Stephen Farrelly

Managing Editor

Stephen Farrelly is a veteran journalist and editor with more than two decades experience in the worlds of gaming, entertainment and sports under his belt. He is a proud pug owner, loves art in all forms, but particularly street and tattoo culture, and is the director of Swear Jar Editorial and Media Pty Ltd, this site's owner and publisher.

Articles by: Stephen Farrelly

Tech & Gear

New Xbox Series X|S Consoles Now Available

Jumping ahead of the release of both the PlayStation 5 Pro and the freshly-announced Steam Deck here in Australia, Microsoft has dropped its three new Xbox Series X|S consoles, all...
Tech & Gear

Steam Deck Finally Adds Australia to its List of Retail Locations

Valve's Steam Deck is finally coming to Aussie shores without the dodgy workarounds current Australian owners have had to go through. And this news comes from the house that Gabe...
Tech & Gear

Meet the GuliKit KK3 PRO and GuliKit KK3 MAX Controllers, Launching in Australia this Month

Two very affordable and very adaptive and customisable controllers hit store shelves mid-October and represent game-changing options, with but a single flaw... they're not for every device :(
Tech & Gear

Let Thrall of World of Warcraft Help you Navigate with the Waze Navigation and Live App

Ever wondered what it would be like to have Thrall as a backseat driver while you try to navigate the many, many roads of Azeroth?
Tech & Gear

Philips' Evnia QD OLED Slated to Hit Aussie Stores Late October

Launching with a whopping 240Hz capability in SuperWide, Philips' Evnia QD OLED is a new gaming monitor hitting Aussies shores late October and is definitely worth taking a look at...
Tech & Gear

PlayStation Unveils the Astro Bot Limited Edition DualSense Controller, and it Rules

An all-new Astro Bot-inspired controller is poised to launch alongside the game this coming September. But you might want to get in fast as these will be in limited supply...
Tech & Gear

But Where do the Fingers Go? This Deadpool-Inspired Controller is all about the Cheek!

Get a load of this gluteus maximus-centric controller design by the 'famous' controller designer, Wade Wilson, of Deadpool fame. Yeah, he doesn't really care about us spilling deets on his...
Tech & Gear

Full Throttle - MOZA's Flight Sim Peripherals Set to Take Flight

Ever wanted to feel like a real pilot? Now you can with these ultra-high-end items from MOZA -- a peripheral company made up of enegineers with an eye for precision,...
Tech & Gear

Check Out this Thrustmaster ESWAP X2 Controller Inspiired by Elden Ring

Jonesing to add to your Eldern Ring collection, in particular around the release of Shadow of the Erdtree? Well, Thrustmaster might just have a controller designed specifically for you, and...
Gaming

Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days Demo Now Live on Steam

The promised demo for Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is now available to grab and play on Steam. Featuring four playable pairs of characters with plenty to trial ahead...
Gaming

The Holy Gosh Darn Review

Fancy saving Heaven from total annihilation? Yeah, well, you kind of have to anyway, and not just to put in your time for "The Lords Work" but for all other...
Gaming

Silent Hill 2 Review

Silent Hill 2 from Bloober Team and Konami is much, much more than a basic remake of a survival horror classic. Like the more recent modernisations to the likes of...
Gaming

Sometimes an Enticing Descriptor is all You Need to Fall in Love - Sick Samurai Revealed

When you hear Hotline Miami and Samurai Champloo mentioned in the same sentence, if you're anything like us, your ears are pretty likely to prick right on up, as happened...
Gaming

Huge Monster Hunter Wilds Update, Open Beta Announced for all Platforms

A host of new info came sweeping through the latest Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase, like a wild(s)fire, highlighting more elements of the game's dynamic environments, weather systems and its myriad...
Gaming

Second Alan Wake II Expansion, The Lake House, Presents as Even Darker and Creepier

The second expansion for Alan Wake II, The Lake House, looks set to not only lean even further and deeper into the survival horror elements of the base game, but...
Gaming

Subnautica 2 Revealed, Four-Player Co-Op Finally Arrives

Not going to lie, we've been champing at the bit for this true sequel for a long, long time. As massive fans of the original game which we must have...
Gaming

Tricky Madness is a Love Letter to Snowboarding Games of the Early 2000s

Care to take a run down memory lane? Maybe you've got time during said run to jib a few rails and hit a few kickers for some much needed air...
Gaming

