• Steam's Ubisoft Weekend sale kicks off with 75% off Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon games, get everything in a bundle for $7.50 (75% off), you can also buy any other Ubisoft game for 33% off

• Steam's Daily Deal is Take On Helicopters for $25 (50% off), they also have the Serious Sam HD Double Pack for $7.50 (75% off)

• GameStop Impulse still has The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for $40 (33% off), Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition for $20 (50% off), Gothic Bundle for $25 (50% off), and Tropico 4: Modern Times for $7 (65% off)

• GameFly still has Payday: The Heist for $5 (75% off) and From Dust for $7.50 (50% off)

• Green Man Gaming has Syndicate for $36 (40% off), Homefront for $14.30 (70% off), Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II - Retribution for $12 (60% off), Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 for $11 (26% off), Tropico 4 for $20 (50% off), and Darksiders 2: Limited Edition for $35 (30% off) when you use voucher code DEATH-ISMYS-AVIOR at checkout

• Amazon has ARMA 2: Combined Operations for $15 (50% off), BioShock Dual pack for $7.50 (81% off), Serious Sam 3: BFE for $10 (75% off), Borderlands GOTY Edition for $7.50 (75% off), Sim City 4 Deluxe for $5 (75% off), Syndicate for $30 (50% off), Square Enix Ultimate Collection w/ Just Cause 2, Kane & Lynch 2, Supreme Commander 2, Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light, and Tomb Raider: Underworld for $7.50 (92% off), Hitman Triple Threat Pack with Silent Assassin, Codename 47, and Blood Money for $7 (77% off), The Sims 3 Deluxe for $17 (66% off), and many other deals as part of their 12 Days of Dynamite Deals promotion

• GamersGate's Kalypso Week sale offers Tropico, Patrician, Disciples, Dungeons, SkyDrift, and Port Royale titles up to 75% off, their daily deal is Patrician IV Gold Edition for $6

• GamersGate also has Saints Row: The Third for $25 (50% off), SR3 DLC Season Pass for $10 (50% off), Saints Row 2 for $4.50 (70% off), Medal of Honor 2010 for $6 (70% off) and Medal of Honor: Airborne for $2.50 (75% off)

Gearbox Software and 2K Games announced today that they will be offering two special editions of upcoming role-playing shooter sequel Borderlands 2. The first step up from the standard game is the Deluxe Vault Hunter's Collector's Edition for $100, but the ultimate package awaits in the form of an Ultimate Loot Chest Limited Edition (pictured above) for $150. Here's a list of what you get if you spring for the latter:

• Collectible scaled replica of the red loot chests found throughout Pandora
• Borderlands 2 in a steelbook case
• 'Inside the Vault: The Art & Design of Borderlands 2' hard-bound book
• Authentic Marcus Kincaid bobblehead in Marcus Munitions vending machine box
• 'Creatures of Pandora' wide-format identification chart
• Cloth map of Pandora game world
• Collectible set of 4 stickers
• Code redeemable for downloadable digital comic
• Set of 4 lithograph postcards
• Field notes from Sir Hammerlock
• Numbered certificate of authenticity

Gamers who pre-order the Deluxe Vault Hunter’s Collector's Edition, Ultimate Loot Chest Limited Edition or the standard edition of Borderlands 2 from participating retailers will also gain access to the Borderlands 2 Premiere Club, allowing them to download the Gearbox Gun Pack, a Golden Key, the Vault Hunter’s Relic and an all-new fifth character class - the Mechromancer. The Gearbox Gun Pack is a collection of unique guns to help players begin their journey on Pandora. The Golden Key is used to unlock a rare in-game item in the mysterious Golden Sanctuary Loot Chest found in Borderlands 2. The Vault Hunter’s Relic is an in-game item that boosts players’ gear-hunting fortune while playing solo or teaming up with friends. The Mechromancer character class will be available following launch when development of the character is complete and is free to those who pre-order Borderlands 2, and will be available for purchase for those who do not.

Spotted on Blue's News.

• Steam's Midweek Madness deals are Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition for $2.50 (75% off) and Dear Esther for $5 (50% off)

• Steam's Daily Deal is Mini Ninjas for $3.75 (75% off), they also have the Serious Sam HD Double Pack for $7.50 (75% off) or Serious Sam HD Gold Edition for $10 (75% off)

• GameStop Impulse has The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for $40 (33% off), Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition for $20 (50% off), Gothic Bundle for $25 (50% off), and Tropico 4: Modern Times for $7 (65% off)

• GameFly has Payday: The Heist for $5 (75% off) and From Dust for $7.50 (50% off)

• Green Man Gaming has Syndicate for $36 (40% off), Nuclear Dawn for $6.25 (75% off), Zeno Clash for $2 (80% off), Unstoppable Gorg for $5 (50% off), Stellar Impact for $5 (50% off), and Darksiders 2: Limited Edition for $35 (30% off) when you use voucher code DEATH-ISMYS-AVIOR at checkout

• Amazon has Serious Sam 3: BFE for $10 (75% off)

