In 2006 the ABC, Australia’s public broadcaster, debuted ‘Good Game’, a brand new TV show for gamers, by gamers. The program came about at the perfect time; when people still watched appointment free-to-air television, and before the explosion of YouTube and Twitch. Remaining on air for 10 years, Good Game was a show beloved by gamers around the country, and in this episode we explore its life, death and legacy in Australia’s games community.

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Computer-generated imagery and the algorithms that drive them are the technological breakthroughs that have seen our world recreated in digital form. But when it comes to representing humans, these advancements have predominantly refined the depictions white people. Across games and digital media, the standard models for rendering features like skin and hair have been developed and perfected over decades, and are all geared towards, young, white skin and straight hair. Now, a new 3D database is seeking to address the lack of thoughtful representation of Blackness in games. 

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The Racist Legacy of Computer-Generated Humans

NBA Jam is a memorable arcade game for many reasons, but the first thing that comes to mind for a lot of its fans is the game’s announcer, for iconic lines like “HE’S ON FIRE!”, and “BOOMSHAKALAKA!”. In this episode, we meet Tim Kitzrow, the voice behind the catchphrase, and how NBA Jam shaped his career as a voice actor for video games.

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Get the album: Boom Shakalaka by BoomBaptist

In 1993, Midway released the game-changing arcade basketball title, NBA Jam. At the height of Michael Jordan mania and the NBA’s rise to global popularity, Jam was a defining sports game of the era. In this episode, lead designer Mark Turmell, along with author Reyan Ali and other Midway names, take you back to the arcade to learn how the $1 billion basketball hit swept the world. 

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Get the book: NBA Jam, by Reyan Ali

Get the album: Boom Shakalaka by BoomBaptist

Video games are not just for entertainment. They can also be a powerful tool for education, especially when combined with immersive technologies like virtual reality. Experiential learning is at the core of many indigenous cultures, including Torres Strait Islanders, which led Rhett Loban to create a one-of-a-kind VR game that captures his peoples traditions and customs in a whole new way.

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Guardian article: I turned my Torres Strait Islander culture into a video game 

Milton Guasti had spent 10 years of his life recreating Metroid II, until Nintendo claimed copyright infringement, merely a day after its release. There was always a chance that the lawyers would come knocking, but what Milton didn’t expect was for his hobby project to become the game that an entire community was counting on. 

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Articles:

Better Than Black and White: One Man’s Decade-Long Quest to Remake 'Metroid II'

How a Metroid Fan Turned a Threatening Legal Letter into a Job Making Games

Music:

Download the AM2R Soundtrack

Virtual Reality has come a long way in a relatively short period of time. And while the tech is still developing, it has great potential to solve real world problems. By combining the Unity game engine and haptic technology, one tech startup is using VR to create fully immersive training simulations. This episode comes from the podcast Moonshot, from Lawson Media. 

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Minecraft is one of the highest selling games of all time, and the blocky, 8-bit sandbox is especially popular with kids, due to the freedom its gameplay offers. But for children with Autism, that freedom is often challenged when playing online, where bullies and trolls are a barrier in their experience. This was a problem that Stuart Duncan set out to solve, creating a dedicated Minecraft server for Autistic kids and their families. 

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Hades is the fourth title from Supergiant Games, and one the best games of 2020. A rogue-like dungeon crawler, inspired by Greek mythology, you play as Zagreus, the son of Hades, as you attempt to escape the Underworld, fighting your way through waves of enemies. The game posed a unique challenge for Audio Director Darren Korb when he came to compose the music. This episode, we explore the soundscape of Hades and how the music and sound design was carefully crafted to provide a thrilling experience, even after hundreds of hours of play time.

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For as long as video games have been criticised for their sedentary nature, developers have sought to get players off the couch, encouraging physical movement through fitness style games. From the Power Pad to Wii Fit, Nintendo have been a leader in 'exergaming', but these experiences often feel more like gimmicks than serious workouts. In 2019, the introduction of Ring Fit Adventure looked to change that. 

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