• The launch of Windows 7: On the occasion of Microsoft's launch of its latest OS, we examined if PC gamers should upgrade to Windows 7, gave some advice to Microsoft on how they can help PC gaming with their new OS, and chatted with a number of game developers on their opinons of Windows 7.
• Lucidity Review: We give our final verdict to LucasArts' recent downloadable puzzle-platformer.
• Mac Monday: This week's Mac gaming column checks out two games: Bullet Candy Perfect and Avenue Flo.
• Boot Disk: Our regular look at retro games checks out the classic Dungeon Keeper.
• Big Ideas: Our look at game themes this week examines why game developers should set more games in modern times.
• All You Need To Know: Just in time for the game's demo release, we examine all we know at the moment about Left 4 Dead 2.
• Freeware Friday: Our popular column this week looks at this mix of retro and rogue game in DoomRL
• Contest: You still have some time to enter our Order of War giveaway contest.

• A Brief History of Windows Gaming: We look back at the various versions of Windows as they related to PC gaming history.
• Black Ops Games Redux Part 1: In the first installment of this multi-part series, we look back at some former games that were unannounced last year that finally were officially announced.
• Hands-On with Torchlight: We got to play the upcoming downloadable fantasy action-RPG from Runic Games before its release on October 27 and wrote up our impressions!
  
• Big Versus: City of Heroes Vs Champions Online: Our Versus feature returns as we compare the new super hero MMO with the first one.
• All You Need To Know: This week our game info feature looks at Bioware's upcoming RPG Dragon Age: Origins.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly Mac column takes a look at two titles this time out: Machinarium and QuantZ.
• Boot Disk: Our weekly retro game feature looks at the classic Shiny Entertainment-developed title, Earthworm Jim.
• Playing For Free: Our weekly look at free-to-play online games checks out the space-based title DarkSpace.
• Freeware Friday: Our always popular free PC games column checks out a game with the unusual title RRRRRPG.

• Reviews: We give our final verdict for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and also our first impressions of Aion.
• What PC Gamers Need To Know About Windows 7: Some tips and info on Microsoft's Windows 7 and how it will affect PC gaming.
• Left 4 Dead Guide: Crashing and Burning: It's our guide to the recent free mini-campaign for Valve's zombie shooter.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly look at Mac games checks out Miriel's Enchanted Mystery.
• Boot Disk: Our look at retro games checks out LucasArts' classic Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight.
• All You Need To Know: We take a look at all the info currently known about the upcoming RPG Alpha Protocol.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly look at game themes examines how realism really works in games.
• Playing For Free: Our weekly examination at free-to-play online games checks out Nexon's latest Dungeon Fighter Online.
• Freeware Friday: Our regular look at free PC games checks out the platformer RunMan: Race Around the World.

News

• World of Warcraft Patch 3.3 PTR patch notes
  Here's what Blizzard has put in the new patch so far.
• Blizzard releases details on Icecrown Citadel
  Official details on what the new raids and instances will be like.
• Cataclysm starting zone lore and other new details revealed
  Hints on what we'll find in the starting zones of the new races. And boy do they sound fun.
• Patch 3.3 PTR: New Tauren skins found
  A new look for the cow people in patch 3.3.
• Patch 3.3 PTR: New weekly quests to do while raiding
  The new patch will bring with it more rewards for raiders who go after certain bosses.

Features

• Patch 3.3 PTR: Pit of Saron first impressions
  Our bloggers headed into the new instance, and survived long enough to come back with these impressions.
• Patch 3.3 PTR: Undocumented paladin changes
  Pally changes on the PTR so far.
• Scattered Shots: Patch 3.3, what's on the horizon for hunters
  Looking ahead to what's in store for ranged DPS.
• Arcane Brilliance: Patch 3.3 PTR changes for mages
  Blink is fixed? Go figure!
• Patch 3.3 PTR: Undocumented druid changes
  Updates for shapeshifters from the latest public test realm.

• Five PC games console players would love to play: There are still some big PC-exclusive games that console players have never played. We take a look at five of them.
• The Top 10 PC Game News Stories for September 2009: We look back and give our picks for the news that was the most important for PC gaming in September.
• Left 4 Dead Crash Course Quick Impressions: We give our first impressions on the new (and free for PC owners) mini-campaign for Valve's zombie shooter.
• Second Skin Review: We review the recent MMO-themed documentary.
• Mac Monday: We check out two more games for the Mac: Zuma's Revenge and Creeper World.
• Boot Disk: Our weekly look at retro games checks out the original Majesty.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly thoughts on game ideas examines if having-game specific features actually takes you out of the game.
• All You Need To Know: Our regular look at upcoming games gives you all the info we know about Modern Warfare 2.
• Playing For Free: Our weekly look at online free-to-play games checks out the browser based MMO Ikariam.
• Freeware Friday: Our always popular look at free PC games checks out the newly free indie title Strange Adventures in Infinite Space.