• GamersGate's Kalypso Week sale offers Tropico, Patrician, Disciples, Dungeons, SkyDrift, and Port Royale titles up to 75% off, their daily deal is Dungeons: The Dark Lord for $7.50

• GamersGate also has Medal of Honor 2010 for $6 (70% off) and Medal of Honor: Airborne for $2.50 (75% off)

Today THQ released their financial report for the fiscal year 2012 that shows a near 25% increase in revenues up to $830.8 million, yet also a 76% increase in losses that total $239.9 million, compared to 2011. That reflects an unfortunate pattern of mismanagement and bad investments that nearly put the publisher out of business a few months ago -- in addition to cutting nearly all of their casual and kids game production, several of their core development studios suffered lay-offs, they can no longer afford to make Warhammer 40k: Dark Millenium Online an MMO, and their stock price dipped so low they narrowly avoided being delisted from NASDAQ. The publisher continues to put on an air of confidence, however, as would be necessary when communicating with understandably distraught investors:

“We exceeded our initial fourth quarter guidance for net sales, earnings and cash position, driven by high quality core games with a significant digital component, which is the blueprint for our future,” said THQ President and CEO Brian Farrell. “We have made significant changes to our business, and are on track to execute our strategy of delivering quality connected core gaming experiences, beginning with the sequel to the award-winning Darksiders in August.”

• Darksiders II (Consoles, PC) - August 2012
• Annual WWE Game (Consoles, PC) - Q4 2012
• Company of Heroes 2 (PC) - Q1 2013
• Metro: Last Light (Consoles, PC) - Q1 2013
• South Park: The Game (Consoles, PC) - Q1 2013

In other news, the future of Valhalla Game Studios' Japanese action-shooter title Devil's Third seems uncertain, as THQ is re-evaluating the project's viability in the wake of two recent "unforeseen development events." Word is the game no longer "fits the publisher's profile," whatever that means, and will be sold off to a third party for a chance at being finished and released.

Spotted on VG247.

CD Projekt RED has informally revealed two of their upcoming projects via an update on their website advertising what job positions they have available. One project is obviously The Witcher 3, based on the references they make to its setting and a risque character appearance in a magazine, but the other is something entirely new and somewhat mysterious.

Our mature dark-fantasy world is well known around the world, though if you can’t stomach dwarves, elves or sorceresses who put their ample charms on display in Playboy magazine, we’ve got also something special that might be right up your alley! We’re looking for people who would rather work on an entirely new and different IP – a vast RPG for which we want to assemble the best possible staff. It represents an opportunity for you to create a grand new project from the ground up!

And hell, no matter if it’s with guns or swords, we’re just having a good time here. ;)

Spotted on VG247.

Confirming rumors that surfaced last week, GameStop has officially announced that they now offer prepaid cards for Valve's digital distribution service in all of their brick and mortar stores. Available in $20 and $50 flavors, these gift cards allow adding funds to a Steam Wallet (yours or a lucky someone else's) without having to use a credit card or PayPal account. Or perhaps more conveniently, it enables anyone trading in console games or systems at GameStop to convert their store credit to delicious PC gaming goodness that you just won't find anywhere on the retail giant's shelves.

Apparently the Steam Wallet cards are currently exclusive to GameStop, which also offers a similar product for use with EA's Origin service and is exploring potential partnerships with other digital distributors including GOG.com. The obvious question is "Why would they do this when they have their own digital PC game service, Impulse?" According to Steve Nix, the GameStop executive that brokered this deal with Valve, it's all about choice:

"Really, this doesn't affect anything we're doing with Impulse," Nix said. "We doubled the PC download business with the Impulse technology we acquired. We're happy with that. We're now online over 1600 SKUs, we'll continue to grow that and continue to invest in that."

"We're just offering options for customers. This in no way changes our investment or what we're doing with that business."

Spotted on Shacknews and Joystiq.

Square Enix have announced that the next Tomb Raider game has been delayed. The upcoming reboot of the popular action/adventure series was previously scheduled for release this Fall, but it seems developer Crystal Dynamics has decided they need more time to put the finishing touches on the game. (Or if you subscribe to a more cynical line of thinking, they're too scared to compete with other heavy hitters that will be coming out by the end of this year.)

Smokin' hot community manager Meagan Marie forwarded this message from studio head Darrell Gallagher on Eidos' official forums just last night:

When Crystal Dynamics first set out to reboot the Tomb Raider franchise, there were two goals that we were extremely passionate about. The first was to create a modern Tomb Raider game that would surprise and excite gamers. The second was to make this the best game of our careers, something we would be really proud to be a part of. We truly believe that we have something very special on our hands and we can’t wait to share it with you.

Our priority now is to make sure we fully deliver the very highest quality game. In order to do this, we have decided to move the game’s release date by a few months, from Fall 2012 to the first quarter of 2013.

We’re doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve. We believe this is the right choice and I guarantee it will be worth the wait. The game is looking amazing and we can't wait to show it to everyone at E3 in a few weeks.

