It was a day of highs and lows today as we caught exciting announcements and game release date news, along with overwhelming amounts of trailers to accompany a considerable scoop of regular and special features, but we also bid a fond farewell to El33tonline friend and contributor Oltman.

Catch up on El33tonline’s headlines from today with our round-up, and don’t miss Lisa’s excellent, in-depth look back at Oltman’s historied time with El33tonline with photos of the fella over the years:

Letter from the Editor

• A tribute to a lekker oke we call OL

• Proteas, countdowns, rain and plenty of games

• December NPD: US game industry sales drop 22% as Black Ops 2 takes control

• El33t’s Question of the Day: What game series do you want to become a movie?

• Top 5 Friday: PS2 RPGs I wish I’d played

• Brainteaser Friday: Guess the Game for January 11th

• Meet the crazy, enormous cast of Anarchy Reigns from Platinum Games!

• Battlefield Friday War Cry: Rise like the Phoenix

• UK Nintendo eShop Update for January 10th: Fractured Soul, Blaster Master

• Limited edition Tomb Raider Xbox 360 controller revealed in video and shots

• “Tentative” Halo 4 map pack and Spartan Ops release schedule outed

• PlayStation web store expanding to the US later this month

• Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon dated for 3DS with new box art and images

• The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct trailer reveals release date, new screens included

• Cyberpunk 2077 teaser trailer accompanies new details from the future

• New Monster Hunter 4 trailer showcases ferocious foes, colourful locales

• Enticing Professor Layton and the Azran Legacies trailer takes us on a globe-trotting adventure

• El33tonline Monday News Wrap: 7 January 2013

• El33tonline Tuesday News Wrap: 8 January 2013

• El33tonline Wednesday News Wrap: 9 January 2013

• El33tonline Thursday News Wrap: 10 January 2013

What news caught your eye this week?

Tags: anarchreigns, battlefield3, el33tonline, el33tonlinenewswrap, halo4, npd, oltman, thewalkingdead, tombraider