The first news post we did in our news system! For those who came in late, AusGamers was born from a collaboration between four of the major LANs around Australia, the Queensland Gamers' League (QGL), Shafted in Melbourne, MPU in Sydney, and WonderLAN in Adelaide.
A super-impressive batch of Duke Nukem Forever screenshots are released.
The first news about Team Fortress Classic. People wish it was Team Fortress 2, but this will give them something to keep them going for the next 9 years while they play the waiting game.
Another new gaming studio opens in Australia! Everyone is excited at the thought of a new local gaming studio cranking out cool games.
Diablo 2 finally lands in Australia. An epidemic of left mouse button failures sweeps the land.
It's unstoppable! Counter-Strike releases start causing Internet bottlenecks as thousands of Australian gamers try to download it all at once. We're already mirroring files, but start thinking about how we can improve the download experience for Aussies.
The classic debate - which still rages today - about whether it's possible to see framerates in games of over 30 frames-per-second.
Rapidly became one of the most reliable destinations for Australian gamers.
The core AusGamers team takes over management of Telstra's Wireplay gaming service. Australia's online gaming scene is about to change.
Civ fans everywhere rejoice and shudder at the thought of all the impending lost hours.
id Software founder reveals he's into rockets as we hear about Armadillo Aerospace for the first time.
The game server booking service GameCreate - originally launched on PowerUp - is launched on Wireplay.
AusGamers moves from WebCentral to Comindico, opening the doors for real expansion.
We launch the Wireplay Ladders, changing the landscape of competitive online gaming in Australia.
The formal announcement of the game that would go on to shake the foundations of the gaming world.
Later to inspire a truly terrible film, Max Payne was widely appreciated by gamers for its action film-esque gameplay, sharp graphics and innovative story.
The RTCW test lands; people everywhere stop what they're doing and play Beach for hours at a time.
Romero eBays his hot yellow car amidst jokes of the failure of Daikatana.
Sony's Blu-ray discs are announced, which will go on to become the media for their PlayStation 3 console.
Grand Theft Auto 3 blamed for crime spree, setting the scene for Jack Thompson's bizarre behaviour.
Big changes to the Optus broadband solution cause grief amongst many Australian Internet users.
Telstra's new DSL product promises wider broadband coverage to all Aussies.
Valve Software announce their digital distribution platform, which - despite initial complaints - goes on to become a gamer favourite.
AusForums launches and quickly becomes a popular service for Australian gamers looking to communicate.
It's hard to imagine a world without wireless broadband now, but back in the day it was all about wires.
For the truly hardcore, Warcraft 3 was released at a midnight sale in some locations.
Internode launches their gaming service with only 14 servers. It would quickly go on to become a gaming powerhouse in Australia.
Warcraft 3 quickly becomes the fastest-selling PC game of all time as gamers all over the world snap it up.
Band of Brothers airs in Australia for the first time, bringing the glory of HBO programming to FTA.
Blizzard surprise everyone by announcing a game that isn't a strategy title.
Google's news service impresses and annoys, eventually leading to NewsCorp's Rupert Murdoch temper tantrums.
Three years later, id Software provide a huge, feature-packed update to their still-popular action shooter.
AusGamers launches our version 2 website, which would serve for around six more years.
On GameArena, we launch COGS, a revolutionary walled-garden approach to online multiplayer games.
The explosive growth of broadband (and p2p) means increased costs and ISPs look at different structures to keep costs down.
Designer of Populous, Syndicate and many other classic games joins Activision.
We save BigPond users again with an awesome unmetered service that provides access to a huge variety of free and open source software.
...but they don't allow it to be redistributed, so no mirroring makes it extremely hard to get for the first 48 hours.
Anticipation for what will rapidly become one of the biggest PC games ever - and the basis for even bigger titles - grows.
The ET test is released, offering a glimpse at what has become a small-but-feature-packed free game.
A big release for Desert Combat, a mod for Battlefield 1942 which would go on to become more popular than the base game and inspire Battlefield 2.
ET brings awesome class-based action with some role-playing features to a huge crowd of people.
