In our world-exclusive cover story, Game Informer unveils the first numbered entry in the Battlefield series since 2005. Many longtime fans are wondering, "what took so long?!" DICE has honed the concept for the true sequel for years, but it wasn't until the company developed the powerful new Frostbite 2 engine that it felt all the pieces were in place to create a proper follow-up. Armed with powerful upgrades like deferred rendering, real-time radiosity, a new animation system borrowed from the EA Sports label, and an exponential leap in destructibility, executive producer Patrick Bach dubs Frostbite 2 "the best piece of technology on the market when it comes to building games."

It's been a long week, so I'm actually very happy that it's Friday. That's not to say that I have days of relaxation ahead of me, but it gives me a very good excuse to catch up on some sleep without seeming like a total bum. The crazy snowstorm that hit earlier this week pretty much buried everything, so the girlfriend and I have been stuck inside like hermits except while trying to dig out a little bit. She claims she's now suffering from cabin fever, but I just call it another day in the mancave.

I've got some more content to post for you guys before the weekend hits, this time it's a Shogun 2 hands-on preview. I'll talk more about it later, but there's three pages of stuff to read and even a nine minute video with some badass VO. The B-Roll compilation that SEGA originally sent over was actually over 30 minutes long, so I tried to trim out the fat and leave only the meaty bits.

Anyhoo, I best be getting to the news before I fall asleep at the keyboard, but feel free to entertain me with stories of how the hype machine has influenced your buying decisions in the past. We've got some big games on the horizon like Battlefield 3, Deus Ex, Shogun 2, Bulletstorm, and of course Skyrim, each of which have pretty big marketing budgets!

While we’ll continue supporting Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and previous games, it’s time to look ahead to the next giant leap for DICE – the release of Battlefield 3, powered by the mighty Frostbite 2 engine. Our goal is crystal clear: we’re going to build the best Battlefield game ever, and we’ll do whatever it takes to make this the biggest launch in DICE’s history.

Director of Research & Analysis, Benjamin Schlichter, stated, "Steam's growth has been remarkable during the year. Over 180 titles were estimated reaching over $1 million USD in revenue for the year, painting a very healthy market for developers and publishers, with more room for growth in the future."

Here are the top selling games on Steam for 2010.

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision) - $98.2 Million USD
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision) - $39.4 Million USD
3. Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve) - $36.0 Million USD
4. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Electronic Arts) - $25.4 Million USD
5. Sid Meier's Civilization V (2K Games) - $21.9 Million USD
6. Portal (Valve) - $20.0 Million USD
7. Fallout: New Vegas (Bethesda Softworks) - $17.0 Million USD
8. Metro 2033 (THQ) - $13.4 Million USD
9. Mafia II (2K Games) - $11.9 Million USD
10. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising (THQ) - $10.8 Million USD

Also, from now until February 15, players can do Valentine-themed quests and purchase Valentine "inner armor" (aka undies) and a special necklace from their cash store.

Come meet ArenaNet devs in person at the NCsoft PAX East Meet and Greet on Friday, March 11 at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. This is your chance to hang out with your favorite developers, score some sweet loot, and play the Guild Wars 2 demo on one of 20 demo stations. This event will be open to everybody, so keep in mind that admission will be limited to the capacity of the venue.

What would a convention be without panels? On Saturday, March 12 at PAX East, ArenaNet will host the “Guild Wars 2 – Fantasy MMO Redefined” panel. This discussion runs from 3PM to 4PM, and will feature Colin Johanson, Jon Peters, Tirzah Bauer, and more. In addition, Colin will also be part of the MMORPG.com panel “The Future of Online Games” at 5 PM at the Naga Theater. He’s a busy guy!

But that’s not all, folks. Our very own Community wizard Regina Buenaobra will be featured on two panels at PAX East this year: “What the Heck is a Community Manager?” on Friday, March 11 at 3:30 PM and “One of Us” on Sunday, March 13 at 12:00 PM. All times are subject to change, of course.

On behalf of the entire Company of Heroes team, we want to thank everyone for participating in the Company of Heroes Online Open Beta program. After an exciting period of operating and testing, we will be closing Open Beta on March 31, 2011 to evaluate the next steps for the Company of Heroes series. As of today, you can no longer purchase COHO Cash from the website, but you will be able to spend any purchased COHO Cash in the game until March 31, 2011. We will also honor any COHO Cash Card redemptions on the website until March 1, 2011. For additional information regarding COHO Open Beta, visit the FAQ section.

As a token of gratitude to the community for participating in the test, all players who registered prior to February 1st, 2011 can grab a code linked to an exclusive offer for the Company of Heroes Gold Edition for $4.99 from the THQ online store.