The last week has been a mixed bag of next generation leaks and lengthy legal wrangling in Australia finally coming to an end. Read on to see what’s happening.

Finally, the R18+ legislation has passed the Australian Senate and is fully approved and endorsed to be implemented in January next year. Jay has all ready covered the announcement below but I'd just like to say I’d personally like to see a few public information ads to nullify the hand ringing arguments of the conservative political groups who have opposed this law that address the fact that nothing is actually going to change, the games for sale and the content of those games are not going to be spared a review, they’re instead now going to be reviewed and classified correctly. Not that I expect this mind you. But it would be nice.

The biggest news this week would be the suspected leak of details on the next Xbox. How big a leak? Try a document over fifty pages long detailing Microsoft’s console plans for the next five years. If this is a hoax, as many people are claiming, then it’s an incredibly elaborate one. The document is actually from August 2010, so it’s not new information, rather a concept planning document Microsoft may have used back then. The new Xbox may be very like what’s described, or it may have changed as priorities and technology have changed over the last two years.

Here are some of the highlights from the document:

• Launch scheduled for next year, strong hints of a mid year launch.
• $299 US price tag at launch, a full hundred bucks cheaper than the Premium Xbox (that’s the one with a hard drive) when it launched in November of 2005.
• A bluray disc drive, potentially skewering any suspicions the next Xbox would be a download only device.
• A new generation Kinect unit as part of the console utilising two sensors that can accommodate up to four players at once.
• Cloud streaming for your media library.
• Controls using tablet computers and smart phones, presumably Smartglass seen at the recent E3.

The most exciting element of the leak is something called Fortaleza. This is a tech that will launch some time after the console, but they’re essentially virtual reality glasses that project interactive characters and elements, like a heads up display. It’s one of those things that could be an incredible leap forward for games, or an unusable gimmick. But I’m certainly looking forward to finding out. Adding some credence to this being official information is the code name Fortaleza, a Brazilian town name, the same as the last big Xbox secret, Natal.

The new console itself looks a lot like a slim bluray player, designed to be low profile and unassuming. It certainly doesn’t look like a unit with swappable faceplates or that we’re going to see a limited edition Gears of War version of. SO far the worst news about the console is that it’s current working title is actually Xbox 720, which is awful.

If it’s a hoax it’s an incredibly detailed and smartly thought out hoax.

Rockstar are putting all the identified multiplayer cheaters in a cheating game list so they can all play against each other as punishment. People who continue to cheat while in this player pool get banned. Sounds genius.

Actress and comedian Aisha Tyler copped a bit of flack for hosting the Ubisoft press event at E3. Certain members of the press and public questioned her ‘gamer credentials’ and whether or not she was a suitable host for this reason. Besides the fact this is unflappably dickish, and that I doubt any of her critics would have the requisite pair of stones to get on a stage and present at E3, Tyler is actually a longstanding, very serious gamer and fired a letter of on her Facebook page that tears strips of her critics. Read it below.

I play.

I've played since I was a little kid.

Since I begged my dad to buy me a Nintendo LCD Donkey Kong, Jr.

Since I blew through three weeks' allowance playing Defender at the laundromat.

Since you were a twinge in the left side of your daddy's underoos.

I've been a gamer since I made friends with a girl in the 5th grade just to get at her Atari.

Since I missed the bus playing Galaga after school.

Since I missed the start of Return of the Jedi playing Tempest in the theater lobby.

You think you know. You don't know.

I've been a gamer since before you could read.

Since I aced midterms after staying up all night playing Evil Tetris.

Since I became dorm champ at Leisure Suit Larry.

Since I double-wielded on Time Crisis 3 at Fuddrucker's.

I was a voice in not one, but two major video game titles.

I hosted the Reach Beta tutorial.

I was a Gears of War superfan panelist at ComicCon.

I hosted the Ubisoft presser at E3 2012.

I didn't do any of it for the money.

For most I got paid next to nothing, and for some, less than that.

I did it because I love video games.

Because I've dreamt since I was a kid of being in one of the games I love.

How many games have you done voices for?

How many cons have you repped at?

Your buddy's Unreal Tournament garage deathmatch doesn't count.

I go to E3 each year because I love video games.

Because new titles still get me high.

Because I still love getting swag.

Love wearing my gamer pride on my sleeve.

People ask me what console I play.

Motherf***er, ALL of them.

I get invited to E3 because real gamers know I'm a gamer.

I don't do it for the money.

I have plenty of money.

I don't do it for the fame.

F**k fame.

I do it because I love video games.