Winamp inventor creates a revolutionary p2p system, releases it for free, only to have his parent company AOL squash it because it scared the crap out of them.
Razor1911 leader reminds everyone that large-scale piracy will not go unpunished.
The first demo of what has now become one of the biggest gaming brands in the world.
Open source software starts eating away at more of Microsoft's core business.
Now not just for the Mac, iTunes brings comprehensive music management functionality to the Windows platform.
A trend that would later develop into Australian ISP iiNet being sued, the Australian representatives of the music industry decide to lay the blame for piracy (despite record sales) at the doors of the ISPs.
Fallout fans cry out in despair as this hugely anticipated title looks like it might never see the light of day.
The Internet almost shuts down as people fight for beta access.
Another huge release for the Desert Combat team, becoming one of AusGamers most popular downloads - over 300,000 downloads (almost 200 terabytes!).
Bram Cohen getting hired by Valve create a lot of rumours about the direction of Steam. In the end they parted ways and (to date) no p2p functionality has been integrated into Steam.
Blizzard's usual flair for incredible cinematics is demonstrated yet again.
Windows XP SP2 lands and rapidly becomes considered the 'stable' version of XP for almost all purposes.
Australian Labor Party announces plan to censor the Internet. Everyone thought they were joking, but they got voted in and, well, here we are doing battle against them for this reason.
The next generation of Counter-Strike makes its way into open beta to general acclaim, despite some hold-outs that don't want to display adaptability and migrate to the new version.
Now the Internet really begins to melt down. We distribute over 13,000 copies over the 2.6gb open beta client.
Over on GameArena, we launch an updated version of COGS dubbed 'The Arena'.
The first footage from Battlefield 2 impresses everyone with its improved visuals and modern combat.
Rockstar release GTA2 as a free game - again, not redistributable, but free games are good.
A new version of Ubuntu brings attention to this rapidly growing distribution, which today is one of the most popular open source operating systems in use around the world.
The first details of what would later go on to become the Xbox 360 reach the world.
A flagship PlayStation brand hits a new milestone with the release of MGS3.
Our first coverage of Pure Pwnage, which became a (brief?) gaming sensation (BOOM! HEADSHOT!).
Microsoft formally name their next-generation console. The stirrings of the next-gen war begins.
World of Warcraft hits the staggering figure of 1.5 million users. Surely it can't grow any further?
The Hot Coffee debacle - hidden, pseudo-pornographic content in GTA: San Andreas - enrages parents, technophobes, and prudes. Gamers sigh and roll their eyes and wishes everyone would just shut up. Thousands of people are exposed to this content because of the Streisand Effect.
In Australia, the OFLC react to 'Hot Coffee' by revoking the classification for San Andreas, making it unable to be purchased.
Nintendo's revolutionary Wii controller is announced. Gamers everywhere are confused, excited, weirded-out, but seemingly confident that Nintendo know what they're doing - a fact borne out in the future by simply mind-blowing sales.
WoW expansion Burning Crusade announced. Warcraft players drool in anticipation of more loot, more levels, and more gameplay.
Sony 'accidentally' put a rootkit on a music CD as part of their efforts to digitally manage their rights.
OK, but surely there won't be more than five million, right? This is just getting insane.
Sad news for Australian gamers as global demand pushes back the release date for the hot new console down under.
Carmack digs on the Xbox 360, saying it will probably become id's primary development platform. PC gamers cringe in fear at the news.
Amazingly, a free game produced by the US Army turns out to be hugely popular. The 2.6 milestone release boasts many impressive new features and is downloaded over 66,000 times from AusGamers.
The Australian launch date is confirmed and competition begins to heat up between MS and Sony as they compete for mindshare. Console fanboys wage elaborate forum arguments debating the merits of the two platforms. PC gamers still can't figure out what the point of these things are.
Labor talk about saving the children again. Regular Internet users roll their eyes. Veterans point out what a stupid waste of time and money such a project would be.
Xbox 360 lands in Australia. Microsoft call it the biggest Australian entertainment launch of all time, and gamers generally are pretty impressed with what it can do.
Ubisoft formally drops all Starforce. Gamers around the world rejoice - a rare victory in the battle against DRM and invasive software.
