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The Elder Scrolls Online game director Matt Firor recently revealed that the 2013 MMO will have a soloable main story.

Firor, best known for his work on Dark Ages of Camelot, confirmed this little tidbit during a video interview, during which he discusses some elements behind TESO and what makes it a "modern MMO."

A big part of the Elder Scrolls experience, he notes, is being a legendary hero, and TESO aims to capture that same feeling despite being a massive multiplayer game.  The MMO veteran explains:

"In the Elder Scrolls games you're always the hero, whether you want to be or not. You go out there and you kill the dragons; you kill Mehrunes Dagon in Oblivion; in Morrowind, you're up there fighting the Tribunal — those are huge, global, epic things that you don't want to stand in line to do in an MMO. The last thing you want to do is have the final confrontation with Mehrunes Dagon as he's stomping across the Imperial City, and you see like 15 guys behind you waiting to kill him because they're on the same quest.

"As MMO online designers, the thing we wanted to make sure we hit the most was that feeling that you're awesome, you're the hero. And we do that through a mix of technology, where when I am confronting a major foe in the game, I'm doing it in an instance where I am alone.

"And we have a whole part of the game that is 100 per cent solo, which is the main story, where the world focuses on you — you are the hero, everything you do is solo and the world reacts to you that way."

Reception for Elder Scrolls Online hasn't been unanimous, and a good percentage of the TES community is speaking out against the game. Developer Zenimax has suffered no shortage of criticisms, especially after leaked screenshots revealed a more colorful, cartoonish visual style. Then came the revelation that TESO was utilizing the same engine that Star Wars: The Old Republic uses; more rage ensued.

Yet Firor is taking everything in stride, even welcoming Zenimax's toughest critics. As he sees it, the studio needs to hear criticism in order to improve their upcoming MMO, no matter how abrasive the gaming community might be.

"Having been in MMOs for a very long time, I know and understand that community very well. And that is a very vocal community — a lot of the time vocal critics of what you're doing. But those people who take the time to pick your game apart, and sometimes they tell you things that you didn't know was wrong with the game – those are the people you want playing your game, because they're the people most invested in your game, because they care enough about it to complain.

"The worst situation for a game community to be in is where no one posts on the boards because they don't care. If they post on the boards, they care. Even if they're not being so polite about it. But that's a fact of life: you're an internet game, you're on the internet, you have an internet community. And the internet community is always very vocal.

"So what you do is learn from it. You make sure you do the best job to deliver the best game that you can and they you go from there."

Prior to his takeover of Zenimax, Matt Firor acted as VP of Product Development for Mythic Entertainment, now owned by EA and managed by BioWare. Initially, he left Mythic the same year it was acquired by EA in order to found Ultra Mega Games, a consulting company specializing in online gaming. Roughly a year after that, in 2007, Firor was invited to join Zenimax by parent company Bethesda.

Diablo 3's secret level has been discovered, which is an evolution of Diablo 2's secret Cow level.

Taking inspiration (and making fun of it in the process) from the "Diablo 3 is too colourful" complaint by players, the cartoon-centric land is entitled Whimsyshire. The level sees random and elite bosses appearing, as well as offering players gold and item drops.

Players can access Whimsyshire within Act One via an accumulative of five ingredients, in addition to the Staff of Herding plan. However, the inhabitants aren't a pushover with Act Four difficulty incorporated in the secret level's creatures, while low level characters can be killed easily, even on Normal difficulty, apparently.

Following his remark on how PSN players are "more likely to be interested in artistic games", Journey creator Jenova Chen has stated that video games are "not good enough for adults".

According to Chen, video games in general just aren't stimulating enough for adults. He believes for games to cater to a mature audience they need to feature more "relevant" themes.

"My biggest complaint for computer games so far is they are not good enough for adults. For adults to enjoy something, they need to have intellectual stimulation, something that's related to real life. Playing poker teaches you how to deceive people, and that's relevant to real life. A headshot with a sniper rifle is not relevant to real life. Games have to be relevant intellectually. You also need depth. You have the adventure – the thrill of the adventure – but you want the goosebumps too."

