CD Projekt RED has released a new timelapse video to show off its upcoming modding tool, REDkit, which will be available free to owners of The Witcher 2 sometime in the first half of 2013. The software opens up The Witcher 2's REDengine, allowing users to create their own RPG worlds or modify The Witcher 2. Exciting, isn't it?

REDkit is currently in closed beta, with 100-plus modding teams providing feedback.

In a dubious honor, BitTorrent news blog TorrentFreak has named Rutgers University as the top torrenting university in the US. And what's the most torrented game at this fine institution? The Witcher 2.

Considering that in a previous interview with PC Gamer, a CD Projekt Red exec stated that the developer can track piracy of its products with 100% accuracy and has demanded money from thousands of alleged pirates in Germany, students at Rutgers who torrented The Witcher 2 may be lucky that CDP stopped hunting down pirates back in January. CDP has long held the opinion that DRM copy protection isn't necessary for its games, with its CEO telling us last year that "None of solutions really work, so why not abandon it altogether?"

The blurring divide between what's virtual and what's real gets all the attention these days, and The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red embraces this concept with a desire to rip your face right off your head and stick it into one of their upcoming games (Cyberpunk?).

Before you dive for cover, check out the explanatory video below. Apart from the breath-of-relief usage of a digitized version of your face instead of actual flesh, CD Projekt Red's competition offers two methods of entry. For those Witcher 2-less, purchasing the game between now and the end of the month guarantees entry when you send proof of purchase and an explanation of why you should be in their game.

If buying games isn't your thing, you've probably spent your money on a magnum-opus Witcher costume for those evening walks. You're in luck! Snap a picture of yourself using whatever Witcher 2 props/pose/squibs you need, scribble up an "I'm awesome" essay, and send it in.

Looking to enter? CD Projekt's official competition page has the details.

At Gamescom this week, CD Projekt RED is unveiling REDkit, its suite of modding tools for The Witcher 2. The dev team is currently accepting applications for early access to the tools on the Witcher official site. Early access is targeted at established modders: you'll be required to provide a short bio, an example of a mod you've made (which doesn't have to be CD Projekt-related), and a website.

"We have our own vision for RPGs: they should present an exciting story and give players lots of choices that really matter. The REDkit is designed to create adventures that way," said studio head Adam Badowski. "Mature, non-linear and engrossing stories set in vivid worlds filled with believable characters."

The registration deadline for early access is September 30th, so if you don't currently have a modding portfolio to show, you've got about six weeks to get one together. What kinds of new mods would you like to see for The Witcher 2?

With the release of the Enhanced Edition of The Witcher 2, CD Projekt indicated to us that the game was finally finished. Now they're handing over the reins to the community as they prepare to release the RedKit, a set of mod tools that will "allow any player to create their own content for the PC version of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, such as new, non-linear adventures, great looking locations and much more." They made the announcement in a post on the Witcher 2 site, and will be showing off the RedKit at Gamescom next week behind closed doors.

The prospect of a good suite of editing software for CD Project's luscious engine is an exciting one. It'll be interesting to see if the Witcher 2 will get Steam Workshop support as well, making it easier for players to browse and install the storm of new maps and missions that the RedKit will surely encourage. More power to the modders!

Not, it must be said, all that many - most of The Witcher 2 developer's current project remains cloaked in secrecy and protected with ICE and... uh... behind a wall of developers keeping schtum. Plot, style and exactly what it's going to look like all remain unknown. These answers should however assuage any fears that it's just going to be The Witcher wearing sunglasses even when indoors, and give some idea of how the company is approaching its new world and the experience it plans to offer.

The most relevant question for The Witcher players as well as Cyberpunk fans is this one:

Q: Will there be full customization of our character like a D&D game, things like gender, ethnicity, moral stand point, sexuality...etc or we will be restrict to something like Geralt from TW2?

While those specific details may not be covered (or to be more accurate, are utterly glossed over in favour of a different, easier to answer question), the response does at least bode well for those of us who prefer to create our own heroes/antiheroes/amoral mercenary types from scratch:

A: We definitely want to give players way more freedom with customization of the main protagonist then they had with Geralt in The Witcher series. We are planning on letting them change their statistics, equipment, implants and much more.

In addition, classes/roles are in, the story will focus on a place called "Night City", and the look of the whole thing will borrow heavily from Gibson, Ghost In The Shell, and Blade Runner. Earning bonus points here, there's also talk of picking up some hints from the first parts of both Deus Ex and System Shock - though hopefully not the part where the entire cast is murdered because nobody could think of a good conversation system. If SHODAN ends up in your party though, I for one will buy five copies.

Check out the full range of answers here.

