Gaming News Round-Up: November 30th, 2004

Today's round-up includes confirmation of massive sell-through for Square Enix's Dragon Quest VIII, and a very belated ban for shock-horror FPS game Postal 2 in leafy New Zealand. - Japanese chart arbiter Media Create has announced that, following the recently reported shipment to stores of approximately 3 million copies of the PlayStation 2 RPG Dragon Quest VIII, a total of 2,167,072 copies have already been sold to consumers in just the opening weekend. This figure dwarfs any other Japanese game launch so far this year, and shows the continuing power of the Dragon Quest franchise in Japan, despite its relative obscurity in the West. Gamasutra will have further analysis of Media Create's Japanese charts in the near future. - The Classification Office for the Office of Film and Literature in New Zealand has banned Running With Scissors' PC FPS game Postal 2: Share the Pain, in a decision announced by the Chief Censor, Bill Hastings. It has been banned because the Office determined that its availability was “likely to be injurious to the public good.” The censor's report continues: "[Postal 2] is designed, and has the capacity, to allow the player to test how much violence and humiliation he or she can inflict on human beings and animals in a variety of everyday settings and circumstances." The title is the second computer game to be banned in New Zealand, after Manhunt was banned in late 2003.