Oh hai...

Meet the new Lara Croft. Yes, old stand in, the beautiful Karima Adebibe has been replaced by Alison Carroll (picture above). Eidos have announced the new real life counterpart to everyone's favorite (or most loathed) video game queen, Lara, for her upcoming game, Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Carroll beat out over a hundred other applicants for the role, and, like previous Laras, will have to take up an SAS course and Archaeology tutoring before she can fully take the roll.

Why the switch? The Tomb Raider franchise typically has a new model for each game they release, with the exception of Karima, who stood in for both TR: Legend and TR: Anniversary. Personally, the Legend Lara (both in game and real life) to me seems to be the hottest. The new Lara looks a bit like she used to be a Russian man (in the game.. not so much the new real life lara), and it's all in the brow and cheek bones! Little too harsh for me juxtaposed with the itty-bitty nose and small but full lips, but hey, it could all work out. You can find high-res pictures of the new lara here.

Hot Conan Cybersex

Here's a little something to make your day... It's not quite our follow up to our Age of Conan review, but it sure made me laugh. A GM was caught by a trolling player, after the player lured the GM into cybersex by telling him that he was a male avatar but was played by a female.

It really raises a few questions about the GM in question. 1/ as a GM, one would assume it's your job to find such action more than just a little dubious, and 2/ if you were cybering with a female in real life, who had a male avatar, would you really have an urge to get naked with said male avatar?

At any rate, the GM in question has apparently been fired, which, although bad for him, is to be expected as, with anyone else, he needs to act in a professional manner appropriate to his job. Then again it is Age of Conan, and all their trailers pre-release touted the "sexy" game. The full transcript can be found here.

Source: Kotaku

If you are easily offended...

Something to make you lol...

"Using some of the gaming industries top talent Somavision has assembled a team of top industry talent to bring their perverse vision of the future to the PC. Some members have even worked on high profile games such as Dreamworks Interactive and EA games popular "Medal of Honor" franchise. "The staff that has been pulled together for this game are top notch talent", says Booker who boasts that his production carries over 30 years of combined industry experience."

So if you're easily offended... then DO click HERE.

Lets get wet!

I have loved Heavy Rain ever since Quantic Dream (of Fahrenheit fame) put out the theatrical trailer back in E3 2006. Heck, it was one of the reasons I wanted a PS3! (as a side note, I've loved Quantic Dream since Omikron, one of my favorite games of all time).

At any rate, long after that demo, Quantic Dream went dark. No press releases, no information, no trailers, no interviews, no nothing. Back in march this year, a few bits and pieces started to emerge, including the above video looking for artists. Now a few new screens have come out, which you can check out here, as well as some more information about the game.

Personally, I can't wait for heavy rain! It's time to get wet.

Source: Ripten.com

I'm in your Fable.. pwning ur covenant?

You just have to love unlockable outfits in games... Whether it's brand new g-strings in Dead or Alive 4... brand new g-strings in Soul Caliber 4... brand new g-strings in...

Er well, you get the picture! Heck, Altair in Metal Gear Solid 4 was still pretty damn cool... (although, did NOT have a g-string)

Latest on the list of games with cameo appearances is Master Chief appearing in Fable II... albeit in a somewhat period-ised version of his very well known spartan armor.

We reckon it's pretty cool. You can find more about this over on Loinhead (yeah, that's right, via the Lionhead forums) here.

The Joke That Is: E3

Okay... So the title may be a little harsh, but this year's E3 has been a sad comparison to the years before. In previous years, E3 was a massive entertainment expo held at the LA Convention Center, with 60000+ attendees, and was for us gamers, an absolute cavalcade of information about games, surprise announcements, and jaw dropping tech demos.

Every year, I would look forward to E3 both online and in local game magazines for giving me the best news of the year.... It seemed as if every publisher out there was striving to have the most impressive demonstration, and every publisher was putting out the big bucks to fill the booths with scantily clad booth babes (and.. once, a very scantily clad Conan.) This year... There were very few surprises, and quite a few of the big names (eg Vivendi, Activision (inc. Blizzard)) held their own conferences or chose to defer to having their displays at the GDC earlier this year.

2006 was the last year of the impressive press event that was E3, and was one of the most interesting and progressive things that there was to show... How many developers went into massive crunch periods to have that E3-award-stealing demo in the past? This year... The number of exclusive, and new E3 demos was... well.. minimal.. The only one that really stood out was Fallout 3.. Which was hot.

The ESA are now in discussions about how to restructure E3... If they even choose to continue the format.. Personally, I'd like to see a week long E3, which starts with the open floor of past E3s... Allowing a huge chunk of the industry to see up and coming games, annoucements, and their ilk, and then a two day, press-only follow up (after maybe 3 days of open floor) where there can be summary confrences and last-minute announcements (Hey... perfect time for the big surprises). What're your thoughts?

