And in other PC gaming news…

Putting copies of Mass Effect 3 in space is a risky business. When we flung Voyager towards the very edge of the cosmos we attached a golden record full of essential information about our species and history that would let passing extraterrestrials know that we’re a cool bunch who definitely aren’t the types to declare war on aliens as soon as they enter our atmosphere. If Mass Effect 3 gets into ET hands, they will take away a very different lesson. Entirely the opposite lesson, in fact. I just hope those Mass Effect 3 weather balloons don’t escape.

Now it’s time to wrap up other PC gaming goings on. It’s a bit of a bumper edition today because we missed the last couple. Read on for the latest list of links, including a guide to cracking car sims, Bobby Kotick’s new job, an odd new direction for Second Life creators, Linden Labs, and the latest video of the intriguing Andoran Oblivion mod, which is gradually being imported into Skyrim’s engine.

• Mark Morris on Gamasutra looks at the differing player reactions to the hacks at Sony and Valve.
• Today’s Dead End Thrills shot features the free open road of Project CARS.
• Speaking of driving things, Gaming Daily’s Craig Lager continues his guide to cracking racing sims over on RPS.
• Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick joins the board of directors at Coca Cola.
• Here’s Eurogamer on how Remedy convinced Microsoft to let them make Alan Wake.
• City Impostors players have been struggling with a recurring reset glitch.
• Tactical Intervention, from the co-creator of Counter-Strike, is due to arrive in Spring.
• Battlefield Heroes is getting mad scientists.
• promising Andoran Oblivion mod is being ported into Skyrim with the Creation Kit.
• Dawn of War 2: Retribution gets a balancing patch.
• High Moon tell Kotaku why there isn’t a PC version of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron.
• A Game Informer interview with Gearbox reveals that they had the Heat license for a bit, and are exploring the idea of doing more licensed games.
• The creators of Second Life, Linden Lab, acquire LittleTextPeople, a studio that specialises in “next-generation interactive fiction.”
• Over on GamesRadar, David Houghton writes about why it’s probably a good idea just to dump the next console generation and game on PC instead. “Consoles are increasingly a place in which only the big budget, safe bet titles are nurtured. Where once consoles made games more accessible, now they’re the equivalent of an expensive, exclusive, slightly wanky night club. Only the rich, fashionable friends of the management stand a chance of getting in” he writes.

And lo, in a storm of HTML I vanish for the weekend. I shall be attacking the Tribes Ascend beta and shuffling my way towards 50 in Star Wars: The Old Republic until I return on Monday. How about you?