Los Angeles-based correspondent for www.gamearena.com.au - Australia's longest running online games community.
Barring a year in PR working on the AU launch of Xbox 360, I've spent the past decade fulltime in a number of editorial roles relating to tech and games.
In addition to everyday developments in games, I take a keen interest in the ways publishers and developers engage with their audiences.
(Very) Irregularly updated blog at www.subvert.tv; twitter @ www.twitter.com/kranzl
BTW, views I express here are mine alone, and don't represent those of my clients or employers. Just so you know.
Posted by Justin Kranzl on Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:38:00 EST in
The second in a series of publisher report cards I've penned, reprinted here for those interested. This time around Activision Blizzard's 2009 is broken down and examined, as well as the factors influencing its fortunes in 2010.
Posted by Justin Kranzl on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:37:00 EST in
As games news winds down, at my "day job" I've been taking a look at how some key games publishers performed. The approach taken: an "annual report card", rating them on criteria resonant with gamers. First cab off the rank: EA.
Posted by Justin Kranzl on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:43:00 EST in
Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Lineage short film isn't an expensive advertisement for the game, nor is it a glorified cut scene introduction to Assassin's Creed 2. It's more than that - a powerful affirmation of Ubisoft's vision of convergence.
After enjoying a dream run in the lead-up to Modern Warfare 2's release, Infinity Ward are beginning to come under close scrutiny not only regarding details of the game, but their approach to engagement. Has the company got their priorities straight?
From D2D's own MW2 page: At Direct2Drive, we believe strongly that when you buy a game from us, you shouldn't be forced to install and run a 3rd party software client to be able to play the game you purchased. And like I said previously, obviously you've been fortunate or ...
Skipping over the argument about whether it's okay to be offended or not, the trailer does undermine one of the stated goals for the game: broadening the audience. Not in the sense gay gamers will steer clear in huge numbers just because of one silly stunt, but more in the ...
@Ryan It's a bureaucratic artifact - Australia is in the unfortunate situation of having one of its state Attorney-Generals be completely opposed to the notion of an R18 rating for games despite there being one for film . And for a legislative amendment to proceed it must meet with unanimous ...
Chris, One of the interesting views raised by Blizzard's Rob Pardo last weekend when discussing the new b.net and the moves to integrate more social networking features - was not only a view gamers wanted to play with people they knew - but also the opinion plenty of viable friendships ...
