Valve tinkers with a lot of things – whatever it feels like, mostly – but has a particular interest in biometrics and direct player feedback within games. At the Neurogaming Conference last week, Valve Experimental Psychologist (seriously, whatever if feels like) Mike Ambinder described a few tests he'd recently run, as reported by Venture Beat.

In one test, Valve measured how much players sweat while playing Left 4 Dead, as correlated to their levels of arousal – just as Valve boss Gabe Newell specified back in March, concerning biometrics in the Steam Box. Another experiment gave players four minutes to shoot 100 enemies, and the game would move more quickly as the player showed signs of nervousness.

Valve also created a successful version of Portal 2 controlled with players' eyeballs, but it was necessary to separate aiming and viewpoint – where your eyes are looking and where your head is facing – for that to work properly.

The Steam Box will host some sort of biometric scheme, Newell said in that March interview.

"What we've found is you can directly measure player state and it turns out to be very useful," Newell said. "You need to be able to directly measure how aroused the player is, what their heart rate is, things like that, in order to continue to offer them a new experience each time they play."

Ubisoft has released a free demo version of RedLynx's racing-platformer, Trials Evolution: Gold Edition, via Steam in advance of an upcoming sale later this week.

The sale, which starts May 9 and continues through May 13, will drop the price of Trials Evolution: Gold Edition from $19.99 to $14.99, or from £15.99 to £11.99 for buyers in Europe.

Trials Evolution: Gold Edition includes all content from 2012's Xbox Live Arcade release Trials Evolution, along with all tracks from its predecessor Trials HD. The game also includes an in-game track editor and level-sharing functionality, giving players access to a treasure trove of virtual injuries and other motorcycle-related mishaps.

Valve has supplemented its upcoming "The International" Dota 2 tournament with a new virtual book, the "International 2013 Interactive Compendium." Available for $10 on the official Dota 2 shop, the Interactive Compendium will deliver news on the tournament and allow players to vote on tournament-related matters, such as post-tournament competitor awards.

The Interactive Compendium also unlocks "special virtual item drops throughout the tournament," according to Valve, in addition to matchmaking tournament-minded players and letting folks make predictions on tournament match outcomes. Once the August 7 event has come to a close, players will be able to read each other's Compendiums to see how accurate those predictions ended up being.

The first add-on character for NetherRealm's Injustice: Gods Among Us is available for download today. Lobo is an interstellar mercenary and bounty hunter, known for his love of space-cycles and cigars.

Lobo is free to download for all Season Pass owners; everyone else pays 400 MS Points ($5) to add him to the roster. Lobo is the first of four planned DLC characters, soon to be followed by Batgirl.

Three new DLC packs are also available for Injustice: Gods Among Us. The Teen Titans pack slaps alternate costumes on Cyborg, Raven and Deathstroke, while the Bad Girls pack groups together alternate versions of Catwoman, Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn – both are 240 MS Points ($3).

Finally, the Flashpoint collection, previously exclusive to Season Pass holders, dresses up Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Deathstroke in their alternate dimension "Flashpoint" ensembles for 320 MS Points ($4).

Sony has announced plans to build PlayStation 3 systems locally in Brazil. The consoles will be manufactured in Manaus by Sony Brasil Ltda., with the 250 GB version costing 1,099 Reals.

Major upcoming games The Last of Us and Grand Theft Auto 5 are getting localized releases in Brazilian Portuguese as well. A PlayStation 3 bundle featuring God of War: Ascension will hit stores in the region as part of the "Viva Em Estado Play" ("Living in a State of Play") marketing program in South America.

Sony says it's committed to investing in the local gaming development industry in Brazil, and Sony President Andrew House claims the manufacturing setup will "infuse the Brazilian economy with approximately $300 million over the next 12 months." As one more gesture of goodwill, the first ten consoles manufactured in Brazil will be given away to local gamers.

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EA DICE technical director Johan Andersson revealed that the developer's Frostbite 3 engine, which powers Battlefield 4 and the next entries in the Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises, does not run on Nintendo's Wii U.

Responding to fan questions on Twitter, Andersson explained that DICE's Wii U experiments with Frostbite 2 had "not too promising" results, leading to the company abandoning efforts to get Frostbite 3 up and running on Nintendo's latest console.

