This Battlelog Post announces this will be a double-XP weekend for Battlefield 3 (thanks BF3Blog). Here's word on how you can work smarter, not harder in the military shooter sequel:

Here’s a great chance to rank up faster and have great fun while doing it. This weekend, we are running a new double XP event for everyone! On June 16-17, your sum total for every round will be effectively doubled, visible at the End of Round screen. This applies to any map and any mode, as long as you play on a ranked server.

You can see the full details of this event below. Basically, play Saturday and Sunday to rank up faster! And if you’re a Battlefield 3 Premium member, you already have access to the Close Quarters expansion pack and get double XP on those maps as well.

What: Double XP event to celebrate the launch of Battlefield 3: Close Quarters
When: 00:01 AM PDT June 16th – 11:59 PM PDT June 17th
Formats: All
Criteria: All players, both Premium and non-Premium members
Servers: Any ranked server
Game modes: Any
Maps: Any (including base game, Back to Karkand, and Close Quarters)
What: Double everything!

Continue here to read the full story.

The Star Wars: The Old Republic Website has word that free character transfers are now available for some players in BioWare's MMORPG (thanks Massively). Here's word:

The initial character transfer service is now available, allowing qualifying characters to be transferred at no charge from selected origin servers to selected destination servers. This character transfer service will be available as long as is required to help maintain population balance across the service and create a better overall gameplay experience. Select servers will be eligible for free character transfers based on the player populations of the origin and destination servers.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City developer Slant Six has offered 26 employees the choice between temporary layoffs and severance packages as a way of making ends meet, reports GameSpot, saying a majority chose the layoff option.

"Regretfully, we can confirm that there have been some temporary layoffs at our studio," the company's official statement reads. "We must stress that these are temporary layoffs, which means we are working very hard on new business prospects so we can reinstate every single person affected. As an independent and close-knit studio it is a very difficult but necessary business measure due to the current project cycle demands."

• CBS Has A 'Clear Path' To Broadcast Major League Gaming On TV This Fall. Thanks Ant via Reddit.

• Watch Dogs on GameFront. "How the game actually works."

• Dishonored on the Dishonored Facebook Page. New wallpaper.

• Check your inbox: Dawnguard beta keys deployed.
• KADOKAWA GAMES Unleash the Zombie Horde with Lollipop Chainsaw.
• New PlayStation 3 super slim? "Never say never," says Sony.
• Win a Skyrim-themed Kinect and 360.
• New Skyrim Avatar items arrive on Xbox LIVE.
• Judgment is not your usual Gears of War.
• Mad Catz® and Microsoft® Studios Sign Deal for Licensed Halo®4 Gaming Headsets.

• MacBook Pro Retina Display Analysis - AnandTech.
• Majesco’s Sci-Fi Heroes Blasting onto Mobile This Summer.
• PS Vita gets optional 1.69 update, 'improves software stability'.

• How Microsoft and Yahoo are selling politicians access to you.
• Apple Restores IPv6 Support in Base Stations. Thanks Ant.
• Google’s PageRank could get a boost from quantum computing.
• Zynga stocks dive after analyst's report.
• The Oatmeal Raises $100K for Charity in Response to FunnyJunk Lawsuit. Thanks nin via Rob Sheridan.
• Groupon offers to name your baby for $1,000.

Thanks Ant.

• Max Payne 3 Performance and IQ Review.
• iTunes 10.6.1. Thanks Ant via TidBITS.
• Dish: Hopper Ad Skipping Tech 'Competitively Necessary'.
• DirecTV Considers Auto Ad Skipping.
• Messages beta link disappears ahead of Mountain Lion launch.
• Gigabyte Motherboards at Computex 2012.

• LulzSec Reborn Leaks 10,000 Twitter Accounts. Thanks Ant.
• Microsoft overhauls certificate management in response to Flame PKI hack.
• Flame’s crypto attack may have needed $200,000 worth of compute power.

• SOPA opponents unveil “Digital Bill of Rights”.
• FBI halted one child porn inquiry because Tor got in the way.
• Comcast Protests “Shake Down” of Alleged BitTorrent Pirates. Thanks HARDOCP.