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Launch Multiplayer Details Revealed

Treyarch and co have always gone big when it comes to multiplayer and modes for Black Ops releases, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is setting itself as no...
Gaming

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Post-Launch Plans Showcased

Reckon you've already nailed Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2? Yeah, you better think again, Mojumbo. Click on through to learn what's in store for the game over the course of...
Gaming

Steam Next Fest Select Demo Roundup

With soooooo many games to choose from inside the Steam Next Fest demos list, we've done some of the work for you, hand picking 12 titles that fit across a...
Gaming

3 Call of Duty Titles Headed to Xbox Cloud Gaming, Black Ops 6's Immersive Audio Detailed

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 playable on mobile at launch? You bet, thanks to Xbox Cloud Gaming, alongside two other Call of Duty titles. Oh, and check out a...
Gaming

Kill Knight Review

Arguably one of the most challenging games of this type in some time, Kill Knight is an unrelenting experience through a multi-layered hellscape where you, a "Kill Knight", must reach...
Gaming

Undisputed Review

With 10 years between rounds, Undisputed is set to scratch that boxing videogame itch many of us have been waiting to ease. It's not without its flaws and mishandlings in...
Gaming

Play the House of Tesla Demo Now and Check Out this New Teaser Trailer

Grab the demo and Wishlist House of Tesla now on Steam, and get ready to check out the developers' live streaming the game during Steam Next Fest, taking place from...
Gaming

"War Game: The Making of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2." is an Eye-Opening Documentary

This incredible documentary is an almost retro-real-time account of one studio and its employees' resolve in the face of Russia's invasion of its Ukraine homeland and how everyone involved reacted,...
Gaming

Going to PAX Aus? Maybe Check Out Red Bull Gameball Royale

If you're heading to PAX Aus this year, from October 11 - 13, maybe make some time to see some physical action taking place between content creators and their teams,...
Gaming

How Ghost of Yōtei is Potentially Flipping an Age-Old Cinema Script in Videogame Form

Close inspection of the Ghost of Yōtei trailer reveals a few things, particularly in tone. And while there's already been some conjecture online, we take a deeper look under our...
Gaming

More Aussie Creativity Shines as Enter the Chronosphere Drops Fresh Demo Content

Another Aussie slice of purely creative game-design and outside-the-box thinking. Plus, cool art and an amazing vibe... boy, we know how to cook 'em Down Under!
Gaming

Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days is Getting a PC Demo Late October

Skulk through a zombie outbreak in a fictional town in Texas in the 80s, while avoiding the terrifying undead, recruiting others to yours and their survival and just try not...
Gaming

The Three Thousands is a New Development Studio from Industry Veterans

With new government incentives and a country bursting with creative people and world class talent, we welcome another fresh studio in Australia's growing game and technology development landscape!
Gaming

Welcome to 3rd-Phase Boss - A Quick Guide to Who and What we are!

Welcome to 3rd-Phase Boss -- here to serve you great content, cool merch, a fun and engaging vibe and hopefully lots of mutual growth between us and you :)
Gaming

Assassin's Creed Shadows Slinks out of 2024 and into 2025

Taking on board a less-than-perfect launch for Star Wars Outlaws in terms of sales and player feedback around its lack of polish, Ubisoft has decided to delay Assassin's Creed Shadows...
Gaming

Star Wars Outlaws Review

Is Star Wars Outlaws the best Star Wars game yet? Or, maybe the bigger question is, is it even the truly 'open-world' game it's been touted as over its build...
Gaming

Update: Catch All 3 Episodes of "Titus Talks" - An In-Depth Warhammer Lore Explainer Series

Ever wondered whats so spcecial about Warhammer, but felt entirely out of depth with it? This all-new explainer series around Space Marine 2 should have you even just a little...
Gaming

Check Out a Full 8-Plus Minutes of The Eternal Life of Goldman Capped from its Gamescom Demo

There's just something magical about twisting folklore for contemporary audiences, but in such a way that it's reverant of the source material. This eight-minute video of The Eternal Life of...
Gaming

Sektor's Trailer for Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reign is a Ninja Iron Woman Fantasy Come True