During the Game Developers Conference in March, Epic Games' Mark Rein noted that Unreal Engine 4 does not currently run on the Wii U. Rein later clarified, explaining that licensed developers could potentially port Unreal Engine 4-powered games to the Wii U, at their discretion.

Greg Johnson, creator of the funky Sega Genesis classic Toejam & Earl, is heading up studio HumaNature's development of Doki-Doki Universe, a newly announced game for the PlayStation 4, PS3, and PS Vita.

Doki-Doki Universe, which Johnson describes as an "RPG/Simulation/Interactive Story game," stars an abandoned robot who travels across the universe and interacts with a host of living creatures, growing more human-like as the narrative progresses. The expansive game world features a wide variety of collectible items and character-driven puzzles, and players will develop a unique, shareable personality profile as they play.

Doki-Doki Universe will launch as a free download that allows players to fly around the game's universe, take personality quizzes, and send animated cross-platform messages via the included Doki-Doki Mail messaging app. The game's full story mode will be available as add-on content.

Sony will publish CounterSpy, the first game from developer Dynamighty, a San Francisco outfit comprised of former LucasArts and Pixar talent, on PS3 and PS Vita. CounterSpy (working title) is a 2D action and stealth game set during the Cold War, in which you infiltrate Soviet and US military installations and sabotage war efforts to prevent the destruction of mankind. And just maybe set it straight, this Watergate.

Lead designer David Nottingham calls CounterSpy "primarily" a single-player game in the PlayStation Blog announcement, though he adds Dynamighty is "working on some interesting ways to let you compete with friends that go a little beyond traditional high scores." In an interview with Game Informer, Nottingham says an endless mode with procedurally generated levels is also in the works for the extended replay crowd.

There is no launch timeframe for CounterSpy at the moment. All we know is that the game will launch on PS3, PS Vita and mobile platforms – no mention of PS4.

An enhanced version of last year's Dead or Alive 5, dubbed Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, will fight its way onto the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 at some point in the future, according to a story at Siliconera. The announcement, made in the pages of the latest issue of Famitsu, states that Ninja Gaiden's Momiji will be added as a playable fighter.

Momiji's inclusion in a new Dead or Alive project was teased during a Japanese tournament late last month. We've reached out to Tecmo Koei for more information and will update with anything we learn regarding North American and European plans.

United Front's open-world action game, Sleeping Dogs, is now available for free to PlayStation Plus members as part of Instant Game Collection.

Papo & Yo is available for $9 this week (or $12 if you want the soundtrack tossed in), while Retro City Rampage is down to $7.50. Fatal Frame 2 joins the PS2 Classics list, and a multiplayer demo for Fuse teases Insomniac's latest shooter before its launch later this month. Check the PlayStation Blog for the full list of new content.

Sony Santa Monica is working with artist Richard Hogg and Frobisher Says! developer Honeyslug to produce Hohokum, an upcoming title for the PlayStation 4, PS3, and PS Vita.

Hogg describes Hohokum as a "whimsical colorful game with an emphasis on playful exploration and creativity." Players control a wormish, kite-like flying creature as they navigate a virtual playground and ferry around its inhabitants. It resembles Keita Takahashi's Noby Noby Boy in premise, and Hogg notes that the experience is free from the "usual pressures" common to video games, such as persistent hand-holding and failure states.

Hohokum was named as a finalist in the Excellence in Visual Arts category of 2011's Independent Games Festival. Hogg expects the game to launch in 2014.

Electronic Arts has confirmed to Joystiq that neither Tiger Woods PGA Tour, nor its take on the UFC rights it acquired last June, will be released in fiscal year '14 (concluding March 31, 2014). Although this doesn't necessarily confirm there will be no Tiger Woods PGA Tour 15 as has been rumored – due to the awkward timing of the game's standard release in late March – it does confirm the game won't come out in its usual spot during the last week of March, which it has done for three years.

Speaking during today's investor call, EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau explicitly mentioned 11 games the company plans to launch before next March, none of which were UFC or Tiger. When asked for clarification, a representative for EA told us the games would not release in the fiscal year, though they are "still in development."

EA won't launch a Star Wars game during its 2014 fiscal year – April 2013 to March 2014 – EA said during an investor call today. Yesterday EA announced it had signed an exclusive, multi-year deal with Disney to develop and publish games in the Star Wars universe.

EA released its FY 2013 results today, complete with expectations for 2014 that put net revenue at $3.50 billion. This is based on the launch of 11 games and 15 mobile titles, EA Labels President Frank Gibeau said. In FY 2013, EA saw a net revenue of $3.797 billion, down from $4.143 billion in 2012.

