The Best of Big Download: February 8-14

The news cycle has certainly started ramping up in the game industry over the past week! From major press events to a handful of major announcements, we've been flush with gaming news and original features (you didn't think we'd forget about the original stuff, did you?). Below you'll find said features for the week, as well as our newest downloads -- but if you want all those hot news scoops, you've gotta click past the break, friends. And don't say we never did nothin' for ya:

Exclusive features

• Boot Disk: Our weekly retro game feature checks out the sci-fi RTS game Earth 2150.
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free PC games takes a gander at Planet M.U.L.E, a revival of the classic sim game.

Downloads

• Free Command and Conquer Games: Download the full versions of Tiberium Dawn, Tiberium Sun and the first Red Alert for free.
• Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Mac Demo: Mac owners can now try out a sample of Telltale Games and LucasArts's episodic adventure game.
• Fallen Earth 10-Day Free Trial Client: Play the full post-apocalypse MMO for 10 days with this download.
• Ghost Recon Future Soldier Teaser Trailer: Download this teaser for Ubisoft's next game in the tactical shooter series.

News

• Dudebro II announced; Duke Nukem's voice actor in cast
• New Dragon Age game coming in first quarter 2011
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier announced; confirmed for PC
• Diablo III female Monk officially revealed
• Worms 2: Armageddon coming to PC via Steam
• BioShock 2 PC's lack of gamepad support upsets some players
• Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter now due in late April
• StarCraft II beta to launch later in February; still tracking for "mid 2010" release
  
• Dead Space 2 PC port not quite dead yet
  
• Left 4 Dead 1 to get new DLC; Left 4 Dead 2's The Passing coming in March
  
• Obsidian Entertainment to help develop The Wheel of Time games
• No Alan Wake for the PC, says Microsoft
  
• Rumor: Interplay getting money to fund new game projects?