copy of Pokemon 

Silver. She suggested I try and copy 

his Mew over from that game, but I 

never ended up doing so. 

Evie also introduced me to the 

Dragon Ball franchise. Dragon Ball 

Z was currently showing on Cartoon 

Network, and they were up 

to the Namek arc and the battle 

with Freeza was about to begin. I 

remembered playing Dragon Ball 

Z video games in the past, though 

none of the golden haired warriors 

were present. Evie explained the 

Super Saiyan form to me, and found 

pictures showing Goku, Vegeta and 

the other Saiyans in Super Saiyan 

mode. Everything started to click 

into place, and I became absorbed 

in the show. Every night I would 

finish work and go to Evie’s house 

where she would be watching TV, 

and join her for Dragon Ball Z. 

That’s it for me this month. If you 

want to check out some of the other 

things I do I can be found on Twitter 

@Dizrythmia 

I am also part of the Retrospekt 

group who can be found at 

www.retrospekt.com.au 

*Evie = Evil

2000 - 2001 

WRITTEN BY PAUL MONOPOLI

YOUR WARGAMING SAY 

THE CIRCUS IS COMING PART 3 

Scenery and Terrain... 

BY BEN MAKEPEACE 

From the outset we wanted to 

make sure our scenery was vibrant, 

colourful, and provided variety 

for our games. We already had 

a good collection of stone rubble, 

trees, and some older buildings 

from years gone by. We decided to 

update those old buildings, so they 

were cleaned up, had details added 

or replaced, and were repainted to 

be a little more colourful. We also 

planned to add a range of inspiring 

and detailed buildings to really enrich 

our gaming experience. 

This article is more of a gallery, with 

small explanations offered for each 

building. To see more of our collection 

of terrain head to: 

radheim.tumblr.com or 

www.instagram.com/rad_heim 

to check out nearly 300 photos (at 

the time of writing) of our activities. 

PLATFORMS 

We have two platforms that we built; 

a simple low box about 3” high with 

“Mordheim” on it, and one with battlements 

and a sewer tunnel underneath. 

These provide vital vertical 

variation; height in this game helps 

to provide really interesting and dynamic 

in-game tactical options, and 

opportunities for great photos!

COMMERCIAL 

BUILDINGS 

Sean built a number of commercial, 

or merchant buildings: Dwarven 

Forge, Moneylender’s House, 

a Pub, a purple Box Office, and the 

so-called ‘Forest Ruin’. These provided 

some identifiable elements 

to games, “I’m coming up through 

the Moneylender’s house to take 

out those warriors on the Box Office 

balcony.” is far more immersive 

than, “I’m moving through this building 

to take out those guys in that 

building over there”. 

TENTS 

Being a circus campaign, we had to 

build tents. They had to be bright, 

colourful, and game-friendly. Ben 

made up templates and then copied 

to make mass production easy. 

The template is available if you 

want to get in touch with us.


OLD BUILDING 

REJUVENATION 

We updated and re-painted a number 

of Ben’s old buildings, giving 

them a brighter stone-and-terracotta 

look. These are based off 

of the original cardboard buildings 

from the Mordheim box set. I had 

also made a 3-story building, a large 

low building in the same style, and a 

large wealthy manor-house. These 

three buildings were also updated, 

but the wealthy manor house got 

an opulent teal and turquoise colour 

scheme, and the inside filled with 

fancy rugs! 

STONE, RUBBLE, 

FOREST 

We are able to use the stones and 

rubble to represent destroyed buildings, 

or create a more ‘out of town’ 

gaming environment. We use the 

Empire in Flames supplement for 

games which do not take place in 

the city itself. It’s also great to have 

lots of trees on hand as they fill in 

gaps on a table nicely.

TOWER BRIDGE 

Ben built this specifically to provide 

more height to our games, and flexibility. 

It’s about 10” tall, and comes 

in two halves allowing a bridge to 

be made, or each side used individually. 

We often place them further 

apart and put walkways between 

the two halves. Many windows, and 

flat roofs, make this very playable. 

“It’s about 10” tall, and comes 

in two halves allowing a bridge 

to be made, or each side used 

individually.”


WIZARD’S TOWER 

A must-have building, we wanted 

this to be off-the-wall strange, and 

very tall. It boasts 26” to the top, 

and because the stairs, and platforms 

are all accessible from the 

outside we can easily link multiple 

levels out to other buildings using 

walkways. This means it doesn’t 

create camping locations or bottlenecks. 

Building this was a collaboration, 

as there was a lot of work 

involved! 

Sean painted up the crowning 

element; a gold planetarium 

which really completes the idea 

of an eccentric wizard living in a 

physics-defying tower.

CANAL 

Sean decided a water feature was 

important, and it’s been really great 

to have in games. It breaks things 

up, creates an open space which 

presents very real tactical challenges 

for warbands. 

TOWN CENTRE 

Another of Ben’s old pieces, finally 

completed and given a new lease 

on life. Old miniatures were plundered 

for statues, and hedges were 

cut from brillo pads. The final touch 

of bunting was just made from twine 

and painted paper glued on. A nice 

focal setting for particular scenarios 

requiring a nexus for the action, 

or a locational fulcrum for the story 

to pivot upon.


TREEHOUSE 

This piece was started by Sean, 

and finished by Ben. We let the silly 

run wild, and had a huge amount of 

fun building it. We never intended 

for a tree to be growing through it, 

but there it is! In our campaign, and 

on social media, this terrain pieces 

has become an undeniable crowd 

favourite. It is also great to play on 

with multiple levels, and good walkway 

access all around.

WORK IN 

PROGRESS 

We’re still building new terrain. We 

are currently painting a Vampire 

Manor, and building a hotel. We use 

a lot of foam-core and balsa wood, 

as well as raiding our bitz box for interesting 

details. 

If you have any questions on how we 

did any of this, please get in touch 

via Instagram or Tumblr. We’re happy 

to share the hobby-love! 

“We can’t 

stress how 

important 

having lots 

of walls and 

walkways is. 

We would 

have almost 

30 of each.” 

SCENERY 

PLACEMENT, 

AND THE LITTLE 

DETAILS 

Each scenario we try to give the 

board a ‘real’ setting, something 

that makes sense with streets, 

town squares, even a sense of districts. 

This helps immerse you in the 

game, and provides a very photogenic 

setting. We put small details 

around on all our buildings such as 

posters, shrubs, rubble, stains, and 

skeletons. This just helps reinforce 

the ruined nature of a city that was 

a booming trade centre, but then 

got hit by a twin-tailed comet! 

It’s important to create all sorts 

of interesting angles around your 

board. Get down low and try to get 

a ‘model’s eye view’ when you’re 

setting it all up. 

We also have lots of walls, statues, 

and walkways to place around the 

battlefield to give tactical options, 

provide cover, prevent bottlenecks, 

and support vertical movement 

around the board. We can’t stress 

how important having lots of walls 

and walkways is. We would have 

almost 30 of each. 

ONLINE: 

www.instagram.com/rad_heim 

www.radheim.tumblr.com

YOUR MOVIESAY 

10 years later... Jigsaw 

One of the highest grossing horror franchises of all time is back, taking the Jigsaw killer’s signature 

brand of twisted scenarios to the next level. 

After a series of murders bearing all the markings of the Jigsaw killer, law enforcement find 

themselves chasing the ghost of a man dead for over a decade and embroiled in a new game 

that’s only just begun. Is John Kramer back from the dead to remind the world to be grateful 

for the gift of life? Or is this a trap set by a killer with designs of their own? 

JIGSAW creeps into cinemas November 2, with Halloween advance screenings on October 31. 

win 

A DOUBLE PASS! 

Thanks to Picture This and Gametraders, you could win a double 

pass to see Jigsaw - in cinemas 2 November. 

Watch the trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8y-nUo7vqc&feature=youtu.be 

(WARNING: HORROR TRAILER) 

and tell us what the sticker on the tape recorder says. 

Email your answer along with your name, age and address to 

gtlivemagazine@gmail.com.

JIGSAW - 2 NOVEMBER

YOUR TRADING SAYCARDS: MTG 

player profile 

interview with ANJA 

Welcome to Live Anja! How long 

have you been playing and what 

got you started? 

I’ve been playing MTG for about 

2 years now. I played a different 

card game initially and a few of my 

friends got me to come along to a 

FNM session and try it out. I haven’t 

looked back since! 

Do you have a favourite card(s)? 

My favourite card would have to be 

Timesifter, it’s an artifact from the 

mirrodin set and I play it in EDH format. 

At the start of each upkeep, 

each player exiles the top card of 

their library and whoever has the 

highest converted mana cost takes 

an extra turn after this one. It’s a 

really fun card because you never 

know when your next turn will be, so 

you have to really think about your 

plays and what effects they’ll have 

in the long run because you might 

be waiting ages for your next turn. 

Any tips for new players? 

Don’t be afraid to ask for help! In 

my experience, the magic community 

are really nice and want to 

help new players rather than bring 

them down. Whether it be for help 

on deck construction, plays, drafting 

or just particular rules in certain 

cards, they’re always willing to lend 

you a hand. I know when I started 

out I was asking questions about 

every two seconds! It does take a 

while to get the hang of the game, 

but don’t let that discourage you, it’s 

more than worth it in the end! 

What’s coming up for you - any 

more tournaments planned? 

Well I’m hoping to have another 

crack at the Sydney GP in 2018. 

The last time I played there I didn’t 

fare so well, but it was still an amazing 

experience.

...Trading cards, tournaments, accessories 

& more. Get it all at Gametraders.

GAMETRADERS 

EVENTS 

& TCG 

TOURNAMENTS!

QUEENSLAND 

CHERMSIDE 

Yu-Gi-Oh - Sunday 3pm & Wednesday 6:45pm 

Cardfight!! Vanguard - Wednesday 6:30pm 

Pokémon - Saturday 3pm 

Magic the Gathering - Tuesday & Friday 6:30pm 

MORAYFIELD 

Magic the Gathering Modern - Wednesday 7pm 

Magic the Gathering Standard - Friday 7pm 

Yu-Gi-Oh - Thursday 6pm & Sunday 2pm 


Magic the Gathering Learn to Play - Saturday 12pm 

LARP Tournaments - Saturday 6pm 

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY 

HYPERDOME 

Yu-Gi-Oh - Saturday 10am 

Pokémon - Saturday 2pm

NEW SOUTH WALES 

BLACKTOWN 

Dungeons & Dragons TCG - Saturday 10am 

Yu-Gi-Oh - Saturday 10:30am 

Magic the Gathering - Thursday 6:30pm 

Pokémon - Saturday 11am 

MACARTHUR SQUARE (CAMPBELLTOWN) 

Magic the Gathering - Monday 5:30pm 

Final Fantasy & Super Smash Bros - Tuesday 5:30pm 

Yu-Gi-Oh - Wednesday 5:30pm 

Dungeons & Dragons / Board Games / Pokkén Tournament - Friday 5:30pm 

Pokémon - Saturday 5:30pm 

PARRAMATTA 

Yu-Gi-Oh - Wednesday 6pm 

Magic the Gathering - Friday 6pm 

Cardfight!! Vanguard - Wednesday 6pm 

GAMETRADERS LIVE PENRITH 

Cardfight!! Vanguard - Saturday 5pm 



X-Wing - Wednesday 7pm 

Dragon Ball Z - Thursday 6pm 

Force of Will - Friday 7:30pm 

Buddyfight - Saturday 12pm 

My Little Pony - Saturday 5pm 

Demo board games from Wednesday through to Saturday. 

GAMETRADERS LIVE HORNSBY 

Yu-Gi-Oh - Tuesday 4pm & Sunday 11am 

Pokémon - Sunday 2pm 

Magic the Gathering (Draft) - Wednesday 4pm & 7pm 

Hearthstone Fireside Gathering + Tournament - Wednesday 6pm 

Board Games - Thursday 7pm 

Magic the Gathering (FNM) - 6pm (Standard, Modern, Draft) 

Super Smash Bros - Saturday 1pm 

Magic the Gathering (Commander) - Saturday 2pm 

For more special events and tournaments please visit: 

www.facebook.com/GametradersHornsby

SOUTH AUSTRALIA 

INGLE FARM 

No current tournaments. 

MARION 


Cardfight!! Vanguard - Tuesday 6pm 

Yu-Gi-Oh - Wednesday 6pm 

Final Fantasy - Wednesday 6pm 


X-Wing - Every second Monday from 2pm. Check with staff for details. 

