Welcome to Digital Blend, your one-stop shop for coverage and recommendations of all things relating to mobile gaming, digital marketplaces, and indie titles (for the week ending January 13).

Happy new year! Welcome back to Digital Blend, our weekly look at the world of downloadable video gaming that exists at the fringes of the mainstream. That means we look at the hottest new mobile game releases, downloadable content drops on consoles and PCs, indie darlings that deserve your love and attention, and the best gaming values out there for under $20.

Keep your comments and feedback coming. We want to hear from you! Did you try something you read about here and enjoy it? Is there a particular game you think we’ve overlooked or news you want to share? Any questions you are dying to ask? Let us know! Your thoughts, feedback, suggestions and (constructive!) criticism are welcome, either in the comments section below or directed at yours truly on Twitter, @geminibros.

Making headlines…

* Apple stepped up and dropped the banhammer on Auroch Digital’s Endgame Syria earlier this week because of its violation of App Store guidelines. Apple’s policy states that no App Store offering can “solely target a specific race, culture, a real government or corporation or any other real entity.” Endgame Syria violates that policy for putting players in command of the rebels challenging Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s rule; it’s part of Auroch Digital’s Game the News project, which seeks to educate by way of interactive experiences. Auroch spoke to Digital Trends about the situation, and how it reflects a larger issue with Apple’s closed App Store environment, in an exclusive interview that you can read right here.

* Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is due for some DLC. The first content pack for Treyarch’s latest – called Revolution – arrives on January 29, 2013 as a timed Xbox 360 exclusive, selling for 1,200 MS Points. Fans can look forward to four new multiplayer maps (“Downhill,” “Grind,” “Hydro,” “Mirage”), one new Zombies map (“Die Rise”), a new Zombies game mode called Turned (take control of a zombie!), and – in a first for Call of Duty DLC – a new weapon (Peacekeeper SMG). 

* You’ve probably read plenty at this point about PowerA’s neat, Android-friendly game controller, the MOGA. Now the peripheral maker is back with a refreshed take on the pocket-sized smartphone device with the larger MOGA Pro. The new Bluetooth-enabled controller works a lot like the original version did, with one notable difference: it’s a full-sized gamepad. The MOGA Pro is unmistakably modeled after Microsoft’s Xbox 360 controllers, with a flip-up cradle in the center that you can seat your smartphone in.

* Nvidia is making a big push at CES 2013 for it’s newly announced Project Shield. This handheld device is a self-contained Android platform, shaped like an Xbox 360 controller but with a flip-up 5-inch screen covering its face. Project Shield is designed as a dedicated portable Android gaming platform, fitted with the latest Nvidia Tegra 4 GPU and capable of running apps from the Google Play store. The device will also make use of Nvidia’s Grid technology to allow gamers to stream full PC games to their Shield, as long as they remain within the range of their wireless network.  

* 17-Bit Entertainment’s long-in-development turn-based strategy game, Skulls of the Shogun, finally takes its bow on January 30, 2013. What makes Skulls unique is the fact that it’s a Microsoft hardware exclusive that offers cross-platform saving and cross-platform play across the most current Windows platforms. That means Windows 8, Windows Phone, Windows Surface, and Xbox 360 consoles, with unique, platform-specific control options for each one. The game is a lot of fun and will only set you back $15 ($7 on Windows Phone). Definitely worth a look.

* Ouya, the little Kickstarter-funded Android console that could, is facing some competition in 2013, both from products like the GameStick and from the continued forward march of mobile technology that threatens to render the bite-sized console’s innards obsolete before it even touches down. Fortunately for Ouya, the company has some nice exclusive offerings to back up the hardware, and only more to come. The latest sees the console maker partnering with Kill Screen for Create, a 10-day game jam that sees developers competing for a $20,000 grand prize (along with a number of other cash prizes). More importantly, all finalists will receive an Ouya dev console, which is the key tool they’ll need to develop games for the new hardware.

* Big moves this week for EVE Online and Dust 514 fans, as CCP Games at last merged the former’s single-shard MMORPG universe with the latter’s free-to-play, PlayStation 3-exclusive community. The merging of the two games brings added benefits and a deeper sense of involvement to both communities, as EVE players can now contract Dust players to take on missions that, if successful, could adversely impact opponents on the MMO side. It’s crazy ambitious and really cool, and it makes Dust 514 considerably more attractive as a multiplayer shooter to pour hours into.

* Another subscription-based MMO has officially cut itself loose from monthly payment requirements. En Masse Entertainment’s Tera will ditch subscriptions for a free-to-play pricing model at some undetermined point in February. Subscription will still be an option for dedicated fans, with your monthly payout of $15 being put toward an assortment of bonuses that F2P gamers will have to pay for a la carte.

Top buys for the week…

Kentucky Route Zero :: PC :: $7 for one episode, $25 to pre-buy all five

Expect to see the adventure game genre surge in 2013 following Telltale Games’ success last year with The Walking Dead. Cardboard Computer’s Kentucky Route Zero actually predates the Telltale game, having launched as a Kickstarter endeavor in January 2011. It successfully hit its funding goal and then missed the originally planned Fall 2011 release, but the game has finally arrived and – having played through the first episode – I can confirm that the wait was most definitely worth it. It’s best if you read nothing more and simply dive in, especially if you fancy yourself a fan of adventure game classics like Grim Fandango and Full Throttle. The game isn’t available through any of the typical virtual storefronts, so head over to the developer’s website to try it for yourself. It’s an easy pick of the week.

