I was looking forward to the third of season of ITV’s Mr. Selfridge since the ending of the second series. While the third season did not exactly disappoint me, I do think that there was a bit of room for improvement. When the season begins, World War I has ended. Harry Selfridge’s daughter, Rosalie, is getting married, and a spectacular wedding and reception are being prepared. While Harry is still mourning the loss of his beloved wife, who died recently, his store and financial circumstances are in a very good state, and things are going well. However, Harry’s grief is…

This 2013 film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic 20th-century novel, The Great Gatsby, was directed by Baz Luhrmann.  It stars Toby Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Joel Edgerton. As in the novel, in the film Nick Carraway (played by Toby Maguire) is the narrator of the story, which is told from his perspective.  Nick Carraway is telling the story at the distance of several years after the end of the events he describes, and is putting it all in writing.  In the story he tells, Nick is a young and rather naïve man from the Midwest, who has…

This movie was a disappointment.  With all the publicity this movie received when released, I was very curious about it.  Unfortunately, however, I found that this film has a lot of faults that far outweigh its few (very few) positive points. The movie’s unnecessarily crude opening scene made my hope for the film’s quality quickly sink, and foreshadowed the many poor quality components to come.  After the opening scene, we are introduced to a ridiculous, fictional celebrity news show called “Skylark Tonight”.  The show and its production constitutes an admittedly rather amusing (and frighteningly accurate) parody of Western celebrity culture. …

This 2011 docudrama is both fascinating and illuminating.  It is about Alan Turing, a man who has not received anywhere near the amount of praise, acknowledgement, and fame that he deserves.  As a result, you might not know who he was.  In fact, you probably don’t.  Born in 1912, he was the man who, in 1936, came up with the fundamentals of the computer.  In other words, without his work, we would not have computers, or for that matter any other of our well-used and popular digital devices.  He also was the person who introduced the whole idea of artificial…

The One I Love, directed by Charlie McDowell, is about a married couple, Ethan and Sophie, who are trying to rekindle their relationship. Their marriage counselor suggests to them a weekend away together at a house that many of his clients have been to. What is great about this movie is that if you think you know where it’s going already by those first two sentences, you’re probably wrong. The place that Sophie and Ethan stay immediately seems whimsical; an adorable house with a beautiful and spacious garden. Greenery, flowers, a pool, the works. Making it seem more like a…

As I saw each successive episode of Wolf Hall, I was increasingly mesmerised by the realism and beauty of the production. Wolf Hall is based on the award-winning novels Bring Up the Bodies and Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel, and is directed by Peter Kosminsky. It stars Mark Rylance, Damien Lewis, and Claire Foy. Wolf Hall depicts the events surrounding Thomas Cromwell’s connections with Cardinal Wolsey and with King Henry VIII of England. Thomas Cromwell’s perspective is the main one from which the story is told. The production begins in the period of Thomas Cromwell’s service to Cardinal Wolsey, who…

The Pyramid was released in December 2014, and ‘stars’ Ashley Hinshaw, Denis O’Hare, James Buckley and Christa Nicola; it was directed by Gregory Levasseur. The movie was Levasseur’s first venture into directing, having previously been better known for writing the screenplays for movies such as The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors and Maniac.   It was written by Daniel Meersand and Nick Simon, a writing duo who had previously collaborated on Removal (2010) and The 7th Claus. In a found footage format, The Pyramid follows father and daughter archaeologists, Miles and Nora Holden, in their quest to discover a pyramid (ah, now…

So, you have visited Twitch, Hitbox, and many of the other video game streaming websites. You’ve watched what others do, from the big-name streamers, to the small, and you think you can do it too. Here is what I say: you can do it, with the right equipment and the correct attitude, but most importantly, your attitude is the key ingredient. Let’s start with the basics which you should use and will make you stand out from the others. First, choose your equipment. Now you don’t need state of the art, top of the line PCs that can handle every…

Have you ever imagined what it is like to be a gamer girl? This article takes the perspective from a female gamer herself. Let’s begin. Lightning has her problems, but thanks to Square Enix, sometimes genders are not discriminated.  Remember when it was just you and your N64 (or whatever console that launched your fantastical trek into gaming) and then the world got involved, bringing much conflict? Let’s go back to the peace and contentment you felt way back then. For the Love of Video Games This beautiful gem is available on etsy. Congrats…you have achieved victory over the…

It seems fair to say that exciting times are just around the corner for Nintendo fans, this is because the Switch will be arriving early next year. This could only mean one thing for the Wii U, and Nintendo recently confirmed that the console would be discontinued as the focus has now moved towards their new endeavour. Unlike the Nintendo Wii and Wii U, maybe the Switch will have a built-in Lan adapter. Let’s continue. Wii and Wii U: No LAN Port It is a surprising fact, but one missing element from the Wii U is the LAN and Ethernet port, just…