SEAFORD 

FREE Monday Night Magic and Vanguard - 6pm (5:30pm registration) 

Magic the Gathering Modern and Commander - Tuesday 6pm (5:30pm registration) 

Friday Night Magic - Friday 6pm (5:30pm registration) 

Cardfight!! Vanguard - Wednesday & Friday 6pm (5:30pm registration) 

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

Pokémon - Sunday 1pm (12:30 registration) 

Casual events on Saturdays! Check our Facebook page for details. 

MT. BARKER 

Yu-Gi-Oh - Sunday 2pm 

Magic the Gathering Commander - Wednesday 6pm 

Magic the Gathering Standard - Saturday 1pm 

Friday Night Magic Draft - Friday 6pm 

Casual X-Wing, Magic & Board Games - Thursdays from 6pm 

SALISBURY 

Final Fantasy - Tuesday 6pm (5:30pm registration) 

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

Magic the Gathering (Casual) - Thursday 5:30pm 

Yu-Gi-Oh - Saturday 1pm (11:30am registration) 

Pokémon - Sunday 12pm (11:30am registration) 

Cardfight!! Vanguard - Wednesday 6pm 

GAMETRADERS TOURNAMENTS & EVENTS! 

Tournaments are subject to change. Please check with your local store on tournament times before attending. 

Visit www.gametraders.com.au/facebook to find your local stores Facebook page.

ameS 

HOW 

NINTENDO 

DESIGNS 

GAMES 

HELLBLADE: SENUA’S 

SACRIFICE - REVIEW 

BY TIFFANY DEAN 

10 CANCELLED VITA 

GAMES THAT SHOULD 

HAVE HAPPENED 

ATARIBOX: 

PICS & NEWS

NICK GETLEY 

TAKES A LOOK AT 

SOME SCI-FI 

GAMING!

YOUR gaming SAY 

GREATNESS THROUGH SIMPLICITY 

HOW 

NINTENDO 

DESIGNS 

GAMES 

FROM VGCHARTZ.COM

You may have noticed over the 

last three decades that Nintendo 

makes some pretty decent video 

games from time to time. There’s 

a reason why the company has 

stayed relevant in the video game 

industry since the early 1980s, 

while countless other developers, 

publishers, and console manufacturers 

have come and gone, many 

leaving little to no lasting impact 

on the industry as a whole. Simply 

put, Nintendo is arguably the single 

most important company in the 

history of video games. 

While I do criticize Nintendo on occasion 

for some of its decisions 

and outdated practises, I will never 

take away from it the fact that no 

other entity in the world of video 

games has the same kind of exceptional 

track record as it does 

when it comes to making great video 

games. From both creative and 

financial standpoints, Nintendo has 

produced some of the best video 

games of all time ever since it first 

entered the industry, and has continued 

to do so for what is now its 

seventh home console generation 

in a row. 

Nintendo has always had a knack 

for making games that have a style 

and feel that is wholly unique, but 

have you ever considered what 

exactly it is that makes many of 

the company’s games so great to 

begin with? What is it in them that 

makes them stand out from the 

games of almost any other developer 

in the world? The answer is 

surprisingly simple, which is perhaps 

why a lot of people don’t really 

notice or think about it. Nintendo 

makes games by first ensuring the 

core fundamentals are rock solid, 

and then creates every aspect of 

the game around those fundamental 

elements.

Building 

a Game 

Around a 

Mechanic 

When you stop and think about 

many of Nintendo’s greatest 

games, you may begin to notice 

something interesting about them. 

A lot of them are built entirely 

around one strong core mechanic, 

which is then stretched out and 

given multiple layers to make it as 

diverse and interesting as possible. 

Compare this to a handful of 

other big video games and developers 

and you’ll spot that many of 

them introduce a new mechanic, 

use it, and then discard it within a 

single level. 

For many developers, game mechanics 

are no longer a thing to 

build something interesting and 

long-lasting around, but instead are 

a thing to advertise in trailers and 

on conference floors. They want to 

be able to say that their game has 

dozens of different types of gameplay, 

even though maybe only one 

or two of them are explored to any 

notable degree. 

As an example, just think of almost 

any Call of Duty, Assassin’s 

Creed or Battlefield game from 

the last five to ten years and count 

the number of different gameplay 

types and elements that are introduced 

and either completely discarded 

or made pointless after just 

one level. It no longer feels like the 

teams behind these titles are building 

an interesting and engaging 

gameplay experience, but instead 

are filling in the required number of 

different gimmicks for marketing 

purposes. 

Nintendo on the other hand has, 

from the very beginning up to the 

present day, created entire games 

based around one core idea that 

carries the whole game. Naturally, 

the most famous example is the 

entire Super Mario Bros. series. 

When you strip down Super Mario 

Bros. to its very core, every game 

is fundamentally about jumping 

and what can be done with that 

one simple mechanic. 

In Super Mario Bros. for the NES, 

every aspect of the gameplay revolves 

around this one mechanic. 

To break the blocks, Mario jumps. 

To defeat enemies, he jumps on 

them. To finish a level he has to 

jump and touch the flagpole at the

end. To defeat Bowser at the end 

of each world Mario usually has to 

jump on the axe to drop the bridge 

and make Bowser fall into lava. 

Even when the game introduces 

enemies that can’t be defeated in 

this manner, it still revolves around 

using the same mechanic, albeit in 

a different way (namely avoiding 

enemies by jumping over them). 

Mario is defined by that one basic 

ability which he uses for practically 

everything. 

While later games in the series 

have become increasingly more 

complex over time, they still mostly 

involve variations of that one core 

mechanic that was introduced 

over 30 years ago. Super Mario 64 

made the mechanic more complex 

by adding a new dimension to the 

gameplay, and Super Mario Galaxy 

added further layers to it thanks to 

gravity and planetoids, but all of 

them are still fundamentally games 

about jumping. On a somewhat related 

note, go and take a look at 

the box art for each of the mainline 

Super Mario games and you’ll 

notice one thing they all share in 

common; each features an image 

that focusses on the game’s central 

mechanic, immediately highlighting 

what players can expect 

from it. 

Mario is, of course, not the only 

Nintendo series that does this. Luigi’s 

Mansion for the GameCube is 

another good example of a game 

build almost entirely around a single 

mechanic, which in this case 

is vacuuming. Luigi uses this mechanic 

to do almost everything, 

from solving puzzles to fighting 

ghosts. In a 2013 interview with 

IGN, Ryuichi Nakada, one of the supervisors 

on Luigi’s Mansion: Dark 

Moon, said the following about the 

title: 

You use the vacuum to solve the 

puzzles all through the mansion. 

You can use it in all kinds of ways 

to navigate and interact with the 

ghosts. It’s really a game about using 

the vacuum. 

For a more recent example we can 

look at Splatoon, Nintendo’s rather 

unusual take on the online multiplayer 

shooter genre. Even though 

the gameplay allows the player to 

approach rounds in different ways, 

every single aspect of it once again 

comes back to one simple mechanic/feature. 

In this case ink. To 

win a match in Splatoon you need 

to cover the map with your team’s 

ink; in order to move faster around 

the map the players can swim 

around in their team’s ink, while 

the opposing team’s ink will slows 

them down; your weapons replenish 

by swimming in the ink, and so 

on. It’s a simple, basic premise that 

is used for practically every aspect 

of Splatoon’s gameplay. 

Of course, Nintendo isn’t the only 

company that has made games 

based on one, strong central mechanic. 

It’s just the most notable 

user of this design philosophy. Portal 

is an obvious example of this 

type of design philosophy in the 

AAA arena, and indie developers in 

the last five to ten years have also 

used it to great effect in a large 

number of games. 

HOW 

NINTENDO 

DESIGNS 

GAMES

HOW 

NINTENDO 

DESIGNS 

GAMES 

Everything 

in the Service 

of Gameplay 

There are countless different ways 

to approach video game creation, 

and none are inherently better than 

the others. Some developers start 

with an idea for a story they want 

to tell, or maybe a theme they want 

to tackle. Others may come up 

with a cool visual style they want to 

use. Nintendo, however, generally 

starts by coming up with a fun and 

engaging way to play, and builds 

everything else to suit that specific 

type of gameplay. 

For example, in one installment of 

‘Iwata Asks’ the developers of The 

Legend of Zelda series discussed 

how the series’ story and gameplay 

are created. They stated that 

initially the director comes up with a 

very broad outline for a story, upon 

which they then develop interesting 

ways to play the game. Details 

of the story are then fleshed out 

to accommodate these gameplay 

elements, and not the other way 

around. 

Going back to the example of Splatoon, 

that game began life with the 

desire to create a title with a new 

type of structure and gameplay. 

The characters, aesthetic, and 

everything else about it came after 

the gameplay style had already 

been set in stone. The inklings 

themselves were created because 

they fit the game’s core concept 

of using colored ink to fight battles. 

Initially, the characters were just 

bland white blobs that lacked any 

other distinguishing characteristics. 

As Satoru Iwata stated in another 

one of his ‘Iwata Asks’ segments, 

the way Shigeru Miyamoto 

and Nintendo EAD create games is 

that function defines form, not the 

other way around, and Splatoo followed 

this same philosophy. 

Of course we must remember that 

not all Nintendo games are made 

the same way either. The company 

has numerous different studios 

and creators under its wings, each 

creating games in their own style. 

Mark Brown made a wonderful video 

on this topic, which I strongly 

recommend you check out below, 

where he breaks down the 4 step 

level design philosophy of Koichi 

Hayashida, the director of Super 

Mario 3D World and Super Mario 

Galaxy 2.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBmIkEvEBtA 







www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBmIkEvEBtA

HOW 

NINTENDO 

DESIGNS 

GAMES 

The 

Nintendo 

Way 

Nintendo has always done things 

differently from nearly all other major 

developers around the world, 

and industry trends rarely have any 

bearing on the kinds of games it 

creates. This has allowed Nintendo 

to remain relevant in an business 

that commonly sees other companies 

being bought out or going 

under because they’re unable to 

adapt as the industry changes 

around them. Nintendo has never 

really worried about that, although 

that’s not always been to its 

benefit. 

The thing is, Nintendo makes mistakes 

just like every other developer 

and publisher in the world. 

Its development teams don’t always 

produce great or successful 

games, no matter how talented the 

people behind them are. It’s also 

stubbornly set in its ways and this 

has resulted in practices and decisions 

that are and have been woefully 

behind the times in more ways 

than one. There are times when 

Nintendo deserves to be criticized 

for what it does, no matter how 

great much of its output is. 

So no, Nintendo isn’t perfect, and 

its way of doing things isn’t the only 

right way, but even with this in mind 

Nintendo has managed to develop 

a huge number of the greatest 

games of all time, and continues to 

do so to this day. Nintendo knows 

how to make fun, unique and just 

plain excellent games, and one of 

the main reasons for this is that it 

approaches the art of game development 

differently from almost anyone 

else. Its teams don’t always 

succeed in what they’re trying to 

do, but when they do, the end results 

are often absolutely amazing. 

That is the Nintendo way. 

BY TANELI PALOLA 

FROM VGCHARTZ.COM

YOUR PREVIEW SAY 

RUINER 

Keeping with the theme of cyberpunk, 

we’ve got a juicy little 

preview of an upcoming release 

called RUINER by Reikon Games, 

and published by Devolver Digital. 

The game takes place in the 

year 2091, in the city of Rengkok. 

You’re a sociopath with some seriously 

wicked cybernetic implants 

that are hacked by a guy who calls 

himself “The Wizard”. His hostile 

takeover of your implants forces 

you do his bidding, which is to kill a 

high profile corporate target. 

Your implants provide some wicked 

abilities like increased agility 

and precision, allowing you to mop 

up targets by zipping around the 

room in a flash of neon red lights. 

By the time you’ve enacted your 

punishment on those who stand 

before you, they’ve already lost a 

few litres of blood. 

You can expect an cyberpunk-anime 

themed aesthetic throughout 

the course of the game, 

with an new retro wave inspired 

soundtrack to boot. If you’re a fan 

of this 80s themed music, neon 

lights, and one liners, then be sure 

to put this one on your hit list. 

The game officially drops on Play- 

Station 4, Xbox One, and PC (via 

Steam and GOG) on September 

26th, 2017. You can check out our 

full review over on critdmg.tv after 

that date, and I’ll be streaming it 

on Twitch over at twitch.tv/hyp3rstrike. 

SCI-FI GAMING 

RUINER features brutal and unforgiving 

gameplay with each fight 

encounter. Using the vast amount 

of skills and perks at your disposal, 

you will need to meticulously plan 

out your attack to deal as much 

damage as possible, whilst avoiding 

taking damage, all with minimal 

time to think about it. You’ve got 

to be three steps ahead, and will 

need to be quick on your toes to 

react should the slightest combat 

element change. 

