Alan Wake will be available on Steam starting tomorrow, February 16th, for $30. There's also a rather impressive retail Collector's Edition offering that will follow sometime thereafter.

Whether you're waiting impatiently for your download to finish or don't have the time to check it out yourself, go ahead and read some impressions of the demo from resident FSers Synch and Vandy in today's article!

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• Steam's Midweek Madness deal is Killing Floor for $3 (85% off), in celebration of 1 million copies sold

• Steam's Daily Deal is Bunch of Heroes for $5 (50% off)

• Impulse has Afterfall: Insanity for $20 (43% off), Global Ops: Commando Libya for $10.20 (66% off), Tales of Monkey Island for $23.45 (33% off), Sengoku for $15 (50% off), and 50% off all Gothic games

• Origin will give you a FREE copy of Battlefield 3 if you pre-order Mass Effect 3

• GamersGate has Fate of the World for $3 (70% off) and Sword of the Stars 2: Lords of Winter for $20 (35% off)

• Green Man Gaming still has The Darkness II for $38 (24% off), Saints Row: The Third for $40 (20% off), and Sid Meier's Civilization V GOTY Edition for $36 (27% off)

• Amazon has Battlefield 3 for $48.50 (19% off) and Dungeon Defenders for $3 (80% off)

• GameFly has FIFA Manager 12 for $20 (50% off)

Ubisoft confirmed via investor conference call today that the next game in their series of historical action/platforming games will be arriving on October 30th of this year. Considering the yearly release schedule they've been working with lately, the existence of Assassin's Creed III is not exactly a surprise. However, we do know that it will take place in a new era and/or location, both of which are still a mystery. Current rumors (guesses, really) suggest Egypt, China, the American Revolution, or the French Revolution.

Apparently, this third major iteration of the franchise has been in the works since Assassin's Creed II was released (so about 3 years), parallel with Brotherhood and Revelations. It's supposed to represent "the true next generation of both the Assassin's Creed brand and interactive entertainment/storytelling in general," not to mention the end of current protagonist Desmond Miles' story arc in time for the 2012 "apocalypse:"

"In Assassin's Creed we set up a timeline with this whole end of the world plot of December 2012," Ubisoft's Alexandre Amacio explained. "That's fast approaching, and the story we have to tell, we obviously need to do it before we arrive at that point."

• Steam's Midweek Madness deal is Killing Floor for $3 (80% off), in celebration of 1 million copies sold

• Steam's Daily Deal is Dinner Date for $2.50 (50% off), they also still have 25% off individual classic Grand Theft Auto games

• Impulse has Afterfall: Insanity for $20 (43% off), Tales of Monkey Island for $23.45 (33% off), Sengoku for $15 (50% off), and 50% off all Gothic games

• GameFly has FIFA Manager 12 for $20 (50% off)

• Amazon still has Dungeon Defenders for $3 (80% off)

• GamersGate has Fate of the World for $3 (70% off) and Sword of the Stars 2: Lords of Winter for $20 (35% off)

• Green Man Gaming still has The Darkness II for $38 (24% off), Saints Row: The Third for $40 (20% off), and Sid Meier's Civilization V GOTY Edition for $36 (27% off)

• OnLive still has Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood for $30 (25% off), Homefront for $15 (50% off), Aliens vs Predator for $5 (75% off), Borderlands for $5 (75% off), and Red Faction: Armageddon for $15 (50% off)

• Steam's Daily Deal is A Game of Thrones - Genesis for $10 (75% off), they also have classic Grand Theft Auto games 25% off individually, to celebrate them being released for Mac

• GameFly has Mass Effect 2 for $5 (75% off) and FIFA Manager 12 for $20 (50% off)

• Amazon has Dungeon Defenders for $3 (80% off)

• Impulse has all Gothic games 50% off, Painkiller games 50% off), Bejeweled 3 for $10 (50% off), Plants vs Zombies GOTY for $5 (50% off), Star Prospector for $10 (50% off), and Peggle games 50% off, among many others

• GamersGate has Sengoku for $7.50 (75% off) and Fate of the World for $3 (70% off)

• Green Man Gaming has The Darkness II for $38 (24% off), Saints Row: The Third for $40 (20% off), and Sid Meier's Civilization V GOTY Edition for $36 (27% off)

Mass Effect 3 project lead Casey Hudson has tweeted that work on the third game in EA/BioWare's trilogy of sci-fi action RPGs has just been completed. This is the final milestone for development of the title, leading up to its release on March 6th. (No, the PC version will not be coming to Steam.)

Of course, if you're interested in giving ME3 a try before it comes out, playable demos will be made available on all platforms starting tomorrow, February 14th. What better way is there to ignore your significant other (or forget your loneliness for a while) than spending some time getting to know one of the year's most anticipated games? If you really can't wait until then, it appears they're handing out early access to the Xbox 360 version of the demo in exchange for selling your soul to this ME3 app on Facebook.

