Valve wants us all to know thatLeft 4 Dead 2is out this month, and it shall spare no expense in getting that message across. We already know that the upcoming zombie shooter has a worldwide marketing budget of$25 million, but Valve has today stated that a whopping£6 millionof the fund is going to Britain. “$25m is being spent on the game’s launch globally. Half is set aside for Europe, with the lion’s share being spent on the UK release,” says Valve’s Doug Lombardi....

Free-to-play games do very well for those that strike it lucky and fail spectacularly for those that don’t. If any company has better-than-even odds of succeeding, it’d be Valve. Not that we’d ever expect the studio to try and … oh wait, what? Theyare? That’s what Doug Lombardi apparently toldBarre de Vie, anyway. He was asked if the studio was making a free-to-play title and he simply said, “Yes.” Although this could be a new title, it might also be the model Valve is adopting for theDefense of the Ancients 2....

Aardman, the excellent studio behindWallace & Gromit, has signed up to create twelve animated shorts for Nintendo that will be released starting this month through Christmas. The catch? These shorts were created using only the DSi’sFlipnote Studio. The weekly run of animated shorts starts on September 16 with “The Sandwich Twins,” which will be viewable on theFlipnote Hatena sitewhen it debuts. “I had a lot of fun making these,” says Aardman’s Tim Ruffle....

Out of all the things to spend your money on… According to a rumor tweeted by TechEye, Microsoft could be looking to expand their social online business by buing up Linden Labs, the folks that developed the online bizarro world we know as Second Life. Here’s what thetweetsaid: A little birdie told me that Microsoft may have silently offered to buy Linden Lab this week Man, if this was off base I’d be looking to go allDuck Hunton that little birdie....

The above picture was taken by Destructoid reader John E. In case you can’t make out the shattered remnants, that’s a PSP which was utterly annihilated by its owner after a particularly frustrating round ofLocoRoco 2. For a game that is supposed to be quite relaxing, the idea that it could inspire one poor gamer to channel the rage of the Gods is quite confusing, but we’ll let him explain....

Starting October 12 and continuing until supplies run out, Nintendo will be offering aWii Sports Resortbundle that includes an extra Wii MotionPlus accessory for $59.99. Ordinarily, the two would cost $69.99 when purchased separately, so there’s some savings to be had. For anyone who has played the game before, you know you’re able to’t ownWii Sports Resortwithout a second Wii MotionPlus; it defeats the whole purpose. It’s weird Nintendo hasn’t offered such a package until now, and even weirder that it’s a limited edition run....

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Togetheris coming on February 15 and to celebrate, we’ve teamed up with the fine folks over at Square Enix for three weeks worth of fabulous contests. For this first leg, we’re going to be giving away the “TACTICS” Collection made up of:Final Fantasy Tactics(PS1), Final Fantasy Tactics Advance(GBA), Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift(DS), Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions(PSP) and of course,Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together(PSP)....

As ifWorld of Warcraftwasn’t enough of a cash vacuum, Blizzard Activision has revealed that it’smore than opento the idea of further microtransactions within the world’s premier MMO. Oh that wackyWoW, always making so much money! “I certainly think it’s possible that we could do some kind of micro-transaction stuff,” says game director Tom Chilton. “Whether we ever shift to a free-to-play model is really too hard to say at this point....

Prices are being temporarily dropped for some noteworthy Xbox LIVE Arcade titles next week, so consider this your official don’t-buy-these-yet warning. You’ve held off this long; what’s another few days? Week of February 7: And looking slightly further ahead, the week of February 14 will see sales forBlacklight: Tango Down(600 Microsoft Points) andRisk: Factions(400 Microsoft Points). I wonder if many are still actively playing the former. If not, hopefully this discount will boost the community back up....

This coming Monday Xbox Live will be taken offline for maintenance in preparation for the fall update. The downtime will also affect the “My Xbox” section of Microsoft’s official page as well as toss the forums into read only mode. Yes, there will finally be a day on the Internet where people can’t debate if Master Chief could “totally take Kratos.” Of course I’m kidding – there’sother bulletin boardsfor that. In hisblogtoday, Major Nelson stressed that this downtime will not reflect any new changes....

After fueling the hell out of people’s creative juices (some a bit more “acclerated” than others),Sporeis finally out for the general public to toy with as they wish.Unless you live in Europe, that is. Not surprisingly,Sporeversions of celebrities were quickly whipped up. Our friends over atMTV Multiplayercame up with some great ones, including Barack Obama (pictured above), Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Stephen Colbert and more. Surely there are even more familiar faces coming down the pipeline shortly....

Pastagames’Maestro! Jump in Musicis a Europe-exclusive rhythm game for DS. Before today, I wasn’t aware it existed; you probably haven’t had prior experience with it either. That’s perfectly fine, so long as this announcement — that the game is being ported to iPhone asMaestro: Green Groove— doesn’t get overlooked. “Never heard of it. Looks weird. Familiar games or GTFO!” Don’t be that guy. You’ll end up looking like a fool, because the combination of rhythm- and platform-basedgaming inMaestrolooksgoddamn brilliant....

Been There, Done Thatdeveloper Dan Marshall believes that if you want to be a so-called games journalist, youshould be forcedto make videogames yourself. As both a games developer and a PC magazine writer, he believes that dabbling in both fields is a required goal. “I think all games journos should be forced to make a game somehow, see how they get on. It gives you a more rounded perspective,” explains Marshall....