When the Internet exploded after Infinity Ward announced the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 wouldn"t support dedicated servers, DICE saw an opportunity to win some populace points by announcing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 absolutely would. A small catch: The only way to host a private dedicated server is to rent one from one of DICE"s "authorized hosts," a policy that DICE explained in a little more detail to Eurogamer.

"This does not earn DICE a profit," said producer Gordon Van Dyke. "But we will see where the game goes and support it post launch."

That"s an ominous wording, and Van Dyke didn"t explain exactly where the rental fees -- if not in DICE"s coffers -- are going toward. But he insisted this was the only way to "protect the game"s integrity on PC," rather than making public the files the community would need to host private dedicated servers.

Guitar Hero: Metallica already gave the iconic metal band its own music game, so what of long-time rivals Megadeth? Well according to front man Dave Mustaine, they've had "high-level meetings" with Activision, but they're looking to do more than just their own version of Guitar Hero: Megadeth.

"I have recently had two very important high-level meetings with the people from Activision and Neversoft, and we are talking about a lot of things," Mustaine said, in response to a fan's letter asking about potential Guitar Hero tie-ins (via Kotaku). "But a Guitar Hero box set is not as attractive to me and the people from Guitar Hero as the new idea that they offered me, as the creative stuff that we are talking about is over-the-moon!"

Just what kind of ideas? Mustaine was predictably cryptic, only saying his fingers are crossed that they can actually go through with it. "I just hope that someone doesn't stand in the way of this happening. I know that there are a lot of really damaging results from our mothership (Warner) having some legal disputes with YouTube and Guitar Hero to name just a few."

ORIGINAL STORY: When Swedish developer GRIN (makers of Capcom's Bionic Commando) closed its doors last year, some former employees revealed their last project had them partnered with -- of all companies -- Square Enix for a new Final Fantasy game. While we've seen leaked concept art of this game (codenamed Fortress) before, now a mysterious YouTube poster has leaked what he purports is tech demo footage of the game in action.

In the info panel of the YouTube video, the poster claims this is "an action game set some time after the events of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, and is intended for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows platforms." The poster also claims that although GRIN closed down, the project is still alive, possibly at now-Square Enix-owned Eidos Montreal (and note that GamesIndustry.biz reported last September that an anonymous source said the project was still alive at another developer, too).

Most urgent for the public to know about would be PopCap's announcement, as it lasts for the remainder of the day only: 100 percent of all proceeds from PopCap games purchased until 11:59PM PST will go to Partners in Health, an organization already on the ground in Haiti and helping survivors. So if you've been looking into finally picking up some PopCap games like Plants vs. Zombies, today would be a good day to do it.

Bungie has also announced their intentions to help raise money, as they're urging all their Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST fans to don a special Haitian-relief emblem while in multiplayer sessions this Wednesday and Thursday. For every player who does so, Bungie will donate $100 to the American Red Cross for Haiti relief, up to a total of $77,000. Additionally, they're selling a special edition of the Superintendent "Be a Hero" t-shirt, with all proceeds also going to the Red Cross.

The game has been updated to play on modern rigs with DirectX 9.0c, and features all of the single player content of the 2000 Aliens vs. Predator Gold Edition version of the game. Unfortunately there is no multiplayer for now, although in talking about the rerelease with IGN earlier this week, Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley said, "We will in due course fix up the multiplayer -- and we'll make sure it's a free download."

Kingsley also admitted that "it shows its age a little bit, but it is frightening and it is difficult." And hey, it's five bucks, which is a small price to pay to see what the remake has to live up to.

Age of Booty, released in 2008 on Xbox Live Arcade, the PlayStation Network, and PC, is a real-time strategy game involving navigating a ship across a hexagonal sea map and battling rival ships and towns. Obviously there are no details about Legend of Booty -- in fact, it technically doesn't officially exist -- but hopefully that'll change soon enough.

You can check out our review of Age of Booty here.