Spotted on Blue's News.

• Steam's Weekend Deals are Stronghold 3 for $25 (50% off) and Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition for $2 (80% off)

• Steam's Daily Deal is the Star Wars: Jedi Knight Collection with five games for $5 (75% off)

• GameFly has Mass Effect 2 for $5 (75% off) and Medal of Honor for $5 (75% off)

• Impulse has Bastion for $7.50 (50% off), Jurassic Park: The GameStar Prospector for $10 (50% off) and Dawn of Fantasy for $7.50 (75% off)

• Green Man Gaming still has The Darkness II for $38 (24% off) and Saints Row: The Third for $40 (20% off)

• Amazon still has the Tropico Trilogy for $8 (60% off), Disciples III: Resurrection for $7.50 (75% off), Dungeons for $7.50 (75% off), and buy-one-get-one-free Sims 3 games

• Good Old Games has a selection of TopWare-published games 50% off, including Two Worlds, Jagged Alliance 2, Dream Pinball 3D, Earth 2140/50/60, Enclave, and Septerra Core

• GamersGate still has Ground Control and Ground Control 2 for $3 (50% off) each, as well as Fortune Summoners: Secret of the Elemental Stone for $15 (25% off)

• OnLive has Homefront for $15 (50% off), Aliens vs Predator for $5 (75% off), Borderlands for $5 (75% off), Splinter Cell: Conviction for $5 (75% off), and Red Faction: Armageddon for $15 (50% off)

Wholly inspired by the success Tim Schafer and Double Fine have had with crowdsourced funding, Obsidian Entertainment's Chris Avellone (Planescape: Torment, Fallout 2, Icewind Dale, KOTOR 2, NWN 2, Alpha Protocol, etc.) has stated that he feels "a bunch of doors suddenly appeared in game development." Today, on the developer's official website, the creative director posted this blog entry:

If Obsidian + Kickstarter = ?

All of Double Fine’s success from Kickstarter has been inspiring.

I GUESS PEOPLE LOVE THOSE CLASSIC ADVENTURE GAMES AFTER ALL.*

The idea of player-supported funding is... well, it’s proof certain genres aren’t dead and sequels may have more legs than they seem. And the idea of not having to argue that with a publisher is appealing.

Out of curiosity, if Obsidian did Kickstart a project, what would you want to see funded? (You can respond in comments or to @ChrisAvellone on Twitter, whichever you prefer.)

* I only use all caps for sarcasm and shouting. And for the Think Tank in Old World Blues for comedy value.

Spotted on RPS.

In a move as inevitable as the melting of winter's snow, Blizzard Entertainment filed late last year to oppose the registration of a "DOTA" trademark by Valve Corporation for use in their upcoming release, DOTA 2. The recently-discovered documents on file at the US Patent Office reveal Blizzard's argument as to why the DOTA name should not be owned by Valve (emphasis added):

By this Opposition, Blizzard seeks to prevent registration by its competitor Valve Corporation ("Valve") of a trademark, DOTA, that for more than seven years has been used exclusively by Blizzard and its fan community, under license from Blizzard. By virtue of that use, the DOTA mark has become firmly associated in the mind of consumers with Blizzard, including to signify a highly popular scenario or variant of one of Blizzard's best-selling computer games, Warcraft III.

In contrast to Blizzard, Applicant Valve Corporation ("Valve") has never used the mark DOTA in connection with any product or service that currently is available to the public. By attempting to register the mark DOTA, Valve seeks to appropriate the more than seven years of goodwill that Blizzard has developed in the mark DOTA and in its Warcraft III computer game and take for itself a name that has come to signify the product of years of time and energy expended by Blizzard and by fans of Warcraft III. Valve has no right to the registration it seeks. If such a registration is issued, it not only will damage Blizzard, but also the legions of Blizzard fans that have worked with Blizzard and its products, including by causing consumers to falsely believe that Valve's products are affiliated, sponsored or endorsed by Blizzard and are related or connected to Warcraft III.

A response to this opposition was filed by Valve a month later, denying most of the allegations put forth in Blizzard's near-30 paragraph argument, outright or on the grounds that they do not have the knowledge to evaluate the validity of the claims. They do say specifically, however, that they do not believe the terms of the Warcraft III EULA are legally binding as far as owning rights to the name of a player-made mod, and therefore that the use of "DOTA" cannot be under license from or for the benefit of Blizzard. To further their defense, Valve states that Blizzard has no standing to oppose their trademark application and that Valve's rights to the term are senior to theirs -- presumably because original DOTA creator 'Eul' and Allstars modder 'IceFrog' are both now under Valve's employ.