Looking back at 2016, a lot of hits and misses happened in the Gaming Industry. Many games were released, many memorable others were forgotten. The beginning of the first quarter didn’t have too many new and exciting games except for Uncharted 4 for the PS4. E3 was a smashing success, and Twitch exploded throughout the summer and made some great changes toward the end of the year. Starting with the games that came out this year, we’ve had many, including: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, FIFA 17, Battlefield 1, No Man’s Sky, and Overwatch. Uncharted 4 extended the series once…

Have you ever dreamt of working in a sushi restaurant? Neither have I. Yet still, I’m downright addicted to playing Papa’s Sushiria. It’s the latest release from Flipline Studios, and it includes their previous games’ best features and much, much more. The Setup In Papa’s Sushiria, you can play on Poki as Matt, Clover, or a completely custom character. After breaking Papa Louie’s favorite cat statue, you’re forced to work at his newest restaurant. There, you will take orders, cook rice, and build Cordon Bleu-worthy sushi rolls. Satisfied customers will pay extra cash, and you can spend that money on…

Through the years, Hollywood has been trying to reach out to gaming community. Although in the past they have not succeeded too well when converting video games into movies, most of the time they had been flops. Recently this past summer Warcraft was released and came out with mixed reviews from the gaming community and with the release of Assassin’s Creed we are potentially entering into the year of video game movies. Depending on the success of these two movies we may see more video game movies in the near future. Looking back at Warcraft the story was loosely adapted…

As the anime comes to a close, we take a look back at moments that had even the toughest of nerds caught with moisture in their eyes.  I’m guessing you are familiar with this series, but if you aren’t, then you’ll find Naruto games at Poki, which allow you to get a taste of what these games are like. Warning! The following contains severe spoilers. Read at your own risk!  Asuma’s death Asuma’s death was sad for many reasons. As leader of team 10, spawn of the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho, he was a mentor for many. But it wasn’t necessarily our attachment…

If you are a fan of the Batman franchise like I am, then last year when Batman: Arkham Knight came out, you were excited to see what it was all about. There have been those that have been burned in the past. They have been afraid to venture out and try playing this game on their own. The good news is that unlike other games that have come out this outing is actually pretty good. Yes there are some areas where the game does seem to be a little disjointed especially when we are looking at the long history that is…

Now that you have bought WWE 2K17 and are looking to begin your career, you may be wondering how you can have a career that will allow you to main event Wrestlemania. There are some things that you will need to make sure that you know in order to work your way up the ranks and position yourself to take on the Undertaker and see if you can defeat the DeadMan. In this simple guide, we will look at what you need to know in order to have a career that is along the same lines as that of John…

A game designer is the glue that holds the game industry together. This is a big statement but a very true statement. Within the game industry there are many branches, those that develop the games, those that finance the games, those that artistically design the game, and then there are those that speak to all departments and keep the projects moving at a good pace (the game designers). Let’s look at the business as a whole and those who work together to make the projects move in sync. The game industry works like a clock if one piece is not…

It’s always great to see people enjoying a game, especially when the game is an entry in a series that’s been on something of a down curve. So, with the launch of FFXV, it’s safe to say that a lot of gamers are washing the taste of FFXIII out of their mouths. Good for them. On top of this there’s plans to provide some serious support too. A season pass is on sale and there’s talk of all sorts of new content coming out. So, what’s the problem? Sadly, the very first post-launch patch for the game looks to not…

With the December update in Overwatch comes a verity of new features, special skins, and special sprays. The noticeable things are those such as Symmetra getting a slight overhaul and the new skins that come with holiday season. The minor fixes were a great addition, however there are some ideas and character, one in particular, that still needs to be patched in the game. Several of the characters have received new skins from holiday overload to simplistic mediocre-ness. Winston looks like a yeti, I don’t play much of Winston but this skin looks incredible. Mei received a Santa suit, as…

With the bumps, hills, and even successes of 2016 coming to an end, we look to next year to see what the gaming community has to offer. From what we can see, 2017 entails two new systems and a plethora of new games. Three of the most anticipated games are coming out in the first quarter, an Xbox exclusive still has no release date at the time of writing this article, which hopefully will soon, and lastly the two consoles will be released in the final quarter (Xbox Scorpio and the Nintendo Switch). In 2017, we see that The Legend of…

