Here’s a roundup of today’s news found elsewhere on the internet:

Mac vs PC: How Apple Got Back In The Game (Kotaku) - For years - no, decades - games on the Mac have been a running joke, a constant source of derision from the dominant PC gaming community. But in a single move earlier this week, the Mac made a comeback.

In unveiling not only the release of its line-up of first-party titles - classic games like Portal, Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead - but of the company's Steam digital download service on the Mac, Valve has shown how antiquated and out of place its retail competitors on the PC (and even on consoles) have become in the digital age.

 

Sequels are very difficult things. Whenever we hear the word, all of us can conjure images of those watered down elaborations, of those franchises that have seen some modicum of success only to be redrafted, reheated and reserved to us like last night’s casserole. We sceptically poke it about the plate, looking for some of the original’s flavour and novelty, before daring to take a mouthful only to get burnt.

And why should BioShock 2 be any different? 2K has fewer cards in their hand now. The mystery must surely be diminished: We know the failed social experiment that is Rapture – some of us now know it better than we know Christchurch – we know what a splicer is, we know what Little Sister does.

And the problem will be exacerbated by how fondly we recall the original. BioShock was rightly acclaimed. It is one of the definitive titles of this console generation – a much-loved copy still lingers on our office’s coffee table, partly obscured by a raft of new releases, but still calling to us like the deep and mournful drones of a Big Daddy somewhere down a long and dark passageway.

 

If you've ever wondered who ate all the pies, wonder no more. It was P.B. Winterbottom.

I know this, because an Xbox Live game told me, and what more reputable source of information is there?

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom is a puzzle game revolving around P.B. Winterbottom and his love of pies. The story is told in a poetic fashion, a pastry personification if you will. You control P.B. on various stages, climbing, jumping and cloning your way around the platforms, to collect every last pie.

 

BioWare have released the v1.3 patch for Dragon Age: Origins, tweaking a number of aspects in order to prepare the game for the Awakening expansion pack.

You can download this patch from GP Downloads (62MB) - changelog is as follows;

 

SEGA has announced today that the Special Edition maps of Aliens vs. Predator will be available as downloadable content next week on all platforms via Steam, the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.

The DLC includes four multiplayer maps, with two for multiple game modes and two for survivor mode.

The DLC will become available on the 19th of March for £4.79 or 570 Microsoft Points.

The Game Developers Conference has opened with the announcement of Battlestar Galactica Online, a browser MMO based on the popular sci-fi TV series.

In it, players can choose to join either the cyclons or the humans as they battle one another for control of the universe. Battlestar Galactica Online will feature a blend of tactical space combat, exploration, and mission-based gameplay, states a gushing press release.

The game is in development at Bigpoint, a German studio which is about to open its first US offices in San Francisco. Running on Unity technology, it will not require a client.

 

Here’s a roundup of today’s news found elsewhere on the internet:

Denial of Service Attack Kills Ubisoft DRM, Your Assassin's Creed II Playtime (Kotaku) - The downtime that plagued PC gamers trying to play Assassin's Creed II yesterday was the result of a denial-of-service attack, causing one of Ubisoft's new DRM-servers to become unreachable. But hey, at least no one has hacked the game yet.

Ubisoft's controversial new digital rights management solution went gone live for both Assassin's Creed II and Silent Hunter V this weekend, only to go dead for a large number of users shortly thereafter. The DRM system requires users be connected to the internet while playing the game in order for it to function, and many players reported not being able to connect to Ubisoft, which meant they were not able to play.

 

The demo for Avalanche Studios' free-roaming action adventure, Just Cause 2, has been released.

With 35 square miles of gameplay, the demo is packed with opportunities for chaos. Set in the south-western Panaun desert, the demo area contains a full 16 civilian towns and military bases, one of the 50 government colonels to hunt down and assassinate, air challenges, pickups, numerous military and civilian vehicles and one complete, full-game mission, containing an assault on a mountain-top radar station, ending in a car chase.

You can download this demo from GP Downloads (1.05GB), and the console versions are available on their respective online services. System specifications are as follows;

 

13 may be an unlucky number for some, but we’re not overly superstitious… especially when that number comes attached to the brand-spanking-new Final Fantasy title.

While Final Fantasy XIII is a next-gen game, it still manages to fulfil some old school expectations. For starters, there’s a cast of anime-perfect characters – each with some flaw or emotional baggage, and each evolving into a memorable hero throughout the course of the game.

This time around the main protagonist is a young woman by the name of Lightning, an athletic ex-soldier whose support crew includes a ‘bro with a ‘fro (and a baby chocobo), a strapping blonde himbo, a spear-wielding vixen and a couple of token kids. The eclectic collection of characters with their various accoutrements will undoubtedly inspire the cosplay fans for many moons to come. Mark our words: trench coats and afro wigs will be in short supply when Armageddon rolls around.