After the console versions of Saints Row 2 launched on October 14, the state of the PC version's release was left unknown. In the community post, the moderator was quick in responding to the delay, "The PC version was delayed because we wanted to make the highest quality game across all platforms, but it just needed more time." He added, "The game is a port of the console version from an external company, but that doesn't mean the code can just be copied over, and ship it out. The PC version is still being produced and tested at Volition with support from the design and programming teams as needed. This is in no way a hands-off external port of the game."

According to the moderator, porting the control system over to the mouse and keyboard setup also contributed to the delay, "One other time factor is coordinating the new control scheme from controller to mouse/keyboard. While the 360 controller will be fully supported for PC play, you will also be able to map your keyboard / mouse controls as you see fit."

In addition to keyboard and mouse support, the PC version of Saints Row 2 will also allow players to adjust video settings such as aspect ratio, anti-aliasing, resolution, and more.

The new release date is now January 5th, 2009.

Now an update on Reclaim your Game indicates that this has turned out to be an exaggeration at best, saying the game ships with SecuROM version 7.36.0006, and notes the Bethesda Game Studios Forums have posts from many users unable to install Fallout 3, who are apparently being told by customer service reps that they need to uninstall any third-party CD-writing software to be able to run the game. There's another forum post for those who have SecuROM issues with workaround instructions and a pointer to the SecuROM Website where there's a replacement launcher for Fallout 3, as well as a replacement launcher for Far Cry 2.

We already knew that Netflix streaming was going to be included in Microsoft's "New Xbox Experience," launching for the Xbox 360 on November 19, but Netflix had a little surprise in store for us today. In addition to its catalog of about 15,000 titles that will be available for near-DVD quality streaming, Netflix will stream 300 titles in HD to the Xbox 360.

This is the beginning of the dream that we talked about when Netflix gave its subscribers unlimited watching time, back in January. Even though 300 titles is a very small portion of Netflix's entire catalog, at some point, we can assume that Netflix will offer most of its catalog for streaming at some point and even further down the road, most of its catalog in HD. While browser-based streaming is great, with great set-top boxes, like the $100 Roku and now the Xbox 360, Netflix is slowly but surely invading living rooms across the country and making it easier to stream its content.

In order to take advantage of Netflix streaming on the Xbox 360, you must be an Xbox Live Gold member. Again, Netflix HD streaming will go live on the New Xbox Experience, which launches on November 19.

Paul Oughton, publishing executive for Bethesda, also said that although the market for the Wii and DS has opened up more varied publishing opportunities, the company doesn't have any current plans to release titles for Nintendo consoles.

"At the moment we've got Fallout 3 for this year and potentially there's a new Elder Scrolls title in 2010," said Oughton. "At the moment we're not that interested in the Wii. We're going to stick to PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. We'll continue to pursue three or four titles a year and go for big titles," he said of the company's publishing plans for the future.

Rogue Warrior next year? Fallout 4, 2012? Awesome!

• The way crowd control and immunities work has been changed. All player stuns, fears, roots, snares, and charms will now break if the victim's health is reduced by a certain percentage (depending on the effect type).
• Immunity buffs will now, in general, last a bit less time, since they are applied at the start of the crowd control, and not at the end.
• It is no longer possible to apply a new crowd control debuff of the same type before the previous one runs out and immunity has been applied.

Download here.

Benchmarks

• Call of Duty: World at War benchmarks - AMDZone

  Cases
  

• LanCool Metal Boned PC-K1 Chassis - IT Reviewed
• LanCool Metal Bonded PC-K1 Mid-Tower Case - ThinkComputers.org
• SilverStone FT01 Mid-Tower - TechGage

  Cooling
  

• Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo VGA Cooler - OCC
• Cooler Master Hyper Z600R CPU Cooler - Tweaktown
• Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer - NinjaLane
• Thermaltake MaxOrb EX Heatsink - FrostyTech
• Thermalright TRUE Black 120 - Bjorn3D

  Keyboards
  

• Das Keyboard Professional and Ultimate - TechSpot

  Mice
  

• Razer Lachesis Gaming Mouse - Hardware Secrets
• WolfKing Trooper MVP Gaming Mouse - Tweaknews

  Video
  

• BFG Tech GeForce GTX 260 OCX - Tweaktown
• Gainward GeForce GTX 260 - MVKTech
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 260 OC 896 MB - Guru3D
• New Catalyst drivers embezzle graphical details - PCGH

Today's question:

Assuming that you've had a chance to play -- What are your first impressions of Fallout 3?

If not -- say you're in Europe or something -- what about it are you most looking forward to?

A new packaging-related study conducted by analyst firm The NPD Group reveals that the average video game collection has 48 titles, and also confronts the demons of unplayed games, revealing that 11% percent of all households have bought games that are still shrinkwrapped.

The study, which was commissioned by the Content Delivery and Storage Association (CDSA) and the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA), polled 562 gamers, all of which have purchased a retail-based physical video game in the past six months.

According to those polled in this amusingly specific survey, 88 percent of video game owners store their DVDs and video games in their original cases. 8 percent store the discs in plastic sleeves but keep the cases, while 5 percent keep the game but throw away or recycle the cases.

