Do you know what the ever-wars of Auraxis needs? More wars. SOE seems to think so, at least, and Creative Director Matt Higby posts word of a few server merges taking place next week to help supersize battles raging in low-population realms during peak hours.

"Right now, we have a lot of disparity between populations on our servers," Higby writes. "Some are highly populated with active fights across all continents, and some are not. This is a factor of which servers were most popular at launch and players gravitating to one or two servers per locale. Now that the crush of new players from launch and the holidays has died down, and our server populations and incoming new players have stabilized, we have a good idea of where each server stands in terms of player and empire population, and we can model merges to optimize them."

For West Coast players, the Genudine server rolls into Helios. Over on the East Coast, SolTech combines with Mattherson, and Jaeger fuses with Waterson. The European Lithcorp server joins with Cobalt, and Mallory merges with Ceres.

Higby states the merging process will occur seamlessly without any additional requirements from players. SOE hopes for a "more consistent and full server population during off-peak hours and a more players to support better utilization of all of the continents in the game" as a result, but it'll also soon offer transfer tokens for affected soldiers wishing to join the fight somewhere else.

Also rolling out of SOE's engineering depot is the new Players stat tracking site, a Battlelog-esque center to keep tabs on your weapon and vehicle performance, your leaderboard rankings, and your home server's territory control. Looks like the fanatical Vanu are currently crowding the lawful sectors of the glorious Terran Republic on my server (Connery). I better get on that.

In response to high community demand, Runescape developer Jagex launched a petition system to determine whether or not it would relaunch of a version of the game servers as they existed in 2007. Many vocal Runescape players feel that this era, before the implementation of a new, hotbar-based combat system and some other controversial features, presented a superior experience. As of now, the petition has passed the 50,000-player milestone and guaranteed that the servers will go live. Further milestones will reduce the subscription price for the classic game and possibly lead to the creation of a new team to create new content independent of "mainstream" Runescape.

Voting isn't free—only paying Runescape members can influence the decision. Though, there's nothing to stop you from paying for a month, voting, and canceling your membership if you feel like it's worth the petition fee. The tally is sitting at 236,000 as of the writing of this article. That's just short of the 250,000 needed to guarantee a small, focused development team for the old school version. At 500,000, a full content team will be established and Runescape members will have access to the new servers at no additional cost (currently, they will require a $15 a month fee on top of a player's regular membership.)



"Old school" would be the third running version of Runescape, joining the main game and Runescape Classic, a preserved-in-amber version of the sprite-based RS I played in junior high. Classic is not supported by ongoing updates, but it still has at least a couple hundred people playing at this very moment.

There's only about a week left in the StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm beta. Then you'll have to hug your Brood Lord plushie and rock back and forth for a whole 13 days before the game officially launches. As expansion day fast approaches, Blizzard has released the last of its video previews, and this one focuses on the new eSports and competitive features.

Perhaps most significant is the ability to watch game replays with friends. So, if you're trying to coach your tryhard friend out of Bronze league, you can both analyze his games, and you can point out what he did wrong with no confusion about who should be pausing, and when. Politely, of course. I mean, minimal ribbing is to be expected. No, Evo Chamber before Pool is a totally valid strat. Just maybe don't do that ever again.

You'll also be able to take control of a replay from any point, assigning yourself and other observers to given player roles. More importantly, from an eSports perspective, you'll be able to resume a match from an earlier point if there's a network or other hardware failure. The client will even detect such irregularities as a sudden pause in keyboard inputs (which are almost never deliberate in the high actions per minute competitive scene) and create a "bookmark" to go back to. Personally, I'd still prefer a dedicated LAN client, even if it's only used for tournaments. But this is definitely an improvement, and can solve some issues (like keyboard/mouse failure) that LAN play wouldn't.

In case you missed it, here's the previous video on the new matchmaking features.

When the words "videogame" and "movie" appear in a sentence together, it's natural for the stomach to involuntarily knot. Whether or not filmmakers stay true to the source material, there's always a risk of facepalm-worthy adaptations. The secretive Deus Ex: Human Revolution film won't hit theaters anytime soon, but director Scott Derrickson (Sinister) and co-writer C. Robert Cargill state in an interview with CraveOnline that the film focuses on its cyberpunk influences over the hurdle of bringing a videogame to the silver screen.

"The chief philosophy is we’re not making a videogame movie, we’re making a cyberpunk movie," Cargill says. "We've taken a look at what’s worked in videogames and what hasn't, and really what we've broken down is what we think the audience really wants and the audience that loves Deus Ex is going to want to see out of a Deus Ex movie."

So far, so good. I haven't yet thought a single "Oh God no!" from Cargill's comments, but his next remarks sound a little more hairy: "And it’s not a rehashing of the game. What want to see are elements of the game that they love, but they want to see things that they hadn't quite seen in the game, that the game didn't allow them to see.

