Ubisoft has revealed that while console players will be gaining the upcoming Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag come October 26 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U on October 29, those wanting to try out the pirate life on PC will sadly have to wait until after the initial console release.

While this shouldn't come as no surprise to PC players with the past Assassin's Creed titles having been delayed for PC by roughly a month, many were hoping for a launch around the same time. Speaking with ElderGeek (via ShackNews) at E3 2013, Ubisoft game director Ashraf Ismail the PC version will come "a few weeks after" the next-gen consoles launch sometime in November.

Previous Assassin's Crred titles have launched quite far apart from their console brethren, with Assassin's Creed 3 launching a month after and Assassin's Creed 2 launching several months after their original release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

"We're working hard on the PC version," Ismail said. "It's one of the main platforms we work on in the office. For our PC fans, don't worry. The game on PC looks phenomenal."

Following Microsoft's surprise about face on the Internet connection requirements, and disc-based game restrictions for the upcoming Xbox One, the company has confirmed that the device's other widely criticised aspects -- the launch price point, and the need for the Kinect motion control sensor to be plugged in at all times-- remain unchanged.

Speaking to Joystiq, Xbox Chief Product Officer Marc Whitten maintained commitment to the announced US$499 price point, saying "We feel good about our price.", and believing in the value of "what this architecture can deliver over the long term".

The Kinect sensor is widely attributed to the pricing gap between the Xbox One and Sony's also recently priced PlayStation 4, but microsoft is standing firm on ensuring each console ships with the motion-controller/camera/microphone peripheral, and also that it must still be plugged in at all times for the console to operate.

"We still absolutely believe in Kinect. It's a core part of the architecture. Frankly, it's really critical that you build it as something that's always there, always part of the platform. So that game creators, experience creators can know they can rely on it. And you, the user, that there's always a consistent experience. That it's not just an accessory."

The Xbox One console is due in November 2013, in 21 markets including Australia, North America, and Europe, for AUD$599, USD$499, GBP£429, and EUR€499

The ever-resourceful crowd over on the NeoGAF forums (thanks Kotaku) have discovered hints in the data files of the latest beta version of the Steam client that indicate Valve might be developing a system to allow users to share games in their Steam library.

Specifically, these three lines contained in the file Steam/Public/steamui_english.txt, a text data file that contains the Steam client's dialogue box content for English language:

"SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicense_Title" "Shared game library"
"SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicenseLocked_OwnerText" "Just so you know, your games are currently in use by %borrower%. Playing now will send %borrower% a notice that it's time to quit."
"SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicenseLocked_BorrowerText" "This shared game is currently unavailable. Please try again later or buy this game for your own library."

The wording of the messages strongly suggests a digital sharing system not dissimilar to the one Microsoft had been touting for the Xbox One before their recent sweeping change in used-game strategy, whereby a user could share games from their library with a limited number of other online users, but a given game license can only be in use by one person at a time.

Features that never materialised have been hinted at in the bowels of Steam before, so we'll have to wait and see if it's for real, but if true, it would undoubtedly be a welcome addition.

Hotline Miami developer Dennaton Games has revealed their second and final game in the top-down murder-sim series, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.

Speaking to Polygon at E3 2013, creator Dennis Wedin has stated that Wrong Number will conclude the story that started in the 80's neon-filled world, revealing that development for the title had actually started alongside the original.

"This is the end," Wedin said. "This is the grand finale for Hotline Miami. Everything will end with this game. We also tried to give that tone to the game as well. This is the theme for the whole game. It has that sadness. All good things end."

Taking off several years after the events of the first game concluded, Wrong Number will feature similar gameplay but will try to "tell the story in a different way," Wedin said. Players will find several characters will be usable this time around, and the story will have at least two factions available in the game, with more to be revealed closer to release. The first faction has been revealed as a group of people making a slasher film about the events of Hotline Miami.

Wrong Number has also been given a makeover to how the levels are played out, now called 'scenes' like those in a movie. The tutorial level will follow this slasher faction as they try to re-create the original plot, with the director popping out to scold the actors on their actions.

"It's a way of portraying the story for the first game in somebody else's eyes," Wedin said. "Some people saw the first game as a horror movie — [Jacket] was mentally ill, he was a psychopath. We wanted to, in a way, let someone else do his own version of it. The director gives enough twists to it and made it into this slasher B movie that some people saw it as."

