“Hey, you’re not the usual guy!” Yeah, I’m not the usual guy, but that’s no reason to miss out on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY! Hardcore Writer: Andy Diggle Pencils: Alessandro Vitti Colourist: Adriano Lucas Publisher: Image Comics Number of issues: 5 Imagine being able to control another person’s body remotely, totally taking over their actions as if you had somehow switched bodies, and using it for whatever purpose you required, and once you were done you would just resume your business as usual in your own body, and the host, if still alive, would regain consciousness with no recollection of what had happened while you were at the steering wheel. That is the premise for Image Comics’ new title, Hardcore. It takes a special kind of operative to totally immerse themselves in another person’s body, being able to quickly ascertain their new host’s physical characteristics, and use their strengths and weaknesses effectively to accomplish the mission. It also takes a huge degree of will power and force of personality, to maintain your own sanity as you literally start to use bodies like old clothing, as your career progresses. Agent Drake is one of the very few who can qualify as a Hardcore operative, and has learnt to evaluate and approach every situation as a potential combat scenario, and to assess how to handle things accordingly. For men like Agent Drake, there is no down time, no off the clock. You’re constantly on alert, constantly poised to strike. When the Hardcore program falls into enemy hands, while Drake is on a mission, he finds himself in the unenviable position of being trapped in a criminal’s body with only 72 hours to live, before the implant in the host’s body degrades and kills Drake, while his own body lies in helpless state protected only by the hard metal shell of the tank which holds his body in stasis while he is on a mission, and the enemies who eliminated the rest of his colleagues are trying to break that shell open in order to exterminate him as well. Now Agent Drake must use all his training, and all his guile, not to assassinate a target, but to survive long enough to be able to save the Hardcore program, and himself. Andy Diggle, a renowned British comic writer, takes the reins on this adrenaline pumping action title, and does so with the experience of a master. Diggle, who’s achievements include successful runs on comics like Swamp Thing, Daredevil, and The Losers which was made into a blockbuster movie in 2010, is an expert at making combat sequences leap from the page just as well as they would in any action movie on the big screen, while still weaving an intricate plot entwined around very real and very flawed characters, and bringing the whole thing together in a heart-stopping rollercoaster ride of a comic book. From what I’ve seen of Hardcore, Diggle is on form once again. Think Altered Carbon, the bestselling book by Richard Morgan and now a hit Netflix show. Think Blade Runner, 2 sensational movies based on a book by one of the best classic science fiction authors of all time. Think Hardcore, what looks to be an amazing comic series, which may find its own home amongst such massive titles in their respective fields. Gunning for Hits Writer: Jeff Rougvie Pencils: Moritat Colourist: Casey Silver Publisher: Image Comics Number of issues: 4, ongoing The music industry is a cut-throat, take no prisoners, and ruthless business, and who would know that better than Martin Mills, an extremely successful record talent scout, who has a very shady past in some more literal cut-throat past times. Gunning for Hits follows the story of Martin Mills, as he discovers and helps to make his new project, Stunted Growth, become the next biggest thing on the music scene. Jeff Rougvie, who himself was a music producer, involved with such stars as David Bowie, knows the intricacies of the industry, and the story unfolds in such a way that it feels like you’re watching a juicy behind the scenes Rock n Roll documentary, rather than reading a fictitious comic thriller. There are a couple of things that I really love about this comic. One is that it could be a perfectly enjoyable action thriller, involving thugs and killers, guns and sinners. Or it could be just as enjoyable as a standalone, behind the scenes look into the workings of the music industry. But that fact that it does both, so seamlessly, intertwining the story between the two very different genres as if it were the most natural thing in the world, really just makes the comic come alive as your read it. Another aspect, as mentioned above, is all the little scoops and surprises dropped by Rougvie regarding the music industry and how things really run out of the public eye. It feels like the reader is getting a glance at all the confidential business practices we’re not supposed to know about, like he’s actually leaking trade secrets. It can be a bombardment of information at times, but in a good way, like you’re listening to a scientific podcast that keeps dropping revelations on you, and afterwards you’re feeling like you’ve learned something. This may be a wild ride of a comic, that you will probably get caught up in, and can’t wait to see what happens next, but you, like me, might also walk away thinking to yourself, “Wow, does it really work like that? But what if...?” and that right there is what makes for a book that really stands out at a publisher than keeps hitting balls out of the park. The comic is not only enjoyable, but it has the ability to stay in your mind long after you have read it. While Rougvie is putting this electrifying music thriller into words, Moritat illustrates in exactly the right way to visually portray the feeling of each panel. From the dirty and seedy clubs, to the corporate office high rises. From the drug and adrenaline fuelled performances to the emotional interactions between the characters. Whether it is a serious moment with stern and hard lines, or a cartoonish tongue in cheek commentary running down the page, Moritat seems to visually capture the essence of each moment exactly, serving as the perfect complement to the story, and demonstrating precisely why the comic format is a very different medium to that of a novel or even video. Gunning for Hits is one of those, very rare, comics that depict what a truly good comic looks like. A sound and exciting story, artwork that enhances the script, a fresh and interesting subject, and an experience that will sit with you long after the final words are read.

