For broken games.
Continue reading “Illegal Return Policy Gets Sony A Multi-Million Fine”
Tag: Australia
Hotcakes: CivilContract and the GDPR Takedown Request
It’s a story they’ll be telling for ages.
Continue reading “Hotcakes: CivilContract and the GDPR Takedown Request”
PUBG Offers Special Pan For Australia Charity
EB Games Australia Settles Harassment Claim, Denies Wrongdoing
Kotaku Australia is reporting that EB Games has settled a harassment claim brought by at least one employee.
EB Games has settled the claim, according to Alex Walker, for a paltry $8,500, a sum which the employee (Randall) claims he was pressured into, along with the company refusing to admit any wrongdoing. The employee also notes that he will not be given a reference by EB Games.
This whole ordeal started in 2015 with several employees bringing claims against District Manager Mark DiStefano, alleging racist conduct and underpayment, among other offenses. EB Games has refused to comment on the lawsuit as has Mark DiStefano.
Australia To See 10% Price Hike On Steam
A 10% price hike on Steam games sold in Australia is all but confirmed, as reported by PC Gamer. As some outlets have been covering, the 2015 Australian budget will include a tax on intangible imported goods, the goal being to apply the GST (Goods and Services Tax) that had not been collected due to the law being written before such goods had become a major market.
When the new prices go into effect is presently unknown.
(Source: PC Gamer)
SMITE Launches Oceanic Servers
Hi-Rez Studios has announced new SMITE servers for the Oceanic region. Players who opt into the new servers will be able to keep all of their progress, and can even still play with North American and European players if they so wish.
“As SMITE grows, we continue to expand servers into key regions so that we can provide the best service and performance for our international players” said Todd Harris, Chief Operating Officer of Hi-Rez Studios. “The Australian community has always been very vocal and supportive, and we are excited to improve the game experience for the community in this region.”
SMITE will be on display at PAX Australia, where attendees will receive a free Sydney Shredder skin for He Bo.
(Source: Hi-Rez Press Release)
The Old Republic Coming To Australia, New Zealand
It’s been a while since anything was said about The Old Republic’s launch in Australia and New Zealand, or for that matter the lack of a launch in either territory. Luckily, Senior Lead Community Manager Stephen Reid announced on the official forums today that Bioware is aiming for a Spring 2012 launch, around March 1st. Granted, a great deal of players have likely already purchased the game and are currently playing on North American servers, but no doubt this announcement will please those who would rather wait.
We can confirm that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be launching in Australia and New Zealand in the spring of 2012.
Right now we are targeting March 1st, but that could change as our number one priority is making sure that customers have a great service to play on.
For those of you who may have already imported the game, we will be investigating solutions to allow you to continue to play on a local server once they come online in March.
(Source: The Old Republic Forums)
AUS SOL on APB, Says RTW
It’s always a shame to see Australia getting beaten with the short end of the stick (the end with the railroad spike) and put as much blame on the ratings board as you will, it is far more likely to see a game not released in Australia because it was banned, rather than the developer simply saying “we don’t feel like it.” Such is the case when Realtime Worlds decided that they would not be setting up local servers in Australia, meaning Electronic Arts will not be selling All Points Bulletin to the Australian market.
All Points Bulletin, the upcoming MMO by Realtime Worlds, is a fast paced game that requires fast paced servers that can deliver fast paced action at a fast pace in order to pace itself with the fast pace of the fast paced players in a fast paced world. As such, unlike certain MMOs (Eve Online, Fallen Earth, etc) where players from around the world join one clustered server, it just isn’t feasible for Australian players to connect to US or European servers.
The exact reasons are not official, but the call is likely due to the cost of hosting the servers versus how much Realtime World expected to gain from selling box copies and subscriptions.
Crimecraft Banned in Australia
I guess it had to happen eventually, what with Australia’s tight limits on drugs in video games, but after two months of the game’s release, it didn’t seem that that ban would be coming any time soon. According to Gamesindustry.biz, Australia has refused classification to Vogster Entertainment and their recently Free to Play MMO Crimecraft for the use of fictional drugs.
Although the drugs are fictional, the Classification Board decided that they were similar enough to real world drugs, citing in-game enhancements such as K-Dust, Birth, Chimera, and several anabolic steroids.
I’m not sure what this will do to Crimecraft’s sales that hasn’t been done already, but the prevalence of the title in online download shops makes it that much easier to obtain by locals in Australia. Crimecraft already features a free to play model, thanks to already poor sales.
Either way, Crimecraft just got that much harder to obtain by Australians.
MMO Fallout 