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Many play MMOs for an opportunity to team up with friends, hone your skills and utilize odd class combinations to clear difficult content your way. Tera may give some of the best opportunities to experiment with combat...

The Steam forums and database was hacked in November, and Valve is still investigating the breach. In a new note to Steam users, Valve head Gabe Newell announced that "it is probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008." The file contained user names and email addresses, and encrypted billing addresses and credit-card information, but it did not include passwords, Newell said.

So far there has been no evidence that credit cards or billing addresses have been compromised from the attack, but Steam users should pay close attention to their accounts and keep Steam Guard on, Newell said. Read Gabe's full update below, which has been sent to all Steam gamers as well.

Update: The headline previously included the phrases "credit card info" and "at risk," which seemed alarmist to some readers. It has been updated and glasses of warm milk passed around to everyone. Enjoy.

Nintendo is a company known for producing some wild advertisements in its time. In fact, we recently highlighted some of Nintendo's best commercials, which should tickle the nostalgia bone of anyone who grew up playing with power...

A portion of a Game Informer interview with Sony's Shuhei Yoshida...

Game Informer: I first wanted to get your thoughts on the PlayStation Vita launch in Japan. It started out pretty well, but every week it seemed sales dipped and dipped.

Shuhei Yoshida: In terms of sales, yes. But it’s within our expectation. It didn’t hit our highest expectations, however. From that standpoint it’s disappointing. But when you look at the market in Japan today, it’s a very strong portable market as you know, and the PSP is still very strong and lots of new games come out for it. So PSP is still very relevant. And of course 3DS had the perfect storm of top quality games for Christmas with the reduced price.

Updates to Railworks 3: Train Simulator 2012 - PRR K4 Steam Locomotive DLC have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

- Fixed jumping wheel animation
- Reduced intensity of shadow below locomotive
- Fixed labels not appearing on 3D Can Controls
- Updated DLC Manual
- Fixed issues with scenarios
- Fixed brightness when in the cab

#alanwake In the previous developer diary about Alan Wake's American Nightmare, the creative triumvirate of the Remedy dev studio said that they're making this new Xbox Live game with more of an action focus in mind. But they're back again to assuage any fears you might have about the minimization of the moody narrative that won so many fans for Alan Wake in the first place. The comments in the video above shed some light on where American Nightmare fits in Wake continuity and also shout out other influences that will be coming to the fore in the downloadable title. Me, I'm just glad for more Night Springs. That show-that-doesn't-actually-exist rocks. More »

Gamestop

$20 off 3DS base systems: Cosmo Black ($149.99), Aqua Blue ($149.99), Pearl Pink ($149.99), Flame Red ($149.99)

Bounty hunting for ten bucks: Metroid: Other M (Wii, $9.99 new, online price only)

Pre-order bonuses: Free 3D Classics Kid Icarus download with your Kid Icarus: Uprising pre-order (3DS, $39.99 new, available March 23rd), Free set of exclusive Pokemon themed Wii remote skins with your Pokepark 2: Wonders Beyond pre-order (Wii, $49.99 new, available February 27th, backordered)

$20 off Skylanders Starter Packs: Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (Wii, $49.99, save $20.00), Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (3DS, $49.99, save $20.00)

Exclusives: 3DS Circle Pad Pro accessory (3DS, $19.99, backordered), Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii, $49.99, available April 2nd, exclusively available via Gamestop and Nintendo.com)

Coupon Codes: Save $5 off purchases of $59.99 or more. Some exclusions apply. Use code BAYSIDE; Save $10 off purchases of $74.99 or more. Some exclusions apply. Use code QUATO

Amazon (orders ship free, or ship free with a combined total order of $25 or more)

Game deals: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii, $19.09, 52% off), Final Fantasy III (DS, $13.20), Alien Syndrome (Wii, $7.96, 60% off), Centipede Infestation (Wii, $15.51, 48% off), Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (DS, $14.61, 63% off), Centipede Infestation (3DS, $14.04, 53% off, order fulfilled by Amazon)

Buy 1, Get 1 50% off: Buy LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean (DS, $19.96, save $10.03), get a 2nd select Disney DS game for 50% off

The Disney sale that never ends: Save up to 50% on select Disney video games - selection includes Disney Epic Mickey, Disney Universe, Phineas and Ferb, Cars 2, and LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean. For Wii, DS, 3DS and other popular systems.

