The second gameplay trailer for Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag takes us a little bit deeper into the life and past of Edward Kenway. It also has a bit where a dude gets eaten by a shark. Any trailer with sharks in gets the thumbs up from me! Now, apparently ol’ Eddie used to work for a King, presumably of England. But it sounds like he got fed up with that and went rogue, pillaging and plundering and generally doing whatever the hell he wants. Good on him, I guess.

We’re introduced to his crew in a vague and general way, but mostly there’s just lots of images of Kenway jumping off buildings directly into the spines of his enemies. Maybe you’ve seen this before – it’s called Assassin’s Creed: Any of the Other Ones. Anyway, it looks pretty and if it’s anything like the ship battles of what is colloquially known as Ass Creed 3, it should be a lot of fun.

Ass Creed 4 is due for release on October 31, and already has a metric butt-tonne of junk for preordering and/or special editions which you can find at your local retailer.

Editor’s Note: After we ran our massive interview with Nate Mitchell, VP of Product behind the Oculus Rift VR headset (read part one here, and part two here) we were contacted by Neil Schneider from Meant To Be Seen 3D, the core developers behind the open source Vireio Perception drivers that many gamers have been using to turn games into VR-capable 3D experiences.

He asked us if he could issue a statement to clear the air around the issue of Vireio drivers vs. native Rift support, and we agreed. So without further ado, take it away Neil…

A new trailer! A teaser trailer, specifically, for the new Batman game, Batman: Arkham Origins.

There’s not much to see in this trailer as it is, after all, a teaser. We have Batman (*gasp!*) engaged in a hand vs. staff battle against what seems to be anti-Batman, Deathstroke. Aaaaand that’s it.

Like I said, there’s not a lot to go on, and there’s no gameplay. But it does tell us that the full trailer will be ready for your viewing consumption on May 21 and that Arkham Origins will see release worldwide on October 25. Check it out below and tell us what you think!

We’ve been carefully evaluating the entries to our BenQ Gaming Monitor giveaway, where three lucky people will be heading home with a brand new BenQ RL2450H gaming monitor. These monitors were custom-made in accordance with the direction from some of South Korea’s top StarCraft II players, resulting in an experience powered by a dynamic contrast booster to adjust levels on the fly and keep you at maximum alertness.

But enough about that! Who are the winners? Well I’m very pleased to announce, after much deliberation, that our winners are…

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is due out in a matter of days, and includes an interesting feature for an ARPG — customisable lair-building. You’ll be returning to your lair frequently and your enemies will try to attack you even there, so it’s important to build up your defences with traps and upgrade your generator to unlock more crafting options. Interesting stuff! If you want to get in now, you can pre-order at the official site.

Source: VG247

Welcome to the Friday Tech Roundup! Contained herein is a weekly dose of some of the best tech news from across the Internet, rounded up for your edification and entertainment. Read on for all the details of Windows 8.1, Nintendo’s method of monetising fan videos, and the $325,000 burger that you probably wouldn’t want to eat.

The fifth Battle Arena Melbourne fighting game tournament kicks off at Melbourne’s CQ tonight, with around 300 players expected to fight it out across 11 different games.

The Couchwarriors crew have been responsible for some of the most impressive gaming tournaments in Australia, including their corroboration with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra last year.

Along with three days of frenzied, adrenaline-filled action, this year’s BAM will feature a live performance from chiptunes artist Pselodux. Tom Taylor, author of the Injustice: Gods Among Us prequel comic, will be signing comics on the Saturday, while the NewGamePlus TV crew will be hosting a qualifier in association with Monash University’s High School eSports League.

This, of course, is an entree to the main course, which includes the following: Events for Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (2012), Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, The King of Fighters XIII, Street Fighter X Tekken, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, Dead or Alive 5, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, Super Smash Bros Brawl & Melee, as well as the first Australian tournament for Injustice: Gods Among Us and an exhibition event for Mortal Kombat.

If you want to watch the action for yourself down at Melbourne’s CQ, a $10 spectator pass will cover the whole weekend. You can also watch the action live from Friday to Sunday on Shadowloo’s TwitchTV channel.

The full schedule is available over on the BAM website, and as always, go Sydney.

News of Maxis’ upcoming Sim City expansion has accidentally hit the internet, with Green Man Gaming posting a listing for the DLC on their site (and then quickly removing it).

Maxis have since confirmed the expansion on their Facebook account, saying “Some of you may have seen thrilling new SimCity content that arrived too early at the gate. It’s coming May 28th. We think you’ll be amused.”

Unfortunately it wasn’t pulled down quickly enough, with one quick-thinking YouTube user catching the whole thing below.

Source: VG247

Metro: Last Light is the direct sequel to Metro 2033, and promises to fix all the complaints about the original while simultaneously looking drop-dead gorgeous and pushing your PC as far as it can go. Does it live up to the claims? Find out in our video review.

WARNING: Metro Last Light is rated R18+ in Australia. The following video contains scenes and language that are not suitable for viewers under 18.

Back in February, Avalanche Games’ CEO released several blurry sepia-toned screenshots of what looked for all the world like a new Just Cause game. “Just Cause 3?!” I screamed excitedly, ripping my pants off in anticipation — but it was not to be.

Avalanche’s chief creative officer Christofer Sundberg has revealed to Edge that the screenshots were actually “from a steampunk-style game we had in development that we put on ice.”

“I really love that art style, and to combine it with sandbox gameplay is a dream of mine,” he said. “Fortunately, being an independent developer I can control my own destiny and we’ll make something in that world sooner or later.”

Well! I’d better put these pants back on then. So what ARE Avalanche working on? “We are developing for both current and next-gen, but the earliest we’ll be able to talk about it and go into any detail is after the games we are working on are announced,” he said.

“We’re also announcing new, interesting tech development that we do internally, but that is not until later this year.”

Source: Edge Online

A website for a MOBA called Dawngate has appeared overnight, offering a chance to be a part of a MOBA that “looks and feels familiar while offering a whole new way to experience MOBA gameplay”.

“Dawngate empowers you to forge the champions you love for the roles you want in a competitive arena,” claims the site, “shaped by ever-evolving, community-driven content and story.” And, well… that’s all there is to know so far, other than the fact that EA have signed on to publish it.

You can hit up the official site to sign up for beta, or perhaps mine meticulously through the source code for clues. With EA on board though, I should think we’ll be hearing more about this next month at E3. Stay tuned.

Source: Blue’s News

It’s been a while since we’ve seen anything about DARK, the vampire stealth game — perhaps it’s been quietly recovering its strength in a casket of native soil. In any case, there’s a new trailer out that shows off the various skills in the game, which you can see below. It’s a somewhat underwhelming bit of gameplay video and doesn’t seem to look as good as early-released screenshots, which doesn’t bode well for its upcoming PC release in the next few months. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Source: Blue’s News