Today it was confirmed that a special edition of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, with loads of all-new features and content, will be arriving on Xbox 360 this April. To ensure that CD Projekt's core audience doesn't feel left out, GOG.com offers the good news that the PC version of the action/RPG sequel will also be receiving the "scads of upgrades and extras" included in the "most polished and definitive version of the game," at no additional cost to those that already own it.

Anyone that has still yet to join Geralt of Rivia in his latest adventure will have until April 17th to purchase the game in order to receive the Enhanced Edition update for free. To give you some extra incentive, The Witcher 2 will be on sale for 15% off on GOG.com over the next two weeks.

Here are details on some of the new stuff that will be added in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition, to account for what they say will be four hours of added playtime:

New major adventures set in new locations. These consist of an underground system of chambers beneath Loc Muine and a temperate coniferous forest in the Loc Muine mountains, and a secret cave passage. These new adventures will add several hours of story-based gameplay to the game.

New major characters to the Witcher story. One of them is Brigida Papebrock Dame. This noble woman comes from the Temerian family Papebrock and is a 30 year old lady-in-waiting of the Temerian court. The other characters are secret--for now!

All new animations and cut scenes, including a new, three and a half minute pre-rendered cinematic depicting the assassination of King Demavend of Aedirn. BAFTA Award winner and Academy Award nominee Tomasz Baginski brings this key historical event to life, setting the stage for the story told in The Witcher 2.

• Steam's Weekend Deals are Space Pirates and Zombies for $4 (60% off) and F.E.A.R. 3 for $20 (50% off)

• Steam's Daily Deal is Smash Cars for $5 (50% off)

• Impulse's Daily Deal is Magicka Collection for $7 (65% off), they also have Bastion for $7.50 (50% off) and Assassin's Creed: Revelations for $37.50 (25% off)

• Green Man Gaming has Sid Meier's Civilization V GOTY Edition for $36 (28% off), Saints Row: The Third for $40 (20% off), and is offering 25% off select pre-orders using voucher code CUSTO-MERLO-YALTY at checkout

• GamersGate's weekend sale takes up to 75% off various Warhammer 40,000 games, you can get Space Marine for $25 and Dawn of War 2 Complete Pack for $30, as well as Dawn of War Gold, Dark Crusade, or Soulstorm for $5 each

• GameFly still has Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for $48 (20% off) and The Sims 3 for $24 (20% off)

• Amazon still has Total War: Shogun 2 for $15 (50% off) and Sonic Generations for $15 (50% off)

Good Old Games has announced that Square Enix is the latest publisher to license their classic PC games to the digital distributor's DRM-free library. Deus Ex: GOTY Edition and Hitman: Agent 47 are the first titles to be added, with more coming soon:

GOG.com is proud to announce that Square Enix is the newest heavyweight addition to our ever-growing GOG.com catalog of great games. SquareEnix is one of the biggest publishers of the modern gaming world with almost 30-years of experience and famous releases for every single existing gaming system.

Deus: Ex Game of the Year Edition and Hitman: Codename 47 are the first titles we’re releasing from Square Enix, and they're available today for $9.99 and $5.99 respectively. Both games were originally released by Eidos in 2000, but not a single drop of greatness has been lost since then. Deus Ex is a magnificent blend of remarkable storytelling, RPG customization, and action-packed shooting. With all GOG.com’s heart we recommend Deus Ex for $9.99 as one of the most captivating and rewarding games ever. EVER! Hitman, a demanding stealth/action/planning game, created a now-iconic bald assassin Mr 47. With a vague name and a vague past, Agent 47 at least has a clear goal: eliminate the target at all costs. For you, the cost of Hitman: Codename 47 is $5.99.

There are a few more heroes from SquareEnix, that deserve a special treatment from GOG.com, and we will be announcing them in coming weeks. Today, it’s time to shave your head and buy an AMT Hardballer or wear sunglasses at night and save the world from the Illuminati.

You decide what kind of hero you want to be.

