Ms Splosion Man, Toy Soldiers, Hydro Thunder and Ilomilo are among the first batch of games to go on sale in Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8 store, according to an insider source.

The Verge's mole offered a list of titles that will be on offer in the new operating system's forthcoming preview version, expected to go live later this month.

Here's the rundown:

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Senior staff from Brink developer Splash Damage have set up a new company to sell their online expertise.

The start-up, called Fireteam, plans to launch an "online services suite" which will offer other developers a way to easily integrate online features into their games, such as matchmaking, transmedia connectivity across multiple devices, friend features, player stats and in-game stores.

The platform will support Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, and will launch in the "near future".

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The next batch of Modern Warfare 3 DLC launches on Xbox 360 from 21st February for premium Elite members, Activision has announced.

It's a new multiplayer map called Overwatch set on a construction site atop a New York skyscraper - see the screenshot below.

"Battle takes place along two levels in a near symmetrical layout, with the central bridge and side routes open to attack from multiple angles. Watch your every step, as a lack of boundaries surrounding the perimeter leaves nothing to prevent you from falling far to the ground below," read the announcement blurb.

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UPDATE: Bethesda has confirmed that a Skyrim PC high-res texture pack is now available for free download from Steam, alongside the Creation Kit.

To run it, you'll need Windows Vista or Windows 7, a minimum of 4GB of system RAM and a DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with at least 1 GB of RAM and the latest drivers.

ORIGINAL STORY: Is a high-res PC texture pack for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim the "special surprise" developer Bethesda teased last week?

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Microsoft is taking "aggressive steps" to combat the recent surge in Xbox Live account hijackings but also needs gamers' help to stamp out cyber-theft, according to the service's general manager.

An open letter from Alex Garden published on Major Nelson's blog today didn't explicitly reference the storied FIFA Ultimate Team exploit but did acknowledge that "account hijacking across the internet continues to grow".

"While we here at Xbox have no evidence of a security breach in the Xbox Live service, that is of little comfort to our members whose accounts have been compromised by malicious and illegal attacks," he wrote.

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When Microsoft released its chart of the best-selling Xbox Live Arcade titles of 2011, the occupant of the top slot may have raised a few eyebrows. Rather than a critically acclaimed and widely discussed hit such as Bastion or From Dust, the number one game of the year was a pinball game. A pinball game from 2010, no less.

That Pinball FX 2 managed to top the charts is down to a superb core game - earning a 9/10 here on Eurogamer - but also a canny approach to DLC. Hungarian developer Zen Studios has added new tables at a steady clip, including a hugely successful series based on Marvel's superheroes. There are now over 25 tables available for the game, covering everything from the early wood-and-springs design of Rocky and Bullwinkle, through the 1980s style of Street Fighter to hugely advanced modern tables, loaded with features and animations.

Yet for all the clatter and noise emanating from the game itself, in publishing terms it's been a quiet sort of victory, arriving with little fanfare, and achieved without aggressive promotion. Here, Neil Sorens, Creative Director of Zen Studios, and Mel Kirk, the Vice President of Marketing and PR, talk about the origins and evolution of Pinball FX, the future of digital distribution and the security of steady sales.

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