After Hours

One year of gaming reviews: what I’ve learnt about Australia’s hunger for good video games journalism and Substack

- March 12, 2025 6 MIN READ

Last week marked one whole year of writing a weekly column on video games. It is my answer to my quarter-career crisis, where I love working for myself in comms but wanted a new challenge that harked back to my roots and grounding as a reporter. My goal: Create a platform for smart, approachable commentary… Read more »

After Hours

A primer on the global competitive Pokémon scene

- March 5, 2025 8 MIN READ

Before Infinite Lives was conceived and launched this time last year, there was another name floating around for this newsletter: Utility Jigglypuff. It was an in-joke among my mates that just wouldn’t die. Hot off watching a video from Aaron “Cybertron” Zheng, a competitive Pokémon player, professional commentator and YouTuber, I was explaining how the hyper-competitive side of this… Read more »

After Hours

Borrowed time: Sony’s recent outage is a reminder that what you think you’ve paid for with games is not what you get

- February 26, 2025 4 MIN READ

It’s unlikely Australia’s competition watchdog, the ACCC, took notice of Sony’s global outage a few weeks ago. But if they did, it could provide some insightful guidance for its latest inquiry where its touching on the murky framework that governs digital access to games. Sony’s PlayStation Network suffered a major outage in early February that… Read more »

After Hours

Everyone’s a critic: How reviews shape the $180 billion gaming industry, but as the product evolves the focus need to as well

- February 19, 2025 4 MIN READ

This is the first in a series of articles looking at how professional game reviews shape the industry. As a flurry of February releases hits gaming devices, a new report is set to perhaps rekindle an age-old gaming industry debate. Published this month in the Journal of Business Research, new research has drawn a line between critical… Read more »