• Steam's Midweek Madness deal is From Dust for $5 (66% off)

• Steam's Daily Deal is Steel Storm: Burning Retribution for $2.50 (50% off)

• Impulse's Daily Deal is Mirror's Edge for $5 (75% off)

• GamersGate's weekend sale takes up to 75% off various Warhammer 40,000 games, you can get Space Marine for $25 and Dawn of War 2 Complete Pack for $30, as well as Dawn of War Gold, Dark Crusade, or Soulstorm for $5 each

• GameFly has Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for $48 (20% off) and The Sims 3 for $24 (20% off)

• Green Man Gaming offers 25% off select pre-orders if you use coupon code CUSTO-MERLO-YALTY at checkout

Turbine and Warner Bros. announced today that the next expansion pack for the now free-to-play MMORPG based on J.R.R. Tolkein's popular fantasy fiction will be releasing this fall. Titled Riders of Rohan, this content add-on pack will add an entirely new expanse of Middle Earth to explore, increase the level cap to 85, and introduce mounted combat inspired by the titular human faction. From the press release:

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment unveiled today The Lord of the Rings Online™: Riders of Rohan™, the latest expansion to the award-winning free-to-play massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) developed by Turbine . Riders of Rohan expands the online world of Middle-earth where players join forces to ride into the Plains of Rohan. Riders of Rohan launches in Autumn 2012 with an increased level cap, the vast plains of Rohan including iconic locations such as Amon Hen and Fangorn Forest, the new Mounted Combat system and much more!

“2011 was another banner year for The Lord of the Rings Online with consistent growth for the game, a successful unification of our European and North American services and the success of Rise of Isengard, our best selling expansion to date.” said Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. “This is going to be another outstanding year as we celebrate our fifth anniversary and introduce a wealth of new content throughout the year, ending with our arrival in Rohan. One of our largest expansions ever, Rohan is expected to be twice the size of the recent Rise of Isengard expansion and includes the most new game systems and technology we've introduced since 2008's Mines of Moria.”

NEW FEATURES:

Ø Experience the Riders of Rohan – Join with the Rohirrim and ride across the sprawling Plains of Rohan; witness the breaking of the Fellowship at Amon Hen; forge alliances with the Ents of Fangorn; and aid Éomer, adopted son of Théoden, as he seeks to protect his homeland from the growing Shadow.

Ø Introducing Mounted Combat – Ride into Combat atop your loyal War-steed as you defend the people of Rohan from the forces of Isengard and Mordor. Customize your War-steed’s armor and level its skills over time to aid you in mounted defense of King Theoden’s lands. Mount your steed and gather your fellows to fight against Warbands, contingents of roving warg riders that have been scouted all over the Plains of Rohan! It falls to you to head off and defeat this new threat before they over take the land.

Ø Advance to level 85 – Continue your legend in the next chapter of The Lord of the Rings Online. Experience new adventures in the epic story, and gain new skills and deeds as you face new challenges on your journey to 85!

The Lord of the Rings Online is the ultimate adventure. This award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game delivers an interactive experience brimming with life and filled with the familiar people, places and monsters from the most famous fantasy of all time. From the picturesque surroundings of the Shire to Moria, the most fearsome underground realm ever imagined, players can experience the world of Middle-earth for free! For more information, visit www.lotro.com.

AMD has released the latest WHQL-certified iteration of their Catalyst graphics drivers for Radeon GPUs, named 12.1 for the first month of the new year. This package includes a variety of game-specific fixes, as well as new features including AMD HD3D support via HDMI 1.4a and the ability to create custom application profiles for full control over 3D and CrossFire settings. You can check out a snippet of the release notes below, and download the drivers by following the appropriate link for your operating system: 64-bit Windows Vista/7, 32-bit Windows Vista/7, 32-bit Windows XP

IMPROVEMENTS

AMD HD3D technology support enhancement

• Enables support for AMD HD3D technology in conjunction with AMD CrossFireX configurations
• Delivers a new Stereo 3D mode over HDMI 1.4a connections - 1080p at 30Hz is now enabled on supported displays

AMD Catalyst™ Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements – Application Profiles

• AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview driver enables users to create per application profiles to individually control 3D and CrossFireX settings for Direct3D applications
• Please be sure to select the “Restore Factory Defaults” option under the Catalyst™ Control Center Preferences menu before using the new application profiles feature – this ensures there are no compatibility issues between previous drivers and the new AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview driver with regards to application profiles

AMD Catalyst™ Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements – Video UI improvements

• AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview driver includes user interface enhancements to simply adjustment of video color and video quality controls

RESOLVED ISSUES

Resolved Issues for the Windows® 7 Operating System

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 software suite for Windows® 7. These include:

