Here is a summary of my daily gaming news items as published last week on Techday.com, the online home of New Zealand’s Netguide magazine and Game Console.
Last week I looked into Kiwi Star Was fans being left out, Australia’s adult rating plans for video games, check out Sony’s new 3D technolgy, got all excited by Ezio’s final story in the Assassin’s Creed Ember animated movie and went all old-school god-sim with Ubisoft’s From Dust.
Australasia joined the rest of the world that wasn’t North America or Europe in being shut out of the launch of the new Star Wars game. New Zealand’s Star Wars fans are unable to sign up to pre-order the upcoming Star Wars Old Republic MMO. Publishers EA and LucasArts were unable to confirm when, or if, the game will be available outside of North America of Europe. Read more here.
Australia moved one step closer to a R18+ rating for video games. The bizarre reluctance of Aussie law-makers to accept that some games are made for adults has resulted in the likes of Grand Theft Auto V being slapped with a MA15+ sticker, making Australia the laughing-stock of the gaming world. Read the latest here.
Sony are looking into alternatives for providing the 3D experience to gamers. The poor uptake of 3DTVs is obviously giving them a bit of headache, what with all the money they are pumping into 3D PS3 games. The electronics giant is revisiting “virtual-reality” LCD headset technology. Coupled with motion sensing this could be the gaming tech that we’ve all been waiting for. Check it out here.
As the current chapter of Assassin’s Creed comes to an end with Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Ubisoft have announced a special animated movie that will bring the saga of Ezio Auditore to a close. Assassin’s Creed Embers will be available for purchase from the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PSN when the game is released in November. A DVD of the movie will also be enclosed in the special collector’s editions of Assassin’s Creed Revelations. Get the full details here.
And finally, I spent some time going all misty eyed playing the Xbox Summer(or Winter) of Arcade release from Ubisoft, From Dust. Aimed directly at us oldies who spent a lot of our formative years playing the likes of Bullfrog’s Populus, this god-sim harks back to a simper time. The old-school gameplay coupled with a modern physics engine made for a very late night of gaming fun. Read all about it here.
Another week where the big publishers are starting to trickle out info on their AAA titles being lined up for Christmas. Assassin’s Creed Revelations looks to be a must have title, the extra goodies in the collector’s editions looking especially inviting.