As February fades in the rear-view, it is an appropriate time for a reminder that Amazon Prime customers are now entitled to a new slate of games and game content through Prime Gaming. There's the usual assortment of cosmetics, add-ons, and full games that are yours to keep if you claim them in time. Here's the rundown on full free games currently included in this promotion:

• Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator
• Tunche
• BATS: Bloodsucker Anti-Terror Squad
• On-Hand Clapping
• Aerial_Knights Never Yield
• DKO: Divine Knockout
• Onsen Master

A tweet from Gabe Follower 2 shares a rumor that the recent hints about Counter-Strike 2 or Counter-Strike Source 2 are because Valve has been testing a version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive using Source Engine 2 since the end of last year (thanks Insider Gaming). The tweet hedges on this, saying it's "fairly reliable information," but "should be considered speculation." There's a follow-up from esports reporter Richard (no relation) Lewis citing "sources with a knowledge of the game's development" speaking anonymously. These sources say the project is a priority for Valve, it is "about ready to go." Word is a beta is expected this month, despite this sounding like the setup for an April Fool's joke: "the tentative release date for the beta is in this month of March with April 1st at the outside." Here are more rumored details:

The sources explained that the creation of the game had been something of a priority for Valve’s team, which includes members that have overseen development of previous iterations in the Counter-Strike franchise. This, they said, should explain why some issues with CS:GO have been largely unattended to for some time. “The big priority is getting this out and then polishing it, fixing any bugs and bringing it up to the level people expect from CS.”

Specific details of the game included that it will, of course, be on the Source 2 engine, a move that should improve the optimisation and graphical fidelity of the game. That is likely to come at a cost of performance for players with low-end PCs, although Valve historically has always had a philosophy of empowering those with every-day gaming rigs to be able to play their games.

The big question for the community has been whether or not official servers would be 128 tick bringing it in line with rival title Valorant. The sources confirmed that this would be the case and that this feature would likely be ready at the launch of the beta.

Continue here to read the full story.

• Forspoken Devs Were Planning Other Projects Including A Sequel Before Getting Shut Down.

• Save 60% on LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga on Steam.
• Save 20% on Bravery and Greed on Steam.
• Save 75% on To The Rescue! on Steam.

• Diablo co-creator Erich Schaefer joins Moon Beast Productions to make action RPG.

Unofficial games, patches, and mods.

• New Cyberpunk 2077 4K Texture Packs for Rogue, Delamain, Hanako & more.

Content creator video.

• Just Jump Attack - Elden Ring #41 - Carbot (thanks Ant).

• Meet The Modders Fixing The Bad Sonic Games Of Your Youth.

• Fortnite Champion Series 2023 - Major 1 - Grand Finals - NA-East - Day 1 (video).
• xQc could be about to purchase his own Valorant esports team.

• iPhone 15 Pro rumored to be getting revamped physical buttons.

• Disney May Get Hulk In Trade For Hulu.
• Facebook’s willing to reform its controversial cross-check program — but only parts of it. Letting the powerful misbehave is baked into the business model.
• Trillian version 6.5. Thanks Ant.
• Bing Chat has some hidden features, such as a way to play chess and more.

• 50 Years Later, We’re Still Living in the Xerox Alto’s World. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• Intel Scraps Rialto Bridge GPU, Next Server GPU Will Be Falcon Shores In 2025.
• Apple will reportedly launch an M3-equipped iMac later this year.
• GeForce RTX 4090 and Core i9-13900K PCIe scaling test shows 2% difference between x16 and x8 modes.
• FileZilla Version 3.63.2.1.
• Uh oh! The crypto collapse has reached the real financial system.

Thanks Ant.

• SUPERAntiSpyware version 10.0.1248. Thanks DSLReports.
• FTC: BetterHelp gave people's mental health info to Facebook. Never specified who they were helping. Thanks DSLReports.

• Laptop: Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED Review - MobileTechReview (video). Thanks Neutronbeam.
• Monitor: LG UltraGear OLED 27 Review- The OLED Revolution Is Here - Digital Trends. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• NAS: Synology's 5-bay DS1522+ NAS with 10 GbE card - Neowin.
• RAM: Crucial 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5-5200 Memory Kit Mad Shrimps.

Some of you expressed curiosity about what went into our recent move to a new server. Frans has you covered, as he's penned a Server move postmortem detailing the ups and downs of the process. As the story indicates, this was not as dramatic as previous upgrades, but no one needs drama when moving servers, so overall it's a good story with a happy ending.

Recap Round-up
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Brunch Link

• New 'Alien' Movie Announces Plot Synopsis, Full Cast.

Stories

• Ocean treaty: Historic agreement reached after decade of talks.
• Trek Parody "Khan!!! The Musical!" Announced.
• Florida man finds giant clam estimated to be 214 years old.
• Nestle, Tyson, food giants bet on air fryers. A bet that will go south faster than an Instant Pot.

Science

• See SpaceX Crew-6's approach to space station in time-lapse video.

Image

• Brought my Deck to my divorce hearing! Control on high settings 60fps. There's a life-lesson in there somewhere.
• Pics- Pilot makes 360-degree turn to see Northern Lights. Thanks Roddy.

Media

• Le Wrath di Khan Opera Live! - Robot Chicken - Adult Swim. Thanks Reddit.
• WTF Happened to Pixar's Unmade Newt Movie? Thanks VideoSift.

Creature Features

• Porcupine Parents Protect Babies from Leopard. Leopard has obviously previously tasted both baby porcupines and quills. Thanks Digg.
• Unfreezing a Kingfisher - Ozzy Man Quickies. Thanks VideoSift.

Follow-up

• Taron Egerton Won't Be Playing James Bond.
• Serkis Would Return As Snoke In "Star Wars." But would the audience?