Hundreds :: iOS :: $2.99

Hundreds sort of defies description. I can tell you how it plays, but that in no way captures the actual act of playing this incredibly devious puzzle game. The goal is simple: in each round, you must press and hold your finger on any of several circles with a number in the center, usually starting at 0. The longer you hold your finger down, the larger the circle grows and the higher the number climbs. When the sum of the numbers in all of the circles equals 100, the round ends. The challenge ramps up as sawblades and moveable obstacles come into play. Again though, the best way to really understand the joys of Hundreds is to play it for yourself.

Joe Danger Touch! :: iOS :: $2.99

Joe Danger Touch! is a solid little iOS game, combining content from both of the previous Joe Danger titles and adding an assortment of mobile device-friendly features. The game puts you in the jumpsuit and cape of a stuntbike driver. Also, there are sharks. What more do you need?

Intel’s new Haswell architecture will release in mid-2013. We piece together information revealed during and before CES 2013 to learn what it will offer.

Intel only spent a few minutes talking about its upcoming GPU architecture, Haswell, at CES 2012. That’s probably because the company didn’t have anything new to say. Still, CES provides a once-a-year chance to check out everything a company is doing. We spent some time putting together the pieces of the Haswell puzzle by examining Intel’s announcement, the reference Ultrabook, and the company’s in-booth demos.

There’s one number from the press conference on Monday that keeps coming back to us – 13. That’s the battery life Intel claims a Haswell Ultrabook will provide. Claims like this are exaggerated as a rule, but adjusting for that still brings us to an estimated endurance of between eight to 10 hours. Current Ultrabooks and laptops based on 3rd-gen Intel Core processors (aka Ivy Bridge) usually last five to seven hours in our tests. It seems Haswell will offer a gigantic boost.

Efficiency improvements that increase endurance often allow for smaller, lighter systems. Haswell will be no exception. Intel’s convertible Ultrabook reference design is 17mm thick with keyboard attach and shrinks to 10mm when the keyboard is removed. Also displayed was NEC’s LaVie X, a conventional laptop powered by Haswell that’s 12.8mm thin.

Graphics performance is a focus of the new architecture. It includes a revised integrated graphics component, code-named “GT3,” which Intel claims is on par with current mid-range graphics. To prove this the company used a demo that pit a Haswell CPU with GT3 integrated graphics against an Nvidia GT 650M in Dirt 3: Showdown playing at 1080p. There’s no easily discernible difference between them.

It’s worth noting that Intel has almost certainly optimized its drivers for this specific demo and, in addition, we don’t know the details of the graphics settings used (though Intel says it used the same graphics settings on both systems). Still, this demo shows significant improvement over the current HD 4000 IGP.

There was another interesting video technology on display, though only briefly – Smart Frame. It is meant to address the fact that laptops and tablets work best with different bezel sizes. On a laptop a small bezel is desirable, but a moderate bezel is required on a tablet to provide a grip-able surface. Smart Frame resolves this by using driver trickery to automatically switch between a 13.3-inch and 11.6-inch effective display size. We suspect the technology simply under-scans the display and ignores touch at the display’s borders, but Intel has so far remained secretive about Smart Frame’s specifics.

Other features shown by the Haswell reference Ultrabook have less to do with technology than they do with business. Intel has mandated that 4th-generation Ultrabooks must have a touchscreen to earn the moniker – so it was no surprise to see that the reference design shown this year was a convertible rather than a clamshell. Also mandatory is Intel Wireless Display, an existing technology that lets users extend a laptop’s picture to a monitor or HDTV via an HDMI doggle.

Making this a requirement will encourage the development of convertibles and premium laptops but may also prevent prices from falling too far. Intel proudly stated that it wants touchscreen models to sell for $599, which is about $200 less than today’s cheapest touchscreen models – but not any less than today’s entry-level Ultrabooks.

Haswell won’t be out until mid-year. When it does arrive, however, we’ll see a wave of 4th-gen ultrabooks that expand on current strengths. Many models will be convertibles that offer thickness and battery life to rival ARM-powered tablets. Overall performance will improve, as well, mostly notable in graphics - an important extra. Intel HD4000 is adequate for many games, but only at 720p, and most ultrabooks are moving on to 1600×900 or 1080p displays. And while the Ultrabooks sold later this year may not be cheaper, they should offer more of everything for the same price.

ASUS showed off several high-end gaming products at CES including a water-cooled video card, a PCIe solid state drive and high refresh rate gaming monitors.

If you’re a hardcore gamer then you are, know it or not, the target for the ASUS Republic of Gamers. The company’s gaming sub-brand revealed a number of new products at CES that range from absolutely awesome to still pretty darn cool.

The highlight was no doubt ASUS’ Ares II video card. This monster crams two Radeon HD 7990 GPUs and six gigabytes of RAM in a single circuit board, making it the fastest single video card in the world. A water cooler is integrated into the card, as well, so potential buyers will need a place to fit the card’s radiator. As can be seen in the photo above, the card is an absolute giant. It took up a sizable portion of the space available in CoolerMaster’s massive Cosmos II case. Speaking of availability, it’s not yet announced, nor is the price.

