With the upcoming release of Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 still causing some gamers to froth at the mouth, the latest announcement from another of gaming’s darling developers Blizzard is sure to cause a fresh batch to bubble forth. After enduring the ire of loyal fans by splitting the sequel into a trilogy, Blizzard dropped the second proverbial Terran Nuke when it announced StarCraft II will not support LAN play, with multiplayer being exclusive to Blizzard’s updated Battle.net service.

“We don’t have any plans to support LAN,” VP of game design Rob Pardo told IncGamers in an interview Sunday. This was later confirmed with a statement from Blizzard PR rep Bob Colayco:

While still not as ubiquitous as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s new Firefox 3.5 browser was just released yesterday and is off to a great start. The browser was met with mostly positive reviews. Reuters stated, “There’s no doubt that version 3.5 of Firefox is significantly faster than version 3…All in all, this is a major improvement over Firefox 3. Even if you’re not currently a Firefox user, you’ll want to give it a try.”

CNET was slightly more measured commenting, “Firefox 3.5 is a much-needed improvement to the world’s most popular alternative browser… While some of the improvements, such as the HTML5 and other developer enhancements will continue to make the browser their first choice, many of the other changes merely keep it in-line with the competition.”

At the end of the day, though, Firefox 3.5’s hot new features like HTML5 support and a faster JavaScript engine won over users.  Downloads were blazing at 100 per second for much of the day yesterday.  Mozilla’s servers performed admirably under the load.

The new browser hit 1 million downloads within a couple hours and 2 million downloads in 7 and 1/2 hours.  By this morning it had 4.3 million downloads.  You can view the progress yourself on the download tracker found here. 

Hey, don’t cry!  We’ll be open Friday until midnight and then again on Sunday morning at 11am.  So come in and get your game on!  Have a great Fourth!

The Big Robot Game Café is essentially a service-oriented business that has developed a distinctive marketing niche by providing a safe & comfortable environment where (primarily younger) patrons can enjoy a variety of electronic gaming options in a socially relevant atmosphere. In addition to the gaming, the Café carries a variety of pre-packaged food and drinks along with a small selection of retail items such as video game titles, Lego & Star Wars-themed toys, and magazines. The Big Robot Game Café bolsters its niche by offering specialized game tournaments, all-night chaperoned lock-ins, and themed parties.

The Sims 3 allows you to immerse your unique Sims in an open living neighborhood right outside their door, interacting with other Sims using the new, deeper personality system. The game also allows you to customize anything, anywhere. From floors to flowers, fashions to sofas, wallpaper to window shades and more, The Sims 3 gives you all the flexibility and options you need to be the architect of your dream house or explore your interior design skills to outfit your ultimate home. Your Sims can make home an ultra-deluxe mansion, a cool bachelor pad, family’s dream home or charming cottage. The choice is yours.

***UPDATE*** - The Sims 3 will be featured in our “Free Games Wednesday” promotion - come by tomorrow between 3-9 and get a FREE HALF HOUR to try out the game!