PS3 controller details announced and cause everyone to laugh and point at the similarties between that and the Wii controller.
Everyone's mind is blown as they almost forgot this game existed. The new art style is announced and it becomes clear that the old tactical-shooter direction has been abandoned. The new cartoony-style quickly wins hearts and minds.
Blizzard are no stranger to online cheating and take it extremely seriously. Terms of Use violations are met with mass bannings while legitimate gamers cheer on.
First mention of Wil Wright's hugely anticipated Spore. Everyone gets really, really excited about this game over the next few years.
ABC launches Good Game on ABC2, a show dedicated to video games. It goes on to become pretty popular amongst gamers, to everyone's surprise.
Everyone is relatively unsurprised that the PlayStation 3 launch is delayed in Australia and Europe.
Microsoft launch a new version of IE to general acclaim, simply because it sucks so much less than IE6. Web developers rejoice.
Not to be outdone by Microsoft, Firefox launch version 2.0 of their anticipated browser, with a slew of new features. Adoption rates are pretty high amongst gamers - it is fast, stable, and feature-packed.
Xbox 360 hits 100,000 sales in 7 months in Australia. Everyone loves it.
While it's not a next-generation console in terms of performance and graphics, the Nintendo Wii launch is hugely anticipated.
The Wii breaks all sales records for video game consoles in Australia, selling over 32,000 units - in the first four days. Everyone is in love with it.
The revolutionary phone looks shiny, awesome, and fun. Everyone wants one, and it goes on to become an industry-changing device.
Finally, Google give Australia some love so we don't have to use WhereIs any more.
The Australian branch of Pandemic continues to grow, looking for more and more staff as they work on more projects.
The first next-generation Grand Theft Auto trailer footage impresses everyone with it's lush visuals.
Apple do a solid for everyone except the music studios, giving customers what they need.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare trailer premieres, showing the new direction for the brand. It looks very impressive and is not a World War 2 FPS, so everyone is excited.
First Team Fortress 2 video show Valve are super-organised about this Team Fortress 2 thing. It becomes increasingly clear that this is going to be a huge title.
Korea nearly shuts down with excitement. Gamers around the world rejoice at the thought of another StarCraft title.
Google continue to impress, adding street-level viewing to their already-awesome maps system.
Carmack demos id Tech 5, showing the next-generation engine that gamers can expect from the masters of graphics.
Wii sells 100,000 units faster than any console in Australia. Despite not being a graphical powerhouse, its accessibility makes it an instant hit - everyone that sees it instantly understands what is going on and is drawn to the simplicity and sheer fun that it offers.
The next title in this huge brand goes in a different direction, but the next-gen visuals look extremely impressive.
Wil Wright demos Spore at TED, showing some of the very impressive prodecurally generated gameplay that will be on offer.
The TF2 beta launches to much acclaim, almost universally loved by all. It has style, accessibility, and fun - and not only that offers a lot of competitive features for the hardcore.
Google starts to make moves in the mobile industry. Telcos around the world shift uncomfortably (those of them that aren't so clueless as to not understand what this might mean, anyway).
A US$18 billion dollar deal creates a massive new entity in the gaming market.
Rumours that one of Australia's larger game developers Auran will close, based primarily on the poor response to their recently released MMO, Fury. The rumours turn out to be true and the development arm of Auran is closed.
As if just to remind us that it's still not out, 3D Realms release a brief teaser trailer for Duke Nukem Forever. Some people are impressed, but most people seem to just want them to RELEASE THE GODDAMN GAME ALREADY.
EA and DICE announce a new direction for the Battlefield brand - an entirely free game. It has a very cartoony feel that looks a lot like TF2.
PC Gaming Alliance launches at AusGamers' first GDC in San Francisco, bringing a ray of hope to PC gamers in an increasingly console-based gaming world.
Australian gamers get a little bit excited with the news that the R18+ rating is back under consideration, and maybe we'll have a chance to get treated like adults for a change.
Ubisoft give up on licensing Clancy on a per-title basis and basically buy his entire name out from underneath him.
Xbox 360 hits 10 million sales worldwide, the first next-gen console to do so.
