Numerous online games send messages to lapsed users in an attempt to get those players to come back. Sometimes, they try toguilt youinto going back; other times, they look toentice youinto returning by offering free goodies. In the case of the Facebook gameThe Sims Social, EA and Playfish opted for the former tactic in anemail sent todayto players. But somebody should’ve looked this one over first. The message, penned by “Your Sim,” a cute, slim, winking redhead with her arms in the air, begs her man of the house to return....

That’s 21 inches of pure turian Excuse me, 1/4 scale figure ofMass Effect’sGarrus Vakarian. I couldn’t help but noticing your 21 inches of pure turian goodness over there, and you’re a little expensive, but you lookin’ hot. Let’s get together and talk calibrations.Gaming Headsmust have spent a little more time on you. And by that I mean this is one excellent Garrus statue. He’s $329.99 worth of excellent, but he’s part of a limited run of only 1000 figures, and check out that detail....

Save data, Wii Points, and even Miis carry over Feel that gnawing sensation at the base of your spine? That uncomfortable shiver that creeps along your extremities and makes your hair stand on end? That’s called “fear,” and it’s probably what you experienced every time you downloaded a game on the Wii. With the Wii U on the horizon, that fear is likely back in full force as you nervously pace about, wondering if Nintendo will hold to its promise of offering a means of transferring Wii data to the new console....

Still no Kenny Loggins, dammit! WhenDanger Zonecame out,I found itto be quite a blast. It was loaded with all of the crazy touches thatBurnout’s“Crash” mode had, but was mostly limited by the amount of content on offer with basically nothing to unlock. While DLC was never off the table, developer Three Fields Entertainment startedby announcingan Xbox One port that would contain some exclusive extra levels. This got me salivating for more stuff, since they clearly weren’t finished with the game....

Making it easier to rent time in a holosuite Valve announced earlier today that they’re expanding theSite Licensing Program(SLP) that allows people to use Steam content or services in a public setting. This is good news for people who want to demonstrate Virtual Reality (VR) games likeJob Simulator,Tilt BrushorAudioshieldin public places like museums, arcades, or cybercafés. There are different levels of access depending on whether you just want to demonstrate the titles to people or want to charge for time on one of your machines....

Nvidia is optimizing the GTX line for Linux There’s a lot of work left to be done before Valve’s vision of a future where gaming moves away from Windows andthrives on Linuxis fully realized. For the time being, however, we do have those high-end Steam Machine prototypes tosalivate over. 300 lucky people will get a living-room PC featuring cards as decked out as the Nvidia Titan courtesy of Valve. Speaking about the company’s collaboration with Nvidia, Valve’s Mike Sartain said that both groups “believe the SteamOS open ecosystem is a very important move for gaming....

Whatever that means In a bizarrely written statement, Damon Lindelof, show runner for the upcoming HBOWatchmenseries, stated that this isn’t going to be theWatchmenwe’re used to. On why he won’t cover the beats of the original, Lindelof explained that, “Those issues are sacred ground and will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted.” Then, he quickly moved to muddy that statement by saying, “They will however be remixed. Because the bass lines in those familiar tracks are just too good and we’d be fools not to sample them....

Hey, I didn’t use that much poi… We should talk Simulator, which we last covered when YouTube had a fit about its upskirt creep shots (an optional mechanic for gaining favors) andpulled development videosfor sexual content. TheHitman-like (yes!) stealth game is, “about stalking a boy and secretly eliminating any girl who seems interested in him, while maintaining the image of an innocent schoolgirl.” There’s a fuller explanationhereas well as asteady flow of development blog posts(with video) that go into various mechanics, like the one above....

Make room for more games! So every time you download and install a game from Steam it downloads a DirectX redistributable package. Once your game is installed, that redistributable file just sits on your hard drive useless, taking up space. A hundred megabyte file may not be much, but if you’re a heavy Steam user these files will add up over time. EnterTikiOne Steam cleaner,a handy tool that will list every redistributable package stored on your Steam directory that you can then easily remove....

Is it still April Fool’s? I actually can’t tell if this is a real thing, but with the last minutes of Dogstructoid bearing down on us (long may it live), I’ll take my chances. Quill Studios is developing a dog-themed visual novel calledA Summer with the Shiba Inu. That’s really all you need to know to decide if you’re interested or not. You can check out a trailer for it below, or get your paws on a 15-minute demoover here....

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3introduces a couple of new ways to trick out your weapons with better attachments and wilder play styles. The conversion kits and aftermarket parts inMW3are worth checking out. How to unlock all Conversion Kits inMW3 Conversion kits are items you can equip on certain weapons in the game to change them entirely. They might make a pistol turn into a submachine gun or an assault rifle become an SMG and so on....

I’ll probably stick with the story In the lead-up toDoom‘s release this May, Bethesda has spent a good deal of its time covering themultiplayer component. There’s more on that front today with details on Warpath mode and single-use items, Hack Modules, earned through player progression. Warpath has marines racing to claim a capture point, king-of-the-hill style, that’s moving down a circular path, or taking their chances on the other side of the map to nab the lone demon rune....

Sony has been putting a lot of focus on it’s 40GB PS3 model lately, discontinuing the 20 and 60 GB models in Japan within the last couple weeks and thus sparking the fear among Western gamers that a similar move will soon be made in the states. It appears our fears may be realized sooner than we thought. A scan of aninternal document, supposedly made by a Best Buy employee, surfaced today stating that Best Buy will no longer be carrying the 80GB version of the PS3 as of January 28th, and assumes that 60GB models will be cleared from the store by that time as well....