Welcome to the first of many monthly re-caps at GU, starting with the month just past; February 2010. Here we'll get a chance to have another look over recent releases, industry happenings, and some of the award-worthy and sometimes stupid things we've said in comment and debate...



It has certainly been an unforgettable first quarter of 2010 for game releases, and it's not over yet. February saw big-brands return with BioShock 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, Aliens vs Predator and Napoleon: Total War. If that wasn't enough, Star Trek made it's MMO debut with Star Trek Online, and the highly anticipated Heavy Rain landed on the PlayStation 3.

I don't think I know anyone that wasn't expecting a AAA title that tickled their fancy early this year, and the industry has delivered in spades. Although, to be completely frank, I'm yet to move onto February having still not completed January's Mass Effect 2 - the cause being my 50-odd hours pumped into the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta.

Looking to community conversation, an interesting debate on the ramifications of newly introduced Digital Rights Management measures, which require you be connected to the internet to play, and proved a thoughtful read. It spawned from an Assassin's Creed 2 article, which is just one of many future Ubisoft games that will bolster the DRM method in question.



South Australia became one of the first states in the world to censor the internet, albeit briefly. The law was passed and then pulled, dictated that users must publish confidential identification details when posting political opinion. This was, of course, a Michael Atkinson movement.



Michael Atkinson had even more ignorant, outlandish things to push in February - this time on the topic of R18+ classifications. I'm talking about none-other than his opinion that gamers are as threatening as biker gangs. Needless to say, the GU community did not agree.



Lastly, this hot-topic picked up just short of a couple hundred replies, and was all about the iPad's announcement and release. It wasn't so much a discussion about whether it was a good gaming platform or not, rather a war of opinion between those who believe it is ill-featured - such as a lack of Flash - and those who don't.



That'll just about do it this time around. Expect more of the same come the start of April!