I don't give out my gamertag because I don't want a mess of noob jackholes lining up

to assassinate me on XBL.

I don't give a shit what you think about my gamerscore.

I don't play to prove a point.

I don't play to be the best.

I play because I love it.

I play.

I've been playing my whole life.

I'm not ashamed of it.

I don't apologize for it.

It's who I am.

To the core.

I'm a gamer.

So to all the haters out there who claim I don't play;

To the GAF dicks,

Gamespot trolls,

To every illiterate racist douchebag on Youtube:

Flame away. Go nuts.

Post every jackass comment your heart desires.

I'll still be playing when your mom's kicked you out of her basement

and you have to sell your old-ass console

and get a real job.

For now, I say to you respectfully,

and I mean this from the bottom of my heart,

GFYS.

Quantic Dreams next game Beyond: Two Souls, which debuted at E3 will add Willem Dafoe to it’s cast alongside previously confirmed actress Ellen Page.

Namco have just released ‘wedding costumes’ for its Soul Calibur V characters as DLC. As much as I love Soul Calibur I’m beginning to suspect I’m not their target demographic.

Lego Batman 2 has a demo on Live and PSN right now. If you don’t enjoy Lego games then your inner child has died, that might also be why you can no longer taste sweet things or feel joy. I pity you.

Mike Tyson is a guest character in WWE 13. While I thought this was strange my eight year old son assured me Tyson has appeared as a ‘Ring Enforcer’ in WWE.

Dust 514, the shooter MMO for PC and PS3 that’s a companion for epic space opera MMO E.V.E. Online, allows people to purchase high end gear for their character with real cash. Off course that’s a terrible idea. But company VP Morgan Godat assures us the most you’ll spend on a high end gear set is 24 cents (US, so in Australia about $75, because, you know, it’s ‘complicated’). What Mr. Godat, if that is his real name, fails to mention is that you lose that gear when you die, so that’s 24 cents, every time you spawn. Which suddenly doesn’t sound so good, in fact it sounds like they’ve turned your home game device into a coin operated arcade machine. There is an in game cash system you can use instead, and I imagine most people will.

Metal Gear Solid Regengeance, subtitle: Raiden kills everything with a sword and his shapely hips, will have DLC that may, maaaaay, feature a new character and new missions.

The original Final Fantasy game, which was released in 1987, is now available on Windows Phone.

Popular game app Draw Something (never play against Mick Brown, he is a genius, all my drawings look like penises) is being turned into a TV show. The show will be absolutely terrible.

Splinter Cell has just joined Bioshock, Metal Gear Solid and Uncharted as games in negotiation to be movies that will never actually be made.

In weird news, Valve has hired an economist to help them manage their virtual economies in DOTA2 and Team Fortress 2. The economist, Yanis Varoufakis, has published analysis on the financial crises in Greece. Apparently there are parallels to the problems in Greece and people buying in game items for Valve games.

Bioware Lead Designer Emmanuel Lusinchi mentioned in passing during an interview that they were exploring Free to Play options for Star Wars: The Old Republic to cope with dropping subscription numbers. Given the interview was shortly pulled from GamesTM, Emmanuel maybe wasn’t supposed to mention that.

The most recent Humble Indie Bundle 5 charity drive has raised just over five million dollars in two weeks. No doubt as this was one of the most popular bundles with games like Amnesia, Braid, Limbo and Bastion included.

The long awaited and much desired sequel Thief 4 may be in trouble. Almost all its key development personnel including lead level designer, senior animator and audio director/composer have all left Eidos Montreal. A CGI game trailer was to be unveiled last December. It seems Thief 4 may never emerge from the shadows.

Limbo developer Playdead are working on the mysterious ‘Project 2’ (likely not the actual name). It’s a 2D platformer in a 3D world, again featuring a young boy fighting against mysterious evil forces. But this time it’s going to have colour.

After this year’s lacklustre E3 I’m not surprised to learn that Microsoft are skipping out of both Gamescon and the Tokyo Game Show. I’d expect the next few years will see the phasing out of these types of shows, whatever purpose they were supposed to serve, they’re clearly not doing it.

I’m considering reassessing my view that Nintendo came out the best from E3 out of the consoles due to a whopping porky lie. During the press conference they said the console will be able to use two Wii U controllers, called WiiPads, at once. That’s not true, none of the launch games will have this feature and Reggie himself said the functionality wouldn’t exist until, “Well after launch”. Having a console that only supports one controller won’t impact the average gamer, we’re lonely people, but it isn’t going to do much for the Nintendo’s image of the Wii as a family game machine.