Above is one of a three-image series of new wallpapers available for download on Rockstar's website, which is obviously having a bit of fun over the statement. The series of wallpapers is called "The Eye is Watching," and as Kotaku noted, there's even a direct San Diego reference in there -- those two domes represent the San Onofre nuclear power plant just outside the city.

So to recap, the wives of a bunch of Rockstar San Diego employees accused Rockstar of terrible working conditions, one other employee compared them to the embodiment of evil in the most successful fantasy literature ever, and in response Rockstar made some pictures that at least seem to send the message of, "Hey, isn't this hilarious?!" An odd choice, but then we're no PR masterminds.

Speaking with Game Informer, Kotick said, "If you're going to make a commitment to doing something original, the odds are that you're not going to get it right on the first chance."

Kotick called DJ Hero a "really innovative product," and reiterated that Activision is sticking with the franchise.

But what if Achievements applied to real life? The folks behind the web series Elevator decided to explore that nightmarish prospect with the short clip above. Just imagine a world where nearly every action -- no matter how ludicrous or disruptive to society -- rewards people with points on some meaningless scoreboard. In the words of the video's unnamed protagonist: "That sounds horrifyingly stupid."

Give the video a watch, and thank your lucky stars that you only have to worry about Achievements in your free time and not at work.

- New Super Mario Bros. Wii (10/10/10/10, 40 points): It's no longer news, exactly, when a game receives a perfect score in Famitsu, is it? This is the fourth game this year to get the prize, despite the fact that only 13 titles have scored 40 in the magazine's 23-year history.

"It's just fun moving Mario around!" as one put it. "It's packed with that unwavering Mario-style fun. The difficulty level's high, but just to the point where you feel like you can finish the game if you try hard enough. A masterpiece of 2D action."

The bulk of the holiday releases are now on the market, but it doesn't look like the releases will be letting up with the new year. Rockstar has just narrowed the release window for Red Dead Redemption, which is slated to hit next year alongside a bevy of other releases.

The western sandbox title will be arriving in April 2010, with a more specific release date due alongside a new trailer. Final Fantasy XIII, Splinter Cell: Conviction and BioShock 2 are just a few of the other big releases to be arriving in the same period.

He, in somewhat less pixilated and more 3D-y form, is slated to join the fighter stable for Capcom's upcoming Super Street Fighter IV. He'll be joined by two other Alpha fighters: Guy, a ninja and friend of Cody's from Final Fighter, and Adon, a Muay Thai fighter and student of Sagat's. All three will have their usual array of moves, along with some new Ultra Combos to make them fit better into SFIV's game system.

SSFIV is due out next spring for the PS3, 360 and PC.

According to a recent financial report, the well-known RPG developer is looking toward North America to boost overall sales. To that end, they are planning to release a large number of PSP games (via RPGamer).

That means that games like Ys Seven, Ys Chronicles I & II and Brandish: Dark Revenant all have a chance of making it Stateside. Definitely good news if you're a hardcore RPG fan.

Some of the highlights:

- Why did Nintendo decide to have two Toad characters accompany Mario and Luigi in multiplayer? "Mario and Luigi are the same as always, of course, and suggestions for the other two characters included Wario and Waluigi, Toad, and Princess Peach," Miyamoto said. "The thing is that with Wario he'd need to have a fart attack, Peach would have to be able to fly with her skirt, and so on. With this game we wanted every character to play the same way."

Both systems get access to the six new PSone Classics, each of which is $5.99, including Command & Conquer, Dino Crisis, Reel Fishing, Fighting Force, Backstreet Billiards, and International Track & Field.

On the PS3-only side, there's a sale on quite a few titles running from now through next Wednesday, December 2. Dropping from $9.99 to $4.99 are Flower, The Last Guy, Prince of Persia Classic, Comet Crash (not to be confused with the newly released Gravity Crash, both of which also have demos available), and Bomberman Ultra. And dropping in price from $14.99 to $7.49 is Smash Cars and Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao. There's also the sale on the Killzone 2 DLC to celebrate the franchise's five year anniversary, a temporary price drop on Fate Unlimited Codes to $14.99, and the Uncharted 2 Eye of Indra 2 motion comic for just $0.99.

