Respawn Entertainment co-founder Vince Zampella said that neither his company or Microsoft will punish legitimate players who have bought the game early and decide to play it online. He does warn that those who do decide to play the game should expect some technical issues online prior to the launch of the game's servers in an official capacity.

Xbox executive Phil Spencer has publicly praised outgoing Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Jack Tretton, who has been one of Microsoft's chief rivals for the last decade or so. Tretton announced yesterday that he will leave his post as president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America on March 31.

Broderbund Software founder Doug Carlston has donated some important items to The Strong's International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG) including company records, design documents and games for permanent archival at the Rochester, New York-based museum (thanks to Joysiq).

Turbine has been updating its long running MMORPG Asheron's Call since 1999, much to the delight of fans still enamored with the game that Turbine had hoped to challenge the supremacy of EverQuest and Ultima Online (at the time). While the game was not popular enough to take out those giants in the MMO space, it managed to garner it own small but loyal following over the years.

The Raspberry Pi Model B micro computer officially went on sale on February 29, 2012, selling around 100,000 units in its first day. Since that time the tiny ARM-based no-frills computer has sold over 2.5 million units worldwide. The system was designed as an affordable computing solution so that children and enthusiasts could get access to a computer that could be used as an affordable learning and programming tool.

The second annual Different Games Conference will take place Friday, April 11th - Saturday, April 12th, 2014 at NYU’s newly opened MAGNET (Media and Games Network) Center in downtown Brooklyn, organizers announced today. Organizers of the event describe it as "NYC’s first conference dedicated to addressing issues of diversity and inclusivity in games through the lenses of design and criticism." The event is a volunteer-run collaboration between New York University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Jennifer Ann's Group announced the start of its 2014 video game competition to raise awareness about and (hopefully) prevent teen dating violence. The seventh annual Life.Love. Game Design Challenge urges game developers and individuals to design a game that raises awareness on the very real issue of teen dating violence. The group was founded in 2008 by Drew Crecente, who lost his daughter Jennifer Anne in 2006. Jennifer Ann Crecente was a high school honors student that was murdered by an ex-boyfriend on February 15, 2006.

RuneScape makers Jagex Games today revealed the results of their 24-hour long gaming marathon in support of UK-based charity SpecialEffect’s inaugural GameBlast weekend. The marathon, which saw 90,000 unique viewers over the course of the stream, featured staff and selected members of the RuneScape community play RuneScape and Ace of Spades throughout the 24 hour period, raising over £48,000 as a result.

Jagex raised £9,380.80 from its JustGiving page, £25,412.50 from RuneScape related activity and £13,759 from Ace of Spades-related activity.

According to a Facebook post by Irrational Games founder Ken Levine, at least 24 companies have confirmed that they will attend a recruitment day event on Feb. 26 in Boston. The event is designed to find jobs for employees that have been or will be laid off when Irrational Games closes its doors.

Indie studio Fire Hose Games is offering developers displaced - or soon to be displaced - by layoffs from Irrational Games in the Boston area a place to hang out and get some work done free of charge. The Go Home Dinosaurs! developer said in a recent blog post that those developers who want to try and strike out on their own as indie developers can have a safe and free place to go while they get back on their feet.

RuneScape maker Jagex Games Studio passed along word this morning that it plans to host a 24-hour marathon in support of the games charity SpecialEffect’s inaugural GameBlast weekend. The challenge will be held at Jagex’s Cambridge, England headquarters, and will take place from 1pm GMT on Friday, February 21.

Organizers of the 11th annual Games For Change Festival announced today an impressive line-up of keynote speakers scheduled to appear during the event scheduled to take place in New York City April 22 - 24 at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Last month organizers announced that this year's event will run in tandem with the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival. Headlining the Games For Change Festival will be academics, authors, researchers, and award-winning game designers.

Starbound developer Chucklefish said today that development of their open world space building game has been delayed slightly as it deals with someone it calls a "sexual predator" in its community (as reported on by The Escapist).

Organizers of the Game Developers Conference have announced four new talks that have been added to the Advocacy track that deal with diversity, gender workplace discrimination and more.

Ubisoft this week revealed a new graduate program that aims to help a small number of graduate students get into the video games industry every year. The program's continuation is clearly dependent on how the first two years go and its effectiveness in picking and training candidates that will stay in the industry long-term.

Beginning in September of this year, Ubisoft will select two dozen applicants to receive paid graduate positions at its various studios around the world complete with salaries and relocation costs paid.

