Author of the popular science-fiction book series Discworld Sir Terry Pratchett has today lost his fight for life at the age of 66. It was reported he died with his family around him of early-onset Alzheimer’s.

Pratchett was most well known for his series of books known collectively as the Discworld books, about a disc-shaped world set on the backs of four elephants positioned on the back of a giant turtle called Great A’Tuin. The series while it dealt with many fantasy sub-genres such as fairy tales and horror also contained a lot of examination of big issues such as the meaning of death, religion and business and politics, with the storylines of the main characters often interweaving between books. Forty Discworld novels were published in Pratchett’s lifetime, as well as certain books being adapted into other mediums such as graphics novels and televisual programming.

Pratchett announced his suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s back in 2007, but continued to write anyway, completing a forty-first Discw0rld novel just last year. He used his fame to campaign for assisted dying and to raise awareness of dementia and other related illnesses.

The news was announced over Sir Terry’s Facebook page with a statement that read: “It is with immeasurable sadness that we announce that author Sir Terry Pratchett has died. The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds. Rest in peace Sir Terry Pratchett.”

Pratchett’s daughter Rhianna Pratchett has been tweeting out the news too and thanked fans for their well-wishes to herself and Pratchett’s family at this time.

Many thanks for all the kind words about my dad. Those last few tweets were sent with shaking hands and tear-filled eyes.

— Rhianna Pratchett (@rhipratchett) March 12, 2015

505 Games, a global publisher of video games, Overkill, a Starbreeze Studio, and film director Demian Lichtenstein brings you the live-action PAYDAY web series.

 

Director Demian Lichtenstein, of “3000 Miles to Graceland” commented, “The PAYDAY web series has been a solid and very close collaboration between all parties involved. I have never experienced such a high level of commitment to excellence from PAYDAY creators Bo and Ulf Andersson, to the rock-solid input of game director David Goldfarb, and the combined efforts of the powerhouse global teams at 505 Games, Starbreeze, Overkill, Solaris, Equilibrium and Lightstone. Simply said, this is the best experience of my career.”

 

Executive produced by Greg O’Connor of “Warrior” and “Pride and Glory” fame, the web series was filmed on location in Los Angeles with a crew of over 100 and sets the scene for the next steps in the evolution of the PAYDAY story.

The series can be watched live on your PC or Downloaded, episode by episode to watch how and when you want

We’ll have a full review later this week

Its fair to say Don’t Starve has been a success on PC. Now, the “definitive version” of the survival game is coming to Wii u in the form of Don’t Starve: Giant Edition. Nintendo have announced that it will have a fedw Wii U exclusive features- chief among them being off-TV play using the GamePad.  Interestingly, the Wii U version is split into two parts. The regular console version of Don’t Starve will be available with the option to get the Reign of Giants DLC at a later date. No price point has been announced yet.

Are you ready to not starve on Wii U? Does off-TV play excite you? Or are you stuffing yourself on Starbound and Minecraft?

It seems Minecraft won’t be banned in Turkey after all. A spokesman for the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C. has said that the ban is “out of the question”. According to Christian Science Monitor, Fatih Oke said:

“A ban is quite out of the question. There will be no ban. The game is not banned and is not going to be banned, the Family and Social Policy Ministry does not have that kind of authority to ban any product. I understand that this is what has been said in the Turkish media, but it is incorrect.” 

This, of course, follows some rather interesting reports from the country earlier this week claiming that Minecraft would be banned due to its violence. Advocates of the ban claimed that the game encouraged kids to inflict pain on animals, bullying and social isolation.

Fortunately, it does seem that the agency doesn’t have the power to carry through this ban.

The release date for Final Fantasy XIV’s first expansion, Heavensward, has been given a release date by Square Enix at PAX East. The expansion will release for everyone on Tuesday June 23rd, but those who pre-order will gain access from the 19th through a special early access weekend.

Rumours had hinted that gamers would expect to see the expansion arriving in the spring, but director Naoki Yoshida told attendees of the panel at PAX East that more time was needed to further polish the elements. The expansion will bring a lot of new content to the world of Eorzea, and that introduced a whole heap of new bugs and incompatibilities to the game which couldn’t be fully fixed in time for a sprint release date.

Mac gamers will also have their long wait ended as Mac support will launch around the same time as Heavensward does.