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Tony Hawk: Shred may have flopped at retail, shifting just 3000 copies in its first week on sale in the US, but Activision believes sales will pick up as people shop for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“For the first time we’re targeting that game to kids,” Activision Publishing label CEO Eric Hirshberg told Gamasutra. “It’s a gift-oriented game, but, that said, we need to build awareness for the game still.”

Tony Hawk: Shred launched in late October on both sides of the Atlantic, and while NPD figures suggest it did poorly in the US it’s impossible to say how it fared in the UK, although it has been noticeably absent from weekly Chart-Track listings, failing even to creep into the format-specific charts where sales thresholds are much lower.

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EA plans to bring its licensed golf series to Facebook soon, but don’t go locking up your cocktail waitresses just yet because Tiger Woods is nowhere in sight – instead we’re told to expect a game called EA Sports PGA Tour Golf Challenge.

Due out this winter, Golf Challenge uses a one-click swing system and mouse or keyboard aiming and has you playing through rounds to earn XP and level up, unlocking real-world golf courses in the process.

It features daily challenges and promises to crown weekly champions, while impatient players can fork over cash in micro-transactions that “customise and accelerate a player’s career”. That old chestnut.

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MIT student links Microsoft’s motion-sensing camera to iRobot, uses it for 3D mapping, gesture command.

Get the full article at GameSpot

MIT student links Microsoft’s motion-sensing camera to iRobot, uses it for 3D mapping, gesture command.

Get the full article at GameSpot

MIT student links Microsoft’s motion-sensing camera to iRobot, uses it for 3D mapping, gesture command.

Get the full article at GameSpot

Brendan O’Connor says he wants issue “progressed”, but warns against speculation of outcomes of next censorship ministers’ meeting; industry observers urge gamers to be optimistic.

With the next Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG) meeting just around the corner, the eye of every Aussie gamer will be firmly fixed on Canberra on December 10 with the expectation that a decision surrounding the introduction of an R18+ classification for video games will finally be reached.

However, Federal Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O’Connor (the Minister who has taken control of the R18+ issue in parliament) is warning gamers not to try and predict the outcome of the next SCAG meeting.

“The issue is on the agenda for the SCAG meeting on 10 December and at that time classification ministers will discuss the matter,” O’Connor told GameSpot AU. “There’s little use to speculating about what will come out of that discussion, but I understand that the gaming community is keen to see this issue progressed and I share that goal.”

Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O’Connor says he wants to make progress on R18+ for games.

Just last month, O’Connor told GameSpot AU that despite an overwhelmingly positive response supporting an adult classification for video games in last year’s public consultation, he and other classification ministers believe that more community views–what he terms “the silent majority”–are needed before a decision on R18+ for games can be made.

Ron Curry, CEO of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (iGEA), is of a different opinion to O’Connor. He believes any further consultation would just confirm what the government already knows–that Australia is ready for an R18+ classification for video games.

“If there was an overwhelming objection to the issue, then I’m sure [the Australian public] would have been just as active in voicing their opposition as the supporters were,” Curry told GameSpot AU. “[But] it simply didn’t happen. I’m not sure that it’s right to have a consultation, then dismiss the findings claiming that those who aren’t gamers didn’t give an opinion. Should we assume that for any overwhelming response to a government inquiry in the future, that it’s dismissed as only interested people contributed?”

“Let’s not forget, according to Bond University’s research, that 68 percent of all Australians play video games. I guess the government is looking for the remaining 32 percent, which is a dramatic minority of the population.”

Curry urges gamers to remain optimistic about the upcoming SCAG meeting, despite his thoughts on the lack of commitment seen in the past.

“We’ve seen some steps forward with the public consultation, regardless of our thoughts on the outcome. There are indications that, at a federal level at least, the issue is being treated with some degree of seriousness. However, I would hope that we see some leadership on the issue. I hope SCAG either makes a decision, or commits to closure on the issue, because until now we’ve had procrastination, diffusion and, largely, the issue has been ignored.”

Former deputy director of the Classification Board of Australia, Paul Hunt, is of the view that gamers shouldn’t hold their breath for any major decisions. He believes that classification ministers are unlikely to make any decision on the matter before they get what they want–i.e. the views of “the silent majority”.

“I am not aware that any experts or community groups have taken part in any further sharing of views,” Hunt told GameSpot AU. “It doesn’t mean they haven’t–just that the information hasn’t been shared. Perhaps this has been done, and ministers will announce their latest findings. However, I would remain fairly neutral on expectations regarding a decision at the December meeting. SCAG is a ministerial council that deals with lots of important legal and other issues that have significant impact on the lives of all Australians. Classification is a very small part of it, and R18+ for games is a very small part of classification.”

