Dimitri Adoniou

After watching Digibro’s controversial youtube series that went into intimate detail on his take on the spin-off of Stein’s Gate, I am left with mixed feelings.

When I first finished the series, watching as it aired, I found it quite engaging and it was incredibly nice to revisit the world of this show and see the characters that inhabited it again. There were some issues, and parts of the story didn’t really click, but the show was a lot of fun for what it was. A spin off to add to the original story and do it’s own thing.

But after hearing Digibro’s searing critical review of the series, I am left in two minds. I loved seeing these characters again, and the addition of Maho Hiyajo was seamless. Her role as someone who knew and loved Kurisu as someone before Okabe was amazingly well done. The way the show deals with big ideas like trauma, PTSD, and the loss of will to live is also phenomenal.

But on the other hand, certain characters act utterly bizarrely (Mayuri and Suzuha for example) and the addition of Kagari felt incredibly forced and unnecessary. The way several side characters who felt integral to the original’s plot end up becoming background decorations is extremely disappointing too. The home-made science aspect of the show falls to the wayside as the science lab can suddenly start doing amazingly complicated things with time travel. The "villain" revealed at the end was also really badly done. It’s lot of details like these that start chipping away at the show’s foundation.

So what is Stein’s Gate 0 to fellow fans? Does it’s issues detract from the original show? Or is it self contained enough to not really bother you either way?

Blizzard has just unveiled it’s latest addition to their line-up of heroes in Overwatch: a hyper-intelligent hamster in a mechanized hamster ball. Yes, you read that correctly.

We have had robots, animals, people, and people in mech-suits in Overwatch before: but this takes it to the next level. Hammond’s design and in-game iabilities are unlike any other heroes and he brings something entirely new to the table. Hammond rolls up into a ball, and rolls around the stage at high speeds – and uses a grappling hook to attach onto the environment to become a sentient "Wrecking Ball." The way this character uses the environment and the in-game physics engine is fun and new in so many ways – but has it gone too far?

The problem with characters/abilities who interact with environments and physics in multiplayer games is that it almost always leads to glitches and exploits. Look at Symmetra and Mei for example who create stage hazards which have been known to cause all kinds of glitches and exploits (the ice wall and teleporter glitches).

Is this character’s unique toolkit an asset that helps Hammond stand apart from the rest – or is it just going to be a glitchy balancing nightmare as we all try to avoid a giant swinging ball on the pillars of KOTH maps like Numbani and Lijiang Towers?

After recently watching Mad Max Fury Road for the first time (I know, I’m late!) I was astonished and kind of amazed by the movie’s representation and empowerment of it’s female characters. The primary cast is made up of heavily pregnant slave brides escaping from their tyrannical homicidal maniac warlord of a "husband" as Mad Max and the excellently-done female character: Furiosa. Watching all the intense action scenes where the pregnant women actually play a huge role in helping fight off the antagonists was really something new, and showed how the femininity of these women empowered them in this cruel desolate world. Their bodies belonged to them, and a huge reason for their desire to escape is to protect their unborn children from the abusive husband who treats wives and children like slaves and possessions. This inherently feminine anti-patriarchal rebellion is honestly the last thing I expected from the Mad Max series – which usually features a lot of exploding cars. That said, there were still a fair few exploding cars…

So what does everyone else think? Does Mad Max successfully empower it’s female characters through these horrible situations, or is it perhaps wrong of the movie to even put these girls in these dangerous and horrible life situations?

I feel like there’s a reasonable argument for either side, honestly.

This is something that’s been a discussion point with some peers recently, and I was wondering if someone else had some extended thoughts regarding it.

What do we want out of the next Metroid Prime title?

I mean we can safely assume that it will be a first-person shooter with puzzle-solving elements like past Metroid prime titles… but could we also expect an overhaul at all? And to what extent? Will they throw everything out the window and make it a bejeweled-based action horror game? Or will they just abandon some Metroid traditions and maybe put in more of Prime 3’s ambitious but flawed cinematic cut-scenes? It’s hard to tell. Mostly cause I don’t know what I want either.

Breath of the Wild wowed me with it’s perfect blend of embracing old Zelda traditions, while experimenting with some wild (no pun intended) ideas. Can we expect the same of Metroid? Or will it perhaps just be a return to form with some typical but fun Metroid gameplay?