NEW RELEASES

As the holiday season slowly creeps towards us, things are finally starting to heat up in the land of video games, with a couple of titles on the horizon that are dying to suck your free time away.

First up on September 9 is one of the biggest titles of 2014: Destiny (PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360). Developed by the same team that turned the Halo series into the multi-million dollar franchise it is today, Destiny is the next big entertainment evolution – an online-centric FPS that sends you on an intergalactic journey, joined by a robotic guide voiced by Game Of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage. Take our word for it, this one’s going to be big.

Next up, a little something for the kids. September 18 brings Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes (PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U), the sequel to last year’s mega-hit. This time, the Marvel gang joins the action, adding a new range of figurines to collect and original, character-driven stories to play. Mix in an all-new and improved Toy Box mode and you have hours of entertainment.

For the Nintendo Wii U fans, September 20 brings you your next must-play title – Hyrule Warriors. This unexpected mash-up will see you cutting down legions of enemies as Link, Zelda, Midna and other characters from The Legend Of Zelda franchise, while using over-the-top powerful Dynasty Warriors-style moves. It won’t be as deep as traditional Zelda games, but you can expect it to be a whole lot of fun regardless.

Finally, we arrive at FIFA 15 (PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360), the latest iteration in the yearly series. Football fans will surely lap this up in droves and enjoy the all-new emotional intelligence, as players are made more lifelike than ever before. It drops on September 25.

NEWS

Playstation 4 Continues To Dominate

It’s good news for Sony Computer Entertainment, which has claimed that in Australia, according to NPD Group Australia data, the PlayStation 4 has remained a raging success and is the number-one-selling new-generation console. Even more impressive is that the console is outselling is nearest competitor month-on-month at a rate of two-to-one since its launch last year.

“The responses we have received for the PS4 system’s unique gameplay experiences powered by the network, along with its vast game portfolio, have been phenomenal, and I am absolutely delighted that PS4 was able to reach this commemorative milestone in less than nine months,” said Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Speaking to the Financial Review, Sony Computer Entertainment Australia managing director Michael Ephraim had his own thoughts. “People are realising it is the probably the most powerful console out there, they’re seeing that in the gaming experience … but we’ve also realised how people game.”

Amazon Buys Twitch

Moving out of Australia, the biggest news of the month is that online retail behemoth Amazon has acquired Twitch for US$970 million in cash. It’s a surprising move, especially in light of many rumours speculating that Google would be the one to nab the company. The acquisition is no doubt a major win for Amazon, considering that in the month of July, Twitch claims it had over 55 million unique viewers, who watched a total of 15 billion minutes from around one million uploaders.

Twitch CEO Emmett Shear is naturally over the moon. “Being part of Amazon will let us do even more for our community. We will be able to create tools and services faster than we could have independently. This change will mean great things for our community, and will let us bring Twitch to even more people around the world,” he said.

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