By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Jon Hamm's new TV role takes him far from the stylish 1960s Madison Avenue setting of "Mad Men" to a dreary, isolated and bloody hospital in a small Russian village during the 1917 revolution. The backdrop for "A Young Doctor's Notebook," a four-episode series that makes its U.S. debut on Wednesday on the Ovation cable network, is not a typical one for television, and the show does not fit neatly into a particular genre. Hamm said he liked the project for both of those reasons. "It's dark, and yet it's quite comic," Hamm told Reuters. ...

[UPDATE] Bungie confirms players can preorder upcoming game to secure entry into beta, which will feature "diverse sampling of major activities" from the full game.

[UPDATE] Following the publication of this story, Bungie confirmed the Destiny beta. It will be available in early 2014 on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 for those who preorder the game at participating retailers. A new gameplay trailer is available below.

The beta will include a "diverse sampling of major activities" from the full game, though these were not specified. To gain entry into the Destiny beta, players can visit Bungie.net and follow the instructions. Those who preordered before today are automatically entered into the beta and will receive their code via email.

For more on the Destiny beta, check out GameSpot's interview with Bungie community manager Eric Osborne.

The original story is below.

Bungie will hold a beta for upcoming shared-world shooter Destiny in early 2014 on all announced platforms, according to an Amazon product page spotted today by NeoGAF.

The beta will be offered on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 for those who preorder the game while supplies last, according to the product page.

No mention was made concerning when the Destiny beta will officially begin. All existing preorders through Amazon will be given beta keys.

Neither Bungie nor Activision has officially announced a beta for Destiny. Bungie is no stranger to betas, as the developer has offered betas for Halo 3 and Halo: Reach.

Destiny--which requires an Internet connection--launches in 2014. It is Bungie's first post-Halo project and the first game as part of the company's ten-year exclusive publishing deal with Activision.

Yesterday, Bungie teased preorder bonuses for Destiny and said a new gameplay trailer will be released sometime today, October 1.

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Developer acknowledges various issues with just-released multiplayer mode for Grand Theft Auto V, says it is working to resolve all problems.

Rockstar Games has apologized for various issues that are currently besetting the just-released multiplayer mode for Grand Theft Auto V.

In an update to the Rockstar Games support site, the developer listed off a number of known issues for Grand Theft Auto Online and said it is working to resolve all problems.

Some of the issues Rockstar mentioned include players encountering a "Rockstar Cloud Servers Unavailable" error message and occasional freezing while loading the first race.

Rockstar also said it is working to fix "Failed to Host a GTA Online Session" error messages and occasional "Failed to star job" errors, among other bugs.

"We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience while we work to resolve this," Rockstar said in a statement.

The launch issues for GTA Online were expected. Ahead of release last week, Rockstar said players should expect various "growing pains," including crashes, glitches, "crazy bugs," and gameplay modes and mechanics that need rebalancing.

These issues are "inevitable," Rockstar said at the time, due to the "massive" nature of the open-world game.

For more on GTA Online, check out GameSpot's "Five Tips to Get You Started in GTA Online" feature.

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Randy Pitchford says Valve's recent announcements only a curiosity without something compelling like Half-Life 3.

Valve's announcements last week of SteamOS, Steam Machines, and a Steam Controller are only a curiosity without a killer app like Half-Life 3.

That's according to Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford, who told GamesIndustry International that as it stands, Valve has not provided a sufficient reason why its new products and services are must-haves.

Pitchford said Valve needs to announce a product or service that makes use of the three components (SteamOS, Steam Machines, and Steam Controller) that could not exist individually.

"That kind of announcement would really help us all understand the necessity of their invention here," he said. "But we all know that product would probably have to start with an H and have a 3 at the end and it would sound like 'Half-Life 3.' But alas I would be very surprised indeed if we see any worthy movement on that front, as I do not expect another true successor Half-Life game from Valve for quite some time--possibly never."

Without a "must-buy product" driving consumers towards Valve's new endeavors, the industry overall will only have a passive interest in the announcements, Pitchford said.

"I expect that the industry at large will watch curiously, but remain largely unaffected by anything Steam does along this vector of OS, machines, and controllers over the next two or three years," he said. "If the must-buy product appears driving us there or sufficient time goes on where an installed base starts to emerge, more and more folks will move from being curious to being investigative with the possibilities."

Microsoft and Sony have said they are paying attention to Valve's announcements, while analysts are divided about the potential for the company's new products to impact the traditional console market.

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