What's it like to attend Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival? With attendees typically selected via ballot, and many missing out, I put my media pass to use and pulled together a 3000+ word account of the event. The queues, the hype, and why this game is so special to so many.

Bypassing the lottery

What its like to attend Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest. Two days, thousands of balloted fans, one new tank job and a great deal of queuing.

infinitelives.substack.com

Thanks so much for penning this incredible piece @austingallagher.bsky.social! I live in hope for the day that Inf Lives has the funds to run much, much longer pieces at a fair rate for writers! We’ll get there!

Austin Gallagher@austingallagher.bsky.social · 3w ago

I wrote a piece for @harrisonpolites.bsky.social's Infinite Lives. Lots of cool people took time out of their busy schedule to talk to me about Game Jams (this could have been three times as long with the wealth of information and insight they provided). Check it out! substack.com/home/post/p-...

What goes into deciding Australia's game of the year?
 I speak to past judges @legenette.bsky.social, @nikpantis.bsky.social, @cassgray.bsky.social and Rick Salter, on how they went about judging, managing bias, and playing all of those games!

How Australia decides its Game of The Year

Inside the judging process for the Australian Game Developer Awards (AGDAs), its push for transparency, and why that matters.

infinitelives.substack.com

I’ve had a blast playing Pokemon Champions. But, I’ve had some very one sided matches, where judging by the moves picked, the other player didn’t know what they were doing. Given this is a mobile game aimed at broadening out Pokemon battling, I’ve written a piece on this.

Pokemon Champions is a brilliant competitive game built on an uneven playing field

REVIEW: A delight for veterans and a stark and possibly unfair challenge for beginners. With small tweaks, Pokemon Champions has the potential to make its competitive format a mainstream craze.

open.substack.com

Check out this post with a feature of my writing 👇 I had to write about Dark Souls with my experiences battling The Dragon Slayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough as one of my greatest gaming moments! It was a fun challenge! I send a huge thanks to @harrisonpolites.bsky.social for the opportunity!

Gaming's greatest moments

Substack's games writing community weigh in on the parts of videogames that are burned into their brains.

open.substack.com

Hey, I think prediction pieces can be a bit of a waste of time too. But... I asked everyone I interviewed this year for a gaming industry prediction, and the piece actually turned out really well! Lots in here about AI, game discovery and the rise of Indies.

An AI recalibration? Indie supremacy and discoverability worsens: The Australian games industry's predictions for 2026

What game developers, journalists and industry insiders see coming in the new year.

infinitelives.substack.com

Been covering the sector for 18 months. Still trying to wrap my head around how there’s billions floating around, but everyone in it is struggling financially. This, at least, nails one aspect of the issue.

Tom Sennett@tomsennettgames.com · 8mo ago

The games industry brings in 300 billion dollars a year. The guy who made DOOM gets his projects canceled, the guy who made Katamari Damacy is broke, everyone in your feed is begging for a job and there are 50 new games coming out on Steam every day all going towards buying Gabe Newell's next yacht

I'm coining a new phrase today, don't think it will stick though... and for the sake of gaming more broadly, I hope it isn't really a trend.

The Outer Worlds 2 feels like another victim of ‘game-passification’

REVIEW: The sequel refines the combat but frustratingly loses sight of what made the original special: meaningful choice

infinitelives.substack.com

Hit another milestone today! Infinite Lives' first contributor article is up! @nomibelle.bsky.social looks at accessibility and The Game Awards. The show once championed the issue, now, years on, all GOTY nominees aren't exactly pushing it forward. Here's why it matters.

'Ship and survive': The Game Awards' GOTY nominees highlight gaming's quiet accessibility crisis

Most of this year's Game of the Year nominees are missing basic accessibility features, exposing how industry layoffs and budget cuts are pushing inclusion to the sidelines.

infinitelives.substack.com

We’ve all tried it…

I love my Switch 2, but six months on, it's kinda gathering dust. And that's because, I only really play Nintendo-exclusive games on it. I look at some of the friction points with Nintendo's broader ecosystem, and why they are holding back an otherwise brilliant bit of tech.

Six months on: The Switch 2 is fantastic but Nintendo still doesn’t understand the internet

REVIEW: While I love playing Nintendo exclusives on it, I’m reluctant to use the console for anything else. And with the evolving device ecosystem, that’s an issue.

infinitelives.substack.com

In a year full of sequels, another AAA Edo-period Japan game, and yet another PS revenge story... Ghost of Yotei feels skippable. But I really, really enjoyed my time with it. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but that's fine? It's yet another solid game from Sucker Punch. Perhaps snubbed for GoTY.

