Jeri 'Seven Of Nine' Ryan lent her services free of charge, as did others.

Fallout: New Vegas uses Steamworks for achievements and other features (such as friends lists, cloud storage of user preferences and so on). Use of Steam will be mandatory at retail. So what does that mean? We’ve implemented Steamworks in as light and unobtrusive a way as possible. Yes, you will have to install Steam when you install Fallout: New Vegas if you don’t already have it. And yes, you will have to be online at the time of that initial install. However you can install the game on as many systems as you want (with no restrictions!), and you do not have to be online to play the game after your initial activation. Not only that, but once the game has activated on Steam, you can throw out the game DVD entirely and just download the game over Steam. If you don’t even have a DVD drive, you can just take the CD-Key from the box, enter it into Steam, and download it without ever using the disc at all.

For those concerned, this will have no affect on mod development whatsoever. Modders will still be able to create and distribute their plugins the same way they have in the past.

We made the decision to use Steam after looking at all the various options out there and decided that it provided the best, least intrusive experience for PC gamers. We think you’ll agree.

Chronologically, where does Shogun 2: Total War fit in the timeline of the original game?

As in Shogun: TW, the setting we have is during Japan’s Sengoku Jidai: the warring states period in the 16th century, before the Tokugawa Shogunate asserted its complete control and ended the anarchy.

We have chosen this setting now for the same reasons we chose it a decade ago: it was a time of epic struggle between the feudal lords of rival clans across Japan. With the breakdown of central authority, there was constant warfare and any one of many clans could have ended up winning. It’s the perfect setting for a Total War game where the player can choose one of many factions all competing for the final victory in what was the most turbulent period of Japanese history.

It was the time when a uniquely Japanese samurai culture was forged. It was also a time of great change: for example, first contact with Europeans saw the introduction of Christianity and later the first large-scale use of firearms in Japanese armies. This opens up lots of interesting gameplay choices for the player that are unique to this specific period.

How has the Total War series progressed since the original game and what will this bring to the sequel?

Clearly, PC technology has come on so far in the last ten years, and we can do things that were simply impossible before: the game engines for both campaign and battle have been completely revolutionised (and re-written) several times over since the original game which had sprites in battle and a 2D campaign map. Now we can portray huge samurai armies in all their glory with a new and improved battle graphics engine that looks utterly stunning. On the campaign side, we will depict the unique geography of Japan with the most beautiful map we have ever produced. We are constantly looking at ways to improve the game, and each new project gives us the opportunity to push into new territory.

• Abilities while moving fix: Demigod movement has been re-architected to resume attacking previous targets after using abilities. This fixes multiple problems with triggering Demigod abilities while moving.The following exceptions and modifications are by design:
• Direct targeted abilities, where it makes sense, will cause the Demigod to switch targets (like Warp Strike and Pounce). This will also set the old target variable so if they use a further ability they will go back to attacking their new target.
• Escape abilities (like Warp Scroll and Bat Swarm) will not re-engage the old target and will actually clear the old target so using another ability will not cause you to re-engage.
• Giving a move order will clear your old target. So, giving a move order and then casting Warp Area will cause DA to attack whatever he ends up closest to.
• Fix for ranged units stopping short when ordered to attack structures.
• Fix for summoned minions not starting at max health when the player has +minion health items.
• Fix for Oculus' Ball Lightning spawning in invalid locations.
• Unclean Beast's Plague ability will no longer overwrite Post Mortem.
• Wings of the Seraphim will no longer be removed when healed.
• Heart of Life effects will no longer be removed when healed.
• Fix for obscure Russian-translated map domination crash. Thank you, Ptarth, for helping to point the way on that.
• Achievement and Single Player tournament screen Demigod lists now have scrollbars.
• Oculus’ Ball Lightning will now benefit from standard minion HitPoint Buffs.

Featuring elements from the industry leading and award-winning BitDefender, GameGuard provides real-time monitoring and automatic updating from virus and malware databases to protect systems from online threats such as rootkits or spyware. As a result, PC enthusiasts can finally surf and play in peace without worrying about viruses, weakened firewalls or annoying program pop-ups.

Other anti-virus programs are notorious for being memory and system resource hogs, which can cause frame rate drops and other performance hits during gameplay. Even worse, some programs continually request user interaction through pop-ups, verification windows and other interruptions. Who wants to deal with that in the middle of a firefight? GameGuard avoids these issues by being specifically optimized for low resource loads on a system, which helps maintain high frame rates. Additionally, it will never have a pop-up or user request during a game, allowing you to get your game on without annoying interruptions..

GameGuard also provides a safe and secure networking environment for systems, so intruders won't have a chance to gain access to your system. No reconfiguring of ports or disabling of firewalls is necessary; GameGuard is designed to accept required internet connections for online matches or LAN play. What's more, it creates and automatically secures your internet connection with a two-way firewall to keep your network safe from unauthorized users.

In addition, this protection extends beyond your favorite games to protect your online identity whenever you surf the Web. GameGuard has been designed to block web pages that attempt to steal your credit card data and prevent info leaks from e-mail, instant messengers and web pages. You can easily and securely shop, bank and explore the Net without fear of identity theft with GameGuard.

"Our team got so sick of having to disable our anti-virus while gaming, leaving our PCs vulnerable for a crippling attack, that we set out to engineer a solution. ," said Michael Epstein, Chief Rude Officer. " GameGuard gives gamers the protection they need without sacrificing the performance they demand."GameGuard is now available by download and in stores across the country for a suggested retail price of $29.95.

In addition, with a paid subscription to the new World of Warcraft Remote service, also launched today, you’ll be able to use the Armory website or mobile app to:

• Post items for sale from your character’s bag, bank, or mailbox on your faction’s Auction House or the realm’s cross-faction Auction House.
• Place bids or make buyout purchases on the Auction House.
• Collect the gold earned from a successful auction or reclaim the gold from an unsuccessful bid.

For more information about the new Armory Auction House functionality and the subscription-based World of Warcraft Remote service, check out the Web Auction House FAQ and World of Warcraft Remote FAQ.

“We’ve lined up an eclectic and varied range of titles – with a few exciting and surprising licenses – which we will publish and distribute at retail and through digital channels,” said, Stewart Bell, Operations Director, Ant Games. “The global games industry is experiencing an interesting and unique transitional phase which is throwing up some exciting opportunities for us.”

Big time announcement at E3 next week. stay tuned, kiddies!

If we're to believe a faked image from 4chan, Respawn will be finishing development of Duke Nukem Forever on the yet-to-be-made Source Engine 2, in association with Electronic Arts and Take Two Entertainment.

T-Bagged!