ArcheAge, the sandbox pirate MMO is getting a new update for the winter season which includes among other things a new boss – a large red dragon. How Christmassy.

The Version 1.2 Build 4.16 will introduce the new dragon world boss to the lands of Karkasse, and already some of their minions will be found in the area the dragon is to appear. Wyrmkin will roam the zone and fight with you. You’ll need to seek out the Evenbards for their knowledge on how to deal with this particularly fiery new threat. Another large threat is the Dahuta cult which has grown in strength with the update and now has a base located under the Arcandian Sea. Raid it for some good loot.

In less threatening updates, the Winter Maiden Festival has set up in Erenor, bringing with it multiple stalls and events for players to engage with. There are even quests to complete, which will bring rewards upon completion. Building snowmen, stuffing stockings and multiple other things, all to bring cheer to the land.

As is usual with updates, there are also bug fixes, including ones to do with teleport books that lead to houses that no longer exist, re-use timers on Old Jars being increased and the removal of ‘ice skates’ from horses.

Payday 2 has a new update coming soon, and it seems that the six-man crew is about to be joined by another. And this time, it’s a female criminal.

Clover is somewhat of a mystery right now. All we know is that she has her own mask like the others, speaks with an Irish accent and has a love for a particular gemstone – diamonds. Especially a specific one she refers to as ‘the diamond’.

The history of this one gem is quite long and it seems to have travelled a bit. Originally dropping to the surface of our planet in a meteor, it was retrieved from its space rock casing and brought into Europe via the Mongolian armies as they rampaged through the land. It then passed through the hands of many rich and powerful people, including Adolf Hitler. In the present day it resides in a vault and Clover aims to ‘liberate’ it for herself.

The update is appropriately enough known as ‘The Diamond Heist’ update and Overkill have said its going to be the most difficult heist mission so far although finer details about the heist are being kept secret. Besides the fact that it involves ‘the diamond’ of course.

It’ll release on December 16th, so get ready to heist once more.

Earlier today on their sub-Reddit Mojang posted a topic on a new launcher for their big hit game Minecraft, which will hopefully cut out a lot of the problems related to Java.

While it’s not 100% brand new (its a native wrapping around what is currently available), they’re hoping that by using the new launcher and running off a version of Java that will now be installed with the game they can hopefully improve the time the game takes to launch and make running smoother than it has been in the past.

While they are developing it for Windows and OSX, currently only the Window version is available for the testing period right now. Dinnerbone has said they hope to get the OSX version out for testing early next year. However he does note that they may or may not make a native launcher for Linux as they’re not sure if Linux actually needs one at this stage.

There is also going to be a new installer available with better located icons and buttons, but for the moment only the native launcher is availble for the test.

If you’re interested, hop over to the topic and get a download link as well as reading up on the rest of the information available for you there.

Reddit “We need your help testing a new launcher!”: [x]

After a long development process, which included a little legal run in with the developers of The Elder Scrolls series, Mojang have finally released their new game, Scrolls today.

In a blog post on their site they wrote about the game “Scrolls costs $5 but you can play the demo version for free!” and pointed interested players to the new site at scrolls.com. Anyone who has previously bought the game or participated in Alpha or Beta testing will receive the full game on all formats at no extra cost.

To celebrate the release Mojang have also given all Minecraft accounts a special cape for your avatar to wear for two days, before it vanishes.

Scrolls has been released on PC, Mac and Android tablet and the demo version, with some features restricted, can be found on the site at scrolls.com

It seems that Valve need to stop trusting Paypal with the dates of their sales if they want to release the dates themselves. After giving a nod to the short sale that ended less than a fortnight ago, they’ve once again sent out an e-mail that lets us know when the Steam Winter Sale is to be taking place.

Paypal Japan have been sending out the e-mail in question which pinpoints the start of the Winter Sale as December 18th, which is just less than a week away. Best hope your wallets are recovered from the last sale.

Close as it might be to the Autumn Sale and Black Friday, the Winter Sale lasts longer and hopefully we’ll get some flash sales, badges and a bunch of other things that were absent from the last sale.

Did you miss any games last time?