• Din's Curse & Demon War DLC on GOG.com. Save 60%.
• Tower of Guns on GOG.com. Save 75%. Plus a livestream at 7:00 pm EST.
• The Steam Holiday Encore Sale Starts Today. Two days of the best bargains from the sale.

• Top Best and Worst 5 Games of 2014 - Zero Punctuation. NSFW.
• The Escapist Game of the Year 2014, Best Movie and More.

• Got a parking ticket in NYC? City looking at Apple Pay, Bitcoin as ways to pay.
• HP sells Palm trademarks; brand could be resurrected with new smartphones.
• Android 2.3 Gingerbread—Four years later, the OS just won’t die.

• Comcast just upped its cable modem rental fee from $8 to $10 per month.
• Five ways to delete yourself from the Internet. Thanks HARDOCP.
• India blocks 32 websites, including GitHub, Internet Archive, Pastebin, Vimeo. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Comcast Rings Out 2014 With Yet Another Tape-Recorded Customer Service Disaster. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Cue the outrage- How our favorite social networks failed us in 2014. Thanks Ant.

• Tesla Is Working On Robotic Snakes That Emerge From The Wall To Charge Your Car. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Video Perspective: Building a High Powered MicroATX Gaming PC - PC Perspective.

• US banks trace credit fraud to Chick-fil-A locales in possible data breach.
• Feds: Sony hackers’ next target will be an unnamed news organization.
• The hackers who hit Sony Pictures also threatened CNN. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Google researcher publishes unpatched Windows 8.1 security vulnerability. Thanks Slashdot.

• Report- UK police arrest Lizard Squad member.
• Snapchat’s privacy practices to be monitored for the next 20 years.

• Postmortem: Pinball-RPG hybrid Rollers of the Realm…
• Gearbox Software in 2014: Year in Review…

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?

Electronic Arts has found no security issues on Origin following reports on reddit from users claiming having been charged for games they did not purchase. PC Gamer has the follow-up from EA's investigations: "We found no indication at this point of a breach of our Origin account database," an EA rep explains. "Privacy and security of user account information are of the utmost importance to us. We encourage our players to use Origin user ID and passwords that are unique to their account, and to report any activity they feel may be unauthorized to EA customer support at help.ea.com."

A job listing from Square Enix in Japanese has started some speculation about plans for FINAL FANTASY XV, the next installment in this series of RPGs, as Gematsu translates this as being for a "FFXV-related online game," which is seeking applicants with "online management and production around games with fees," and an "interest and experience playing PC games." Multiplayer support for FINAL FANTASY XV has not been announced, and neither has a Windows edition, but Square Enix recently expressed interest in bringing more of the series to the PC platform. Thanks Destructoid.

• METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES beta patch.
• Survivor Squad: Gauntlets Update #7 - New starting cutscenes, button visuals and blazing fire.
• X Motor Racing version 1.48. New demo also available.

• The best games of 2014 (GamesBeat staff picks) - GamesBeat.

• Countdown to 2015 Xbox Daily Deal – Final Day.
• Kid Calls 911 Over PlayStation Network-Xbox Live Outage.
• GameStop Holding "Halo Day" This Weekend.

• Time Warner Cable Is The Least Popular Company in America. Thanks Ant.
• Here’s What Each State Googled More Than Any Other State In 2014. Thanks Acleacius.

Thanks Ant.

• LG announces a curved, 34-inch monitor that's tailor-made for gamers.
• Technology’s Impact on Workers. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace.
• The Successes And Failures Of Building Powerful PCs. Thanks Boing Boing.
• Red-Light Cams Fade as Speed Cams Get Green Light. Thanks Slashdot.
• Overclocking the EVGA GTX 980 Classified with LN2.
• The GNOME Progress & Events That Defined 2014.
• Linux in 2014: Six New Kernels, Thousands of New Features. Thanks Ant via Linux Today.

• The Year's Biggest Winners and Losers in Privacy and Security. Thanks HARDOCP.
• The unusual suspects: Ex-employees, Lizard Squad may have aided Sony hack.
• NVIDIA Corporate Network Breached. Thanks nin via Slashdot.

• Acer XB270H 27-in 1080p 144 Hz G-Sync Monitor on PC Perspective.
• ASRock X99 OC Formula Motherboard on AnandTech.
• ASUSTOR AS7004T NAS Server on Nikk Tech.
• DXRacer K Series Office Chair on LAN OC.
• ECS Deluxe Z97-PK on Overclockers Club.
• Innovative Technology Justin Power Bank Battery Roundup on TweakTown.
• Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB on Dragon Blogger.
• LG 34-inch Curved Ultra-Wide LED Monitor (34UC97) on TweakTown.
• [M] Razer Chroma Set on Mad Shrimps.

• Concept Art Surfaces for Abandoned 'Bioshock' Video Game Movie…
• Lynne Kilpatrick receives OBE…

We have once again arrived at the crest of a new year, with new year's eve celebrations to be found everywhere this evening. Well not everywhere, as it's 2015 already in some regions far to the east of here, and as always, we ask those of you who are already living in the future to not reveal anything to the rest of us that could disrupt delicate timelines. The other thought we won't be expressing for the first time is the sincere hope that everyone be careful when they are out celebrating, as the free flow of alcohol often leads to dangerous lapses in judgment, so please watch out for nuts, and please don't drink and drive.

Happy new year!

Eve of Links:	Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play:	Mustache Time. Stick Squad 2.
Links:	Play-Doh Frantically Deleting Toy Dick Pics From Its Facebook Page. Kids Movies Sport A Lot Of Murder. Sam Raimi: The Problems With Spider-Man 3 Were "My Mistake."
Story:	CIA takes blame for more than half of UFO sightings in late 1950s and 60s. Thanks Slashdot.
Science:	Rational and Irrational Thought: The Thinking that IQ Tests Miss. Thanks Digg. New study explains how and why lung cancer spreads.
Media:	All the Dumb Ways You Can Die In DayZ. Uncorking Champagne With A .50 Cal. North Carolina's Marshmallow Crops Are In Trouble. Lucky Charms panic to follow. Thanks nin. Crowd Loses Its Mind As Guy Throws 17 Perfect Darts In A Row.