"So it’s really allowed us to expand upon the things that happened in the game, and the game has such a great cinematic story to begin with that those elements are very easy to extract. But really, at its core, we just keep telling each other, 'We're not making a video game movie, we’re making a cyberpunk movie.' And Scott and I are such big cyberpunk fans from way back in the day that that just really charges us up. Because that’s what’s so great about Deus Ex to begin with, is it really gets cyberpunk. Eidos Montreal really understood the nature of cyberpunk and made 'the' cyberpunk game, and it is just fantastic, and we've just had a great time adapting it."

Eidos Montreal and CBS Films haven't discussed possible casting decisions yet, nor how exactly Cargill and Derrickson's vision jives with Human Revolution's already phenomenal atmosphere beyond a slight tweak to main character Adam Jensen's background from corporate security to cyborg SWAT officer. My skepticism augment stays switched on for now, but as I load up the tech-tones of the Sarif Industries theme to soothe my anxiety, I ask you: who would you like to see become Jensen in the Deus Ex film?

EA has confirmed that an unspecified number of layoffs took place in Los Angeles and Montreal today, citing the transition to new hardware—namely the PlayStation 4—as the catalyst. The scope of the layoffs remains unclear, but sources such as Ubisoft designer Stephanie Harvey are claiming that Army of Two developer Visceral Montreal has closed entirely.

EA Senior Director of Corporate Communications John Reseburg tells PC Gamer that EA is "not disclosing headcount impact on individual teams or studios," but added that "EA Montreal is a key development studio where our long-term plan is to sharpen our teams' focus on console and mobile games."

On the layoffs in general, EA President Frank Gibeau wrote in a blog post that these changes were expected as the company transitions to next-gen consoles and mobile games.

"Thousands of our existing employees have been retrained and redeployed to work on the new platforms and initiatives," wrote Gibeau. "But when it is not possible to redeploy a team, we soften the tough decisions with assistance. This week we let some people go in Los Angeles, Montreal as well as in some smaller locations. These are good people and we have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease their transition to a new job."

Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel is currently a console exclusive, but whether or not EA's total layoffs will affect the PC gaming scene is yet to be determined. LA is the home of Victory Games, which is developing Command & Conquer, as well as Medal of Honor developer Danger Close.

After Medal of Honor: Warfighter's poor reception, the series is currently "out of the rotation" according to a statement made last month by EA COO Peter Moore. Meanwhile, Gibeau pointed out the "huge ovation" Battlefield 4 received when it was shown to 500 GameStop store managers earlier this week.

On a broader note, we may see more corporations adjust as they shift focus to next-gen consoles, and we'll be watching closely as the console market's gravity pulls on the tides of PC gaming.

Star Wars: The Old Republic's Public Test Server updated yesterday with the massive 2.0 patch jumping in from lightspeed prior to the forthcoming Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion. Along with raising the level cap to 55 and continuing your character's story, major ability and stat redesigns also show up across all eight classes.

Each class and their advanced specializations get a new ability to acquire while leveling up. A couple address lingering balance concerns in PVP scenarios—the Sniper/Gunslinger gets a stacking stealth detection effect while in cover, for example—but others bring additional PVE benefits, such as Marauders/Sentinels acquiring a wicked-sounding double-saber throw to deal extra multi-target damage.

A new Operation, Scum and Villainy, is also arriving to dispense the latest tier of gear and weaponry and act as a proving ground for your newfound skills. It features four difficulty modes and seven bosses, a welcome bump in challenge from the relatively brief Terror From Beyond and Explosive Conflict Operations released in earlier updates. Dutiful data-miner Dulfy has additional info on the stats and appearances of the new gear.

The final notable change is a reworking of the Alacrity stat into a universally useful gain for all classes. Instead of its current effect of speeding up cast times for charged and channeled abilities, Alacrity will reduce the global cooldown and activation time of all abilities. It'll be interesting to see the effects of a high-Alacrity setup for quick-hitting classes such as the Marauder/Sentinel or Operative/Scoundrel.

Direct your sensors to the Test Server's lengthy patch notes for more details on the many changes 2.0 implements.

Almost Human's Legend of Grimrock applauds the dungeon crawlers of yesteryear with mutli-layered floors filled with complex puzzles and a Monster Manual's worth of enemies, and the arrival of a dungeon editor late last year forged an ambitious community of crafters. In pleasing news for those dungeon-delvers, Almost Human announced it's now working on Legend of Grimrock II.

"Creating a mere DLC or expansion to Grimrock simply wouldn't have felt right," the studio's blog post reads. "As today’s meeting proved, we still have a lot of ideas we’d like to explore, lots and lots of new content already done (originally made for a DLC/expansion), and a big engine update in the works. Simply put, a DLC would have limited too much what we can do. With a full-blown sequel, we can raise Grimrock to the next level."

Heh, level. Very clever, Almost Human. Beyond the confirmation of a sequel in the works, the indie developer isn't yet revealing additional details until future blog updates. While away the moments with the sizable heap of custom adventures found in Grimrock's Steam Workshop page.