BY NICK GETLEY 

FROM STICKYTRIGGER.COM

METRO 

RETURN 


WWW.STICKYTRIGGER.COM 

This month I played my first Metroid 

title. It’s a weird realisation to think I 

had never done so before and that 

didn’t really hit me until I was midway 

through Metroid: Samus Returns 

on 3DS. 

I’ve come into gaming relatively 

late in life compared to most 

people and I’m always aware that 

there’s so much I’ve missed but for 

Metroid it feels different. One of 

my favourite genres of games is 

Metroidvania. I’m intimate with the 

2D action platforming which drip 

feeds abilities to unlock previous 

dead ends and I love it. Games that 

do it well like Ori and the Blind Forest 

or Hollow Knight make my heart 

sing and come critically acclaimed 

so I know I’m not alone. Yet when it 

comes to Metroid games, one half 

of the genre’s very namesakes, my 

experience is almost null. 

This isn’t entirely my fault, Nintendo 

put the franchise on a shelf years 

ago, especially if we are talking 

2D. Offerings to get newcomers 

into Metroid games just aren’t that 

accessible and the old school love 

of the series can make jumping in 

now a daunting situation to be in. I 

was nervous about Samus Returns, 

a remake of what I’ve heard is one 

of the series worst? On a console 

that seems to be on its last legs? Is 

this where I really want to enter the 

Metroid world? 

The more I thought about all the 

potential problems the more anxious 

I became. No one really asked 

for this, I mean sure fans have been 

begging for Metroid, but not like 

this. When Prime was announced 

at E3 there were cheers of elation 

but this title was purposefully 

revealed quietly in the following 

treehouse event. Even Nintendo 

wasn’t sure enough to make it a 

part of their spotlight. 

I continued to consider the games 

I love, the ones that carry the mantle 

of Metroidvania and I thought

ID: SAMUS 

S - REVIEW 

BY NICK GETLEY

about what would make this different 

for me. I’d be able to grasp 

some of the origin, join the Metroid 

conversation, meet a well loved 

character and despised enemy 

and explore their world. And that’s 

where I started to find my excitement 

for a Metroid title, regardless 

of size in the idea of a new rich scifi 

world. 

Space is one of my favourite 

things, perhaps not truly space as 

we know it but the idea of space, 

the potential. Science fiction allows 

the mind to wander into the 

greatest unknown, impossible 

worlds with unthinkable creatures 

and none of the gravity of Earth 

and its problems. Even if this iteration 

of Metoid wasn’t going to be 

one of the best I’d be getting one 

of my favourite genres wrapped up 

in one of the best possible settings 

and it’s impossible to not at least 

buy a ticket for the hype shuttle at 

that point. 

Trickles of information started to 

come through, hands on previews, 

new trailers, hell even special edition 

console. If Nintendo were willing 

to market so hard maybe they 

weren’t phoning it in. Being a 3DS 

game not many high res images 

attached to the title exist, but 

one started to be plastered everywhere 

that would become the 

cover image. The iconic picture of 

Samus on one knee with her rocket- 

arm aimed upwards in full shining 

armour with unbelievable pauldrons. 

Behind her is the glow of a 

planet with stars littering the space 

above. It’s an impossible, glamorized, 

even somewhat cartoonified 

vision and it cut right to my black 

hole of a heart. 

It was a fleeting moment of total 

elation. Stupidly I thought to myself 

‘this is going to be amazing’ and I 

quickly realised how predictable 

an idiot I am. I’m eagerly awaiting 

the new Star Trek series despite 

having no confidence it will be any 

good. I will always believe in any 

Mass Effect title. My ears so easily 

prick up when someone describes 

something that would otherwise be 

a bore adds ‘but in space’ to their 

pitch and I know this about myself. 

Two of my eternal pleasures in life 

are space and Pokemon and I’m 

eternally being burned by my optimism 

for both. 

So I went in shields up and phasers 

set to stun. It’s never a good idea 

to go into a game review ready to 

hate it regardless of what it shows 

you, but I held the appropriate caution 

of someone negotiating with 

an unfamiliar species. With a quizzical 

brow I started the game with 

as much trepidation as possible 

and accidentally fell in love. This 

is Metroidvania, this is Metroid and 

despite not having much in way of 

story (which many Metroid fans will 

take as a good thing) I feel like the 

setting played a huge part. 

A game about exploration and discovering 

hidden paths makes so 

much sense in a totally unfamiliar 

world. I have no idea what will need 

to take out a red forcefield, but had 

it been a block of ice I’d be looking 

for fire. Not knowing what items I

was going to need to complete 

the task allowed me to be surprised 

and impressed with every 

new ability without my own notions 

getting in the way. Additionally seeing 

totally alien enemies means 

that you will have to learn how to 

deal with them from their physical 

and environmental cues rather 

than existing knowledge. Sci-fi 

makes Metroid and Metroid made 

metroidvania. 

Reviews are out, including my 

own and Metroid: Samus Returns 

is almost unanimously loved. I felt 

waves of understanding pour over 

myself as I played the familiar genre 

in foreign setting and knew this 

was how it all began. Samus feels 

right, her weapons and suit upgrades 

set the stage for world exploration 

and an almost 90’s pop 

sci-fi world encourages curiosity 

for what will unlock new puzzles. It 

feels so logical that this is where 

the genre began and I’m so glad I 

got to finally experience it. 

BY NICK GETLEY 

FROM STICKYTRIGGER.COM

HELLBLAD 

SACRIFIC 


*Played on PS4 - May contain minor gameplay spoilers* 

The warning before commencement 

of Hellblade proves how 

much of a challenge for some 

players this game may be. 

Hellblade is a game that I have 

been waiting for for 3 years. I would 

regularly check the internet for any 

updates on anything – any new 

picture, development information, 

release date information, gameplay. 

I had loved Ninja Theory’s 

game Heavenly Sword, and had 

loved their input into Capcom’s 

DMC, so I knew that Hellblade 

would be nothing short of amazing. 

The game finally released early August 

– 3 long years since it started. 

I was quick to play through the 

entire game and it is something I 

feel so strongly for that I offered to 

write a review. It’s important to realise 

that Hellblade is not a full length 

AAA game, but it is not quite Indie 

either. Its AAA quality and feel, but 

more indie in length. 

The game focuses on Senua, a 

Celtic Pict warrior who struggles 

with psychosis in a world with 

strong beliefs in Norse mythology. 

Mental Health is such a sensitive 

issue for so many people, with 

stigmas and fears often attached. 

Mental Health is greatly misunderstood 

by a large portion of the 

population, so for a developer to 

create a game that truly focuses 

on the turmoils that can occur in 

Mental Health is a huge step forward. 

It’s a step towards a greater 

understanding and compassion 

of what people are going through, 

and it is hopefully a step towards 

people not telling others to just 

‘snap out of it.’ 

Senua has a sad story, and she 

carriers her slain partners head 

with her, in the hopes to save his 

soul whilst not being defeated by 

‘the Darkness’. The game captures 

what psychosis and mental health 

issues feel like, with the lines between 

reality and what is

E: SENUA’S 

E - REVIEW 

BY TIFFANY DEAN

in the mind heavily blurred. Players 

go through the game being somewhat 

uncertain as to what are real 

monsters, and what are manifestations 

of the demons Senua fights 

in her mind at any given time. The 

voices in Senua’s head add a touch 

and realism that can’t be put into 

words. These voices can be helpful 

and sometimes they will have 

the player questioning if they’re 

truly heading the right way. These 

voices are reminiscent of the voices 

many people hear on a daily 

basis – the voice that tells you to 

do something, then the voice that 

tells you to not do something, the 

voice that questions what you are 

doing... even the voice that laughs 

at you. Some of them give a feeling 

of self-doubt that may hit close 

to home for some players. These 

voices are done well, and whilst 

playing the game with headphones 

is recommended due to the way 

the voices are recorded, playing 

on a TV with the TV’s sound was 

still effective. 

Anyone who is plagued with mental 

health may find this game challenging 

and rewarding. I use the 

word plague as for many, that’s 

what mental health can feel like. 

This is also reflected subtly in the 

game – when moments of psychosis 

come or may be coming, 

the screen starts to get black vine 

looking marks, as if a dark plague 

has taken over. 

The game itself starts ominously 

with Senua quietly rowing a log 

boat through calm waters. Bodies 

are impaled on large logs and 

strung up from trees all around. It’s 

clear that this game will be a test 

of the mind from start to finish. 

The first few minutes progress 

with little action. There’s a sense 

that something is coming, but it 

introduces the player to the world 

and what to look for in the way of 

Runes and how to Focus. It lets the 

player fiddle with the controls and 

get a feel for how the game may 

play. This is also a great time to try 

out the Photo Mode and become 

accustomed to it. 

Walking through the pathway the 

player will see that the trail of bodies 

continues. It isn’t long before 

the player is met with a beach, 

with what looks like a giant wooden 

horse head in the distance. It 

becomes clear that the goal is to 

find a way to the bridge, and thus 

to the wooden structure. It’s here 

that the graphics and quality of the 

game truly shine. The textures and 

lighting are stunning, and players 

may find themselves stopping in 

awe and taking a few photos. 

The paths to take are intuitive, and 

players will find themselves drawn 

to areas to go to. You soon learn 

what the wrong way is (as it will 

lead to nothing), so finding the way 

to go isn’t frustrating. 

It isn’t long before players are introduced 

to the first puzzle. Puzzles 

play a large role in this game, 

and some can test the patience 

of the player. They mostly involve 

finding shapes of runes in the surroundings, 

and these can be harder 

than expected as you never 

really know what you are looking 

for. As Senua nears the correct 

area, the screen will be filled with 

many smaller versions of the rune. 

As someone who sees things in 

my surroundings regularly, I found 

these puzzles a fun challenge. This 

is also a nod to those who struggle 

with mental health issues – having 

to focus on things such as your 

surroundings can be gounding and 

can help ease the mind during the 

grips of a severe panic attack. As 

someone who has been around 

anxiety and depression for a large 

portion of my life, I myself found 

these puzzles – for the most part 

– comforting and grounding. It’s 

also a test of self-trust and trying 

to push through tricks and illusions 

that can be created in the mind. 

After the first puzzle, Senua is 

faced with her first real physical 

fight. Players are introduced to the 

enemies of the game, and in turn, 

the ‘dark rot’ that is taking Senua 

over. It is then that players are hit 

with a nasty surprise – Permadeath 

– if you die too many times 

and the rot reaches Senua’s head, 

it is game over and your save is 

deleted. When I played through 

the game, I believed this – it was 

frustrating and challenging but it 

certainly made me focus on taking 

time and being patient so I could 

complete the game successfully. It 

was since discovered that this may 

have been a bluff from Ninja Theory. 

Some found it frustrating but if 

you remember that this is a game 

that focuses on mental health, it 

is a genius move. Tricking people 

into thinking they may lose their 

save is messing with the minds of 

a player. Even now, people are not 

certain if it is a bluff, or if it is just 

something that is EXTREMELY difficult 

to achieve within the game.

Either way – it is a mind game. 

The main part of the game then 

begins. It progresses in relatively 

distinct stages. There are two 

stages initially – one with Fire and 

having to activate fire memories 

to progress. If players don’t know 

where to go or linger in the fire for 

too long, Senua dies and the rot on 

her arm grows. Most of these are 

relatively straight forward, however 

some are more challenging 

and players with little patience 

may find some areas frustrating. 

The next stage is an Illusion stage. 

There are less physical battles in 

this stage, however it takes some 

thinking and careful observation to 

notice the subtle changes in the 

environment and which order and 

direction to go to be able to progress. 

Those with a creative, intuitive 

mind will find this easier than 

those who prefer the fighting. Both 

stages provide a strong challenge 

but they’re not so difficult that players 

may decide to give up. Both 

stages finish with boss battles – 

these too are not easy, but not as 

difficult and frustrating as battles in 

the Dark Souls series. 

Senua is a capable fighter – her attacks 

are strong and for the most 

part quite fast. She can do a heavy 

attack, a quick attack, and also 

kick. When the Focus is activated, 

the enemies slow and Senua can 

regain some health. There is also a 

block function, however this can be 

a challenge to get the timing right, 

and players will find they evade 

more than try and block. Enemies 

are quite predictable in their fight 

manoeuvres (each enemy type 

has their own set of attacks), however 

when there is a larger number 

of various enemies, the battles can 

prove to be extremely challenging 

and precision is a necessity. 

