Electronic Arts and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) will be hosting a panel entitled "Homophobia in Virtual Communities" to discuss methods on how to combat discrimination and hatred language in online gaming communities.

This issue is another one of those weeks where you could selectively stave off from spending hard-earned cash, but then there are millions of gamers who need their gaming fix. Gladly enough, third-party publishers on the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii have addressed the casual gaming populace, and that pretty much sums up this week's retail release line up. On second thought, no - we still have an MMO, EA Maxis' pre-Spore sampler, a formerly retail, now PSN game, plus the release of Rock Band on the Nintendo Wii. Check the full story for details.

  

Move over, Azeroth! It was reported last week that Turbine Inc.'s The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar title had been UK's top-seller. What wasn't mentioned - and has just come to light today via an NPD market report - is that LotRO had beaten some rather formidable odds on its way to the top, by way of Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft MMORPG.

Going into details on last week's top five, we find LotRO's standard pack at the top spot, with the game's special edition release taking second place. Third and fourth place are occupied by WoW and its Burning Crusade expansion pack, with the fifth-largest selling PC game being The Sims 2: Seasons expansion pack, released last March.

What isn't clear is if this NPD report is based on numbers from the UK region alone, or if it also includes sales from North America - LotRO was released to both regions on April 24. Whatever the case, it's good to see that LotRO is off to a strong start, while WoW is enjoying strong sales even after being up and running since 2004.

The Game Developers Conference in San Francisco is set to begin next month but even this early, interesting details are slowly popping up. Giant game developer and publisher Electronic Arts just announced the games it will be showing off at the said conference.

And we're telling you, it's a well-selected list:

• Crysis
• Hellgate: London
• Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (360 and PS3)
  
• Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (360, PS3, PC)
  
• Portal (360, PS3, PC)
• Team Fortress 2 (360, PS3, PC)

EA clarified that these games will not be displayed on the show floor. According to Eurogamer, they will be showcased in a reception running parallel to GDC. However, it is worth mentioning that EA will be a part of the main conference; EA is scheduled to discuss important topics such as creating believable AI athletes in sports games and EA Montreal's plans for new IPs.

The company is also a part of a Maxis session that will talk about how The Sims would be making its way to Wii.