3D Realms announces a January 29th release date for Bombshell, their action/RPG shooter, just missing their planned 2015 release. They also drop the bombshell that a retro-themed shooter prequel to the game is in the works, and is also expected next year, saying this is using the venerable 1990s build engine. They unveil details about a Digital Deluxe Edition for Bombshell that will include the soundtrack, a digital art book, and beta access to the prequel game. Here's word:

Bombshell is a digital-exclusive title that will MSRP in the U.S. at $34.99, with the Bombshell Digital Deluxe Edition MSRP at $39.99. Bombshell will launch globally on Windows PC via Steam and GOG.com on January 29th 2016, with console versions developed by partner Abstraction Games coming to Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 TBD 2016.

Bombshell - Digital Deluxe Edition includes: The Official Bombshell Soundtrack by Andrew Hulshult (digital copy), digital art book & world map overviews, and early BETA access to the Bombshell FPS Prequel, a retro-style first-person shooter that will be sold separately in 2016.

Bombshell FPS Prequel: Follow the events leading up to Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison’s explosive encounter with Professor Jadus Heskel that cost her her arm, her squad, and her reputation in a retro-style first-person shooter - built in the classic 90’s era Build Engine known from Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior. Then head online for some oldschool competitive multiplayer, Bombshell-style! PC gamers get early access to the BETA when you purchase the Bombshell Digital Deluxe Edition on Steam or GOG.com.

Mayan Death Robots is now available on Steam for Windows, OS X, and Linux, and the Worms-style action/strategy game carries a 10% discount for the first week. The launch trailer celebrates the news with a look at the game, and here's an explanation:

Yes the Mayan Death Robots are here, using heavy arms to shake the gods from their eternal sleep, irritating the hell out of Spanish conquistadors, and generally smashing everything to hell, including each other. Choose your robot and launch into explosive one-on-one versus battles against friends in local multiplayer, or go head to head with the alien robot AI. It’s PvP, but not as we know it. The chaos keeps coming with both opponents taking their turns simultaneously for a maximum of Maya madness every time.

Continue here to read the full story.

A big update to Endless Legend on Steam adds Steam Workshop support along with a bunch of free content for the 4X strategy game in an update Amplitude Studios calls Forges of Creation. They also offer two new paid DLC packs for the game, The Lost Tales and Echoes of Auriga. You can find details on all three packs on this page, and here's a summary:

In addition to introducing the option to reskin 3D units, the free Forges of Creation Steam Workshop update gives gamers the chance to create, store, and retrieve mods, offering creative players an endless depth of replayability and exploration in an already deep and enchanting universe. The update also includes content unlocked by the community such as the new Sister of Mercy hero Valete, new hero items, additional custom faction traits, a powerful ‘Guardian Killer’ unit (only available for Endless Legend Guardians owners) and a great number of AI improvements introducing the notion of ‘Faction Personality’. The ‘Forges of Creation’ update will be made available on Steam today.

If Forges of Creation taps into players’ inner map-builder, The Lost Tales DLC Pack is a unique offering that gives strategy enthusiasts the chance to purchase a collection of more than 20 quests related to Minor Factions. For the sonically-driven strategy enthusiast, Echoes of Auriga features seven new musical tracks composed by our one and only FlybyNo, with related new hero items, such as the “Harp of Noby Fly.”

• Empyrion – Galactic Survival Pre-Alpha 4.0.2.
• Grand Ages: Medieval Update 1.1 - ‘Siege & Conquest’ available.
• Scourge of War- Waterloo Version V1.0043 Notes. Celebrating that the game is also now available on Steam.
• SKYHILL Livestream Mode and new update available.
• StarDrive 2 version 1.2 now available. Including Unity 5 upgrade.

Stardock now boarding GOG.com.

• 2K Weekend Sale on The Humble Store. Spend $12 or more to get The Darkness II for Free.
• Antiquities of Autumn on GOG.com.
• StarDrive 2 on Steam. Save 66%.
• Heroes of the Storm Black Friday Sale plans.
• GameStop Reveals Black Friday Week Deals.

• EA Star Wars game creators Amy Hennig and Jade Raymond reflect on game storytelling - GamesBeat.
• Star Wars Battlefront designer feels 'pressure' on game - BBC Newsbeat. Thanks GameWatcher.

Ars Technica - Analysis: Kotaku, blacklisting, and the independence of the gaming press.
"Since Kotaku published the blacklisting details, many journalists and readers have cheered the site for asserting its independence and arguing that publishers should be less reactionary over a few stories they weren’t able to control.

