Tinertia, made by Candescent Games Inc., is a game which stars Weldon, a robot equipped with a powerful rocket launcher that allows him to propel himself through a series of levels and tackle obstacles along the way. Players are only provided the ability to move as well as a rocket-firing trigger that can destroy objects or propel Weldon along. In addition to being able to control Weldon via a game controller, players also have the option of using a keyboard and mouse for further precision.

At PAX Prime 2015, I had the opportunity to try out Tinertia and talk to their CEO, Vilas Tewari, about it. The game was inspired by the rocket-jumping mechanics of Quake and Team Fortress. The team identified that element as the most enjoyable part of the game. It was the one unique aspect that kept bringing them back day after day to these titles. Tinertia became their opportunity to dedicate and expose the pure fun of rocket jumping. As they began experimenting with the concept, they found it easier to tell their story from a side perspective where the world was visible rather than the traditional first person view of Quake. This became further realized by Section Studios whose artists helped formulate a gritty Mario 3D feel for the 7 worlds and 66 levels that comprise Tinertia. To amplify the industrial environment, Candescent Games incorporated music inspired by Deus Ex: Human Revolution to provide a relaxing atmosphere before becoming more energetic as the character progresses. It became a mix of electronica and classical beats. Overall, Vilas and his team’s vision was to create a game that could be taken on its own merit, and similar to the Nintendo games of old, be a purely fun experience to play through.

The long established battle between Red Vs. Blue in Team Fortress just got a little more exciting. Valve just announced on the Team Fortress blog that they have collaborated with the team from Bad Robot productions and Escalation Studios, to come up with a new game mode for TF2 called “PASS Time.” The new game mode is ready for beta testing, which was kind of the part that fascinated Bad Robot, initially.

This week, how Apple Music stands up to competitors, warrantless surveillance expands, new hardware from Valve & Xbox, DIY lethal weapons, and a selfie that killed — literally … all that and much more.

Gabe Newell and the team at Valve have accidentally leaked the date for the start of Steam’s summer sale, according to PC World, which reports that it will be June 11, 2015.

Now this news comes with a couple of grains of salt. The information was apparently caught by IGN’s Russian contingent as the news was posted on Valve’s official social media presence on Russia’s equivalent of Facebook called VKontakte. Now that seems shady, but it was the “official” page for Valve, so there is some credibility there BUT (and this is a potential game changer) the date in question is also earlier than normal for the event. Typically, this sale comes around late June and early July and here it would be a couple of weeks early.

This week, Russian hackers read Obama’s emails, the internet responds to the Nepal quakes, Comcast loses Time Warner Cable, Skyrim gamers are steamed about paying for mods, and much much more…