• Reviews: As the fall season hits, we give our final verdicts to a ton of new PC games, including Batman: Arkham Asylum, Majesty 2, Resident Evil 5, Red Faction Guerrilla and Section 8.
• Alienware's new look and features: We go over the four new desktops and the new laptop from Alienware that was announced this week.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly Mac gaming column looks at two games this time, BOH and Cuba Letra
• Boot Disk: Our weekly retro game feature has two entries this week as we look at the Planet Moon Studios action game Giants: Citizen Kabuto and the original Red Faction.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly look at game themes and ideas examines if playing games is actually good for you.
• All You Need To Know: Our regular look at upcoming games gives you an idea of what to expect from Borderlands.
• Playing For Free: Our weekly look at free-to-play online games checks out Nexon's first person shooter Combat Arms.
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free PC games checks out the sandbox-themed game Clonk Endeavour

It's a special time of year in the World of Warcraft -- the leaves are a'changing and the brews are a'flowing. Brewfest is upon us! Time to go imbibing the finest in Dwarven ales (and deliver some, too, on those crazy rams). If you need a guide to all of the festivities, you know Joystiq's WoW-obssessed sister site WoW.com has you covered -- here's our top ten posts from the past week.

• Brewfest 2009: Coren Direbrew's new level 80 loot revealed
  Same boss for the Brewfest ingame holiday, but there is some new loot.
• Blizzard is tracking 180,000 bugs in WoW
  That includes fixed bugs, but still -- that's a lot of edited code.
• WoW.com's guide to Patch 3.2.2
  A brand new patch in the game, with some special anniversary fun included.
• High-rated PvPers do the robot
  A little bit of sneakiness on the part of PvPers.
• Tips for taking down Coren Direbrew
  Want to bring down the Brewfest boss? We've got you covered.

• The Overachiever: Guide to Brewfest 2009 achievements
  Get all the points you can during the holiday celebration.
• Insider Trader: Patch 3.2.2 madness
  How to make some money in the newest patch.
• Raid Rx: 14 Patch 3.2 trinkets to check out
  Get some of the best raid healing trinkets around.
• Ask a Faction Leader: Garrosh Hellscream
  Everyone's least favorite Horde fanatic answers our readers' questions.
• AGDC09: Blizzard talks about the world behind Warcraft
  Interesting info from Blizzard's presentation at this years Austin Game Developers' Conference.

• Nvidia 3D Vision Discover: Want a way to experience 3D gaming without spending a lot of money? Nvidia has a solution that works.
• AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity Review: We give our verdict on this indie action game with a super-long title.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly look at Mac games takes a look at two titles: Crystal Cave Classic by Rake In Grass, and Awem Studio's Romance of Rome.
• Boot Disk: Our regular look at classic games checks out the Shiny Entertainment RTS title Sacrifice.
• Big Ideas: Our regular column that looks at game themes examines how a good game sequel is made.
• All You Need To Know: Our new regular feature on one particular (and recent) game gives you the 411 on Section 8.
• Playing For Free: Our column on online free-to-play games examines the NCsoft mech action title Exteel.
• Freeware Friday: Our explosive column on free PC games looks at BaboViolent2, the free predecessor to the recent downloadable commercial game Madballs in Babo: Invasion.

• PAX 2009: We still have some Penny Arcade Expo 2009 features, including impressions of Borderlands, Elemental, Supreme Commander 2, Global Agenda, All Points Bulletin, Mass Effect 2, and The Secret World.
• Champions Online review: We give our final verdict to Cryptic Studios' latest super hero MMO. Also we examine what you need to know about the game.
• Looking back: Prepare for the release of Red Faction Guerrilla with a retrospective of the first two Red Faction games. Also we look back at the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series on the eve of their digital download re-release.
• Mac Monday: Our Macintosh gaming column this weeks looks at two games: Mad Skills Motocross and Monopoly Build-a-lot Edition.
• Boot Disk: Our retro games feature looks at the historical strategy title Conquest of the New World.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly game theme column looks at making games for different age groups.
• Playing for Free: Our weekly look at free-to-play online games looks at the recently released MMO Runes of Magic.
• Freeware Friday: Our always popular column on free PC games looks at the action-puzzle game Solar Plexus.

News

• Faction change service now available
  For the first time in the game's history, players can switch from Horde to Alliance or vice versa.
• Patch 3.2.2: 5-man Coliseum jousting woes addressed
  The next patch will smooth out some issues folks have been having with the new 5-man instance.
• Play safe, because a trojan can get you banned
  Blizzard's Warden isn't just working for you: if it finds some malware, you might be asked to leave the game for good.
• Garrosh is not well-liked
  There are rumors going around (spoiler) about Garrosh Hellscream, and players aren't real happy about it.
• Yogg-Saron in blues
  Think you need epic gear to be great? Think again.