Jonas Kyratzes has spent the last few years peeking into the Lands of Dream - a realm where "everything once imagined is real, as are many things no mortal has yet conceived of", brought to life by his own writing, the art of Verena Kyratzes, and more recently the exquisite music of Chris Christodoulou. After several free games set in the Lands, Kyratzes released The Sea Will Claim Everything, a sort of picture-book adventure game with a focus on storytelling and exploration. Now, he's taken to Indiegogo to fund Ithaka of the Clouds, a point-and-click adventure with a "funny, moving, bittersweet story", crafting, philosophy and bad puns, among other things - all in the biggest Lands of Dream game yet.

Inspired by the poetry of Constantine Cavafy, Ithaka of the Clouds is "the story of two lovers and their travels across the Lands of Dream as they seek the legendary city of the title. And it so happens that the two lovers are both trolls, creatures that human stories have often painted as frightening barbarians. The journey will take them through many lands, where they will meet many people and creatures and face many challenges." Kyratzes is asking for $12,000 to make this happen, with the game expected to be finished "6-8 months after funding". The Indiegogo campaign itself ends in 32 days.

$10 will get you a copy of Ithaka, when it's done, but there are some lovely rewards for higher backers, including prints of Verena Kyratzes' artwork and even a separate game made in your honour if you happen to have $10,000 going spare. (If you do, perhaps you'd be willing to crowdfund me a new car?)

Have a watch of Kyratzes' lengthy pitch video, below, for more details.

I didn't really have a problem with the ending of Mass Effect 3. There, I said it. I'd even go so far as to say that after the Extended Cut it's actually pretty good, with some caveats. No grand thesis, no conspiracy. My five-year love affair with BioWare's space adventure ended in a way that I was okay with. Feel free to savage me in the comments, guys. I'm right here. I regret nothing.

Phew, it's good to get that off my chest.

In any case, the trilogy is about to end again. BioWare's Chris Priestly took to the official forums earlier today to formally announce Citadel, the third and final piece of singleplayer DLC for Mass Effect 3.

"When a sinister conspiracy targets Commander Shepard, you and your team must uncover the truth" the post reads. "Uncover the truth and fight alongside your squad - as well as the cast from the original Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2."

Wrex is back, judging from the screenshots, as is Miranda - potentially as squadmates. One pic has them stood in front of the Normandy, smiling oddly. Another has Wrex out of his armour (!) telling a joke during what appears to be a wine and cheese evening in a room full of floating purple balls.

I am not going to lie: I am completely on board with the idea of smart-casual reunion drinks with the gang. Then again I have had very little sleep and I've had to stop listening to the Mass Effect soundtrack while writing this post because I think I might be getting a bit emotional and oh god that bit where the main theme kicks in when the fleet spaceships spaceships.

...

BioWare have previously announced the return of series composer Sam Hulick as well as the bulk of the original cast, which matches what has been announced today. Citadel will also include a bunch of new areas to explore when the main story is complete, including a combat arena, an apartment for Shepard on the citadel, and a casino. If I have any concerns, it's that Miranda and Wrex may well not be around in many players' games - if BioWare are putting them at the front of the marketing campaign, will they be tempted to retcon their fates, Dragon Age style? I sincerely hope not.

Citadel is out on March 5th and judging by the Xbox LIVE price it'll be 1200 BioWare points on PC.

Also announced today is the final multiplayer DLC, Reckoning, which will be free. New units include the Geth Juggernaut, Talon Mercenary, Alliance Infiltration Unit, a lady turian, and others - including a space-hammer-wielding Krogan Warlord.

There's a bunch of new weapons, but no mention of new maps. It's out next week, on the 26th of February.

See below for screenshots.

Not content with one successful crowd-funding project, inXile are gearing up to try for a second. They've gone live with a new website for the Planescape: Torment spiritual sequel, which they're now calling Torment: Tides of Numenera. And rather than guess what shiny baubles and trinkets the fickle public want as backer bonuses, they're asking instead.

Right now, you can suggest ideas and vote on what rewards you'd like to see on the game's UserVoice page. Current top suggestions include a soundtrack, cloth map and digital novels based on the setting.

The Torment site's About page provides some light plot details ahead of the Kickstarter announcement. "Numenera's Ninth World is a fantastic vision of a world in which massive civilizations have risen and fallen - disappeared, transcended, overwhelmed, or destroyed - and left their cities, monuments, and artifacts behind.

"As each rose and fell, their achievements became part of the accumulated detritus of eons... but much of it did not decay. And now this assortment of ancient power is there for the taking, ever-present, underfoot. The humans of the Ninth World take and use what they can. They call these wonders (and horrors) the numenera.

"One of these humans discovers a way to use the numenera to grow strong, to cheat death, to skip across the face of centuries in a succession of bodies. But he discovers an unexpected side effect: You."