An interesting story on The Verge quoting Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman reported that the $99 Android-based home console set to launch in June (for those who didn't back its Kickstarter crowd funding campaign) would not have multiplayer capabilities at launch. Obviously this message was not well received by the gaming community and the company quickly clarified it's CEO's statement saying that it was a mistake. First, Uhrman comments:

Microsoft, who is not all that good at adding free-to-play games to its Xbox Live service for Xbox 360 (there are only a couple at this point), is probably happy that it allowed the free-to-play and kid-friendly MOBA game Happy Wars to launch on the platform in October of last year. As of today the game has been downloaded over 2 million times, according to maker Toylogic. While the game is completely free to download and play, players can purchase "Happy tickets" with real money to upgrade equipment and buy vanity items.

On this week's show, hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight discuss the first Tropes vs. Women video, "Bronies" and if rights holders should be a little kinder to fan projects, and the nightmarish launch of SimCity this week. Download Episode 44 now: SuperPAC Episode 44 (1 hour, 6 minutes) 60.4 MB.

While Richard Garriott (also known as Lord British in most circles) may no longer hold the rights to the Ultima series of classic CRPG games or Ultima Online (he sold it, along with Origin over a decade ago) that hasn't stopped him from returning to his roots. Today Garriott announced that his Austin-based studio Portalarium is hard at work on his newest game, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues, a sort-of spiritual sequel of sorts to the Ultima series, but set in a whole new universe.

Last night SimCity Senior Producer Kip Katsarelis posted a statement on the EA forums addressing the ongoing issues with the game and players' complaints that servers are continually inaccessible.

CCP Games passed along a note to proudly proclaim that its flagship title, the space-themed MMO EVE Online, is part of the Applied Design exhibit at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. EVE Online is one of the first fourteen video games to enter its MOMA's permanent collection.

CCP Games announced that its long-running subscription-based sci-fi MMO EVE Online has surpassed the 500,000 subscriber mark worldwide for the first time in the game’s history. The milestone is a major one in the game's ten years of operation and follows the December 4 release of EVE Online: Retribution, the game’s 18th free expansion. CCP says that this latest expansion is its most successful ever. Also in December, EVE Online relaunched in China with new partner Tiancity to bring the game to a massive new audience where it has been thriving ever since.

The War Z has returned to Steam a full two months after Valve made the decision to pull Developer Hammerpoint Interactive's online zombie apocalypse game from its digital distribution platform. The game, which was released on Steam December 18, 2012 was later pulled after consumers who bought the game said that it lacked features that were listed on the game's product page. Some went so far as to accuse the game's developer of false advertising.

Listening to its users, Valve pulled the game from the virtual storefront a day later and issued the following statement:

New Jersey lawmakers have approved a bill that will make online gambling in the state legal, opening the door for companies in the space -- including game companies like Zynga -- to operate online games that provide real-money gambling. Of course, you won't be able to play these games unless you reside in a state where it is legal to do so. Currently there are three: Nevada, Delaware, and now New Jersey. Nevada passed its online gambling bill last week.

Diablo 3 for the PS3 and PS4 will not feature cross-platform play but it will include an offline mode for PS3 and PS4 players. PC players cannot play the game without being connected to Battle.net - even when playing single-player. The clarification on cross-platform play was made by the game's community manager Vaeflare on the Battle.net forums.

Online Gambling is now legal in Nevada, according to GamesBeat. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) signed legislation this week that legalized online gambling inside the state of Nevada. Both houses of the Nevada legislature passed the bill as an emergency measure so they could quickly get it passed and enact it before other states - like New Jersey - to reap the early benefits of companies eager to start taking advantage of the new law online.

Microsoft promises "vigorous action" against those individuals who downloaded a pirated version of Gears of War: Judgment. The complete copy of Gears of War: Judgment appeared on internet torrent sites overnight and some decided to download it and play it (some played it online as well), much to the dismay of Microsoft.

According to a report from Xinhuanet (as reported on by Shanghaiist), the Chinese government is developing its own set of criteria for early diagnosis of online game addiction in young people. Chinese authorities announced plans on Sunday to develop "China-specific criteria" for diagnosing and treating online gaming addiction in minors.

Free-to-play MMO developer and publisher Wargaming has come to the rescue of Gas Powered Games, who looked like it might go out of business just a few days ago after it canceled a Kickstarter campaign for its game Wildman - the success of which founder Chris Taylor categorized as vital to the company's future survival. Wargaming bought the Seattle-Washington-based developer of such hit franchises as Dungeon Siege, Supreme Commander and Demigod for an undisclosed amount of money.

