Afternoon Newsbreak – Monday, July 9th

Daily news updates around here have been spotty at best, and the editors at Gamers Association actually avoided consistent coverage of everything out there to funnel our focus into high-quality creative content for everyone to enjoy. Besides, as the Big Boys in the industry have the manpower and popularity to receive and deliver the updates first, our stories would be always be set back as secondhand accounts.

Now, however, with the constant output of information pummeling the consumer from every which way, we see the need for a one-stop shop with quick recaps of what’s going on in the world of gaming. As such, without further ado, I bring you the Gamers Association Daily Newsbreak.

• In a press release this morning, SEGA confirmed that Phantasy Star Online 2 will be making its way to Western audiences in early 2013. Dead set on side-stepping the mistake of the recently released and subscription-based MMO The Secret World,PSO 2 will be a free-to-play action RPG online experience set in a sci-fi fantasy world familiar to fans. Visit the official website for more, and check out the announcement trailer below.

• Peter Molyneux’s upcoming game experiment aptly entitled Curiosity landed a release date of August 22nd. If you’re unaware of the work, Curiosity involves nothing more than chipping away at the same cube as everyone else playing along with hopes of becoming the one and only person to discover what’s inside. Oh, and did I mention there’s a piece of DLC at a price of $50,000 to help you dig with super speedy efficiency? No kidding.
• Michael Fassbender, who you know as Magneto from the latest X-Men, signed on to play the lead in (plus co-produce) a big-screen adaptation of the Assassin’s Creedfranchise. Given the infamous track record of video game movies, I expect this experience to set a new standard in the world of filmmaking. – Variety
• Nintendo World Report published an email from a Nintendo representative declaring that the Wii U and 3DS will eventually have a unified online eShop account system. It’s like a PSN account accessible between PS3 and Vita, except with a handheld that people actually want to purchase.
• Because Activision can’t stay away from popular things, we’re getting another game based upon The Walking Dead. Based off of the AMC show and not the comic, this FPS for next year will center around the uber-racist Daryl and Merle. Oh, joy. Here’s a trailer.

• Resident Evil 6 is apparently packed with over four hours of cutscenes, according to the British Board of Film Classification. Expect this bit to bother the same people who complain about games being too short.
• Remember when I wasn’t sure if anyone really wanted one-to-one swordplay in a video game? Turns out I was wrong…but only barely, as the CLANG Kickstarter sneaked past its half a million dollar goal by a margin of a few thousand bucks. En garde, I guess.
• If you go crazy for abstract lesser-known downloadable titles, celebrate with thePlayStation Blog update giving Dyad a firm release date of July 17th. This PSN title is a wacko psychedelic racer…or something? Just watch the trailer.

• Some French guy is now a millionaire thanks to the sale of his gigantic game collection via eBay. Regret for everything ever sold back to GameStop ensues worldwide.
• In what is perhaps the most monumental news from today, Valve announced Steam Greenlight, a platform dropping August 30th that gives everyone a say in what games are allowed to be released through Steam. Note to future developers enrolled in the program: Don’t piss off Reddit or 4chan.