Pre-order bonus offers: $10 Amazon store credit with your Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D pre-order (3DS, $39.96, free S&H, available February 21st, release date delivery also available), Free 3D Classics Kid Icarus download with your Kid Icarus: Uprising pre-order (3DS, $39.99, free S&H, available March 23rd, release date delivery also available)

Coming soon, available for pre-order: Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir (3DS, $39.99, free S&H, available April 13th), Rhythm Heaven Fever (Wii, $29.99, free S&H, available February 13th), Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 (DS, $29.96, free S&H, available February 28th, release date delivery also available), Heroes of Ruin (3DS, $39.99, free S&H, available March 31st), Mario Party 9 (Wii, $49.99, free S&H, available March 11th), Tekken 3D Prime Edition (3DS, $39.95, free S&H, available February 14th, release date delivery also available), Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure (3DS, $39.95, free S&H, available March 31st), Tales of the Abyss (3DS, $39.96, free S&H, February 14th, release date delivery also available)

Other retailers

Best Buy: Bonus 3DS case with Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS, $39.99, free S&H)

Walmart: 2 Nintendo DS games for $30, 2 Nintendo Wii games for $30, 2 Nintendo 3DS games for $30

Toys R Us, in-store only: $10 gift card with the purchase of Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS, $39.99); $20 gift card with the purchase of a black Nintendo Wii with New Super Mario Bros. Wii/Galaxy soundtrack bundle ($149.99)

Toys R Us: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword with Music CD (Wii, $39.99, save $10.00); Buy 1, Get 1 40% off all video games priced $19.99; 50% off any Wii video game priced $49.99 with the purchase of Just Dance 3 (Wii, $39.99); Free 3DS system case ($9.98 value) with purchase of a base 3DS system ($169.99)

Thanks to GrubberGamer for the heads up!

After playing through several levels of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City's single player campaign, my hopes for the third person shooter based in the RE universe reached a low point. IGN Executive Editor Rich George already covered many of the game's problems in his preview, in which he discusses the struggles of Operation Raccoon City...

The latest developer diary for Alan Wake's American Nightmare sheds a little light on the downloadable title's new tone. This time around, the game takes on a "pulp action" feel with elements of B-movies, sci-fi and urban legends, according to Remedy's Sam Lake. See for yourself in the video above.

Since the launch of the Diablo III beta in late 2011, many have complained about the low level of difficulty. It's true, the content included in the beta is very easy to plow through. But as Blizzard reminds fans in its "You Will Die" video, the beta consists of only a small portion of the very beginning of the game on the easiest difficulty setting. On Nightmare, Hell and Inferno difficulty, Blizzard promises Diablo III is going to be a much more challenging experience...

DOTA wouldn't exist without Warcraft III, which is a huge part of Blizzard's claims to the name.

The future of DOTA is now in the hands of the legal world.

A trademark dispute filed by Blizzard Entertainment against Valve has been unearthed, which I’ve spent the better part of an hour looking at and trying to make sense off alongside Mr. Shoemaker.

Blizzard filed its original complaint on November 16 (read it here), and Valve filed its response on December 22 (read that here).

Valve is pushing forward with DOTA 2, having acquired one of the principal creative minds behind the original DOTA, Abdul “IceFrog” Ismail, back in 2010. Blizzard doesn’t believe Valve has the right to call its game DOTA, and makes several arguments to support this.

The argument Blizzard makes most frequently involves the fact that DOTA was developed as a mod for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. When you install Warcraft III, you must agree to Blizzard’s EULA (End User License Agreement), which states all material created with the game’s tools, including the editor that helped birth DOTA, is the property of Blizzard.

Thus, Blizzard owns DOTA. So says Blizzard, anyway.

“Over the past seven years, the mark DOTA has been used exclusively in connection with Blizzard and its products, namely Warcraft III,” reads Blizzard’s filing. “Most notably, DOTA has been used as the popular name of a Warcraft III software "mod" file that has been distributed, marketed, and promoted by Blizzard and its fans (under license from Blizzard).”

Blizzard allowed its community to use the term DOTA “under license.” Valve’s argument appears to hinge on the EULA not actually granting Blizzard any real-world rights to the term--or at least enough to stop Valve from using it--and when Valve decided to officially trademark DOTA in August 2010, Valve assumed legal control of the term.