• The in-game mouse cursor no longer randomly disappears while playing Alien vs Predator.
• Enemy Territory – Quake Ware will no longer experience intermittent crashes when in a 3 monitor Eyefinity™ configuration.
• Water texture is now rendered correctly in Enemy Territory – Quake Wars
• Dirt 2 does not exhibit stuttering when run in DirectX® 9 mode.
• Playing Crysis 2 with in Crossfire mode no longer experiences random graphics corruption or game instability.
• Random corruption and screen flicker is no longer observed while playing Dragon Age 2 with Tri-Crossfire enabled.
• Lost Planet 2 no longer crashes after game launch when run in Crossfire mode.
• Lost Planet 2 and Tom Clancy HAWX2 no longer experience random game hangs/black screens when run at high in game settings.
• Water textures in World of Warcraft running in DirectX® 9 mode no longer appear corrupted.
• The game “Rage” no longer experiences intermittent hangs when Crossfire is enabled.

Resolved Issues for the Windows® Vista Operating System

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 software suite for Windows® Vista. These include:

• Ejecting the disc during Blu-Ray/DVD playback using WinDVD no longer causes the system to crash.
• 3D content playback using PowerDVD now correctly used hardware acceleration.
• Poor performance is no longer randomly experience when playing World of Warcraft, Metro 2033 and Starcraft II at high in-game settings.
• Medal of Honor now correctly displays all in game settings.

The Bethesda Blog has announced the timing and location of the 17th annual PC gaming convention hosted by John Carmack and others from legendary development studio id Software, so that attendees can start making plans accordingly:

Prepare for Peace, Love, and Rockets!

QuakeCon, North America’s largest BYOC (Bring-Your-Own-Computer) LAN party, returns to the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, TX on August 2-5. Those interested in attending can reserve special room rates at the hotel by calling 1-800-Hiltons and ask for the QuakeCon 2012 rate ($154 per night).

For the latest updates, keep an eye on QuakeCon.org and our Twitter & Facebook pages for the event.

• Steam's Midweek Madness deal is From Dust for $5 (66% off)

• Steam's Daily Deal is Titan Quest Gold for $5 (75% off)

• Impulse's Daily Deal is Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress for $15 (50% off)

• Amazon has Sonic Generations for $15 (50% off), Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam for $8.50 (43% off), and Total War: Shogun 2 for $15 (50% off)

• Green Man Gaming has Nuclear Dawn for $12.40 (50% off) and Saints Row: The Third for $40 (20% off)

Electronic Arts announced today that they're still hard at work growing their digital distribution service, Origin. Starting with Trion Worlds' MMORPG Rift, which is available now, we'll be seeing games from the likes of CD Projekt RED, Robot Entertainment, Paradox Interactive, and others throughout the next few months. Here's the press release:

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts (EA) Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) announced today that Origin™, EA’s direct-to-consumer gaming platform, will soon feature PC downloadable games from Trion Worlds, Robot Entertainment and nine other game publishers. Starting today, Trion’s MMORPG Rift™ is the first new title added to Origin for purchase and download by PC gamers, with many more titles coming soon.

Additional titles from publishers CD PROJEKT RED, Freebird Games, Recoil Games, Autumn Games, 1C Company, inXile entertainment, Paradox Interactive, Core Learning Ltd. and N3V Games will be available on Origin in the coming months.

“Origin is focused on providing choice to consumers and the games they play,” said Craig Rechenmacher, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing for Origin at EA. “From blockbuster franchises to high-quality independent titles, we’re bringing the industry’s best content to one place. We’re excited to welcome new partners and a diverse new line-up of titles to Origin today.”

More information about individual titles and release dates will be available on www.origin.com.

“The digital versions of Rift have seen incredible success, and Origin offers an ideal direct-to-consumer avenue for gamers interested in experiencing the rich world of Telara,” said Jim Butler, Trion’s Senior Director of Global Marketing. “Origin has established itself as a destination for top titles currently available in the evolving digital marketplace, so it’s definitely a place that Trion wants to be.”

Origin offers digital downloads of more than 100 PC titles from EA and other leading game publishers. In addition to providing fast and safe game downloads and social connectivity to your gaming friends, Origin features live streaming demos, free-to-play games and cloud saves to save games and gameplay achievements online and access them from multiple PC gaming systems.