That doesn't leave us with any indication of what to actually expect in Far Cry 3. We did get a clue last summer when, prior to the release of Far Cry 2, Ubisoft Montreal's Patrick Redding said they had a "commitment to the African setting" for the next Far Cry game. Redding noted (via VG247), "There are still things we want to do with the African setting, and I think it's safe to say we'll continue to explore it. That said, we might find something new and compelling about the Antarctic setting that wants us to make the next game there, but honestly, we're still at the preliminary stages."

It's entirely possible they've changed their minds since then and the game is now set in outer space, but it does at least give us some insight into what Ubisoft Montreal had in mind early on in the development of Far Cry 3.

Typically, a new PC doesn"t come with anything noteworthy pre-loaded on the system. Annoying programs branded by the computer manufacturer"s name, some crappy games, maybe an anti-virus program -- more than likely, nothing you"ll actually be excited to see when you first boot up your computer. Alienware is looking to provide something on its systems that gamers will actually be interested in -- namely, Steam, and a copy of Portal.

Among the Alienware computers you can expect to find Steam and Portal pre-loaded on are the Area-51 and Aurora desktops, as well as the M15x and M17x laptops. Portal is only $20 now and Steam is free, so it"s not as if this is somehow going to mitigate the cost of an Alienware computer. Still, it"s a good addition to any PC gamer"s library.

Like any good piece of scuttlebutt these days, this story has its roots in Twitter. Actor David Sullivan (known for his role in the movie Primer) posted the following on his Twitter page: "First voiceover/motion capture audition today for a video game. Re-casting of Cole in the sequel of Infamous. 'I'll melt your face.' e.g"

Soon after, Yvette Nicole Brown (who voiced Mora in the first game, and currently plays Shirley on NBC's Community) replied with, "I hope you get it, you'd be a great 'Cole'!!!"

Gamefly's legal struggles with the United States Postal Service are getting heated as the company seeks to prove preferential treatment for competing services, reports GamePolitics (via Hacking Netflix). The legal complaint, filed in April, accused the USPS of giving preferential manual sorting to Netflix and Blockbuster, which Gamefly contends could help prevent costly broken discs. The company claimed about 1% of discs are broken in transit, but the post office contends that their sorting is done like any other company, and Gamefly's packaging is to blame.

As part of the complaint, Gamefly requested information in July regarding how many postal service locations have "Netflix-only" mail slots. The post office claimed such slots would be "against current Headquarters policy" and said it had no data on that. However, Gamefly obtained pictures of post offices in Susanville and Alturas, California, plainly showing a slot that says "Netflix-only." In an interesting wrinkle, however, the postal service issued a directive two years ago to remove all Netflix-only slots, warning that it could have "legal ramifications." The USPS hasn't verified the authenticity of the photos, so there's no telling if they were taken before or after that directive was issued. But for Gamefly's part, snapping pictures and then waiting two years to use them in court would be an odd move. Alternately, those two locations could have simply not followed the directive, which is sure to put those offices in hot water given the legal trouble at USPS headquarters.

Oh, Hollywood. What cinema classic won't you regurgitate these days? Legendary Pictures' remake of Clash of the Titans is slated for a March 28, 2010 release, and Namco Bandai announced this morning that their videogame adaptation will also be arriving Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 early next spring.

The new film stars Liam Neeson as god-of-gods Zeus, Sam Worthington (the cyborg from Terminator Salvation) as Perseus, and Ralph Fiennes as everyone's favorite lord of the underworld, Hades. Whether any of the talent from the movie will reprise their roles for the game is currently unclear.

In fact, everything about the Clash of the Titans game is pretty vague at this point. The only nuggets of info in the press release describe an action-adventure romp through the locations made famous by the film, including confrontations with Medusa and the Kraken. Some form of co-operative multiplayer is also mentioned, but exactly how many players -- or exactly who will be accompanying the myth's traditionally solitary hero -- wasn't revealed.