A Gamer's Week: 22 – 28 February

This week my main gaming-related activity was playing the hell out of Dawn of War II for my review. But, somewhat surprisingly, other stuff was happening that needed reporting. Here are our most interesting stories of the week that was.

On Monday Sony invited gamers to test a new “gaming machine” that might be a revision of the PlayStation Portable (PSP-4000) or a whole new device (PSP 2). At this point I'm hoping that Sony launches something successful and I really don't care what it is. Meanwhile Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard announced their lineups for the next couple of months. Read all about it!

On Thursday we found out that Blizzard was beginning testing patch 3.10 for World of Warcraft, which seems to be loaded with changes for the Death Knight, the class introduced in Wrath of the Lich King. In a follow-up to the PlayStation Portable story from Monday we also talked about how the PSP-4000 might look, with its new sliding exterior.

On Wednesday Valve finally finished unveiling all the pieces of Scout patch for Team Fortress 2 and we've gone in for an in depth look at what's to come. There's a lot of new content, but sadly no new “Meet the...“ video. To make up for that Steam has a big sale for the multiplayer game, which is now 9.99 dollars. We've also wondered whether the 4 million downloads of the Resident Evil 5 demo would necessarily translate into sales for the series.

Thursday brought definitive proof that Electronic Arts is getting lazy. The new Need for Speed Online game is set to feature the cities you've already raced through in NFS Carbon and NFS Most Wanted. Let's hope they at least add new cars. Oh, and Barack Obama, the President of the United States of America, still believes that education and gaming don't really go together.

Friday CCP offered all the details on the newest free expansion for EVE Online. It's called Apocrypha and seems to really change the game with wormholes, Tech 3 and more customization for sounds. We also have a more complex discussion regarding what Windows 7 will bring when it comes to gaming on the new Microsoft OS.

Don't forget to also check out my continued coverage of Dawn of War II, where I muse about Dreadnoughts, last stands and Saving Private Ryan.