The game then progresses to the 

next stages, which work in similar 

ways to the previous stages. There 

are puzzles, battles and ultimately 

another boss fight. This time, however, 

the puzzles will be everything 

you have learnt thus far. The 

weather changes frequently and 

it’s a nice touch to add to the feel 

of the game, especially given it is 

done so well. It is also here where 

players will get the sense that they 

are nearing the end of the game... 

only to find out that the end is not 

as close as expected. 

Throughout and between each 

stage players also learn more 

about Senua and her story. It is 

a sad story that some may find 

somewhat distressing, however 

there is always a sense of hope 

– even if only miniscule – and 

Senua’s strength genuinely shines 

through. Once players finish the 

game, watching the added feature 

will provide even more insight to 

the story and its meanings. Ninja 

Theory did a lot of historical research 

into the Picts and Vikings, 

and these fill in some of the gaps 

that the game itself doesn’t directly 

mention. 

Things then start to get a bit different 

in that some battles develop a 

sense of bombardment and some 

of the level styles change. Some

levels are focused on Senua facing 

her fears unarmed. 

One level in Odin’s Challenges has 

Senua unable to see, forcing the 

player to navigate through a dark 

screen with slithers of light. Anything 

‘visible’ is blurry and impossible 

to focus on. This level will not 

be a challenge for many, however 

those with anxieties or fears relating 

to the dark or anything this 

level reminds them of, will want to 

power through as fast as possible. 

One touch of an enemy here and 

Senua dies – there is no fighting. 

This level irked me so much that I 

didn’t even pause for a second to 

take screenshots! 

These battles where the player 

may feel bombarded can be impossibly 

frustrating to the point 

that players may question if the 

game has glitched out as enemies 

relentlessly keep coming. Even 

with the frustration, I cannot fault 

the game. Mental Health issues 

often make someone feel overwhelmed, 

like there’s no end to the 

trap their mind has placed them 

in. These battles are reminisce of 

that, and it’s a harsh awakening to 

what a vast array of mental health 

challenges can truly feel like. 

These fights cause a sense of disorientation 

– they set you off your 

path and make you have to retrace 

to find out where you came from 

and where you were going. These 

fights are challenging as each enemy 

has a different fighting style, 

and they do not approach you one 

by one. Ducking out of the way of 

one enemy may have you landing 

in the firing line of another. Many 

of these battles also take place 

in small spaces, adding an extra 

challenge of trying to keep all of 

your enemies visible. It’s important 

to note here that Senua will 

attack the enemy she is looking 

at, even if you try and get her to 

go in another direction. If players 

want to target a different enemy, 

they need to make sure they 

make her look at that enemy. This 

can take some getting used to, 

and in times of rushed battle can 

be a little frustrating. The only respite 

from the challenge of these 

battles is that they make the next 

boss battle a little less frustrating 

as it is one enemy. That is not to 

say the boss battle is not without 

its challenges. There are times 

when the screen goes black, with 

only flashes of red light to fight in. 

It is impossible to see what Senua 

is attacking or where the enemy 

is, leaving the best option to keep 

evading until the screen is properly 

visible again. Focus is important 

here, adding a layer of patience 

whilst the player has to wait for the 

Focus to build after each use. 

The final battle of the game has a 

very Heavenly Sword feel. Those 

that have played that game will 

feel at home in the end of Hellblade. 

The fight controls are fluid 

and fast. The level has a sense of 

empowerment and hope, of light 

and a strong fight. It’s an unusual 

feeling to try and describe, and 

some may feel nothing at all. Following 

Senua’s journey is a roller

coaster ride of emotions. I can only 

speak as a player who fights my 

own mental health battles, and who 

has family members and friends 

who fight theirs. There is a great 

deal of the game that I understand 

on a personal level and I strongly 

believe that those with mental 

health challenges will feel that 

also. There was an understanding 

that the frustrations that I felt were 

likely there on purpose. The graphics 

that sometimes looked a little 

grainy or unusual are how the world 

can look to those of us with mental 

health issues. Given Ninja Theory’s 

attention to detail and accuracy, 

I can only assume that all of this 

was done on purpose to truly give 

players a feel of what psychosis 

or mental health challenges can 

feel like. Some players will walk 

away with a greater understanding 

of the day to day battles or a 

feeling that the game has helped 

them fight their own battles. Some 

may walk away thinking the game 

was nothing more than frustrating, 

and that’s ok. This game wasn’t 

designed to appeal to everyone or 

to be ‘enjoyable’ to everyone. It is, 

however, a game that is nothing 

short of inspiring and genius. Every 

decision Ninja Theory made holds 

such a great, deeper meaning 

that not everyone will understand. 

Those that do may find they are 

the ones who may truly love every 

aspect of the game – including its 

frustrating moments. 

Those who are playing the game 

without any personal battles will 

likely be able to enjoy the game for 

its story and playability. The gameplay 

is solid, the puzzles are well 

done and intelligent, making players 

truly think. Boss battles are 

challenging and there is a solid 

story that players can truly get behind. 

Those that stop back and truly 

listen will have an even stronger 

sense and understanding of the 

depth of the story, its mythology 

and how Senua fits within it all. 

Senua is a likeable character who 

despite her ‘demons’ is still strong, 

relatable and believable. 

Overall, this is a game I strongly 

recommend people play. It is available 

digitally on Steam and PSN. 

This is a game that requires an 

open mind, and an understanding 

that anything that may be frustrating 

or challenging is there on 

purpose. Players who take that on 

board will have a much stronger, 

more positive experience. 

BY TIFFANY DEAN

*All screenshots by Tiffany Dean - played on PS4.


10 CANCELLE 

THAT SHOULD H 

Despite great support from a number 

of developers and publishers 

throughout the past five years, 

ranging from tiny indie studios to 

huge AAA publishers, the Vita has 

still been a console full of missed 

potential with a number of genres 

and major franchises sadly missing 

from the handheld. While games 

get cancelled for every console 

in existence, the Vita’s lukewarm 

worldwide sales meant a number 

of projects never saw the light of 

day that would perhaps have been 

made had things turned out differently. 

What I’m aiming to look at in this 

article is ten of the more high-profile 

games that were either officially 

announced or heavily rumored to 

be coming to Vita but which never 

ended up appearing, with an examination 

of what we knew about 

them, what they could’ve been, 

and what happened to them.

VGCHARTZ.COM 

D VITA GAMES 

AVE HAPPENED 

FROM VGCHARTZ.COM 

BY ADAM CARTWRIGHT 

FROM VGCHARTZ.COM

BioShock Vita 

Probably the most high-profile title on the list, BioShock Vita was officially announced at E3 2011 yet went radio 

silent for many years afterwards, only re-surfacing years later when Ken Levine took to Twitter to explain that 

he still wanted to make the game but Sony and 2K had never managed to work out a deal. 

Rather surprisingly, it later transpired that the series’ creator didn’t envision the title as an FPS, but rather a turnbased 

tactics game set in pre-fall Rapture. 

How this would have panned out is anyone’s guess and there were more than a few rumblings of disappointment 

that it wasn’t an FPS, but it’s an intriguing concept and the Vita has shown itself to be a capable home for 

games of this style. 

At the very least, fans hoped that 2K and Sony would manage to get the iOS version of Bioshock onto Vita, but 

even that hasn’t happened and seems increasingly unlikely given that it was pulled from the app store. As such 

we are left completely without the franchise on the handheld; a disappointing outcome given the excitement 

following the announcement.

Chronos Materia 

Perhaps the most surprising cancellation on the list given that the studio developing it - Gust - have released a 

total of eight Atelier games and two Surge Concerto games on the platform, and have a ninth Atelier title lined 

up for 2018. Chronos Materia was to be a turn-based role-playing game that utilized the company’s strengths in 

character design, combat, and item creation, but what made it unique was a time-travel mechanic that allowed 

characters to travel back and forth to train up and defeat enemies. 

After being announced in 2013 for release later that year, updates on the title weren’t given for a number of 

years and it was presumed cancelled until official word came in 2016 that the game was no more. I wonder 

how much influence Koei-Tecmo’s purchase of Gust had in this decision as the company was soon developing 

much larger-scale games, such as Nights of Azure, while also forging on with releasing Atelier across multiple 

platforms (no longer releasing exclusives as before), meaning they likely no longer had the manpower for smaller 

projects. 

Whatever happened, it’s a shame this game didn’t see the light of day – although we have multiple Atelier titles 

to fill the void, none of them were designed specifically for Vita, nor do they include the interesting time-travel 

mechanics proposed.

Final Fantasy 

Type-0/Agito 

If Chronos Materia is the most surprising cancellation, then Type 0 & Agito are the most insulting. First some 

history – Type 0 started life as Agito XIII, a mobile game set in the same universe as Final Fantasy XIII and Final 

Fantasy Versus XIII. As time passed, the project shifted to PSP due to technical constraints inherent in mobile 

development and was handed to the team that made Crisis Core. It’s an action-RPG with some RTS elements 

and a darker aesthetic and story than previous titles, making it well-received among import reviewers. 

The project released on PSP in late 2011 in Japan and soon gained notoriety among western Vita fans who petitioned 

hard for its release on Sony’s newer handheld, given the PSP’s decreased prominence at western retail. 

Progress seemed to be made when a localization was announced on the PlayStation Blog in 2014, confirming 

the game was coming to Vita, only for this to quickly be amended to PS4/XB1, causing outrage among fans. 

Months later, a white flag was offered when Square Enix announced that their mobile companion game Final 

Fantasy Agito (which borrowed heavily from Type-0) would be coming to Vita as an expanded release in 2015. 

Months went by without any word before the mobile game was shut down and soon after the Vita version was 

cancelled, with the whole game being repackaged as an online multiplayer RPG. The best part? This new title 

was skipping Vita entirely, releasing only on PC & mobile. 

It seems this particular brand of Final Fantasy just was not destined for Vita, despite originating on the PSP and 

looking to be a great fit for the handheld. The way it was handled by Square Enix was nothing short of atrocious, 

providing lots of optimism for Vita fans before shooting these hopes down not just once but three times.

Ghost Recon 

Final Mission 

Of all the games on this list, Ghost Recon Final Mission is the one we probably know least about. All we have to 

go on was a retailer listing from 2012 that showed the title – alongside Assassin’s Creed 3 – coming to Vita. 

Given Assassin’s Creed happened later that year (through the side-story Liberation), it’s safe to assume that 

Final Mission was at least in consideration if not development at some point (possibly in development at Assassin’s 

Creed III: Liberation developer Ubisoft Sofia?). 

As such, there’s not much for me to say about this game other than why I think it would’ve been great. While 

the PSP entries were of varying quality, they were part of a much larger line-up of tactical shooters that included 

Brothers in Arms, Rainbow Six, and SOCOM. On Vita, however, Ghost Recon would’ve stood out, being the 

only game of this type aside from the launch title Unit 13, which had already shown us the potential of a good 

third-person shooter on the handheld thanks to its twin-stick controls.

Hyper Light 

Drifter 

One of the most anticipated indie games in recent memory, Hyper Light Drifter is a fast-paced action RPG with a 

gorgeous pixel art aesthetic, beautiful soundtrack, and minimalist story that created an absolute storm on Kickstarter, 

raising over $645k by its conclusion. Development went fairly smoothly and by early 2016 PC gamers 

had the game and console ports were to follow, but in September the developer confirmed that Vita (and WiiU) 

versions had been scrapped. 

This was particularly frustrating due to the game’s origins on Kickstarter meaning that fans had actually paid for 

this development and it still wasn’t being delivered. Although the developer’s health problems certainly shouldn’t 

be understated, a contingency plan or porting studio could have been explored before outright cancellation. 

Incidentally, Just Add Water (famous for the Oddworld Vita ports) reached out to the developer on Twitter, but 

so far there has been no update on this front.

Nier 

It was only recently that news of this potential port was revealed by series creator Yoko Taro. Supposedly, 

they wanted to give new players the chance to experience the game while simultaneously adding some extra 

content, making it an expanded port. Apparently, the title never happened because the team was busy with 

other projects at the time, so it fell by the wayside, and by the time the team was back to working on the franchise 

again they’d come up with ideas for a sequel, which landed on PS4/PC earlier this year, so the Vita port 

remained a pipe dream. 

If there’s one thing the Vita has shown itself to be a capable home of, it’s quirky Japanese games, and Nier is 

definitely up there among the quirkiest, having received a particularly notable cult following after its release. 

Plus, it would provide some nice genre variety, being an action game with RPG elements. Furthermore the 

breakout success of Automata meant a Vita port of the original game would’ve provided an ideal way for people 

to revisit the origins of the IP. Sadly it wasn’t to be.

