Following up on previous indications, the World Health Organization includes "gaming disorder" as a new mental health condition latest edition of its International Classification of Diseases, reports CNN. "I'm not creating a precedent," says Dr. Vladimir Poznyak of the precedent, saying the WHO has followed "the trends, the developments, which have taken place in populations and in the professional field." The article looks at both sides of this, also quoting researchers critical of the change. Meanwhile, some of the WHO's statements about why this is necessary seem to indicate not all the facts are in yet:

Ultimately, WHO hopes that inclusion of gaming disorder in the classification will stimulate debate as well as further research and international collaboration, Poznyak said.

Game over, so to speak, is to "significantly reduce the current gaps in knowledge that we have when it comes to the prevalence of these conditions and when it comes to their nature and management."

An Instagram post from Michel Ancel tentatively expresses hopes that beta testing of Beyond Good and Evil 2 will begin before the end of next year. The post is French, but a translation helps us understand his outlook on plans for a sequel to the 2003 action/adventure, as he says, "We aim for a playable beta for the end of next year." Thanks IGN.

A thread on Reddit has a week's worth of discussion about Red Shell, an SDK used in a bunch of games that's facing accusations of being a form of spyware (thanks Bleeping Computer). This is used to allow publishers to track the success of affiliate campaigns in selling games, but apparently it also creates a fingerprint that includes information about individual users. This situation has already progressed to the point where they have a lengthy list of game that have removed or have pledged to remove the controversial SDK, and an even lengthier list of games where it remains in place according to community reports. The number of prominent titles shows just how widespread this is:

Games who used Redshell which removed or pledged to remove it (as of 16.06.2018):

• Elder Scrolls Online (Pledged to remove it)
• Conan Exiles (Pledged to remove it)
• Ylands (Removed)
• Holy Potatoes! We’re in Space?! (Pledged to remove it)
• All Total War games, (Pledged to remove it)
• Warhammer: Vermintide II, (Pledged to remove it)
• Warhammer: Vermintide I, (might get removed also?)
• My Time At Portia, (Pledged to remove it)
• Dead by Daylight, (Pledged to remove it)
• Battlerite, (Pledged to remove it)
• AER Memories of Old, (Pledged to remove it)
• Magic the Gathering Arena (closed beta & not on Steam), (Pledged to remove it for now)
• Secret World Legends (Pledged to remove remains of it)
• Hunt: Showdown (Pledged to remove it)
• Escapists 2 (Pledged to remove it)
• Omensight (Pledged to remove it)

Games still using Redshell according to community reports (as of 16.06.2018):

• Civilization VI,
• Kerbal Space Program,

Continue here to read the full story.

Feral Interactive announces that the macOS and Linux editions of Total War: WARHAMMER II will arrive later this year. They say pricing and system requirements will be confirmed closer to release, and in the meantime, offer this trailer to celebrate the news. Word is:

Feral Interactive today announced that Total War: WARHAMMER II, the second instalment of the epic fantasy strategy series, will be released for macOS and Linux this year. Originally developed by Creative Assembly in partnership with Games Workshop and published by SEGA for Windows, Total War: WARHAMMER II is the follow up to the critically-acclaimed Total War: WARHAMMER, also brought to macOS and Linux by Feral Interactive.

Total War: WARHAMMER II puts players in command of one of four fantastical Races, challenging them to wage a war of conquest in order to stabilise or disrupt the apocalyptically powerful Great Vortex. The engrossing narrative campaign is set across four strikingly distinct continents: tropical Lustria, icy Naggaroth, the sophisticated Isle of Ulthuan, and the deserts, jungles and savannahs of the sprawling Southlands.

Continue here to read the full story.

A new trailer from F1 2018 shows off a couple of classic racecars coming with a Headline Edition of the motorsport sequel that is now accepting preorders. Here's word:

You asked. We listened. Introducing the championship winning 2009 Brawn BGP-001, as driven by F1 World Champion Jenson Button and his team mate, Rubens Barrichello, and the 2003 Williams FW25, of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher. Both of these iconic cars are included in the ‘Headline Edition’ of F1 2018, which is available for pre-order now and will be available as DLC at a later date after launch.

Continue here to read the full story.

• Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! -- v2.0- The Barista Update Released.
• Protagon v1.1.0 released. "Today's update is aimed at making Protagon more enjoyable to play. Less waiting for the ball to come to a complete stop, more aiming and shooting!"
• World of Tanks Soccer Mode: Ready for Kick-Off!

