Oh the woes of being a PC gamer. First we get the luxury of having to wait for the definitive ports of console games (which usually pays off in the end), there's also the utterly ridiculous paranoia from the publishers, leading to things like Mass Effect's recently revealed DRM policy. As it were, Mass Effect would utilize SecuROMS' copy protection software, requiring you to be be connected to the web in order to play, every time, so that the system could re-authenticate your copy every ten days.

Internet flame wars have paid off yet again, as EA and BioWare confirmed today that they are dropping SecuROM's method for Mass Effect, in favor of a new, less harsh anti-piracy check up process. The most notable changes will be that you can now play the game without having the disc in your DVD drive, and you are only required to to connect to the internet during the initial load, re-authenticating your copy of the game only when downloading new content or updates. A huge improvement over the "draconian" method previously in place, no doubt.  It seems EA may proceed to use this new policy for all future PC titles (the death of SecuROM imminent?), as it was also confirmed today that the upcoming Spore will also be incorporating this same method.

BioWare has posted an in-depth FAQ, which is included after the jump.

So we know by now that Activision will not be letting the Call of Duty franchise skip a year without an iteration, sadly. That's good and everything, but what's it all about? While CoD3 developer, Treyarch, is indeed handling the next version, it's not looking like it'll be another D-Day battle, or even another assault on a random German-occupied village.

According to various sources, Call of Duty 5 (rumored to be subtitled Heroes) - although it is headed back to WWII -  will be set in a Pacific setting (Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, anyone?), and is being developed using Infinity Ward's CoD4 engine. Not surprising, really, considering Treyarch have been working on number five since way before Modern Warfare was even completed. I imagine it would have benfited the teams to share technology as it was being polished.

According to Kotaku, they're told thet the game is currently is QA testing, and is gearing up for its Fall 2008 release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2 and Wii.

Disclaimer: Pictured image is from Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, not the rumored-to-be-in-the-same-setting Call of Duty 5. Even though that's probably what it will look like. 

Oh, thank goodness.   We were listening to all these commercials about irregularity that had us a little worried, but along comes Harmonix with their regular Rock Band DLC update news.  Ahhhhh.... crisis averted.

What's coming up next week?  You'll find three new master tracks from some pretty wicked bands.  You and your friends can kick it with Blondie's Hanging on the Telephone, The Clash's Train in Vain, and Sonic Youth's Kool Thing.  The tracks will set you back $1.99 / 160 Microsoft Points, and sadly, there's no threebie discount for bulk downloading.

Now if you'll excuse us, we have to return our attention to the TV.  Apparently, you can apply this stuff directly on your forehead and it cures headaches.   God bless you, modern technology. 

Episode: 17

The trio discusses GTA IV... again. They also delve into the mysteries of the 360 hard drive costs, EA's new fitness title, and PC copy protection with special guest Joe, from Aeropause.com.

Also, The Post Game Report provides the latest contest and game night information for TalkingAboutGames.com.

The outro music is performed by Amen1ty, who you can emailed at darkmattermedia.com

You can let the gang know how you feel by calling 206-666-2041, by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by leaving a review on iTunes.

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Hmm, commence chin-scratching on this one. I have no doubt it will lead to rampant speculation, quickly followed by rampant complaining when it's [eventually] debunked. A poster on the official GTA forums was "messing about with the Story Gang thing on the Social Club website", when he discovered that things were draggable on the page.

Moving items around, as one normally would do in this case, he stumbled upon an rather inconspicuous airplane ticket. An airplane ticket to San Andreas. An airplane ticket to San Andreas, from Liberty City, with Niko Bellic's name printed on it. Do what? Let the "GTA IV's exclusive DLC is full cities ZOMG!" talk resume...

Those of us that were in the closed beta for DICE's Battlefield: Bad Company, the "go anywhere and blow up almost anything" FPS, know that it really was fun - once the DLC furor wore off. One part of their marketing ploys for you to get access to the extra weapons in the game - free of charge - was going to be a polished public demo, which was confirmed this morning to be releasing over Xbox LIVE and the PSN on June 5th.

Giving players both a taste of the single-player campaign, as well as the tweaked (and hopefully improved) multiplayer map Oasis, you will recieve access to one of the bonus weapons by simply downloading and trying it out. As well, if you're the "can't wait" type, pre-ordering the game online at participating retailers Amazon and GameStop, you can get an early download code to the demo starting on May 29th. Battlefield: Bad Company ships on June 25th.

PR after the jump.