Tales from the 

Borderlands 

Telltale Games rapidly went from being massive Vita supporters to not even touching it without much in the way 

of an explanation. With the help of Sony, its critically acclaimed title The Walking Dead: Season 1 was ported to 

the handheld. Telltale quickly expanded on this to include two further games – The Walking Dead: Season 2 and 

The Wolf Among Us. Following that, Tales from the Borderlands was confirmed at E3 2014, while sizzle reels at 

E3 2015 showed Game of Thrones and Minecraft Story Mode for Vita as well. 

Yet by the start of 2016 none of these games had been released and the situation was looking increasingly 

bleak. Telltale PR man Job Stauffer re-confirmed the company’s commitment to the platform early last year, but 

as the holidays hit and there was still no word on any of the games it seemed increasingly likely they weren’t 

coming at all – especially given that Telltale was refusing to respond to any questions about the Vita on social 

media. 

The reason I singled out Tales from the Borderlands is that it’s by far the best looking of the three that were announced 

but never arrived and, indeed, it was the best reviewed, so it’s a shame it never came to the handheld. 

Amusingly, the game was actually included on the blue Vita slim’s box when it released in North America, along 

with a ‘coming soon’ release date, so Sony was definitely confident it was going to be released.

Terrorforge 

Unseen64 has been a great source of information for finding out about games that we otherwise wouldn’t have 

known even existed and the website really pulled through in unearthing details about this particular title. Pitched 

as a Vita-exclusive title to release during the console’s first year, Terrorforge was a sort of god-game where the 

player controlled the forces of nature to defend planet Earth from alien invaders. It would have made use of both 

front and rear touch to control powers such as summoning earthquakes or tornadoes. 

Although the game was only ever in the early prototyping stages, it sounded extremely cool and would’ve made 

a nice addition to the Vita’s library, as there really isn’t very much similar on the console or even elsewhere (Eric 

Chahi’s From Dust being the closest game I can think of). It sounds like it also would’ve made nice use of the 

unique inputs available. 

The game was pitched to Sony itself and – as we’re all aware – it dropped support for Vita fairly swiftly, meaning 

the project never received a greenlight in the first place and wasn’t even shopped around to other publishers, 

so sadly it never saw the light of day.

WARRIOR’S LAIR 

(AKA RUIN) 

If there’s one thing fans seem to universally agree is missing from Vita’s line-up, it’s a good loot-heavy dungeon-crawling 

RPG in the Diablo vein. Although Dungeon Hunter Alliance made a decent budget substitute, and 

things like Fantasy Hero: Unsigned Legacy emulate the experience, there’s really not been anything to properly 

plug the gap. If it had ever released, Warrior’s Lair would definitely have been that game. 

Revealed alongside the console at E3 2011 and originally known as Ruin, the game took the dark fantastic aesthetic 

of so many in the genre inspired by Diablo, as well as many of the core mechanics of isometric ARPGs. 

Its unique twist was a content creation tool – players could create and edit their own dungeons to store loot in, 

which could then be a location for other adventurers to explore, providing it with a potentially endless stream of 

content. 

Sadly the game hit trouble when its developer, Idol Minds, was taken off the project in April 2012 and development 

was handed to in-house SCE developer Sony San Diego. After this the project went quiet until its eventual 

cancellation in July 2013. The reasons for this remain unknown, but prior to cancellation a former developer supposedly 

predicted its fate and noted that Vita games had been given a Metascore target to hit, which numerous 

titles missed, leading to Sony becoming sceptical of upcoming projects. 

It marked a sad end to a title that would’ve made a fantastic addition to the Vita’s library.

Zone of the Enders 

HD Collection 

As with Warrior’s Lair, Zone of the Enders was another announcement at a major press conference that didn’t 

materialize. This one was announced at Sony’s pre-TGS press conference in 2011 by none other than Hideo 

Kojima himself, alongside revealing that the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection would also be hitting the handheld. 

While the latter title did eventually arrive, ZoE HD never did. 

Presumably there are multiple reasons for this cancellation. Upon release, the home console versions received 

negative feedback for looking bad and running poorly – and it took nearly a year to be patched on PS3 (the 

Xbox 360 version was never fixed) - likely meaning Vita optimisation would have been difficult. In addition, the 

sales of the PS360 ports were cited by Konami as ‘disappointing’ and plans for a new sequel were scrapped. 

Those factors, combined with the Vita’s lukewarm hardware sales, meant there was ultimately no future for 

Zone of the Enders on Vita (although Konami have recently revived the IP for PS4 in one of the most surprising 

announcements of TGS 2017). 

As with all of the cancellations on this list, it’s a shame to see the game not hit the console, particularly as the 

Vita has been quite a good home for great mech-action games (Gundam and Macross among others), as well 

as Hideo Kojima’s other works (the first three Metal Gear Solid games).

CONCLUSION 

I’ve always seen Vita as the little 

handheld that could. Despite lukewarm 

hardware sales and lack of 

backing from Sony, the console 

has maintained a steady stream 

of amazing games throughout its 

life. Whether this was through surprise 

localization announcements 

(DanganRonpa, Demon Gaze), indie 

games which sold well enough 

for their creators to pledge ongoing 

support for the console (Retro 

City Rampage, Thomas Was 

Alone), or fan-driven movements 

to get specific titles (Borderlands 

2, Oceanhorn), the platform has 

proved a surprisingly great market 

for a number of developers and 

publishers. 

In spite of this, some titles just haven’t 

been able to come to fruition 

for a number of reasons, ranging 

from performance problems to 

legal struggles and everything in 

between, although the biggest hurdle 

seems to remain that the Vita 

just hasn’t sold very well. This has 

meant a lot of lost potential for fantastic 

handheld titles, and although 

I personally don’t feel disappointed 

with the experience I’ve had with 

Vita in the slightest, it’s difficult not 

to lament what could have been. 

BY ADAM CARTWRIGHT 

FROM VGCHARTZ.COM


ATARIBOX: 

PICS AND NEWS! 

The pictures we’re sharing today 

are of first prototypes. Everyone 

that has seen Ataribox first-hand 

loves it, feeling the Atari 2600 influence, 

while still being a modern 

design. 

Ataribox will be powered by an 

AMD customized processor, with 

Radeon Graphics technology. 

It’ll run Linux, with a customized, 

easy-to-use user interface. This 

approach means that as well as 

being a great gaming device, Ataribox 

is also a full PC experience for 

the TV, bringing you streaming, applications, 

social, browsing, music, 

and more. 

Most TV devices have closed systems 

and content stores. Linux lets 

us be more open; you can access 

& customise the OS, & you can 

access games you’ve bought from 

other content platforms (if compatible 

with the OS and HW). 

There will be tons of classic Atari 

retro games pre-loaded, & current 

titles from a range of studios (we’ll 

start talking titles very soon, stay 

tuned). 

We’re launching Ataribox on Indiegogo 

this fall (read: pretty soon). 

To reiterate why: we want you, the 

Atari community, to be part of this 

launch. We want you to have early 

access, grab special editions (& 

pricing) and to have you as active 

partners in the rollout of Ataribox. 

We want you to be part of the story. 

We plan on shipping late Spring 

2018, with an expected price 

range of $249-$299 (depending 

on specific editions & memory 

configurations). 

Hope you like what we are sharing 

today, and are ready for lots more 

in the weeks ahead. 

The Ataribox team.


HAND OF 

THE GODS: 

SMITE TACTICS 

ENTERS FREE EARLY 

ACCESS ON STEAM

September 14, 2017 – Melbourne, 

Australia – Hi-Rez Studios announced 

today that its turn-based 

strategy card game Hand of the 

Gods is expanding its Open Beta 

to Steam’s Early Access program. 

Players will have the opportunity 

to discover, download, and play 

Hand of the Gods for free through 

Steam’s distribution ecosystem 

starting now. 

The release on the Steam platform 

comes shortly after the release of 

a patch containing additional features 

improving on both the ingame 

and out-of-game player experience. 

These features, including 

the refinement of Combat Logs 

and the new additions of Clans 

and a Deck Tracker, have been requests 

made by the community of 

Hand of the Gods and will be available 

to new Steam players. 

“In conjunction with our community, 

we’ve implemented several 

requested features, and expanded 

upon the core experience that 

players enjoy every time they log 

in,” said Scott Lussier, Lead Designer 

on Hand of the Gods. “Bringing 

Hand of the Gods to Steam is a 

major step for us, and we’re excited 

for new players to discover their 

personal playstyle.” 

The arrival of Hand of the Gods 

on Steam also introduces the new 

Starter Pack which contains a collection 

of 7 core packs and a skin 

for Ra, leader of the Egyptian pantheon. 

Additional card packs can 

also be earned through gameplay, 

and each pantheon offers a unique 

strategy for players to experience. 

“Hand of the Gods has already 

attracted a passionate following, 

and we look forward to more players 

downloading Hand of the Gods 

for free through Steam,” said Scott 

Zier, Executive Producer on Hand 

of the Gods. “We’ve seen a variety 

of strategies emerge from the 

content we’ve released so far, and 

we are excited to see how players 

will use the new cards we are 

thinking up.” 

New cards and ongoing balance 

adjustments are no stranger to 

Hand of the Gods, and Hi-Rez expects 

to add the game’s 7th pantheon 

in the near future. Led by 

Ganesha, the Hindu pantheon is 

coming soon, and will feature new 

God, creature, and spell cards, 

making this a perfect time for new 

players to check out Hand of the 

Gods. 

Visit store.steampowered.com/app/648430 

to download and play Hand of 

the Gods for free on Steam today, 

and for the latest information 

on Hand of the Gods follow 

the developers on Twitter 

@PlayHotG.

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COSPLAY 

Welcome to Live Magazine, tell us 

about the cosplay scene in Colorado... 

Thanks for having me. I think that 

the cosplayers here are extremely 

talented, but also very laid-back. 

Most people are very helpful, and 

generous with their knowledge. It’s 

a good place to be. 

How did you get involved in cosplay 

and when was that? 

My first experience with cosplay 

happened in 1996. I have always 

been creative, and a longtime fan of 

anime and video games. So when a 

friend invited me to come with her to 

Anime Weekend Atlanta and dress 

up in costume I was 100% on board! 

I attended the con as Devil Hunter 

Yohko, and was delighted to find out 

that there were lots of other people 

who were into the same nerdy things 

that I enjoyed. I didn’t enter the costume 

contest my first time out, but 

I still had a blast dressing up.....and 

was excited to do so again! 

And you met your husband at a 

“con” tell us about that. 

We met at DragonCon 2000. By that 

time I had been cosplaying for a few 

years, and was working as a spokesmodel 

while going to school. Jason 

was a guest of the con. He was one 

of the comic book artists at Gaijin 

Studios. A mutual friend introduced 

me to the members of Gaijin Studios,and 

Jason and I just “clicked”. It 

wasn’t anything romantic at first; I 

lived out of state and neither one of 

us was looking for a relationship. We 

just enjoyed each other’s company. 

A few months later I finished with 

school and moved back to Georgia. 

Jason and I reconnected at his 

birthday party, and he invited me to 

collaborate with him on some of his 

comic work. The rest is history! We 

have been creating artwork together 

ever since, and got married in 2003. 

You’ve been quite successful with 

your cosplay in that you’ve been 

asked to freelance with some major 

companies, how did you get started 

with that part of your cosplay? 

It started small at first... Early on I got 

to be friendly with a number of convention 

guests and vendors. Conventions 

were much smaller back 

then, so you tended to see the same 

people over and over again in different 

parts of the country. It wasn’t 

long before some of my new friends 

asked me to work their tables at the 

conventions. I was delighted to help 

out, and earn a little money over the 

weekends. Plus I got to wear my 

costumes! I also entered the cosplay 

contests on a regular basis, and 

won a number of major awards. By 

1998 I had achieved Master rank, 

and was one of the first cosplayers 

in the USA to be invited to conventions 

as a guest. I continued to compete 

in cosplay competitions when 

I was not attending as a guest, and 

was approached by Sy Picon (CEO 

and Owner of SyCoNet Productions) 

after winning 1st Place at Master 

Level and Best in Show at Animazement 

2000. He asked me to be the 

company’s official spokesmodel, 

which was a dream job at the time. 

Also you’ve been involved with judging, 

can you tell us about judging and 

perhaps share a few tips for cosplayers 

wanting to enter competitions. 

Judging has become a lot harder 

since the cosplay scene exploded 

in the mid-2000s! There are so 

many incredibly talented people with 

amazing costumes. I think it always 

helps to have a professional-looking 

costume. That is, take some time to 

iron-out any fold marks, finish your 

seams, etc. Also, if you can remember 

to take photos during your construction 

process, and bring them to 

show the judges, that is always very 

helpful. 

