This story was originally published 20/12/2020 Maori and Pacific people are massively underrepresented in New Zealand’s tech and gaming industries — making up less than five per cent of the tech world. …

This story was originally published on 20/11/2019 The Kiwi games industry is both bigger and smaller than you think. It’s about 600 people strong and covers the main centres. Most people know of Grinding Gear Games (and especially the acquisition by Chinese company Tencent last year) or have played Dinosaur Polo Club’s massively successful Mini Metro on their mobile phone. Still, these are by no means household names — especially in the way that people think about heavy-hitters Bethesda and Ubisoft or our local esports industry, like Let’s Play Live and The Breakers and Warriors esports teams — but that doesn’t mean it’s…

This story was originally published 20/10/2019 The indie gaming industry is so much bigger than you expect. Studios can range from one person hobbyists right the way up to Bungie and it’s juggernaut offering, Destiny 2, and literally everything in between. Underneath the gloss and glamour of triple A titles like Spider-Man, God of War and the Call of Duty series, the industry is hammering its stake into the ground producing titles for Apple Arcade, Playstation and Xbox and the new crowd favourite, the Nintendo…

The first time you lather shaving foam over your scalp is a unique experience. As a kid, one of the things you can’t wait to do when you grow up is start shaving. Your Dad teaches you (or is supposed to teach you) to wet your face, lather the shaving…

This story was originally published on 07/07/2015 When anyone in our scene thinks of making it big they think of America or the UK. They think of those as the frontiers, the places where dreams are made into reality. Rival State and Like A Storm have made the move, one to the UK and the other to the USA and they’re reaping the benefits. But there’s a…

This story was originally published on 09/07/2015 I’m not going to waste time with introductions because you all probably know Chazz. He fronted The Rabble for years, played some sick overseas shows, and now he’s got himself a little piece of disaster to flirt with. “All those years in The Rabble gives me experience under my belt that you cannot get any other way…

This story was originally published on 10/07/2015 Alex Garcia and I sat down for a chat ahead of Mayday Parade’s shows here in New Zealand. He wasn’t particularly talkative — press runs can be brutal — but he was, in turns, poignant and insightful. …

This story was originally published on 12/07/2015 So, Depths didn’t break up. Nope, they’re on tour. They’ve got an album too and it’s probably the heaviest thing you’ll hear out of this side of the Southern Ocean until the nails are being driven into your coffin. They call it The Mortal Compass. Mortality and morally and the directions we find ourselves our going. …

This story was originally published on 13/07/2015 I met Andrew [Ashton, guitarist] in the bowels of Ding Dong Lounge. It was the middle of the day. The jet black floors were wet and sticky, having just been mopped, and the air conditioning hummed in the background. Sunlight streamed down the staircase from the gate in the booths it radiated from orange lights. At this time of the day, the bar is technically closed but we sat across from each other with a pint of Epic beer, Andrew’s tattooed fingers…