John Carmack tweets about plans for a new texture option in the upcoming patch for the Windows PC edition" of RAGE, id's new first person shooter: "We have a bicubic-upsample+detail texture option for the next PC patch that will help alleviate the blurry textures in Rage." A follow up tweet offers more on this: "@DesignerDon our first test of a higher res page file didn't help much, because most source textures didn't actually have any more detail."

Steam News announces that the Windows PC edition of Costume Quest is now available. Word is this includes a free copy of the Grubbins on Ice DLC pack as well as Double Fine's previously console-only game:

Costume Quest is a Halloween adventure from Tim Schafer's Double Fine Productions. In this charming role-playing game, choose your hero and trick-or-treat through three beautiful environments full of Double Fine humor and story. Complete quests, build your party, and collect costumes along the way that allow you to transform into powerful champions and take down the evil Repugians. This heroic holiday tale will capture the imaginations of kids and kids-at-heart.

Continue the Costume Quest adventure with the Grubbins on Ice DLC pack, included free in the PC version! Face new enemies while collecting additional quests, costumes, battle stamps and creepy treat cards. Help the monsters overthrow Araxia to bring peace back to Repugia!

The Dawn of War II Website reveals plans for new DLC for Dawn of War II: Retribution, Relic's Warhammer 40K real-time strategy sequel. Word is: "We've been working on some very cool new DLC for Dawn of War II: Retribution. A new Tau commander for The Last Stand has been in the works, in addition to an Imperial Guard Death Korps of Krieg multiplayer chapter pack, and a Chaos Word Bearers multiplayer chapter pack as well. All coming in our next update." They offer a new Tau Commander video developer diary and point the way to a preview on IGN based on hands-on play with the Tau Commander. Thanks Gamer's Hell

A playable English language demo is now available for The Book of Unwritten Tales, offering the chance to play through the entire second chapter of King Art's upcoming comedic point-and-click adventure game. This is accompanied by the news that we should expect the game's release in the U.K. and Ireland on October 28th. Here's word on the demo: "In chapter 2, players slip into the role of little gnome Wilbur Weathervane, who is on his way to bring a magical ring to the human town of Seastone and to meet up with the arch mage of the humans. Wilbur needs to get accepted as a student at Master Marcus' magical school and to earn his mage diploma by solving three difficult tasks..." The download can be found on the game's official website and mirrored on AtomicGamer, Gamer's Hell, and Worthplaying.

EA has entered a "formal consultation process" to explore the closure of their Bright Light studio in Guildford, U.K., reports GamesIndustry.biz (registration required). "After a review of all current and future projects, Electronic Arts has started a formal consultation process with its Bright Light employees over the proposed closure of the studio," said EA's Tiffany Steckler. "The proposed changes will help centralize development on future projects, reduce development costs and will allow for better knowledge and talent sharing within the organization." They also note members of the team behind their recent Harry Potter games may yet have a future at EA: "Employees that are impacted will be considered for positions at other EA Studios including those in the UK."

Cliffski's Blog mentions a new trailer and some screenshots from Gratuitous Tank Battles, Positech's upcoming armored combat strategy game. The media is available on the Gratuitous Tank Battles Website and here's the embedded version of the trailer. Continue here to read the full story.

A new patch is now available for Driver: San Francisco, updating the driving action sequel to version 1.02. The patch is available through the game's auto-updater, it can be downloaded directly from Ubisoft, and it is mirrored on Gamer's Hell, The Patches Scrolls, and Worthplaying, and according to Gamer's Hell the patch addresses problems with the Uplay reward system.

• The Last Remnant on Steam. Save 75%.
• Take On Helicopters on Steam. Save 15% on pre-purchases.

• Borderlands 2 on Computer and Video Games.
• Stronghold 3 on PC Gamer.

• iPhone 4S Launches, System Chokes. Thanks Ant via Slashdot.

• No Email Day wants us to take 24 hours off our inboxes. Not going to happen here. Thanks HARDOCP.

• 3D Vision Gets Updated with LightBoost, Larger Panels and New Glasses.
• goScreen version 8.02 is now available. Thanks Ant.

• Fifteen years of KDE. Thanks Ant via Linux Today.

• Facebook sued for violating wiretap laws with tracking cookies.
• Winklevoss twins lose again, ordered to pay law firm $13 million.
• Jail Sentence for Pirate Bay Co-Founder Made Final. Thanks HARDOCP.

• Call of Duty :Black Ops Annihilation on PC Gamer.
• Hard Reset on Worthplaying.
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link on Computer and Video Games, GameBanshee, PC Gamer, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun

• AMD FX-8150 “Bulldozer CPU and Scorpius (FX) Platform on Futurelooks.
• AMD FX-8150 Bulldozer 2600MHz DDR RAM Overclocking on TweakTown.
• Apple iPhone 4S on Hardware Heaven.
• Apple iPhone 4S (Sprint) on TechReviewSource.com.
• Cooler Master Storm Sirus 5.1 Gaming Headset on Top Review Shop.
• Corsair XMS3 2000MHz 8GB RAM on pcGameware.
• Intel 320 Series SSD 300 GB SSD on techPowerUp.
• Kodak PlayTouch Camcorder on Hardware Secrets.
• Lian Li PC-Z60 Case on APH Networks.
• NVIDIA 3D Vision 2 Kit on Hardware Canucks.
• NZXT Sentry Mix Fan Controller on Hardware Secrets.
• OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid 1TB PCIe SSD on The SSD Review.
• Zavio F531 Outdoor IP Camera on Real World Labs.

• The Most Serious Playthrough Of Ghost Squad. Thanks Morris…

We are planning on doing some rocking tonight, as we have concert tickets (front row no less!). We are off to see Ian Hunter, most famous for the hit version of David Bowie's All the Young Dudes back with Mott the Hoople. This follows my philosophy about attending concerts since hitting middle age, which is to only see artists who are older than myself so I'm not as likely for feel like that old-timer who sticks out in the audience. Ian recently turned 72, so I'm pretty confident we'll once again actually be among the younger attendees.

Rocking Links:	Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez and Acleacius.
Play:	Fisher-Diver. Youda Fisherman.
Links:	Fifteen People You'll See At Every Nerd Convention. 7 Awesome Facts About Goggie Communikayshun.
Science:	Nanotube yarns twist like muscles. T-Rex dinosaur was even more massive than we thought. Dean Kamen’s Inflatable Wind Turbine Doubles As Digital Billboard. Thanks HARDOCP.
Images:	Updating Your Computer FAIL. Ok...
Media:	FAIL Blog PSA: Hollywood Guest Director. Worst iPad Ever of the Day.
The Funnies:	Counterpoint Webcomic of the Day.