Gibeau called out the next Battlefield, FIFA, Madden, NBA Live and Need for Speed games as next-gen titles. It's notable that NBA Live is on the schedule at all, considering that series' rocky launch history.

"In fiscal 14, we will release 11 major titles across consoles, and on the PC. This includes our core sports titles," EA Labels President Frank Gibeau said, before listing the following franchises and games:

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EA will launch a game in the NBA Live series in the 2014 fiscal year (April 2013 through March 2014), President of EA Labels Frank Gibeau said during EA's fiscal 2013 year-end investor call. Gibeau listed NBA Live among the publisher's core sports titles as one of 11 games the publisher is planning for the fiscal year. The standard launch window for NBA games is in October.

EA canceled NBA Live 13 in September 2012 after opting to "sit out the full year and stay focused on making next year's game great." The series has had a lengthy history of not seeing publication, starting with NBA Elite 11 being canceled in November 2010.

Update: Gibeau listed NBA Live as one of the games that EA has planned for next-generation consoles. He also noted that the publisher has a "brand new engine from EA Sports," that will be seen at E3 in June.

The Star Wars-themed pinball tables that found their way to Zen Studios' myriad pinball games last February will be released as a standalone product for PlayStation 3 and Vita next week. Star Wars Pinball will include the Star Wars Episode V, Boba Fett and Clone Wars tables previously seen in Zen Pinball 2, et al.

Players can choose to contribute their high scores to either the Galactic Empire or Rebel Alliance, with the game's interface changing dynamically depending on the global balance of power. The game will be Cross-Buy enabled at $9.99/€9.99, though anyone who already owns these tables in Zen Pinball 2 can download the new solo app for free. Likewise, anyone that purchases Star Wars Pinball will unlock the equivalent tables in Zen Pinball 2.

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Following a weak third quarter in its fiscal 2013 calendar, EA has reported strong digital sales in the home stretch but an overall decline in revenue. The three months leading to March 31, 2013, generated $1.209 billion for EA, compared to last year's final quarter revenue of $1.368 billion.

Digital sales in particular showed a 22 percent increase in cash flow to the tune of $108 million, over $88 million during the same period as last year. In the financial report, EA claimed it was the top global publisher on the iOS App store for the entirety of its fiscal 2013.

As for full fiscal year performance, EA reported net revenue of $3.797 billion, down from $4.143 billion in 2012. FIFA 13 sold 14.5 million copies for EA, a 30 percent increase over last year's game, and Battlefield 3's Premium subscription service generated $120 million. SimCity has sold 1.6 million copies, with half of those sales coming via online purchases.

FIFA 13 sold through 14.5 million units in fiscal year 2013, up 30 percent compared with FIFA 12 sales from the prior year. Net revenue from digital sales hit $200 million in adjusted, non-GAAP terms, an increase of 94 percent compared with FIFA 12 year-over-year. The entire FIFA franchise generated $350 million in digital net revenue in FY 2013, including sales from FIFA Online and FIFA World Class Soccer.

By Q3 2013, which ended on December 31, 2012, FIFA 13 clocked a total of 12 million sales.

Battlefield 3's Premium service has garnered over 3.5 million subscriptions to date, according to EA's fiscal fourth quarter 2013 financial results. Additionally, the service has earned over $120 million for EA.

This compares to the financial results reported by EA for the last quarter, in which the Battlefield 3 Premium service generated $108 million and had 2.9 million subscribers.

Electronic Arts announced as part of its year-end financials that SimCity has sold 1.6 million units since its launch in March.

The company noted that 50 percent of sales were "digital downloads." Since the city-builder is only available through EA's Origin digital distribution network, we deduce that to mean 800k sales through there.

The company previously mentioned the game had sold 1.1 million copies in two weeks despite the title's launch complications, which are still being worked out.

Actor and author Martin Kevan has died at age 66 after a brief battle with cancer. Kevan, best known for his roles in Happiness is Loving Your Teacher and Un Tuer si proche, as well as penning the novel Racing Tides, played the mad Dr. Earnhardt in Far Cry 3.

As the Montreal Gazette notes, Kevan enjoyed a successful career in film, TV, and theater speaking in both English and French. We pass on our condolences to his friends, family, and colleagues.