This week the Gaming Trend Podcast learned that it already has an explicit tag on iTunes, and so it’s no more mister nice cast.  Join Victor and Atlas as they curse like sailors when they learn that Microsoft is killing Microsoft points, EA is killing Online Passes, and the Wii is outselling the Wii.  If you’ve got some four letter words of your own, you can send them to us at podcast@gamingtrend.com, you can leave a comment below, or you can leave a comment on iTunes.

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Yes, that is a Samurai Bear working the holocontrols of her starship.  You’re intrigued, aren’t you?  Want to know what game that is?  Listen to this week’s edition of the Gaming Trend Podcast and you’ll find out!  Join Atlas and Victor as they discuss the biggest happenings in WoW, Diablo III, MechWarrior Online, Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014, and Injustice.  If you’re interested in picking up a free copy of Forge, you can let us know by emailing us at podcast@gamingtrend.com, by leaving a comment below, or by rating us on iTunes!

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Show Me the Games is currently hosting a major indie game sale worth paying attention to. It’s a limited time deal on a wide variety of top notch indie titles (including Jets ‘n Guns Gold, a personal favorite of mine), with just under five days left to go as of this writing. Largely these are 50% off discounts, with the twist that these purchases are largely straight from the developers themselves – that means no middleman services in play, and the money you spend on these games goes straight to the developers. Now, I love Steam, and I think indie devs love selling through Steam, but an opportunity like this is nice all the same for those of us who love to make sure we’re fully supporting the actual teams creating these products.

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Extraordinary losses of the financial kind, not the flower-girl kind. Develop reports that everyone’s favorite developer of androgynous RPG heroes (among other things) has posted losses of 88 million pounds (over 130 million in USD) for the year ending March 31st. This is hot on the heels of Square-Enix games such as Tomb Raider, Hitman Absolution and Sleeping Dogs apparently not meeting the company’s internal forecasts – they sold millions of copies each, but the figures were nevertheless considered weak by their internal measures. On the upside, Square-Enix is doing well in the mobile and web browser markets – and they damn well better be considering what they tend to charge for iOS releases.

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A while back we saw the Art of Dead Space from Titan Books, and the 95/100 score just shows how highly we thought of the hardcopy. Now, art books for both Dead Space and Halo 4 have moved to iTunes – where they’ve picked up some additional features to take advantage of the digital medium, and gotten a price cut along the way as well. I had the opportunity to check out both of these books on my iPad 4, so I want to say a few things about how the transition from dead tree to digital format has gone for both of these books. The short version is: it’s gone well. For around half the cost of the hardcopy, you’re not only picking up the convenience of having the book on the iPad, but also the inclusion of relevant video and interviews to augment your experience. For those of you who have been waiting around to pick this up on your iOS device, I want to go over the additional features you can expect.

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Diablo III is a great game if you ask me. For all its flaws, I more than got my money’s worth out of the title – hours and hours were spent cutting and shooting and looting my way to Inferno mode, and it wasn’t until Act III of inferno that I ended up taking a break. Blizzard has patched the game repeatedly with fixes, content alterations, and more… but damn, the economy has been a train wreck. The latest issue involves a full-scale gold-dupe bug, and Gamasutra gives a pretty thorough rundown of just what went wrong here. While the details are fascinating, the end result is that millions upon millions of gold have ended up flooding into the economy, to the point where the auction houses needed to be shut down and a large-scale audit of transactions is currently underway to find out who duped what. I suppose their ability to perform these audits stands out as a justification for their unpopular online-only DRM decision, but it’s hard to think of a worse way for them to have gotten a point in their favor on that score.

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News that Total War: Rome II will be coming this September is welcome enough – really, it’s a fantastic strategy game that continues to be an absolute wonder to simply watch people play. The fact that there’s going to be a Collector’s Edition is also nice, if not totally surprising. But the fact the CE also includes a kit to construct a fully functional Roman siege catapult? Now that’s eye-catching. Of course, it looks a little on the simple and certainly small side. Perfect if you want to wage war on some Smurfs, or perhaps the neighbor’s garden gnome. Still, as far as enticing CE pack-ins go, it’s going to be hard to top ‘fully functional catapult’ no matter how many caveats are added into the mix.

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Electronic Arts has announced the upcoming 2014 release of The Sims 4 for PC and Mac. This is one of those news bits that you could comfortably file under ‘inevitable’ – we all knew it was coming eventually, it was just a question of when. Details are a bit thin at the present time – no screenshots, no feature list. Merely the EA announcement and the promise of more details to come. Still, for those of you who love ruling over your helpless AI denizens and forcing them to copulate with whomever you deem worthy, this is some great news!

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For those of you who have been holding out for the 360 release of Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine, some good news! Pocketwatch Games has announced that the highly regarded co-op stealth game will be released on Microsoft’s console May 10th. Those of you who are unfamiliar with the game should check out the GT review to learn a little about what this gem offers. I still jump into it now and then when I can steel myself against the inevitable embarrassment that’s going to come when I say ‘to hell with it’ and just start running around and grabbing loot while tripping alarms and getting my teammates attacked by guards. Fun stuff!