One of the annoying issues that pro-players are having with Apex Legends is the “randomness” that can happen when starting a match. It is a similar issue that players are having in Fortnite when landing in an area only to find out they are bringing “swords to a gun fight”. The famous line of, “guys I can’t find a weapon”! Can be heard daily across Twitch and Youtube. Pro-players tend to dislike systems that are down to luck and not skill because let’s face it, you can be the best player in the world in Fortnite or Apex but if you don’t find a weapon fast enough, you better hope the players around you have “potato aim” or just don’t have weapons either. In steps “Shroud” Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek, a popular Twitch streamer who is known to be a tester for EA and Respawn ever since he was invited to test Apex prior to its release, gave his thoughts on something particularly interesting. According to him while on stream, “They (Respawn and EA) were thinking of what about adding an economy system in pro-matches, where you have ten rounds, and in those ten rounds, you buy in”. What he said may be familiar to players of CS:GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) and here is how that works. CS:GO Economy System 101 Basically before a round starts, players and teams have a certain amount of cash to buy weapons and items. With each round this cash amount increases depending on the player or teams performance, such as amount of kills and where the player or team finished. Thus you have incentive to do well after round one so you can get the upper edge by purchasing and starting with better weapons and items. The important thing to note is that everyone starts on a level playing field from round one. Skill will also always be a factor even if your opponent has a better weapon, though your opponent would have earned the slight edge over you. For example if I have a pistol and my opponent has a machine gun, if my skill level is considerably higher than said opponent with the machine gun, I would still have a reasonable to good chance of killing that opponent. Though this scenario would be rare in a team based game such as Apex, should it happen it still gives the better player a chance to win especially if he/she has been giving his/her team the “hard carry” in the rounds before. If you are playing alone in a system like this, the only person you can blame is yourself. Same goes for a team, if a particular or few team members are not pulling their weight they will be caught out but again it’s narrowed down to skill. My Thoughts I personally think this will go down well with not just the pro-players but the casual players also. With Apex having such a large player base, this could also be another mode on its own should players want to get away from the “randomness”. It is also a breath of fresh air to know that Respawn are thinking about the bigger picture of their game, I mean Shroud being a consistent tester for them would not just put across a statement like that. This would also make Apex much more enjoyable for the casuals because of the elimination of “try hard” players to the competitive mode and the subsequent trade-off effect of the competitive players facing better opponents, making for more entertaining matches. Importantly a system like this also gives players incentive for their efforts, it brings variety and players will start establishing specific roles for specific character classes. People will stop gravitating to solely one or two characters but start experimenting with others such as dropping in with Pathfinder with a Longbow or G7 Scout (I’m that guy). This would also give Apex a could footing as to what balance patches they need to roll out to make the overall experience better for casual and competitive players. Yes this type of mode would appeal to competitive players but in most games nowadays the casual players are usually the ones that spend the most money that keeps the games going. Therefore from a financial stand point for Apex, I see no harm in rolling out something like this especially with a successful example in CS:GO. What is your opinion on Apex going down such a route? Do you think it’s good for the game? Share your thoughts in the comments. *Article submitted by Darren Nair