Another serious piece of hardware is the ASUS RAIDR PCIe solid state drive. It has not one but two solid state drives that have been paired in RAID0. This doesn’t increase capacity but it does drastically increase performance. We’ve the advantage of this configuration in laptops like the Origin EON17 – but ASUS was light on details. They haven’t revealed any specifics about storage controller, capacity, or estimated performance.

ASUS also showed off a pair new VG248QE monitors. This gaming-focused displays offers 1080p and a 144 Hz refresh rate that allows for excellent reproduction of movement. A demo showing a high-speed screensaver made the benefits of this obvious when we began to take photos – our camera couldn’t keep up. Trust us, it’s clear as day when viewed in person. ASUS will start selling the monitor this month. We were told to expect pricing around $280, though that’s not set in stone.

High Tides, a PlayStation 3 exclusive downloadable addition to Far Cry 3, now has a release date: January 15, 2013.

Far Cry 3 is a fantastic game. Had it not been for The Walking Dead, it easily could have earned our Best Game of 2012 honors. However, despite its high objective quality, the game has been largely overshadowed, at least in terms of marketing, by Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed III. While the latter title has a full DLC road map planned out for it, we’ve heard precious little about what new content might be coming to Far Cry 3.

Most recently (read: last month), Ubisoft revealed that PlayStation 3 owners would receive “exclusive” access to an upcoming DLC pack dubbed “High Tides.” We’re amused to see that the title is a sly reference to both the ocean which surrounds Far Cry 3′s islands and the title’s abundance of hardcore drugs, but the important part here is that thanks to the latest episode of the PlayStation Blogcast the DLC pack now has a release date. Come January 15, those of you who own both a PlayStation 3 and that system’s version of Far Cry 3 will be able to enjoy High Tides alongside any friends of your choosing. That’s a crucial detail, as the High Tides DLC is focused on the game’s cooperative multiplayer modes. It includes two new co-op chapters which reportedly serve as an extension of the co-op campaign found in the initial release of Far Cry 3, as well as “new missions, tougher fights, bigger competitions, some great up-close time with your favourite characters, and explosive moments unlike anything you’ve seen before.”

Neat, huh? But what of the DLC’s important logistics? We already know it will debut on January 15, but how much might this DLC pack cost prospective co-op gamers? That’s the best part: Instead of charging players $5 or $10 for the High Tides pack, Ubisoft is instead offering the addition totally gratis.

We realize that at this point you Xbox 360 devotees are probably feeling pretty left out. We commiserate. However, we wouldn’t well up with tears just yet. Though we have no official confirmation of such, it seems very likely that this is yet another situation in which “exclusivity” is not as accurate a descriptor as Sony would like. It’s often common for a console manufacturer like Sony or Microsoft to offer a games publisher money for temporary exclusivity rights on games and downloadable content. You might recall this sort of thing from an article on upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops II DLC that we published on January 8. In that situation the DLC is slated to hit the Xbox 360 first, with additional platforms being added at some undetermined point in the future. We expect the same situation will happen with Far Cry 3′s High Tides pack, if only because the game sold quite well on Microsoft’s console and you can be sure that there are many, many Xbox 360 owners who would love to see new content for Ubisoft’s hit shooter.

After acquiring smartphone developer id8 Group R2 Studios, Microsoft has tapped its head, Blake Kikorian, to serve as corporate vice president for the company’s Interactive Entertainment wing.

We’re at a peculiar point in the current video game console cycle. It’s been nearly seven years since the debut of the Xbox 360, and while common sense dictates that Microsoft must be working on the next version of its flagship console, we don’t really know anything solid about it. Further, both Microsoft and its biggest competitor, Sony, are ramping up attempts to assemble teams to manage their next consoles, which brings us to today’s news that Blake Kikorian has been assigned to serve as corporate vice president for Microsoft’s Xbox entertainment division.

Previously, Kikorian served on the board of directors at Amazon. He also founded Sling Media, the company that created the Slingbox media streaming device, before selling the firm to EchoStar Communications in 2007. Most recently Kikorian worked as the head of id8 Group R2 Studios, a company that specialized in creating application for smartphones. Microsoft recently acquired the firm, in what was then presumed to be an attempt to add its expertise to Microsoft’s expanded stable of developers. As it turns out, the company also had its eye on Kikorian.

“We are thrilled to have Blake join the Xbox team,” writes Marc Whitten, chief product officer for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. “He’s a proven innovator and well-respected leader in both the media and technology industries, having created simple, elegant products that have transformed the way people engage with and consume content. We look forward to his contribution to our team as Xbox continues to evolve and transform the games and entertainment landscape.”

While there’s currently no specific word on what Kikorian is working on at Microsoft, he seems diplomatically pleased with his new role. “I  am excited to join Microsoft and be a part of the Xbox team. As a 10-year Xbox LIVE subscriber, I have seen firsthand how Xbox has delighted us by reinventing how consumers experience games and entertainment,” Krikorian writes. “I look forward to helping the team define the future of entertainment and contribute to the next decade of continued innovation.”

Despite that lack of specifics however, it’s pretty easy to see why Microsoft might value Kikorian so highly. The company has long been adding new, innovative media applications and services to the Xbox 360, and this trend is expected to continue on into whatever console Microsoft issues next. Kikorian, as the man behind the Slingbox, has a huge amount of experience in bringing various media formats to the general public in an attractive, functional package, and is thus a pretty solid complement to Microsoft’s established media team. In truth, for all we know Microsoft could opt to put Kikorian to work testing games, but we feel that his past speaks for itself. Expect the next Xbox to continue Microsoft’s ongoing effort to kill off the cable box.

