This will be a day long remembered.  It will see the Microsoft Spring Showcase announcement, and it also sees the beginning of the end for the Dell XPS line

Engadget is reporting (via the Wall Street Journal) that Dell intends to retire the XPS line of computers, geared specifically towards gamers and people wanting a machine with serious horsepower.  The company plans to remove the line so that it can focus on their higher priced and more elite brand name Alienware line of PCs, which are still underperforming while the XPS line continues to sell steadily.  No word yet on how this will affect the XPS laptop line.

If you're looking to get an XPS desktop machine, now might be the time to do it.  According to the article, the XPS could be gone in as early as a month's time.

(Thanks, Phil!) 

Oh the woes of being a PC gamer. First we get the luxury of having to wait for the definitive ports of console games (which usually pays off in the end), there's also the utterly ridiculous paranoia from the publishers, leading to things like Mass Effect's recently revealed DRM policy. As it were, Mass Effect would utilize SecuROMS' copy protection software, requiring you to be be connected to the web in order to play, every time, so that the system could re-authenticate your copy every ten days.

Internet flame wars have paid off yet again, as EA and BioWare confirmed today that they are dropping SecuROM's method for Mass Effect, in favor of a new, less harsh anti-piracy check up process. The most notable changes will be that you can now play the game without having the disc in your DVD drive, and you are only required to to connect to the internet during the initial load, re-authenticating your copy of the game only when downloading new content or updates. A huge improvement over the "draconian" method previously in place, no doubt.  It seems EA may proceed to use this new policy for all future PC titles (the death of SecuROM imminent?), as it was also confirmed today that the upcoming Spore will also be incorporating this same method.

BioWare has posted an in-depth FAQ, which is included after the jump.

This is an unexpected bit of news from Criterion Games, if I do say so myself. The developer announced this morning that they are bringing Burnout Paradise, the open-world installment of the series that released on Xbox 360 and PS3 in January, to the PC platform later this year. I wonder if it will require the archaic DRM policies of late?

Not only are they re-working the game so that it takes advantage of the beefier hardware, enhancing the online multiplayer and including all the recent additions; this marks the first time the Burnout series has ever landed on the home of the mouse and keyboard. Criterion plans to reveal more on the game, including the first screenshots, during their live webcast taking place at 8AM PST on their website.

Audiosurf fans, you're in for a treat!  The new patch/update for the game is now available via Steam.  The patch will download automatically the next time you open the Steam client.

What's in the patch, you ask?  Well, we've got the full list of updates/fixes after the jump, but to highlight some of the key points:  You can now use Audiosurf as a music visualizer (it's a pretty cool sight to behold, too), changes to a few game modes (Eraser Elite being key amongst them) and the release of the mod interface so that users can start developing their own updates for the game.

... What's Audiosurf? 

Sir, I'll ignore your silliness while I answer your question.  Audiosurf is a puzzle-type game where you're required to collect and match colored titles on a racetrack.   What makes Audiosurf cool, though, is that each game is generated using one of the MP3s on your machine, with the appropriate hills, valleys, speed increases, and slow downs to match the pacing and beat of the song.  It's wicked awesome, and at $9.95, one of the best bargains you'll find on Steam.

Want to get your bearings in the world of [casual] videogame development? Want something productive to do other than Minesweeper while you take your lunch break? Don't know a thing about C++ (or even know what that is)? If you answered yes to all of those, then Microsoft Popfly might just be for you.

Released today, the free and easy-to-use set of creation tools (which require Microsoft Silverlight) starts users with a base template, upon which they can mix and match different elements (characters, settings and the like) to create their own casual game. Pretty cool huh? All without knowing a thing about programming, coding, or art. Take that, XNA. Best part? After your creation is done, you can then upload and host it to your interweb hub of choice; be that your Facebook page, personal blog, etc. Social network gaming for the win.

It goes without saying that Valve Software's Steam platform is one of the saving graces of the PC gaming market. I mean, let's say you don't own an Xbox 360 or PS3 at all. You can wake up at 2AM, buy a brand new copy of The Orange Box, and be playing it in super hi-resolution before your "wake-up" cup of coffee is done brewing. Apparently, not only did some companies pass on offering epic games like Portal over their service; but some even had the chance to help Valve create the ground-breaking service - and passed. Valve's marketing VP Doug Lombardi told GamesIndustry that in the early days:

You know, we went around to Yahoo, Microsoft...and anybody who seemed like a likely candidate to build something like Steam. 

We basically had our feature list that we wanted. We wanted auto-updating, we wanted better anti-piracy, better anti-cheat, and selling the games over the wire was something we came up with later.

We went around to everybody and asked 'Are you guys doing anything like this?' And everyone was like 'That's a million miles in the future...We can't help you.

Oh ho. Damn. I wonder how sore some Yahoo exec's. asses were after the long, drawn out kicking sessions? At least Microsoft got the gist of things and created something similar that we all love too, no?

Only months after EA announced the transition of The Sims Online into a part of their new EA Land banner, the company has posted that they're shutting down the service as of August 1st.  

The lifetime of the game has drawn to an end, and now we will be focusing on new ideas and other innovative concepts in the games arena

Current subscribers of the game will be able to play the game for free for the remainder of the game's lifetime, although the Paypal cash-in feature was disabled at the time of the announcement.  In addition, current subscribers are also being given $15 credit in the EA store, and a three month subscription to Club POGO.  

Are you still playing The Sims Online?  Even better, is anyone you know playing it? 

 Click for a larger version

Team Fortress 2 players have something special to look forward to today.  The new Gold Rush patch & map are available and will be automatically downloaded the next time you load the game.  It's a free update, so hooray for that!

The update includes the new Gold Rush map, which incorporates a new game mode titled Payload.  It also contains the updates for the Medic class, which touts new achievements and new unlockable weapons as you earn said achievements.  There are three new weapons overall, with a new weapon unlocked at the 12, 24, and 36 achievement mark. 

Don't own Team Fortress 2?  Valve feels you, bro.  That's why they're offering up a free Team Fortress 2 weekend.  The entire game will be unlocked and available to play to everyone from May 2nd through May 4th.  You can download the game files now, and be ready to play once the game's trial period starts this Friday.  Score! 

Hit the jump for a full list of the new Medic achievements!