Features

• Spiritual Guidance: 12 reasons you don't want to play a Priest
  Our Priest columnist looks at the bad side of the clothy healing class.
• Officers' Quarters: Loot rage
  And how to deal with it.
• WoW Rookie: How not to be a noob
  Just imagine if this was required reading when you first started playing games. No more noobs!
• Ask a Faction Leader: Genn Greymane
  It's an advice column and a lore story all in one!
• Survey: Figuring out the faction transfer numbers
  Breaking down who's transferring where.

• PAX 2009: We've been all over this year's Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. Check out our primer for the show, a chat with show organizer Mike Fehlauer, pictures from the show floor and pictures of the cosplayers and booth models. Plus hands-on and eyes-on PAX 2009 impressions of games like Star Trek Online, Left 4 Dead 2, James Cameron's Avatar The Game, Serious Sam HD The First Encounter, InstantAction Tribes, Split/Second, Torchlight, Divinity 2 and Deathspank.
• F.E.A.R 2 Reborn Review: We give our final word on this week's new single player expansion to Monolith's first person shooter.
• Hearts of Iron 3 Review: We let you know what we think of Paradox's latest historical strategy game.
• The Top 10 PC Game News Stories for August 2009: We look back at the big PC game news events for last month.
• Steam's new hardware survey before Windows 7: What does Steam's hardware survey show we have in our rigs before next month's launch of Microsoft's next OS? We have the info.
• Other PC Games Due In Fall 2009: We look at a lot of upcoming downloadable PC game titles due out in fall 2009.
• Quick Hit Football: We chat with the head of a PC game developer planning to launch a web browser based pro foootball game with current and former NFL players and coaches.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly Mac game column looks at two more games: Heileen and Burgertime Deluxe
• Big Ideas: Our weekly look at game themes looks at villains in games.
• Boot Disk: Our weekly retro games column looks at the classic strategy Heroes of Might and Magic 3.
• All You Need To Know: A new feature at Big Download, we look at what you need to know about the upcoming PC port of Batman: Arkham Asylum.
• Playing For Free: Our new column on free-to-play online games continues with a look at Battlefield Heroes.
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free PC games checks out the open-source shooter OpenLieroX.

We're still reeling from everything we saw at BlizzCon a few weeks ago over at WoW.com, from all the news we heard about the next expansion, Cataclysm, to everything else about Icecrown and the anniversary celebration in the upcoming patch 3.2.2. There's a ton of big news lately over on the site, but here's our most popular posts for you to browse through. Don't forget to hit the costume galleries -- we've got tons more pictures like the gem above.

News

• Patch 3.2.2 Onyxia achievements
  Achievements from the second go-round of the big bad dragon fight for the game's 5th anniversary.
• BlizzCon 2009: First impressions of Cataclysm races
  Our staff breaks down their first impressions of the new races announced in the next expansion.
• BlizzCon 2009: The Guild's Michele Boyd and Jeff Lewis hands-on with the Worgen
  Two stars of The Guild webseries take on the playable Worgen demo available at BlizzCon.
• BlizzCon 2009: The Cataclysm trailer
  This is where it all began -- the expansion trailer revealed at BlizzCon's opening ceremony.
• Battle.net conversion to become mandatory soon
  With the onset of the new Battle.net, everyone's going to have to move over eventually.

Features

• BlizzCon 2009 Insider Trader: Cataclysmic professions
  This big feature (here's part two and part three) takes a look at what's new with professions in Cataclysm.
• BlizzCon 2009: Bingo fail
  Our bingo card for BlizzCon fails again. We need to stop making these so hard.
• BlizzCon 2009: Costumes, part two
  Here's a roundup of all the costumes we saw on the show floor.
• What does Blizzard have planned for an ingame launch event?
  We know there's going to be a launch event for the new expansion, but what will it look like?
• Guildwatch: "ur name is remembered"
  Here's our weekly look at guild drama, downed, and recruiting news from around the realms.

• Fall 2009 For PC Games: We are on the edge of the biggest part of the year for new PC games. Check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of our feature that looks at the entire list of games and also check out our top 10 most anticipated PC games on our list.
• Reviews: Check our our verdicts on the second chapter of Tales of Monkey Island along with the indie game Osmos.
• Team Fortress 2 Hats Checklist: Want to know what hats are available in Valve's multiplayer shooter? We got you covered (so to speak).
• Mac Monday: This week Mac gamers have two games to check out: Big Kahuna Words and Mega Brickbash 3000.
• Boot Disk: Our retro games column this week looks at a true PC game classic: Outcast.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly look at game themes takes on the question on how old can you be to get into playing PC games.
• Playing For Free: It's the debut of a new column that looks at the growing genre of free-to-play online games. This week we look at Quake Live.
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at conventional free games takes a look at a classic title: Starsiege Tribes.