Don’t let Intel’s comparatively quiet CES fool you, it was still one of the biggest winners of the show.

There are few narratives tech journalists love more than a good David-and-Goliath story. Many of today’s most important technologies and companies were born from humble beginnings before growing into the giants we know today. The Internet was the baby of dedicated researches, Apple grew out of a garage, and Google was founded by a pair of graduate students. Technology wouldn’t be where it is today without the power of new technology that seems to spring from nowhere to overthrow the existing establishment.

But sometimes Goliath is too smart to kill with a slingshot. Such is the case with Intel. Though lacking major announcements, the world’s largest chip manufacturer looks as buff and clever as ever.

The last half-decade has thrown two problems at Intel. First, the company was caught by the rise of mobile with its pants down and has nothing to offer while that market took off. Second, the company’s traditional market has stalled and prices have dropped. Both issues are dire – failing to address either could cause Intel to enter a death spiral.

Yet it hasn’t. Though the company’s 2012 earnings failed to exceed its record-setting 2011 figures, the company continues to turn a strong profit with one of the best gross margins in the industry. Intel’s products in the PC market solidly defeat those from AMD on nearly every level, sales of high-margin ultrabooks are slowly but steadily increasing, and the company’s fabs remain the most advanced in the world.

Influence is one reason for Intel’s resilience. Amid its CES 2013 announcements the company slipped in a bomb – ultrabooks based on Intel’s 4th generation processors will require touch and Intel Wireless Display. The company tried last year to wrestle power from hardware manufactures with the ultrabook, but no one was sure if the OEMs would roll over. They have. Companies like Acer and Toshiba happily informed us that they plan to add touch to all thin-and-light laptops to make sure they qualify for the ultrabook label.

That is a big win for Intel. If the company can decide what features exist in consumer laptops, it also can make sure those features help the company’s bottom line. OEMs can be nudged towards extras that require or run best on Intel hardware. The company will have to worry less about the pace of innovation because it can dictate what innovation will be.

Intel’s incredible ability to engineer new architectures has also helped to keep the company strong. Though initially slow to react to the mobile revolution, the company has responded with blistering speed. Last year’s CES saw the introduction of an x86 reference platform for mobile, which successfully attracted a number of hardware partners throughout 2012. Intel has reinforced that endeavor with a road-map that includes two product lines aimed directly at smartphones and tablets.

That’s only one fork of Intel’s attack. The other comes from the traditional Core products that have successfully dropped to a power envelop of 13 watts (Intel claimed 7 watts, but the company also changed its measurement metric). We’ll likely see a further reduction in power with the release of Haswell later this year.

If you’re unconvinced by specifications, take a look at the products. Lenovo’s ThinkPad Helix, which is powered by a Core i5 or i7 processor, weighs 1.8 pounds in tablet mode. Other detachable ultrabooks are similarly light. Products like this will compel consumers to ask why they should buy an ARM tablet if their Windows convertible can fill the same role.

Perhaps the best evidence in favor of Intel’s strength in mobile is Windows RT’s no-show at CES. We expected to see a fair number of devices with the new operating system. Instead there was deafening silence. Hardware OEMs repeatedly boasted that their tablets run “full Windows” rather than the stripped-down RT.

New technology can create a wave of creative destruction. That wave is unstoppable – but it can be delayed or channeled. Intel has successfully leveraged its influence over the last year to keep its mainstream computing products relevant while the company invests in technology for the mobile market. Should Intel manage to also become a significant force in mobile, well, that’s game over. No competitor has the resources necessary to compete with Intel’s blistering product cadence once it has established a foothold.

CES 2013 demonstrated that Intel remains influential and is making major advancements in its only area of weakness. Don’t let the lack of a headline-grabbing new architecture full you. This was a strong show for the company, and the year will likely follow suite.

In the wake of the Newtown, CT tragedy, Massachusetts officials have decided that motorist rest areas in the state shall no longer feature violent video games as an entertainment option.

Ever since December 14, the day that Adam Lanza opened fire on the students of Sandy Hook Elementary, citizens and law makers alike have been frantically searching for any kind of solution to America’s ongoing trend of horrific gun violence. In fact, a new study recently published by Common Sense Media (.pdf) claims that the average person’s fear that he or she (or their children) will be gunned down at random in public has never been higher. 

In times like these, where fear is a prime motivator, it’s not uncommon to witness bold, drastic action. Massachusetts is a perfect example of this: After receiving a concerned letter from Andrew and Tracey Hyams of Newton, MA, state officials have decided to remove all violent games from those highway rest areas that normally serve as coffee dispensaries and illicit sex dens for whoever might need an illicit sex den. The Hyams’ had recently visited one of the state’s rest areas and their 12-year-old son found himself enjoying an unnamed light gun shooter, which apparently disturbed his parents.

“People have the freedom to have whatever video games in their own homes that they want,” the Hyams’ told the Boston Globe (apologies for the paywall). “We were struck by walking into a [state-owned] rest stop within an hour’s drive of Newtown and seeing and hearing a life-sized, mounted machine gun on a video game.”