Sektor is ceremoniously coming to Mortal Kombat 1 via the upcoming expansion, Khaos Reigns, and her moveset and combo ops are salivating, to say the least!
Gaming

Sony's Heavily Spruiked Shooter, Concord, is Going Offline

Sony's live service hero shooter entry, Concord, has suffered an early defeat, with the team announcing it will go offline while they work out what went wrong and just how...
Gaming

New Concept Art for Borderlands 4 Highlights a Potentially Darker Tone

New Borderlands 4 concept art looks to be teasing a busier and potentially darker entry in the series. We've also been told we'll get new Vault Hunters and a changeup...
Gaming

Dungeons of Hinterberg Review

A charming action-RPG lite romp set in a contemporary space, Dungeons of Hinterberg is an excellent spin on an old genre that crafts many of its own rules amidst so...
Gaming

Revenge of the Savage Planet is the Sequel we all want and Need

Revenge of the Savage Plant by Raccoon Logic, led by Aussie-expat and creative director, Alex Hutchinson, has been revealed. Launching in "2025" as sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet,...
Gaming

WolfEye Unveils Next Game with Teaserrific Retro Future Screens

The developer behind the brilliant Weird West has revealed *some* aspects of its upcoming new venture. "Action-RPG" and "first-person" are all we know for now barring a lean into "retro...
Gaming

Everything of Note from THQ Nordic's Digital Showcase

Ahead of the Gamescom trade and consumer event later this month (August 21 - 25), some publishers are getting in early to avoid the information dump and overall slaw that...
Gaming

THQ Nordic Teases "Darksiders" from Gunfire Games

A new entry in the Darksiders franchise was recetly teased with roughly 50 seconds of nothing but a build up to the Charred Council being all angry and flamingly stoic....
Gaming

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Review

This is a test review to learn layouts and how our backend system works with different inputs and to also test the Editor's Picks carousel as well as the "Explore...
Gaming

"I Know Kung-Fu" - Devolver Reveals Martial Arts Puzzler, Forestrike

This unique martial arts puzzler combines a Wuxia-inspired fantasy story with handcrafted animations and fung-fu with a twist -- the ability to see into the future to pre-plan your attack,...
Gaming

Is this Nintendo's Darkest In-House Game Ever?

Nintendo is going back to a 30-year-old detective-adventure series to craft perhaps one of its darkest internally-developed games ever. Thematically, emotionally and in the way it will engage the player,...
Gaming

"City Unbound" is a New Developer Diary Series for Frostpunk 2

30 years on from the events you (hopefully) wrapped up in the original, 11 Bit Studios is set to unleash another storm of difficult decisions and micro-management upon Frostpunk fans...
Gaming

Grab the Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition this June

A recently-revealed 20th Anniversary Edition of Ubisoft's Beyond Good & Evil is set to land in gamers' laps this June and comes packed to the gills with new features, additional...
Gaming

Dredge Review

Black Salt Games' Dredge is a unique blend of exploration, puzzle-solving and fishig, all set to the painterly backdrop of an archepelago beset by a cosmic horror. Fantastic writing and...
Gaming

Eldritch Fishing Hit, Dredge, Set for All-New Adventures with Fresh DLC

Black Salt Games' award-winning Dredge is set to gain a stack of new content as well as a physical Collector's Edition available for limited pre-order now. A new trailer, new...
Gaming

All New Cult of the Lamb DLC Coming this August, Brings Local Co-Op

At Devolver Digital's showcase as part of Summer Game Fest week, the publisher alongside Aussie developer Massive Monster revealed a new, free update coming for Cult of the Lamb --...
Gaming

Cult of the Lamb Review

Cult of the Lamb is one of not only the best games ever produced in Australia, but also just one of the most fun games... ever. Why? Well, we'll tell...
Gaming

Cult of the Lamb Dev to Help Open PAX Aus as "Storytime Speaker"

Massive Monster Creative Director, Julian Winton, has been announced as a Storytime Speaker for the opening of PAX Aus in October of this year, bringing with him years of experience...
Pop Culture

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 40th Anniversary Exhibition Melbourne-Bound

If you grew up in the late 80s or early 90s, there's a huge chance you were, in some way shape or form, impacted by a quartet of mutated turtles...
Pop Culture

Are We Set to See Deadpool & Wolverine Streaming on Disney+ this October? UPDATED ANSWER: No!