The second faction was also revealed, called "the Fans" who don animal masks and roam the streets re-enacting the violence that Jacket was called upon through phone calls in the original game, beating up thugs to gain media attention.

"They kind of symbolize people that want Hotline Miami 2 to be exactly like Hotline Miami 1," Wedin said. "They have the masks and the phonecalls. It's pretty much the same. We tried ... to give the characters different motivations to why they kill. They're hardcore fans who take it too far."

Those worried about too many story details will be happy to know you can simply go abut your business without the need for paying attention, but for those who do pay attention will find a number of interesting details. "Wrong Number will also feature a new horde mode for additional difficulty, and players can expect much more detail and background story to each level, Wedin said. In one stage, for example, the bar downstairs acts as a front for a drug operation."

"People who just want to play a fun game don't have to take part in the story if they don't want to, but people who love stories and details can find a lot of that just by watching," Wedin said. "Since it's a sequel, we added more gore, more graphics and weapons and stuff like that. We're really trying to give each stage a personality and more backstory instead of just random apartments."

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is out in 2013 for PC, Mac, and Linux. Check out the teaser trailer and a handful of screenshots below.

Online medieval title War of the Roses has unveiled their latest update, Guns of Burgundy, bringing the world's first portable firearm to the virtual battlefield - the handgonnes.

With the ability to take out enemies while they flee, the handgonnes are able to pierce even the most hardy knight armour and will definitely serve as a prized addition to the battle. Those wanting to arm themselves will find four different styles available and "they're great for initiating fights, or shooting down fleeing enemies."

Alongside the new handgonnes additional equipment has also been added in the new update, including the Brigandine Armour, the Kettle Sallet Helmet, Hand Pavise Shield and the Burgundian Side Sword. Players will also find the new Ravenspurn map is now available, with Conquest, Team Deathmatch and Pitched Battle supported.

Controversial developer Hammerpoint Interactive has revealed that their online zombie survival title The War Z will now be known as Infestation: Survivor Stories due to "a result of some confusion and trademark issues with a similarly titled property."

After being taken off Steam due to many of the listed features that defied the realistic state of the game and then consequently put back on two months later, The War Z has had its fair share of the controversial limelight.

To help better understand the choice behind the name change, community manager Kewk has revealed to the game's forums that "while we were reluctant to rename the game so long after launch, especially with nearly 1 million registered players, it was ultimately decided to be in the best interest of our existing community as well as future players in order to eliminate confusion."

While the name may be changing, Hammerpoint Interactive ensures that those still playing will be able to go about their daily zombie slaying without any major changes to the way they play.

In a frankly amazing display of corporate humility, and a victory for consumer rights, Microsoft executives have yielded on restrictive DRM plans for the Xbox One, with a blog post from Interactive Entertainment President Don Mattrick announcing that the company is relaxing the proposed restrictions on the upcoming console, to be more like the Xbox 360 --dropping the requirement of online check-ins for games purchased on blu-ray disc, allowing unrestricted secondhand distribution.

We appreciate your passion, support and willingness to challenge the assumptions of digital licensing and connectivity. While we believe that the majority of people will play games online and access the cloud for both games and entertainment, we will give consumers the choice of both physical and digital content. We have listened and we have heard loud and clear from your feedback that you want the best of both worlds.

The announcement goes on to confirm the complete removal of the 24 hours authorisation requirement, although Internet access will be needed for the console's initial setup.

Further, Microsoft remains committed to day and date digital download releases for all games at the same time as boxed copies retail, and Mattrick's comments even confirm that there will be no region locking:

In addition to buying a disc from a retailer, you can also download games from Xbox Live on day of release. If you choose to download your games, you will be able to play them offline just like you do today. Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console -- there will be no regional restrictions.

Disappointingly, plans to allow sharing or trading of digitally-purchased games look to have been canned as a result of the change, with the assertion that "Downloaded titles cannot be shared or resold" --a scenario that gamers are accustomed to with most digital download software, but a step backwards nonetheless.

Games purchased on disc will also now need to remain in the disc drive during use. Gamers wanting the convenience of no disk-changing can opt for the digital download purchase instead.