As they point out, Newtown, MA and Newtown, CT are relatively close together, and thus the Hyams remain extra-sensitive about this sort of thing. So much so that they were the ones to suggest the removal of violent games from rest stops, only to have state officials agree with the move. “Bottom line is I think there isn’t a person who doesn’t ­believe that there isn’t too much violence in our society, and games can glorify that,” said Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Richard Davey. “A video game in a public space could be used by anybody of any age.”

“At the end of the day, those games are there to entertain kids, probably for a few minutes, while their parents are resting from a long trip. I just think it makes all the sense in the world to have it be a more passive [game].”

After delivering this pertinent information, the Boston Globe piece attempts to poll the common man to see what he or she thinks of this decision. The majority of respondents agree with the move, but to its credit, the Globe also offered up commentary from a truck driver who sees this as an overreaction. “I think it’s just a little over the top,” said 32-year-old Chris Gerdes.

Interestingly, and to Chris Gerdes’ likely dismay, this isn’t the only anti-violent games effort currently brewing in Massachusetts. Robert Dolan, Mayor of Melrose, MA, has created a program dubbed “New Year — New Direction” which allows participants to trade in violent games for things like “a coupon sheet, which will include deals at local businesses and possibly a ‘get out of homework free’ coupon.”

“I’m not saying people shouldn’t have [violent games and toys], but, at least in my house, things have changed since Connecticut,” Dolan explained.

To celebrate the imminent release of Borderlands 2′s next DLC pack, Gearbox Software is hosting a massive in-game event for the next four days.

Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt, the third DLC campaign addition for Gearbox Software’s excellent open-world first-person shooter Borderlands 2, will debut on the various digital distribution platforms on January 15. That’s wonderful in and of itself, as Borderlands 2 is one of our favorite releases of the past year, and more content for the game is always welcome. However, the real story here isn’t the DLC, but instead what Gearbox has planned to herald its release.

This morning the developer kicked off festivities by making the following announcement on its official blog:

The festivities begin today, January 11, with Vault Hunters reporting an influx of powerful shotguns throughout Pandora. To join in the fun, simply boot up Borderlands 2 while connected to the internet and start looting before the supply runs dry — based on current conditions, expect the excess to be exhausted on Saturday, January 12 at 10:55AM CST / 4:55PM GMT

Powerful shotguns sound like a great reward for fans, but there’s something odd about this announcement. Why would Gearbox host an in-game event that only lasts for a single day?

We wondered the same thing, but instead of speculating wildly, we went straight to the source for more information on what’s happening here. As it turns out, Gearbox has only revealed the first of four days of festivities. This event actually runs through Tuesday of next week (which makes sense, given that Tuesday happens to be January 15, the day that Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt hits retail). Have a look at this schedule of events that Gearbox was kind enough to share with us:

Saturday – Varmint Hunter Shotgun Day!
Vermivorous arrives in 3 days! Gear up with the best shotguns in the Borderlands!

·         Shotgun drop rates increase day 1

Sunday – Pandorian Fishing Grenade Day!
Vermivorous arrives in 2 days! You’ll need the best Grenade mods if you’re going to beat him!

·         Grenade mod drop rates increase day 2

Monday – Big Game Hunter Sniper Day!
Vermivorous arrives tomorrow! Keep your distance and fight back with the best sniper rifles in the Borderlands!

·         Sniper rifle drop rates increase day 3

Tuesday – THE BIG BAD BUG HUNT! THE HUNT!
Vermivorous has arrived! Find him and claim your reward!

·         Vermivorous spawn rate increases on day 4

Ah yes, this is much closer to what we had expected. So, for today, Gearbox has boosted the drop rate on shotguns in Borderlands 2. End result: It’s much easier to find shotguns, and more importantly, it’s also easier to find really crazy-powerful shotguns. Sunday sees a similar boosted drop rate, only it’s twice as large a boost and this time it’s centered on grenade mods. Monday’s the same, with sniper rifle drop rates increasing three-fold.

Then we hit Tuesday and this scheme swerves toward the cruel. Instead of offering players enhanced drop rates on rocket launchers or something thematically similar to prior days’ offerings, Gearbox has decided to quadruple the spawn rate of Vermivorous, a creature widely viewed as the most elusive, dangerous enemy in Borderlands 2. There’s good reason why his full title is “Vermivorous The Invincible” (even if it contradicts the header image above).

While the final day of the celebration is a departure from its predecessors, it should prove popular among veteran Borderlands 2 players. Not only is Vermivorous quite difficult to kill (that “Invincible” bit is slightly exaggerated), he’s also hard to find. This is problematic as the items he can might drop can be incredibly powerful. Boosting his spawn rate should make him easier to hunt down, and those players capable of killing the beast should find themselves with a wealth of new, rare items.

As Gearbox mentioned, it’s very easy to get involved in this whole thing. All you need is a copy of Borderlands 2, a gaming machine to play it on and a functional Internet connection. Just log into the game and each day’s special effect will automatically be applied. Enjoy your new toys.

While Lucasfilm and Disney have gone quiet on plans for Star Wars Episode VII, ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee gave an update this week on plans for a Star Wars live-action TV show.

It’s hard to believe that months have already passed since the world’s population suffered some kind of mass hallucination that led them to believe that the Star Wars universe had been wrenched from the maniacal hands of George Lucas and sold to Disney. People believed there would be a new Star Wars trilogy with Luke Skywalker in it! Madness!

