Star Prospector is a new single-player RTS from Cryptstone Games in Vancouver. Star Prospector is set in a futuristic sci-fi universe in which players take on the roll of a one-person mining, salvage, and construction unit, taking on missions on remote planets across the galaxy in search of resources, technology, and adventure.

FEATURES

• 100 randomly generated missions (including story centric missions) within a galaxy that is unique for every player.
• Earn experience, skill points, and credits from missions to purchase units, upgrades, and weapons.
• Battle against brutal Scavenger forces as well as a myriad of hostile creatures.
• Scan and mine ore, build wells to collect fuel, defend your base with turrets.
• Units gain combat experience and level-up within each mission and can be upgraded with shields, armor, damage, and other attributes.
• Collect loot from enemies. Use your rig to salvage wreckage for unique items.
• Outfit your Rig with weapons and modules to boost your stats.

Yesterday is a new adventure game from Pendulo Studios, developers behind the Runaway trilogy and The Next BIG Thing. Yesterday is a dark thriller starring John Yesterday, one of three playable characters in the game. Find out more and check out the first screenshots below.

In New York City, beggars are disappearing one after another, only to be found burnt alive. Meanwhile, a Y-shaped scar forms in the palm of the hands of seemingly unrelated people. With the police and the media giving little attention to these events, Henry White, a young and rich heir dedicated to a charitable organization, and his friend Cooper, are the first to investigate these disappearances. They are two of the three playable characters in Yesterday, the third being none other than the enigmatic John Yesterday, who is dragged into this incredible story after his memory is completely wiped.

Get ready for what's most likely your final dose of 2011 drama, this one's a doozy. A marketing firm by the name of Ocean Marketing for a new controller attachment called "The Avenger" bit off way more than they could chew when they decided to line up for a heavy dose of internet mob justice via some exposure by the Penny Arcade crew. What was originally a minor situation between a customer and the vendor involving shipping delays turned into a mess that left Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade fame claiming he'd burn down everything he had made if he can thought he could catch his rivals in the flames.

It all started with a single post by Mike "Gabe" Krahulik. Said post laid out a chain of emails for the world to see between an unidentified Penny Arcade reader, an Ocean Marketing representative named Paul Christoforo, and later Krahulik himself. Over the course of the emails Christoforo went from being mostly respectful to a complete ass. Check out a snip from the response he sent Krahulik after he was told he wouldn't be getting a booth at PAX again.

If you let some little kid influence you over a pre order then we don’t want to be a your show ,Ill be on the floor anyway so come find me , I’m born and raised in Boston I know the people who run the city inside and out watch the way you talk to people you never know who they know it’s a small industry and everyone knows everyone. Your acting like a douchbag not that it matters *snip*name-drops everyone including the mayor of Boston*/snip* come on Bud you run a show that’s all you do and lease a center in Cities you have no pull in its all about who you know not what you do. I’ll see space where ever I want , with who I want when I want and where I want so many ways around you and so many connections in this industry its silly.

For whatever reason Christoforo continued talking shit even though he knew he was talking to one of the guys behind PAX, then attacked Penny Arcade's design, and even threatened to run a smear campaign against PA with his "125 dedicated people" that were/are supposedly dedicated to PR, blogs, articles, and videos. As to be expected given the passion of Penny Arcade readers the troops were rallied, and a hell of a lot of harassment took place. Kotaku suggested that Christoforo had an incident of Roid Rage, a spoof of the Ocean Marketing offices made its way onto Youtube, and despite an apology from Christoforo, Krahulik was still unwilling to lay down the guns on the grounds that apologizing for getting caught was not the same as simply apologizing.

According to a supposed copy of an apology email made to the original customer Christoforo received thousands of spam emails, a barrage of personal attacks over the internet including Twitter, and harassing phone calls which also put his wife and newborn child under stress.

What do you guys think? Does internet justice have a place in all of this, especially coming from a community that is so strongly tied to a charity organization for sick kids? At what point does the harassment cross the line, considering that there's no way for the individual harassers to gauge just how bad things are getting for the person(s) on the other side?

Update: Christoforo has his say at MSNBC's In-Game blog.

Wazabi! Have you guys been keeping up with Valve's "The Great Gift Pile" event? Gmoist and I have been on a bit of an achievement hunt on Steam, with different results. I've been "gifted" 21 coals, and one low tier 25% off coupon. Gmoist on the other hand has gotten a couple of games, a lot of Steam coupons, and a decent mix of coal. For those of you taking part, what have your results been?

I think Valve has definitely found a good way to get people to spend their money, especially considering that every game tied to the event is discounted heavily. I've dumped over $20 on indie games already, games that I never actually planned on picking up. I'd guess that Gmoist is a little higher than that by now, he seems a little more into it than I am. The potato sack ARG completionist in me kinda wants to earn all of the related achievements, but I really don't have the time. That, and I doubt there's a "Golden Coal" unique account icon reward at the end.

Wish Gmoist luck in his ultimate quest for the coals though. There's no doubt in my mind that he'd completely lose his mind if he managed to win the grand "All Games Unlocked" prize with his coals. We'd probably even have to have him locked in a padded room for a few days. That kind of setup is actually something he's been obsessing over since I met him. It's a shame we're not hooked up like those Kotaku types, otherwise he'd already be big pimpin' with a Steam press account (almost as good as having all games unlocked) by now.

Anyways, we better get on to the news... assuming we can manage to find some today besides post-holiday deals. I swear, 90% of the PR peeps employed in the industry decided to take the week off. Slowest news week ever!

My birthday may have come and gone, but the Steam Sales and The Great Gift Pile Contest muddle on. Here are today’s deals and objectives.

Deals
• Sequence $1.24
• Solar 2 $2.49
• Gothic Series 75% Off
• Terraria $2.49
• Prince of Persia Series $75% off
• Disciples III Series 75% off
• Call of Duty Black Ops $29.99
• Stronghold 3 $33.49
• F.E.A.R. Series 50% Off
• Dawn of War Series 66% off
• Star Wars Series 75% off
• Cities in Motion $4.99

Objectives
• Steam:Write a recommendation - Example: "I really like the game, but I couldn’t find the stupid cake." You can write a recommendation for any game you own.
• AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome: I Have Come to The Point in My Life Where I Appreciate Christmas Mall Music - Seriously. Christmas mall music eventually seeps into your brain, and you get all domestic, and you start looking at the children and going, "well, wouldn't it be nice to have kids of my own someday, so that I can play video games with them?" In the meantime, get 4 stars on all the levels in the freeeee Christmas Mall Music pack.
• Solar 2: Snowflake Star - Get 4 points in the star challenge mission "Snowball Fight".
• Sequence: Yet, I Love The Holidays - Defeat the Holiday Whompa.
• Cities in Motion: Winter Wonder - Transport 1000 passengers during November, December and January of any year.
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution: Winter Assault - Play for a total of 30 minutes against a human opponent on: Ice Station Obelis, Selenon Fissure, or Argent Shelf

Do any of today's deals interest you?