The Biggest Stories Of The Week (October 5, 2013)

This week brought lots of little tidbits, but nothing significant (other than the ongoing moaning and gnashing of teeth related to Grand Theft Auto Online's rough start). No deep dive this week, so dig into the links! 

Quick Hits

• Team Meat's Tommy Refenes got his hands on a Steam Controller and posted extensive hands-on coverage.
• A report indicates more layoffs coming out of EA, this time via closure of a free-to-play studio in North Carolina.
• Sega has no current plans to bring Yakuza 5 to North America.
• Precursor Games has halted development of Shadow of the Eternals, and the studio's future is unknown.
• Rayman Legends might be headed to 3DS after all.
• Twitch has announced $20 million in new funding from an investor group that includes Take-Two.
• Blizzard has filed a trademark for something called Heroes of the Storm.
• The box art for Bungie's Destiny has been revealed.
• Ubisoft has announced the creation of five hundred jobs over the next seven years in Quebec.
• Xi3 has announced pre-sales for their Piston Steambox, but the details aren't fully fleshed out.
• Eidos "life president" Ian Livingstone is leaving the company.
• Nintendo had a big Direct presentation this week:
  • Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is delayed into 2014.
  • Sonic returns to Smash Bros.
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds will feature non-linear progression through dungeons.
  • A new Kirby title is coming to 3DS next year.
  • Pikmin 3 is getting paid mission DLC.
• Sony's Kaz Hirai will be honored at the annual Nite to Unite.
• Destiny pre-orders come with beta access.
• Two Half-Life 3 related items this week: a new trademark filing (later revealed to be hoax) and an apparent accidental leak of Valve's project management system.
• Keiji Inafune's Mighty No. 9 closed out its Kickstarter campaign with over $4 million.
• Some of the PlayStation Plus services have been extended to all PSN users.
• Author Tom Clancy passed away at the age of 66.
• Eidos Montreal has announced it is working on a next-generation Deus Ex.
• Xbox Live Gold is free this weekend.
• A double punch of EA/Maxis news: studio head Lucy Bradshaw was promoted to senior vice president and her studio is now exploring bringing SimCity offline.
• Bethesda has opened a new business office in Australia.
• Capcom is in the process of cutting its European staffing by half.
• Sony and Extra Life are teaming up to raise money for charity.
• The Last Guardian isn't dead, it's just being re-engineered.
• You can pre-order Telltale's The Wolf Among Us right now.
• A huge Borderlands 2 promotion will put $100,000 and cool prizes into the hands of gamers.
• Valve has released the basic specs for the different prototype Steam Machines.

Previews/Reviews

• Grand Theft Auto Online (Preview)
• Lego Marvel Super Heroes has a new villain: MODOK! (Preview)
• Nascar: Redline (Preview)
• Golem Arcana (Preview)
• Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 1 (Preview)
• Routine (Preview)

• Etrian Odyssey Untold (Review)
• Rain (Review)
• Rune Factory 4 (Review)
• Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures (Review)
• Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness (Review)
• F1 2013 (Review)
• Pokémon X (Review)

Announcements and Release Dates

• Sniper Elite 3 has been announced.
• A Marvel Comics-themed Puzzle Quest was announced and released.
• The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is getting its first DLC next week.
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut has a release date: October 22, 2013.
• Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus is coming on November 12, 2013.
• Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition coming on November 15, 2013.
• NimbleBit and Disney have teamed up to create Tiny Death Star.