I love Vanillaware’s games. It’s as if they come from a world where polygons never really took hold, with the love, care and lust normally going into rendering dynamic lighting and self-shadowing textures being poured into creating awesome 2D sprites. That’s what Vanillaware’s new gameDragon’s Crownis looking like right about now. It’s a 2D (‘natch) brawler with solo and 4-player co-op, destined for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, and will be the company’s first debut on an HD platform....

This morning, Apple announced their iPad tablet computing device. Unless you like really big iPhones that you may’t fit in your pocket, you may not care. Well, wait. It looks like they’re trying to appeal to gamers. GamlLoft was invited to show off a modified version of their first-person shooterN.O.V.A.It sported improved graphics and more options for game control. For example, swiping two fingers could throw a grenade. Beefier specs means a better looking, sharper version than the iPhone game....

While I don’t necessarily condone videogame to film adaptations, I can at least understand how they might work.Max Payne,Prince of Persia,Doom— all games with strong enough narrative to keep people in their seats for at least long enough to tear through a bucket of popcorn. OK, so maybe notDoom… butSpore? According to Will Wright, a film birthed from the Spore universe is not completely out of the question. “WithSpore, we’re looking way outside the game space, such as TV, movies, etc....

I have to admit something to you all — I am seriously becoming a fan of Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello. Having accused the games industry of stagnation in the past, and seeming to want to move his notorious company into a more innovative, original age, Riccitiello has again made anotherironic statementfor an EA boss to make — he wants to “deal with” the high price tags of videogames. Talking in a recent report, the leader of the locust-like corporation stated that an arrogant and complacent games industry could suffer from resting on its laurels, much like major TV networks did when cable rose to dominance....

Sometime back in early July, 3D Realms found itself on the receiving end of a nastygram from the self-governing ESRB. The warning as it turned out, was in response to several infractions of non-compliance found on their website. They were swiftly given 10 days to comply, or face heavy fines of $10,000 per occurrence — as well as suspension of ESRB rating services for all of their games. It was a pretty sobering experience, as Scott Miller, CEO and founder of 3D Realms recalled:...

There’s no denying that theFablefranchise is a feather in Microsoft’s hat when it comes to exclusive titles. The original game attracted many players as then PC-bound luminary Peter Molyneaux’s big console debut, helping raise the Xbox’s profile as a haven for “western-style” RPG development. A year later, PC owners got their own taste of the game withFable: The Lost Chapters, a port which included an epilogue chapter set in Albion’s Northern Wastes....

The Nintendo of Japan-published Wii exclusiveFatal Frame IVlaunched in Japan last week, and all sorts of secrets and game info are starting to pour in. Among the secrets is the slew of unlockable costumes for the game’s four characters, and it looks like one of the outfits is a spot-on match for Nintendo’s “always the bridesmaid, never the bride” plumber, Luigi. It makes sense — Luigi already has ghost hunting experience, having cleared haunted areas with a high-powered vacuum inLuigi’s Mansionon the GameCube....

Telltale Games has a bit of a deal going on right now, if you’re in the market for some videogame adventuring and enjoy the occasional movie. The offer ends on April 4. Jump on this, if you are eligible.

You might not remember Frontier Development’sThe Outsider, and that’s fine. It’s because it was announced back in 2005, and the developer hasn’t spoken more than a few words about it since. Instead, it released a WiiWare game,LostWindsas well as its sequel. But according to studio head David Braben, the game is still on track. “It’s very exciting, and we’re still working hard on it. I’m not talking about it yet, but watch this space,” he tellsEurogamer....

EA Partners’ boss David DeMartini, speaking with GamesIndustry.biz at gamescom, expressed his belief that “budgets for games have actually peaked and are starting to move in the reverse direction again.” “I don’t think there’s any one right budget for any game,” he explained. “It kind of depends on how big the idea is and what the team needs to be able to make a 90 percent-rated game with the idea that they’re working on....

Many castles were pillaged and passed as we went from oneMarioplatformer game to anotherlast week. Which game’s flags gave us the most victory slides? Here are the top results: As for the top results for the least favoriteMarioplatformer game that everyone wanted to see, here are all of the top ties for worst: After looking at the games most disliked, it makes me think a lot of us haven’t played the full spectrum ofMariogames, and would probably (myself included) change our votes if we ever got around to some of the minor and obscure titles that barely got included in the series....

Furyis becoming free, but with a catch. Free to Play mode will be released on the 14th and people who play for free will still have access to all the game types, all weapons and all the abilities. The catch with free mode is that you earn less gold and essence compared to paying players. You also can’t trade with other people either. Of course, if you find yourself really liking the game, then you can upgrade to the pay service and not have to worry about the slower rate and trading limitations....

Yesterday evening, the Independent Games Festival Awards ceremony took place in San Francisco as part of the Game Developers Conference. It was fun to watch, whether you were there in person or simply viewing from home thanks to the live stream. Here are the13th Annual IGF winners: Well, now what? I’ll tell you what! You need to play these games — every last one of them. [Image source]