Gaming, as a medium, has a tendency to look exclusively forward. Now this is, undoubtedly, a good thing. It means that the industry is always striving for something new both graphically and artistically. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have it’s downsides too. We all know the old saying “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Well, by constantly looking forward, gaming is running the risk of forgetting its own history. After all, it’s not like books and films, where old ones are constantly being re-released. If you don’t have the consoles to play them,…

November 29th marked a very special anniversary for a game that has been more than just hours of fun and enjoyment, it has become a part of our very culture. We are talking of course about Final Fantasy, on November 29th we saw Final Fantasy XV be released. This is a game franchise that started all the way back in 1987, for some people they were not even born. For the developer of the game Square Enix, it has been one of the best-selling game franchises for the company. The other sign that it has been a huge part of…

This article is not meant to scare you from ever streaming or making “Let’s Plays” on YouTube. If you are strong and will hearted, then take this article as a precaution to what your life will entail when stepping onto the field of streaming and gaming content creations. Of course, being on the Internet is always a dangerous situation and you need to be prepared at all costs to protect yourself from any form of slander or fraud. The first risks are minor risks when you stream and create content for sites like YouTube and Twitch. Such as the frequent trolls…

You’ve spent hours upon hours on Skyrim itself, let alone the rest of the Elder Scrolls franchise. You’ve deleted saved so you didn’t have to face the harsh reality that you’ve perhaps spent more time playing this single game than you have with your own family these last five years and unbeknownst to your mother, most likely the main reason you haven’t rose from the basement to see her since it’s 2011 release (ha!). Warning! Spoilers for anyone who still hasn’t played through everything Skyrim has to offer. Skyrim is undeniably one of the best games of the decade. Few…

Many will argue as to what is the best game of all time. But there are some games that will forever hold a place in all of our hearts. These are games that will cause us to break out the old 64, or demand a remake for 3DS. These…are our childhood. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Ocarina of Time has to make the list. It was rated best game of all time on more than one occasion and with good reason. Perhaps it’s the deep connection we have with the story, the enhanced graphics for the 1990s or the…

Console wars have been going on since the beginning of the introduction of the console home system. Everyone has there own preferences and rightly so. When I think of the video game industry today we have the predominant systems such as the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Wii U, and although it is not a console the PC (I’ll come back to this one). Each person who games has their own interests and ideas when it comes to each of these consoles, and I am assure that most of you may have cringed when reading the name of the console you…

This year is quickly coming to a close, and it’s certainly been an eventful calendar full of great game releases. Furthermore, we’ve had the announcement of Nintendo’s next console, the Switch. That’s not to mention Sony’s PS4 Pro and PSVR. Microsoft’s announcement of the Scorpio was also another major highlight. Yes, it seems fair to say that this year was amazing, but we have far more to look forward to over the next 12 months. This article takes a look over some of the titles I’d like to see announced. Let’s begin. The Last of Us 2 As the PS4…

So, here’s the scenario, you’re playing Battlefield 1 you don’t have any friends to play and you’ve selected your class you’ve been playing as since you got the game. The game starts and you run off to do the objective running from place to place shooting, killing, dying. You respawn on a squad mate and run off to the last place you died to get your revenge. After twenty minutes of repeating this process your team is defeated and on the end result page your squad didn’t gain many points and you’re rather low on the list although you may…

Even if you don’t particularly care for sandbox shooters which clearly glorify overt criminal behavior(s), you have to admit – Grand Theft Auto III pretty much changed the face of video gaming forever. Its relatively simple outward appearance though (i.e. – run around, destroy, drive and complete missions) harbors all sorts of possibilities, some of which you might not have previously even considered. Trying to piece together a list of the “best” things to do could be called impossible given the deviation in everyone’s particular tastes. So instead we offer these “awesome” suggestions instead, enjoy… Complete the game to 100%…

With recent confirmation that production of the Wii U is to stop and the fact that everyone’s waiting for the Nintendo Switch to launch, now seems like a good time to take stock on the Wii U’s life. Sure, it didn’t set the world alight in terms of sales or in the number of games released on the platform, but I’ll be damned if I hear people say it ‘didn’t have any games’. Here is my list of 10 (and a bit) games that were essential to Wii U owners. Maybe now that the Wii U is relegated to the…

Project Scorpio may be a year away but we do know some things about this system. Scorpio will not be replacing the Xbox One; in reality those that are working on this project have promised the consumer that they will continue to work on Xbox One next to the Scorpio. Scorpio is an upgrade indeed, the start of the new era coming to next gen, but those at Microsoft will not punish those who don’t upgrade. Those in fear that this is going to replace the Xbox One can now take a deep breath and sigh in relief. What Scorpio…