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There were plans to release Nanashi no Game in the states. Square-Enix went as far as to focus test the game, but that's when the idea was shot down. Since then, fans have been hoping the game would find another way to be released.

This is where Square-Enix's Euro trademark for 774 Deaths comes in. The English title ties in oh-so nicely when you use a literal translation for Nanashi no Game. It's still speculation, but it seems like the two could be related.

Is the original DS game going to be released outside of Japan? Is this just a name for the Nanashi no App on iOS? Are we going to see the DS original come out via digital distribution? Square-Enix said that might be a possibility awhile back.

Yesterday Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes of Team Meat dropped a gigantic, raw bomb on Twitter (gross), announcing their intent to strip down Super Meat Boy and rebuild it completely for mobile touch devices. They were vague on details apart from an intent to create a brand new game in the Super Meat Boy universe, and that they definitely wouldn't use "shitty touch controls."

We thought they were being coy, but it turns out they don't know much more about the touchscreen version than we do. It's still in the engine phase of development, McMillen told Joystiq, and they're pretty much winging it, playing with things that work and throwing out ideas that don't -- even if that includes the entire game.

"I mean, honestly, this is simply a challenge for us," McMillen said. "It's easy to poo-poo a new system because of its horrible use of touchscreen on ported titles; it's harder to attempt to try and figure out a design that works and make something worth checking out.

"So that's basically what we are doing -- no idea how it will turn out -- but Tommy and I wanted to jump back into dev again with something that isn't going to take a year-plus to make, so prototyping this idea seemed most appropriate and inspired."

Closure won the third annual Indie Game Challenge at this year's DICE show in Las Vegas. The clever puzzle platformer, which works off the premise that only illuminated objects exist in the game world, has players manipulating lights to solve challenge rooms. The team will receive $100,000 for taking the top prize, sponsored by The Guildhall at SMU, GameStop and the AIAS. The game will be available soon on PSN.

Other category winners included Symphony for technical achievement, The Bridge for achievements in art direction and gameplay, and Nitronic Rush received the "Gamer's Choice Award." The teams receive $2,500 for each category.

Check out all ten of this year's talented nominees by heading over to the Indie Game Challenge site.

In 2010 an Alabama man made the headlines for pitching a perfect game on the first day of the MLB 2K10 Perfect Game Competition. he tradition continued last year, though the time frame gave more people a shot to practice and send in their video tapes to verify their talents...

With Double Fine's Kickstarter project hitting the $1,000,000 mark yesterday, a new door opens for developers to approach projects they thought were forever lost. Double Fine isn't the first developer to use Kickstarter to fund a game, but in its first day it broke impressive records through the public funding site. They have the highest number of contributors of any project, and they raised more funds in 24 hours than any other project before it...

#warp More »

Ever since it debuted, IGN's been a bit baffled by Gotham City Impostors. It's a downloadable first-person shooter set in the Batman universe, but it doesn't feature the Dark Knight (who, of course, is a hero who doesn't believe in guns). I've spent a few days with Gotham City Impostors, and while I enjoy the game, I don't know why it exists. Who was asking for this mash-up? It's like when they put out Batman action figures with neon skis, but I digress...

Pineapple Smash Crew's features should be bullet points for success: a great aesthetic, rockin' music and a clever gameplay hook. But it doesn't have much in the way of, well, an actual game. What starts of a as a novel premise quickly devolves into a sometimes mind-numbing grind, souring the initial promise of this quirky little indie game...

Frictional Games, known for the Penumbra series and 2010's fantastically creepy Amnesia: The Dark Descent, is teasing something new. A new website, NextFrictionalGame.com, hosts a blurry image above emblazoned with the Amnesia logo and the cryptic words "Something is emerging." The image also contains a link pointing to a Google map of China. An Amnesia title with a Chinese backdrop? Could be.

The site is indeed registered for Frictional, and the domain information also points to TheDarkSwarm.com -- a possible hint at the new game's title -- which leads to an unplayable browser game and a timer that continuously ticks upward every second. The source code on both sites mention first-person perspective, horror, action adventure and other qualities we've come to associate with Frictional. The Dark Swarm site was registered way back in 2007, and was updated in September of 2011, so it might be unconnected.

Frictional's Thomas Grip told us last year that the studio was working on "an Amnesia-related project." At the time, he said that the project wouldn't focus solely on creating fear, but will hopefully "evoke other, less primitive, emotions as well." If that means it will feature even a few moments without teeth-clenching, panic-sticken fear, we're all for it.

#industrygamers What's happened in the business of video games this past week ... More »

GameStop is building its digital distribution business, having seen a 158 percent growth year-over-year in the third quarter, with strong returns thanks to customers who don't use credit cards.

"70 percent of our sales for DLC is non credit card. So that's a customer either paying with cash, GameStop gift card or trade credit," Steve Nix, manager of PC digital distribution for GameStop told us at DICE 2012. "Think about all those Call of Duty Elite subscriptions and all those customers who aren't using a credit card to purchase them."

"We're actually growing [the downloadable content] market, because about half our DLC customers never purchased DLC previously. So, for game developers that want to sell more DLC, we're introducing gamers to DLC for the first time in our stores."

Nix recognized that it may seem odd the retail chain's brick and mortar stores are so successful selling digital content. It's clearly servicing customers who don't have credit cards or don't want to use credit cards, but still wish to extend their favorite games. He "absolutely" feels this same situation is what's pushing their in-store PC full game sales, despite PC gamers having so many online purchasing options.

Since Gamestop purchased Stardock's Impulse digital distribution store, we wanted to know if it would continue to pursue Goo, which would have essentially created a "used PC games market."