Valve did not get into many specifics in responding to Blizzard’s arguments, however.

“Valve admits that the EULA contains a non-exclusive license agreement,” reads parts of Valve’s response. “The terms of the EULA speak for themselves and no admission or denial regarding the legal effect of the terms of the EULA is required.”

Some of the artwork that first surfaced for DOTA 2, when the trademark issues first came up.

“Valve denies the use of DOTA marks by Valve and its predecessors in interest is under license from or for the benefit of Blizzard,” it continues.

It could be the better part of a year before this is sorted out, including a scenario where this goes back-and-forth until February 2013, when Blizzard’s final rebuttal period would end. Given that Valve would probably want to release DOTA 2 sometime in 2012, movement before then (perhaps a settlement) seems likely.

Blizzard commented on the situation in both 2010 and 2011.

“Certainly, DOTA came out of the Blizzard community,” said Blizzard VP of game design Rob Pardo to Eurogamer back in 2010. “It just seems a really strange move to us that Valve would go off and try to exclusively trademark the term considering it's something that's been freely available to us and everyone in the Warcraft III community up to this point.

This was echoed by Blizzard president Mike Morhaime last fall.

"I can share that our opinion about the situation is that the DOTA name really should belong to the community,” said Morhaime, again to Eurogamer. “I think that it's been part of the Warcraft 3 community for a very long time, and we would like to see the community continue being able to use that name, and having an exclusive mark owned by a competitor doesn't feel right to us."

#rockband We're no strangers… More »

- collecting all the features in the 31 Days of Zero Suit Samus art series
- will include new, extra pieces
- features art from Ashley Davis, Maré Odomo, Zac Gorman, Ted Martens and more

We loved Warhawk’s frenetic online battles back in the PS3’s early days, so we’re excited about its spiritual successor Starhawk — this month’s cover star for PlayStation: The Official Magazine. An innovative Build & Battle system that allows players to quickly and intuitively construct fortifications looks to ramp up the multiplayer action, while the all-new campaign fleshes out the universe and introduces us to space cowboy badass Emmett Graves. We can’t wait to jump into a Hawk and take the battle to the stars.

Our March issue also means that it’s time to celebrate V-Day. No, not Valentine’s Day. We’re talking about the really most important date in February, the 22nd: PS Vita’s launch day! Hands-on time with PS Vita is more potent than any cupid’s arrow, so the PTOM editors reveal which games and accessories they’re coveting and break down the purchasing decisions you’ll need to make on day one.

Elsewhere in the mag, the love fest continues with our first in-depth look at Lollipop Chainsaw. Zombies and cheerleaders?! Sounds irresistible to us. We’ve also got big previews on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and the gorgeous new JRPG Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. And we put Street Fighter X Tekken through its paces to determine the game’s most potent tag-team combo.

Things are also picking up on the reviews front as some of the biggest first-quarter releases have finally arrived. SoulCalibur V proves that its weapon-based fighting action is as sharp as ever, the Jak and Daxter Collection fuels our nostalgia for the good ol’ days, and we finally get to see whether action RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning lives up to its considerable potential.

Check it all out in the March issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine, hitting newsstands on Tuesday, February 14—you know, that other V-Day.

Check out screens in our Flickr set

10th February 2012 – Hampshire, UK/… Deep Silver today announced the release of Card Games – The Classics, a huge collection of the finest classic, solitaire and casino card games – right in your pocket!

Out today, Card Games – The Classics immerses you in the game with unique 3D environments and characters. You are able to select from a variety of different backgrounds and locations, pick your favourite card faces to use and even customise game rules to play the way you want.

Compete against players in multiplayer games either locally, or even worldwide using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Plus Card Games – The Classics includes the exciting Game Share feature where you can play with friends sharing one game card.

Featured Card Games:
Classic card games - select from Hearts, Spades, Euchre, Bridge, Gin Rummy, Canasta, Cribbage, Crazy Eights, Go Fish, Romme, and Skat.

Solitaire games - select from your favourites like Klondike, FreeCell, Spider, Golf, Yukon, Beleaguered Castle, Forty Thieves, Canfield, and many others.

Casino card games - play your choice of BlackJack, Texas Hold’em, Double Flop Hold’em, Omaha, 5-Card Draw, 7-Card Stud, Pineapple, Crazy Pineapple, and five unique versions of Video Poker.