The Xbox One console is due in November 2013, in 21 markets including Australia, North America, and Europe, for AUD$599, USD$499, GBP£429, and EUR€499

Sony has rolled out their latest firmware update, supposedly adding trophy notification options and improving overall system stability. However sadly this doesn't seem to be the case as many users on the PlayStation Community forums are reporting issues after updating their PlayStation 3, with some consoles going completely unresponsive.

Sony has yet to address the firmware issues caused by the latest firmware update but for now we strongly recommend not updating your PlayStation 3 in hopes that the issue is fixed shortly.

Update: Sony has responded by pulling the update while they investigate further into the issues from the new firmware. We'll have more as it comes to hand.

The Oculus Rift team announced yesterday that they have just closed on $16 million in Series A venture capital to allow them to continue development on their virtual reality headset

We were fortunate enough to be able to pick investors who we thought would be a great fit. They really believe in our vision for the future of VR. These are people who have taken companies from startup to mass market many times, entrepreneurs who have a ton of meaningful experience building hardware and software consumer technology.

As I mentioned before, the funding opens up all sorts of doors for Oculus. It helps us hire the best and brightest minds in VR from around the world. It lets us experiment and prototype with more cutting-edge tech. And it allows us to build a badass, consumer VR gaming platform, the likes of which the world has never seen.

After sourcing almost $2.5 million in their Kickstarter and selling many thousands of units to eager developers, the VC funding will no doubt really help the Oculus team along their way to building the first truly usable consumer-ready virtual reality device.

We've had a Rift dev kit in our office for a couple of weeks now and have just been tinkering with it - we'll have more coverage soon, but even after a brief play it looks like it has the potential to really shake up the video gaming landscape. The fact that venture capital is now being plunged into it is a good sign that they think it has explosive growth potential as a device, so we're really looking forward to seeing what comes out of this.

Screen Australia has today announced that the Australian government will be pledging $6 million over the next three years to 10 different independent game studios, amid recent reports showing the decline in the local gaming industry for revenue and employment.

Over the recent years international publishers have vacated the Australian gaming industry in favour of territories offering greater incentives and lower business costs. This has resulted in the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting employments levels falling from 1431 to 581 people between 2011 and 2012, a staggering near 60 percent drop.

“Given that game development is the fastest growing sector of the worldwide audiovisual market from a consumer perspective, Australian developers should share in the $80 billion global market,” Screen Australia’s Chief Operating Officer Fiona Cameron said today.

The $6 million government funding will go to the following 10 Australian indie studios:

Defiant Development (QLD)

ODD Games (SA)

Soap Creative (NSW)

Tantalus Media (VIC)

Tin Man Games (VIC)

Torus Games (VIC)

Twiitch (VIC)

Uppercut Games (NSW/ACT)

The Voxel Agents (VIC)

Wicked Witch Software (VIC)

Cameron also revealed that those who have gained the $6 million funding are a mix of small to large companies, and will be able to utilise the funding to create "an expansion in the workforce, allowing smaller developers to gain critical mass and larger developers to shift from a reliance on work for hire to developing original projects." You can read more on each of the studios at Screen Australia's official website.

Taking to their Capcom Unity forums, Capcom USA senior vice president Christian Svensson has revealed (thanks VG247) that their Panta Rhei demo Deep Down, showcased earlier this year at the PlayStation 4 event in February, has "nothing to do with Dragon's Dogma."

After several theories suggesting that the tech demo was somehow linked to the Dragon's Dogma franchise, Svensson ensured that both Deep Down and Dead Rising 3 have nothing to do with Dragon's Dogma. Svensson also added that "no new DD product has been announced so there's nothing I can comment on there."

Since its reveal earlier this year, no new information has been given as to what exactly Deep Down is based on, or whether it is a possible sequel to any of their titles. If you missed out on the tech demo you can check it out below for a glimpse at what Capcom may just be bringing to the next-gen platforms.

Promoting the PlayStation 4, Sony has been showing off video recordings of stage demos presented at their E3 2013 booth, offering a look at gameplay footage that has previously only been seen by show attendees. The latest addition to their official youtube channel is Square Enix's much anticipated Thief, in development at Eidos Montreal.

Eidos Montreal Producer Stephane Roy walks through the stage demo, which runs about 10 minutes, showcasing a stealthy castle level, and an assortment of Garrett's thieving abilities and game mechanics, followed by an extensive Q&A with a PlayStation rep.

Watch the full video below.

