The first episode of Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness has been officially dated for May 21, 2008, coming to Xbox Live Arcade and Windows, Mac and Linux. Cost to you? $19.95 USD or 1600 Microsoft points.

As you recall, there's no PlayStation Network version because PSN doesn't support Torque, with which the game is built. Full fact sheet follows the jump.

Lego Indiana Jones PC Demo Released

PC gamers eager to get an early taste of Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures now have their chance! LucasArts has released the playable demo for the title, which spans Indy's first three movie adventures and features what seems like more characters than actually appeared in all three films combined. The demo is now available on the Games For Windows website, weighing in at a modest 464 megs, which means that at my current crappy internet speeds I shall be able to tell you how it is sometime next week. Switching to cable was such a brilliant idea.

Lego Indiana Jones Demo {Games For Windows]

First Proper Details On Warhammer 40K MMO

Let me say that this game will be an RPG. That needs to be said, because when someone thinks of a Warhammer 40,000 MMO there is definitely some question as to the style of play: will it be an FPS, an RTS, or some other genre altogether? Relic has the RTS angle covered with the awesome Dawn of War series - we are making an RPG.

Force Unleashed Not Coming To PC, And This Is The Best Excuse Lucasarts Could Come Up With

Well, PC gamers, it looks like piracy isn't the only reason developers are cutting back on the number of games they create for the platform. It's also your expensive, cutting-edge rigs! In trying to explain why Lucasart's upcoming Force Unleashed wouldn't be gracing the company's former home platform, producer Cameron Suey has said:

[If we made the game for high-end PCs], someone with a low-end PC would have a watered down experience, they would have to turn all the settings down and it wouldn't be the same game. On the other hand if we made that game for as many people as possible then it's not taking advantage of what those $4,000 systems can do.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Interview [VideoGamer]

NPD's PC Sales Charts April 20-26

Burnout Paradise PC In Ultra Widescreen

Burnout Paradise Coming to PC

Burnout Paradise is coming to the PC, Electronic Arts announced today.

The game, the first ever in the franchise to come to the PC, is being "rebuilt specifically for the PC" and will include expanded multiplayer, enhanced online feature and new "community driven content."

Criterion will be holding a press conference on their website later today to talk more details about the upcoming game. Hit up the jump for the full release.

Criterion Games

Americans Now Spend $1 Billion A Year On Game Subscriptions

Return To LotRO Free This Weekend

* New Region - Explore the icy reaches of Forochel
* New Quests - Over 100 new quests
* Hobby System - Feel like going fishing?
* Enhanced Monsterplay - New monster class: the Orc Defiler
* Looking For Fellowship Enhancements - Mustering Horns and UI improvements
* More customization options - cosmetic clothing, traveling clothes, and barbershops!
* New PvMP dungeon - The Delving of Frór
* Return to Angmar - completely overhauled to enhance playability and fun

Pandemic Get Around To Announcing Their Lord Of The Rings Game [Update]

Fallout 3 Lead: "We're Console Players Now"

Worried that Fallout 3 may be a little too dumbed down for your tastes, PC fans? Course you are. The same allegations were levelled against Oblivion, if I remember correctly. Bethesda would have heard your cries, but the sound of millions of dollars in Oblivion sales kinda drowned you out. As for Fallout 3, no, they're not worried about dumbing down a PC game for console gamers at all. Well, they are, but they're equally worried about making a game too complex for console gamers! Classic rock/hard place scenario. Fallout 3 lead Emil Pagliarulo isn't worried about rocks or hard places, however, telling Next-Gen:

People like myself and some people that work here actually grew up as hardcore PC guys, and now we're older, we have kids, we don't have that much time, so we've transitioned. We're console players now.

But we still have those PC game sensibilities. Those are the games we like. So I think BioShock has a little bit of that too. You can definitely feel the old System Shock roots in that game. So hopefully there's a trend there.

Mass Effect Copy Protection An Opportunity To Use The Adjective 'Draconian'

EA and BioWare are employing SecuROM for the PC release of Mass Effect, a copy protection scheme you may recall from its universally loathed inclusion in 2K's BioShock. The Mass Effect SecuROM annoyance factor may be much more extreme, as the game requires that the owner authenticate the copy every ten days, meaning that an internet connection is required to play the game from the get-go and until eternity. In other words, if you paid for your copy of Mass Effect, expect to remind EA's authentication servers every week and a half that you aren't stealing it.

The official Mass Effect FAQ explains it all.

Codemasters To Make Their Own MMOs

Up until now, venerable UK developer Codemasters has been merely dipping their feet into the MMO, licensing titles such as RF Online, Archlord, Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online. Now, as they are readying the release of their 5th licensed MMO, NetDevil's Jumpgate, Codemasters reveals plans to take on MMOspace with the development of their own games. VP of Codemasters Online Gaming David Solari explains that everything is going according to plan.

We always had a five year plan and it was always in the middle of that five year plan that we would start developing our own games. We are looking at that and we have to think very carefully about what title is right, what will work in the future.

MMO Week: Codemasters to bring MMO development in-house [GamesIndustry.biz]

The First Doctor Who Console Game Looks Like This

Gaming PR In The Age Of Blogs

Prototype Gives Up On 2008 Release

One of this summer's blockbuster attempts from Sierra and Radical Entertainment won't show its face until next year, as GameSpot reports Prototype has been delayed until some time in 2009. Why? According to Sierra reps, "we need more time to deliver the game the team initially set out to create."

Let's hope that the version of Prototype they initially set out to create actually includes the co-op multiplayer portion that was recently axed. We won't hold our breath on that one, as Radical is probably taking the extra six months to perfect hoodie physics or make the explosions more explosion-y.

Prototype pushed to 2009 [GameSpot]

In the latest LEGO Universe update the Colorado-based developers spill the beans on the upcoming LEGO massively multiplayer online game's economy and storyline.

LEGO Universe design director Brian Booker says that the game will have an "overarching epic storyline about the origins of LEGO Universe and the minifigs that inhabit it."

I can't tell everything about the game just yet, but maybe I can give you some hints... Aside from just playing games or trading and socializing, the story allows minifigs to team up—and that's when the real adventuring begins. If the teams of little LEGO people are successful in their endeavors, they'll uncover new zones where they can have new and different experiences...

Booker also walks us through the games economy which isn't, it turns out, based on studs.