Actually, all of those things were true. Disney paid a whopping $4.05 billion for Lucasfilm and its various subsidiaries, announcing the purchase with all the passion and fanfare of a law firm merger. The announcement did confirm that new sequels would be made, and there is potential for spin-offs galore. What wasn’t mentioned in the time is the long-in-development live-action Star Wars television series first announced back in 2005. Never one to leave a stone unturned, there are hints that Disney is resurrecting that project for air on its network television subsidiary ABC.

“We’d love to do something with Lucasfilm, we’re not sure what yet,” ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee told Entertainment Weekly on Friday, “We haven’t even say down with them. We’re going to look at [the live-action series], we’re going to look at all of them and see what’s right. We weren’t able to discuss this with them until [the acquisition] closed and it just closed. It’s definitely going to be a part of the conversation.”

Back in 2011, George Lucas said that 50 scripts for the live-action show had been written and former Star Wars producer Rick McCallum described the show as “dark and adult.” “I think, thematically, in terms of characters and what they go through, it will be… if we can get it together and George really wants to pursue it, it’ll be the awesomest part of the whole franchise.” He then called it “Empire on steroids.”

Since the show was announced in 2005 alongside plans for the ongoing Clone Wars cartoon series, rumors have suggested that the show would follow members of the criminal underworld in the Star Wars universe, including bounty hunters like Boba Fett. One recent piece of Star Wars media, the in-development video game Star Wars 1313, is set to explore that same territory.

That premise would make a good fit for ABC. Its other in-development genre television show, Joss Whedon’s Avengers spinoff S.H.I.E.L.D., will follow law enforcement so there needs to be a show about rogues to balance it out.

“It’s going to be very much up to the Lucasfilm brands and how they want to play it,” said ABC’s Lee, “We got to a point here with Marvel, a very special point, where we’re in the Marvel universe, and very relevantly so, but we’re not doing The Avengers. But S.H.I.E.L.D. is part of The Avengers. So maybe something oblique is way [to approach the Star Wars universe] rather than going straight head-on at it.”

Blizzard has a history of using World of Warcraft as a fundraiser for disaster relief, and it broke its own recent records by raising $2.3 million for the American Red Cross to help victimes of Hurricane Sandy.

World of Warcraft’s population may be shrinking, but that doesn’t mean the hearts of its players are. The same goes for Blizzard, the studio behind the world’s premiere MMO that’s fast approaching its tenth birthday. Both World of Warcraft’s community and creators banded together in the past two month to raise money for the American Red Cross in order to aid those affected by the monumental Hurricane Sandy that shook the eastern seaboard at the beginning of November. Blizzard announced on Thursday evening that it had raised $2.3 million by the end of December.

At the center of the fundraising effort was the Cinder Kitten, a pet that can be purchased in the game. Blizzard announced in December that it all adoption fees for the flaming beast would go towards those affected by the disaster, and WoW players responded “in droves” according to the studio.

Blizzard and the players of World of Warcraft have actually built a tradition of altruism around the game. In October 2011, Blizzard auctioned up decommissioned WoW server blades—that computers that actually hosted World of Warcraft realms—to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. The auctions brought in around $330,000.

The original Panderan Monk character featured in last year’s Mists of Pandaria was offered by Blizzard in 2009 as part of a fundraiser for the Make A Wish foundation, and the company raised a total of $1.1 million

There have even been fundraising efforts identical to the Cinder Kitten push. Following the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that rocked Japan in March 2011, Blizzard began selling Cenarion Hatchling pets and raised $1.9 million for the relief effort between May and July of that year. In 2010, Blizzard sold Moonkin pets, raising another $800,000 for the Make a Wish foundation.

World of Warcraft may still have room to grow as a fundraising tool, but the game itself appears to have lost room to grow. Mists of Pandaria sold just 2.7 million copies when it was released last fall, impressive numbers for most games, but a significant decline following the record-breaking 2010 release of the Cataclysm expansion. As of August, the total population of players had declined to just over 9 million, down from more than 10 million in May.

This week during an interview at CES, a senior project manager for Windows Phone, Greg Sullivan, didn’t exactly deny the possibility of a forthcoming Windows Phone handset with an Intel chip.  ”Our architecture is such that it’s hardware independent. For the same reason that Windows 8 [tablets] could run on Wintel, right now Windows Phone is on Qualcomm. We have a portable OS architecture.” While that leaves as many questions as before the statement, the lack of denial certainly makes the notion possible.

Intel Mobile Communications Group has a similar stance with President Hermann Eul stating that Intel is open to the idea of supporting the Windows Phone platform with an x86 chip. He also stated the decision would be made according to how successful the Windows Phone was in the future.

Intel has already seen success in the mobile phone chip market with companies like ZTE, Motorola and others already building smartphones with Atom and other Intel chips. Some tests have shown the Atom chips having better performance and battery life than that of many current ARM chips. Recent benchmarks, if they are to be trusted, ran on a Lenovo Atom-equipped smartphone showed performance nearly twice that of a Droid DNA with a Snapdragon S4.

Could Intel chips be the new standard for upcoming phones or will ARM always dominant the mobile sector?

