Our mates down under just whipped out the banhammer, seeing as they don't seem to want any necro in their vision. After refusing classification to NecroVision, the Australian Classification Board subsequently banned the ghastly World War I shooter, citing a number of offensive material found in the game.

We have just a few more weeks left before we finally get our hands on Konami Digital Entertainment's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and the home stretch of the waiting period is killing us. To keep you preoccupied, we decided to feature some of the key characters of the game on a weekly basis to freshen our memories on their roles in the series. This week, we'll shed some light on the mysterious Patriots.

We all know how retirement homes and the Nintendo Wii have a mutual relationship, but rarely do we hear about World War I survivors playing the white console. Such is the story of Gladys Powers, the 108-year-old who served as waitress for the British forces before most of us were even born. Go to the full article for more details.

Are you familiar with the logo above? In case you haven't heard yet, that is the new name of development studio Kuju Sheffield. The group decided to change its image in preparation for its specialization in Epic's Unreal Engine 3 and creation of World War I video game title To End All Wars for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Aside from sporting a new name, the development studio recently moved to new premises in central Sheffield as part of its aggressive strategy to expand. Chemistry Studio Head Simeon Pashley commented:

We've decided to specialize in Unreal Engine as it's clearly an awesome next-gen toolset that frees our staff to focus on bringing their creative talents to bear without worrying about the low-level nuts and bolts. It's also perfect for our future plans as it allows us to look forward without worrying about technology stability.

Speaking about future plans, there is still no information known about To End All Wars except that it will be published by UK-based company Ghostlight and fans will get in sometime in 2008. Aside from this, Chemistry also mentioned that it is currently developing a still-t-be-announced title.

For sure. When Microsoft seemed bent to advocate Live Anywhere to game developers in order to connect console thumb-flippers to PC twitchers on what might have been the modern gamer's World War I, they probably didn't expect to be stopped dead cold by Infinity Ward's two-lettered dumb-founder: "No." Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare ain't going Live, says Infinity, and that's that.

 

But Infinity Ward's Grant Collier did reveal in an interview with IGN that CoD4 (for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) was not going to be a sandbox destructive game. Instead, they've put more focus on producing better frame rates on the game than creating a world that's "totally destructible."

And according to Collier, full destructibility is just another fad in the shooting genre that could end sooner than later. While everyone is else is requesting for such a feature, Infinity Ward doesn't feel that it delivers fun in any of the games that are being designed with that concept in mind, like EA's Battlefield Bad Company. He added:

I think it's a buzzword, it's a badge, it's a bullet-point option, but a lot of games they get in there and they try to do that and then they're like 'okay we have the sandbox, now why don't we try to make the game fun'. And total destructibility, you can really ruin the gameplay. ... So I think right now it's a fad, and the fad will pass, we're not going to be bite on in it - we want the game to be fun first, and destructibility comes second.

Oh and Price is coming back. Again. Revived for the modern era, the lovable Brit is going to get new shoes to fill, with arch-nemesis Zakhaev. Collier said that a foiled assassination attempt has your paths cross with Zakhaev and Price and much of their history gets revealed through flashbacks set in Ukraine.

And even though facts have been tossed around that Call of Duty 4 was set in present-day Iraq, it actually revolves around conflict touching the four corners of the modern world. And enemies aren't under-equipped, cowardly Guerrilla types; they've got the technology and the tactics to take you and your band of brothers (circa 2007) out.

Konami has recently announced that they're cooking up a new action game for the DS called Time Ace. In the said game, you'll get to take on the role of Dr. Clock who's faced with the mission of reclaiming his time machine from his sneaky assistant Dr. Klaus Scythe.

The game is set in 1914, wherein Dr. Hugo Clock created this time machine to go back to the World War I era and prevent that war from taking place. However, his assistant, Dr. Klaus Scythe, steals his time machine with a sinister plan to acquire the most powerful weapons known in history to...[make a wild guess..] yep, to rule the world.

So anyway, here are some of the game's features we were able to score via Konami:

• 3D aerial shooting action across more than 18 levels and 9 historical eras
• Acquire and fly the aircraft of the past, present and future, from World War II bombers to modern fighter jets and futuristic marvels of airborne destruction
• Collect power-ups to modify the speed, durability, firepower and maneuverability of your aircraft
• High-flying mini-games for up to four players, including races and intense dogfights via local wireless connection
  

Rated E by ESRB, Time Ace is said to be slated for release spring this year.

Credits go to Nintendic for the image used above.

There has been a lot of Christmas stories which usually involves Santa delivering gifts to kids who were nice throughout the year and all that. But that's kid stuff, and now that most of us know that Santa doesn't exist (yes kids, Santa doesn't exist), one Christmas story that really strucks a nerve is the Christmas Truce.

It was Christmas 1914 during the World War I and in the Western Front, German and British troops stopped killing each other and began singing carols and giving each other gifts in the form of whisky and cigarettes. Heck, there was even a football match. All of these because it's Christmas.

But enough of the Christmas talk and on to business, Slitherine Software and Firepower Entertainment recently released the latest screenshots for their upcoming World War II strategy game, Commander: Europe at War. Them screens will show a variety of units that one could use.

Aside from the gift of screenshots, the Slitherine online store also mentioned that you can now get 50% off from selected digital downloads. If you wanna see the full catalogue, simply click on the read link below. For now, here are the game's screens.

  

The upcoming title Aggression: Europe 1914 from Buka Entertainment lives up to its title in this demo gameplay reel which features s***, more s***, and even more s*** being blown to kingdom come. But before we get to that fun part, let us make the observation that gameplay-wise, Aggression bears a resemblance to the Total War series in that there's a strategic, big-world gameplay phase and there's the real-time tactical battle phase.

Okay, now let's get to the fun part. Buka claims their game engine is capable of handling the routines of "hundreds of detailed units in action," and based on this reel, it looks like they might have lived up to that promise (although we could think of ways of proving that claim, it's gotta wait at least until a demo's available). Simply put: Massed infantry = mass casualties.

Oh, and in case you're wondering about your history lesson, no, this isn't another World War II video game. This one is set in the earlier World War I, a change of pace from the rash of WWII games dumped on our laps in recent years. We'd say hallelujah, but then again, war is hell.

Download: [Aggression: Europe 1914 reel]

The world-renowned pet beagle in the long-running comic strip "Peanuts" has acquired the skill of flying in the upcoming title for PSP, Snoopy vs the Red Baron. Taking control of Sopwith Camel plane, Snoopy must battle the infamous Red Baron in a variety of aerial dogfights, missions and races. As for those who doesn't know, Red Baron is a Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen's moniker. Von Richthofen is a national hero of Germany and is the most successful fighter pilot of World War I.

Will the lovable canine be able to track the Red Baron's whereabouts and defeat the flying ace in an aerial fight? Although not much info have been put into light about the game, some of the details include multiplayer modes in team and versus gameplay and battle modes. It also features 50+ single player missions and customizable planes flying across six unique environments.

Set to be released this fall, Snoopy vs the Red Baron is a perfect game for kids of all ages as it features a simple control system. Aside from that, the visuals are vivid and colorful with aerial combats taking over waters and lands of the imaginary version of France. The game also features a variety of Charles Schulz' original "Peanuts" characters like Woodstock and Sally. Check out the bunch of new screens from the game:

More screens after the jump!