Release Dates, Diablo III Delayed, Ratings in Australia

Two big games have had their release dates announced: Darksiders II and Far Cry 3.

Now I haven't played the first Darksiders, though it is on my list. I know a lot of people are really excited about it though and it's coming out at a time of year where, strangely, not many big games come out: summer. Darksiders II will be released on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on June 26th in North America and June 29th in Europe.

For those of you waiting for the Wii-U version, it will be a launch title.

As for Far Cry 3, it currently has a release date of September 6th. That's on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. Not having played either of the first two Far Cry games, I can't really comment on it. From what I've heard, the first was solid and the second was kind of a let down.

__________________________________________________

Diablo III has been delayed again. What a surprise. The game that has been in the making for over a decade was scheduled to come out in Q1 2012. In a recent earnings call, Activision has, unfortunately, confirmed that no new games will be coming out in Q1. This means that the earliest we'll see Diablo III is April-June of this year in Q2.

While WoW: Mists of Pandaria and Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, are also expected to be released this year, hints have been dropped by Blizzard (including this delay) that it will probably not happen.

__________________________________________________

Australia may finally be getting an R18+ rating for video games. A recent piece of legislation presented to parliament by Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare has proposed that an "adult's only" R18+ rating be given to video games no later than January of 2013.

Clare cited facts that showed that the average gamer is about 32 years old with women also making up half of the gaming demographic. He played this quite smart, also going into how it would help the Australian economy by allowing more games to come in and without companies having to butcher them to them "acceptable".

Coming from me, this is also win-win. Without the R18+ rating, some games are given leeway for the MA15 rating which anyone can buy, thus meaning any kids could buy without parental permission. The other times they result in butchered imports or classification refusal, effectively banning the games from stores. The R18+ rating would prevent both of these, meaning everyone wins.

So good luck Australia. I hope you're finally given the right to choose to play anything you damn well want to play.