Mozilla, creator of the popular web browser Firefox have announced that thanks to a collaboration with Unity Technologies and Unreal Engine, they will soon be able to allow developers to create browser-based games that won’t require plugins to operate.

Unity 5 was released earlier this week and contains a new WebGL export function, while Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4.7 has introduced a beta version of a new HTML5 exporter. The collaboration means that developers using either of these tools will be able to specifically select the Web as a target platform, building the games with this in mind.
“This means plugin-free Web deployment is now in the hands of game developers working with these popular tools,” Mozilla wrote in their blog on the subject, noting that developers are looking to reduce their dependency on plugins. “They select the Web as their target platform and, with one click, they can build to it.”

The simply named Update 6 has come to the MMO of The Elder Scrolls Online, adding a load of changes to the game which are being celebrated by its players.

The two big things are changes to the way inventories work, regarding things like mounts and costumes, as well as the Justice system finally being implemented meaning that NPCs can finally be mugged and murdered. The game is finally allowing you to be as much of a dick as you were to NPCs in Skyrim or other Elder Scrolls Games.

The inventory change removes things like mounts and costumes from your inventory and puts them in their own separate part of the user interface now, meaning that they no longer take up space you could be using to carry around other items. Skills you gain related to riding also now stay with your character instead of with the mount you’re riding, enabling the carrying ahead of riding skill that previously you couldn’t do.

The Justice system of course is one that the players have been waiting for since it was announced last year. NPCs can now be chased down, stolen from, mugged and murdered and you can actively choose to live a life of crime. The other side of it of course is that you will become wanted and gain a bounty on your head, guards will chase you down to punish you and other players can choose to chase you down and kill you for the bounty money.

Reception has been greatly positive from players over on the ESO subreddit as well as on the official forum. Check out the official post on the patch here.

The Turtle Rock developers while making Evolve added in a special identifier for when they played in-game as the monster. The special Turtle Rock Gold Skin was added specially for members of the development team so they could identify each other and also as a way to feel good about what they’d developed.

This weekend however as thanks to the support the community has given the game so far, Turtle Rock are making that skin available for players to get. It’ll be totally free to get and requires only that you play a few rounds of Evolve between Thursday March 5th 9:00pm PT and Sunday March 8th 9:00pm PT, and you’ll receive the TRS Gold skins for Goliath, Kraken and Wraith for your account.

The skins won’t be received right away they say, but they aim to deliver them sometime after the weekend but before Sunday March 14th.

Turtle Rock also plan to issue challenges and events in future to allow players to earn more rewards in-game, although the only hints we have about any of them is that the next event coming up will be the “St. Patrick’s Day Trapper Challenge”.

Last week the world said goodbye to Spock as actor Leonard Nimoy passed away at 83. As a mark of respect the studio behind MMO Star Trek Online held a vigil for the deceased on the game’s planet Vulcan in which many players attended. Now there’s been more tributes added in game, not just for Nimoy but for other notable Star Trek related people who passed away before Nimoy.

Cryptic Studios have added not one but two statues to the game, the first on the fountain where the players gathered to pay their respects with the inscription of “Live long and prosper”, replacing the central structure that was already in place. A similar statue will also be added to New Romulus  with the inscription “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” to commemorate the character’s drive towards Vulcan and Romulan reunification in the series.

Black flags of mourning will also be hung in Earth Spacedock, Qo’noS and New Romulus so everyone passing through those hubs can mourn Nimoy’s passing.

Memorial plaques will be put into each location as well, bearing not just Nimoy’s name but those of the other Star Trek people who have passed away in years past. The memorial plaques can be interacted with and along with the names will show the dates of birth and passing, as well as a personal quote where possible. The names on each plaque will be Majel Barrett, James Doohan, DeForest Kelly, Leonard Nimoy and Gene Roddenberry.

Valve made a whole bunch of announcements at GDC in the last few days, showing off the Steam Link, finally announcing when they aim to get the long-awaited Steam Machines out on sale and revealing that a new version of their Source game engine, Source 2, was upcoming.

Now more details on Source 2 have been released into the public, and Valve say that while Source 2 will be free and no cut of the profits will be asked for there is one stipulation for its use – you must sell any game made using it on the Steam Store.

Valve’s Erik Johnson explained that they are making it a mandatory thing for Source 2-made games to appear on Steam, probably so that Valve will be able to see some revenue from their new game engine (anything sold on Steam has 30% of the revenue going to Valve).

Of course, this doesn’t mean that a game has to be exclusive to the Steam store. You’re allowed to sell it anywhere else or any way else; be it through other digital stores, platforms or in physical copy shape. It just has to be on Steam as well as those other places.

And given that Source is free, doesn’t take a profit cut and gives access to a lot of Steam’s in-built system such as the Steam Workshop; the making it necessary for a game to be released on their digital store really isn’t going to drive many game developers away from Valve’s new engine.