Last week, we reported that Gearbox was handing out gold slips to its magical Duke Nukem Forever factory to those who purchased the Game of the Year Edition of Borderlands. The main perk of said First Access Club? Why, that'd be early access to next year's Duke Nukem Forever demo. Of course, plenty of players immediately read between the lines, and the ones who did so with their faces too close to the page got jabbed in the eye by a big ol' middle finger to early Borderlands buyers. Or so they thought.

Turns out, anyone who bought Borderlands on Steam – whether they stuffed the game and its bazillion guns into their PC yesterday or  yesteryear – has been given a code to get into the club. Just click on Borderlands in Steam, select the CD key tab, and you'll find your code there patiently waiting for you -- like a loyal and trusty hound, except better because it brings you videogames.

The First Access Club doesn't appear to be operational just yet, but we'll let you know when it is so you can make arrangements to brag at your friends accordingly. While the demo will likely be the main event, Gearbox has also promised a “wealth of goodies,” which should be exciting to people who like free things, which is everyone ever.

Usually, when you subscribe to an MMO, you expect that it's going to stick around long enough that you don't feel like you've, well, been robbed. Unfortunately, such was not the case with Realtime Worlds' short-lived cops 'n' robbers MMO All Points Bulletin, whose tombstone sadly reads “2010-2010.” Between subscription fees and the initial price tag, then, one could certainly understand why players are getting off the ride and immediately asking for their money back. Unfortunately, for a little while, it looked like no one planned on ponying up.

"Customers should revert to the entity from which they bought the game in respect of their entitlement to any refund,” joint administrator Paul Dounis said.

Ok then. Steam, what say you?

"As with most software products, we do not offer refunds or exchanges for purchases made online as outlined in the software license," said Valve.

Wait, that didn't help at all! But look! What's that in the sky? It's a bird. It's a plane. No – it's a large multimillion dollar corporation, swooping in to save the day with free stuff.

According to a Steam thread on the subject, players who've gone to publisher Electronic Arts with their disgruntled mumbles and grumbles have come away with $20 vouchers, refunds, and even free games. We suppose it's just like the old saying: “You can't spell 'apologize fre' without 'free.'” Hey, we never said it was a good saying. 

We're pretty sure Dawn of War II is the only RTS in existence that requires more micromanagement before you're able to play the game than while you're clickity-clicking through the thick of battle. See, in order to even view the sci-fi strategy title's start screen, you have to first negotiate your way past two login menus – one for Steam and one for Games For Windows Live. In addition to that relatively minor annoyance, most of you probably know GFWL by its true acronym: SATAN.

Fortunately, THQ's decided that it's high-time Microsoft's online games “service”/dark lord of the underworld be kicked to the curb. From here on out, it's full Steam ahead.

"The move to Steamworks will also allow us to provide features like guest passes, free multiplayer weekends, pre-loading and the ability to provide fast turn-around on future patches and updates,” said THQ in a statement.

"This new back end will allow players to invite friends into matches from their Steam friends lists and take advantage of the full set of Steam community features including groups, achievements, and Steam overlay chat channels.”

Dawn of War II: Retribution, which is scheduled to launch in March 2011, will be among THQ's first to finally tell GFWL that “no means 'no'” and declare that its one true love has always been Steam. Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, to continue the metaphor, will be singing its best rendition of 'N Sync's “Bye, Bye, Bye” to GFWL as well. Good riddance, eh? This makes us almost as happy as when we heard 'N Sync broke up.