Mighty impressive figures I must say, further bolstered by Origin generating over $100 million in revenue since the service went live in June 2011. Eurogamer also report that there are over 9.3 million users on the service, but as some accounts were transferred over from the old EA Downloader service, it shouldn’t be taken that all those users have signed up since Origin went live.

It might not match the figures we are seeing from Steam right now, but with 21 publishers now on the service, ranging from Warner Bros to Capcom and Alan Wake coming on Origin too, Valve might have to start looking over their shoulder at what EA are doing with Origin.

Anyone out there using Origin, thoughts on it compared to Steam?

“Starting February 7, Ubisoft will be transitioning the hosting of many of its online services from a third-party data center to a new facility. During the transition, some Ubisoft services and online games will not be available. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”

Ubisoft have been quick to point out that their newer and popular titles, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Driver: San Francisco will be unaffected by the movement. Casualties of the move however include Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2, Might & Magic: Heroes 6 and The Settlers 7, which will become completely unplayable for all legitimate Ubisoft customers throughout the duration of the server transition. What separates the former category from the latter, aside from their overwhelming popularity, remains unclear.

Games which require only a one-time activation will remain available, as long as you’ve already activated them. If you haven’t got around to that yet, you’ll just have to hang on until Ubisoft decide it’s time to let you play the games you’ve paid for.

But don’t worry, as Ubisoft points out, “this move ultimately will help us improve the maintenance of our infrastructure and deliver better uptime and greatly improved services for our customers.” So that’s alright then, isn’t it?

The server move is set to begin on February 7th. Ubisoft have however given absolutely no indication when their unplayable titles will be back up again.

A list of affected titles and services is currently available here.

The change coincides with the launch of the massive 1.7 update dubbed Carnival of the Ascended. This brings significant PvP developments, a new Master Mode dungeon (affectionately dubbed ‘Caduceus Rise’), Ascended weddings and a veritable banquet of other improvements.

Rift Lite is available to anyone with a Trion Worlds account, and is accessible across all servers. The first twenty levels can be enjoyed, without spending a penny, entirely void of any restrictions.

“We think a Lite edition with no time limit is the best way for players to see what an amazing experience Rift continues to be,” said Scott Hartsman, Rift’s executive producer. He also commented on the success of the MMO since launch; “In the past ten months, Rift has evolved at a breakneck pace, through seven massive updates that set new expectations for live MMOs, in features, in content, and in service.”

There’s been much speculation online that Rift Lite is merely an intermediary stage before the MMO finally goes fully free-to-play. Hartsman, however, stated last November that Trion has “absolutely no plans whatsoever” to introduce such a radical change.

After all, offering up the first twenty levels, absolutely free, worked wonders for World of Warcraft, when the MMO giant employed the same tactic last year – as such, there’s nothing to say that Rift won’t enjoy the same success, albeit on a smaller scale.

Head over to the official website to sign-up and start playing.

Curt Schiling, head of 38 Studios has commented on the official forums in a bid to beat down the flames of anger. He reveals that the code that will come with all new copies of the game is in fact for Day 1 DLC, which in turn is free for those who purchase the game new thanks to that nifty little code.

There is of course the small issue of the second hand games market, a great source of revenue for high-street shops like GAME, but something which developers and publishers are less keen on. Curt explains his issue with second hand sales like so: “Every single person on the planet could wait and not buy Reckoning, the game would hit the bargain bin at some point and you could get it cheaper. 38 Studios would likely go away.” As such, he explains that the Day 1 DLC, free to those who buy the game new is a “REWARD [to] fans and gamers who commit to us with their time and money when it benefits the company.”

I for one have no issue with this approach, initial reports of there being an online pass have seem to be a bit wide of the mark as shown by Curt’s comments. In the current climate investing in new IP is seen as a risky proposition, as such developers and publishers are right to do whatever they can to ensure that they are able to maximise revenue from channels they are normally cut out of. In Curt’s post he goes on to say this:

“The industry is in a very odd place. The data coming in on used game sales is not saying the things many thought it should, or would. But companies are still trying to figure out how to receive dollars spent on games they make, when they are bought. Is that wrong? if so please tell me how.

Again, you can argue with methods, or process, and you absolutely can bitch and gripe about ANY DAY 1 DLC you are charged for, because I think I agree with many on that, but we are trying to create something here, product and company wise, and it takes dollars to do that”

I applaud Curt for his honesty, and I hope that this issue does not drastically impact on first time sales of the game which is looking quite nice. As we are talking about Kingdoms of Amalur, you may as well check out this new video showing off some of the possibilities you will find in the game.

Freddie Prinze Jr. has been confirmed as the voice actor for Mass Effect 3‘s new character James Vega. In the video he talks about his real life inspirations for the character and his love for the series of Mass Effect, of which he seems a genuine fan.

He joins a host of stars who have signed up to do voice acting for Mass Effect 3 including: Seth Green, Adam Baldwin, Martin Sheen and Carrie-Anne Moss. The video shows lots of new footage from the upcoming Mass Effect 3 release but don’t worry, no spoilers.

Unlike previous bundles, there’s no chance you’ll be taking a look at this collection and realising you already own most of the titles on offer. Developed by a multitude of collaborators, The AGS Bake Sale consists of over a dozen adventure games made specifically for the collection, ranging from the bizarre to the truly ridiculous. These are brand new adventure games, and you can get them for next to nothing.

Not technically an adventure game, but how cute can you get?

By now, you all know the drill. Pay whatever you want (within reason, you cheap-skates), and the bundle is yours. Unlike previous bundles, there’s no deciding where your money is going. All proceeds from the bundle will be going directly to Child’s Play. The developers get nothing. No commission. No nothing.

If you have even a passing interest in independent adventure games, you’re bound to find something to hold your interest in this collection. If not, then nonetheless you’re donating to a good cause.

To find out more about the work Child’s Play do, follow the link here.

It'll make sense later. Honestly.

Heavy metal, zombies, point-and-click adventure, comedic. All fine words and phrases, and when brought together they can be used to describe Metal Dead a new adventure game from Australian indie, Walk Thru Walls. The story follows two heavy metal fans trapped in a medical research centre which is, you guessed it, infested with zombies. Metal Dead is available now for £2.99 on Desura. Hopefully we shall be taking a closer look at this one soon.