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GameCity, the annual video game festival in the UK, has launched an award which it hopes will become the “Turner Prize” for games. Festival director, Iain Simons, started the event in 2006 and created the award to celebrate the cultural impact of video games. I’m bored of the debate of whether games are ‘art’ or not — the question isn’t ‘if’ they’re interesting, but ‘how’ and ‘why’… The GameCity Prize is about video games gaining cultural confidence and expressing their value in something other than financial terms....

Mobile studioGamelofthas been accused of overworking staff to “dangerous” levels, with a former staff member leveling some incredibly huge allegations at the creator of such titles asAsphaltandN.O.V.A. “Some weeks I was work­ing 100 to 120 hours a week,” said former New Zealand studio head Glenn Watson. “Starting at 9:30 AM, going home at 2:30 AM, and then com­ing back into the office at 8:30 AM to start work again was not unusual....

“Amazon Bombing” has become a popular way for disgruntled consumers to make their complaints heard, and Capcom has become the latest to suffer the indignity. Infuriated by thepublisher’s mysterious decisionto block users from deleting their save data inResident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, gamers have bombarded Amazon with negative reviews. “I have nothing more to add that this is crippleware whose sole purpose is to erode owner rights even further,” wrote one reviewer....

[The above video is about as safe for work asWhen Harry Met Sally] But I have completely ignored the issue of the moment. We now take this time to talk about the games which spent a little time in our hearts this week. Why not let us know what you’ve been playing? Chester:Pac Man CE DXis great, everyone should go buy this. Now. Finally finishedCall of Duty: Black Ops‘ single player campaign and audibly groaned at the game’s conclusion, right before the credits roll....

You’d think the retail games world was ending with company directorsdumping over 2 million shares of stock. No worries…yet, says one analyst. GameStop is good until about 2017. Ben Schachter of Broapoint AmTech thinks that GameStop has a few more years before digital downloads get all up in their business. In fact, he doesn’t feel that the current console cycle, which is expected to last through 2014, will have much of an impact on their business at all....

Yesterday there was a bit of a stir over Dr. Tanya Byron’s new TV showAm I Normal?in which videogame “addiction” was compared to heroin abuse, andWoWwas written off as “childish fantasy.” I didn’t want to comment too much, but I felt some of the quotes laid it on a bit thick for a woman who’d just become seen as a games industry ally. Interestingly, it turns out that the show wasactually recorded last year, before Byron published her report and before, one could assume, she had fully researched the issue....

The Hollywood Collectible Grouphas some awesomeResident Evilmemorabilia up for pre-order right now. The five inch T-Virus and Anti-Virus vials will be released early next year and only 750 of them are being made. The catch is that the replicas are going for $199.95 each. Yikes, that’s a lot. Even at that price though, it’ll be worth it to die-hardResident Evilfans. No word on if this will actually turn you into a zombie, but it will probably make you sick if you attempt to inject yourself with it if anything....

The gang at EA Tiburon is aiming to bring gamers the most accurate football simulation ever made, and chief among their improvements to gameplay inMadden NFL 10is the game’s all-new Pro-Tak animation system. It looks to be a truly game-changing innovation, and if you want to hear a few of the game’s development bigwigs — including Lead Designer Ian Cummings and Senior Producer Phil Frazier — talk about it, then hit the jump for the firstMadden 10“Developer Series” video....

If your strategy games have lacked green helmets and people calling you a f*ggot, then make sure you download theHalo Warsdemo before going to work. It’s up on Xbox Live right now and demands your attention. It’s a shiny 1.40GB in size and was just posted, so if you want to get in before the rest of America wakes up, now’s your chance. You’ll be competing with those bastards in Europe though, so be quick about it....

Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’is a surreal comedy series made by Anthony and Ashly Burch. They do a (semi) weekly podcast. Don’t worry,this week’s HAWPcast(click the iTunes button on the right side of the page if you want to get it that way) is not another commentary episode. If we’re all terribly lucky, this will be the last Doctor Who-related HAWPcast for a long, long, long time. That said, Ash and I could not, in good conscience, record another podcast without at least discussing The End of Time and the Tenth Doctor’s departure....

In our most recent preview ofThe Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Casey told us a bit about the new gameplay mechanic called dowsing. It basically acts as a magical compass, allowing you to easily find certain points of interest as your sword points you in the right direction. you’re able to check it out in the video above where Link uses his new ability to terrorize a poor little creature in the forest....

Earlier this month,Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2was announced. Besides carrying the same ridiculous name as its predecessor, little about the flight game was mentioned. Jump forward to the present, where we now have a boatload of information. As someone who didn’t play much ofH.A.W.X., here’s what seems most interesting to me as far as the sequel is concerned: mid-air refueling, which sounds both frustrating and somehow cool; controllable UAVs; and there’s now taking off and landing as well....

Man, I freaking LOVEAdventure Island. I played the hell out of every version on the NES when I was a kid, and this morning when I heard that Hudson had announced that a new version of the beloved classic was coming to WiiWare, I couldn’t help but smile out of pure nostalgia. All we know right now is that the game will be completely new and feature Master Higgins. There’s no word as to whether it will be a side scroller like the originals (please God), but it will be released in Europe this April, so we ought to see a US release soon after....