• Biggest Games Missing From E3 2018 - ScreenRant.
• E3 2018: Holospark’s Earthfall fills the Left 4 Dead void – PC & Video Gaming Examiner.
• Cyberpunk 2077 is running at 4K 30fps on a single Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti right now.
• People are asking $500 for the free Cyberpunk 2077 statue given away at E3 2018.
• E3 2018 Wrap-Up: The Beginning of the End of the Current Console Generation.
• The games of E3: launch dates, details, trailers and more.
• The Most Promising Indie Games That Showed Up at E3, From 'Sable' to 'NeoCab.'

GFK Chart-Track announces their new charts are now available, tracking last week's videogame sales in the U.K. On the all platforms chart Vampyr plunges to number eight after debuting in the top spot and God of War is god of the chart again. The Sims 4 drops to number two on the PC top 30 chart, where Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare lands at number one. Here's the PC top 10:

• Memories of Mars on Gaming Nexus.

• With Twitch, Amazon Tightens Grip on Live Streams of Video Games.

Thanks Ant.

• Things Intel Needs to Fix - TechSpot.
• Man Reports PillCam Stuck In His Gut For Over 12 Weeks.
• A machine has figured out Rubik’s Cube all by itself. Thanks Slashdot.

• Pentagon Puts Cyberwarriors on the Offensive, Increasing the Risk of Conflict. Thanks DSLReports.

• ASUS ROG Strix Flare Keyboard on Vortez.
• Be quiet! Silent Loop 360mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooler on Nikk Tech.
• Havit HV-KB390L low-profile keyboard on The Tech Report.
• In Win 305 Case on APH Networks.
• Stormforce Prism GTX 1080Ti Graphics Card on Vortez.

• A Brand New Game Has Just Released for the Amiga and It’ll Cost You $10…
• PUBG Corp responds to “asset flip” accusations…

To follow up on my visit to the local place that is set up so you can wash your own dog, it turned out to be a great experience. Like the late Hudson the Wonder Dog, the Gunnar-man has hair instead of fur, and needs haircuts as part of his grooming. It has been as struggle for me to do this over the years, as it requires a lot of crawling around on hands and knees bathing, clippering, and otherwise primping my poodle pal. This even eventually led to the drastic measure of trying professional grooming, which was easier for me, but was bad for Gunnar, who found the separation and other aspects of the experience traumatic. This place solved all my problems by taking all the difficulty out of the process... they have a raised walk-in tub for washing with a hose that easily switches between water, shampoo, and conditioner. They have a raised grooming table for trimming, and even supplied the towels. I spent 90 minutes in there making him perfect, left a giant mess of poodle hair behind, and got hit with a bill for a grand total of $16.10. There's old saying about something being a bargain at twice the price, and this service easily qualifies.

Links:	Thanks Ant.
Play:	UT2600 - Unreal Tournament demake for Atari 2600. Thanks PC Gamer. Unfair Stunt. Grand Shift Auto.
Story:	False earthquake detected in Mexico City after Lozano's winning goal in World Cup match. Thanks Slashdot.
Science:	The End of Dyslexia?
Media:	Loaded Baked Potato. What Violent Video Games Teach Our Kids. Headshots for everyone! Swarms of fish flies in Saskatchewan field. Relaxing music and our cat.

An update to the Star Trek Online Website welcomes players to a Victory is Life update that recently went live in the trekkie MMORPG (thanks Sphinx). This adds the ability to captain a Jem’Hadar faction and jump right into end game content, as shown in this launch trailer. A slow post-E3 Sunday provides a good opportunity to catch up with the game, so here's a bit:

Starting today, Captains in Star Trek Online will have the opportunity to create a brand new captain in their own Jem’Hadar faction. All Jem’Hadar captains will be as formidable right out of space dock as their namesakes, as they will be leveled up to 60 with a fully equipped ship, a fully geared crew, and a variety of completed Reputations, Specialization trees, and R&D progress. As a fresh captain you will have all the tools you need at your disposal to dive in and play Star Trek Online right at end game, all 100% for free.

