By Hugo Blair, Gaming Editor For the past two decades, the competitive scene surrounding tactical team-based shooters has effectively been dominated by Valve’s Counter Strike series. Tournaments have been held featuring games in the series since the original game released way back at the turn of the millennium, and the release of Counter Strike: Global…
By Hugo Blair, Gaming Editor Videogame developers come in all shapes and sizes. On one side there are behemoth studios such as Nintendo, Blizzard Activation, or EA, who consistently pump out gigantic titles each year like clockwork. On the other you’ll find the small one-person passion projects like Eric Barone – AKA ConcernedApe – the…
By Hugo Blair – Gaming Editor Ireland is known internationally for many things: agriculture, red hair, the colour green… the list goes on. However, one area that our country is less notable for is our game development scene, but that is not to say it is absent. While we may not host world leading developers…
By Hugo Blair – Gaming Editor Super Smash Bros. Melee and its competitive scene has always intrigued me. The game is quite unlike others in the fighting game genre, and its players are often considered the black sheep of the wider community. In Smash, the objective is not to reduce the opponent’s hit points to…
One of the most popular genres of video games today is the RPG. They’re characterised by narrative-driven gameplay, in which the player controls a character or party in an immersive world, levelling up and gaining experience points, often fighting enemies, and acquiring treasure. Such games are one of the oldest forms of video game, and…
The eighth generation of Pokémon games was always going to be faced with a difficult challenge. The first new generation to be released on the Nintendo Switch, and the first in the mainline series to be released on a home console, the announcement of Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield led to some of the highest…
The humble 2D platformer, perhaps the genre most synonymous with gaming. Ask anyone to imagine a video game, and the first thing they will likely come up with will be some variant of this tried and tested formula. Take Super Mario Bros as an example. As many will know, this veritable shining jewel in the…
In the beginning, there was nothing. Then, suddenly, a flash of light. A small white square drifts slowly across an infinite black, bordered on each side by rectangular paddles of similar colour. It is 1972 and Pong has just been released to the world. Originally developed by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise at Atari,…
By Ronan Watters Fallout: New Vegas is personally one of my favourite video games of all time. From the moment I stepped foot outside Doc Mitchell’s house and made my way across the scorched desert of the Mojave Wasteland to the neon-drenched Vegas strip, I knew that I was playing a game that was certainly going to get…
Any college student interested in competitive gaming will undoubtedly be aware of Irish Collegiate Esports (ICE). It’s a fantastic organisation that hosts esports tournaments each year for Irish 3rd level students. Tournaments are run during both semesters, as well as the summer months, and for a range of different games. The organisation has made great strides since its…