According to Hunt, entertainment content such as video games should not be a matter for a ministerial council such as SCAG. He believes this is one of the reasons why some ministers may be unwilling to make a decision that will be unpopular with people in the electorate, hence all the stalling on the issue.

“I don’t have a problem with the government making sure they have information and views from all sectors. That makes good sense. There is no need to isolate the non-gaming public. If you do that you will be talking with less than a third of Australians. However, the government has already asked everyone for their opinion. I don’t agree with worrying about “the silent majority”. It’s garbage. The reason they are silent is because they don’t give a s***! It’s the old cop-out from the bleeding hearts: ‘Everyone is too uneducated or frightened to realise or say how bad an R18+will be, so just listen to us and don’t allow it. We speak for the silent majority’. What a load of crap.”

Like Curry, Hunt believes that any further public consultation will not change the overwhelming support in Australia for an R18+ for games. He says the only purpose of further consultation is to delay a decision.

“Obviously the discussion paper and consultation gave an overwhelming answer–and not just in terms of numbers. In my opinion the strength of the [published] arguments supporting an R18+ are far greater than the strength of the arguments against. A cynical view may be that one or more ministers didn’t get the answer they wanted out of the consultation, so they’ll keep asking the questions until they get the ‘right’ answer. I can’t understand why they are delaying. If a minister doesn’t want an R18+, just put the issue to a vote and vote against it. Any other response is pretty soft.”

Classification ministers will meet on December 10 in Canberra to discuss R18+ for games. For more on the issue, or to submit a question to Brendan O’Connor, visit GameSpot AU’s previous coverage.

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Former Obsidian and Pandemic devs reimagining Atari 2600 best-seller as downloadable game with local co-op play for Xbox 360, PS3, PC; release set for early next year.

The first project to come to light from Killspace Entertainment is not the rumored adaptation of 1979’s Apocalypse Now after all. However, it is a new take on an entertainment property from around the same time.

Yars’ Revenge is the first announced title from Killspace Entertainment.

Atari has announced Yars’ Revenge for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, a Killspace-developed reimagining of the 1981 Atari 2600 best-seller. The game will put players in control of an unnamed member of an insectoid alien species called the Yar. After surviving a brainwashing attempt by the opposing Qotile empire, the Yar takes flight to get her vengeance.

A downloadable game, Yars’ Revenge has been set for release in the first quarter of 2011. Details are scant, but the revamp will feature an anime-inspired aesthetic, as well as local cooperative play and multiple endings.

Formed in 2009, Killspace boasts talent from a number of big-name developers, including Obsidian Entertainment, Pandemic Studios, EALA, and Red 5. The studio’s LinkedIn profile indicates that it is working on “an original IP with a major publisher and a licensed IP to be announced.” The profile also indicates that the studio’s focus is on first- and third-person “action, horror, and sci-fi” games.

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Game of the Year Edition of co-op focused role-playing shooter arrives on Apple platform in just two weeks, will include all DLC packs.

Mac gamers will soon be able to enjoy another hit ported from other platforms. Today, Gearbox Software announced that the Game of the Year edition of Borderlands will be released for Apple computers on December 3–in just over two weeks. The port of the M-rated game is being performed by London-based Feral Interactive, which also handled the Mac editions of BioShock, Rome: Total War, and Sid Meier’s Pirates!

Soon Mac owners can join Borderlands’ madcap marauding.

Having sold over 3 million copies to date , Borderlands has proven a popular combination of role-playing game and first-person shooter. Published by 2K Games, the “role-playing shooter” drops players onto the barren planet of Pandora as one of four character classes: soldier, siren, hunter, and berserker. Whatever roles players assume, they must fight their way through various monster- and marauder-infested wastelands in search of the fabled Vault. Along they way, they accumulate skills and powers to aid them in their quest, which can be played alone or in up to four-player co-op mode.

Already available for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, the GOTY edition includes all previously available downloadable content packs for Borderlands, including the The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, and Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution. For more on the original Borderlands, read GameSpot’s full review.

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PS3 owners are eagerly (er, some of them, maybe) awaiting their chance to play the latest Final Fantasy MMO when FFXIV comes out next year. But they’ll start with one distinct advantage – all the PC players, who will share the same online world, have already been playing the game for several months… …

We’re still in the center of a game release maelstrom. The TDar crew battens down the hatches and endures by gabbing about the biggest games of the week. Also included: Transformers, Top 7s, farts, Robocop, rants about packaging and the ESRB, puns, shout outs, and as always, love… …