Auroch Digital developed Endgame: Syria in just two weeks and posted the informational game on Google Play and browsers. It was also intended for iOS devices, but Apple blocked its release. Its designer spoke with Digital Trends about the challenges of developing games about real conflicts.

Auroch Digital’s Game the News project hit a roadblock earlier this week when Apple rejected its most recent game, Endgame: Syria, from inclusion in the App Store. Since Endgame: Syria depicts the ongoing conflict between Syrian rebels in their struggle to overthrow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, it violates the App Store rule that no game can “solely target a specific race, culture, a real government, or corporation or any other real entity.” Since al-Assad is still recognized as the ruler of Syria regardless of being accused of massacring his own people, games released on the App Store can’t comment on him, his government, or the conflict demolishing that country.

Digital Trends’ spoke with Auroch Digital’s Tomas Rawlings earlier this week to gain some insight into the Game the News project and Endgame: Syria.

While Rawlings doesn’t believe that Apple specifically targeted Endgame: Syria, he does believe the game’s blocking highlights problems with Apple’s curating of the App Store.

“[We] don’t feel we were singled out but I think it is right to question why some games get though and others don’t,” says Rawlings, “ I think by making games about real world events we are subject to more scrutiny than if we just did a game about annoyed avians.”

Tellingly, Endgame: Syria had no problem getting placement in the Android Market.

“There have been no problems with Android—the game is on Google Play and doing well.  Apple’s guidelines mean that making games about controversial issues and themes is harder work as a result.  However looking at our data for the platforms that people use to play Endgame: Syria, as they also run in HTML5, there is no shortage of people playing them on iOS devices, just not via the App Store.”

Auroch’s experience with Apple hasn’t changed the Game the News project’s goals according to Rawlings. The team will still go about making “short playable experiences that make you smile or think,” and in a very short amount of time. (Endgame: Syria was made in approximately two weeks according to Rawlings, but other games like one make about the Uzbek cotton industry, have been finished in about a day and a half.)

It will, however, alter how Auroch engages with Apple. “[This experience] will change our production process and the types of games we submit to Apple,” says Rawlings.

Apple’s App Store has proven to be fertile ground for creative expression, but its real power as a gaming platform will always be limited if it blocks games like Endgame: Syria.

Samsung wasn’t just showing laptops and TVs at CES, it also added two new HD monitors to its lineup.

After we finished ogling Samsung’s new Series 7 Ultra and Series 7 Chronos at CES, we took a stroll down monitor lane to take a look at the company’s new offerings. Particularly interesting were the Series 7 Touch SC770 monitor and the Series 7 SC750. Touch monitors are nice for those who happen to have non-touch Windows 8 laptops, and we went eyes-on to get a closer look at Samsung’s new touch models.

The SC770 has up to 10 points of simultaneous multitouch that lets users drag, rotate, or select objects on the monitor with their fingers. Its 1920×1080 display with a 5000:1 contrast ration looked vibrant, clear, and bright on the show floor. The 27-inch monitor has a 178-degree viewing angle, which is important since the SC770 can tilt up to 60 degrees. We found it easy to move the monitor from its upright position to its tilted position, which made typing on its built-in keyboard a snap.

Though it’s not glaringly obvious, we noticed that the monitor has a somewhat clunky wedge shape, becoming thicker on the bottom. Although that doesn’t make it the sleekest looking monitor, we noted it to be very sturdy without much flex when using the touchscreen.  A 24-inch model will also be available, although there’s no pricing available yet. 

At first glance, the Series 7 SC750 looks similar to the SC770. However, the SC750 actually can be rotated 90 degrees, changing it from landscape to portrait mode. In its vertical mode, the monitor is great for surfing the Web and viewing documents. We could definitely see it coming in handy for needing to review notes while writing, or being able to view an entire webpage without having to constantly scroll through the content. Like the SC770, the SC750 has a 5,000:1 contrast ratio, which is five times that of a standard monitor. 

Both monitors look fantastic, but the SC750, which uses wide viewing angles and has 300 c/m2 brightness, looks a bit brighter. That said, the rotating monitor doesn’t feature touch, so you basically have two choices here: A 90-degree rotating monitor, or a 60-degree tilting touch monitor. Both are beautiful, and will be available in the first quarter of 2013. 

In the past we’ve covered development about Firefox OS, including their browser-based simulator for testing it out on your PC.

Still, when is Firefox OS actually coming? We’ve been hearing 2013 for a while now, but the good news is that Mozilla is finally giving us a bit more information about what the future holds.

According to Mozilla, Brazil will be the first market this year. Mozilla has also confirmed Alcatel, Qualcomm and ZTE are all partners involved in the effort to bring Firefox OS out to the market.

So what’s in store outside of Brazil? Mozilla is talking about these plans right now it seems. “Telefonica has announced plans to ship devices in Latin America in 2013. While we have no further announcements at this time, interest and momentum continues to grow in Firefox OS,” says Mozilla’s VP of products, Jay Sulivan.

The good news is that ZTE is filling in some of these blanks for us. ZTE says that they are working to bring their handsets over to Europe this year, and are also considering aiming at the North American market. Their US launch will hinge on how well Firefox OS takes off elsewhere.

So why Firefox OS? The idea is that it uses open-source technology that makes it fast and easy to use, even on low-end, low-cost hardware.

The idea is that it could be appealing towards those in the developing world or those in major markets that just can’t afford or refuse to spend high-dollar on a phone.