Card Games – The Classics is out now on Nintendo DS with an RRP of £19.99.

The Steam forums and database was hacked in November, and Valve is still investigating the breach. In a new note to Steam users, Valve head Gabe Newell announced that "it is probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008." The file contained user names and email addresses, and encrypted billing addresses and credit-card information, but it did not include passwords, Newell said.

So far there has been no evidence that credit cards or billing addresses have been compromised from the attack, but Steam users should pay close attention to their accounts and keep Steam Guard on, Newell said. Read Gabe's full update below, which has been sent to all Steam gamers as well.

The Game: Command & Conquer Genre: Campy FMV-Stuffed Realtime Strategy Platform: PC The Scoop: Hardcore gamers like to give EA a hard time, and perhaps not without reason. But the company can also be a source of good. Releasing the original Command & Conquer free-of-charge in 2007 to...

Namco Bandai has signed up as the co-publisher for the next Star Trek game, which is based on the upcoming 2013 movie. No word on what platforms will definitely be included, but the game is slated for release on 'all major home consoles'. By that time, I'd like to think that Wii U will be a major player in the home console space.

More screens in our Flickr set

PAC-MAN launched himself into the world of 3D party gaming on Nintendo 3DS today, as NAMCO BANDAI Games' PAC-MAN Party 3D got the party started at retailers across Europe.

It's PAC-MAN's birthday party and everyone's invited. Jump into over 50 crazy mini-games, challenges and surprises with up to three friends and compete to see who's got the best fiesta flair. Time-based challenges include racing, eating, or even rolling a giant ball of spaghetti, with every game designed to give players' skill and reflexes a real party workout.

The action uses all the functionality of the Nintendo 3DS including the motion sensor, gyro sensor, 3D Screen, Touch Screen controls and more to deliver frantic action for all the family. With modes including Story, Mini-Game, Party and Collection, plus the original arcade versions of PAC-MAN™, Galaga™ and Dig-Dug™ as a special bonus, there's more than enough party fun for anyone.

If you've grown up with PAC-MAN, or even if you've never heard of the little guy before, the non-stop 3D fun of PAC-MAN Party 3D is for you.

PAC-MAN Party 3D for Nintendo 3DS™ is available now at retailers across Europe. For more information about the entire NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe line up, visit www.namcobandaigames.eu.

The Steam forums and database was hacked in November, and Valve is still investigating the breach. In a new note to Steam users, Valve head Gabe Newell announced that "it is probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008." The file contained user names and email addresses, and encrypted billing addresses and credit-card information, but it did not include passwords, Newell said.

So far there has been no evidence that credit cards or billing addresses have been compromised from the attack, but Steam users should pay close attention to their accounts and keep Steam Guard on, Newell said. Read Gabe's full update below, which has been sent to all Steam gamers as well.

#startrek That shiny new Star Trek game based off of J.J. Abrams' reboot of the sci-fi classic will be finally going into warp drive next year. Today it was announced that Namco Bandai—best known for Pac-Man, SoulCalibur and Tekken games—will be publishing the action/adventure game and that it'll be out in the first quarter of 2013, ahead of the expected release of Star Trek 2 film. More »

Best Original Music Composition: Portal 2
Best Sound Design: Battlefield 3
Best Story: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Best Character Performance: Wheatley
Best Downloadable game: Bastion
Best Casual Game: Fruit Ninja Kinect
Social Networking Game of the Year: Sims Social
Role-playing / MMO Game of the year: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Outstanding Innovation in Gaming: Skylanders (!)
Sports Game of the Year: FIFA 12 Racing Game of the Year: Forza 4
Fighting Game of the Year: Mortal Kombat
Strategy / Simulation Game of the Year: Orcs Must Die
Hall of Fame 2012 Inductee: Tim Sweeney
Family Game of the Year: LittleBigPlanet 2
Mobile Game of the Year: Infinity Blade 2
Handheld Game of the Year: Super Mario 3D Land Adventure Game of the Year: Batman: Arkham City
Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Outstanding Achievement in Connectivity: Portal 2
Action Game of the Year: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Outstanding Achievement in Animation: Uncharted 3
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction: Uncharted 3
Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering: Uncharted 3
Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Game of the Year: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

A bit of mysterious smoke coming from the Konami building. As of right now there's no explanation as to what was causing the smoke. I guess no news is good news, right?