Valve goes on to request the dismissal of Blizzard's opposition with prejudice (meaning the issue can never be brought up again), but if this does go to court, it will do so in September of 2012 and may last until February of next year. There's no indication as to whether this might affect the further development and eventual release of DOTA 2, which is currently undergoing closed beta testing on Steam.

Spotted on PC Gamer.

Tim Schafer -- a video game designer that left LucasArts (where he made games like Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango) to form his own studio in the year 2000 -- wants to make a new point-and-click adventure game. The problem with the game industry today, however, is that big publishers don't believe there is any money to be made in such an old-school type of game.

Even the newer projects he's done with the team at Double Fine Productions, such as Psychonauts, Brutal Legend, and Stacking, were so original and off-the-wall that it was difficult to secure funding and/or see development all the way through at the mercy of a risk-wary corporation. Fortunately, the information age provides a solution: crowd-sourcing.

Using a fundraising platform like Kickstarter would allow Double Fine to secure the money they need to produce the title they want, without having to answer to a bunch of suits that might one day exert their authority to control the direction of the game or cancel it altogether. So today, a project called Double Fine Adventure appeared on the site with the goal of raising $400,000 over the next month.

Well, not only was that figure absolutely smashed in about 8 hours, they're now sitting pretty with more than $1.1 million in funding before the end of the first day! That's the power of the internet, not to mention those gamers that are willing to support their favorite developers.

These aren't donations, mind you; a contribution of at least $15 earns you a Steam license of the finished product, and there are several tiers with other goodies up for grabs, too. For instance, $250 will get you autographed posters and your name in the credits or, if you've got the capital to really invest, $50,000 will entitle you to a night of bowling with the developers and your own character in the game.

Still, it's an incredible day for the indie gaming scene, and a humbling lesson to big-time publishers that refuse to take a chance on creativity because "only" tens of thousands of people are willing to pay an average of ~$40 a copy.

Spotted on RPS.

• Steam's Weekend Deals are Stronghold 3 for $25 (50% off) and Plants vs Zombies for $2 (80% off)

• Steam's Daily Deal is RAGE for $15 (50% off)

• GameFly has Medal of Honor for $5 (75% off) and Darkspore for $10 (50% off)

• Impulse has Star Prospector for $10 (50% off) and Dawn of Fantasy for $7.50 (75% off)

• Green Man Gaming has The Darkness II for $38 (24% off) and Saints Row: The Third for $40 (20% off)

• Amazon still has the Tropico Trilogy for $8 (60% off), Disciples III: Resurrection for $7.50 (75% off), Dungeons for $7.50 (75% off), and buy-one-get-one-free Sims 3 games

• GamersGate still has Ground Control and Ground Control 2 for $3 (50% off) each, as well as Fortune Summoners: Secret of the Elemental Stone for $15 (25% off)

Reset is a single player co-op first person puzzle game with a strong emphasis on story and atmosphere. If Reset was a movie, it would definitely be a Sundance movie. When I say story, I don’t mean long and elaborate cutscenes but a bit different approach to storytelling in games. More on that during the coming development coverage.

“Single player co-op?” you ask. The unique game mechanic in Reset is the ability to travel back in time to solve puzzles co-operatively, with yourself. Confusing? Light will be shed.

We are using and developing our own proprietary technology aptly dubbed Praxis.

• Steam's Midweek Madness deal is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for $40 (33% off), as well as Morrowind and Oblivion for $10 (50% off) each, in celebration of the release of the Creation Kit and Hi-res Texture Pack DLC

• Steam's Daily Deal is Dino D-Day for $3.40 (66% off)

• GameFly has Darkspore for $10 (50% off) and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for $5 (75% off)

• Impulse's Daily Deal is King Arthur Collection for $7.50 (75% off)

• Green Man Gaming has The Darkness II for $38 (24% off) and Saints Row: The Third for $40 (20% off)

• Amazon still has the Tropico Trilogy for $8 (60% off), Disciples III: Resurrection for $7.50 (75% off), Dungeons for $7.50 (75% off), and buy-one-get-one-free Sims 3 games

• GamersGate still has Ground Control and Ground Control 2 for $3 (50% off) each

• OnLive still has Afterfall: Insanity for $20 (43% off)

Over the weekend, fan site Dust 514 Base reported that CCP Games' upcoming console FPS tie-in to their free-form space MMORPG EVE Online will have native keyboard/mouse support when it launches on PlayStation 3 later this year. This is great news for those that abhor playing shooter games with a controller, particularly if that was the main reason for your disinterest in the title (since it won't be coming out on PC, at least not right away). Official confirmation comes from CCP's Brandon Laurino, who tweeted:

@EONmagazine and those asking for an "official statement": DUST 514 *will* support keyboard and mouse on PS3

Spotted on Shacknews.