The makers of Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian Entertainment, whose designers also made Planescape: Torment, and other classics, have Kickstarted a new RPG: Project Eternity.

Obsidian Entertainment, the RPG developer born from the ashes of Interplay’s famed Black Isle Studios, is getting back to its fantasy roots. After taking a couple of years off from developing original intellectual properties to focus on existing franchises and properties —  2010’s troubled collaboration with Sega, Alpha Protocol, was its last original IP — the company has announced a new fantasy RPG for PCs codenamed Project Eternity. Plus, Obsidian’s using Kickstarter to get its game made, rather than relying on the backing of a publisher.

Obsidian opened its Kickstarter campaign for Project Eternity on Friday, hoping to raise $1.1 million by the end of the month. Hours after opening, it’s already raised more than $140,000. Designer Chris Avellone is heading up Eternity’s development, and he’s promising that the game will call back to some of his most popular RPGs, namely Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, and Baldur’s Gate.

“Project Eternity aims to recapture the magic, imagination, depth, and nostalgia of classic RPGs that we enjoyed making—and playing,” reads the announcement, “At Obsidian, we have the people responsible for many of those classic games and we want to bring those games back… and that’s why we’re here—we need your help to make it a reality!”

Nostalgia is a dangerous ingredient in any creative endeavor. Too much reverence for the past can lead to stagnation. Avellone and Obsidian are already hard at work on another retro project funded through Kickstarter, namely InXile and Brian Fargo’s Wasteland 2. Obsidian was brought on to that game when its Kickstarter reached $2.1 million. It’d be a shame for the company to spend so much time, effort, and money looking backward that it stops trying to push itself.

Ambition, of course, has pushed Obsidian into a shaky development pattern with its games. Starting with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Obsidian’s worked on a string of well written, intriguing titles, but all of them have suffered from crippling bugs and many have been released in what could charitable be called an unfinished state. Alpha Protocol, Fallout: New Vegas, KOTOR 2 were all broken upon release.

Things are looking up for Obsidian though. Despite being hit by layoffs at the beginning of 2012, work on its licensed RPG South Park: The Stick of Truth is progressing nicely thanks to the help of series creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone. Now it looks like Obsidian’s fans will provide it the funds it needs to finish Project Eternity on its own schedule.

Amazon turns some tiles to reveal a daily deal. Tetris is free today in the Amazon App Store.

Pieces of a puzzle rarely come together at the right time. If you’re a fan of the old school block-dropping masterpiece of Tetris but you’ve been holding out on buying it, today is like getting the long, thin “I” block just in time to eliminate four full rows. The classic game is free in the Amazon App Store.

The block-spinning puzzler that took the gaming world by storm back in the 1980′s has been given a new home on Android by publisher Electronic Arts. The grandfather of tile-turners normally runs gamers $3, but that price has been slashed for today. Gamers can get back to their roots on Android devices for the low, low cost of free.

Amazon’s price cutting is part of a series that makes one normally paid purchase free every day. Today’s just happens to be a flashback to one of the most memorable releases in gaming history. The deal is available to U.S. and European consumers that have access to the Amazon App Store. 

Rumors suggest the new PlayStation 3 hits in October, just in time to undercut Nintendo's Wii U.

Nintendo’s staked its claim on the holiday video game console sales war, but don’t expect Sony and Microsoft to sit it out. Rumors suggest that Sony is gearing up to release its new, cheaper PlayStation 3 model just in time to make Nintendo’s Wii U look like high-priced old technology.

Gamereactor reported on Friday that one German retailer is claiming it will stock the new ultra slim PlayStation 3 with 12GB of internal flash memory rather than a hard drive come October. Sony Germany’s PR chief responded that he didn’t know anything about this new console.

There are multiple red flags waving atop this story. Gamereactor’s initial report doesn’t even name the German retailer in question. Still, the rumor jives with previous reports from industry analysts and leaked patents and images from Sony itself.

In July, images of what was purported to be a new redesign of the PlayStation 3 hit the web, shortly after FCC filings describing the machine were made public. The PS3-4000 model would be dramatically cheaper than current models thanks to its use of flash storage rather than an HDD. At the time though, it was expected that Sony’s machine would have 16GB of flash memory not 12GB. Sony was expected to debut the new model at Gamescom in Germany, pricing it at £99 ($154), but sources said that those plans were delayed so Sony could unload existing PS3 stock first. Two months later, and just in time for the Tokyo Game Show, it seems like now might be the time for Sony to strike.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter seems to think this is Sony’s plan. 

“The PlayStation 3 160 GB plus Move bundle debuted at $299 in 2010, two full years ahead of Wii U’s debut. It’s worth noting that PlayStation 3 160GB plus Move bundles have disappeared off of many retailers shelves, suggesting to us that Sony is starving the channel ahead of a new hardware introduction that would likely cost less than Wii U’s Basic Set.”

Seven years after the Xbox 360 came out and six years on from the PlayStation 3’s release, Nintendo is releasing the Wii U console on November 18. The machine and its tablet controller will run you $300 or $350 depending on the package you pick up. For a machine that runs HD games technologically on par with those from seven year old game consoles, Nintendo’s machine costs a pretty penny. Then again, Microsoft and Sony’s machines are still expensive as well. The 250 GB Xbox 360 is still $300 itself, as is Sony’s 320 GB PlayStation 3, though both companies offer models that come in below $250. Microsoft is even selling the Xbox 360 for $99 with Xbox Live Gold subscription plans through retailers like Best Buy. Now the PS3-4000 will let Sony undercut Nintendo by as much as $150.