[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog editor Tim W. will be summing up some of the top free-to-download and commercial indie games from the last seven days, as well as any notable features on his sister 'state of indie' weblog.] This week on 'Best Of Indie Games', we take a look at some of the top independent PC Flash/downloadable titles released over this last week. The delights in this latest version include a Game Maker production ...

Gamasutra's weekly column, "Saling The World", covers the top five sellers for every available platform in the United States, Japan, and Europe, providing an important update of sales patterns worldwide. This week's charts, with data taken from September 4th, 2008, find Mercenaries 2 taking an early sales lead on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in Europe, while Afrika and Tales of Vesperia head console sales in Japan. Data for "Saling The World" comes courtesy ...

Microsoft's recent move to reduce Xbox 360 prices across the board may turn out to be especially significant for the console wars. It means that for the key holiday season, the mass-market Xbox 360 Arcade SKU is less expensive than the Wii -- and Wii may see additional challenges from supply constraints. And with both consoles now entering the $200 "inflection point" analysts say has historically helped spread console sales to new audiences, has Xbox ...

Since its unveiling during Game Developers Conference 2005, Will Wright's evolution sim Spore has become a huge investment for EA, one which the company hopes might eventually expand into an entire division of the company, as has Wright's mega-hit franchise The Sims. Until that happens, however, Spore falls under the EA Games umbrella managed by label president Frank Gibeau. Beyond that game, Gibeau is working to encourage a label-wide focus on quality, one which he ...

Game Connection Europe announced that only two weeks remain for exhibitors to register for the annual acquisition-oriented event to be held in Lyon, France from November 5 - 8, 2008. The deadline for business-focused video game companies looking to showcase and sell their projects, finished, games, or services to potential buyers is set for September 17, 2008. Last year's Game Connection Europe brought in over 700 participants from 35 countries, including 208 exhibitors selling titles ...

Developer and publisher Tecmo announced a settlement with Team Ninja employees Hiroaki Ozawa and Tatsuki Tsunoda, who filed suit against the company and accused Tecmo of implementing an illegal overtime structure. The suit, which was filed with the Tokyo District Court in June 2008, claimed that under Tecmo's "flexible hours" work scheme, employees were not paid appropriately for their overtime hours, which often exceeded 100 hours per month. The suit also alleged that the company ...

[In a new opinion piece, writer Tom Cross takes a look at the saving grace of the critically panned Alone In The Dark - how "...no other game available today inserts you so forcefully into the body of your character."] When playing a video game, the physical presence of your character is often strangely difficult to get a visceral feel for. In first-person shooters, very few attempts are made to simulate mass, friction, or a ...

"We will sell more consoles this generation than Sony," says Don Mattrick, senior vice president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business -- while admitting Wii's lead is too much to overcome. "I'm not at a point where I can say we're going to beat Nintendo," Mattrick said, speaking to Business Week on the heels of Microsoft's recent price reductions across all of its Xbox 360 SKUs. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter recently told Gamasutra that the ...

Rising demand for video game consoles boosted UK music retailer HMV Group's 18-week revenue by 4.3 percent at stores open for at least a year, according to a report by the Bloomberg news agency. Same-store sales were up 1.3 percent for the 18-week period ending August 30th, compared to the 10% gain reported for the 16-week period ending April 26th. Taking advantage of this "increased participation in games," which now accounts for a fifth of ...

Survival horror Dead Space has been banned in Germany, Japan and China, according to comments attributed to Electronic Arts community manager Andrew Green. Consumer website Destructoid says that according to Green, the game is banned in all three countries, presumably over concerns over the high levels of violence. Although EA has not traditionally been associated with explicitly violent titles, Dead Space producer Chuck Beaver recently spoke to Gamasutra concerning the challenges involved in making a ...

In our continuing series of discussions with EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau, Gamasutra asked for a status update on EALA -- a studio that has recently seen a shift in management after the departure of Neil Young, and one that has had a checkered history in terms of both game quality and popularity. When asked about the "post-Neil young era", says Gibeau, "Neil hasn't run EALA for a while... We've got a very good ...

Following Tecmo's announcement yesterday that it is seeking a merger with fellow Japanese publisher Koei, Square Enix formally withdrew its offer of a friendly takeover. The withdrawal of the offer follows a written letter of rejection from Tecmo. Although Square Enix were willing to make minor revisions to the offer, a statement from the company implies that demands made by Tecmo, particularly in regards to the takeover price, made further discussions impossible. Discussing the withdrawal ...

