NEWS: Saturday Roundup

Welcome to the Saturday Roundup, a (bi)weekly roundup of all the important news going on in the gaming world.  If you’re sick of gaming websites' content turning more and more casual, or trying to pass off a single sentence and a link to a cool picture they saw on deviant art as ‘news,’  you've come to the right place. I aim to consolidate and summarize only the stuff that’s most important to gaming enthusiasts. It’s a mix of hard news, interesting features, and other titbits that I feel like you guys would enjoy. Let’s see what’s been going on this week:

• Does games journalism have standards? Eurogamer seems to think that no, it doesn't. Robert Florence authors a very interesting read that is outraged that more people aren't... outraged over how friendly games journo's and games PR people are, and how willing games journalists are to take 'bribes' of cash and video games.
  
   'PR people should be looking at games journos and thinking, "That person makes my job very challenging." Why are they all best buddies? What the hell is going on?'
  
  [UPDATE]: Author Robert Florence has 'stepped down' from Eurogamer shortly after posting this article.
  
  'I stand by every word of the original piece.'
  
  Here is an imgur link that contains a screengrab of the removed paragraphs. This is a very sad day for any games journalist that ever hopes to be taken seriously.

No, this man is not a Halo PR rep, he is Canadian journalist Geoff Keighley, and this image of him  shamelessly endorsing all of these products is what sparked the entire incident.

• Linux fans rejoice, as popular PC gaming platform Steam has released it's first Linux port. Team Fortress 2 is now available for Linux. Steam hasn't been shy in showing it's support for non-windows operating systems, with SteamPlay allowing cross play between it's Windows gamers and it's growing library of Mac games.

Hitman: Absolution

• The Elder Scrolls Online is a thing that is coming, and you should know about it. Joystiq recently got to go hands on with the MMO. Will TES: Online be a success story, or will it be the latest addition to the ever-growing MMO graveyard?
• Hitmam: Absolution is slated for a November 20th release date, but subscribers to the Official Xbox Magazine have already been treated to the world first review. The good news is that it's quite positive, with  the review praising the game for being "slick, thrilling and well paced with jet-black humour"
• Gaming giant Zynga, best known for Facebook sensation Farmville, recently laid off 100 employees. It seems that Zynga's shady business practices are finally catching up to them, as there have been rumors that they haven't been doing so well these days, and this lay-off could be seen as a confirmation of that.
• SimCity, the successor to SimCity 4 (yes, we know how ridiculous that sounds) has a release date! The bad news is you'll have to wait until March 8th, 2013 to build up a sprawling metropolis and then hurl meteors at it.

• 'Slingshot' will be the first DLC pack for Xcom: Enemy Unknown. The DLC will take players to China, where they can complete three missions and unlock a new squad-mate and weapons. Xcom received some mixed reviews, with some fans feeling that it is too far removed from the original, yet others praising it's fresh take on the series.

Slingshot's new blaster launcher

• IGN have the scoop on a wealth of Dragon Age 3 details. The game promises to be much bigger than Origins, feature a home 'base' castle that can be customized and upgraded, and will use the Frostbite 2 engine. Opponents of Dragon Age 2 felt that it's short development cycle led to the game being rushed and broken, so it may make you a bit less skeptical to hear that Dragon Age 3 has apparently been in pre-production even longer than Origins was.
• I know I've been big on Borderlands news as of late, but it just keeps on coming! The latest being this advertisement for an iOS Borderlands game. The ad was spotted in the Borderlands 2 digital strategy guide, and while there has been no official word from developers Gearbox, it looks like iPhone and iPad users will be able to guide Brick, Lilith, Roland or Mordecai through a series of randomized levels in their never-ending quest for loot.

Dunwall City

• Dishonored has been out for a week and was released to generally positive reviews, so it looks like ZeniMax is wasting no time on building it's momentum  with the first DLC pack for the stealth-action shooter being announced this week. 'Dunwall City Trials' includes ten challenge maps designed to "test and track your combat, stealth and mobility skills". Dunwall City Trails will be released in December for $4.99 or 400 Microsoft Points.

• Lastly, we've all heard of DRM for games, but how about DRM for your mouse? Users of the Razer Synapse 2.0 software are finding that the software ceases to function if you don't have an active internet connection. A quick note as this may seem a bit misleading - the actual mouse itself will still function as a mouse, but it will loose all the advanced features of the Razer software (such as increased DPI and macro buttons)

So that’s the news for this week. Be sure to subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, and check back here every Wednesday and Saturday for more content!

Previous gamer news.