The best thing you can do is to be 

positive and have fun! Cosplay competitions 

nowadays can be extremely 

long and stressful. If you can

manage to stay happy and positive 

throughout then the judges and the 

audience will respond in kind. 

What’s been some of your favourite 

cosplays? 

I have such a hard time choosing! 

Typically I tend to like the costume(s) 

that I most recently finished best! 

However, there are a few standouts 

that I remember fondly mostly because 

I’m a big fan of the characters 

I’m cosplaying. Tifa from FFVII is 

definitely a favorite. I also adore Talia 

Al Ghul (before the writers made 

her psycho), and pretty much anything 

Pokemon. 

And most challenging? 

Probably the most challenging costume 

that I have made/worn was my 

Tama-neko mascot costume from 

Fushigi Yuugi. I decided to step out 

of my comfort zone by constructing 

and wearing a fursuit! It came-out 

looking really cute, and got lots of 

positive responses. However it was 

extremely hot to wear, I couldn’t see 

well at all, and my movements felt 

restricted. I’m glad that I made it, 

but I don’t feel any desire to make 

another mascot costume. 

What about memorable moments at 

cons - any you can share? 

So many! Darth Vader (David 

Prowse) and I devoured his birthday 

cake using only our hands. Bruce 

Campbell (who I’ve had a crush on 

forever) sought me out to talk cosplay, 

and hugged me during an autograph 

session. I was brought up on 

stage during opening ceremonies at 

Nan Desu Kan so that the entire convention 

could sing me ‘Happy Birthday’. 

Bengus and Akiman (Capcom 

artists and living legends) sought out 

Jason and I at San Diego Comic Con 

to compliment our artwork and exchange 

sketches. Starbuck (Katee 

Sackhoff) flipped-out over the cuteness 

of my 1 year old son, and wanted 

pictures with him. ....and I could 

go on for a while! I’ve met so many 

talented people that I admire over 

the years, and am incredibly grateful 

to have such fun memories. 

Your also a freelance artist, what 

sort of work are you doing there? 

I started-out working as an inking 

assistant and colorist in the comic 

book industry. Then my husband and 

I became known for our pinup work, 

which has been featured in numerous 

publications such as Playstation 

Magazine, PSM, Play’s Girls of Gaming, 

etc. More recently, I’ve done 

contract work for Sony Computer 

Entertainment America, Google, and 

several other companies. I am currently 

contracted to do design work 

for some of the medical professionals 

in my area. 

So, just to finish up - can you share 

maybe a five tips for new cosplayers? 

1. Always have safety-pins on-hand! 

Even if you don’t need them, someone 

else might. 

2. Get nice photos of your costumes. 

3. Don’t break the bank. 

4. Be yourself. 

5. Be kind and have fun! 

If you are interested in more tips 

then stop by my Facebook page for 

‘Tip Tuesday’. I share a new tip or 

tutorial every week. 

And where can our readers go to 

see more of your cosplay? 

Here’s my Facebook page: 

HeatherAfter Cosplay - 

www.facebook.com/heathercosplay 

I’m also on DeviantArt: 

heatheraftercosplay.deviantart.com

Photographer: MartinArt Studio - www.facebook.com/MartinArt-Studio-897089090364888/ 

ONLINE: 

www.facebook.com/ 

heathercosplay 

www.heatheraftercosplay.deviantart.com

Photographer: Adrian Cullen Photography - www.facebook.com/CuileannsPhotography

Photographer: Miss E Laney Arts - www.facebook.com/misselaneyarts 

Photographer: HearterAfter Cosplay - www.facebook.com/heathercosplay

Photographer: Nikki Lee Photography - www.facebook.com/chandlernikki.lee

COSPLAY 

MIKE ROLLERSON 

It’s October and for many of us, that’s 

the start of our month long celebration 

of the creepy. Halloween, whilst 

massive in the U.S is growing here 

in the Southern Hemisphere but it’s 

still has a way to go. We decided to 

catch up with regular guest of Live 

Magazine, Mike Rollerson, and ask 

him a bit about Halloween in the U.S. 

Mike, is Halloween as big as we see 

in movies and TV? 

Halloween is huge in the states! It’s 

actually a lot of fun as it starts to 

creep into stores and movies a few 

months before October 31st and 

lots of little haunted houses begin 

to pop up around town. I always look 

forward to checking out the events 

around town - some of them will 

begin building sets in July for a September 

opening, so there’s definitely 

some time involved in creating these 

events! 

What’s your plans leading up to Halloween 

- got any shoots planned? 

The local haunted houses are just 

beginning to open their doors which 

will keep me busy through Halloween! 

We’re fortunate to have several 

nearby in the immediate area 

and each of them go all-out with the 

sets, FX makeup, lighting and scare 

actors. I’ll be shooting at each of 

these events throughout the month 

and trying to squeeze in a few horror-themed 

shoots inbetween! Since 

Halloween is such a busy time for 

me, I tend to work with many of these 

scare-actors off-season to keep 

Halloween going year round through 

photoshoots! I also started shooting 

some video last year and had a 

great time with that; with Halloween 

season here I’m hoping to shoot all 

new content this time around. 

You’ve been busy with your Instax 

project, how’s that going? 

The Instax project has been keeping 

me busy! I’ve been experimenting a 

lot more with it lately, syncing them 

up with studio lights, using non-traditional 

effects and trying to capture 

some really fun shots. I’ve made it 

up to about a dozen instant cameras 

now and each has it’s own unique 

look; some have a very clean, almost 

digital look while others have 

a very retro-looking distorted image. 

There’s just something about film 

and the look that it gives that you 

just don’t get with digital. I’m currently 

shooting about 200-300 shots per 

week and having a blast with it still! 

Where are you planning to go with 

it? Can we hope for a book? 

Lately I’ve started to mix the instax/ 

film shots into my digital work to create 

some composites as a way to 

showcase them. I’ve always been 

a big fan of printed photos/art (my 

studio walls are covered with large 

prints from over the years) which is 

what got me into Instax as a neat 

“behind the scenes” snapshot. Over 

time I’ve really begun to make it 

an equal focus to the digital work, 

shooting about an even amount of 

digital and instant-film shots during 

shoots. I’ve started creating albums 

of these, but the ultimate goal is to 

go into print with them. 

Offering prints of digital work is common 

but with Instax being a one-ofa-kind, 

it’s harder to offer the same 

thing without selling the original. 

Creating a full book showcasing the 

different styles is definitely where I’d 

like to go with this. Stay tuned and 

we might see something coming out 

of that :) 

Is film easy to get and where do you 

go to stock up? 

Film itself is easy to get in America. 

Instax, in particular, is readily available 

at all of the online and local retailers 

and has even found it’s way 

into some grocery stores and chains 

you wouldn’t expect. I tend to order it 

online in bulk (40-50 boxes at a time) 

since it’s sometimes a little more affordable. 

For some of the specialty 

films I find myself ordering it from 

overseas a couple times per month

as it’s more readily available (and affordable) 

than buying from the local 

importers. 

You’re doing posters now, tell us 

about that. 

I’ve always been a big fan of posters 

and large-scale prints. There’s 

just something special about a large 

printed piece that you don’t see with 

a digital piece. With almost everyone 

shooting digital nowadays (either 

on their phone or with a DSLR), you 

don’t see many actual photos nowadays. 

I’ve started to offer some of my 

favorite shots from over the years in 

poster options. For me it isn’t even 

about finding a way to make a profit 

from them (there’s very little involved 

after all of the work of printing/ 

packaging/shipping them), it’s more 

about seeing the artwork displayed 

by others and a way of sharing some 

of the content. 

You love horror so what’s your top 5 

horror movies? 

I love horror movies but tend to have 

a terrible taste in them! My love for 

them is more in the styling, sets and 

characters than the movies itself. 

Movies like the Saw series, Silent Hill 

and Resident Evil have always had 

some great looking design (but.. not 

so great of a movie!). Aside from the 

design, I just love the creative ideas 

behind horror movies; so many 

have very unique premises that they 

always feel fresh to watch. I don’t 

think I could narrow it down to just 5 

- there are so many great ones out 

there for different reasons! 

And the worst horror movie you’ve 

seen? 

This one was a lot easier: The Blair 

With Project. 

At the time there was hype for it 

everywhere. The idea was great 

and I couldn’t wait to see it. I remember 

sitting in the front of the 

theater watching it, waiting for it to 

“get good”.. I kept feeling that it was 

about to happen at any moment. 

At the very end it got to the point 

where you felt “This is what we’ve 

been waiting for” only for the credits 

to start rolling. This is the worst 

(or most disappointing) horror movie 

I’ve seen. There are bad movies but 

they tend to be labeled as such. 

Well, Happy Halloween Mike - where 

can our readers go to catch up with 

you? 

Happy Halloween everyone! I’m 

most active on Instagram ( Instagram.com/MikeRollerson 

) and tend 

to share any photos, videos and behind-the-scenes 

updates on there! 

ONLINE: 

www.instagram.com/MikeRollerson 

www.facebook.com/ MikeRollersonPhotography

BECOMING 

WONDER

WOMAN 

ONE WEEK TO WONDER WOMAN 

A brief cosplay guide from construction to photography by Tiffany Dean Cosplay 

Wonder Woman is a character 

that has been an icon and inspiration 

for decades. She has empowered 

vast amounts of people 

around the world, regardless of 

gender, ethnicity, religion or anything 

else that can create barriers 

between people. Despite all 

of this, she had yet to make the 

impact on the big screen that 

she deserved. Superhero movies 

could be hit and miss, and those 

that featured our female heroines 

often fell short in comparison to 

their male or group counterparts. 

That all changed when we caught 

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in 

Batman vs Superman. It wasn’t 

long before fans started crying 

out for Wonder Woman to have 

her own movie. 

The prayers were answered and 

the hype began. 

Wonder Woman is a character 

I have only cosplayed once before. 

It was before I actually cosplayed, 

and it was a cheap, awful 

eBay costume that is lost in the 

depths of recycled plastic. As 

soon as I tossed that awful costume 

(I admit I still LOVE the design 

of it though), I knew that one 

day, Wonder Woman was someone 

I needed to revisit. As I was 

always powering ahead with new 

costumes, I couldn’t find the time 

or drive to go back and make 

something I had already worn. I 

also wasn’t drawn to many of her 

other iconic outfits, so I sat in a 

conundrum of what to do. 

When the Wonder Woman movie 

images were slowly drizzling 

through prior to the release of 

the movie, I had had every intention 

to make her training outfit. I 

thought it would be something 

different and an outfit that may 

not get lost in a flood of amazing 

Wonder Woman cosplayers. 

When the movie finally hit our 

screens, my heart was leading

me to her main outfit. Throughout 

history, we have recognised 

Wonder Woman from the red and 

blues on her outfits. I knew I wanted 

to stay true to the history of 

Wonder Woman, but also knew 

that this outfit was more ‘me.’ 

With this in mind, I began my task 

to construct my first real Wonder 

Woman cosplay. I wanted this to 

be a speed build between some 

larger costumes, and I wanted to 

pump it out fast whilst my mind 

was in Wonder Woman mindset. 

I began by creating templates of 

my arms (for the gauntlets) and 

body (for the corset). To do this, 

I simply wrapped myself in cling 

wrap and covered myself in duct 

tape. I would recommend having 

a helper with this as it can be a 

little dicey cutting yourself free, 

and if you tape yourself too tight 

it can cause panic attacks from 

restricted breathing ability... From 

there, I simply cut out my duct 

tape pattern and transferred it to 

my chosen material – in this case 

I used Foam. To shape the foam 

for a better fit, I blasted it with a 

heat gun and formed it against 

where it needed to go, holding 

it there until it cooled down so it 

would hold its shape. 

The next step was to add more 

details. For most of these, I would 

sketch the pattern on paper, 

transfer it to foam and then glue 

the layers on one by one. To fasten 

the armour, I used heavy duty 

velcro, hidden under layers and 

details and I finished by carving 

out some battle damage with a 

rotary tool. 

The leg armour was constructed 

in the same way – however I did 

not create a duct tape pattern 

here, I made a paper template. 

For gluing details and armour, I 

only ever use contact glue. Hot 

glue is not strong enough under 

load. Contact glue will generally 

not come apart – your foam 

would break before the glue bond! 

Be warned that when using contact 

glue, you must wear a mask 

as it has a very strong (and likely 

toxic!!) smell. For the gauntlet details, 

I carved lines with a Stanley 

Knife and hit it with heat to define 

them more.