On top of the ability to create a brand new Jem’Hadar captain that starts at end game, we’re delivering the first level cap increase in nearly four years. We have a variety of exciting content available for everyone. We’ll have 7 brand new episodes that will take you through an incredible story full of twists and reveals, a new queue, “Swarm,” that shows the devastating impact of the Hur’q, the all new Gamma Quadrant Sector Space Battlezone that takes the concept of a battlezone and increases the scope to include literally everyone playing in the Quadrant, and the Gamma Task Force Reputation that will give you everything you need to take the fight to the Hur’q. Players that create their Jem’Hadar captains during the first six weeks of launch will also be able to participate in the new Jem’Hadar recruitment system. This system provides challenges for captains to complete that will provide bonus personal and account wide rewards. This collection of fantastic content will put you in the boots of a Jem’Hadar, and give you a true Deep Space Nine experience.

Continue here to read the full story.

Valve lists these as the top sellers on Steam for the week ending yesterday:

1. Jurassic World Evolution
2. PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
3. Jurassic World Evolution
4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Game of the Year Edition
5. Jurassic World Evolution
6. ARK: Survival Evolved
7. Raft
8. Dying Light Enhanced Edition
9. The Elder Scrolls Online
10. Nioh: Complete Edition / 仁王 Complete Edition

• PULSAR- Lost Colony -- Beta 19.1 is out! Should fix the screen interaction bug that was reported. Thanks Ant.

• ESL's North American chief on the esports explosion at E3.
• The best games of E3 2018 - WIRED UK.
• E3 2018: Is this the best year to be a gamer? The best of E3 revealed - Gaming - Entertainment - Express.co.uk.

• Fortnite’s celebrity tournament felt like a trial run for Epic’s grand e-sports ambitions.

• Apple expects its budget iPhone to be the most popular 2018 model.
• Redwood Studios Call For "Fair Shake" On C&C- Rivals. Thanks Ant.

• The bigger Cryptocurrencies get, the worse they perform: BIS.
• A shame-filled look back at our most ridiculous screen names.

• PSA: 4K 144 Hz monitors use chroma subsampling for 144 Hz. Thanks [H]ardOCP.
• Top 5 CPUs for Gaming - TechSpot.
• Antlion Audio XLR Power Converter.

Thanks Ant.

• From LinkedIn and Yahoo to TVs and WiFi routers, these are default data privacy settings worth changing. Thanks Boing Boing.
• WeightWatchers Exposure- a Simple, yet Powerful, Lesson in Cloud Security. Thanks DSLReports.
• Startup Working on Contentious Pentagon AI Project Was Hacked. Thanks DSLReports.

• Cherry MX Board 5.0 Mechanical Keyboard on TweakTown.
• Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Pure Edition Hi-Resolution PCIe Gaming Sound Card on Mad Shrimps.

• Eve Online and Star Citizen fans at war over £112 "copycat" spaceship…
• Petition · Bethesda - Keep the Lone Wanderer Wandering Alone. Asking for single-player Fallout 76. Thanks Hypothermia…

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Here's hoping the toast wasn't burnt in your breakfast-in-bed and that the new tie goes with your sneakers. My dad died a few years ago now, but I get to express my thoughts on the occasion to my step-father, a wonderful man who did much more of the heavy lifting during my upbringing, so this is still a cause for celebration here at the BlueTower. Of course I am also doggie daddy to a wonderful poodle, but the Gunnar-man never gets me a card. I guess I'll have to settle for the gift of boundless joy and unconditional love, which he shares every day.

R.I.P.: Martin Bregman Dead- ‘Scarface’ Producer Was 92.

Paternal Links:	Thanks Ant.
Play:	Head World Cup.
Stories:	Indonesia python: 23-foot snake swallows woman. ‘Incredibles 2’ Box Office- Disney Sequel Lands Record $180M Debut. Nuclear Power Won’t Survive Without A Government Handout. Thanks Slashdot.
Science:	We’re all getting dumber, says science. Thanks Slashdot. Blurred Vision, Burning Eyes: This Is a Lasik Success? The reasons why women’s voices are deeper today. Thanks RedEye9.
Images:	Maya being adorable. Thanks Kxmode.
Media:	Mic'd up ump dealing with a pissed off manager. NSFW. Indigo: Keeping Vaccines Cool Without Electricity. You know what isn't sweet?
Follow-up:	Some Survivors Of Category 5 Hurricane Irma Want A Category 6. Thanks RedEye9. Gilliam's -Don Quixote- Has Another Setback.
The Funnies:	Adult Children. Windows Update.