Chen then stressed how thatgamecompany's next title will be influenced by what he envisions a game should incorporate:

"Can games make you and another human learn something intellectual and relevant from each other? Can games make you and another human experience an emotion that's deep enough to touch adults? I'm working on all of that. Making emotional games and making them intellectually relevant; making games where people can connect and come together."

As for what his studio are currently working on now, it remains unclear what exactly the project is but, either way, it doesn't have to see an exclusive release on the PS3 — as has been the case with the company's past three titles — due to the studio's exclusivity deal with Sony coming to an end after Journey's release.

Remedy Entertainment has released a batch of new concept art for Alan Wake's American Nightmare, and they are certainly lovely to look at.

Shown in the images are various locations around Night Springs, the shadowy middle-of-nowhere town that appears in the game's fictional Twilight Zone inspired show; some of you might remember seeing it while exploring Bright Falls in the original Alan Wake. Unfortunately for Alan, this is where he winds up trapped with his evil double, Mr. Scratch, who has set his murderous, serial killer sights on Alan's wife.

American Nightmare is set to debut on PC next week, May 22. The XBLA version, which was released in February, received overall positive scores from critics and the LIVE community alike. This downloadable spin-off of Remedy's horror franchise is a departure from the first Alan Wake, due mainly to an atmosphere that draws more inspiration from slasher flicks than Stephen King.

Mass Effect 3 players won't be getting their Victory Packs this week, as the community fails to meet the Allied Goal set for last weekend's Operation: Silencer multiplayer event.

Some folks may have already realized this when checking the in-game store for their rewards. That said, reward distribution has a pretty annoying habit of going wrong some way or another, so BioWare has come out to confirm that the missing Victory Pack is, in fact, not another bug.

Hey, we may be capable of burning through 1 million Phantoms, but 3 million Banshees is asking a bit much. That or the community realized Commendation Packs have better rewards.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City has finally made its way to PC in North America and Europe, and Capcom is assuring everyone that it looks much more amazing than the console versions. Well, no surprise there.

As with the PS3 and 360 versions, Operation Raccoon City PC will receive the first Spec Ops mission as free DLC, though the rest are going to cost ya'. Gameplay features between the various versions should remain the same, including the eight-player team battles and four-player co-op campaign.

So anyway, here's a co-op shooter if you need a break from Diablo III (Hah!) or happen to be one of the few people on this planet not afflicted by Diablo fever. While critics have deemed the gameplay rather mediocre, Operation Raccoon City managed to sell over 2 million copies.

Happy Friday and surprise, Neoseeker has adopted a new look for the not-so-new year. If you've visited the site any time before last night, then you'll definitely be able to notice the change.

A newly designed header and footer with mega-menu dropdowns are some of the highlights of Neoseeker 2K12. Clicking around, you'll find that product profiles have also undergone an overhaul, now emphasizing user contributions, NeoWiki editing, and a "wall" that displays updates and happenings around the site related to the game. Overall, just about ever page has undergone a massive visual change with greater functionality in mind.

Videos are also much more prominent now on the front page, and you can browse news without having to scroll through the "all news" page we had before — scroll down on the main page to check that out.

When designing the new look, our primary goal was the end user experience:

1. Create a more unified, uniform, and consistent user experience throughout the majority of the site.
2. Bring in a more modern and open look, using current and future best practices and concepts.
3. Build on a more cleaner, less cluttered layout with more open space
4. Re-organise the product profile pages so they are more appealing
5. Bring new emphasis to the contribution aspect of profiles, with larger contribution buttons and more obvious edit buttons for Wiki editable areas.
6. Merging status updates with "myfeeds" and create a "wall" for each game.
7. Gentle introduction of #hashtags

Contrary to what the cleaner appearance may suggest, the design was not made with tablet and mobile users in mind. In fact, Neoseeker Mobile hasn't changed except for a few cosmetic alterations. User profiles and forums have also been left mostly untouched, though some of that might change later this year.

You can read all about Neoseeker 2K12 in last night's announcement made by Neo founder Howard Ha. Oh, and notice how easy it is to "Like" us on Facebook or become a Follower on Twitter? Very easy.