The EFA launches NoCleanFeed.com to fight Internet filtering. Australians (with the exception of ultra-conservative religious types) generally seem to not want an Internet filter.
Apple fanboys get excited. Black skivvy sales increase 1000% Australia-wide.
A big milestone for Firefox - version 3 offers much-improved performance.
Blizzard once again shake the foundations of gaming with a new sequel announcement. Looters rejoice and people that can't stand the sound of incessant clicking stock up on earplugs.
Rock Band 2 is announced, drawing criticism in Australia as the original Rock Band still is not available.
StarCraft 2 rumoured for a 2009 release. Seems reasonable at the time.
Wii hits 500,000 sales in Australia. It cannot be stopped. Despite all the sales, no-one seems to know anyone that actually uses their Wii.
AusGamers goes to first Leipzig Games Convention in Germany. Like everything German, it is organised with uncanny efficiency and skill. It is a huge convention.
Google continue to ship new products with the launch of their Chrome web browser. It's free, open source, and faster than a speeding bullet.
Fallout 3 leaks to the warez scene pre-release. The Xbox 360 version, which sort of makes claims about PC piracy look a bit foolish.
Blizzard's conquest continues. Citizens around the world begin to wonder if they are safe from the ever-encroaching forces of this game.
QGL turns 10! The little organisation that started this all - running LANs of a few people in hot sheds in Brisbane - might not run LANs any more, but we still like to think we're helping Australian gamers on a daily basis.
Valve's zombie-fighting epic bounces. Finally - a co-operative PC game. The attention to detail, polish, and sheer awesome of this game bring hope to PC gamers, who were stuck waiting for Blizzard to pop out their next title.
AusGamers proudly sponsors two 2008 GDAA Awards, with a view to getting more involved in the local Australian game development scene.
Savage 2 is released as an entirely free game. Why don't more publishers do this? Your old games are PERFECT promotional tools for your new ones!
Apple Music Store becomes completely DRM free. While most consumers are probably totally oblivious, digital freedom advocates around the world are very happy by this move and hope that it will lead to less and less DRM as time goes by.
Despite a huge initial launch, Age of Conan starts shutting down servers as player counts drop. Many gamers cite lack of content after the first few levels as the reason. Funcom go on to furiously back-fill content in an attempt to revive the game.
The global economic slump continues as EA makes a money-saving move, cutting Pandemic Studios loose, leading to the closure of the Brisbane-based studio. Fortunately many staff find employment at other companies, including Krome Studios... for a while.
After a long delay, the Google G1 phone finally becomes available in Australia, becoming the first Android device on the market. It doesn't get a lot of attention as the iPhone continues to dominate.
Court date set for copyright battle between iiNet and Big Media. Other ISPs and Australian Internet users look on with great interest; the case will have serious effects whichever way it goes.
After around ten years of requests, we finally roll out a really, really good search system for the forums. Almost 10 years of forum posts are indexed and available for near-instant searching thanks to the awesome open source software, Lucene.
AusGamers heads back to San Francisco for a second GDC. Despite the global financial crunch, it is just as big as the year before. Apple products abound; everyone in attendance has iPhones, Macbooks, or both.
More details on Australia's National Broadband Network emerge.
A rare win for the public (and common sense) in the realm of intellectual property.
Unbelievable. After 10 years of waiting, Duke Nukem Forever is canceled. The gaming world is furious - it really is vaporware.
Take 2 is also furious, and sues 3DRealms over the failure to deliver Duke Nukem Forever. The world sits back and watches with interest. Will we ever see this game?
Google announces a new product that noone can understand.
Valve irritates fans by announcing Left 4 Dead 2. Many gamers were hoping to see a whole stack of free content - similar to what Team Fortress 2 has been getting. Threats of boycotting are thrown around.
America's Army 3 switches to a new delivery model which makes it harder for Australians to download (as it can no longer be easily mirrored and thus made unmetered). This leads to a noticable decline in player numbers in Australia.
One of the last completely independent studios loses its independence.
Carmack will not shut up about the iPhone. id Software titles are promised and many more seem likely.
