IGN now offers the promised first part of the online Portal comic that bridges the gap between Portal and Portal 2. The stylized 14-page comic is titled "Lab Rat," and word is part two will be released on Monday.

IndustryGamers has news that video games are now included in the descriptions of four Grammy Awards, and word is this may be paving the way to a separate video game Grammy. "I think this could be viewed as a first step in the direction of video games getting their own category," said Bill Freimuth, Vice President, Awards, The Recording Academy. "Many people from the game community have been asking us to create a special category for games over the years, but the main reason we haven’t is because we have received very few entries from game publishers." Here are the four amended award descriptions:

The Music for Visual Media (Motion, Television, Video Game Music, or Other Visual Media)
Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media (Motion, Television, Video Game Music, or Other Visual Media)
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (Motion, Television, Video Game Music, or Other Visual Media)
Best Song Written for Visual Media (Motion, Television, Video Game Music, or Other Visual Media)

The Star Wars: The Old Republic Website has an update from Georg "I'd Like to Buy A Vowel" Zoeller where the Principal Lead Combat Designer on BioWare's upcoming MMORPG explains how their advanced class system has evolved over the past few months based on gameplay testing and focus groups. He outlines the importance of a player's advanced class choice, how class abilities are gained, skill trees, and more.

The RAGE Website notes a new Arsenal Gameplay Montage trailer on GameTrailers.com showing off the weapons in id Software's upcoming first-person shooter. Included are a couple of machine guns, an unattended turret, a boomerang dealie, a shotgun (of course), and more. There is also a warning to watch your back in the sewers, followed by footage of nothing but frontal assaults from the sewer denizens. Thanks Bill.

A new Behind the Scenes Trailer for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine features the developers at Relic discussing the setting and gameplay in their upcoming sci-fi action/RPG. The clip is embedded below. Continue here to read the full story.

The ArmA: Armed Assault Website offers a new patch to update Bohemia Interactive's military first-person shooter to version 1.18, which Bohemia says is the final update to the game. Word on the patch is: "The most important fix is compatibility with Windows 7 64bit." The download is mirrored on AtomicGamer, Gamer's Hell, and WorthPlaying.

IncGamers - 'Over-appreciated' Games of Our Time.
Like Angry Birds, Black Ops’ sales figures may be mind-boggling but its content is most certainly not. At least, not in a positive sense…

The single player is hideously uninspired and fails to innovate (or even iterate) on what was present all the way back in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the plot is told in a sloppy, incomprehensible manner and if I have to put up with another round of poorly (and stereotypically) voiced Russians I vow never to play the series again.

• Diablo III on Blizzplanet.com.

• MineCraft-Inspired FortressCraft Is Building Excitement On Xbox Live.
• Thor: God of Thunder BTS Trailer.
• Virtual-On Force Playtest: A Charm For Every Flaw.
• PS3's Heavy Rain: The FarmVille of Core Games.
• Limbo Just Got Scarier. And Funnier.

Thanks Ant.

• Google survey finds games trump all other uses for tablets. Thanks Slashdot.
• Apple iPad 2 online orders start to ship... early.
• Verizon 3G iPad 2 owners report reboot problem. Thanks Ant via DSLReports.com.
• Verizon Wireless Eliminates One Year Contracts.
• Cooking Mama 4 Will Be Served On Nintendo 3DS.
• BlazBlue 3DS Sold 6k, Super Street Fighter IV 3D Ships 1 Million Globally.

• Skype 5.3 improves video to mobile calling. Thanks [H]ard-OCP.
• All Star Trek coming to Netflix, make it so. Thanks Ant via Slashdot.

Thanks Ant.

• Windows 7 Spoofs Of The Day.
• PC Perspective - Podcast #149.
• TheDebianChoirOfComplaints. Thanks Linux Today.

• Former Epsilon CEO likens massive email breach to shopping mall master key. Thanks Ant.

• House Votes to Undo Net Neutrality Rules. Thanks [H]ard-OCP.
• RIAA Lobbyist Turned Judge Backpedals On BitTorrent Cases. Thanks [H]ard-OCP.

• Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler on BayReviews.
• Crucial M4 - Micron C400 256GB SSD on Legit Reviews.
• NZXT H2 Classic Case on Hardware Heaven.
• OCZ Enyo 64 GB Portable USB 3.0 SSD on Tech ARP.
• SilverStone Fortress FT03 Case on Phoronix.
• Steelseries Spectrum 5XB Xbox Headphones on XSReviews.
• Thermaltake Azurues Gaming Mouse on Overclockers Online.
• Verbatim Store'n'Go Netbook USB 16 GB Flash Drive on techPowerUp.
• Verizon iPhone 4 Smartphone on Hardware Secrets.

• MAME Regime Change…
• 2K Games Partners with Top Cow to Offer Fans The Darkness II- Confession on Free Comic Book Day May 7…
• The five worst excuses for leaving out a female character option…

I'm pretty sure my warning about hiding your Scotch yesterday went unheeded by the amount of fun I had last night, and the amount of pain I'm in today. Oh well, no pain, no gain... or something like that.

R.I.P.: Sidney Lumet, 86, Director of Modern Film Classics, Dies.
R.I.P.: Software pioneer and ENIAC programmer Jean Bartik dies at 86. Thanks Ant.

Painful Links:	Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez and Acleacius.
Play:	Goo Bob. Big Evil Robots. Pirates Conflict.
Links:	Sharks Taught to Hunt Alien Lionfish. Thanks Neatorama.
Story:	Family Dog Protects Missing 2-year-old Overnight.
Images:	Fake Science - Are All Snakes Venomous? Price FAIL. Extreme Sleeping, Part 2.
Media:	Animatronic Marshmallow Peep Show. Metal Gear Solid IRL Of The Day. Deer Protects Mother Goose and Her Nest.
Follow-up:	Brevity.