You know Radical Entertainment understand the appeal of Prototype when they start throwing around words like 'ultimate power fantasy'. In this trailer the developers take you through the improvements they've made to the combat system for the sequel. Better blocking and acrobatic dodges will make fighting multiple tough enemies less cumbersome. There's also a new dismemberment system on show which is not for the squeamish.

Expect to be sending enemy torsos spiralling off into the distance April 24 next year.

The last time I did something that could even vaguely be called "swooning" was during Wall-E. Before that, it had been 12 years. Back when I saw a kitten playing with a butterfly during a rainbow storm. Point is, I don't swoon lightly. It is a strange baby sound of utmost respect.

Machinarium dev Amanita Design's latest, Botanicula, just made me swoon. According to RPS, the developer describes it as being about "a bunch of five friends – little tree creatures who set out for a journey to save the last seed from their home tree which is infested by evil parasites.”

You're probably already on the verge of the biggest "D'aaaaaw" of your life. Now watch the trailer. And tell everyone around you to take cover.

Apologies everyone. We made a boob an the very last page of PC Gamer UK Issue 232. Just underneath our armoured crabs adorable bootie, on page 194 of our expanded mag, we promised that access to the Firefall beta will be free in the next issue of PC Gamer UK, when in fact Firefall beta keys WILL NOT be available in Issue 233.

Sorry about that. We've got lots of other free stuff lined up instead, which we're keeping secret for now. But it is both exciting and free, we promise. If you're really eager for a Firefall fix, check out our feature on 50 reasons so be excited about Red 5's free to play shooter. The mag's in stores now, and you can buy or subscribe online now.

After rumours, hints, and finally yesterday's confirmation, we now have concrete details of Mass Effect 3's co-operative multiplayer mode. A post on the Bioware forums explains the four player co-op mode can optionally impact the outcome of the single player game.

Check inside for a full breakdown of how this will work.

The co-op mode won't star Commander Shepard or any of his or her crew. Instead, you'll play as a special forces team fighting in another part of the galaxy, representing the larger scale of the war against the Reapers. You'll be able to customise your team by choosing from a variety of familiar Mass Effect classes and races like Asari, Krogan and Turians, each with special abilities.

The most interesting part of the announcement is how it will impact on the single player game. While the multiplayer mode is separate from the main story, it contributes to something called the 'galactic readiness level' which represents how prepared the galaxy is to fight off the Reaper threat. Having a high galactic readiness level is vital to getting a good ending to the story, but Bioware were keen to stress it is perfectly possible to get the best ending while only playing the story mode and ignoring the multiplayer completely. This all forms part of Mass Effect 3's 'galaxy at war' system, which will see players able to affect their galactic readiness via a variety of methods across different platforms, although exactly what those other methods are is currently under wraps.

The multiplayer components are being made by a separate team at the newly formed Bioware Montreal, allowing Bioware Edmonton to continue focusing on the single player story. This comes as something of a relief to fans, some of whom were concerned that the addition of multiplayer would detract from the main game.

I was sceptical about the inclusion of multiplayer into such a heavily story driven series, but the new mode sounds like it could be a lot of fun. Will you be sticking to the single player? Or will the lure of playing as your own Krogan Battlemaster be too strong?

Have you played Metro 2033? Have you been meaning to, only to be derailed by something of vastly lesser importance - like poverty? Well then, today's your chance to fix that. Steam's currently catapulting it off virtual shelves at $4.99. Yes, that decimal's in the right place.

The rest of this week will see special daily deals, including 33 percent off THQ's entire Steam catalog (minus Saints Row: The Third and Space Marine, for some reason), and newly added cloud support for many older titles.

Mostly, though, Metro's the best game about Russian train zombies you'll ever play. So you know what to do.

So OFCOM are investigating ITV over claiming Arma 2 footage was a secret IRA film? There's not actually a joke at the end of this paragraph, instead I'm just reminding you that this is a thing that actually happened. That simple fact is more hilarious than anything I could say on the subject.

Meanwhile you can enjoy a nice parody video of the entire situation. Thanks to Jon Blyth for pointing it our way.

Check inside for a selection of PC gaming news. Or possibly Arma 2. We can't tell. It looks too real.


A study from Rice University suggests removing DRM could decrease piracy.
Joystiq have some images from the Mojang documentary.
Kotaku have gotten hold of the Skyrim map, apparently given out at a gaming show in Moscow.
Massively let us know the Age of Wulin closed beta has started.
Sports Interactive talk to Eurogamer about DRM and piracy.
Joystiq do a follow up on Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure, the indie game designed by a five year old girl.

 
So readers, what are the best and worst uses of games on TV?

As promised, Blizzard have released another silhouette for a new StarCraft 2 unit to be added with Heart of the Swarm. The last one was some sort of OP Terran shape. This time it's a Zerg unit, but WHAT IS IT?

Facebook commenters are torn. "infested stalker," says one. "It's obviously a flyer," says another. "Its kind a like extra-armored evolved roach. Whatever that is," says another. We turned to resident StarCraft 2 nerd, Rich for DEFINITIVE ANSWERS.

"A weird Ultralisk or a Lurker," he said. See the full image below and decide for yourself.

A Minecraft fan has brightened up a dark and mysterious video released by Notch earlier. It's only nine seconds long, but there's a dragon in it! And weird, dark spires of obsidian. And lots of Endermen. In fact, this might well be the first footage of the rumoured Ender Realm. It's too early to tell if we're seeing the addition of a new dimension to Minecraft, but while we wait for the next Adventure Update pre-release build to land, there's always the new shots of the Minecraft dragon, released by Notch on Twitter. See them below.

Source-powered action RPG, Vindictus has just recieved its official launch. We've embedded the launch trailer below to prove it.

To celebrate a bunch of one-off in game events (complete with a lunch of limited edition items) are taking place. A new character, Evie, has also been added. She's a female magician who, according to the press release, will "bring a whole new dimension to the game. As the thumbnail highlights, she's a smiley lady.

To play, head over to the official site and sign up. Click "read and comment" for said trailer and more Evie screenshots.

For more on Vindictus, check out their Facebook page, have a poke around the official site, or read Josh's preview.

Remember the ITV documentary that claimed ARMA 2 footage to be a secret IRA film? The Guardian report that the slip is getting the broadcaster into trouble with the british media regulator, Ofcom, who today announced that they will be launching an investigation into the incident to see if the mis-labelling of the documentary footage constitutes a breach of its broadcasting codes.

The scene showed a helicopter being shot down by a soldier taking cover near an armoured vehicle, and was instantly recognised by Arma fans on the Bohemia Interactive forums. The documentary was the first in ITV's new Exposure series, which hoped to expose links between Muammar Gadaffi and arms supplied to the IRA. ITV ended up issuing an apology instead.

Bohemia Interactive’s CEO, Marek Spanel was understandably surprised by the incident. “Sometimes creativity and realism in our games lead into crazy results and this is one of such example. I just briefly watched the entire documentary and I still can not believe it as it is overall very serious and lenghtly feature,” he told us.

“We are surprised our games apparently may look real enough to some users already that they can not tell it is not real life footage,” he added.