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Source: ONE News -
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Terrorists and assassins have launched an assault on the Australian video game market as they battle for supremacy in the lead up to Christmas.
Following the record-breaking launch of the terrorist fighting game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the widely anticipated Assassin's Creed II is also reporting strong sales worldwide.
Assassin's Creed II, by Ubisoft, has players taking on the character of Ezio, a privileged young noble in Renaissance Italy seeking revenge on rival, ruling families who have betrayed him.
Although it is selling well, Assassin's Creed II is still a long way behind Modern Warfare 2 which was released in November and quickly blasted its way into entertainment history.
According to internal estimates by the game's publisher Activision, Modern Warfare 2 made more than $US590 million in worldwide sales during its first five days, becoming the biggest ever video game launch.
Jeffrey E Brand, associate Professor of communication and media at Bond University, said the popularity of such MA15 titles is further proof of the growing maturity of average Australian gamers.
"The average age of an Australian gamer is 30, which is interesting given the average age of a non-gamer is 40 and a typical Australian is only 36."
Modern Warfare 2 is an ultra realistic, first-person shooter based around a counter-terrorist group attempting to prevent a Russian invasion of the United States.
Brand said the success of such games is a reflection of the increasing production value gamers are demanding.
"Audiences are calling for high production value, and for a really engaging experience and both these games have that," he said.
He said these games were built off the success of previous titles
"Like Hollywood films or popular books, audiences have accumulated over time and built up an appetite for them."
Modern Warfare 2 has been criticised for including a mission involving players joining a Russian nationalist terrorist group in massacring civilians at an airport.
But Brand said the content of the game was no different to that seen in Hollywood films.
"It is no more part of the appeal than war and conflict stories in biblical terms, novel terms or film terms," he said.
"Games are not only very good story tellers but first and foremost games are made for the challenge and competition.
"From chess right through to computer games, this is usually done in a military context and Call of Duty just borrows from that military aspect."
Between them, Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin's Creed II take up six places on leading video game website Gamespot's top 10 most popular titles across all gaming platforms.
