The Monday Roundup (3DS Prints Money Edition 7/03/11)

Every Monday NZGamer.com will be bringing you the weekend's biggest headlines from around the net, summed up for easy consumption.

Halo Wars Not Yet Dead?
The project that killed Age of Empires developer Ensemble to return?

Age of Empires was a legendary real time streategy game series, with developer Ensemble justifiably lauded as a powerful force in the PC RTS community. Halo Wars, however, which took the core AoE gameplay and mixed in some of Bungie / Microsoft's Halo franchise for good measure, wasn't enough to save the developer from extinction.

RTS games, it seems, are doomed on the console.

Or are they? In what must come as one of the biggest surprises in a long time (or, at least, over the weekend), developer 343 Industries (an internal Microsoft studio which focuses on Halo development) has commented that a Halo Wars sequel isn't out of the question, and that it might come via Kinect.

They did, however, also state that it's not something they're working on right now.

- CVG


Gears of War 3 Beta Stars April 25th
But there's a catch - you'll need to buy something to get in

Epic's upcoming Gears of War 3 is likely to be something of a hit, with the previous titles shifting huge units and generally causing money to gush into both the studio and publisher, as well as receiving near universal acclaim from the media (including us).

If you preorder the title, which might not be a bad idea anyway (if any game is going to sell out, it's this one), you gain access to up to three weeks worth of beta goodness - multiplayer only, of course - starting on April 25th. This deal does, however, appear to be exclusive (in NZ at least) to EB Games - check with your preferred retailer to be sure.

Want in sooner? Bulletstorm: Epic Edition owners get in a week earlier, with their access starting from the 18th of April.

- CVG


3DS Breaks Records in the UK
Despite high price, DSi successor already pre-marching out of stores

Nintendo's impending release of the 3DS, the first game console to feature 3D without requiring any form of glasses, is nearly upon us, with the device set to hit the streets here in New Zealand on March 31st.

There are a few people who are a little less excited about it than the technically impressive premise might otherwise lead you to imagine, however, with detractors pointing out the high price ($479 RRP) and the risk of feeling sick as a result of using it.

Regardless of those naysayers, though, the 3DS has broken pre-order records in the UK, with retailers reporting that nearly 100,000 of the clamshell devices have already been ordered - describing the sales as a "feeding frenzy".

"We're very encouraged that it's going to be a big launch," Nintendo UK sales director, Andy Yates said. "Our target was to get over 100,000 pre-orders - and we're in line with that. So far, we've already beat our personal best for a console launch. With three weeks to go, we're in a great position, as pre-orders are still building."

- CVG