Nixing the idea, he said "We don't see a lot of interest in that model from our publishing partners." He recognizes customers would be interested, but is not really seeing publisher support for such a model.

#vita Taco Bell is giving PlayStation Vitas to customers every 15 minutes — except when it isn't. More »

When looking at screens of Lollipop Chainsaw, we're certain your eyes drift naturally to one of Juliet's most eye-catching features ... the severed head strung to her hip. This new trailer tells the romantic story of how she cut her boyfriend's head off, as an act of love.

A portion of an Entertainment Weekly interview with Shigeru Miyamoto...

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I just completed Skyward Sword, which really makes good use of the Motion Plus controller. Can you talk a little bit about how existence of Motion Control changes the development process of these videogames?

SHIGERU MIYAMOTO: First of all, thank you for completing Skyward Sword. You probably know more than I do when it comes to the game, because the version I played was actually the prototype. The version I played through was more challenging than the version you did.

EW: You said that you had played an earlier version of Skyward Sword that was more challenging. How much more difficult was it?

SM: As the development period goes on, we get accustomed to the content and the gameplay and the riddles and whatnot. The developer is almost always thinking, “It’s too easy for me. It must be too easy for the player, as well.” The same with designing bosses: Because the developers are supposed to be very, very skillful in challenging these tough enemies, they often make the boss too tough. It’s a dilemma we always have as developers.

EW: Looking ahead, as part of the release of the Wii U, you’ll be working on Pikmin 3. Are you excited to bring that back as part of the new console?

SM: Originally, I was making Pikmin 3 would be launched on the Wii platform. Because the Wii U is capable of HD quality pictures, and will be accompanied by the subscreen on your hand. I thought that I would be able to make a Pikmin that was closer to my ideal. I am now actually enjoying myself, working on the game.

EW: Who’s your least favorite (Mario Kart) character?

SM: Toad. [Laughs]

EW: My favorite character is your least favorite character?

SM: I understand that he has some popularity. Somehow.

Welcome back to Game Scoop!, the weekly gaming podcast that attacks your funny bone for massive damage. Your guides through the week in gaming news will be Daemon Hatfield, Greg Miller, Anthony Gallegos and Tina Palacios...

Game Rating Board, South Korea's premiere games rating board, has listed another entry in the Magic: The Gathering series of games, presumably for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 again. As things look, Stainless Games and Wizards of the Coast have no plans of stopping the annual installments.

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise: both the original Duels of the Planeswalkers and Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 performed well, the former having sold over 500,000 copies, while the latter was one of PSN's top performers last year. Considering both previous installments launched in the summer, we're betting we'll be hearing about Duels 2013 soon.

For many gamers, Double Fine's incredible Kickstarter success is the first they have heard of the website. This makes sense any time Tim Schafer, Ron Gilbert and "brand new point-and-click adventure" come up in a sentence people are bound to sit up and pay attention. But the truth is that Kicks...

As SSX's February 28 release date creeps ever closer, our excitement keeps growing. To get you equally excited we've snagged three exclusive videos, including gameplay that has never been seen by human eyeballs! AfricaAfrica SSX Creative Director Todd Batty described Africa as the "love it or...

Crazy Machines Elements is now available on Steam at 10% off the first week.

Play with Fire, harness the power of water and control the wind to set off the most insanely creative chain reactions! Build crazy machines from everyday objects and bizarre components. Utilize the elements (fire, water and wind) to discover all the fantastic possibilities available to you! Experiment by night, in the snow or rain! Use the cloud machine and generate lightning, tornadoes and rain to complete your crazy chain reactions; real physics will simultaneously be your best ally and your toughest enemy. Take your pick of challenging and zany puzzles to solve, using cool parts like the clone cannon, monster trucks, fire breathing dragons, and more!

#thearkhproject There's been article after article about how gaming culture (and perhaps all of nerd culture) is typically and fundamentally a straight, white, cis-male dominated scene. However you look at it, it's hard to deny the fact that the character landscape in video games is a little monochromatic. More »

"What Tim and Double Fine have done is increased awareness of how Kickstarter works as a potential new model to fund indie games. Because of their bold move many more companies and potential investors will look into the Kickstarter model on a smaller scale. I'm glad it paid off for him.

"But the numbers thrown around are just too small to impact mainstream publishing or large developers. Most good XBLA, PSN or Steam indie games cost multiple millions of dollars. So asking for $400,000 (even though that target has now been exceeded) isn't going to net you much. The title Tim wanted to fund made a lot of sense, it's a 2D labor of love based on a dying genre that Tim is known for and publishers wouldn't want to touch.

"The shift of power keeps slowly creeping back to the creative talent. It's a very similar analogue how the early days of the film industry worked."- 5th Cell's Jeremiah Slaczka

I think this movement deserves a bit more credit than Mr. Slaczka is offering up. It's not just about the money raised, but the fact that publishers can see just how willing gamers are to spend cash on the projects they love.

Many play MMOs for an opportunity to team up with friends, hone your skills and utilize odd class combinations to clear difficult content your way. Tera may give some of the best opportunities to experiment with combat...

The Steam forums and database was hacked in November, and Valve is still investigating the breach. In a new note to Steam users, Valve head Gabe Newell announced that "it is probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008." The file contained user names and email addresses, and encrypted billing addresses and credit-card information, but it did not include passwords, Newell said.

So far there has been no evidence that credit cards or billing addresses have been compromised from the attack, but Steam users should pay close attention to their accounts and keep Steam Guard on, Newell said. Read Gabe's full update below, which has been sent to all Steam gamers as well.

Update: The headline previously included the phrases "credit card info" and "at risk," which seemed alarmist to some readers. It has been updated and glasses of warm milk passed around to everyone. Enjoy.