Details surrounding 38 Studios' financial problems are quickly becoming apparent. We last reported how the studio is overdue on an interest payment of $1.125 million to the State of Rhode Island for a $75 million loan in 2010. Reports are now coming in stating 38 Studios delivered a check for the interest payment today, but that it was returned because the account had insufficient funds.

The office of Governor Lincoln D. Chafee released the following statement:

"A check from 38 Studios was hand-delivered to the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation at approximately 5 o'clock this evening. However, upon learning from the Chief Financial Officer of 38 Studios that there were insufficient funds to cover the payment, the check was returned. The EDC remains willing to accept readily available funds."

The Rhode Island Economic Development Company, who been working with 38 Studios to organize the game developer's finances, confirmed 38 Studios lack of available funds. They have also confirmed that 38 Studios was unable make payroll this week, and subsequently laid off all contract and temporary employees. The head of the RIEDC and approver of the 2010 loan, Keith Stokes, quietly resigned late Wednesday night.

Should 38 Studios prove unable to pay its interest payment, taxpayers in Rhode island will be responsible for the full $112.6 million loan amount. Though the State will also be able to sell the company's assets, which include development studio Big Huge Games, the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning title, and assets associated with "Project Copernicus" — an MMO project.

In addition, mysteriously, 38 Studios has begun to hide certain portions of their website, including the Board of Directors hub. The page first changed to, "Access Denied,"  but now reads, "Page Not Found." Three employees also disappeared from the, "Visionaries," portion of the site: COO Bill Thomas, CEO Jennifer MacLean (who has been on maternity leave since mid-march), and Curt Shilling himself. Shilling has since been added back to the page.

Expect more updates on 38 Studios and the future of Amalur as news breaks.

Update: 38 Studios has been able to organize the funds to pay their $1.125 million interest payment for 2012, as confirmed by Joystiq. Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee weighed in on the issue:

"I want to make sure we're doing everything possible to make sure 38 doesn't fail. We're in deep. There's not going to be any money from the state. They're not coming here for easy money."

Later, he remarks:

"It's time for them to go out and get private capital funding. That's the deal. It's a generous deal, but stick to it."

Chafee went on to announce a tentative release date for 38 Studio's upcoming MMO, June 2013. Yes, the governor of Rhode Island announced the game's release date. Everything about this situation is crazy.

Sony made the announcement to day that Sanzaru Games' upcoming release Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time will be coming to the PlayStation Vita. Originally slated solely for the PlayStation 3, Thieves in Time will recieve some Vita exclusive features but remain the same game otherwise. The best part? Both versions of Thieves in Time are planned to be released on the exact same day — sometime in Fall 2012.

What sort of feature changes can fans expect? Various touch-screen and motion control features, mostly. For example, firing an arrow can now be manually controlled by moving the Vita — hopefully un-inverted.

Other news focused on the inclusion of Sly Cooper's main flame Carmelita Fox. Carmelita will be a fully playable character in Thieves of Time, and Sanzaru is said to have spent some time, "evolving her gameplay."

"We have gone with a more precise over-the-shoulder aiming technique that allows players to lock on the targets quickly and easily. You can see how this can be put to good use in the multi-layered boss battle."

We've also provided some new Sly Cooper screen captures, including Carmelita in all her furry glory. Take a look and let us know whether you're excited about having Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time available on your Vita.

The STALKER series may be on indefinite hiatus, but you should be able to get your fix somewhat with CryZone: Sector 23, which also takes place in "The Zone" and takes direct inspiration from the series in many ways. CryZone started as a mod, but has very recently converted to full-on independent game status.

What does this mean for you, exactly? If you played the original Dear Esther mod versus the final "game", that should give you a good idea of what to expect. If not, well, just know it'll be semi-professional work versus amateur stuff, so likely improved graphics and all around more polish, plus maybe extra content and whatnot. Oddly though, the game will still be free.

CryZone was first developed on CryEngine 2, but has since been moved to the new and improved CryEngine 3.

Hit the source if you're curious for more 'tails.