• Steam's Daily Deal is Alien Hallway for $5 (50% off)

• Impulse's Daily Deal is Lord of the Rings: War in the North for $15 (50% off)

• Direct2Drive is offering one last chance to get 20% off anything in the store using coupon code ENDURANCE, before the site shuts down to join with GameFly's

• Amazon has Sonic Generations for $15 (50% off) and Total War: Shogun 2 for $15 (50% off)

• Green Man Gaming still has Saints Row: The Third for $40 (20% off)

Bethesda has rolled out the beta version of the v1.4 patch for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim today, and it's available now on Steam for anyone who wants it. All you need to do is opt in to the "Skyrim Beta" through your Steam settings, and the ~190MB update will be downloaded after the client restarts.

You can check out the list of general fixes and changes below, but because there are probably some spoilers in the quest fixes, you should read through those on the official forums if you want to. Note that the Steam Workshop for Skyrim is still not yet available, even though they put support for it into the game's launcher, and we'll still have to wait for the final version of the 1.4 patch to get the Creation Kit mod tools.

NEW FEATURES

• Skyrim launcher support for Steam Workshop*

BUG FIXES

• General optimizations for memory and performance
• Optimized bookshelf script in player-owned houses that would occasionally cause active scripts to lag and also cause an increase to saved games filesize (PS3)

Improved compiler optimization settings

• Memory optimizations related to scripting
• Fixed crashes related to pathing and AI
• Fixed crash in Haemar's Shame if player had already completed "A Daedra's Best Friend"
• Fixed rare crash with loading saved games
• Fixed issue with accented characters not displaying properly at the end of a line
• Fixed issue where quests would incorrectly progress after reloading a save
• Fixed issues with placing and removing books from bookshelves in the player's home
• Fixed issue where weapon racks and plaques would not work correctly in player's house if player immediately visits their house before purchasing any furnishing.
• Fixed issue where the player house in Windhelm would not clean up properly
• Fixed crash related to giant attacks and absorb spells
• Fixed issue with ash piles not cleaning up properly
• Fixed occasional issue where overwriting an existing save would fail
• Fixed memory crash with container menu
• Fixed infinite loop with bookshelves
• Fixed issue where traps in Shalidor's Maze would not work properly in French, German, Spanish and Italian versions
• Fixed issue where transforming back to human from werewolf would occasionally fail
• Bows and daggers will display properly when placed on weapon racks

ArenaNet has announced via their official blog that the Chinese 'Year of the Dragon' in 2012 will mark the release of their long-awaited MMORPG sequel, Guild Wars 2. Their plans include "aggressively" ramping up existing beta test phases to include the general public by March/April, and then finally releasing the game later this year.

Today is Lunar New Year’s Day, and according to the Asian zodiac system, the first day of the Year of the Dragon. It’s an auspicious omen for all of us at ArenaNet, as we get ready to make this our own Year of the Dragon.

According to tradition, the dragon embodies passion, independence, and ambition. We think it’s a perfect analogy for what we’re trying to accomplish with Guild Wars 2. We’re a company full of MMO and RPG fans, and we’ve set out to fundamentally rethink how you deliver an RPG experience online. So this year, the Year of the Dragon, let’s usher out old thinking – the tired old quest model, stiff repetitive combat, and monthly fees – and usher in the new.

Guild Wars 2 has captured the imagination of gamers and media all over the world with its action-oriented combat, its living world full of dynamic events, its highly personalized role-playing experience, and the handcrafted artistry that suffuses every element of the game. Last year, thousands of you joined us at shows and events all over the world to try Guild Wars 2 for yourself. This year, you’ll finally be able to immerse yourself in the vast, diverse world of Tyria.