The Nintendo DS is celebrating a full four weeks of outselling the PSP in Japan, although it continues to do so in a relatively quiet retail period. With Rhythm Heaven again at number one DS sales rose slightly this week, up just under 500 units to 56,439. The PSP did lose further ground, though, with its own sales slipping by just under 6,000 units to 41,664 as big sellers Monster Hunter Portable 2 G and ...

Genre mashups tend to feature a balance of different kinds of gameplay -- Tomb Raider: Underworld is a little bit action, a little bit puzzler. But in designing for players who may have different preferences for one versus the other, why not allow them to strike the balance themselves? As part of an in-depth interview with Gamasutra, Crystal Dynamics creative director Eric Lindstrom details Tomb Raider: Underworld's new 'Player Tailoring' feature, which lets players emphasize ...

Given that Take-Two and Rockstar's next step in expanding the Grand Theft Auto empire is a move onto Nintendo DS with the upcoming Chinatown Wars, what's the likelihood that GTA IV or another franchise installment might appear on the Wii? Speaking on Chinatown Wars during the company's third quarter call to investors, Take-Two CEO Ben Feder wouldn't rule it out, as he confirmed that the DS title is set to release in the first quarter ...

Continuing strong sales of Grand Theft Auto IV, along with Top Spin 3 and Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution propelled Take-Two to a new record quarter, the fifth one in a row that it has beaten its own expectations. Take-Two's sales for the third fiscal quarter were $433.8 million, up from $206.4 million for the same period last year. Take-Two CEO Ben Feder said GTA IV in particular was the largest single contributor to the quarter's ...

Gaming social network Raptr, which lets users share game stats, achievements and other data about their playing habits with friends, launched an open beta today, along with an alpha version of its Mac client software. The free service, which has been in private beta since February 2008 with 1,000 users, works with thousands of games across multiple platforms including PC, Mac, Xbox 360, Facebook, Flash, Wii, and PlayStation 3. Users can track their own gameplay ...

Educational software developer Knowledge Adventure announced a partnership with publisher Majesco to release Math Blaster In The Prime Adventure for the Nintendo DS. The Math Blaster title, which will be available this holiday season, marks the studio's first entry into the Nintendo DS and another step the company has taken towards extending its product line beyond traditional educational software releases. Knowledge Adventure recently launched JumpStart Advanced Preschool World, a 3D virtual world targeting 3-to-5 year ...

Internet-connected game consoles will generate $8 billion in revenue for the Big Three console manufacturers through online content and services in 2013, says a new Parks Associates report. Parks Associates' research shows that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo stand to reap big gains thanks to revenue streams from digital distribution, downloadable games and content, and multiplayer gaming services. The researchers' estimates also include "avatar-based microtransactions," likely projecting based on future products like Sony's PlayStation Home and ...

GameCareerGuide.com, which runs a weekly game design challenge for aspiring game developers, has announced a new challenge for this week about scripting a mini-quest for a fantasy role-playing game. The site also recently announced the best entries submitted to a previous challenge, in which readers had to design a new weapon for a first-person shooter game. The design challenges allow game development students and other industry hopefuls to experiment creatively with game design problem-solving in ...

Electronic Arts and casual publisher and developer PopCap Games extended their licensing agreement granting EA Mobile exclusive worldwide mobile publishing rights to Bejeweled and Bejeweled 2 through 2010. Originally developed in 2000 for web and PC gameplay, the match-three puzzler has expanded to video game consoles, mobile phones, PDAs, portable music players, in-flight entertainment systems, and other platforms. PopCap revealed in August 2008 that its Bejeweled titles sold over 25 million units across all formats ...

As the game industry strives to evolve the way it handles storytelling, are we missing some of its greatest strides forward? "I think Valve has more talent in their pinky than most people have in their entire body," says Bethesda Game Studios' Emil Pagliarulo, speaking as part of an extensive Gamasutra feature covering his work on the upcoming Fallout 3. Despite this vote of confidence, though, Pagliarulo was actually commenting on how he feels the ...

Newspaper publisher Axel Springer AG acquired a majority stake in German online gaming provider Gamigo AG, now holding 94.8 percent of the company's stock. The German Federal Cartel Office unconditionally authorized the takeover. Axel Springer AG bought out Gamigo through its holding company, AS Venture GmbH, which has held shares of Gamigo since 2000. Prior to the acquisition, AS Venture held 47.4 percent of the company's shares. Based in Hamburg, Germany and originally founded in ...