• Steam's added new Weekend Deals since yesterday afternoon, you can now get The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for $40 (33% off) and Portal 2 for $6.80 (66% off) in addition to 80% off Company of Heroes and 66% off Tropico 4 plus DLC

• Steam's Daily Deal is Mutant Storm Reloaded for $2.50 (50% off), they also still have the Tropico Trilogy for $6.80 (66% off)

• GameFly has the Magicka Collection for $6.25 (75% off)

• GameStop Impulse's Spring Sale ends this weekend, its your last chance to get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for $40 (33% off), Dead Space 1 & 2 for $20 (50% off), Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit & SHIFT 2 Unleashed for $20 (50% off), King Arthur 2: The Role-Playing Wargame for $10 (75% off), Gotham City Impostors for $7.50 (50% off), Deus Ex: Human Revolution for $10 (75% off), Aliens vs. Predator for $5 (75% off), Age of Empires III Complete Collection for $20 (50% off), Magicka Collection for $5 (75% off), Empire & Napoleon Total War GOTY Edition for $7.50 (75% off), Batman: Arkham City for $15 (50% off), Lord of the Rings: War in the North for $10 (50% off), From Dust for $7.50 (50% off), among others

• Amazon still has the Oh So Fine Bundle that includes Psychonauts, Costume Quest, and Stacking for $10 (75% off) and The Sims 3: Showtime for $14.50 (64% off)

• Green Man Gaming offers Darksiders 2: Limited Edition for $35 (30% off) when you use voucher code DEATH-ISMYS-AVIOR at checkout, as well as ARMA II: Operation Arrowhead for $20 (42% off), and Captain Morgane and the Golden Turtle for $20 (50% off)

• GamersGate's weekend sale features Batman: Arkham City for $12 (60% off), Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition for $5 (75% off), and LEGO Batman for $6.80 (66% off)

• GamersGate also still has Oil Rush for $10 (50% off), East India Company for $3.33 (66% off), Commander: Conquest of the Americas for $10 (66% off), and Ironclads Anthology for $8 (60% off)

• GOG.com's weekend sale offers 50% off 1C classics including Space Rangers, UFO, King's Bounty, Cryostasis, Fantasy Wars, and Star Wolves titles for $3-5 each

Blizzard Entertainment and Valve Corporation issued a joint statement today, announcing a resolution of the dispute over the latter attempting to trademark the term 'DOTA' for use in the commercial release of their upcoming MOBA sequel. As I predicted, Blizzard's half-baked arguments fell flat and Valve walked away victorious, even though they're playing nice and acting like it was a mutual compromise. From the press release (emphasis added):

Blizzard Entertainment and Valve today announced a mutual agreement regarding concerns over the names of upcoming products. In accordance with the agreement, Valve will continue to use DOTA commercially, including DOTA 2, while Blizzard will preserve noncommercial use of DOTA for its community with regard to player-created maps for Warcraft III and StarCraft II.

"Both Blizzard and Valve recognize that, at the end of the day, players just want to be able to play the games they're looking forward to, so we're happy to come to an agreement that helps both of us stay focused on that," said Rob Pardo, executive vice president of game design at Blizzard Entertainment. "As part of this agreement, we're going to be changing the name of Blizzard DOTA to Blizzard All-Stars, which ultimately better reflects the design of our game. We look forward to going into more detail on that at a later date."

"We're pleased that we could come to an agreement with Blizzard without drawing things out in a way that would benefit no one," said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. "We both want to focus on the things our fans care about, creating and shipping great games for our communities."

The companies do not plan to discuss the terms of the agreement beyond today's announcement.

Obviously these claims did not hold up to legal scrutiny, leading to Valve being able to trademark the term and use it for DOTA 2 and beyond, while avoiding a costly battle in court by graciously allowing Blizzard and its community to keep using it for mods and whatnot. It's certainly great news for anyone looking forward to Valve's upcoming release, as its future may have been jeopardized if this dispute had ended differently.

Spotted on Blue's News.

In the course of announcing financial results for their fiscal year 2011/2012, Atari has revealed that Eden Games is "in the process of being disposed" as of the end of March. That means the developer known best for their work on the Test Drive Unlimited open-world racing games and fifth iteration of the survival-horror series Alone in the Dark is no more. Their latest release, TDU2, was met with average reviews, primarily due to the variety of technical issues that soured an otherwise solid gameplay experience.

Shortly thereafter, the developer went on strike for a day in response to parent company Atari preparing to terminate 51 of the studio's 80 staff. Apparently their demands -- including a chance to speak directly with the CEO, to be compensated more fairly, and for more transparency in the company's operations -- were not met with open arms. So, although some of the employees kept their jobs for another 9 months or so, they're all in the same boat now. Except for a handful of them, who announced last summer that they'd formed an indie studio called Blossom Minds to create smaller, digital games for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

As for the future of the Test Drive franchise, Atari already had tasked Slightly Mad Studios (creators of Need for Speed: Shift and SHIFT 2: Unleashed for EA) with developing Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends. It will be returning to the series' roots as a track-based racer, however, as opposed to the more recent implementation of freely-explorable open worlds. As it happens, that game will be releasing in North America just a few days from now on May 15th.

Spotted on Shacknews.