CCP Games has informed us that the EVE Fanfest 2013 event to celebrate all things related to its popular space MMO EVE Online sold out last week. The event held once a year in Reykjavik, Iceland will see about 1,400 attendees - about 50 percent more than last year's event. The Fanfest offers attendees three days of EVE Online and CCP-related activities that include panels, local Icelandic excursions, presentations from the game's developers, PvP tournaments, a developer-lead pub crawl, game reveals, and the general joys of camaraderie.

Indie games portal Kongregate says that "core gamers" tend to spend way more money than casual gamers on its popular gaming destination (which is owned by retailer GameStop). Speaking to Develop, Kongregate CEO Jim Greer said that while the free-to-play titles it offers had a similar conversion rate to other platforms (two-to-three percent) paying core gamers were spending an average of approximately $60 a month.

GameSpot reports that Riot Games has issued bans to three European Team Solo Mebdi players for what they describe as widespread in-game verbal abuse. Riot Games has issued a lifetime ban for professional League of Legends player Khaled Abusagr of Team Solo Mebdi. Riot said that he engaged in a consistent pattern of in-game verbal abuse, racism, anti-Semitism, and threatening behavior.

Sony Online Entertainment and Major League Gaming announced that they have teamed up to bring PlanetSide to the MLG's competitive gaming audience.

Two more League of Legends professional eSports players have been permanently banned from competition, according to word from Riot Games (by way of Polygon and PC Gamer).

ArenaNet's Colin Johanson says that the popular online-focused RPG Guild Wars 2 has managed to sell over three million copies since it was released and launched in August of 2012. He made the announcement as part of an update on the game's official site detailing what new content the company plans to bring to Guild Wars 2 players in the next few months.

During 2012 S2 Games, the developers behind the popular MOBA Heroes of Newerth, doubled its workforce and launched a mobile gaming division called iGames. To make room for these latest additions and continued growth of the company in 2013, S2 announced that it has relocated its headquarters to a corporate suite in the Portage Trade Centre, outside Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Gas Powered Games founder Chris Taylor today launched the official Kickstarter campaign for his next big game called Wildman. Taylor and GPG are seeking $1.1 million in funding for the development of what he calls an action game that combines some of the best elements of his previous titles including Dungeon Siege, Supreme Commander and Demigod. Taylor is best known for creating the ultra popular real-time strategy game Total Annihilation while at Cavedog Entertainment.

Even though Funcom's The Secret World MMO found success after switching from a monthly subscription fee to a free-to-play payment model (more than 70,000 copies of the game were sold in the last four weeks, according to Eurogamer), the company is still forced to move ahead with restructuring, according to Develop.

According to this Reddit thread the top Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Xbox Live player in the country has reset his stats after a continual barrage of DDoS and personal attacks from people being categorized as "jealous players." The player, who plays online under the name "Retrominano," decided that it was easier to just reset his rankings in the game than to deal with the onslaught of personal attacks and attacks on his connection.

According to MCV the game servers for Hammerpoint Interactive's The War Z game have been the target of a DDoS attack over the last couple of days. Earlier this week Hammerpoint's Sergey Titov apologized to the community for his comments about fans complaining about the game's lack of promised features, but apparently individuals upset over the online-focused zombie apocalypse game are still angry.

If you are longing for the day when virtual reality - you know, that fictitious virtual realm we have seen in movies like The Matrix, Tron, Lawnmower Man and more - become reality, then you'll have to wait for improvements in Internet latency. At least that is what Valve Software programmer Michael Abrash says in a new blog post.

EA Sports announced plans to shut down online multiplayer services for a number of its AAA titles. Those titles include Madden NFL 11, FIFA 11, and more FIFA Soccer 11, FIFA Soccer 11 Ultimate Team, Madden NFL 11, Madden NFL 11 Ultimate Team, NBA Jam, NBA Live 10, NCAA Football 11, NHL 11, and NHL 11 Ultimate Team. These games will lose online multiplayer capabilities on January 11.

EA game The Sims 2 for PC and Mac will also lose online services on January 14.

Blizzard Entertainment announced that it will not implement the planned Team Deathmatch multiplayer mode for Diablo III. Diablo III lead game director Jay Wilson made the announcement on Battle.net. He explained why the company decided to scrap the mode:

"In continuing to develop this mode, playtest it, and put it in front of other developers within the company, we've found that it falls short of our expectations for a high-quality Blizzard experience," said Wilson.

You may remember that the development team behind the upcoming SimCity game held a Reddit AMA, and that the community there gave them a hard time for making the game use a DRM scheme that required players to be always connected to the Internet even when they are playing the single-player portion of the game.

Black Isle Studios, a label of publisher Interplay, is trying something a little different: it is asking the community to crowd-source a "proof of concept" prototype of its post apocalyptic strategy role-playing game, Project V13. Funding tiers include $10, $20 and a Top 20 contributor tier for anyone who pledges more.