The Weekly: December 7-14
With Christmas less than two weeks away there aren’t any new game releases to discuss sadly but we do however have plenty of news and announcements that are making the wait for Christmas and beyond that little bit tougher.
In a release that will happen just before Christmas and make many a kid and adult Wii U gamer alike happy is the announced launch of Minecraft on the console come December 18 in both Australia and New Zealand. Having already launched on most other platforms, Nintendo gamers have had to wait a little bit longer for the world builder. Perhaps to make up for this, Nintendo and Mojang are already collaborating to create new and exclusive content for its Wii U users.
There is however plenty awaiting gamers after Christmas with Ubisoft just announcing two new Assassin’s Creed Chronicles games in the form of India and Russia. These will be the final instalments in the trilogy of Chronicle games with India available for download across PS4, Xbox One and PC from January 12 and Russia available a month later on February 12. I hope you haven’t put those assassin daggers away gamers!
If assassin’s don’t get you excited, perhaps zombies will? Well another remastered Resident Evil in the form of Resident Evil 0 is set to release January 19 next year with the origin story of the franchise set to come alive with enhanced visuals and sounds effects for PS3/4, Xbox 360/One and PC. Additional features of the remaster include an alternate modern control system and a Wesker Mode where players can enjoy roaming the mansion as the infamous villain of the series.
Off the back of their Game of the Year win at the Video Game Awards in Las Vegas, Polish developers Project Red have revealed that their next game, Cyberpunk 2077, is targeting a 2016 release. It’s still early days and they were sounding optimistic about the release date but I’m just happy we don’t actually have to wait till 2077!
It seems like only yesterday us at Novastream were busy gaming our time away down in Melbourne for PAX Australia, well not to freak you out, but PAX 2016 tickets are already on sale… Next year’s premium gaming convention will take place between November 4-6 at the Melbourne Convention Centre and if you want to get in quick, tickets are at a discounted price leading up to Christmas.
Having just released Fallout 4 to critical acclaim after years of hard work, Bethesda Game Studios have opened a new development studio in Montreal. It seems these guys just can’t stop working with this new office aimed at expanding development capabilities across console, PC and mobile gaming.
Another studio that are keeping busy is DICE, who after just releasing Star Wars Battlefront, have confirmed via Development Director Dan Vaderlind, the development of the next Battlefield. Although still providing updates for Battlefront, DICE have shifted focus to what will be Battlefield 5 with a holiday 2016 release date already put forward.
In eSports news, Electronic Arts have officially launched a Competitive Gaming Division led by Peter Moore. EA is now looking to cultivate eSports opportunities by facilitating live events and broadcasting of their games. eSports rakes in over $600 million a year and EA are now looking for their share of the lucrative pie.
The forecast for games is a little dreary this week with no big releases to look forward to but with Christmas around the corner, perhaps it’s time to return one of the many quality games 2015 has already served up?
And that my fellow gamers, was the week that was, game on!
