'Serious games' take aim at shoot-'em-up videos

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  Silent Hill: Homecoming banned in Australia

  Latest Silent Hill horror game refused classification down under; local distributor will wait until early 2009 for a possible resubmission.

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  Oi!: Foxtel hearts World of Warcraft fans

  Foxtel has announced it's broadcasting both days of this year's BlizzCon 2008 on its pay-per-view channel Main Event.

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  Rugby League 2: World Cup Edition announced

  With the next World Cup just around the corner, get set for Rugby League 2: World Cup Edition, which willl be available for the PlayStation 2 in November.

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  Report: Nintendo to make $1.6 million profit per employee

  It's no secret that Nintendo has experienced incredible success since the launch of the Nintendo DS and the Wii. However, a report from the Financial Times this week is attempting to put that success in proper perspective. According to the article, Nintendo is on track to earn US$1.6 million (AU$1.98 million) in profit this year — for each of its workers.

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  Sony launches Life with PlayStation

  This generation of gaming consoles has seen a wealth of innovations become standard features for systems, from downloadable demos to wireless controllers. One such addition that was perhaps not as fervently called for by gamers is that of live global news and weather updates, but Nintendo updated the Wii shortly after launch with the News Channel and Weather Channel, and now Sony is adding similar features to the PlayStation 3.

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  EA execs on Aussie Rock Band delays

  The Aussie Rock Band saga is pretty well known by now to gamers down under, with our country still waiting on the official release of MTV/Harmonix's four-piece rhythm game almost a year after its US sale date. The situation was made even more farcical last weekend, with the game's sequel — Rock Band 2 — released in the US.

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  Hands-on with the Guitar Hero World Tour instruments

  Activision popped by this morning to show us Guitar Hero: World Tour, and without going into too much detail, we can say it's looking pretty damn good.

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  Spore

  Spore merges multiple run-of-the-mill building blocks into a big, entertaining game.

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  Guitar Hero World Tour dated down under

  Four-piece Guitar Hero game to ship on 12 November in Australia; four new tracks announced, including one from Aussies The Living End.

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  US$1 million Fury tournament launched

  Upcoming MMO Fury seeks 600,000 worldwide players to share in a million dollars' worth of pre-launch tournament prizes. An Australian server is on the cards too.

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  Fury: MMORPG without the boring bits?

  Brisbane-based game developer Auran is about to launch Fury, a new MMORPG PC game that has its sights on taking on widely popular established titles such as World of Warcraft, Guild Wars and Unreal Tournament.

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  Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back banned in Australia

  Activision FPS refused classification down under for "high impact" violence.

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  Best PC games

  That humble spreadsheet device in the corner of the office may have taken a backseat to console games of late, but there's still plenty of great games to play on the PC. Browse through our list for ten of the top games to while away the hours instead of playing Solitaire again.

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  Duke Nukem Forever resurfaces

  3D Realms releases screenshots of the decade-in-development shooter, and a new teaser trailer is now available.

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  Scrabble manufacturer targets 'Scrabulous' online game

  Hasbro, manufacturer of the timeless board game Scrabble, is trying to shut down Scrabulous, an unauthorsed electronic version of Scrabble that has gained a rabid following on Facebook.

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  Nvidia to make all your PC games 3D (if you so choose)

  Thanks to a new software driver Nvidia is cooking up, any PC game can be played in 3D, with no extra work on the part of game developers.

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  Wii Fit hacked to work with WoW

  With Wii Fit's popularity making the game near-impossible to find and World of Warcraft's subscriber base nearing 11 million, it was just a matter of time before the two collided in some form.

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  Call of Duty 4 answered 10 million times

  Infinity Ward's multiplatform modern military shooter makes latest milestone; studio head explains decision not to develop a Wii version.

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  Spore

  Spore merges multiple run-of-the-mill building blocks into a big, entertaining game.

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  Street Fighter IV

  We got our hands on Street Fighter IV — which is already available in Japanese arcades — at E3 2008.

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  Diner Dash/Diner Dash 2: Restaurant Rescue/Diner Dash: Flo On The Go

  Those hankering for a cross between working the Maccas fry line and an 80's handheld hit will get a certain amount of enjoyment out of Diner Dash, although we can't imagine buying all of them.

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  James Bond: Quantum of Solace First Look

  We track down Activision and Treyarch's first game based on the James Bond movie franchise.

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  Diablo 3

  We've got the first look at the gameplay of Blizzard's latest dungeon crawler.

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  Diablo 3

  We've got the first look at the gameplay of Blizzard's latest dungeon crawler.

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  Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

  We try our hands at a variety of different characters in our latest look at EA Mythic's massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

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  World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

  We check out a plethora of new content in Blizzard's upcoming expansion pack for World of Warcraft.

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  Jade Empire: Special Edition

  The long-awaited PC version of Jade Empire retains the great story and setting of the Xbox original, but the streamlined combat and core design haven't aged quite as gracefully.

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  SimCity Societies

  The addictive gameplay of the SimCity series is completely missing in this lackluster spinoff.

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  The Orange Box

  The Orange Box is the one of the greatest gaming packages we have ever come across, and there is incredible value inside for an exceptional price.

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  World in Conflict

  World in Conflict is definitely one of the top games this year, with outstanding visual effects and an innovative gameplay system.

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  World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

  The Burning Crusade is a superb example of exactly what an expansion pack for any game should be.

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  Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

  The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is simply one of the best role-playing games ever made.

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  Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach

  The experience and feel of the original D&D experience is transferred successfully to the online realm. While it may not have the completeness demanded by hardcore D&D fans, there is more than enough for casual and beginner players -- who are really the target of this release.

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