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Far away from the charts and the mega-commercial releases and the grinning Bobby Koticks, there is an exciting world of games loaded with passionate expression, dazzling ideas and a staggering wealth of creativity. They are independent games and they are being celebrated at next month’s International Festival of Independent Games, aka IndieCade. The 32 finalists of this year’s IndieCade awards are full of innovation, originality and win.

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Attention: as a matter of public service, we have the following information to relay that will be important to you. Portal 2 may have been delayed until 2011, and that’s kind of crappy. But no more crying over spilt milk, when in 2011 is what’s important now…

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Fans waiting for niche developer id Software’s next big title can get their thumbs into the action when a special version of Rage comes out for the iPhone later this year. Another, fuller version of the game will also launch on the iPhone alongside the console and PC releases next year. The announcement came at QuakeCon, or as people who don’t understand the appeal of Quake put it – that thing where a bunch of PC nerds get together…

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Comic-Con has come and gone, and with it a multitude of panels and press releases, which we’re still catching up with. For example, though we covered the most important Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions news (namely the Ultimate universe and Neil Patrick Harris), during a Comic-Con panel over the weekend Activision revealed many of the alternate costumes the four Spider-Men can wear throughout the game… …

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New Game Releases June 6 – 12

Good week for new releases, especially since Mega Man Zero Collection is one of them.

June 6, 2010
Hearts of Iron III: Semper Fi (Paradox Interactive) – PC

June 7, 2010
Flametail (Nintendo) – DSiWare

June 7, 2010
Call of Duty: The War Collection (Activision) – Xbox 360
City Builder (Virtual Play Inc.) – Wii
Cubixx (Laughing Jackal) – PSP
Disgaea Infinite (NIS America) – PSP
Green Day: Rock Band (MTV Games) – Wii, Xbox 360, PS3
Joe Danger (Hello Games) – PSN, PC
Let’s Play Ballerina (Deep Silver) – Wii, Nintendo DS
Let’s Play Garden (Deep Silver) – Nintendo DS
Mega Man Zero Collection (Capcom) – Nintendo DS
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (Konami) – PSP
Mind Over Matter (505 Games) – Nintendo DS
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Ubisoft) – PC
Samantha Swift and the Hidden Roses of Athena (Navarre Corp) – Nintendo DS
Satisfashion (Destineer) – Wii, Nintendo DS
Smash Cars: Virus Run (TikGames-Creat Studios) – PSN
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 (Electronic Arts) – Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Vacation Isle: Beach Party (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) – Wii
Vibes (Laughing Jackal) – PSP

June 10, 2010
WarBirds Red Baron (iEntertainment) – Mac, PC

Daily (Stale) Bread: The news we didn't post June 4, 2010

On a day in which we learned of new Guitar Hero and Infamous installments, there were a handful of other news stories that didn't quite deserve a full mention, but were still deemed worthy of some measure of recognition. These stories, collectively, are the daily stale bread.

06/04 — I'm not sure how ready to rock we are

R.I.P. Awesome Show regular Richard DunnDave: One of the most unique personalities on “Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job” passed away today

Andy: We'll remember you, Mr. Dunn, every time we quote one of your classic lines. Which is roughly every six minutes.

Alan Wake Live Teaser Trailer

Dave: Wow, 20 seconds of video has managed to make me excited about a reveal for an already-released game. Good job, Remedy.

Farmville, Top Facebook Games Continue To Shed UsersDave: More huge drops for games on Facebook. I wonder if we'll see some revisions to stop the bleeding.

AJ: The way I see it, the rampant Farmville addiction sweeping this office should make up for a couple million casual quitters.

Demon's Souls: $29.99 for a limited timeDave: One of last year's dark horse hits is now pretty cheap. I'm in for one.

Will: You can use the money you saved on therapy, since Demon's Souls will kick your butt and make you question your gaming skills.

Left 4 Dead 2 Mutations — Week 7

Dave: A chainsaw-only campaign mode? This DLC is the gift that keeps on giving.

Half-Life Announcement Coming?

AJ: Check it out… more (potential) Valve mysteriousness.

Dave: Dangit, they're being vague about Half-Life now, too? I thought they were limiting the mindf*ckery to Portal.

Games starring controversial figures

Did they help or hinder their games in the marketplace?Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – Looks like EA's keeping Tiger on their leash.Mercenaries 2: World in Flames – Hugo Chavez isn't technically in the game, but close enough.Fight Night Round 4 – Mike Tyson may be troubled, but he's gaming gold.Postal 2 – Gary Coleman or Osama Bin Laden. Take your pick.Space Channel 5 Special Edition – One of Michael Jackson's final video game roles.Sneak King – The King is a known stalker and unhealthy food-peddler.

The MMO Round-up captures the genre’s most notable happenings of the week in easy to consume, bite-sized portions. There are rumors floating about that suggest Crytek is working on an MMO possibly called Kingdoms. Lord of the Rings Online is going free-to-play this fall with the beta starting on June 16.

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Yet to give Futuremark’s vertigo-inducing Shattered Horizon a try? Quite good news then: the 360 degree PC space shooter will be free to play this weekend.

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With E3 a little over two weeks away, all eyes have turned to what’s next in the video game world, but there are still plenty of big new releases. Such as… – The Sims 3: Ambitions, the latest expansion to the popular PC life simulator.

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New games coming out in the week ahead include the espionage RPG from Obsidian and SEGA, Alpha Protocol, and a new Tetris game that allows you to use your Miis, Wii Speak and even the Balance Board in Tetris Party Deluxe. A few different sports games and a Sims 3 expansion is also available

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Sony revealing a PlayStation Network monetization plan at E3 is rumored once more. According to sources of Joystiq , the new service will be called PSN+ and will give paying customers additional services — previously rumored to include perks like a monthly free PSN game — while keeping online play free-of-charge. The additions are said to include a rotating list of PSP Minis and PSone Classics, exclusive downloadable content, PlayStation Store discounts, auto-patching, the PlayStation Protection Plan, cross-game voice chat and “first hour” demo access to full retail releases (Sony patented a ‘ degradable demo ‘ earlier in the year)

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With every game publisher Rockstar releases, it seems like the idea of videogame violence as “controversial” dies just a little. In fact, we’ve barely heard a peep from would-be culture critics over the release of Red Dead Redemption, despite ads for it being plastered seemingly everywhere we look. However, that didn’t stop the question of violence from coming up in a

Red Dead Redemption releases in Europe today, and going by reports those in the UK may want to pick up their copies as soon as possible. According to several major UK retailers, the game is facing serious shortages. Several GAME and HMV retailers have sold out of the PlayStation 3 version or expect to do so by the end of the day.

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