We have a fresh update on that original and hopeful idea of when we *might* have been enjoying Deadpool & Wolverine from the comfort of home or on our device...
Pop Culture

Squid Game 2 Teaser Trailer Drops, New Images Released

Check out the official teaser trailer for Squid Game season 2, hot off the Netflix presses. Returning cast and characters, new fodder but the same sense of greed are what's...

Pop Culture

A Titled Book About an Untitled Goose Game - Our Interview with Author James O'Connor

Fancy a deep-dive into the development journey of one of Australia's most beloved locally-created games? Untitled Goose Game through Boss Fight Books was penned by Aussie games journalist and wordsmith...
Pop Culture

"The Monkey" Red-Band Trailer is Stephen King Come to Life at its Best

Deadlier than a monkey paw, Stephen King's musical toy monkey from his 1980 short story "The Monkey" is a death-dealing wind-up curse just waiting to be unleashed on an unsuspecting...
Pop Culture

We Wed Thee, Followers of the Lamb - Check out this PAX Aus Special Moment

The best weddings are the ones where immediate stories manifest because of the 'out there' nature of them, or because those doing it put themselves wholly out there! Two such...
Pop Culture

Alien: Isolation is Set to Scare the Pants off you Again with its 10th Anniversary Soundtrack Release

In celebration of 10 years hiding in lockers, under tables and challenging yourself to peek into air ducts in Alien: Isolation, 1am8bit has put together an analogue physical release duo...
Pop Culture

Local Aussie Distributor, Sugoi Co, Lands Blu-Ray Release Duties for Arcane Season 1

Local and independent distributor of many, many cool things, Sugoi Co, will be distributing the Arcane Season One Blu-Ray versions (there's more than one) here in Australia and New Zealand!
Pop Culture

The Stuff of Nightmares - This Nosferatu Zodd Figure from Berserk is Amazing

Arguably one of the best baddies in the Berserk world, Nosferatu Zodd, is getting his own S.H. Figuarts release, and it looks incredible!
Pop Culture

Kris Kristofferson Passes Away at Age 88

Another stalwart of screen and music has sadly passed, but leaves behind an outstanding body of work across numerous industries, genres and formats.
Pop Culture

Vale, James Earl Jones - 1931 - 2024

James Earl Jones of... well, soooooo much fame throughout cinema and popular culture has sadly passed away. His legacy, however, will forever live on through so many iconic moments across...
Pop Culture

Some People Just Want to Watch the World Burn - Arcane S2 Trailer Live

Netflix has finally unveiled Arcane Season 2 and it looks perfect. More drama, more rebellion, more conflict... more EVERYTHING. Check it!
Pop Culture

Anthology of Interest - A Star Wars Tale(s)

New Star Wars titles create a lot of discourse, and oft for confusing reasons, at least to us. So we've got a bit of an idea on how best to...
Pop Culture

Absolutely All In - DC's New Universe Unveiled in (Almost) Full

The DC comic book universe is set to expand with an all-new spin on traditional characters, and we've got some details on one of the biggest departures of all --...
Pop Culture

Games Ripe for Adaptation in TV and Film Ep 1: Hades, Metroid and Metro 2033

Most hardcore gamers have, at some time or another, wanted to see their favourite franchise(s) make it to TV or film land. The query, then, is what would work and...
Pop Culture

Web Browser Opera GX Teams with The Boys and Vought for a Unique User Experience

Teaming up with Prime Video for The Boys, Opera GX "the browser for gamers" offers up a Vought-themed user experience and is free to download now. There's even a special...
Pop Culture

New Alien: Romulus Trailer Harkens Back to Ridley Scott's Original

A very creepy new trailer for Alien: Romulus has been released and what we're seeing looks so close to the original, it could even be seen as a bit of...
Pop Culture

Sci-Fi Epic, Megalopolis, from Francis Ford Coppola Finally Lands Distribution Deal

A new sci-fi opus that might prove to be more art than actual science-fiction, in the traditional sense, will definitely make its way to cinema now that the legendary director...
Pop Culture

Superman and Batman Comics Fetch More than Four Times their Auction Price in the UK

A pair of rare DC comics featuring two of the world's most recognised characters recently went for a pretty penny at auction in the UK, with one Australian buyer flying...