The Roberts Space Industries website announces the opportunity for everyone to check out progress on Star Citizen during a free fly event for the next week in the space combat game:

On the fence about Star Citizen? Why not give it a try and see what we’re building! For the next week, we’re enable Free Fly access to all accounts… which means that anyone can jump in to Star Citizen Alpha 2.1.2 today! The Free Fly event gives everyone access to three unique parts of the Star Citizen experience:

• Star Citizen Alpha 2.1.2 – Also known as Crusader or the “mini-PU,” this is the nucleus of the world we’re building! Featuring multiple space stations and environments, scripted missions, places to explore and more, Alpha 2.1.2 is your first look at a much larger universe!
• Arena Commander – Arena Commander is a ‘game within a game’ that we’ve used to develop our flight mechanics and ship combat balance. Take on human opponents or an AI swarm in single seat fighter.
• Social Module – Interact with other players while you explore our first landing zone, ArcCorp! The Social Module is intended as a starting point for our world building,

You can register for an account here to get started. If you already have an account from a previous Free Fly, you’re all set! Just log in via the Star Citizen launcher. This is the first Free Fly that includes Crusader, so there’s more to explore than ever before. Free Fly accounts will have access to the Hornet F7C military fighter, the Aurora LN starter and the Mustang Delta interceptor.

Bombshell is now available via digital distribution through places such as GOG.com and Steam, offering an action/RPG from Interceptor Entertainment that's not meeting with great reviews on Metacritic or the Steam Community. There's a post on Steam with troubleshooting tips for those encountering problems, and GOG.com has an announcement with more details:

The "Washington Incident" has certainly left a bad taste in Colonel Shelly Harrison's smart mouth. Quite understandably so, since it was there that she lost her right arm and the rest of her bomb squad. Now working as a mercenary and sporting a handy mechanical arm made from mostly unknown materials, Bombshell is eager to start kicking serious alien butt across four different planets.

Slip into the shell of foul-mouthed Shelly "Bombshell" Harrison and blast away the legions of ugly aliens that seek to destroy our humble planet. The past-paced, frantic gunplay and the imposing bosses in 3D Realms' latest offering will leave you no time for chewing bubblegum but what you will have in abundance are opportunities for crude comebacks. Use them wisely, wise-guy.

There's An Update on The Division Beta Access on UbiBlog with word that they can no longer guarantee access to beta testing of The Division:

Due to the unprecedented demand for access to The Division Closed Beta, we can no longer guarantee access. If you have already pre-ordered The Division and have yet to receive your key, we’re working closely with our partners to ensure that you receive it tomorrow when we send out the next batch of keys.

For those of you that have not pre-ordered but are on the waiting list for The Division Beta, please know that we want to get as many people in the Beta as possible. However, space will be severely limited for the rest of the beta testing phase due to high-demand.

Solo developer Wreck Tangle Games announces a May 20th release date for GiAnt, the Windows and OS X ant simulator/adventure game that recently passed through the Steam Greenlight process. They celebrate the news with the release of an alpha demo with the chance to check out its current state, and this semi-recent video shows gameplay. Here's word: "Given the role of Candy Collecting our hero must venture through enormous human sized worlds, from the garden to the cinema and even to space finding these little delectables, but things aren’t as easy as that. Other insects are trying to find them too, and if you get in there way they will attack! Candy isn’t just lying around either, tasks and obstacles will get in your way round every corner! Use your ‘AntDar’ to guide you to the candy pieces and help you avoid confrontation with your enemies, you can also use Power-Ups to help you out of sticky situations!" Continue here to read the full story.

A new trailer from The Ship: Remasted to show off what a good remasting can do by offering before-and-after views of the SS Atalanta from the original The Ship and from the upcoming remake. Here's word from Blazing Griffin: "The footage shows the SS Atalanta, one of the smaller maps but also a fan favourite. Over the next few weeks, we’ll release more comparison footage of the other maps as we lead up to the launch via Early Access." If this game interests you, as announced yesterday, there's currently a free weekend for The Ship underway on Steam. Continue here to read the full story.

• StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void Balance Update -- January 29, 2016.
• Star Citizen 2.1.2 Patch.

Three more days! The Humble Winter Sale Encore is here...

• Nordic State of Play on GOG.com.
• Valkyria Chronicles on Steam. Save 75%.

• Stellaris Interview: Henrik Fåhraeus on taking Paradox into space - PC Invasion.
• Gillian Anderson Interview - Roberts Space Industries.

• GTA Online Event Weekend- Double GTA$ in All Adversary Modes & Races.

• EVE: Valkyrie on PC Invasion.

• Sony sold 8.4 million PS4s in Q3.
• EA lets slip lifetime Xbox One and PS4 consoles sales.
• Activision reportedly making new Ghostbusters game for PS4, Xbox One.
• This Week On Xbox – January 29, 2016.
• Amazing Princess Sarah Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• AIPD Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• The Living Dungeon Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• This War of Mine: The Little Ones Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Level 22 Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Q-bert REBOOTED- The XBOX One @!#-@! Edition Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One.