Up next was creating the arm 

band, headdress, shield and 

sword. Paper templates / patterns 

were drawn up for the arm 

band and headdress, transferred 

to foam and then covered in Worbla 

and shaped. Heavy duty elastic 

was glued (with contact glue!) 

at the back so they could stay in 

place when wearing. 

As this was a costume I was making 

fast, I knew I wouldn’t have time 

to create a shield from scratch. 

My answer was to buy a cheap 

Captain America shield off eBay 

so I could modify it. I used craft 

foam to level the area around the 

star and used a Dremel (rotary 

tool) to create the indented line 

details. For the rest of the details, 

I used strips of Worbla. 

The sword I made in a few short 

hours, starting with a hobby foam 

base. I drew my sword on here 

freehand, carved it out, covered 

it in Worbla and then used Apoxie 

Sculpt to create the details on 

the hilt. This also added a nice 

amount of weight (I like a bit of 

weight to my props as it adds a 

sense of realism when holding 

them, just try and not make them 

insanely heavy!). 

The next step was to create the 

skirt and leather strapping / Lasso 

of Truth. 

Using my trusty paper template 

method, I created a template for 

the skirt. This took a bit of trial 

and error, but one important thing 

to not forget is the curve of your 

butt!! This means that the back 

piece you need to make longer 

so it sits where you need (Bazinga 

for scale). 

When I had all my skirt templates 

ready, I transferred them 

to leather and stitched them to 

an elastic waistband I created. 

For those that have more time, 

or are spending more time on a 

Wonder Woman build, make sure 

to take your time with placement 

here. That was something I didn’t 

do, and whilst it all fit ok, there are 

definitely changes I would make 

(and may yet fix up). I painted gold 

edging straight on to the leather 

as in some shots of the actual 

costume it looks flush, and in 

some it looks raised. Craft foam 

or soft leather could be used to 

create a layer if you opt for that 

option. 

Fabric choice is also important 

here – I tried vinyl initially as it 

held paint well, but with a bit of 

glue and paint, it became like stiff

cardboard. I then tried to paint 

nappa leather I had on hand as 

it was thick and strong but had 

the right amount of drape. Unfortunately 

paint did not hold as 

the leather was already coated. 

I then tried faux leathers but had 

the same issue with paint not 

grabbing. Getting the colour and 

texture was important to me, so 

I did some Googling and found 

an amazing shattered glass texture 

blue leather. For those aiming 

for total accuracy, the entire 

Wonder Woman costume is actually 

leather... You can wet certain 

leathers and form them to create 

armour. This was my initial plan, 

but as I was making this costume 

fast and being cost efficient and 

using what I had on hand, I decided 

learning leather sculpting was 

something I would save for another 

costume. 

For the leather strapping, I used 

some faux leather / vinyl I had on 

hand, cut out some strips, made 

some craft foam details and created 

a hidden Velcro opening. I 

bought some gold rope and that 

was my Lasso of Truth! 

The final stage was painting 

everything! I primed all of the 

pieces with FlexiBond, using a 

stiff bristled brush to brush on the 

texture of Wonder Woman’s armour. 

For the gauntlets, I watered 

down the FlexiBond to create a 

smoother finish. 

For the main armour pieces, I created 

a metallic red paint by mixing 

red, bronzes and a metallic 

medium. I used some of this and 

added black to create a dark colour 

for details. I then used a red 

metallic spray paint to brighten up 

and deepen the reds, as well as 

give it an even stronger metallic 

finish. 

The gold pieces were multiple 

layers of gold over a black base. 

I used different golds for different 

areas – some golds richer than 

others. I again mixed in black to 

create a deeper colour for details. 

I used a hint of silver for 

some areas to create a contrast, 

and a pale gold to create subtle 

highlights. 

The shield was primed with a 

spray primer and painted with 

various spray paints. I wanted the 

colour to be a metallic dark granite 

/ brownish grey colour with a 

mottled look. I sprayed a couple 

of coats of my spray paint and 

then painted the gold and silver 

in various shades. The gauntlets 

were sprayed with a chrome 

spray paint, and the gold painted 

over. The gold required a few layers 

as it doesn’t go over chrome 

paint very easily! The ‘leather’ 

straps (really just foam!) were 

painted with brown paint. 

The sword blade was also primed 

and painted with chrome paint, 

and various golds used on the hilt. 

The final step in the Wonder 

Woman journey was a photoshoot. 

Rob Jenkins Photo was kind 

enough to let me come down 

to the Gametraders studio for 

some quick snaps. We opened 

up our Pinterest board (I highly 

recommend people use this as 

it’s great for inspiration and ide-

as, and gives both photographer 

and cosplayer something to work 

with).Rob, Cosmo and I looked 

at our inspiration photos so we 

could recreate poses we liked as 

accurately as we could. 

I unfortunately forgot to take my 

leather straps and Lasso of Truth 

(internal crying!!) but next time I 

won’t forget. Here are some of 

our photographic endeavours! 

And also be smarter than me – 

wear a nude coloured bra!! Or a 

strapless one... 

I hope this article has helped others 

in costume creating, whether 

it be Wonder Woman or someone 

else! 

Happy cosplaying and photographing! 

Rob Jenkins Photo: 

facebook.com/robjenkinsphotography 

Tiffany Dean Cosplay: 

facebook.com/tiffanydeancosplay

EHIND THE SCENES

MATERIALS 

Worbla and Foam – The Huntbury Armoury 

Craft Foam – Lincraft 

Foam – The Reject Shop 

Contact Glue / Hobby Foam / Spray Paint / Velcro – Bunnings 

FlexiBond / Apoxie Sculpt – Adelaide Moulding and Casting 

Top Coat / Paints – Riot Art 

Paint – Lincraft / Spotlight / Art Stores / Neds etc 

Captain America Shield – eBay 

Leather – East Coast Leather 

Faux Leather / Vinyl – Spotlight / Lincraft 

Elastic - Spotlight

THE $1 BILLION 

Instagram 

GOLD MINE!

INSTAGRAM FOR THE FAMOUS 

AND NOT-SO-FAMOUS... 

I was browsing Harper’s Bazaar 

online the other day (hey I do model 

photography!) and came across 

a very interesting statistic... apparently 

industry experts, in around 

2015, estimated that brands spend 

more then $1 billion per year on 

sponsored Instagram posts. That’s 

a lot of money that use to be spent 

on traditional media! Social media 

sponsorship is a whole new world 

of marketing and it’s opened the 

doors to just about anyone who’s 

willing to put in the hard work, has 

talent and drive to make either a 

part time or full time income from 

their passion. But first a short history 

lesson on advertising... 

If you were to jump back into some 

sort of time machine, and set the 

date for around 1970 through to 

the 80s or 90s, there wasn’t too 

many ways to get known locally, 

let alone be world famous. You 

had to be a star ( or rising star ) of 

stage, screen, music, art ... maybe 

politics, medicine, science, humanities... 

On the darker side of life, 

some have committed crimes for 

fame: 

John Hinckley Jr - He attempted 

to assassinate President Ronald 

Reagan so that he could use the 

‘fame’ to get the attention of actress 

Jodie Foster who he was in 

love with. 

Tonya Harding - The figure skater 

so badly wanted to be the most famous 

that she conspired to have 

her competitor, Nancy Kerrigan, 

attacked. The result was Kerrigan 

recovered and placed higher then 

Harding, who sunk to the lows of 

the celebrity world doing a sex 

tape and celebrity boxing. 

In contrast we have millions of talented 

people who made art, music 

films and other forms of entertainment 

or knowledge that gained 

fame as a by product of their endeavours. 

Albert Einstein for example 

is a Nobel laureate in physics, 

Nelson Mandela, Nobel laureate for 

peace suffered years of imprisonment 

for his beliefs. Musicians, artists, 

creators, scientists, doctors 

and leaders of nations have become 

famous as a result of their 

hard work and dedication. 

In video games we have people 

like Hideo Kojima who developed 

Metal Gear Solid, Sid Meier of Civilisation 

fame and Carol Shaw who 

is noted as the first woman game 

designer who, whilst working for 

Atari worked on 3-D Tic Tac Toe 

and world on Super Breakout. 

These people became famous, 

not because they sought fame but 

because of their talent. Today that 

line has blurred. Some people are 

famous for simply, being famous. 

Today, the whole game has 

changed dramatically. 

Traditional media doesn’t have the 

same power it once had. Magazines 

and newspapers have been 

closing in the hundreds each year. 

The internet and particularly social 

media has fragmented how 

we consume entertainment. No 

longer do we sit down on Sunday 

night at 8.30 for the “Sunday 

Night Movie” we have Netflix, Stan, 

HBO, iTunes,YouTube and Amazon 

among others to watch what we 

want when we want. Social media 

sites like Instagram allow anyone 

with a talent to gather faithful followers 

and engage with them by 

sharing content. Then, if you’re 

good at creating interesting content 

and good at gaining followers, 

suddenly you’re the “media” ... you 

have the numbers to be a valuable 

commodity for advertisers to 

sponsor. 

With that in mind, let’s take a look 

at one option for gaining followers 

and maybe becoming ... famous.

Instagram: becoming an 

“influencer” 

Instagram is one of the key online 

and social media choices for gaining 

popularity. Instagram’s research 

shows that it has 2.8x higher then 

average ad recall then other social 

media networks. It also found that 

consumers are a whopping 58x 

more likely to engage with branded 

content on Instagram then Facebook, 

and 120x more likely compared 

to Twitter. 

Instagram visitors stay on site 

for an average of 192 seconds 

longer then any other social media 

channel. 

So Instagram offers those who 

build an audience popularity, but 

it’s not just popularity that is the 

motivation. Income, career and an 

adventurous life itself can be the 

rewards when you work the system. 

You see advertisers pay for 

eyeballs - the eyes of people who 

are potential customers for their 

products. If you’re a photographer 

using say ... Nikon equipment and 

you have 30,000 followers that are 

actively engaged with you on Instagram, 

then you might be an attractive 

proposition for a brand like 

Nikon to work with you - I’m using 

Nikon as a hypothetical, but you 

get the point. That is ... 

1. You need a large following 

2. Your following needs to be engaged 

with your content 

Why engaged? Because anyone 

can go and buy followers, and 

while there’s nothing wrong with 

promoting and advertising your 

media (your page/site) ... that’s 

how marketing works, ideally you 

need followers to be involved with 

you, to want to see your posts. In 

the 80s if you were selling a product 

you made an ad and ran it on 

TV or radio or in print. 

Today you are the product - people 

are “buying” you so to speak. If you 

have created something of value, 

for example good photo content 

and story’s, then chances are you 

can build an audience. Back in the 

90s and prior, you first needed a 

product or service, then you needed 

to spend money with the media 

to promote or sell that product. Today 

you can bypass that expense, 

no longer do you need to book a TV 

campaign or an ad in a magazine 

to get people’s attention. Social 

media sites like Instagram gives 

everyone the same opportunity. 

The key factor though is you need 

your audience to be engaged, that 

is connected to your content, enjoying, 

likening and commenting on 

your content. 

It’s no good having 100,000 followers 

and getting 10 likes on a post. 

Advertisers want people to see 

and engage with their brand. 

If followers (fans) are the starting 

point for sponsorship, it’s the engaged 

fans that are the true currency 

in this new world of media. 

We did some quick calculations on 

some of the biggest Instagram accounts 

from celebrities and found 

engagement rates varied. Some 

were around 1% while others were 

2.5% and more. However when 

you have 100 million followers and 

1% of your followers are engaged 

that’s still a massive number! One 

percent of 100 million works out 

to 1 million fans engaged and if 

you’re a brand that is 1 million potential 

customers seeing someone 

like Kim Kardashian use a product. 

So a brand not only gets engaged 

fans seeing their product but the 

endorsement of a celebrity is the 

cream on the marketing cake. 

Engagement rates, getting 

paid and becoming an Instagram 

Influencer. 

The Huff Post reports that some 

brands pay between $5 and $10 

per thousand followers. Some pay 

more for bigger names, up to $100 

per thousand followers. When 

you’re getting started and you’ve 

got a reasonable following that’s 

growing, you may start out by 

getting free product. As we said 

though, it’s not just about the numbers, 

you need to build engagement... 

getting your followers engaged 

(enjoying, commenting and 

liking) your content. So how do you 

work out what your engagement 

rate is? Let’s take a look:

“1 million 

potential 

customers 

seeing 

someone 

like Kim 

Kardashian 

use a 

product.” 

Here’s how you work out engagement 

rates for your page: 

Engagement Rate on Instagram: 

(Number of likes & comments) / 

(Number of followers). 

