JOE’s Gaming Round-up

JOE's Round-up continues with the launch of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, while will celebrate the final release date of Gran Turismo 5 and the prospect of Gears of War Kinect.

JOE

By Emmet Purcell

Welcome to another week of JOE’s videogame round-up. As always, we’re looking to provide you with up-to-the-minute news, download reviews, weekly charts and forthcoming release dates on a weekly basis. So if thereâ€™s anything you think weâ€™re leaving out, or would like us to shine a spotlight on, feel free to leave a comment below.

News

Gran Turismo finally gets a firm release date at last

Gran Turismo – the series with the shiniest cars

Yes, it’s finally happening – after five years of development and countless delays, Gran Turismo 5 is finally hitting store shelves on Wednesday November 5.

“Gran Turismo 5 is an ambitious project,” said Polyphony Digital head honcho Kazunori Yamauchi, “with challenges and complexities that have made it our version of the Apollo Space Programme!” As GT5‘s protracted development lumbered on, new additions such as kart racing and WRC and NASCAR licenses were included.

To further whet your appetite, GT5 will feature 1031, all of which Eurogamer detailed last week – leading us to wonder, just how many Nissan Skylines can one game have?

Gears of War for Kinect?

Look scared for the Kinect camera…. now!

If you picked up your Kinect last week, we’re sure you’re as exhausted and slightly disappointed as we were with Microsoft’s motion sensing device, or possibl you’re just wondering “where are all the games for core gamers?” Well wonder no more, or wonder a little bit more – a ‘trusted source’ has told entertainment portal IGN that Epic Games are working on a Kinect-enabled version of the series. Whether this is a retro-fitted title is unknown, but this rumour could explain Gears of War 3‘s recent delay to Winter 2011.

Purchase/Download of the Week

Who’s That Flying (PSN Minis, â‚¬6)

WTF?! Yes, it is Who’s That Flying, thanks for asking

Who’s That Flying is one of the most irreverent shooting titles around, in its name (the abbreviation WTF helps) and its gameplay mechanics, where avoiding enemies is more important than firing blindly. With 50 lives, it’s your job to dodge the wave of beasts flying towards you as best you can, taking out enemies when you can and hoping for the best over 15 levels. Proof that the PSN Minis scene shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand, Who’s That Flying is well worth your time.

Friday Releases 19/11/10

Fancy sideburn/moustache combinations were a punishable offence

We’ll hold our hands up – we underestimated Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood from the day it was released, believing that the Ezio Auditore-heavy action was little more than Assassin’s Creed 2.1, with a needless multiplayer tacked on. However, with ever-increasingly excellent trailers and gameplay clips, rave reviews and breathless forum impressions, it looks like Ubisoft have come up trumps once more. Aside from Brotherhood, we’re very interested in seeing how Burnout series developers Criterion Games got on with the Need for Speed franchise with Hot Pursuit, which harks bark to the cops vs robbers chases that originally brought the series fame.

Xbox 360

Alien Breed 3: Descent (XBLA)

Apache Air Assault

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Blood Drive

Create

Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit

Playstation 3

Apache Air Assault

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood