Sports Interactive announces an October 31st release date for Football Manager 2014, the next installment in their association football/soccer simulation. The game is coming to Windows, OS X, and for the first time, Linux. Those who can't wait that long to get to kick this around can consider pre-ordering, as this will grant access to the game's closed beta about two weeks before the official launch. Word is: "Careers started in this Beta version will continue in the full game. A list of retailers participating in this pre-order promotion can be found at www.footballmanager.com."

Here's a Kickstarter for Timothy Zahn's Parallax, a retro 4X space strategy game by Prototype X Software and acclaimed science fiction author Timothy Zahn (thanks Ant via Slashdot). They are looking to raise at least a half-million dollars, and here's why:

Parallax will be a turn-based strategy game in keeping with the classic 4X genre (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate). The player, as the leader of a fledgling interstellar civilization, will direct just about every aspect of their civilization’s development, including galactic exploration, expansion of the empire, exploitation of resources and technologies, and extermination of any competitors that refuse to join their empire.

It will be a 2D, almost retro-style game, that will be available on multiple platforms: cell phones, tablets and PC and (if possible) some of the console game systems. Because it needs to run on a cell phone, the graphics will be fairly simple, and the focus will be on making it a fun, interesting experience, with interactive storytelling taking top priority.

Timothy Zahn will be co-creating the game, and bringing 5 of his favorite aliens along for the ride: the Zhirrzh from The Conquerors [Trilogy], the Qanska from Manta's Gift, the Kalixiri from The Icarus Hunt, the Modhri from the Quadrail series, and the Pom from Spinerret. We're also creating two all-new alien races just for this game, and the backers will help define the details and bring them to life. In fact, every single backer gets to be part of the game creation process, from the beginning, right up until the game is finished.

A post on the Natural Selection 2 website has an answer from developer Unknown Worlds to the musical question "Where are my bugfixes!?" (thanks Ant). They admit that while most NS2 players are not having issues since the latest update to their action/strategy sequel, some are experiencing a variety of problems to the extent they say: "It’s the wild west out there." Word is:

This is not the first time UWE has released a build that is not perfect, but we always come good in the end. That’s what we are working to do right now. Build 256 is under construction, and it exists solely to sort out the performance, input lag, crashes and bugs that are hurting you in Reinforced. Build 256 put in a good show during playtesting last night. Apart from Exosuits appearing as female marines, it was generally well sorted.

It will probably arrive on Steam next Thursday. We know that is too long, and it much longer than we want it to be. Unfortunately we can’t push harder. Many members of the team took a few scheduled days off after Reinforced, to recover from lack of sleep, lack of family and an overload of coding. That means 256 has been a little slower out of the gate than we would like. But it is on its way.

In the 26 updates we have made since launch (An average of one every two weeks) we have never left you hanging when we have reached too far and fast – We are not about to start now.

This trailer from F1 2013 shows off some of the old-school racecars in the classic mode of the upcoming Formula One racing simulator while classic rocking out to a little Fleetwood Mac. The roster of classic cars includes "the iconic ’76 Ferrari" (at first glance we thought they were including a car from Interstate '76, but there are no guns mounted on any of the cars in the clip. Continue here to read the full story.

• Write Lyrics for GOG.com's Birthday Rap. Calling Dr. Eminem!
• Oculus Rift's IndieCade VR Jam Announces Finalists.
• Kingston HyperX Sponsored Teams Cloud 9 and Team Solomid Placed 1st and 2nd in LCS North American Regional Finals 2013.

• Rise of Venice on Hooked Gamers.

• Rockstar Bans GTA 5 Streams, Videos, Pictures, User Accounts.
• GTA 5 pre-loading on PS3 delayed until September 16.
• DuckTales: Remastered on Xbox LIVE Arcade.
• Major Nelson Radio 491: TGS and Xbox One Tour Road to Launch.
• Why the console version is my preferred take on Diablo III.

• Microsoft makes big money from Android phones and tablets. Thanks Ant via Linux Today.

• PayPal scrambles for fix after freezing two more crowdfunded games.

