As we’re counting down the days until we’re ready to announce a release date for Diablo III, we’ve come to realize that the PvP game and systems aren’t yet living up to our standards. Today, we wanted to let you know that we’ve made the difficult decision to hold back the PvP Arena system and release it in a patch following the game’s launch. After a lot of consideration and discussion, we ultimately felt that delaying the whole game purely for PvP would just be punishing to everyone who’s waiting to enjoy the campaign and core solo/co-op content, all of which is just about complete.

While we work on making sure PvP lives up to its full potential, we hope you’ll find some consolation in the fact that soon, you’ll be having a blast leveling characters, finding items, learning the classes, and perfecting builds…and that when the Arenas do arrive, you’ll be all the better prepared for battle.

When the PvP patch is ultimately ready, it will add multiple Arena maps with themed locations and layouts, PvP-centric achievements, and a matchmaking system that will help you and your team get into fairly matched games quickly and easily. We’ll also be adding a personal progression system that will reward you for successfully bashing in the other team’s skulls.

We know a lot of you are looking forward to PvP, and we’ll be focusing our post-launch efforts on making sure the Arenas are as brutal, bloody, fast-paced, and awesome as we know they can be. In the meantime, we’re in the process of putting the finishing touches on what we think is a truly epic campaign and co-op experience for launch.

We’ll have a lot more info to share on the PvP system in the future, and we look forward to the moment we can get the game into your hands.

We are aware that some players are having issues importing the faces of characters from Mass Effect 1 or Mass Effect 2 into Mass Effect 3. The issue is likely in how faces were detected when imported from Mass Effect 1 into Mass Effect 2, and we’re working on the best way to correct it for affected players.

As our teams work hard to address the importing of face codes we would like to call out a fan made tool that may be able to help PC users in the short term:

Mass Effect Tools

And detailed instruction from a fan on how to use them here.

• The 11th Hour on GOG.com.
• Crusader Kings II Update on Steam.
• Dead Horde Update on Steam.
• Dota 2 Update on Steam.
• Dota 2 Update on Steam.
• Driver San Francisco for OS X on Steam.
• Jane's Advanced Strike Fighters on Steam.
• Nuclear Dawn Update on Steam.
• Risen Update on Steam.
• Team Fortress 2 Update on Steam.
• Unstoppable Gorg Update on Steam.

• 2K Games on Steam. Save up to 50%.
• Activision Sale on GOG.com. Save 50%.
• Borderlands on Steam. Save 50%.
• Hector: Badge of Carnage - Full Series on Steam. Save 75%.
• Mafia II on Steam. Save 75%.

• Battlefield 3 dev lays out demands for next-gen consoles.
• Rock Band 3 DLC Week of 3/12 - Three Days Grace 3 Pack!
• Harmonix has 'no plans to stop' weekly Rock Band DLC releases.

• Android fragmentation also a challenge for Web developers.
• Nvidia on Apple's iPad A5X graphics claims. Thanks HARDOCP.

• Apple: iWork.com to get the axe on July 31 so back up your documents.
• Mozilla begins adapting Firefox for Windows 8 Metro environment.

• Apple to add 3,600 jobs at new $304M Texas campus. Thanks HARDOCP.
• In-Depth with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.
• Raspberry Pi delayed by manufacturing mix-up. Thanks j.c.f.

• Researchers Seek Help in Solving DuQu Mystery Language.
• DDoS botnet clients start integrating the Apache Killer exploit.
• Apple closes security holes with iOS 5.1 and iTunes update.
• Spam leads Google to disable interop of its IM network with AOL AIM.
• Hackers Find Flaws in Microsoft, Dell and TBS Sites.
• Scareware Demands Ransom After Making Files and Folders Invisible.
• Lenovo Recalls ThinkCentre Desktop Computers Due to Fire Hazard.
• Avast Identifies Subscription Traps as Malicious.

• "Great personal danger": Inside hacker Sabu's guilty plea hearing.
• Leaked- Police Plan to Raid The Pirate Bay. Thanks HARDOCP.

Thanks to everyone that contributed in the last rewards post. We got some great feedback and made some adjustments to the rewards. A few of the highlights are :

    DRM Free!
    The skill and weapon for supporters will not affect the game balance but will absolutely be entertaining
    Added a Wasteland 2 poster to a 'light' level
    Added a digital concept art book
    Did a solid pass on clarification of reward levels

We are excited to kick this off and will need your help to spread the word!

Oh, and what was it specifically that I meant by the game being “almost done”? Well, we’re no longer in beta, baby! On wednesday, we built the RC1, or release candidate 1, version of the game. This means that we “freeze” the development of the game (by stopping adding new features, basically) and start concentrating entirely on getting the game as stable as possible for the release. If something pops up that absolutely needs to be added to the game, it’s quite possible that we’ll have to wait until we do an update. Among the last things we improved on the game were: additional polishing of some of the GUI elements, save/load game dialog overhaul, some improved monster animations and miscellaneous level tweaks. I know the list of changes doesn’t look that impressive or sexy at this point but we needed to move carefully so we wouldn’t introduce any new bugs.

• Social Club Members: Claim Your Max Payne 3 Cemetery Map Tombstones.

• EXCLUSIVE: No disc drive for Next Xbox.
• CCP to “open up” beta testing for Dust 514 in April.
• Sucker Punch Addresses Infamous 2's Disappointing User Content.

• Microsoft to shut down app store for old phone platform. Thanks Slashdot.
• Google Pressures Applications, Mobile Game Developers To Use Payment Service.
• Nose Invaders Lite on the iTunes App Store.
• Flick Nations Rugby on the iTunes App Store.
• Boneyard on the iTunes App Store.
• Mysteryville 2 on the iTunes App Store.
• Golf ♠ Solitaire on the iTunes App Store.
• Ace Slot Casino on the iTunes App Store.
• Word Poker on the iTunes App Store.

• Leap Year Confuses Cogeco's Usage Meter.
• Mozilla Doesn't Want Pepper for Linux Flash. Thanks Linux Today.
• Facebook Co-Founder Chris Hughes Buys The New Republic. Thanks Acleacius.
• SeaWorld San Diego Started a Penguin Cam.

• Six screens, one desk.
• The Ultimate CeBIT 2012 Booth Babe Collection.

• IE 9, on most secure Windows yet, next browser to fall at hacker contest.

• Mortal Kombat “Banned” in Australia – again.
• Report- Justice Dept. Threatens Apple, Publishers With Price-Fixing Lawsuits.
• Apple barred from pursuing Kodak patent claims now. Thanks HARDOCP.

• Jagged Alliance: Back in Action on Game Over.
• King Arthur II on truepcgaming.
• Mass Effect 3 on Ten Ton Hammer.
• Nuclear Dawn on ComputerGames.ro.

• Actiontec MyWirelessTV Multi-Room HD Video Kit on OCIA.net.
• AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB Reference Design Graphics Card on TweakTown.
• Antec One Case on Hardware Heaven.
• Biostar X79 TPower Motherboard on Motherboards.org.
• Corsair Vengeance K60 Keyboard on Overclock3D.
• ICY DOCK EZ DOCK USB 3.0 HDD Adaptor on Bjorn3D.com.
• Inteal Core i7 3820 CPU on Guru3D.
• Samsung WB700 Camera on HardwareLook.com.
• Zalman Z11 Plus Case on Hardware Secrets.

• Alawar Entertainment now offers Vampire Saga 3: Break Out, the third installment in this hidden object series. A one-hour trial is available…
• The Father of Video Games Turns 90…