Thief is due in 2014 on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

CPU and GPU manufacturer AMD has revealed that upcoming current and next-gen title Battlefield 4 will be seeing performance optimisations for their hardware, thanks to their components also found in the next-gen PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles.

"It makes sense that game developers would focus on AMD hardware with AMD hardware being the backbone of the next console generation. At this time, though, our relationship with DICE and EA is exclusively focused on Battlefield 4 and its performance optimizations for AMD CPUs, GPUs and APUs," AMD representatives said.

In a statement to IGN, developer DICE has revealed that while initially rumours suggested that an exclusive partnership had been extended to all DICE titles, both EA and AMD have denied such an exclusivity. AMD has revealed that while optimisations for their hardware will be found in the PC version of Battlefield 4, "the AMD Gaming Evolved program undertakes no efforts to prevent our competition from optimizing for games before their release."

“DICE has a partnership with AMD specifically for Battlefield 4 on PC to showcase and optimize the game for AMD hardware," an EA spokesperson said. "This does not exclude DICE from working with other partners to ensure players have a great experience across a wide set of PCs for all their titles.”

Battlefield 4 will be available for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 end of October and early November, with next-gen consoles dependant on their launch.

After almost three years since being announced, Sony Online Entertainment has officially revealed that the upcoming sandbox sequel to the Norrathian franchise will be titled EverQuest Next.

Taking to his Twitter account, Dave Georgeson has revealed the official title which many were led to believe was simply a temporary name, as told last year at SOE Live.

Originally revealed in 2010 at SOE's Fan Faire event in Las Vegas, development on EverQuest Next has been kept quiet as the team works to re-invent what many believe was the first "true" MMO experience for the larger market. According to Massively the title has been rebooted more than once through the development cycle, however rumours are floating around that we may see something later this year.

Digital games distributor GOG.com has launched their annual Summer Sale promotion, kicking things off by offering up Runic Games' original action RPG Torchlight completely free. Reiterating their feelings towards pervasive copy protection, in light of the recent Xbox One hysteria, the sale is being called #noDRM "for gamers who don't want to be treated like criminals", reminding consumers that all games on the service are freely copyable once downloaded.

In the last few months, there has been a lot of outcry from gamers over DRM and how it is changing our favorite form of entertainment. If it keeps growing, it may well take a large part of the fun out of gaming. As anti-DRM crusaders, we're very glad to see that the issue of restrictive digital rights management has become an item of public debate, and we want to make sure that our #NoDRM stance is clear. None of the games in our sale have DRM, and none of our games ever will.

More than 500 games are expected to go on sale over the next 17 days, with 150 of those being slashed up to 85% off in daily deals from now until July 5th 2013.

Today's daily bundles include all of GOG's D&D titles, with such greats as Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2, Planescape: Torment and others; and 90% off as well on Alan Wake and Alan Wake's American Nightmare.

Head over to GOG.com for all the good stuff.

Treyarch and Activision have today unveiled the newest DLC pack to grace the war-torn Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 lands, this time offering four new multiplayer maps plus some more zombie action. Alongside the new maps is also the return of a re-imagined multiplayer classic, an all-new epic Zombies chapter and a brand-new bonus Zombies weapon – the Ray Gun Mark II.

Get your first look at "Vengeance," the third DLC Map Pack available for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Vengeance includes four new Multiplayer maps: Cove, Detour, Rush, and Uplink, a reimagining of the classic map Summit. Also included is the brand new Zombies adventure Buried, which features the new bonus Zombies weapon, the Ray Gun Mark II.

Each of the four maps - Cove, Detour, Rush and Uplink - will offer new, exotic and diverse multiplayer maps set around the globe for players to destroy their opponents on.

As usual, the Vengeance DLC will be available first to Xbox users on July 2 for 1200 Microsoft Points, and to other platforms at a future date. Check out the trailer below for a glimpse at what to expect in each of the new maps and the new zombie chapter.

Nintendo has revealed that their very first free-to-play title will be based on Steel Diver, the 3DS submarine sim. Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed the news via IGN where he revealed that the new free-to-play title isn't just a 3DS port, instead gaining new features including multiplayer.

"There is something we’re doing with the Steel Diver idea that I think is going to open things up with that game... It’s going to be very fun. We’re exploring from a perspective of where we can take that from a multiplayer standpoint - it's going to have this four-player battle mode that I think is going to be very interesting," Miyamoto told me.

