As society moves towards what some optimistically refer to as a "global community", it's entirely likely that future generations will be unable to imagine a country, and immediately associate an item with it.

For all my years on this planet, I've been content in the knowledge that should I wish to purchase mouthwatering bratwurst, hand-crafted Lederhosen, or cars that have no indicators, Germany is the place to start looking. Likewise, if at any point, if the urge arrives to experience magnificent stone architecture, clever stand-up comedy routines and cirrhosis of the liver - perhaps in the same afternoon - then the only logical choice is Ireland. Some countries are just better at doing things than others.

So with this in mind, and casting a reflective and somewhat biased eye over our own country, just what can we be proud of as kiwis? It used to be that playing the "country association game" with a foreigner prior to around 2000 would generally yield "sheep" and "rugby". These days, it's "sheep", "rugby" and "that film that Peter Jackson played a hobbit in". We're really not on the forefront of the global stage when it comes to many things, so it's important that when we do find areas to excel in, we pick up the ball and run with it, and most importantly avoid using any cheap sporting clichés in the process.

 

Fable III lead Peter Molyneux has said that he’ll be revealing many details regarding Fable III at this week’s X10 event in San Francisco and that we should be prepared to be “really upset.”

"We're making some announcements about Fable III and there's some... Wow, there's some very, very big things happening in Fable. Bigger than you think. And it's going to really upset people," he told Gamereactor (via Eurogamer and VG247).

Lucasarts and TT games have announced a new instalment in the LEGO Star Wars series, to be based on the animated Clone Wars TV series.

Titled LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, this third in the game series is in development for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS and PSP.

In the game, players can be either a Republic Jedi or a separatist, and will follow a story arc inspired by the TV series. Familiar faces from both The Clone Wars and the Star Wars movies will be present.

 

PC Gamer magazine has taken an exclusive look into Obsidian’s Fallout 3 sequel, titled New Vegas, and has returned with some fresh details.

Players assume the role not of a vault dweller, but instead a courier who is dug up by a robot in the Mojave Desert. (Presumably that’s your hand we see in the game’s teaser trailer.) You are nursed back to health by a doctor was a former vault dweller, however, and it’s he who provides you with a Pip-Boy.

Here’s a roundup of today’s news found elsewhere on the internet:

THQ: Facebook games are brand extensions first, profitable second (gamesindustry.biz) - THQ has said that keeping users engaged with its brands via Facebook is more important than creating profitable games for the social networking service.

The company hopes its Facebook titles – three of which are based on existing THQ franchises – can tide users over until the release of console games. CEO Brian Farrell said yesterday that its Facebook titles will launch before console versions of Red Faction and the next Saint's Row, due in the 2011 and 2012 financial years, respectively.

 

As far as the Olympics go, virtual iterations of the event have rarely been as stellar as the games themselves.

Publisher SEGA clearly hopes that their Vancouver 2010 will be the exception, somehow managing to blow gamers away with a release on all major platforms aside from the Nintendo Wii. Vancouver 2010 allows gamers to choose from fourteen different events and six different categories, providing a decent but somewhat disappointing selection.

When first starting Vancouver 2010, the slick presentation will certainly impress. It looks authentic and has the official seal of the 2010 Winter Olympics, so if there is an Olympics title to go for, this may well be it. Each event allows you to enter either a single event where you can play a tutorial, or to put together a number of events and play through in the Olympic mode. In this mode you can compete against some of the major Winter Olympic countries in the world, each with national anthems and official colours.

 

Sequels are very difficult things. Whenever we hear the word, all of us can conjure images of those watered down elaborations, of those franchises that have seen some modicum of success only to be redrafted, reheated and reserved to us like last night’s casserole. We sceptically poke it about the plate, looking for some of the original’s flavour and novelty, before daring to take a mouthful only to get burnt.

And why should BioShock 2 be any different? 2K has fewer cards in their hand now. The mystery must surely be diminished: We know the failed social experiment that is Rapture – some of us now know it better than we know Christchurch – we know what a splicer is, we know what Little Sister does.

And the problem will be exacerbated by how fondly we recall the original. BioShock was rightly acclaimed. It is one of the definitive titles of this console generation – a much-loved copy still lingers on our office’s coffee table, partly obscured by a raft of new releases, but still calling to us like the deep and mournful drones of a Big Daddy somewhere down a long and dark passageway.

 

BioWare has said that Mass Effect 2’s small-text issue on standard definition televisions cannot be addressed through an update to the game and have promised to try and address the issue in future releases in the Mass Effect series.

Posting on the game’s official forum, BioWare’s Michael Gamble writes, "After investigating potential solutions, we have determined that while this issue does affect a small portion of SDTV owners, we are unable to resolve it for Mass Effect 2 through a title update.

 

Rebellion has apologised to players of Aliens vs. Predator’s new multiplayer demo over the weekend, which suffered from matchmaking issues.

While the 360 demo was unaffected, the PC version, running via Steam, saw users having issues joining games until a Steam patch was released.