Today's episode of Shacknews Daily shows off the Amazing Spider-Man in a video displaying his new Web Rush skills. Then, Garnett examines the new Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time game coming to the Vita, featuring cross-platform saves. Finally, the possibility of a new Battlefield 3 premium service is discussed, with five new map packs available for one price.

Check out the new episode of Shacknews Daily.

Watch: Shacknews Daily: May 18, 2012 »

When developer DICE first made the push to move away from managing any Battlefield 3 servers itself--instead, making a push for community-run, Custom Servers--it caused quite a stir with the game's dedicated community. Some folks found themselves getting booted from Custom Servers more often, or found themselves in matches with ridiculously high kill or ticket count, for example. Players on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 discovered that while the official DICE-controlled Battlefield 3 console servers were still there, they had been rented out to players as Custom Servers as well.

Publisher Electronic Arts has apparently been listening to the community's understandably negative feedback about the issue, and has returned the official DICE-run servers to console players today.

Read more: Back by popular demand »

EA may be planning to launch a "premium service" for Battlefield 3 as early as June, making good on previous comments that detailed EA's desire to enter the subscription market. Battlefield Premium is said to include exclusive items, and additional personalization options.

Read more: Reportedly launching just before E3 »

Some Battlefield 3 players have been lamenting the recent lack of official DICE-run servers when playing online--even on consoles. Ever since the launch of user-rentable servers, many have been finding it difficult to play "vanilla" gametypes. "I rarely got kicked from a DICE server," our own Tyler Smith lamented, speaking about his experience on consoles. "But once the rented servers bit took off I got kicked quite a bit." He claimed that it's now "damn near impossible to find official servers," and that many rented servers feature games with absurd requirements. "I don't want to play a TDM to 500 kills or a conquest to 700 tickets," one commenter voiced on VentureBeat.

So what has been going on?

Read more: 'DICE will continue to add servers' »

While double XP has been a standard promotion for most online shooters, Battlefield 3 has yet to participate. That changes this weekend, with the game's first-ever double XP weekend.

Beginning tonight at 12:01AM PST and continuing through Sunday, May 13 at 11:59PM PST, everyone will earn double XP "across all maps and modes."

Read more: Just in time for DLC »

Battlefield 3's latest patch packaged a lot of changes. But unless you're new to the Internet, it should come as no surprise that feedback was mixed. Executive producer Patrick Bach says this is the natural cycle of game feedback, and pleasing everyone is impossible.

Read more: 'We are not getting lazy' »

DICE has shared details and a new trailer for the first of its three packs coming to Battlefield 3. First up is the Close Quarters pack, which focuses on tight environments and forced confrontation.

Watch: A perfectly nice building gets shot to rubble »

Just in case you're one of those people who need to obsessively check on his or her Battlefield 3 stats while waiting for the bus, EA has released a Battlelog app for iOS devices. The free app is now available, and keeps track of your friends' activity, leaderboards, and news.

Read more: Full list of Battlelog iOS features »

GameFly is running a huge digital sale this weekend, including some of the most popular franchises from the biggest publishers. Missed out on the original Mass Effect or the Call of Duty: Modern Warfares? Now's your chance to try them out at a huge discount.

Read more: As much as 70 percent off »

The mahoosive patch which hit Battlefield 3 on PlayStation 3 yesterday will launch for PC tomorrow, developer DICE has confirmed. It brings bags of bug fixes, changes, improvements, balance tweaks, and other pleasant little things. There's still no word on when it'll deploy to Xbox 360, though.

Read more: BF3 PC in maintenance mode overnight »

Battlefield 3 is getting a large patch on the PlayStation 3 today, adding a number of tweaks and fixes. One of the biggest updates comes in the form of server rentals on the console, for customized configurations and smoother play. Today, DICE has outlined the pricing plans and how it will move forward with the servers.

Read more: Range from $1.49 to $64.99 »

Battlefield 3 is rolling out a massive game update, set to hit the PlayStation 3 on March 27. The PC and Xbox 360 versions will follow sometime soon after. While the patch packs loads of tweaks for weapons and vehicles in general, some of the biggest changes come to the consoles.

Read more: Server rentals, reduced PS3 input lag, and more »

EA has been angling to be on equal footing with Activision's Call of Duty franchise, and the success of Call of Duty Elite has given the company a whole new reason to smolder with jealousy. EA Games' Patrick Sonderlund has taken note of Elite's success, and says the company is looking into something similar.

Read more: We're looking at a subscription model »

We're debuting our new video news show today, Shacknews Daily. As the name implies, we're shooting to put it out every day of the week. As we ramp up to that pace, we wanted to show you what we've got working so far and start getting your feedback. Expect to see a couple of these a week, and we'll increase from there up to three, four, and ultimately hit every weekday.

In this first episode, we cover PvP arenas being cut from Diablo III for release, Star Wars: the Old Republic offering a free trial this weekend, and a look at the Close Quarters DLC coming to Battlefield 3 in June.

Watch: Bright skies and eerie interiors »

As we reported, the infantry-focused Battlefield 3 DLC pack "Close Quarters" arrives this June. I got a chance to try out one of the four maps planned for the expansion at its announcement event. An upscale modern residential condo, the layout of its many rooms covered a few thousand square feet as opposed to the eponymous sprawling battlefields where the fighting has taken place up to now. Running through its halls felt immediately familiar and not at all unlike a match of Modern Warfare, Battlefield's rival in the online shooter space. That feeling wore off, though, as I spent more time with it and the Battlefield in the game started to come through.

Read more: The play gets up close and personal »