After laying off a number of staff from Turbine earlier in the year, Warner Brothers have announced plans to further cut down the number of people working with the Lord of the Rings: Online developers further as part of an effort to “invest in growth areas at Turbine”.

A representative for Warner Bros. told Joystiq. “Unfortunately, in order for us to invest in growth areas at Turbine, we have to eliminate some positions… it’s crucial that Turbine is structured in a way that reflects the current and coming marketplace.”

As well as the Lord of the Rings game, Turbine also take care of Infinite Crisis, a MOBA. It’s unclear yet whether the cuts are to be made specifically in just one of the two teams or if positions across the studio are going. The exact number was also kept quiet but a source has said that it is around 80 people who have lost their jobs. If the LinkedIn page for Turbine is to be believed, the studio employed 370 staff so that’s a sizeable chunk.

The same source also claims that Warner are trying to focus the studio more on mobile development and this was part of the reason for the downsize.

As part of their Free Weekend promotions, Steam is making 10 of their games free to play for 48 hours over this weekend. They’ll unlock from 10am Pacific Time on Thursday, October 16th. After that you’ll have the option to buy them with the promise of substantial discounts to them.

The list of games is as follows:

• Awesomenauts
• Blade Symphony
• Company of Heroes 2
• Don’t Starve
• Grid 2
• Injustice
• Killing Floor
• Payday 2
• Trine 2
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown

And if you’d prefer to get a game for free entirely, head over to GOG. They’re currently offering a free copy of Alien vs Predator Classic this week if you’re willing to test out the new GOG Galaxy program.

If you’re signed up to the Battlefield Premium program, you can now take part in battles in a slightly different environment than the ones you’ve played in before. Battlefield 4’s next DLC Final Stand is approaching and a beta version is now available to play in the Community Test Environment.

The Battlefield blog elaborates on Final Stand saying that it adds some new ‘near-future elements of a sci-fi nature into the mix, paying some homage to Battlefield 2142. New tech includes the Rorsch rail gun, Target Detectors, DS-3 DECOY gadgets and the HT-95 Levkov flying vehicle to fight, fly and mislead your targets better than ever before.

Some of the new environment will be snowy and thus a snowmobile has also been added to the game, along with the other maps of Operation Whiteout (submarine base), Hangar 21 (military secret filled base) and Giants of Karelia (high-tech weapons factory).

To play you need to be a Premium Member and sign up for the Community Test Environment.

There’s been a lot of recent news of Kickstarters or crowd-funding for new indie games being pulled before they reach the end of the period allotted to them to make their funding up. Seems it’s not all bad news though, because some games are still making their targets and then some.

The Flame in the Flood is a procedurally generated rafting game, being developed by people who have worked on such games as Bioshock, Halo and Guitar Hero. It has only been running for about a week but it has already swum past its goal and now stretch goals are being proposed.

Developers The Molasses Flood have so far revealed 5. The initial goal was $150,000 and at $175k and $225k the game will be available in some extra languages, while $200k will add raft customisation options to the game, $250k will add an ‘endless mode’ for an ongoing river and finally at $300k the game will also be ported over to the Playstation 4.

There might be other stretch goals announced but as of the moment there’s been no indications as to what they might be.

The game has a rough estimate of a release date around July 2015 but the developers have noted that their plan gives them a lot of room for dealing with unforeseen circumstances so that date could move.

If you’d like to pledge the Kickstarter can be found here: [x]

Here in Britain, where Sanitarium Towers are based, wet weather is a fact of life; and during these more colder months as we approach the end of the year, not one day goes by each week where anyone going outside is liable to get soaked. However, if one goes out with an umbrella this time of the year as would be a sensible solution, one also often has to contend with heavy winds, which can blow an umbrella out of the holder’s hands; or turn cheaper umbrellas inside out, perhaps even breaking them.

An innovative new Kickstarter project is offering an interesting solution to these wet weather woes. Called the Air Umbrella, this unusual device aims to use air as a forcefield to push air away from the user, replacing the need for a canopy altogether. The device also portends to be safer than a traditional umbrella, due to not requiring any sort of metal spokes which always present a risk to the eyes of taller individuals.

Image courtesy Air Umbrella’s Kickstarter page

The Air Umbrella consists of a handle, at the top of which houses not a canopy, but a controller and motor to suck in air and blow it out again at high speed. When lifted above the user’s head – the device’s handle is extendable, so can be adjusted to a comfortable length – the blast of air creates an invisible dome that pushes the rain away. The effectiveness of this technology is yet to be seen as the device has not yet reached the hans of consumers or independent technology – but should it work effectively enough, it should hopefully counteract the silly feeling some people, particularly those obsessed with fashion, may feel holding an umbrella that’s just a handle. The device receives its power through a rechargeable lithium-ion battery held within the handle part of the device.

Sadly for those planning to stay outside for long periods, current specs list the Air Umbrella as lasting just 30 minutes on a single charge, which may well just be a dealbreaker. If you’ve already decided that this sounds like the device for you, however, you can still get your hands on one by pledging $118 (£74) plus $15 (£9) for international shipping. With an expected December shipping date, the Air Umbrella is also releasing just early enough to be an ideal Christmas gift as well – and hey, it’s only going to get colder and wetter by then, so there’s no reason for it not to be appreciated.