1. Spore
2. World of Warcraft: Battle Chest
3. Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy
4. Warhammer Online: Age Of Reckoning
5. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Expansion Pack
6. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
7. Civilization IV: Colonization
8. World Of Warcraft
9. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack
10. Crysis: Warhead

"We believe that these controllers are limited to ones in the earlier manufacturing stages," says the company in an official statement made available to Gamasutra.

"While we believe that this was an isolated manufacturing issue, we are stepping our efforts to randomly test our drum controllers so customers can be assured they work properly."

The company promises it will soon offer a "drum tuning kit that will enable players to fully optimize their drums."

After a ten-year hiatus, Fallout 3 made its return to the PC today. I’d like to congratulate the folks over at Bethesda. After a decade, the bar was set pretty high, and they worked countless hours to make sure your expectations were exceeded. Personally, I think the execution of this classic PC franchise could not have been better. Fallout 3 is a blast, and if you enjoy it as much as I do (I’m betting you will), it will keep you glued to your PC.

This is the first title to support Games for Windows – LIVE since we made it a free gaming service, and I can’t think of a better title to launch with. As you will see soon, we have some exciting updates just around the corner. Updates that we believe will help make your PC gaming experience even better, including a marketplace to let you download more content for your games, a completely redesigned in-game experience built just for the PC, and more. These changes are the result of our focus in building a service PC gamers will love, and your input plays a big part. We’ve been listening.

Atomic Gamer

FileFront

FilePlanet

GamersHell

WorthPlaying

"But the good news is that Hellgate will go on with the new crew. HanbitSoft announced that T3 Entertainment recruited some of the best developers from Flagship Studios, Blizzard and formed a team with developers of their own. They will be carrying on where the last crew left off. Hellgate also decided to go partly FREE in Korea. Don't be too excited. It's not ALL FREE."

Well, in the Korean market at least.

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that the subscribership for World of Warcraft, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), now exceeds 11 million players worldwide. This milestone was reached as the beta test for Wrath of the Lich King(TM), World of Warcraft's second expansion, nears completion. Wrath of the Lich King will launch in several regions around the world starting on November 13.

"It's been very rewarding to see gamers around the world continue to show such strong support for World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment(R). "We remain fully committed to responding to that enthusiasm with a high-quality, constantly evolving game experience."

Since debuting in North America on November 23, 2004, World of Warcraft has become the most popular MMORPG around the world. It was the bestselling PC game of 2005 and 2006 worldwide, and finished behind only World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, the first expansion pack for the game, in 2007. In addition to being the bestselling PC game of 2007 in both North America and Europe, The Burning Crusade holds the record for fastest-selling PC game of all time, with nearly 2.4 million copies sold in its first 24 hours of availability and approximately 3.5 million in its first month.

Recession, a MMO's best friend.

Priced at $19.95/€19.95, it's expensive stuff, so you're probably better waiting for a 50%-off Steam launch. However, there is a demo available to try.

Tickle him!

While the game is phenomenal in a technical and visual sense in the terms of its scale and number of enemies onscreen at once, there are some weird technical issues that crop up here and there. For one thing, some of the textures are noticeably lower resolution than others, and there's a lot of texture pop-in and screen tearing that will crop up here and there as you move through each environment. What's more, you'll find some strange instances where monsters may twitch after they've been killed, or limbs of some creatures that have been blown off will still remain standing as if connected to some invisible body. It's a strange thing to see what would appear to be a mannequin limb. There are also some clipping issues that will crop up. Given the scale of the game, many of these issues are understandable, particularly given the fact that there is a solid frame rate throughout, but they do still stand out as a problem to be found within the game.

Resistance 2 is one of those games that manages to expand on its predecessor in every way. The single player is epic in scope and in story, which is practically worth the price of admission by itself. Then you throw in the extremely engaging co-op and competitive play, which expands on replayability in just about every way possible. Toss in a generous number of unlockables, trophies and community support, and you've got a phenomenal experience. This is an exclusive that PS3 owners should be proud to have in their collection.

Resistance 2 will hit U.S. stores November 4th, barring any last-minute recall notices.

PC

• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Games Radar - 9/10
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - GameSpot - 8/10
• Dead Space - OCModshop - 5/5
• Dead Space - Voodoo Extreme - 5/5
• Fallout 3 - 1Up - A
• Far Cry 2 - Trusted Reviews - 8/10
• LEGO Batman - Computer Games.ro - 80%
• Multiwinia - Boomtown - 7/10
• Spore - Computer Games.ro - 76%
• Pure - Computer Games.ro - 85%
• Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: Episode 3 - Frictionless Insight - 3.5/5
• The Witcher: Enhanced Edition - Computer Games.ro - 88%

  360
  

• Dead Space - Gamextreme - 9/10
• Fallout 3 - 360.IGN - 9.6/10
• Fallout 3 - IGN AU - 9.5/10
• Fallout 3 - GameSpy - 5/5
• Fallout 3 - TeamXbox - 9.4/10
• Fallout 3 - Eurogamer - 10/10
• Guitar Hero: World Tour - Boomtown - 8/10

  PS3
  

• Fallout 3 - PS3.IGN - 9.4/10
• LEGO Batman - Testfreaks - 8/10