And... Expect a vlog veerrry soon *looks mysterious and is sure you're sick of this soon business*

*cough cough*

Well, it's a bit dusty around here, but I think we're set to get back up. I'm back from my adventure much wisened and enlightened, and ready to get some reviews done!

Though, I couldn't help posting this little pearl of gaming for a purpose, a subject that I think is pretty interesting and challenges us not only as players but people. Gaming is, as the Ludologists
would say, it's own medium and completely different from films or any other type of media, and this means it can achieve things that those media's cannot.

So on my adventures in the internet I found this:



Yes, that's right, join forces with John McCain in fighting those damn pigs! *sighs* I hold very little political opinion towards America, but this amuses me to no end. Is it just me, or does it remind you of the glory days of propaganda? Either way, enjoy and take it with a grain of salt. =P

Hopefully you'll be seeing Aeon and myself soon with a maybe review of Phoenix Wright and an update on Age of Conan's long term playability.

Updates... and news.. and a question!

Ahoy! AFK-Games is.. struggling to be alive! But we are, we are, don't worry! You won't see a video from us for a little while as Edrissa is wondering around Europe at the moment and hence we are unable to film.. together.. unless one of us puts some points into the "Teleport" skill...

Anyway, whilst Eddy is away, I'll post some text news and some bits and pieces... For this post, lately it has been reported that Fallout 3 could be possibly banned for classification in Australia due to the fact that the OFLC (our ratings advisors) do not currently have an R(18+) rating for games (unlike films etc). (Continue reading after the tears and anger have abaited...)

On the flipside, it looks like Dark Sector, a game previously banned here due to "excessive" violence (at least, it allowed the player to cut off limbs using the glaive weapon, bit by bit with extra precision.. to my awareness) is now looking at grading a toned down version, possibly a custom one, or the version that was released for Japan, and authorizing that for release...

Obviously, this raises a few points... in a very public attempt, recently, IGN AU attempted an endeavour to get the OFLC to introduce an R rating. Apparently, the OFLC are "open" to introducing a rating, and are looking for public opinion. Personally, I think the largest issue the game industry has here in terms of getting an R rating, is the simple fact that the board appear relatively uniformed about the games medium today.

A simple example was the massive (haha) Mass Effect blowout over the steamy hot alien sex. Although mostly an american issue, the game was suddenly on just about everything, even The View, and was reported as a "online sex simulator" that "enabled online rape" with hyper-realistic humans that allowed you to do whatever you wanted. Suddenly, the public (who are the ones who vote and are requierd to put forward their opinion) thought there was this game that existed that basically allowed players to live out sick sexual fetishes in all manners of realistic environments and that this was being marketed to children.

What they failed to note is that the sex in the game, was a short cutscene, where the player had no control, it showed either a butt or side-boob, and that it took about 15 hours of game time and an invested effort in talking too, and interacting with the NPC you are to be with, in an entertaining relationship side-plot (which was far deeper then the relationships we often see fleshed-out on screen in your average action flic), in an outcome that was far less graphic or gratuitous then previously described films.

Here, the public (well, those who often air their opinions, which I'll unfarely place with those who would watch A Current Affair or Today Tonight with a serious demeanour - i.e. boorish fools with IQ's less then their shoe sizes) seem to have a false understanding of any sort of mature game that falls outside of their experience (eg, Wii Sports). Instead of asking what do you think about the OFLC... What do you think about the public perception of video games? And how do you think that affects the OFLC's decisions about implementing an R rating? Do you think that the mass-public have a skewed image? Do you think that's changing?

Anyhow, more news to follow over the weeks, and a video review (possibly... of Phoenix Wright.. and again.. a follow up of the.. well, dissapointing, Age of Conan). See you all round!

Sources: IGN, Kotaku, GamePolitics

AFK is slightly.. afk...

Well, you may be wondering where our vlogs are, and there's a pretty simple explanation. Both Aeon and myself have been busily studying for our university exams and assignments, so when they're over hopefully we'll be able to submit SOMETHING for you guys.


Sorry again about the break, but soon I'll be making a post about my current addiction and a status report on Age of Conan.

Vlog No. 2!

Did you know that two is the first prime number?



It is also the number of our second epsiode, which you can find here. We dicuss all things Wii Fit, as well as take a rather non-in-depth look at GTA 4 and sing it's praises and why Aeon didn't like it (well.. the small bits I didn't).

Also, links to be found! Find information about BMI issues and the Wii Fit here...

Hope you enjoy! We promise to be healthy next time... If you feel like it, we love feedback (most of it... telling us to make a sex tape was rather... humorous.. but not so constructive) leave us a comment on our blog or videos, or send us a message to our youtube account, youtube.com/AFKGames.