IGN has confirmed details of plans for Precursor Games to develop Shadow of the Eternals, a "spiritual successor" to Eternal Darkness, following rumors that such a project was heading to Kickstarter. They say the crowdfunding will begin tomorrow, looking for $1.5 million to develop a 12-part episodic game, initially targeting the PC and WiiU platforms. They have word that some of the leaked details are inaccurate, but the campaign should help clear this up, and in the meantime, have a teaser trailer and an official description of the plot:

When Detective Paul Becker is called to one of the bloodiest gang massacres in Louisiana state history, only two survivors remain from a brutal conflict between two rival cults. As Becker begins his interrogations of the suspects, their combined recollections will uncover the truth about the ‘Eternals’.

Featuring an ensemble cast of heroes and villains, Shadow of the Eternals will span over 2500 years of history throughout Egypt, England, Hungary, and the United States. Players will question the perception of reality as they try to balance the mechanics of combat, magick, and sanity events to progress through the adventure.

Shadow of the Eternals will take players on a memorable journey throughout time; weaving historical fact with disturbing fiction to create an experience unlike any other.

Continue here to read the full story.

A recent episode of Major Nelson Radio includes a conversation with Michael "Bien" Biehn, star of Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon, Ubisoft's recently released retro shooter. As noted on Invalid Opinions this includes an indication that there may be more blood left in this dragon, as the game's success may turn this into an unlikely franchise unto itself, as the actor describes a conversation to that effect with Dean Evans, the game's Creative Director. "Dean was with me on the phone last night," says Biehn. "He was pretty jacked up. He was going into a meeting today, to you know.. I think he wants to turn it into some sort of franchise. He’s got a sequel in mind." Thanks nin via the Steam forums.

The Left 4 Dead Blog has word that the Linux beta build for Left 4 Dead 2 is now available. This can balance the fact that there seems to be an error in the report we shared the other day about Linux betas for Portal and Portal 2 also being available, as while Portal is now out for Linux, Portal 2 is not (apologies for the confusion). Here's word on the Linux L4D2 beta:

Thanks to the efficiencies we were able to achieve with Linux, we skipped Valve time and are delivering the L4D2 Beta Linux build today as planned. The Beta build not only allows Linux owners to play the game natively, it is also the testing ground for our new Extended Mutation System.

If you currently own Left 4 Dead 2, You should see “Left 4 Dead 2 Beta” in your library. If it doesn’t show up, restart Steam. This is a complete build of Left 4 Dead 2, so the build is as large as the current game.

You also receive access to the Left 4 Dead 2 Beta Authoring tools and Left 4 Dead 2 Beta Dedicated Server. This will allow you to start working with EMS.

The Beta version also contains updated Windows and Mac clients, so even if you are not running under Linux you can help by testing the Beta.

Here's Valve's accounting of the 10 bestselling games on Steam for this past week:

1. Tomb Raider
2. Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon
3. Star Wars Collection
4. StarDrive
5. Dead Island: Riptide
6. BioShock Infinite
7. Grand Theft Auto Complete Packs
8. Age of Empires II HD Edition
9. Don't Starve
10. Monaco

• Magic 2014 - Duels of the Planeswalkers on Gamer Horizon.

• The Last of Us could have one of gaming's greatest partnerships to date.

Thanks Ant.

• Nobody Really Likes Google Glass.
• Blackberry CEO Predicts Tablets Will Be Obsolete In Five Years. Thanks HARDOCP.
• ASCII Shooter - Classic 2D shooting game with pixelated graphics (iOS).
• Barnes & Noble Announces Special Mother’s Day Offer- NOOK® HD Starting at Only $149 and NOOK® HD+ Starting at Just $179.

• The top 10 programming skills that will get you hired. Thanks HARDOCP.
• For a million bucks, you can have your own IMAX home theater. Thanks HARDOCP.

• Microsoft admits zero-day bug in IE8, pledges patch. Thanks HARDOCP.

• Tor Books says cutting DRM out of its e-books hasn’t hurt business.

• Dead Island: Riptide on Gamer Horizon.

• Alienvibes W601 2.2 Channel PC Speaker System on Bigbruin.com.
• iStarUSA BPN-DE340SS Storage Bay Adapter on Nikk Tech.

Thanks Ant.

• Doomsday 1.10.2 released…
• Diablo: Legacy of Blood is a fan-created Diablo movie seeking funding through Ulule, a European crowdfunding site. Thanks Rhialto…
• Game Giveaway of the Day - Atlantis Quest…

Happy Cinco de Mayo. This is obviously a bigger deal in Mexico than here in the U.S., but I'm surprised it's not more of a thing here, since it seems to center around music, food, and drink, and it seems the holidays involving alcohol have lots of traction. According to the Wikipedia, the holiday has become more popular because of beer company advertising, so perhaps that's what's caused me to draw the drinking connection. I'll have to pour myself a drink and think about this.

Linko de Mayo:	Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play:	Giants and Dwarves TD.
Stories:	Florida fights stucco-eating African snails. Thanks brother19.
Media:	Bug Buster Blunder. Penguin Slap Fight. Ow, quit it! Ow, quit it! Hurricane Reporter Fails Compilation. Insane RC Helicopter Skills.
The Funnies:	A matter of perspective « EXTRALIFE.