Let’s say an account has 50,000 

followers and on average gets 

1500 comments/likes - that gives 

them an engagement rate of 3%. 

Is that any good? Well let’s do a 

quick comparison. But first ... a 

trip back in time. In the old days 

of 60s, 70s and 80s advertisers 

would measure the success by 

the number of sales an ad generated. 

Some smart marketers like 

Readers Digest would run coupon 

campaigns, constantly testing and 

refining the message to improve 

the response of the message. Today 

people don’t run coupon campaigns 

so much, at least not like 

they use to. But comparing Instagram 

to email marketing gives us a 

clearer picture. 

On average (according to Smart 

Insights) the open rate on an email 

in the area of Entertainment is 

21%, but the click through rate - 

the number of people who opened 

your email then clicked to see the 

content was around 2.3% ... so not 

too much different to Instagram. 

But there are key differences. With 

email you have a bit more time and 

space to tell your story (sell product) 

but on Instagram you have 

the benefit of endorsement. That 

means if you are a travel blogger 

and use Instagram and have a 

strong following - people are likely 

to trust you and that trust is gold in 

the bank. That is because your followers 

believe you, they trust you 

and if you say visiting a resort was 

great, then they believe you and 

might also put that resort on their 

list of places to visit. 

So Instagram gives a sponsor/advertiser 

both reach and credibility 

through endorsment. 

Engagement Rates 

We looked at the average engagement 

rates on social media and 

found Instagram to be top of the 

pile: 

Instagram 2.26% 

Pinterest 0.042% 

Facebook 0.216% 

Twitter 0.027% 

We’ll take a look at Facebook and 

Youtube in another issue, but for 

now let’s dig a bit deeper into Instagram. 

We’ve asked a few of our friends 

who’ve built solid followings for 

some Instagram tips.

“Instagram’s research shows that 

it has 2.8x higher then average 

ad recall then other social media 

networks. It also found that 

consumers are a whopping 58x 

more likely to engage with branded 

content on Instagram then 

Facebook, and 120x more likely 

compared to Twitter.”

The World Loves Melbourne 

theworldlovesmelbourne.com 

instagram.com/theworldlovesmelbourne 

Dave Hagger who started the blog 

has a great Instagram following of 

almost 38,000. His blog is for foodies 

who want the best Melbourne 

has to offer and also has a sister 

site, The World Loves Sydney. 

Dave is a Food blogger and I can 

vouch he knows the best places 

for a meal! Here’s Dave’s take on 

using Instagram 

Facebook is tough but if you pay to 

play Facebook can be great. Instagram 

is also moving towards more 

pay to play! 

5 tips for Instagram would be: 

3. Post regularly. Build a following 

by posting every day if possible. 

However avoid posting too many 

times a day because that diminishes 

your value! 

4. Effective use of hashtags. Use 

local as well as broadly appealing 

hashtags. Try to mix them up. 

Avoid being shadow banned for 

using spammy hashtags. 

5. Style and curate your images! 

Creative use of backgrounds. Use 

props like Italian tiles, diff textures 

like wooden boards, vintage props, 

linen etc. Flatlays are still king - fill 

the frame with interest. Short video 

clips have good engagement 

and are the way of the future! 

1. Make it visually excellent! Use a 

decent SLR camera and a decent 

smartphone - as well as apps like 

Snapseed (my favourite) to enhance 

your already great photos. 

Play around with effects and filters 

so that the photo sings! 

2. Make it bright and vibrant! The 

trend is away from dark to vibrant 

pics. Some filters help brighten, 

even use a whiteness feel for effect.

Tiffany Dean Cosplay 

instagram.com/tiffanydeancosplay 

Tiff is onoe of our cosplay editors 

and has worked hard building a following 

across multiple social media 

sites. Her Facebook sits at around 

10,000 and has been her main social 

media platform for some time, 

but with changes to the algorithm 

she’s now begun building her Instagram 

following with 2,500 so far. 

1. I place my IG in the same place 

as my FB re marketing. They’re unfortunately 

all I have and as IG is 

now owned by FB, neither are great 

for marketing. IG can be easier to 

gain a following, however followers 

are removed faster than you get 

them. I’m aiming to become active 

on YouTube and have IG as a secondary 

thing. IG however is a great 

booster during things like Conventions 

(for cosplayers) as people 

are generally looking for people 

they may have taken a photo of. 

2. The most effective ways to 

grow IG are to try and keep posts 

relevant to what your main focus 

is. For example, as a cosplayer I 

gain more followers if I post a cosplay 

of something that is current 

as it’s what is ‘trending.’ Hashtags 

are imperative to grow your IG as 

they are what people search for - 

it’s how people can find you. Also 

networking with others is helpful. 

Some Instagram pages focus on 

sharing others work - if you can 

be shared on a page with a good 

following it’s a great way for your 

follower number to increase. 

3. The first 500 I actually found 

easier than the rest, namely as at 

that time, Instagram didn’t go and 

boot followers. The first 500 tend 

to include a lot of friends and family 

too which helps you reach that 

number faster. 

4. Re hashtags I just realized that 

the best way to go is to make them 

relevant. For example if I post a 

photo of me in cosplay, I’m not going 

to go and hashtag something 

like gourmet meal (unless it’s relevant 

lol). I also try and do a few 

hashtags but not have 30 of them. 

It’s a fine line between too little and 

too many. It’s also random and IG 

works much like FB now in that you 

could hashtag the same things for 

different photos and get 300 likes 

on one photo and 30 on another. 

It’s important to just see hashtags 

as a way to tag relevant search 

words so people can find your 

photo. 

5. I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve 

not had too many negatives on my 

own page. I’ve been called fat and 

all sorts of things on pages with 

so called ‘fans’ of certain things. 

In those cases I tend to ignore it, 

but in this case I kindly made them 

aware that people may have gone 

through a difficult time and that 

the focus should be on the costume, 

not a persons weight. I also 

thought it important to speak up 

for the sake of young people who 

might develop eating disorders if 

slim people are being called fat. 

In most cases I either ignore or 

just delete. I only respond if I can 

correct someone respectfully and 

kindly. If it all goes to pot I just delete 

or block lol.

Sara Moni Cosplay 

instagram.com/saramonicosplay 

We’ve been big fans of Sara’s over 

the years and she’s built huge following 

online. 

Facebook - 60,700 

Instagram - 29,800 plus followers 

We asked Sara for a few quick tips 

on how she got going on Instagram: 

It wasn’t really difficult to build my 

Instagram. It’s difficult to maintain 

and keep content flowing more 

than anything! 

1. Don’t be concerned with numbers, 

be concerned with engagement, 

the type of audience that 

you attract and if it’s the attention 

you really want. 

2. Don’t be afraid of taking weeks 

in planning and researching costume, 

never rush 

3. Never compare yourself to 

someone else in an unhealthy way. 

Fun competition can be motivating, 

but never get down on yourself 

Instagram marketing company, Dash Hudson, CEO Thomas Rankin suggests you need at least 5,000 followers although 

10,000 is the number that will more likely get the attention of brands... but they need to be real and engaged. Harper’s 

Bazaar magazine reported that fashion blogger, Daniella Bernstein of @weworewhat charges between $5000 and 

$15,000 for a single branded Instagram post. 

(http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/trends/a10949/how-bloggers-make-money-on-instagram/)

Charlotte Nicholson 

instagram.com/charliegirlnic 

Charlotte is an Adelaide based 

photographer. 

1. Know your demographic! Knowing 

your audience is vital to Instagram. 

Understanding your audience 

helps with how you post, 

when you post and what you post. 

2. Interact with other Instagram 

accounts that also post to a similar 

audience demographic. Getting 

your posts into their feeds can 

be a case of interacting with their 

posts. This can be done by liking 

posts, following, commenting or direct 

messaging them. Interact with 

your followers. Take the time to 

thank followers for comments. Interaction 

means that your content 

has a better chance of reaching 

their Instagram feed. Pay attention 

to accounts that regularly like your 

posts, they are still seeing your 

posts and it’s because the algorithm 

has noted they like your content. 

3. #... Learn how to hashtag. Research 

hashtags that are popular 

in your genre of content. For example: 

brands, location, style and 

content relevant. 

Instagram allows up to 30 #’s per 

post that need to be in your original 

post to count. Hashtags are 

a way to get your content to new 

accounts. Using the right hashtag 

can throw your content into the 

feed of new followers who may be 

interested in your content based 

on what they are interested in, who 

they follow, and what hashtags 

they have used recently. 

4. Use the stories feed to bring 

your content directly to the attention 

of your followers. When any of 

us open up Instagram the stories 

feed is the first content we see. 

This is an opportunity to direct your 

followers to your content. 

5. Post consistently. Post quality 

content at regular times over the 

week. Don’t be that person that 

posts 10 posts in one evening and 

then doesn’t post again for a few 

days. Insights information will help 

you determine what time of day 

and what content works for your 

account.

THE INSTAGRAM AUDIENCE 

EXPERIMENT 

OR HOW WE SCREWED UP OUR EDITOR’S FEED... 

“...feeding 

him a few 

Red Bulls 

and a donut 

calmed him 

down a bit.” 

We decided as part of this story 

to experiment on Instagram using 

sites that promise large “real” 

followers for payment. We didn’t 

want to damage the Gametraders 

account so we volunteered our editors 

photography account. After 

much persuasion (promise of a 6 

pack of Red Bull) we got started on 

our experiment. 

To begin he (foolishly) closed his 

old account and created a new 

one - you can see it here: 

https://www.instagram.com/rjp_ 

adelaide/ 

Next he started posting some photos 

as he is a photographer that 

does a lot of portrait and model 

photography sprinkled with occasional 

cosplay. 

Over a few weeks of terrible hash 

tagging skills he’d managed only 

130 followers. We reminded him 

how useless he was and that he 

wasn’t allowed to do anymore 

hash tagging. He didn’t take the 

criticism to well but feeding him a 

few Red Bulls and a donut calmed 

him down a bit. 

Now it was now time for the experiment. 

First up we researched a 

bunch of sites that offer to sell or 

gain you followers for around $20 

- $30 U.S. We bought 1000 followers 

that flooded in pretty quickly. 

The engagement, however stayed 

the same, in fact it went down! At 

this point the Editor started to really 

freak out, worrying about getting 

banned or something. 

Next we tried another seller and 

got another 1500 but engagement 

remained poor. As an example - 

see the Wonder Woman photo of 

cosplayer Tiffany Dean, sure the 

hashtags could have been better 

and we decided to work on that as 

we experimented. 

Next we got in contact with one 

of the mega follower sites with 

names like Portrait of the Day or 

similar - I won’t share which one, 

but this generated thousands of 

likes of the supplied photo (cost 

$20 US) but not many followers. 

We experimented by letting them 

choose the photos to share - we 

got two shares and we had thou-

sands of likes and lot’s of positive 

comments on the photo. So that 

worked in that we got awareness 

but not a lot of rub off with regards 

to followers. However, the followers 

it did generate were genuine 

fans of the photography style on 

his page plus we notice that even 

though followers were not growing 

and likes were still small comparatively, 

we noticed that some of the 

“likes” were coming from followers 

with large followings themselves. 

Doing some quick calculations, our 

editors’ page engagement rate is 

slowly creeping up to 1% (again) 

after being punished, now we use 

the word punished here loosely but 

maybe not. You see after we began 

the experiment and saw how 

bad the engagement level was we 

did some digging and and came 

across the term - Shadowban... 

there’s a very comprehensive article 

here on Shadowban - 

thepreviewapp.com/avoid-instagram-shadowban/ 

simply paste in your Instagram 

name and press Get Tested... 

shadowban.azurewebsites.net 

When we tested, we were “safe” 

so that means either our content is 

not good, our hashtags are terrible 

(yeah we know) and not working 

or, and this is probably it, a combination 

of bought users that are not 

engaged plus poor hash tagging. 

So in conclusion to our experiment 

our editor now has thousands of 

followers, a low engagement rate 

but he’s seeing different types of 

“likes” and he hopes to build on 

that. He did threaten to delete this 

account too and start again, but 

after another bunch of Red Bulls, a 

few donuts and some advice from 

friends, he’s decided to keep it and 

work on getting the engagement 

rate up. 

It points out that there are 4 things 

you can do to avoid this Shadowban 

situation including avoiding 

using buying apps/sites like we 

used. Plus they mention banned 

hashtags! With regard to Shadowban 

we did some more digging 

and found the respected website 

- Petapixel has an article on Shadowbans 

and even has a link to this 

site that claims to test if you are 

“banned” 

You can see the site here and you

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