An article on The Fallout wiki attempts to summarize the current state of the long-running legal dispute between interplay and Bethesda over the rights to the Fallout series of post-apocalyptic role-playing games. This includes a Q&A that mentions that this no longer includes any conflict over the "Fallout Trilogy." Here's that: "Both sides have previously agreed to drop this from the case (Bethesda raised it, and Interplay agreed). The case now just concerns future Fallout games." There's also this update stating that Bethesda has filed a motion to seal portions of the case, saying that this can often be an indication that an out-of-court settlement is in the works. Thanks Le Wastelander.

A report on GBase.ch, in the site's native German, offers indications from Autumn Moon Entertainment's Bill Tiller that A Vampyre Story 2 is on hold, and if publisher Crimson Cow does not soon find an investor for it, the vampire adventure sequel may be cancelled. Here's the English version of his comment:

AVS2 got 30% done. Then due to a couple of game companies that failed to do what they the said they would with our engine they ran us over budget and so neither AME or Crimson Cow had the money to finish it. So Crimson Cow has the rights to do it, and they have tried to get it funded a few times and are trying now, but so far no luck. So call it on hold. It could be cancelled soon though. I'm not sure.

No Mutants Allowed has a new modification for Fallout: New Vegas, created by J.E. Sawyer, project director on Obsidian's RPG sequel. The post offers downloads of the mod, an outline of what it does, and a Q&A with Sawyer explaining why these changes are not part of an official patch.

• Blizzard Entertainment Diablo 3 Beta Key Sweepstakes vs Province of Quebec.

• Twisted Metal to include Twisted Metal Black.

• Verizon Suffering Yet Another Data Outage. Thanks Ant.
• Amazon moves 4 million Kindle units in December.

• British teenage designer of Summly app hits jackpot. Thanks Acleacius.
• The Times E-Mails Millions by Mistake to Say Subscriptions Were Canceled. Thanks HARDOCP.

Thanks Acleacius.

• Intel Begins Shipping New Intel® Atom™ Processors. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Odd technology job interview questions revealed.
• LG Display hit by Chinese employee strike. Thanks Ant.
• Motorway crash closures to be cut by 3D laser scanners.
• Japanese firm creates humanoid robot to replace factory workers.

• Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for December 2011. Thanks Ant.
• Train-switching technology 'poses hacking threat'. Thanks Acleacius.

Thanks Acleacius.

• US-CERT Issues Warning About Current Wi-Fi Protected Setup Standard. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• M-Edge Files Lawsuit Against Amazon For Patent Infringement, Fraud.
• Fast Five is 'top pirated film of 2011'.

• Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon on Out of Eight.

• AMD Fusion A8-3870K Overclocking and Dual Graphics Performance on Hardware Heaven.
• Antec Eleven Hundred Case on techPowerUp.
• ASUS MARS 2 Graphics Card SLI Madness on Overclock3D.
• Danger Den Q20 Black Series "Shadow" Acrylic Case on TweakTown.
• Dell Inspiron One 2320 Laptop on TechReviewSource.com.
• GIGABYTE X79-UD5 LGA 2011 Motherboard on HARDOCP.
• Hitachi LifeStudio Desk Plus 2TB External Hard Drive on eTeknix.
• HP Envy 14 Laptop on TechSpot Reviews.
• Intel LGA2011 CPU Cooler Roundup on Legit Reviews.
• NEXUS Prominent R Silent ATX Mid Tower Case on Bjorn3D.com.
• Satechi R1 Arm Hinge Holder Stand for Tablets on Test Freaks.
• SilverStone Precision PS07 Case on APH Networks.
• Super Flower GOLDEN GREEN 1000W PSU on Real World Labs.
• Zalman CNPS11X Performa CPU Cooler on Hardware Secrets.

• Chastened gaming rep responds to Internet infamy…
• New games top a thrilling year. Thanks Darth Guybrush…
• Sphinx Sanitarium: Games of the Year…
• A game devs thoughts on Skyrim NPCs…

Well my prep work went smoothly, so I'm off for a tooth extraction tomorrow. This will be pretty early, so I'll most likely update afterwards: Hopefully I'll be on just the proper amount of painkillers to make it a fun update, rather than a missed one.

R.I.P.: James Rizzi, US pop artist, dies aged 61. Thanks Acleacius.

Prepped Links:	Thanks Ant and Mike Martinez and Acleacius.
Play:	Zomblast. Slow and Blow Pirates.
Stories:	Less is more: Simple living in small spaces. Foods So Spicy You Need A Waiver.
Science:	Mosquitoes Pick Out Human Meals With Help from Microbes. Thanks nin. More time at school 'boosts IQ'. Bid to host Square Kilometre Array telescope.
Images:	Matej Kren's 'Idiom': Fascinating Book Wormhole Overwhelms The Eye. Grammar matters.
Media:	Don Cherry's Piano Desk. Thanks Drexal. What Dubstep Sounds Like to Your Parents.
The Funnies:	Buttersafe.
Follow-up:	Soyuz back in service after failed launch.