Cemetery edition.

• Windows Phone is dead.
• Why the iPad Is Going Extinct. Thanks HARDOCP.

• Some Real Rules For Shilling Video Games On YouTube.
• Google Fiber testing home phone service to complete triple-play bundle.
• Google tells the FCC its secret airborne network is nothing to worry about.
• Azure Stack, Microsoft’s on-premises cloud service, is now available as a preview.

• Apple reportedly has a huge, secret VR team. Thanks HARDOCP.
• The Division PC Benchmarks (German).
• Samsung working on 3440x1440 monitors with 144Hz refresh rate.
• G.Skill enter the 128GB RAM kit arms race with their $1000 RipJaws V DDR4 kit.
• Do I Need to Watercool my PC?

Thanks j.c.f.

• HSBC online banking suffers major outage, blames DDoS attack.
• This is What Microsoft's Vulnerability Patching Efforts Looked Like in 2015.
• Samsung Patches Critical Vulnerabilities in Android Devices.
• WhatsApp Will Get Security Indicators to Highlight Encrypted Chats.
• Cisco plugs hole in firewall devices that could lead to device hijacking.
• LG Patches Severe Smartphone Hijack Vulnerability.
• BlackEnergy APT Group Spreading Malware via Tainted Word Docs.
• This is What Microsoft's Vulnerability Patching Efforts Looked Like in 2015.
• Oracle to Kill Java Browser Plugin.

• Stanford Law Professor: T-Mobile’s ‘Binge On’ Violates Net Neutrality Rules. Thanks HARDOCP.
• City cops in Disneyland’s backyard have had “stingray on steroids” for years.
• California Police Used Stingrays in Planes to Spy on Phones. Thanks Acleacius.
• Former Silk Road staffer and “victim” in murder-for-hire to serve no prison time.
• U.S. Govt- Excessive Piracy Punishments Should Be Avoided. Thanks HARDOCP.
• New bill amends Utah criminal code to include doxing, swatting, and DoS attacks.

• The Witness is being heavily pirated…
• This Month in WoW — February 2016…
• The Greatest Video Game Music III (Choral Edition) by MOD on iTunes. Preorders…

Link of the Day: Notes to Greg Malone for Duke 3D’s first voice session with Lani Minella and Jon St. John. 12/5/95.

A new post on Game Server Operation Guidelines for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has word that Valve has permanently disabled Game Server Login Tokens for server operators providing falsified profile or inventory contents for players, whether such services were free or paid (thanks Eurogamer). They have changed the process for acquiring new Game Server Login Tokens to prevent future abuses, and explain why they have done this:

CS:GO community servers provide valuable experiences to players and communities, and are serving more players than ever before. Over the past month, 3.1 mln unique players were observed playing on community servers and this number keeps growing each month.

We’re aware that some server operators are offering to their players false inventories and/or profiles as a free or paid service via mods on their servers. These mods inaccurately report the contents of a player’s inventory and/or matchmaking status, devaluing both and potentially creating a confusing experience for players.

Therefore, we are asking server operators to remove any mods and plugins that falsify the contents of a player’s profile or inventory.

To be clear, the services that should not be offered on a community server include (but are not limited to):

• Allowing players to claim temporary ownership of CS:GO items that are not in their inventory (Weapon skins, knives, etc.).
• Providing a falsified competitive skill group and/or profile rank status or scoreboard coin (e.g., Operation Challenge Coins).
• Interfering with systems that allow players to correctly access their own CS:GO inventories, items, or profile.

[To clarify: it is also not acceptable to provide players with custom models and/or weapon skins that do not exist in the CS:GO ecosystem]

If your server provides any of the above services then we request that you disable them. If for some reason you are unable or unsure of whether a particular plugin should be removed, feel free to contact us.

Kalypso Media announces the release of Tropico 5 - Complete Collection, a bundle of the dictator sequel that's available as a boxed retail release or through Steam. They offer a look at the goings-on in this trailer, and here's word:

Tired of petty rebellions and the cries of austerity from his 'beloved' citizens, El Presidente has instructed Kalypso Media to release the PC version of Tropico 5 – Complete Collection, bringing the most comprehensive Tropico package yet to his adoring fans and prospective dictators everywhere. Packing in both full expansions ‘Espionage’ and ‘Waterborne’ along with all 10 DLC add-ons released to date, Tropico 5 - Complete Collection delivers overs 100 hours of gameplay, giving fans the best ever chance to test their mettle as the Caribbean’s latest mastermind dictator. More maps, more missions, more buildings, more beards. You really are spoilt for choice - the only question is, how will you rule your island paradise?

Continue here to read the full story.

Slitherine now offers the release of Order of Battle: Morning Sun, a strategy expansion for Order of Battle: Pacific that's set during the second Sino-Japanese war, which was part of the run-up to World War II. Here's a trailer with a look, and here's word:

In summer 1937, renewed tensions between Japan and China escalate into open war: The Second Sino-Japanese war has begun.

