Gaming buffet GameTap just announced that THQ- and ValuSoft-published titles will begin finding their way onto the service starting this summer. Notable titles include:

• Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War and expansions
• Company of Heroes
• Red Faction
• Supreme Commander
• Saints Row 2
• Puzzle Quest
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

It's nice to see relatively new titles like Supreme Commander make the list. We're also curious to find out if Saints Row 2 releases on the service the same day as retail, similar to GameTap's deal with Codemasters. The THQ agreement is apparently a "long-term partnership" and some titles will also be made available on GameTap's free ad-supported service. This THQ announcement comes only a few months after Interplay returned and Take-Two committed to the service.

During our time at E3 last week, we were able to spend about an hour with a very patient Maxis Producer Thomas Vu, who guided us through a near-final build of Spore (the whole thing) and answered a barrage of questions. Here's what we gleaned from our play session, broken down into each phase:

• Part 1: Cell / Tribe Phase (after the break)
  
• Part 2: Civilization / Space Phase
• Part 3: General Information

First it was Quake Zero, then it became Quake Live, and now we have a fresh new look at Quake Arena, id's free-to-play, browser-based iteration of Quake III Arena. As you'd expect, the visuals are decidedly simple, but still stylish nonetheless. We noticed a few instances of gameshow-like billboards peppered throughout levels; while they simply read "Quake Live" in the video, it's likely these are placeholders for in-game advertising.

The trailer beckons viewers to QuakeLive.com for more info, but the site is still serving the sole purpose of a gateway for beta signups. From what's shown in the footage, it will eventually become a very robust matching and ranking component of the game. With QuakeCon kicking off in just a couple of weeks we expect to find out more details soon.

It's E3 week and we were there getting some hands-on time and some eyes-on time with some of the biggest PC game releases in the next several months. Here are the highlights from Big Download for the past week.

Exclusive Features

• E3 2008 articles: Check out our impressions of a number of PC games at the show this week (with more to come next week) for games like Spore, Dragon Age: Origins, Far Cry 2, Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, Empire: Total War, Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II, Wanted, Left 4 Dead, Crysis Warhead and more.
• Spore Creature Creator Contest Grand Prize Winners: We reveal the winners in our extremely popular contest
• BigCast 004: It's the fourth installment of Big Download's weekly podcast.

News

• Demigod beta schedule revealed
• Crytek acquires Black Sea Studios
• Fallout 3 to have downloadable content for PC and Xbox 360
• Pivotal Games closes
• Activision reveals new titles including new Raven game Singularity
• Wanted movie game confirmed
• Flagship Studios still operating but without most of its employees
• City of Heroes and City of Villains officially merged
• Could there be a Serenity game?
• 1C Company acquires Buka
• EA confirms Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic MMO
• Wrath of the Lich King goes beta
• Rebellion acquires Razerworks

On a Thursday night after all the E3 shenanigans (and during our party, no less), we have word that Blizzard has begun the Wrath of the Lich King beta. Sources have told WoW Insider that the alpha phase reportedly shut down a few days ago and that invites should be going out soon for the beta. Additionally, a Blizzard site has gone live to help gamers get the beta set up. Are you one of the lucky few to get an invite? You can check out the patch notes here.

Blizzard has unveiled an achievement system -- much like Steam, Xbox Live, Trophies, etc. -- for World of Warcraft. The categories of achievements include PvP, PvE, world exploration, professions, and character development. Some are simple (give 10 hugs), some are very difficult (completing high-level raids). Additionally, there are "Feats of Strength," very difficult or now-impossible achievements that don't show up if unearned. The Feats are worth no points. No word on if the achievement points are worth anything.

[Via WoW Insider]

Will Wright's Spore is aiming to set precedents in many ways, and it's also set to break a long-standing Maxis tradition: the game ends. Producer Thomas Vu told us that the space phase of the game is what he considers the RPG phase, with 15 to 20 hours of gameplay and -- prepare to be floored -- one ending. No matter how your species lives its existence, it always ends the same way as you make your way to the center of the universe.

Unsurprisingly, Vu said the game has a twist ending. Also unsurprisingly, he was mum on what that twist is. We'll have more from our exhaustive session with Spore later this week.

Update: Vu contacted us to clarify that the ending is optional and wanted to stress that, if anything, the space phase is sandbox like the rest of the game. The 15- to 20-hour statistic is an estimated minimum to reaching the end.

While taking us through an exhaustive hands-on with Spore, Maxis producer Thomas Vu told us that there was a "strong possibility" that the company would allow you to export your creations – creatures, buildings and vehicles – from the game into 3D modeling/animation program Maya. Vu said it wouldn't be a stretch for other 3D-creation apps (e.g. Lightwave, 3D Studio Max) to be made compatible, too.

