Lots of exciting things have been happening these last few days what with it being the week before christmas and all. Games are going on sale all over the place (for example, Battlefield 2142 for £3.75, and Medal Of Honor for free), games are being updated with festive themes (Heroes Of Newerth and Quake Live), and I’m participating in more trials and betas this week than I have in all 2009 (Allods Online, Crysis Wars, Age Of Conan), while those of you who still haven’t played Heroes Of Newerth now have access via an open beta. In other news, that’s probably the most hotlinks i’ve written in a paragraph EVER.

One of the good things about writing a blog is that I find myself constantly searching for things to write about, which means I’m a lot more up to date with gaming news than before I started. Be sure to constantly check the Twitter bot at the top of the sidebar, or even follow me on Twitter if you use it yourself. I’ll always post about things I may not think important enough to make a full blog post on (aka, when I can’t be bothered to make a full blog post on). Here are some Twitter updates from the last few days (newest first).

• Age Of Conan free trial now lets you play up to level 20 with no time limits. Register before January 1st! http://bit.ly/53zbTw
• Heroes Of Newerth open beta registration available, 85 hours left! http://bit.ly/4MLEJp
• Wired article on the downfall of Duke Nukem Forever. http://bit.ly/8hxgwX
• Battlefield 2142 only £3.75 with voucher code ‘VoucherCodes.com25%’. http://bit.ly/6uWFna
• Very interesting Half Life 2 climbing/jumping/surfing mod, called Kreedz Climbing. http://bit.ly/4JQ9pG
• Some rumoured information about Battlefield: Bad Company 2, from a BFBC2 Review post. http://bit.ly/6mOOku
• “Boundaries Between Genres Annihilated” | Rock, Paper, Shotgun: http://bit.ly/4UN8lV
• PCGamer’s top 100 games ever, 2009 edition. http://bit.ly/4UaKsE
• Final Fantasy XIV Beta test sign up, takes 5 minutes but hell, why not. http://bit.ly/71x4Hr