This post on an investing website and this follow-up post are from an Interplay investor, who outlines the current state of the legal tussle between Bethesda and Interplay over rights to the Fallout series. The posts, obviously a bit biased towards Interplay, describe suits and countersuits, explaining that Interplay is currently attempting to persuade the court that Bethesda's interference in their attempts to sell older Fallout games leaves their contract null and void, and that Bethesda should pay them royalties for Fallout 3, something the shareholder making the post calls an "AMAZING LEGAL SWITCHAROO." Thanks No Mutants Allowed.

Gamasutra reports on an undetermined number of layoffs at Slipgate Ironworks, the MMOG developer formed by John Romero. "As part of our focus on reaching the widest possible audiences with breakthrough MMO entertainment, we decided to change the format of our project at Slipgate Ironworks to better achieve this aim," they were told in a statement from Slipgate parent Gazillion Entertainment. "The game we'll launch will build on the efforts to date with a smaller core team and the other Slipgate staff are already in discussions around the many open positions across our slate of projects." Kotaku has an unconfirmed estimate that as many as 50 Slipgate employees were let go.

A Warcraft Tweet from Blizzard tell us the Playable Test Realm is now testing increased reputation gains (thanks Kxmode). Word is:

Rep grinds getting you down? We have plans to test out increased reputation gains on the PTR for many of the Northrend reputations.

The Star Trek Online trailer on GameVideos is part one in a series on Cryptic's upcoming Trekkie MMORPG. The narrated clip outlines the timeline and back story of the game, offering some pre-alpha footage to illustrate what's being discussed.

• Win an X-fi Titanium soundcard on Scurvy's Ultimate PC.
• Thermaltake Thanksgiving Element Series Chassis (5 cases) Contest on Bjorn3d.

• ArmA II on GoGamer. Save 44%.
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• Dark Salvation on the Mangled Eye Studios Website. Only $9.99 or $19.99 for the disc version.
• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on GoGamer. Save 88%.
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• Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes on GoGamer. Save 17%.
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• Torchlight on Steam. Save 10% on pre-purchases.
• Turok on GoGamer. Save 70%.
• Two Worlds on GoGamer. Save 94%.
• Wolfenstein on GoGamer. Save 50%.
  
  Still on sale (previously reported)
   
• Alganon on Direct2Drive. Preorder and get beta access and in-game items.
• Beyond the Spirit's Eye on Impulse. Save 50%.
• Borderlands on Direct2Drive. Save 10% on preorders.
• Borderlands on Steam. Save 10% on pre-purchase of the game or the four-pack.
• Circus Empire on Impulse. Save 30%.
• Company of Heroes Tales of Valor on Impulse. Save 50%.
• Crazy Machines series on Steam. Save 25%.
• Cricket Revolution on Steam. Save 10% on pre-purchases.
• Dawn of War Complete Pack on Steam. Save 50%. Sale also applies to individual titles.
• Drakensang: The Dark Eye on Direct2Drive. Save $5.00 with the code 5OFFDRAKENSANG.
• East India Company on Direct2Drive. Only $5.00.
• Eufloria on Steam. Save 25% on pre-purchases until October 20.
• Eufloria on Direct2Drive. Save 25% on preorders.
• Gratuitous Space Battles on Impulse. Save 13% on preorders.
• Ground Control Pack on GOG.com. Save 30%.
• Half-Life series on Steam. Save 58.5% on all games.
• Hollywood Pictures II on GamersGate. Save 50%.
• Light of Altair on Impulse. Save 20%.
• Metal Drift on Steam. Save 20% on pre-purchase and get beta access.
• Nemesis of the Roman Empire on Impulse. Save 33%.
• Painkiller: Resurrection on Steam. Save 10% on pre-purchases and get PK: Black and PK: Overdose free.
• Red Faction on Steam. Save 25%.
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• Saints Row 2 on Steam. Save 75%.
• Sam & Max Season Two on the Telltale Games Store. Save 42%.
• SFI Mission 4-Pack on the Strategy First Website. Four games for $19.99.
• Street Fighter IV on Impulse. Save 25%.
• Spiderweb Software Store. All games 10% off through October.
• Sword of the Stars: Ultimate Collection on GamersGate. Save 67%.
• Team Fortress 2 on Best Buy and FRYS.com. Only $9.99. Thanks Johnny.
• THQ Classic FPS Bundle on Impulse. Save 25%.
• Tropico 3 Pre-purchase on Steam. Save 10%.
• Tropico 3 on Direct2Drive. Preorders save 10%.
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• Wolfenstein on Amazon. Save 41%.
• X-Com Complete Pack on GamersGate. Save 50%.

