Light Start – Fallout 4, Black Ops III, The Witcher, Overwatch, and female gamers
Brett Venter
Early warning – Fallout 4 players will be going here for the next few months
This edition of Light Start is all about the games – because we’re in the final stretch of game releases for 2015. If it doesn’t launch in the next week or so, it’s not worth playing. Mostly. Above (on the website) is the launch trailer for Fallout 4, ahead of its 10 November launch. And there are two ways to watch this trailer. You can either stare at the settings, people and potential with little understanding or you can picture yourself traversing the wasteland with your canine buddy in tow, being awesome or being a dick. Both are viable gameplay options. Also: mini-nukes.
Today is Call of Duty: Black Ops III day – if you’re reading this, you’re lagging behind the rest of the multiplayer world
There are two kinds of gamer in the world when it comes to shooters. One will spend upwards to 200 hours in a world like Fallout, the other will spend far, far more time refining their twitch reflexes and scoping noobs from afar with a handgun. Because they don’t deserve the honour of a sniper rifle bullet. Yes, today is launch day for what will probably be the best-selling game release of the year: Call of Duty: Black Ops III. To get you pumped and ready to fake being sick so you can leave work early today is the launch trailer, complete with some Rolling Stones. Pick your Specialist, it’s time to go fragging.
The Witcher franchise could be a movie by 2017
Hold onto your Yrdens, the Witcher series is going to be getting the movie treatment. Now if you’re any kind of Andrzej Sapkowski fan (and you should be, the books are awesome), you’ll know that The Witcher has already had a film adaptation called The Hexer. We’re scared to watch it. There’s a bigger-budget treatment in store, with Studio Platige Films teaming up with the Sean Daniel Company (which brought us The Mummy) to create a film based on Sapkowski books rather than a hit game series. We’d still give it a watch – especially if there’s a stuffed unicorn involved.
Blizzard shooter Overwatch headed to consoles in 2016
There’s yet another kind of gamer, to whom stats and armour sets are no mystery. They probably play Blizzard’s games: Diablo, Starcraft, World of Warcraft – that kind of thing. There’s also getting a shooter in Overwatch and Blizzard have just confirmed that the team-based multiplayer outing will get console releases as well as a PC launch. Launching before the end of June next year, Overwatch will land on the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. We should hear more about it at Blizzcon, which also kicks off today. See why today’s a Light Start gaming edition yet?
According to a new demographic survey, more women own consoles than men
Right, we know that survey can be flawed, can’t account for everything, blah, blah, blah. But the newest figures from the Pew Research Centre have some interesting things to say about console ownership. In the States, obviously. According to their polling, more women than men (of those surveyed) own their own game consoles. The Centre claims that 42% of women surveyed have a PlayStation or Xbox (which generation isn’t specified), while just 37% of males surveyed can say the same. The survey doesn’t make any claims about the gaming habits of those surveyed but still… food for thought, yes?