Fans of Sid Meier's vast body of work over the years will likely be delighted that the latest Humble Bundle features a number of his most popular games. The Humble Sid Meier Bundle offers Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: The Complete Edition, Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol, Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol: Pacific Skies, and Sid Meier's Railroads! for whatever price you want.

Yale University's Play2Prevent lab is using a grant from the Women’s Health Research at the Yale Pilot Program to create a game that teaches about effective ways to reduce HIV infections among young African American women. The team will spend this year working with groups of black teens and 20-year-olds to design a game that will be "relevant, entertaining and a model for future public health projects."

World of Tanks and World of War Planes maker Wargaming announced today the global launch of an augmented reality application that draws attention to the Dornier 17 aircraft currently being exhibited at the RAF Museum in Cosford, Shropshire, United Kingdom.

The AbleGamers Charity has announced its list of the Year’s Best Accessibility Achievements. This year's awards include nods for Media Champion, Innovator, Device, Publisher, Indie Game and Mainstream Game of the Year.

Every year, the AbleGamers Charity scours the industry for the best accessibility advancements in gaming and technology. This year, seven honors will be given out to those the groups says have "made a real difference to the realm of accessibility and gaming."

Military-focused gaming charity Operation Supply Drop is kicking off 2014 with a nifty new initiative called Indies for Courage, which hopes to get independently developed video games into the hands of Armed Forces. The initiative created by respected Indie gamer and critic "Indie Gamer Chick" has rallied a team of indie developers to donate $15,000 in Steam and Desura codes.

GOG.com says that its customers helped raise $1.9 million for various charities in 2013. The DRM-free digital marketplace for classic and new PC games said that customers raised this money mostly through its first ever online charity event carried out in November 2013. The money is being split up between several charities including WWF, Worldbuilders, and Gaming for Good.

Former Call of Duty series Creative Strategist Robert Bowling has had some interesting moments since leaving Infinity Ward and joining game developer Robotoki, but some of them have often involved the LAPD.

In a recent tweet Bowling detailed his latest late-night fun at the LA-based offices of game developer Robotoki: while working late the other night someone decided to break in and rob the place. They didn't realize that someone was still in the office but were shocked to see Bowling get up from his desk and bolt towards the door they had just knocked the glass out of.

With 17 days left to go before the YouCaring crowd-funding campaign to raise funds for Ron Nakada (the Senior Software Engineer at Blizzard Entertainment who is battling through Stage IV colon cancer) ends, it has managed to surpass it goal. As of this writing $25,664 has been raised from 678 backers.

Blizzard has changed the default settings in the parental account controls for Battle.net, that sets it to "not allowed to buy stuff." This change applies to all games offered by Blizzard that offer some sort of micro-transaction services or auction houses including WOW, Hearthstone, and the Auction House in Diablo 3.

The YouCaring crowd-funding campaign to raise funds for Ron Nakada, the Senior Software Engineer at Blizzard Entertainment who is battling through Stage IV colon cancer, is $1,242 from meeting its target funding goal. With 27 more days to go, the campaign has generated $23,758 of the $25,000 goal from 645 people.

The YouCaring crowd-funding campaign to raise funds for Ron Nakada, the Senior Software Engineer at Blizzard Entertainment who is battling through Stage IV colon cancer, has gone from just over $10,000 to over $20,000 since Christmas Eve. The campaign launched by inXile employee John Alvarado is just $4,475 shy of its $25,000 goal, with 30 days left to go.

Recently the "Take This Project" was quietly relaunched as "Take This," along with a new website at www.takethis.org. Take This is a support group for gamers (though it doesn't specifically exclude those people who do not identify themselves as gamers), games journalists, game developers, and other industry professionals that suffer from depression, anxiety and other challenges associated with mental illness.

If you heard that Valve's hit Zombie shooter Left 4 Dead 2 was free for a limited time but didn't get it yet - don't fret, there's still time. According to Valve's Left 4 Dead blog you have until 9 am PDT, or 1 pm EDT. From the blog:

Ron Nakada, a Senior Software Engineer at Blizzard Entertainment was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer six months ago. Doctors told him at the time that the cancer had metastasized to his liver, lungs and lymph nodes. While Ron is fighting for his life with all the determination and strength he can muster, his medical bills and expenses are ramping up and he needs our help.

Microsoft is encouraging Zoo Tycoon Xbox One and Xbox 360 players to help raise money for endangered species with a series of special initiatives. Each month Microsoft will launch a Zoo Tycoon community challenge to raise money to help endangered animals.