CVG looks at their selections for the best and worst DLC, along with some thoughts on what makes it worthwhile. A snip on New Vegas:

New Vegas was even more ambitious. The six packs added up to one story, told in episodic fashion. Episodic gaming never worked out for Valve but it did for Obsidian, and it let them tell a story that ran from B-movie madness through to a more subdued, philosophical finale. "The New Vegas DLCs were a unique opportunity to do short stories in the Fallout universe," explains New Vegas producer Chris Avellone, "and a rare opportunity to know, for certain, you're going to be able to do a series of adventures with a clear ending."

This is the kind of thinking that gives us DLC worth caring about. It's rule-breaking stuff that uses the game you bought as a launchpad for something so brave and so surprising you never knew you wanted it until you saw it downloadable for eight quid.

CVG chooses their 15 Finest Dungeon Games. It's a bit of an odd assortment of RPGs like Dark Souls, Skyrim and Diablo along with games like Darksiders. Occasionally they hit the "dungeon" theme perfectly (Ultima Underworld) and, with others, it might be a good game but not particularly dungeon-focused (Baldur's Gate).

I'm not sure that I understand his criticism of Thief but apparently frustrations with the game inspired Spector to do Deus Ex.  From CVG:

The exec told Xbox World 360 that he was "so frustrated by Thief" and the way it forced players into combat, that it motivated him to create a game where sneaking and fighting were both viable ways to deal with a situation.

"Deus Ex exists today because I said, 'I'm going to show these guys that I can make a game where you can sneak and fight and make it work'" said Spector.

Spector's defiance eventually extended to the purpose behind Deus Ex, which he says he created with the intention of shaming other devs.

Thanks to Omega for this and several other items.

Is doesn't get any more vague than this...CVG says Baldur's Gate III is "tipped" to be in development:

A third instalment in the Baldur's Gate series is tipped to be in development, without original creator BioWare.

Although it won't be ready for at least another year, we've heard the RPG sequel is coming along at an as-yet-unnamed developer and Neverwinter Nights 2 house Atari - which recently released a series compilation on PC-DVD - is said to be handling the publishing duties. [...]

Obsidian is a possibility then but the developer behind the third Baldur's Gate is still a mystery to us, although we've heard it's a studio more than capable of making a fantastic looking production. Speculate away.

When contacted Atari said it had no comment to make except that Baldur's Gate is "one of the properties Atari has rights to".

CVG has published a feature on the community aspect of MMOs. They have talked to staff at NCsoft's Brighton offices, who elaborate on developer/player relationships and in-game/real life relationships:

And then there are the few lucky heroes, or villains, who decide to tie the knot in Tyria, before doing a /kiss emote and /dancing the night away.

"I've been invited to at least three or four in-game marriages," ponders Kerstein. "I'd get a message on the forum saying 'Hey, we'd like you to come to our online wedding!'"

"We see people who've met in-game and then gotten married in real life too," adds Koonen. "I met one couple a few weeks ago who obviously liked me so much that they asked me to be their, I dunno what you call it, the person who brings them together and gives them this blessing. Which was quite strange... But hey, I'm a roleplayer, so if they wanna have an in-game wedding, they've got my blessing!"

Weddings aren't the only real-life events to have made the jump to MMOs either. With communities this tight-knit, the death of a fellow player rarely goes unnoticed. It's sad, but heart-warming to see the occasion marked online.

"There was one in Guild Wars," begins Weekes. "The community had become aware that a player had passed away in a car crash. This guy was one of the more creative players too, always posting up Guild Wars-related art on the forum. The community kept his art alive."

"I've seen a few occasions where players will gather just to talk about a person who's died," adds Koonen, "or just to sit peacefully and mourn, before moving on."

CVG has posted this excerpt from an interview with Bill Roper, former Blizzard developer and now CEO  of Flagship Studios. They ask him what he would do if he were in charge of developing the sequel to the grandfather of all action RPG's, Diablo2:

"It would be that challenge of giving the Diablo players the things that they'd expect... I think with Diablo, for example, the camera angle is a big part of it. I think with the Diablo series there is a level of expectation about only using the mouse to move.

"I think people that are hardcore Diablo fanatics... people that, if you are making Diablo 3, you are making that game very, very specifically for. There are some things that they are going to want.

To be honest, the way that Blizzard is approaching StarCraft II is really smart. They're saying, 'OK, what do the millions of StarCraft fans very specifically want from a StarCraft experience? Great, well that's what we're going to give them. Yes we're going to do updates, yes we're going to create the units, yes there's new technologies'. [But] you look at StarCraft II, and right away you feel comfortable.  "

So, the 4th part of CVG's 101 Best PC Games is up and the top 25 lists a slew of RPGS, such as a string of BGII, KotOR and Fallout in positions 23 - 21.  Morrowind considerably beats Oblivion and the Best EVAR! is...

Yes, another "Best" list.  CVG has a four-part 101 Best PC Games Ever feature, with the first three bits currently online.  Part 1 covers positions 101 to 76 and includes Nethack.  Part 2 goes from 75 to 51 with S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Planescape: Torment, NWN and Thief and Part 3 gets to position 26 covering titles such as Ultima VII: The Black Gate and Vampire: Bloodlines.

Is Bloodlines better than Torment?

CVG, the UK portal for Future Publishing's magazine stable, has a series of PC gaming predictions from PC Gamer UK's blog.  There are four articles written by different authors that include ideas such as Steam taking over PC distribution to crush piracy and Duke Nukem actually getting released soon...ish.  Kieron Gillen's first article is the most interesting:

1) Fallout 3 will disappoint Fallout fans and delight everyone else.

 The only thing that confuses me about Bethesda getting the Fallout licence is why they'd even bother. Fallout, while important and brilliant, was never a runaway sales success. At the moment, Bethesda are arguably the most commercially successful western-style Role-playing Game developer on earth. It'd actually be far smarter for them to develop their own post-apocalypse setting from scratch rather than trying to raise Interplay's child from the nuclear ashes.

The idea of Bethesda doing a post-apocalypse game is as big a story as Bethesda doing Fallout 3. Perhaps even a bigger story. Since it'll be presumably be appearing on the consoles, where it'll have no history whatsoever, the "3" is going to make people back away slowly. (Don't
expect it to come out under the name "Fallout 3" but "Fallout: Some Extra Subtitle")

So what have they bought with the licence? Just the enmity of the hardcore Fallout fans who'll hate any game Bethesda make with it just on principle.

So why did they do it? Only reason I can work out is Bethesda are just dirty big Fallout fans and would love to play in the Sandbox. Which is a good a reason for the rest of us to be very excited indeed.