• Intel open (source) Inside out. Thanks Ant via Linux Today.

• Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world. Thanks nin.
• Video games ratchet up violence, blur line between fantasy and reality. Cites shrink-ray and zombies as "more realistic" violence than the past.
• How ultraviolent video games and ultraviolent films differ. Yes, Fox Entertainment makes one and not the other.
• Researchers Find Third Variant of OS X Tibet Malware. Thanks j.c.f.
• Microsoft reissues September patches after user complaints. Thanks HARDOCP.

Thanks Ant.

• Rogue hardware used in attempted cyberheist at Santander bank branch.
• Court decision in Google Street View case called unpersuasive, flawed.
• Kim Dotcom sues New Zealand for $7 million over illegal spying, raid.
• How a parody T-shirt beat the NSA. Thanks Acleacius.

• ArmA III on Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
• The Bureau: XCOM Declassified on Hooked Gamers.
• Gone Home on PC Gamer.
• Outlast on ActionTrip and Hooked Gamers.
• Total War: Rome 2 on IncGamers.com.

• Adata DashDrive Durable HD710 waterproof hard drive on The Tech Report.
• ASRock Z87 Extreme4 LGA 1150 Mainboard on X-bit labs.
• Cooler Master N600 Mid-Tower Chassis on TweakTown.
• EVGA Hadron Air Mini ITX Case on Hardware Canucks.
• Gigabyte Z87X-OC on Bjorn3D.com.
• Micron P420m 1.4TB PCIe Enterprise SSD on TweakTown.
• Mionix Avior 8200 on Christ Centered Gamer.
• Mushkin Scorpion Deluxe PCIe SSD on The SSD Review.
• Noctua NH-U12S and NH-U14S Heatpipe Tower Coolers on Bigbruin.com.
• NZXT H230 Silent Case on AnandTech.
• Rapoo E9180P Blade on Technic3D. German.
• Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 Tablet on MEGATechNews.
• Seagate Desktop 2TB SSHD (ST2000DX001) on TweakTown.
• Toshiba THNSNH Solid State Drive on X-bit labs.
• WD Re (WD4000FYYZ) 4TB Enterprise HDD on TweakTown.
• WD My Passport Slim 1TB Portable Hard Drive on Legit Reviews.

Thanks Ant.

• Activision Blizzard, Inc. Announces Syndication of $2.5 Billion Term Loan Credit Facility…
• Mari0, the Super Mario Brothers/Portal mashup, is now up to version 1.6…
• Hulu and Crackle each offer free viewings of Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters, supported by commercials…
• Think video games aren’t art? This Minecraft opera begs to differ. Now all we need is a voxel Mona Lisa to seal the deal…
• NASCAR The Game: 2013 - Paint Scheme DLC Teaser…
• The Magic of Saints Row IV…

I am very stubborn about problem solving, which is one of the reasons I keep clinging to the hope that I will somehow straighten out the issues with my PC. I am, however, coming to the conclusion that there is an issue with my motherboard, as it's hard to come up with an explanation that encompasses the inconsistent results I'm getting from my troubleshooting. It's gotten to the point where I am strategizing my next build, so on some level I've given up the idea that this will be solved through software. The budget for this will have to go past the $0 I have earmarked, and my goal is to make a machine that's fast and quiet, which will make it that much harder to stay cheap. At this point I'm considering a last gen i5 like the 3570K and overclocking the snot out of it, perhaps using liquid cooling, though I haven't really investigated the cost/performance tradeoffs of getting a faster CPU and using air cooling, which will make the case and cooler cheaper.

Rigged Links:	Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play:	Blym. Alexia Crow - The Cave of Heroes.
Stories:	Gators and Rattlers and Buzzards and Boars: The Wild Side of NASA's Campus. Thanks nin. Cat survives 11-story fall at Alaska apartment. Thanks to High-rise syndrome. Lonely, Abandoned Dog Rescued Thanks to Google Street View. Thanks nin.
Media:	Censored Bert and Ernie. How X-Men- First Class Should Have Ended. The Spy Who Loved Cookies (007 Parody).