• Don’t use unauthorized Xbox 360 Storage Devices.
• Early Play on Illegit Forza, Borderlands Resulting in Permabans.
• Bayonetta Xbox 360 Screenshots.

• Mobile Internet Devices: Surfing the Web Without a PC.

• Ad group- FTC blog rules unfairly muzzle online media.
• Ethernet everywhere!
• Wolfram Alpha's API is free, but using it costs.

• Sneaky Microsoft add-in leaves Firefox open to attack.
• Phishing attacks with Zeus Trojan targeting Outlook Webmail shops.
• Windows 7- Security Features.
• Quiz- Separate cyber security fact from fiction.

• Radio "pay to play" law ready for vote in House, Senate.
• Brit ISP TalkTalk shows why cutting people off because a record exec says they're file-sharers is dumb. Thanks Ant.

• Cities XL on GameSpot.
• Dreamkiller on GameSpot.

• AMD Radeon HD 5870 Graphics Card Triple CrossFireX on PC Perspective.
• Cooler Master CM Storm Mouse & Mats on Overclock3D.Net.
• Cooler Master Gladiator 600 Case on Hardware Secrets.
• Cooler Master NotePal X2 Notebook Cooler on Modders-Inc.
• Custom Cooled Graphics Card Shootout: ASUS & MSI on HotHardware.
• DFI LanParty BI G41-T33 Motherboard on Legit Reviews.
• Dynatron G950 Genius CPU Cooler on Test Freaks.
• Eagle Arion 2.1 Speaker System on Legit Reviews.
• EnhanceBox E4 External Storage Hard Drive Array on TechwareLabs.
• EVGA GeForce GTX 260 896MB Graphics Card on Monster-Hardware.
• GelaSkins for iPod Touch on ModSynergy.com.
• Griffin TuneFlex AUX with SmartClick for iPhone on ThinkComputers.org.
• HIS Radeon HD 5850 Graphics Cards on TrustedReviews.
• NVIDIA GeForce GT220OC and GT210OC Graphics Cards on Motherboards.org.
• Otterbox Commuter Series Case for Blackberry Tour 9630 on Test Freaks.
• Seasonic S12D 750W PSU on Big Bruin.
• SilverStone Element ST75EF 750W PSU on Hardware Secrets.

• Halma - The Game Crafter is the final entry in Digital Eel's game a week project…
• Plants vs Zombies vs Evony Parody Ads…

Man, it is some nice brisk football weather in these parts these days. Of course that's not great news for the teams still playing baseball, but I'm not sure what the MLB powers-that-be think was going to happen when you make a schedule with more than half-the World Series falling (no pun intended) in November. Brrr.

Chilly Links:	Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez.
Play:	Test Pilot. Submachine 6: The Edge. Shadez 2: Battle for Earth.
Link:	The Nerdy Dozens.
Stories:	Neighbors Thought Dead Man Was Halloween Display. Thanks theAntiELVIS. Commuter Railroads Build a Secret Minute Into Train Departures (registration required).
Science:	New ’spider pill’ camera robots offer comfortable alternative to colonoscopy. Thanks dakslf.
Images:	Vincent Van Gogh Cake.
Media:	Expendables Trailer. Thanks DrEnter. Cross-country Snowboarding. Thanks Digg. Sega Office Prank.