• Steam's Weekend Deal is 50-75% off select Sonic games, including Sonic Generations for $15 and all the classics for $2.50 each

• Steam's Daily Deal is Medal of Honor for $5 (75% off)

• Impulse has Batman: Arkham City for $25 (50% off), Battlefield 3 for $50 (17% off), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for $50 (17% off), The Sims 3 for $20 (33% off), Borderlands for $10 (50% off), and Mount & Blade: Warband for $10.20 (66% off)

• Direct2Drive is offering 20% off everything in the store this weekend if you use promo code ENDURANCE at checkout

• Green Man Gaming still has Saints Row: The Third for $40 (20% off) and F.E.A.R. 3 for $15.40 (62% off)

• GamersGate still has the Cities in Motion Bundle for $13.60 (66% off)

• Good Old Games has a selection of "Gaming Greats" 50% off this weekend, including ARMA: Gold Edition and Cold War Assault, Empire Earth 1, 2, & 3, and Little Big Adventure 1 & 2

• Amazon has ANNO 2070 for $35 (30% off) and for $7 (65% off)

• Steam's Weekend Deal is 50-75% off select Sonic games, including Sonic Generations for $15 and all the classics for $2.50 each

• Steam's Daily Deal is Ship Simulator Extremes for $7.50 (75% off)

• Impulse's Daily Deal is Mount & Blade: Warband for $10.50 (66% off)

• Direct2Drive is offering 20% off everything in the store this weekend if you use promo code ENDURANCE at checkout

• Green Man Gaming has Super Meat Boy for $10 (33% off), Saints Row: The Third for $40 (20% off), and F.E.A.R. 3 for $15.40 (62% off)

• GamersGate still has the Cities in Motion Bundle for $13.60 (66% off)

Irrational Games announced today that they're working on something special for long-time fans of the studio, who might think that most games these days are too easy. Based on feedback received from a survey administered last month, they've put together something called "1999 Mode" -- perhaps named for the release date of System Shock 2 -- which offers "an especially demanding gameplay experience" with permanent consequences to accompany your choices and play style:

It’s not simply a matter of adjusting the difficulty sliders in the game – the team went much further than that. Resource planning? If you’re to survive this mode, proper planning will be crucial. Combat specializations? You’ll need to develop them efficiently and effectively throughout the story; any weapon will be useless to you unless you have that specialization. Combat? You will need to carefully target every shot, and your health will be set to an entirely different baseline. Game saves? Well, yes, there will be those, but according to Irrational Games Creative Director Ken Levine “there are game saves, and you’re gonna f***ing need them.”

“We want to give our oldest and most committed fans an option to go back to our roots,” said Levine. “In 1999 Mode, gamers face more of the permanent consequences of their gameplay decisions. In BioShock Infinite, gamers will have to sweat out the results of their actions. In addition, 1999 Mode will demand that players pick specializations, and focus on them.”

• Steam's Midweek Madness Deal is 66% off all FlatOut games

• Steam's Daily Deal is Solar 2 for $5 (50% off)

• Impulse's Daily Deal is Supreme Ruler: Cold War for $10.50 (66% off)

• Green Man Gaming has The Darkness II for $37.80 (24% off), Saints Row: The Third for $40 (20% off), and F.E.A.R. 3 for $15.40 (62% off)

• Good Old Games has the very underrated space shooter Darkstar One for $4 (60% off)

• GamersGate still has the Cities in Motion Bundle for $13.60 (66% off)

• Amazon has Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for $7 (65% off)

Rockstar Games has announced the "official" release date for the upcoming third-person shooter sequel, Max Payne 3. And by official, they apparently mean we should ignore the last announcement they made about it a few months ago, saying it would arrive in March. Because instead, we'll be getting the game on May 29th in NA and June 1st in Europe, a couple weeks after the console versions land this May 15th.

For Max, the tragedies that took his loved ones years ago are wounds that refuse to heal. No longer a cop, close to washed up and addicted to pain killers, he takes a job in São Paulo, Brazil, protecting the family of wealthy real estate mogul Rodrigo Branco, in an effort to finally escape his troubled past. But as events spiral out of his control, Max Payne finds himself alone on the streets of an unfamiliar city, desperately searching for the truth and fighting for a way out.

Featuring cutting edge shooting mechanics for precision gunplay, advanced new Bullet Time® and Shootdodge™ effects, full integration of Natural Motion’s Euphoria Character Behavior system for lifelike movement and a dark and twisted story, Max Payne 3 is a seamless, highly detailed, cinematic experience.

In addition to an expansive single-player campaign, Max Payne 3’s multiplayer offering brings the game’s cinematic feel, fluid gunplay and kinetic sense of movement into the realm of online multiplayer. Building on the fiction and signature gameplay elements of the Max Payne universe, Max Payne 3 features a wide range of new and traditional multiplayer modes that play on the themes of paranoia, betrayal and heroism, all delivered with the same epic visual style of the single-player game.