Telltale is at it again. They are giving away a pair of episodes to their adventure games. The first is for their classic and most popular franchise Sam and Max. This Hallow's Eve flavored episode is entitled "Night of the Raving Dead" and is only available free from their website until the candy dealers close on Halloween night. Go get it. The second is a preview of their upcoming series based on the time traveling, Huey Lewis powered, 80's masterpiece Back to the Future. Episode 1 is free until an undisclosed point in the space-time continuum, however I suspect it will cost you something when it is released in November. 

  DOTA is in the gaming news again. It seems that Valve, after acquiring "Icefrog", the current Warcraft 3 DOTA maintainer, has filed a trademark for DOTA 2. This has since caused fireworks amongst, both the map's original  creators (now owners and operators of League of Legends) and Blizzard's lead game designer, Rob Pardo. Both parties cited that DOTA (an acronym for Defense of the Ancients) should be reserved for the "community" and not belong to any one owner.

  I agree with that criticism, however what is more troubling to me is that DOTA has spawned new genre of video game and not one of it's new implementors (Valve, Blizzard, Riot, S3...) have thought seriously into naming that genre. Retail boxes, and marketing materials for these new products have nothing better than references to DOTA.  Meanwhile these companies seem content to have their creations refered to only as a likeness of the original, a Warcraft 3 mod that is nearly 5 years old. This is especially troubling to me when each of these subsequent offerings brings something new to help advance that genre. I would think that they would like some way of branding those advancements.

  I still remember reading the post on Joystiq announcing to the world the existence of the l4d SDK. The first thing that ran through my head was "in about a year there is going to be some awesome content coming for that game." Since then there has been plenty of rumors of promising projects, but none that have capitalized on the full potential that is: brand new full length campaigns for left 4 dead.

  In breaking news today, it was announced that Bungie, a former subsidiary of the Microsoft corporation and originators of the Halo intellectual property, has signed a 10 year publishing deal with Activision.

  While most people grapple with the "Why did Bungie choose Activision?" question, it is fairly clear to me that the reasoning was more fiscally motivated than anything. They wanted to make a new IP and were not satisfied with the budget allowed them by being independent. what interests me more is if they are even capable of making a new IP with a world compelling enough to warrant Activisions interest.

  Infinity Ward's blockbuster Modern Warfare 2 and I have a kind of love/hate relationship. While I love the idea of a  competent, well designed modern military FPS, I dispise the thought of spending $60 for it. In addition, it is $60 to a company commited, not to making quality video games, but only to making money.