More and more, though, I’ve seen people making the kinds of arguments discussed above. They're not especially sympathetic to Kotaku's argument that publishers are trying to 'hamper independent reporting in pursuit of a status quo in which video game journalists are little more than malleable, servile arms of a corporate sales apparatus'."

• The Frankfurt Major Grand Finals - Dota 2.
• Major League Gaming to Host Counter-Strike-Global Offensive Major Championship at Nationwide Arena.

• Call of Champions - Android Apps on Google Play.

• How Twitch Turned Video Game Voyeurism Into Big Business.

• Samsung's Gear VR virtual reality headset now available in the U.S.
• Intel's leaked roadmap confirms 10-core, 20-thread Broadwell-E CPUs.
• 7-Zip version 15.12 is now available. Thanks Ant.

• Microsoft Blocks Unauthorized Code Injection in Edge. Thanks j.c.f.

• It’s official—NSA did keep its e-mail metadata program after it “ended” in 2011.
• 15-Year-Old Brit Charged with DDoS Attacks, Bomb Threats. Thanks j.c.f.

• Explore StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void with John and Genna Bain…

Link of the Day: Knife-wielding tentacle. Just wait for the battery to die?

The Australian Classification website now lists Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 Free to Play, indicating Konami is kicking around plans for a new business model for the association football/soccer simulation. The retail version of the game was released a couple of months ago, and this new classification was issued just yesterday, but there are no additional details at this time. Thanks GameSpot.

Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma is no longer being sold, so Redacted Studios' action/adventure sequel is no longer available for Windows or PlayStation 4 just two months after it was released. True to that, the game's Steam page no longer has a link to buy the game, though there is no accompanying explanation. CGMagazine (thanks DSOGaming) does have word on what's going on from publisher Versus Evil, who say the game's poor reception lead to them yoinking it, and they are also cancelling the two planned ensuing volumes, and figuring out how to provide refunds. Here's word:

I met with the General Manager of Versus Evil, Steve Escalante during the Montreal International Gaming Summit to ask him about the game’s disappearance. His response was surprisingly candid and inspiringly honest. He said, “The game was a failure. We could not do, in good conscience, volume 2 and volume 3. So we’ve begun the process, it’s been a long process to figure it out because Sony has never really had to do this in this way, but we’re returning all the money. So across the board we’re putting out an apology saying ‘sorry about this.’”

Escalante added, “We’re Versus Evil; a company perspective, from a partnership perspective and now we have to do it from a consumer perspective. So we pulled it down, because we didn’t want to exacerbate it anymore and then we’re refunding the money.”

Escalante also noted “if you look at the reviews, it wasn’t that the game was broken or buggy, people just didn’t like it,” while in our own experiences with the game, we did note several bugs and issues. It could be argued that any game in a broken or buggy state should have never made it to consumers.

Keen Software House announces a free weekend is now underway for Space Engineers on Steam, offering the chance to check out the sandbox space game until midday Sunday. They also announce a sale, saying both Space Engineers and Medieval Engineers are half-off over the weekend. This new trailer offers a look at the latest updates to the game, and here's the accompanying description: "After the release of Planets we are focusing this week on bug fixing and improving the building process. Placing your first block (base station) on a planet surface is now much more intuitive for newcomers and returning players. Blocks are aligned with gravity by default. You can start new grids (small/large ships, vehicles, base stations) from toolbar icons without going to G screen. This is the first iteration and more improvements are planned for the planetary building process." Continue here to read the full story.

Square Enix announces LIGHTNING RETURNS will come to Windows PCs next month, offering the third installment in FINAL FANTASY XIII, the 13th installment in the RPG series. There are further details on the game's official website, and here's word:

In LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII for PC, players will embark on their final adventure in the FINAL FANTASY XIII series, which gives them the ability to have direct control over iconic heroine, Lightning. In a constantly moving, expansive environment, players must journey on a quest to save a doomed world from complete destruction - and in thirteen days, nothing will remain. Blessed with incredible strength and an arsenal of weapons Lighting has everything she needs for the coming battle - everything except time.

The PC release will also include all the amazing DLC content from the original console version*, including Japanese voice-overs and various costumes, shields and weapons.

The Witness website offers a new video from The Witness, calling this a "long screenshot" from the upcoming Braid follow-up. The video is accompanied by a blog post discussing the sound effects and story from the open-world puzzle game. In the post Jonathan Blow also discusses the absence of music in the game, explaining this is a very important design decision: "The Witness is a game about being perceptive: noticing subtleties in the puzzles you find, noticing details in the world around you. If we slather on a layer of music that is just arbitrarily playing, and not really coming from the world, then we’re adding a layer of stuff that works against the game. It’d be like a layer of insulation that you have to hear through in order to be more present in the world." Continue here to read the full story.

