Adam Biessener

The dev team at Runic Games still plays their own game – always a
good sign – and shared some of their favorite mods with us.

Microsoft is integrating Achievements and Avatars (2D versions of them,
anyway) on to the mobile platform.

Lead designer/studio head Chris Taylor explains
why Supreme Commander 2's design is so different than the original.

The ridiculous DRM solution
for Assassin's Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5 on PC prevented gamers with
legit copies of the games from playing this weekend, according to reports from the company's own forums.

Microsoft is going ahead with plans to shut down original Xbox Live on
April 15, but the company is offering an olive branch to Halo 2 players
who will lose their favorite game's online functionality.

According to NPD's 2010 Online Gaming Report, U.S. gamers spend 10%
more hours per week online on average. The total number of gamers was
down slightly from the previous year, but an increase in time spent
online per gamer more than made up for it.

a proportion of overal Activision revenue are all brought up.

Rare is opening another UK satellite office, which is to house around 90 staff to start
with.

s.

Random House is creating a new division that will
manage and provide editorial support for "original transmedia
intellectual property...that will be developed and marketed in
partnerships with other media companies."

Ten new missions, a bunch of new buildings, and "Megalomania" edicts
will enable Tropican dictators when the Absolute Power expansion hits
this summer.

Publisher SouthPeak sends along this trailer (below) for the RPG epic.
The trailer showcases cinematics interspersed with actual gameplay
scenes.

Clues pointing toward Valve porting its popular Steam digital
delivery/community service to the Macintosh platform are mounting.

Black senior designer Stuart Black mocked modern FPSes as being "f****** boring".

The public beta for Steam's new look is available.

Valve Software boss Gabe Newell's disdain for Sony's console is
well-documented, but that may not be the final word in the relationship
between Valve and the PS3.

In a response to website Ars Technica, a Ubisoft spokesperson clarified the situation with the company's upcoming anti-piracy measures.