Order of Battle: Pacific after the release of the successful free update Battle of Britain, comes back to the Pacific Theatre, covering one of the cruellest but most underrated conflicts of the Second World War period.

In Order of Battle: Morning Sun players take control over the Japanese forces fighting for territorial expansion and rich Chinese resources. The conflict soon turns into a massive all-out war between the two sides during the Battle of Shanghai. While the Chinese forces are numerically superior, they have suffered from internal conflict and are poorly equipped with outdated weapons. The recently modernised Japanese Army, on the other hand, is well trained and experienced, but as the war drags on it gets increasingly overstretched, allowing the enemy to regain the initiative at several occasions...

Continue here to read the full story.

Keen Software House offers another video developer's diary about the addition of planets to Space Engineers, focusing on what makes planets unique. Here's the outline of what they are showing us here: "Take a look at the creative process of making Planets for Space Engineers life-like and big enough to host all your creations. This new development diary by our lead designer Tomas Rampas focuses on the creation of the biggest content update for Space Engineers yet." Continue here to read the full story.

"We are on a journey to regain the trust of the PC gamer," Peter O’Reilly, senior marketing director for Origin tells MCV. "Over the last couple of years we have focused on ensuring a great play experience from launch and bringing players a better experience on Origin with programs like the Great Game Guarantee, On the House, and now Origin Access. We’re excited about the progress we’ve made, but are always pushing ourselves to innovate on behalf of players."

• Dota 2 Update - January 28th, 2016.
• Dota 2 Update - January 28th, 2016.

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive - Regional Minor Championships.
• Rainbow Six Siege Pro League formed by Ubisoft. $100K prize pool.

• Meet Saints Row: Undercover, the canned PSP sequel suddenly released for free.
• Air Force Fury on the App Store and Google Play.

• Amazon tops $100 billion sales, still disappoints Wall Street. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Tom Wheeler fires back at cable lobby, says cable box fees are too high. And the FCC has tried so hard to foster competition, too.
• DHI Group, Inc. Announces the Sale of Slashdot Media. Thanks Slashdot via Ant.
• Yahoo to shut Argentina and Mexico offices. Thanks HARDOCP.

• Digital Foundry: Hands-on with HTC Vive Pre.
• Rise of The Tomb Raider PC Performance and Graphics Analysis - Custom PC Review.
• Rise of the Tomb Raider: Performance Analysis - techPowerUp.
• Western Digital Announces Financial Results For Second Quarter Fiscal 2016. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Intel Gets Called Out Again For Their M.I.A. 3.0 X.Org Driver. Thanks Ant.

• Two-thirds of Android users vulnerable to web history sniff ransomware.
• Hackers post private files of America's biggest police union. Thanks Acleacius.
• Cisco drops 11 clock-crashing patches for 46 things, probes 142 more.
• HSBC online services offline following 'attack' on bank.

• Warrantless stingray case finally arrives before federal appellate judges.

• Defunct on GameWatcher.
• DiRT Rally on Christ Centered Gamer.
• StarCraft II: Legacy Of The Void on gamesTM.
• Tales From the Borderlands Ep 5: The Vault of the Traveler on Just Adventure.

• Accusys ExaSAN A16T2-Share Thunderbolt 2 Storage SAN on TweakTown.
• Kanto Yaro 2 Amplifier & Speakers on Hardware Canucks.
• Lexar USB 3.0 Portable SSD on The SSD Review.
• PNY CS2211 SSD on The SSD Review.
• PowerColor Devil HDX PCI Express Sound Card on Legit Reviews.
• Synology DiskStation DS1515+ Network Attached Storage on Modders-Inc.
• Thermaltake Suppressor F31 Midi Tower on Nikk Tech.
• Thrustmaster Y-280CPX Test on Overclocked Inside.

• Artificial Intelligence Police Department on Steam is deceptively titled, it's actually a co-op twin-stick shooter for Windows (and consoles)…
• MameUI version 0.170 and MAME version 0.170 are now available. Thanks Ant…
• Robert Kazinsky: "World Of Warcraft" Saved My Life…

Happy birthday to Duke Nukem 3D, as the 2.5D shooter was first released 20 years ago today. My strongest memory of the game was the impact of the demo version being added to DWANGO. At the time DWANGO was all about DOOM, and was so set in its ways 90% of the matches took place on the same map. Duke was so different and fun it actually shook that community out of its doldrums and sparked a lot of Duke 3D multiplayer, which was insanely fun. Good times. Happy birthday Duke. Here are some singles to enjoy at your party at the strip club (and here's a fake ID that says you're 21).

Links:	Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play:	Notebook Wars Ultimate.
Stories:	Microsoft co-founder's yacht tears up protected coral reef in Cayman Islands. David Bowie Auditioned for the ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movies. Thanks nin.
Science:	Zika: Here’s what we know about the virus alarming health experts worldwide. Elon Musk to unveil Mars plans this year, wants to go to space by 2020.
Media:	ELDERS REACT TO NETFLIX.
Follow-up:	F-35 software overrun with bugs, DoD testing chief warns.