Graham, Tom, Rich and Chris discuss FTL, The Witcher 2, Indie Game: The Movie, the Steam charts and answer your questions from Twitter. Also featuring exclusive information on the breakfast preferences of the PC Gamer team. Graham likes sausages.

We also talk about the overcrowded MMO market, Hitman: Absolution, the future of competitive Dota, and whether or not you should build your next gaming rig yourself.

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The release of the Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition marks the end of the major updates that CD Project have been adding over the course of the last year. Suddenly, they're free, but what will they do next? Gamerzines have noticed a series of new job listings on the CD Projekt site for two games. One is for an "RPG in a dark fantasy world" signified by a sword symbol, which might just be the next Witcher (maybe). The other project is listed as an RPG in "a brand new setting" next to a picture of a gun.

"We’re looking for people who would rather work on an entirely new and different IP – a vast RPG for which we want to assemble the best possible staff" CD Projekt explain in the job ad. "No matter if it’s with guns or swords, we’re just having a good time here."

An RPG with guns suggests a more current setting, which would be different to anything CD Projekt have done before. Moving into production on two games at the same time is also a new move for them, but they do already have their graphics engine, which they built in-house to power The Witcher 2. What would you like to see them do next?

It's been a year since The Witcher 2 was first released on PC. Since then a series of big patches have added new quests, characters, combat tweaks and game modes. Earlier today, the Enhanced Edition made even more additions. Like every update for The Witcher 2, it was released as a free download. I met up with level designer Ziemak Marek last week to find out why CD Projekt have decided not to charge for additions that other companies would sell as DLC packs.

"It's a part of our philosophy," Marek said. "Our concept is to create a really great RPG game, and if it's not great for everyone and it's not as great as we'd like it to be, if it has some glitches or there are some elements that could be better, then we feel responsible for remaking them."

Marek went on to say that "it wouldn't be fair" to charge players for these remade areas. "It's just improving the game," he suggested, "it's not delivering something that's new."

But it is adding something new, I suggested, mentioning the new difficulty mode and combat arena added in the 2.0 patch, and the four hours of new quests added in the Enhanced Edition. All these extra areas took time and money to develop, why not pass that cost on to the player?

"We do some extra work, but on the other hand, when you buy The Witcher, we're promising you a really great experience. If you don't feel satisfied enough then we, sometimes, probably a little bit guilty because we're after delivering a really great experience," he said.

Marek went on to explain that CD Projekt hope that free updates instil sense of goodwill among players. "If you trust as a player that our games are great, you like them, you enjoy them, even if we can't think about everything, if you find some glitches or problems in the game, you'll be sure that will be fixed," he said. "Then you'll probably feel good when you're buying our games, and that's what we're after."

"We're giving resources for that," he said.

If you own The Witcher 2, your copy should update automatically through the launcher, or through Steam. Check out The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition site for more.

The Enhanced Edition of the Witcher 2 is out today. The patch adds 10GB of new cinematics, quests, tweaks and balance fixes to add another layer of polish, and to address players' biggest criticisms of the game. I sat down with level designer Ziemak Marek to ask him about the Enhanced Edition updates, but first I had to know, is this the last update for The Witcher 2? Is it finally finished?

"It's finally finished!" he laughed. "We're really happy with it."

So, no more updates at all? "Nothing I can really comment about," he said. "right now we feel that this is the most polished and refined version of The Witcher 2. I don't think there's going to be a need to change something. I think this time we improved everything we wanted to."

Marek explained that the additions made by the Enhanced Edition are targeted at addressing players' biggest complaints, namely that the third act didn't quite deliver on the promise of the first two.

"That is the feedback we often had from the people, that act three is not as big and satisfying," said Marek. "People were expecting more from the game, so we definitely wanted to address that through making new cutscenes, a new outro movie, adding new adventures, to improve the experience at the very end of the game, because it's a very important part of the game."

Feedback from players and reviewers has formed an important part of all the changes that CD Projekt have made to The Witcher 2 over the course of the last year. "If you're the type of fan whos brave enough to write a mail and have suggestions and know what can be done in a different way, then that's totally great," he said, "because you as a fan or a journalist share your experience with us, and we know how to improve the game. We get a lesson for the future."

Marek wouldn't be drawn any further on what the future will hold for CD Projekt RED, but it's been a good year for the developers. We learned in February that The Witcher 2 sold more than a million copies in 2011. They'll no doubt shift a few more units on PC with the release of the Enhanced Edition, and still more on the consoles. If you have a copy of The Witcher 2, it should update to the Enhanced Edition automatically through the game's launcher, if not, grab it from The Witcher 2 site.