• Mass Effect Figures. Thanks Ant…

Link of the Day: I've been playing the same game of Civilization II for almost 10 years. This is the result. Just awesome. Thanks nin via Rob Sheridan.

Here's more Diablo III news, as the game's website has word that the real-money auction house is now live for the Americas region of the action/RPG sequel, allowing the sale of in-game items for cold, hard cash in the form of the U.S. dollar, Australian dollar, and Mexican peso. They say the launch will follow for other currencies in the Americas region as well as the European game region, as they are staging the launch to try and keep things running as smoothly as possible. To that end, this involves equipment only to begin with, and they will roll out commodities trading in future. They outline regional restrictions on how this works, and remind us of the recently announced requirement that an authenticator be used to by real-money auction house users.

Stardock announces the release of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion via digital distribution, calling this "the most significant expansion to Ironclad Games' hit real-time strategy game." This trailer shows off the standalone expansion, which does not require ownership of the original game to play, this page shows where to find the game, and this page has details on an upcoming boxed Collector's Edition (which will be available as an upgrade for owners of this digitally distributed version). Here's word on the game:

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion combines the best elements of real-time strategy with the depth normally reserved for 4X games. Players take command of a space-faring civilization that is fighting for its very existence in a vast interstellar war. This conflict will see players colonize planets, battle pirates, research new technologies, conduct trade, use diplomacy and engage in epic battles with massive fleets.

"What I think has made Sins of a Solar Empire such a phenomenon is that it demonstrated that you can have a real-time strategy game that rewards victory to the player who has built the better civilization, rather than the player with the best reflexes," said Brad Wardell, president & CEO of Stardock Entertainment.

In Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, years of unending conflict have resulted in internal strife within the three warring races - the Trader Emergency Coalition, the Vasari Empire and the Advent Unity. As a result, players can choose to play as a loyalist or rebel faction of the three races, each with their own techs and ships.

In addition to warring factions, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion also includes new "Titan" class warships. These massive vessels are fleets unto themselves and can unleash destruction across an entire star system. When matched with the additional new corvettes and capital ships, they create a variety of interesting tactical options for players.

Continue here to read the full story.

Shortly after restating their stance on cheating, Blizzard announces several thousand Diablo III players have been banned "for cheating and/or using botting or hacking programs" (thanks Ars Technica). Here's word:

We recently issued a round of account suspensions and bans to several thousand Diablo® III players who were in violation of the Battle.net® Terms of Use for cheating and/or using botting or hacking programs while playing. In addition to undermining the spirit of fair play that’s essential to everyone’s enjoyment of the game, botting, hacking, and other such exploitive behavior can contribute to stability and performance issues with the Battle.net service. As always, maintaining a stable, safe, and fun online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us, and we'll be continuing to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed.

Battle.net announces a new patch is now live for Diablo III, updating the action/RPG sequel to version 1.02c, which will hopefully eliminate the "Error 37" that has confounded so many users attempting to log into the game. Manual versions of the patch can be found on The Patches Scrolls, and here are the patch notes:

General

• If the authentication service is busy, the login checkbox will now wait at "Authenticating Credentials" until a player's login attempt can be processed. As a result, players should no longer encounter Error 37 when logging in.
• Achievements have been granted to players who previously completed their objectives, but were not correctly awarded completion credit.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed several crashes which occurred when clicking on player-generated item links in the game client

The Kickstarter Page for Two Guys SpaceVenture has word that this project from Two Guys From Andromeda, the creators of Space Quest, has achieved its funding goals with just a few hours remaining. The fundraiser concludes around 1:30 pm EDT today for those still interested in participating.

Publisher Paradox Interactive and developer VSTEP announce Ship Simulator Extremes, a new bundle for this seafaring simulation they will release on June 19th. This includes the base game as well as all of its DLC, as shown off in this announcement trailer. Here's word:

Included within Ship Simulator Extremes Collection are 10 new vessels, gameplay features and player campaigns. The Ferry Pack DLC adds five ferry boats each with their own specific controls and options as you play your part in the daily commute of thousands of passengers in the many famous in-game harbours.

