This is such a good review, Nom. There were parts when I couldn’t tell if you enjoyed the game or not, which seemed to reflect the experience of playing!

I can’t recall: was Ubisoft one of the major publishers that mandated the use of gen AI in dev pipelines? That’s the only reason I can think of why it got to this point. Surely the artists wouldn’t have touched the tech otherwise.

Goes to show how little attention I’ve paid to the game, I had no idea either!

I think part of it was attached to who I was writing for — there was a period where I did semi-regular games stories for Junkee, so in retrospect, it all comes back to companies wanting exposure in big publications! The difference being is that there were more big places accepting games writing.

But I think the consolidated media landscape has impacted the scope of what PR can (or try to) achieve locally. I don’t put that on the individual — their clients don’t seem to support creative swings at telling more interesting stories.

A few years ago, when I was freelancing (and there were more local mainstream outlets taking games pitches), I had some local PR (some of whom no longer work in the industry, sadly) go to great lengths to help facilitate big stories.

And that’s before we get into how poorly equipped most large Australian publications are to cover games! There’s either no one employed to cover the industry, or precariously reliant on occasional freelancers.

just @ me next time

I swear you said the same thing about Tetris Effect (which was correct then, and I have full belief that you’re on the money this time too)

David, are you telling me they made a biopic about Laura’s life???

Great timing! I just starting reading the book the other night. It’s not the most relaxing nighttime read though 😅

Bugger, I’m so sorry mate. Fingers crossed you find another gig soon, anywhere will be made richer by your presence.

Ah interesting! I see there’s a new one scheduled for next year, so good timing to have a crack

I missed this in the chaos of the day! I’ve played a *tiny* bit of Tropico, but not enough to get a good feel for it. Which is the best one?