In 1979, Mattel Electronics decided to create their own games console in response to the Atari’s meteoric rise. And so they created something straight out of the 70s: it had wood paneling, it was brown and black, and in its name was was the Intellivision - Intelligent Television. Its entire marketing strategy was based on the idea that it was an intelligent console for intelligent people. You might think this sort of thing couldn't possibly flying today and if you have an iPhone in your hand right now, you’d be wrong - same concept, different mumbo-jumbo. I played a slew of games on this console and rather enjoyed myself. After all, it was great fun to use and it was an amusing machine: just the sheer size of the damn thing gave it an air of importance. For a more modern size reference, think of the PS3. The Atari also had a wood-panelled finish but Atari was the hip funky new kid on the block. Intellivision was big, bulky and an interesting take on what might happen if reality was thrown to one side and a console made passion with a pine tree. And so we begin with one of the games I whiled away many an hour with the space invader clone called Demon Attack. It wasn’t a mind-bender of a game - In the distance you see Earth in all its blue green imposing glory. You're a little yellow ship and you have issues with aliens or in this case, demons from space. Although there is the slight possibility, considering when the game was made, that you’re trespassing on their crater and a gun fight ensued. The game’s title also always bothered me. Demon Attack? On the Moon? Did someone open a franchise up there? Oh, wait! This is the Dead Space prequel! That’s why you’re shooting everything and there is a stark lack of real scares. Alrighty then. The game has a simple way of building tension: a steady beat that increases in tempo as you progress through the demon attack. Faster and faster it goes, raising blood pressure to near fanatical levels. Odd thing, all the aliens have wings… Eh? Also included are the only true enemy of the aliens - their weapons. whichever arms dealer sold them these must be dong a roaring trade because all the games from the 80s had the same pebble, single shot, pew-pew-pew of death. There must have been at least a few occasions where, having been incinerated for the ninetieth playthrough, the bad guys sat down and said, “Guys… I’m just gonna say it. Our weapons are total pants!” That’s not to say your guns aren’t rubbish either - yellow pellet of death that you can move in mid-flight, but it's no Raiden super laser. As for the waves, the demons attack and come in varieties of flappy thing, backwards spider on crack thing and big flappy thing. Sometimes they’re conjoined and some laser surgery is needed. They poop their pellets of annihilation that in later stages turn into spinning orbs of holy crap (serious envy). Once that little genocide is done, you blast off to face the mothership… which I can only describe as looking like steampunk hellmouth with a deflector shield and yellow defender bats. This ship has a giant snarling face in the middle of it and a whole lot of moving parts - some of them look like eating their own a***s. What I also found interesting is that once you knock down the deflector shield by continually shooting at the prison ship for the souls of the damned, the shield collapses and a constantly moving weak spot comes scrolling by. The cheeky minx, I just know its saying, “Right here, big boy!” (I might be exaggerating, Ritalin wasn’t a thing back then.) While avoiding the yellow attack birds - maybe they have jaundice - you hit the central section and it cracks right down the middle in a scene reminiscent of that bullcrap hyperdrive scene from The Last Jedi (bitter? Hell yes, I am). Then the ship explodes in all its pixel glory and your ship descends back to the moon to a rousing victory song… and you start all over again. This begs the question, is there a queue of big demonmouth ships awaiting annihilation? And is our little guy in the yellow ship at the bottom just a dude who got away from the ship? He stole a craft and now he's trying to stop these evil alien parent Demons from taking him back to the ship and making him do his homework? Demon Attack was a lot of fun and considering it came out in 1982, the difficulty level is still a killer. Also… you can never win - a lesson usually only reserved for taxpayers and Dark Souls fans. PROS: Harder as time goes by. (I know what you’re thinking… Sis!) Handy blood pressure booster. Mindless fun in a pixel world. NITPICKING: That boom-boom-boom beat. So I killed a few dozen of your mates, why the sudden speediness of doom? Wood-paneled consoles… Oy. Demon Attack was a fine entry into the gaming avalanche that came out of the 80s. We were simple folk then. All we wanted was a fine ship, a start to sail her by and a foreign power to work out our frustrations. Realistically, I feel that all these alien attack games are the real reason aliens don’t often show themselves… That, and Pop music - the true hellmouth of the airwaves.

