Homefront to get dedicated servers Down Under

Dedicated server support is a touchy subject for Australian gamers, with many developers choosing to overlook them. While many games released without Aussie servers manage with few concerns raised, the issue was brought to light last year when Blizzard forced local players onto the Southeast Asian servers, causing outcry amongst the gaming community. The megapublisher eventually caved in and let people join the North American and European servers, but it had yet to implement Aussie servers for faster online gaming.

Thankfully that's about to change with THQ's upcoming first-person shooter, Homefront. The publisher has announced that Australian servers are already live and are currently being tested ahead of the game's March 17 launch. The hardware is housed in data centres in both Brisbane and Sydney, and it's worth noting that the servers will also be cross-platform--both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners can get in on the high-speed connection action.

Homefront is set in the not-too-distant future and depicts an ugly battle between US citizens and the North Korean military that has occupied the continental United States. The story was written by John Milius of Apocalypse Now and Red Dawn fame and doesn't shy away from showing the brutalities of war.

For more coverage on Homefront, be sure to check out the gamespace.