After years of rumours, it's finally confirmed - a Linux-based OS. But it's not what everyone was thinking - it's almost entirely a cloud-based OS.
AusGamers goes to our first GDC Europe. It's nowhere near as big as the US ones, but it's still really interesting.
AusGamers goes to our first Blizzcon! With StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3 on the way, people are literally salivating for information.
Australian gamers beat their heads against their desks. The 'excessive' violence in L4D2 mean the game is not going to be released in Australia. No-one can believe it.
The first news from the creator of Counter-Strike - how will this game stack up?
Left 4 Dead 2 is pussified. Huge chunks of the scene-setting gore are removed and the game is tamed almost beyond recognition, but at least Australians can buy it. Thousands of Australians completely ignore the censored version, however, opting to import the game from US and European-based stores to make sure they're getting an untarnished version.
AusGamers folds and makes a Facebook page. We also have a Twitter page. Sigh.
A lengthy response from the South Australian Attorney General fires up the classification issue again. Lots of new information comes to light, most of which (unsurprisingly) gamers have a strong opinion on.
To try and help games developers realise the advantages of dedicated servers (and thus improve the gaming world), Mammoth launches the Mammoth Dedicated Server Guide.
Boycott? What boycott? Everyone loves Left 4 Dead 2 too much so almost everyone caves and buys it, knowing in their hearts that Left 4 Dead 3 is just around the corner. And they'll buy it, too.
A nice surprise! SEGA announce that they got AvP reclassified on appeal, so the game will be released - unaltered - in Australia.
The last post of the decade, AusGamers is proud to launch one of the first Darksiders reviews worldwide.
Posted 05:59pm 18/1/10
Posted 06:30pm 18/1/10
edit: oh theres some of those in there too
last edited by thermite at 18:30:15 18/Jan/10
Posted 06:03pm 18/1/10
Yeah no kidding
Posted 06:08pm 18/1/10
It's hilarious that people cared more about their own similarly themed thread's destruction than that of the WTCs.
Posted 06:10pm 18/1/10
Posted 06:15pm 18/1/10
Posted 06:21pm 18/1/10
And R18+ in Australia. 8 years on, we're still fighting it.
Posted 06:22pm 18/1/10
Keep up the good work :)
Posted 06:31pm 18/1/10
Annnd it ended up fail.
Posted 06:35pm 18/1/10
Posted 06:43pm 18/1/10
Posted 07:05pm 18/1/10
Posted 07:17pm 18/1/10
Posted 07:17pm 18/1/10
Man, all the memories of the mass hysteria come flowing back. This is a f*****g crazy and harrowing trip down memory lane, this thread.
Posted 07:28pm 18/1/10
Posted 07:32pm 18/1/10
No we're not, we're whinging about it on an internet forum.
F*** online, put a mad bar tab on at that s*** hole you love going to.
Posted 07:46pm 18/1/10
Posted 07:52pm 18/1/10
Posted 07:55pm 18/1/10
Posted 08:10pm 18/1/10
In terms of the forum community, agreed 100%.
Posted 08:27pm 18/1/10
Especially Jason! :)
Posted 09:13pm 18/1/10
Posted 09:14pm 18/1/10
wait ....
:(
Posted 10:13pm 18/1/10
Posted 10:24pm 18/1/10
Posted 10:44pm 18/1/10
Posted 11:13pm 18/1/10
and I too had uncapped cable and now have s***** adsl :(
Posted 11:18pm 18/1/10
Posted 11:37pm 18/1/10
Posted 11:43pm 18/1/10
Posted 12:11am 19/1/10
that was a sad day!
Posted 12:52am 19/1/10
nice to Qgl.org is still around
after the years of anticipation I'm sorry that AG lost OCAU. I hope you guys fill that gap some day
rather than be my usual online jerk self that I am shamefully slipping into more and more the older I get I'll just say:
Thanks AG staff, volunteers and other members who've made it all happen.
you're all ghey :P
last edited by koopz at 00:52:05 19/Jan/10
Posted 02:07am 19/1/10
Posted 06:33am 19/1/10
Posted 09:57am 19/1/10
The Counterstrike. Lol.