A grey fog hangs heavily over the worn and over trodden field. The pungent odour of too many horses and people in a confined space is almost overpowering. Men bustle about nervously, packing away their gear and checking their weapons and armour. The air is thick with fear and anticipation, but mostly fear. Many of your kinsmen will die this day. The long ominous bellow of a horn shatters the mindlessness of your men's activities, and sets them to their task with renewed urgency. The enemy approaches. You whisper a prayer to the old gods and the new as you guide your horse towards the frontlines. Today you will need to win a decisive victory over the enemy, for your land, for your House, and for your King. This victory will mark a significant strategic blow to your enemies, and it could be the turning point of the war. This battle will be sung of for ages in the great halls of all the Lords of Westeros. This could be the day that may be remembered as the day your King made his indisputable claim to the Iron Throne. If you win. You must win! "For the King!" The shout echoes down the line as your army starts to march forward to meet the enemy. The cacophonous clang of swords on shields joins the din of the men screaming support for their King. Fear becomes bravado, anticipation becomes assuredness. The battle will be yours! "For the King!" Your forces pick up their pace, moving at a jog but maintaining disciplined ranks, the enemy is in sight. Your blood is boiling, shouts for the king become roars of rage, as you and your men start to break into a charge. "For the K..." your battle cry catches in your throat as you see movement from the corner of your eye. Your forces are being flanked, how could this be? Your scouts reported no additional forces moving in, where did they come from? You try to break the charge, to wheel your men to defend on two flanks, but the men are too caught up in the assault, they can't hear you, they don't see Death streaking towards them from the side. Most people are now quite aware of the phenomenon that is A Game of Thrones. Whether you were a fan or the original books by George R. R. Martin, or later when they made the television adaptation of Martin's stories, perhaps you became a fan then. Even if you've never read or watched it, you still know of it, and its remarkable reputation. From the very first scenes, the story already reveals itself to be something different, something exciting, and something unpredictable. It is a fantasy tale so completely crammed with action, deception, heroism, betrayal, hope, violence, and even love. It is epic in its scope and vision. A Game of Thrones: The Board Game was faced with the immense task of capturing all of the energy and intrigue of George R. R. Martin's books, and reproducing them within a strategic board game that could retain all of the essential components which made his story such a great one. No easy goal, to be sure. But surprisingly the game does a remarkably good job of this, combining elements within the game structure and phases to replicate not only the strategy of battle, but the underhanded dealings of the court, the ordeal of maintaining supply lines, and the importance of alliances (and when to break them). In A Game of Thrones: The Board Game, 3-6 players each take on the roles of one of the most powerful Houses in Westeros, and must plan their conquest and domination of the seven kingdoms, so that they ultimately can be the ruler and sit on the Iron Throne unopposed. The game is set somewhere towards the end of the first book (or the first TV season if you haven't read the books), just when lords are popping up all over the place and laying their claim to the throne, and the lands are filled with war and unrest. The game is divided into three phases: the Westeros Phase, the Planning Phase, and the Action Phase. During these phases, the players will plan the strategic movement of their forces, fight bloody battles with their enemies, make and break alliances to secure their victories, and eventually try to conquer enough of the map so that they can claim victory for their House. While the game has a very tactical combat system, it still allows for some more abstract rules which represent political battles and various unforeseen situations that can arise during the course of a war, and of course the alliances which the players themselves formulate between one another, all which give the game an additional feeling of a multidimensional stratagem, than a more direct sort of wartime strategy game like Risk. To some, the unpredictable additions to the rules and game play can make them feel too much of a reliance on factors like luck, but I feel the game is reflecting both the unpredictability involved in war itself, as well as the plot twists which dominate the books that the game is based on, and it does this quite well (even if in a way which might require the player to imagine those events unfolding in order to make it feel less "abstract"). While A Game of Thrones: The Board Game certainly comes to life when played by fans of the franchise, it is still accessible to anyone, and does not require knowledge of the setting. It is suggested, however, that players don't take the game personally, as the alliances which the players make are meant to be a matter of uncertainty, and the game will be much more fun if broken alliances and lost battles remain as part of the fiction of the game and not made into something personal. Also, while the game supports as little as 3 players, it is recommended for 5 or 6. So it is time for you to rewrite how A Game of Thrones should have ended, which House should have seen victory over the others, and what glorious battles should have occurred to get them there. In A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) you get to decide!