Ghost of Yotei is PlayStation's best revenge story to date

REVIEW: It may have been snubbed for Game of the Year, but this masterclass in restraint, humanity and storytelling justifies its premium price tag.

infinitelives.substack.com

Always wanted to be a journalist. Fell into tech journalism by chance, loved it. Years later, when career progression slowed, was tricked into tech PR. Was good at it, enjoy giving advice. Stayed in PR, now work for myself. And feed my passion for journalism - which never died - on Substack.

Recurse Center@recurse.com · 9mo ago

What’s the lore behind choosing your career path ?

Games journalism once made or broke a game. Today, it’s kept around mostly for scores and pull quotes. My third piece in a series on the changing nature of videogame reviews. infinitelives.substack.com/p/how-the-ga... Cheers to @dave.powerhoof.com, Alex Harding and Simon Slee for their thoughts.

How the games industry sees the decline of traditional reviews

Games journalism once made or broke a game. Today, it’s kept around mostly for scores and pull quotes.

infinitelives.substack.com

Tiny bit shocked to not see Ghost of Yotei make the shortlist for Game of The Year. You may say... "It likely released too late to be considered". But I did some data work last week, and Q4 releases (often in October) make the shortlist more often than not.

I cannot understate my love for Pokemon. Grew up with the games, stuck with them as an adult. Which is why it hurts to see the series plateau in terms of production values, with a lack of graphical finesse and voice acting, despite really strong core gameplay mechs.... while also charging $AUD110.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A shows the franchise may have outgrown Game Freak's capabilities

REVIEW: The developer nails yet another very fun, addictive game. But its lack of graphical and audio production values for a premium priced game diminishes the overall experience.

infinitelives.substack.com

Still listen to the soundtrack regularly.

Edmond Tran@edmondtran.bsky.social · 10mo ago

remember how good Hi-Fi Rush was

I find it wild, and fascinating, that The Economist - a North Star for a lot of newsrooms - is running great gaming journalism when most major newsrooms in Aus just aren’t?

Are video games getting harder?

Our analysis shows how games have changed in the past 40 years

economist.com

Really happy with how this one turned out, thanks so much to @dave.powerhoof.com for talking to me. Hopefully some good advice in here for indie devs and those curious in the indie industry.

Not every indie studio needs to be Hollow Knight: Powerhoof's quiet success story

The makers of The Drifter have achieved something many others in the games industry are chasing: A sustainable business.

infinitelives.substack.com

Reminder to Australian devs that @sifterhq.bsky.social does the lord's work every year by compiling every single Australian-made videogame they can find. You can submit your 2025 releases here: www.sifter.com.au/add-my-game-...

Add my game to SIFTER's Australian Made Games List

Have you released a game made in Australia this year? Use this form to let us know

sifter.com.au

Man, this was tough. I played dozens of games on the PAX show floor a week or so ago. Today, I single out four (and mentioned a lot more) that are worth paying attention to. Here's my take: infinitelives.substack.com/p/my-pick-of...

My pick of PAX Australia's best indies

Some standouts in what is an increasingly crowded expo.

infinitelives.substack.com

So far Pokémon ZA is ticking a lot of boxes. ✅ Cool new combat system ✅ Older characters, so I don’t feel weird playing as a child as a 30 yr old. ✅ It’s fast paced! ✅ Heavy tutorial, but you still get into the core game quickly. So far so good! What are your thoughts?

My giant angry Feraligatr is so sneaky. They never saw it coming.

Who did you pick as your starter and why? For me: I’ve never picked Totodile before in any other game, so it’s getting a whirl.

I've only just encountered this earlier this year, but is indeed a thing. Put an AU figure in the headline, and I got spammed with: "Ahh, dude, that's the wrong amount"

Daniel Vuckovic@vook64.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I love interacting with people on Facebook dot com, how dare we use our own currency

In today's edition: I try to quantify the rise of Indies at #PAXAus, with the help of both @scree.bsky.social and @firkraags.bsky.social aags.bsky.social. Both reporters have been recording the number of games on exhibition. While not an exact science, the trend is there!

Indie games are slowly dominating PAX Australia

The absence of larger games is giving local titles their time to shine.

infinitelives.substack.com

Going to be juggling a few games over the next few weeks. Just now starting on Ghost of Yotei. Any tips?

After playing the demo at PAX, and reading this, I’m really pumped for this game. Glad they’ve managed to find a way to go in a new direction without shafting the VGC community.

Leah J. Williams@legenette.bsky.social · 10mo ago

my pokemon legends: z-a review!! i loved it a lot, the new structure tickles my brain, and i think i'm going to attempt a full pokedex bc it's so moreish.

Morning @firkraags.bsky.social! Wanted to get in touch regarding your list of PAX Indies, to cross check a piece that I'm doing. What's the best way to reach you? BlueSky won't let me DM.

I love playing Magic, but let me introduce you to the bane of my existence... sorting cards. First by colour. Then by mana value. Any tips? Also best way to purge cards in Australia? My collection is getting a little full.