Additionally, since the entire OS uses technology such as HTML5, any web programmer should be able to easily be an app developer for the platform. This should make it very easy for programmers to come out with interesting apps, in theory at least.

The smartphone world is getting crowded, but Mozilla believes that Firefox OS could be perfect for the lower-end market. What do you think, do they have any chance at all?

We take a look at Tobii’s eye-tracking development kit and come away feeling like we’ve seen the future of computing.

Intel ended this year’s keynote by talking about perceptual computing, a term for input that relies on motion and voice instead of a keyboard and mouse. It is not alone in its research, however. Tobii, a small company hailing from Sweden, is making strides with its eye-tracking system.

The idea is simple. Humans naturally move their eyes while interacting with a device, so why not harness that movement? Tobii does just that by using a pair of infrared sensors and an embedded processor to track a user’s eyes with surprising precision. Tobii has two units: the Tobii IS20 and the Tobii IS 30. The only difference between the two is the maximum display size in which they are compatible.

Tobii let its demos do the talking. After an extremely short calibration process we were able to scroll through text, zap asteroids, and select images using nothing but eye movement. The effect was at first disorienting. At first, we found our hands kept reaching for the mouse. After several minutes, however, we began to adapt and noticed our input becoming more accurate.

We were even more impressed by the unofficial work Tobii has performed with StarCraft II. Most of the game’s interface was still controlled by a keyboard and mouse, but several important functions, such as navigating the mini-map and moving units, could be performed by looking at a portion of the display and hitting a pre-defined hotkey. Representatives of the company said they’ve also experimented with other games. Imagine, for example, leaning out of a window in-game by leaning in real life.

Tobii isn’t perfect just yet. There were a few issues. Precision control was problematic at times, and the calibration window seemed a bit small. Moving more than a foot in any direction after calibration often threw off the device and made control either non-functional or far less accurate.

Issues like this aren’t deal breakers because it’s only a development kit. Anyone who wants to buy a Tobii will have to spend at least $995 for the standard development package that includes both the hardware and the SDK. Pricing on the consumer version, which will be available for preorder this spring and ship in the fall, is not yet announced.

Peter Ong, founder of DreamRift and designer of Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion for Nintendo 3DS, joins the dialogue surrounding the threat of piracy on the Nintendo 3DS. According to him, publishers are the biggest problem.

Following the news that homebrewers had broken through the Nintendo 3DS’ security, handheld game developers like Renegade Kid’s Jools Watsham (Mutant Mudds, Dementium) said that his studio would abandon the platform if piracy ramped up. Now another notable Nintendo DS and 3DS developer, DreamRift’s Peter Ong, is speaking out about 3DS piracy. The problem with piracy isn’t lost sales, according to Ong. It’s that publishers are so afraid of piracy that they aren’t willing to invest in games people will actually want to buy.

“We definitely found that piracy was a significant factor in our Nintendo DS development efforts,” Ong told Gamasutra in a new interview, “Many publishers even cited the issue of piracy as a specific reason why they decided to back away from our game project, especially with it being an original intellectual property concept.”

“The publishers’ fear was that, in a climate where piracy is commonplace, original games and new mechanics are far less likely to be successful than games based on previously successful mechanics, established licenses, sequels, and sports,” he continues, “[Whether] it’s true that enthusiast/hardcore gamers are more likely to pirate than mainstream gamers, the fact that publishers believe it to be true has a very real, unfortunate, and ugly impact on games.”

Ong’s statements certainly ring true when looking at his output over the past five years, first at EA and later at DreamRift. After failing to make a sales impact with the brilliant Nintendo DS original Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure, Ong founded DreamRift and created Monster Tale which was published by Majesco. Since then, though, his only output was Epic Mickey: The Power of Illusion for 3DS, a rushed game based on an existing license. DreamRift was forced to retreat to the safety of established IP rather than make another original, just as Ong said.

It’s also easy to see publishers’ perspective, though. Both of Ong’s Nintendo DS originals are shockingly easy to pirate. As of this writing, both Henry Hatsworth and Monster Tale can be downloaded for nothing after a simple Google search.

The homebrew community, tinkerers and hackers that tinker with commercial electronics in order to get them running unsigned applications, celebrated the new year with news that the Nintendo 3DS had finally been cracked. Nintendo invested significant resources into protecting the 3DS from piracy; that’s the other reason people look to hack Nintendo’s handhelds. Publishers understand that hackers will toy with devices no matter what. There’s no stopping it. That’s no reason to stop funding original projects like DreamRift’s, though. The answer is to sell those games at more affordable rates and through as many distribution channels, retail and digital, as possible.

It’s quite clear that the biggest negative of owning a smartphone is the poor battery life, and although manufacturers are doing a good job to increase battery capacity, at times it is just not good enough.

There are lots of different items available to help boost battery life or recharge battery whilst on the go, one of which is a portable charger that uses solar energy. The ReVIVE solar charger can charge a variety of different items like smartphones, tablets or MP3 players, and does a great job of it too. In a decent light the solar panels work very well, and if you’re going to be away from your main charger for a while, this is definitely a viable option to keep your devices from running out of juice.

The ReVIVE’s retail price is around $100, however right now you can get it from Amazon for just $40, saving you a decent 64%.

If you’re in need of a decent portable charging station, this deal definitely looks like a great bargain in my opinion. Would you agree?