Weekend Reading - August 18th

This past week was pretty eventful thanks to Gamescom. There was plenty of news to go around between all of the hardware launches and game announcements and updates. On to the links.

• Eurogamer: Grid 2 Preview: No Assists Please, We're British
  I played the crap out of Grid when it was first released, and I can't wait for the sequel.
• Various: Battle.net compromised
  Blizzard revealed that there was a security breach last weekend and is advising everyone to update passwords and security questions.
• Verge/Polygon: Battle.net compromised, Blizzard investigating
• Ars Technica: Why hacked Blizzard passwords aren't as hard to crack as company says
• Verge/Polygon: 'Europa Universalis 4' release window, multiplayer and other details revealed
  I've never played a Eurpoa Universalis game, but it looks interesting. Kinda reminds me of the Risk board game.
• Verge/Polygon: Bioware director explains the math of day-one DLC
  As much as I hate the idea of spending money on day 1 of a game, their argument kinda makes sense. Employing a full-time development team post-release to churn out DLC that may or may not even sell is risky business.

• BusinessWeek: Paul Otellini 
on Intel and the PC's Evolution
  A look back at the continued growth of the PC market. From the article: "The PC is not going to go away anytime soon, if ever. It’s going to continue to evolve." Good news for us.
• Tom's Hardware: Blizzard Previews Giant Diablo III 1.0.4 Patch
  Still no PvP. This game has been a paid beta test, and yet Blizzard still sold 6.3 million copies in the first week.
• Verge/Polygon: 'SimCity' releasing on Mac in early 2013, PC beta announced
  I already signed up for the beta, and you should, too.
• MaximumPC: 50 Skills Every Real Geek Should Have
  Most of these are pretty easy, and some are totally random and borderline useless, but there are still some good skills in there.
• Tom's Hardware: The Final Five: Our Last Round Of Mainstream Gaming Cases
  When it comes down to it, I'd rather put money towards my hardware rather than throwing down $200 for an elaborate case. Tom's looks at some "mainstream" gaming cases.
• Tom's Hardware: BioWare Discusses Future of Star Wars: The Old Republic
  A brief look to the future as SWTOR prepares to go free-to-play.
• NowGamer: Crysis 3 Graphics Will 'Melt Down PCs' - Crytek
  I still haven't played Crysis 2 other than dabbling in the multiplayer beta. People complained that Crytek shifted their focus away from the PC with Crysis 2, so we'll see if they save face with Crysis 3.
• Verge/Polygon: Valve is working on a 'Dota 2' eSports documentary
  My eSports exposure has been mainly limited to Starcraft II, so it'd be interesting to see how the rest of eSports functions.
• Verge/Polygon: Steam's 'big picture' mode gets beta in early September, could lead to Steam-enabled hardware
  Valve introduces a TV-friendly interface that could be a precursor to their own "Steambox" console or PC.
• Various: OnLive in trouble, reorganizing company
  Looks like the whole streaming-from-the-cloud thing wasn't as big as they had expected it to be.
• Verge/Polygon: OnLive reportedly hit with mass layoffs, possibly filing for bankruptcy (updated)
• Ars Technica: OnLive service to continue as company transitions to new form

That's it for this week. Got an interesting link? Share it in the comments and I might feature it in the future.