Ship Simulator Extremes Collection will release on June 19th, 2012 via retail and all major digital distribution platforms for a recommended retail price of $29.99. The collection gives you maximum access to everything ever released for this best-selling ship simulator, making this a must for every simulation fan!

Origin's Need for Speed Most Wanted Page reveals system requirements for the upcoming racing sequel (thanks VG247), showing the DirectX 10 game will require Vista or Windows 7. Here they are with a few typos corrected: Continue here to read the full story.

The Runes of Magic Website announces the launch of Chapter V of Frogster's MMORPG. Here's word: "Fires of Shadowforge introduces a new race to the online role-playing game: the Shadowforge Dwarves. Two new classes have also entered the world of Taborea: the Champion and the Warlock, both exclusive to the Dwarven race. In addition, a new continent, Kolydia, has appeared on the map, offering players exciting regions and challenging dungeons."

The now-complete Kickstarter Campaign for Wasteland 2 now offers a design document for inXile entertainment's upcoming post-apocalyptic RPG sequel (thanks nin and Dev). Here's word:

I can't imagine a better way for Wasteland 2 to be created. We have your trust and a symbiotic relationship that will have us learn from each other. We are not afraid of the transparency of our process and thinking and intend to share it along the way. Our detailed reasoning of our choice of the Unity engine is just one example.

Today we are publishing our vision document for Wasteland 2 which details the sensibilities of the game itself. The ideas in this document come from things that worked in Wasteland 1 and are expected, things I have communicated previously, and suggestions/opinions from the fan boards.

• XCom: Enemy Unknown on Ars Technica.

• Nintendo cuts staff bonuses by 20%, report claims.
• Sony admits PS3 price was "a factor" in 3rd place current-gen finish.
• Wii U "must cost under $300" to succeed.
• Silicon Knights sees layoffs, says Nintendo rumor "has no basis in fact".
• Rock Band 3 DLC Week of 6/12 - Incubus' hit single Drive.
• Content coming soon to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

• Max Payne Mobile Coming for Android this Thursday, June 14th.
• Avalon Wars on the iTunes App Store.
• Cut the Buttons on the iTunes App Store.

• Off the Grid, Still In the Box- where's Cable TV headed.
• Take it from 1000 Zombies- Google+ is no ghost town.

• Microsoft Ushers in the 'Era of the Cloud OS'. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Former Mac Dev Slams Apple's 'Bloated' Pricing.
• EVGA Taiwan Office Visit 2012.

• Channel 4 News to describe Habbo as "paedophile haven" and Habbo boss responds to Channel 4 'paeodophile' claims.

• PEGI to become UK law on July 23rd.

• Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion on Strategy Informer.

• Canon PowerShot ELPH 320 HS Camera on Tech Review Source.
• Corsair Carbide 500R Case on PureOC.
• Samsung Galaxy S3 Smartphone on Hardware Heaven.
• Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB 10K RPM Hard Disk Drive on TweakTown.

• Race for the White House is an upcoming PC and iOS political election simulation…
• Good Game season 8 episode 18. Thanks Ant…

Various factors in the Gunnar-man's recent spate of peeing suggest it's psychological rather than physiological, but I am familiar enough with my own tendency to be dogmatic (no pun intended) in analyzing things when I have a preconception about what's going on that I can't rule out it being medical, so its come to the point where it's time to ask the vet if she sees any reason for this sudden flood of urine we're getting to experience.

Flood of Links:	Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play:	Infectonator 2. Cave Chaos 2.
Stories:	Hitchhiker writing book called ‘Kindness in America’ shot. Four arrested in La Mesa snack bar caper. Thanks A catch straight out of the deep blue sea. Thanks nin.
Science:	Cervical cancer find solves decades-long mystery. Lack of sleep may increase chance of stroke.
Images:	The American West as you've never seen it before. Artist Jason de Graaf Creates Amazing Hyperrealistic Paintings.
Media:	POrtal- Terminal Velocity. Thanks The Flying Penguin. The Many Deaths of Maggie Chow. LEGO 2001 A Space Odyssey.
The Funnies:	Brevity.