Nintendo has yet to decide on how exactly the title will be monetised; Miyamoto revealed that the company is tossing up between memberships or micro-transactions for extra benefits, ensuring that a balance is kept between the free-to-play and paid users. The game has also been given a guarantee of seeing a retail release for those still uneasy about digital ordering.

Miyamoto also added that "It's something that we're hoping to be able to show relatively soon" so hopefully that means an appearance in any of their upcoming Nintendo Direct streams.

After a flurry of Pokemon activity this week at E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, The Pokemon Company International and Nintendo have announced new details for their upcoming duo launch of Pokemon X and Y for the 3DS.

Among the flurry of information is the reveal of the first Gym Leader players will encounter on their adventure, named Viola who resides in the city of Santalune.

A professional photographer who specializes in Pokémon photography, Viola presides over the Santalune City Gym, whose interior is constructed from threads like spiderwebs, strung together tightly above the darkness. Players will need to find a safe path through these threads, and will receive useful advice from Viola when they battle her.

Alongside the first Gym Leader, five new Pokemon were also showcased including the reveal of new Bug- and Flying-type Pokemon Vivillon as well as Flabebe, a Fairy-type Pokemon who "lives atop a flower that it chooses soon after it's born and will care for its entire life."

For more on these Pokemon, check out the full press release over here but also gaze your eyes down to the newest gameplay trailer. Pokemon X and Y will be available on 3DS this October.

In an E3 interview with Reddit Games, Microsoft Xbox Community rep Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb has clarified another concern of the Xbox One's heightened Internet-authenticated DRM system, seeming to definitively confirm that access to purchased games would not be revoked as a result of a ban from the console's Xbox Live Internet services. (thanks VG247)

In the video interview, with the question being "If someone is banned, whether their fault of not, will they lose access to the games they purchase?", Hryb's exact words were "Absolutely not, you will always have access to the games you purchase. Absolutely not.".

Surprised by the interviewer's positive response to the answer, Hryb then commented "well, you had to expect that", seemingly oblivious to the enourmous level of concern and distrust in the platform's proposed licensing system and the numerous negative possibilities is presents for consumers. Only after the host further questions about a scenario of getting banned for griefing, does Hryb elaborate that "well, you're gonnagetaplaplaymultiplayer", which we can only presume translates to something along the lines of a player only getting banned from the game's multiplayer component in such an instance.

That Microsoft had not had the foresight to reassure interested consumers of this outcome earlier is just another of many missteps in its communication to the public about the new system, so it seems rather apt that it has only been confirmed in a very dismissive manner by a guy wearing a silly hat.

Over the course of the interview, Major Nelson is given a couple of opportunities to promote the benefits of the tightened DRM system, and the 'family sharing' feature, whereby a user can elect to share an assortment of purchased games with a select group of friends and family, is the single point made as a positive justification of the increased software security.

We've tried to make sense of the matter ourselves previously in this article, and a few weeks and press reveals later, the reasonable justifications for diminishing consumer rights to purchased games are still looking paper-thin.

Mad Max was a bit of a surprise to see out at E3 this year, and I'd be lying if I said I'd never wanted to play a game based in that universe -- it's ripe for the videogame picking, after all with everything the first two films gave us.

What thoroughly irked me during the presentation of the game by new developer, Avalanche Studios (it was originally being worked on by KMM's in-house, Sydney-based games studio), was that Max was voiced by an American. In fact, it was really uncomfortable to sit through given the studio talked passionately about treating cars and car-combat in the game with respect given the movie heritage and its impact on pop-culture.

I asked them after the presentation what the decision behind that was, and if they'd change it, but was met with "we wanted someone generic", and a bit of a shrug regarding any sort of reverence to the character in the same way they're giving vehicles.

So we've started a petition.

Max is an important part of Australian cinema and pop-culture history, even globally. The character's man-of-few words persona made (admittedly US-born) Mel Gibson's Australian accent a hugely memorable and significant factor of the films. All we're asking is that Avalanche look for an Australian voice-actor who can channel the stoic film icon, and treat the property with the respect it deserves. If you feel the same way, please check out our petition on Change.org and get as many people involved as possible.

For more on the game, check out our game page and stay tuned for impressions of what Avalanche is doing beyond ignoring the importance of Max, soon.