Here's another new teaser trailer from Paragon, introducing Sparrow, another character from Epic's upcoming PC game. As before, this is a very short cinematic, and doesn't provide much info about the game or the character, though it does show her wielding a bow and arrow. Continue here to read the full story.

• GhostControl Inc. version 3.0 released.

• Cooler Raises $13.3M On Kickstarter, Tries To Sell More On Amazon Before Shipping To All Backers. Thanks HARDOCP.

• BlizzCon 2015 Photos Posted.
• EGX 2016 dates revealed.

• Dark Souls 3 Interview: "It Wouldn’t Be Right to Continue Creating Souls" - GameSpot.

• PSA: Xbox One drops to $299 w/ a game for Black Friday weekend.
• Black Friday Deals: $299 Xbox One Consoles, 150+ Discounted Games And Gold For $1.
• Black Friday Xbox Digital Game Deals.
• Beyond Two Souls PS4 release date announced. Thanks Agent.X7.
• Huge 9GB patch paves the way for Bloodborne's expansion.
• Resident Evil 6 PS4 and Xbox One listings spotted on Korean ratings board.
• Xbox 360 turns 10: tales from composing Kameo.

Thanks Ant.

• Apple Pencil teardown reveals tiny logic board, pressure-sensitive trickery.
• Sprint’s compelling new promo- Switch from another carrier, cut your bill in half.
• Forklift Warehouse Challenge on the App Store.
• My Virtual Gay Boyfriend Free on the App Store.
• LG cancels smartwatch after just six days on the market.

• Java 8 Update 66. Thanks DSLReports via Ant.
• Add-on Compatibility for Firefox 43.

Thanks Ant.

• Langridge: No UI is some UI.
• SD Times Blog: Docker turns to Minecraft for server ops. Thanks Slashdot.

• Here's a Spy Firm's Price List for Secret Hacker Techniques. Thanks DSLReports via Ant.
• 600,000 cable modems have an easy to pop backdoor in a backdoor.

• Judge: Stingrays are “simply too powerful” without adequate oversight.

• Brigador on Gaming Nexus.
• Football Manager 2016 on PC Gamer.
• Game of Thrones - Full Season on PC Invasion.
• Hard West on GameWatcher and PC Invasion.
• Pool Nation FX on Gaming Nexus.
• Valhalla Hills on GameWatcher.
• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide on Chalgyr's Game Room.

• The AMD Radeon R9 380X on Hardware Canucks.
• ASUS Chromebit on Ars Technica.
• ASUS R9 380X Strix OC on HARDOCP and LAN OC.
• Deep Cool DA500 Aurora 500W Power Supply on eTeknix.
• EVGA SuperNOVA 650W and 750W Platinum Power Supply on PC Perspective.
• G.Skill Ripjaws MX780 RGB Laser Ambidextrous Gaming Mouse on eTeknix.
• Gigabyte Z170X-UD5 on Overclockers Club.
• Huawei Smartwatch on Legit Reviews.
• Sony Xperia Z5 on TechSpot.
• Thermaltake Suppressor F31 Mid-Tower Chassis on ThinkComputers and TweakTown.
• Tt eSports Poseidon Z RGB on OC Inside. German.

Thanks Ant.

• Fallout 4 - Advanced Base Building Techniques. Thanks nin. All your base…
• In just a few keystrokes and five scenes, the most striking game about guns…
• Good Game Spawn Point - Series 6 Episode 40…

Today is the 30th anniversary of the release of Windows version 1.0, Microsoft's initial baby step into the world of the GUI. To remind us of how far they've come, Network World dug up this launch video from the time, showing Steve Ballmer at his wackiest, which is saying something. And man did they pack in the free features for that initial release, huh? The MS-DOS Executive, a clock, a control panel, and a print spooler? Yeah boy!

Windowed Links:	Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play:	The Sequence. 3 Pandas in Fantasy.
Links:	The Golden Age- Is there just too much TV? Yeah. There Were American Nazi Summer Camps Across the US in the 1930s. Thanks JDreyer.
Science:	'Invincible' bacteria threatens global epidemic: study.
Media:	Live Action Five Nights at Freddy's. David Bowie - Blackstar. Thanks nin. Some Men Just Want To Watch The Fall Burn.