Also likely exportable is the music you create in the game, although Vu was not sure what format. What would be holding the feature back, explained Vu, was if it "didn't fit Spore," i.e. how do we define the title? As a game, an app? He suggested that if community interest was strong enough they'd likely put it in. You hear that, community? Make our dreams as aspiring animators that much closer to fruition. We'll have more from our exhaustive session with Spore later this week.

General Details

• The developers are considering mandating five-minute minimum play sessions for each phase of the game before you can unlock the next phase. It was unclear if this would be a first-time tutorial or if it would be required for each planet; we suspect the former, especially since Vu said you could use the creatures you've imported from Sporepedia during the tribal phase. Vu said they are also likely not to let you go back in time, e.g. once you hit Civilization Phase, for that planet/instance you won't be able to go back to cell/tribal.
• Want to know how Electronic Arts can milk the Spore cow? The tabs in all the editor menus were planned for multiple pages. Maxis has reportedly also discussed the addition of robot creature parts, but there is "nothing to announce" at the moment.

EA pimped its partnership with id Software today by debuting a (somewhat) new trailer for Rage, the first spawn of the id Tech 5 engine. This is only the second brief glimpse we've caught of the shooter-with-wheels (and the first in nearly a year!), so it's a bit disappointing to see some of the same imagery being recycled these many months later. But damn, when a game is dripping with this much butter, we don't really mind the double dips.

Next week we head to Los Angeles to cover the 2008 edition of the E3 Media and Business Summit but before then we did a huge mult-part article on what games we wanted to see most at the show. Check out the highlights from Big Download in the past week.

Exclusive Features:

• Big Download's most anticipated PC games of E3 2008: We have 6,000 words and tons of screenshots about the games we most want to see next week at E3.
• Big Download's E3 Week Prediction Bingo: Have some fun with our game that has our predictions (both real and wacky) for what will be revealed at E3 next week
• Big Versus: Civilization IV and Revolution: How does the PC Civilizations IV compare to the new console only Civilization Revolution? We have an answer..
• Games to play while waiting for Diablo III: Want to get your action-RPG addition on before Blizzard's next game? We have a look at some recommended titles for you to check out.
• Sound-off: Hurry up and wait for those games: Some games take rears to come out after they are first announced. Does our interest give out after waiting for too long?
• Big Idea: Our video games art?: Our latest column on the big ideas in gaming takes a look at the ever changing debate on whether they should be called works of art.
• Freeware Friday: This editin of our free games column takes a look at the retro style game I Want to Be The Guy.
• MacMonday: The iPhone 3G was released on Friday. Will Apple's latest device, with support for downloadable games, change the gaming industry?
• BigCast: Our latest podcast has team members chat about a number of PC gaming topics ahead of E3.

In anticipation of next week's E3 Media and Business Summit, we've prepared bingo cards for each of the big press conferences, filled with some likely (and some not-so-likely) predictions for what each of the big three console makers intends to announce at arguably the biggest trade shows of the year.

... except this one is a bit different. PC doesn't have a specific press conference for big announcements, so instead our friends at BigDownload have made a bingo card for the entire conference – announcements, talking points, and the ever-present Duke Nukem. Click on each for the full predictions.

(Also: check out all our press conference bingo cards, including some for Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony!)

Download the card (PNG) and play along!

You! Stop what you're doing! What are you playing over there? Cooking Mama? You think that sort of pansy-ass cooking game is going to cut it here? You're pathetic! You wouldn't last a second in Ubisoft's video game version of the Fox TV show Hell's Kitchen, coming this September for the Wii, DS, PC and Macintosh.

That's right, you'd break down in tears the second a "faithfully rendered 3D Chef Ramsay" yelled at you for putting too much oregano in the marinara sauce or some other piddling infraction. Why don't you go running to your precious Cooking Mama if you can't take the pressure of "the show's high-pressure kitchen and dining room challenges." Of course, if you do that you won't get access to "authentic Gordon Ramsay recipes, including many that are offered exclusively to game owners." That's right, you play with the big boys, you get the big rewards.

Hold it! Did you just twist the Wii Remote when you were supposed to shake it? You did, didn't you. That's it, I'm closing this kitchen. You're cooking career is OVER!

This week GameTap adds some new titles that might be worth trying after you've gotten through the last few weeks of excellent additions to the service.

• Aveyond (Windows) - The sequel to this RPG, Aveyond 2: Ean's Quest, will join the service in two weeks.
  
• ClayFighter (Windows) - The ubiquitous fighter genre in the '90s took a considerably strange turn with the addition of this title.

Once again, GameTap doesn't add any new free games this week, but there's still plenty to check out in the list after the break.