14 DAY TRIAL // This week the news was dominated by the war on the used games market, with Electronic Arts acting with initiatives like the Online Pass and the Ten Dollars Project, THQ following with UFC Undisputed 2010 and Ubisoft watching to see how it all plays out. We also got into the fray with this week's Weekend Reading feature, we also offer a new EndWeekGame piece and a selection of what has happened during the last few days.
On Monday, the earnings report from Electronic Arts confirmed that the publisher plans to put out both a new installment in the Dragon Age universe and Dead Space 2 before the end of March 2011, with Treyarch making PC gamers happy by saying that Call of Duty: Black Ops will have dedicated servers.
Tuesday, we also talked about the new first person shooter from Activision, with the people at Treyarch confirming that they tried to take some creative risks with Black Ops and not only rehash the ideas from Modern Warfare 2. At the same time, news broke in South Korea about a match fixing scandal involving Starcraft II players.
Wednesday was dominated by rumors that Sony was getting ready to launch a subscription based premium PlayStation Network service, which would deliver exclusive content and free titles to those who get it. Meanwhile, the creators of Little Big Planet 2 said that the game might not be able to use all the levels created for its predecessor.
Thursday was the day when World of Warcraft addicts got deeper into their habit, with Blizzard announcing the launch of the Remote Auction House application for the iPhone and for web browsers. At the same time, the alpha version of the Cataclysm expansion leaked out and Blizzard began the game of Whack-A-Mole with those posting images and videos of it.
Friday was the day when Starcraft II got an Age 12 rating in South Korea, which means black blood, no vulgar talk and no references to smoking in the upcoming real time strategy. Meanwhile, BioWare has disclosed that it plans to bridge the gap between Mass Effect 2 and 3 with downloadable content.