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TechCrunch is reporting that Google has hired industry veteran Noah Falstein to the position of Chief Game Designer, suggesting that the sprawling search-engine giant may have something big planned for gaming in the near future. After all, Falstein has been around since the Sinistar days, continuing upwards and through Alan Wake – so whatever Google’s got planning, they apparently needed someone with serious design experience under their belt. Now, Google isn’t completely alien to gaming – they have some tertiary links to the industry just by the nature of their various tech involvements. As TechCrunch points out, however, Falstein’s main focus seems to be on what he calls Serious Games: what he terms as “Using Games, Game Technology, or Game Industry Techniques for a purpose other than pure entertainment.” That’s pretty suggestive, and the possibilities go beyond straight-up educational games. So, armed only with this brief hiring news and an endless amount of baseless speculation, just what can we expect out of Google the Game-maker?

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Star Command, the pixel-art-heavy game that was a kickstarter sensation at the time, has finally been released for the iOS. Pretty big news for those of us who have been looking forward to this game since its initial funding success - not to mention for anyone eager to get some sci-fi action in on their tablet. I’ve spent a few hours poking around in the game as of now, and I can report this much: the pixel art is top-notch where it’s used, complete with some really pleasant animations. The general concept is solid. For $2.99 straight out of the app store, it’s worth it for anyone who’s been craving a little bit of strategy. But as of this build the initial impression I’m getting off it is that it’s FTL with much more graphical and audio content, with the tradeoff of far weaker gameplay.

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Mode 7 games would like you to know that their popular strategy game Frozen Synapse is scheduled to hit the iPad as of May 16th. Not only that, but they’d like you to know about the various features that come with the iPad version – what it means for those players who have both PC and iPad copies of the games, when the Android release is scheduled, and various helpful tips on how to enjoy the game while in the privacy of your hastily-assembled fortress of solitude at work! The big news here is cross-platform play from iOS to PC and vice versa, which is unbelievably welcome news.

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No, this isn’t about Poker Night at the Inventory 2. A poker player managed to get someone more dangerous than GladOS angry at him.

Wired has an interesting story up about an interesting legal case currently being pursued. Here’s the short version: some very crafty gamblers discovered a software bug in a video poker machine. The sort of bug that was able to make them thousands of dollars wealthier if they just happened to exploit it the right way. As often happens in cases like this, they got a bit greedy, the casino noticed, and the right to their winnings was disputed. So far, so normal. What’s not so normal is how high the stakes have become – with government prosecutors getting involved to argue that what the exploit-using gamblers did in this case was not only unethical, but a violation of federal anti-hacking laws. Keep in mind, the players in this case didn’t break into the machine, or fiddle with the hardware directly. They just exploited a bug – or is it a feature? – that was already built into the code.

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It’s always great when a company not only manages to make excellent games, but also does a bit of public charity on the side. Wargaming.net – known for World of Tanks, World of Warplanes and World of Battleships – has announced a new promotion for the month of May. Since May is Military Appreciation Month, Wargaming.net will be offering some nice bundles for those who want to add some gold, credit and equipment to their World of Tanks experience. Not only are these pretty nice deals, but 10% of all revenue from these bundles will go to Homes for Our Troops, AMVETS, and the Military Families Fund. Three worthy charities if ever there were any. Good job, Wargaming.net!

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Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is now out and available, but some questions still remain for those who haven’t picked this title up. What does a Dark Arisen look like, for example? What does it look like when a jump-kicking pawn is smacked aside by a lumbering, muscular demon? Do the skeletons in this expansion appear in full suits of armor? Well, all this and more can be answered by checking out the latest screenshot gallery inside!

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Defense Grid is a fantastic game – really, one of the best tower defense titles I’ve played. But to me what’s most noteworthy about it is the sheer number of times I’ve seen it up for sale for around a buck on Steam, which has probably resulted in the title ending up in scores of libraries it otherwise likely wouldn’t have. Either way, Defense Grid 2 has been announced by Hidden Path Entertainment - though it’s still a long ways off. “The first half of 2014″, so sayeth the company’s blog post, and it will be coming for Mac, PC and Linux. Co-op and competitive modes shall be included, and really, if you’re into the tower defense genre this is a one to keep tabs on.

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In a move that will surprise absolutely no one, Steam – having already conquered most of the digital download and related DLC distribution markets – is now mediating subscription services through it’s supremely popular platform. This means games which require monthly payments can now be paid via the Steam wallet – select games, anyway. And the first game to make use of this is Darkfall Unholy Wars, billed as a real-time, fast-paced PVP sandbox game in which players are “called to form clans and battle for dominance across the seamless, zoneless, uninstanced open fantasy world of Agon.” Honest to God, I hadn’t heard of it until the moment I saw the Steam release news… but that short description is awfully enticing. I do love me some sandboxes and PVP.

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You legions of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo fans, take note! Blizzcon tickets are now on sale. As always, it’s best to act fast if you want to attend this convention, as these have of habit of selling out rapidly. A second batch will be sold on April 27th at 10am PDT, with 500$ dollar charity dinner tickets going up for grabs May 1st at 7pm PDT. The standard tickets cost 175$, but I’ve always heard from people who’ve hit this con that there’s a whole lot of fun to be had – along with some game incentives, of course.

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Remember Legend of Grimrock? That awesome first-person old-school dungeon crawler? Well, if you loved that game and were hoping to get more of it, I have some good news for you. The Legend of Grimrock Master Quest fan expansion has recently been updated and is available for free via Steamworks. It’s offered up as “a complete re-working of the entire original game with tons of new puzzles, updated dungeon designs, unique story elements, and more. It has been referred to as “Grimrock on Steroids”.” Really, if you liked the original Legend of Grimrock, this is at least worth checking out – consider it’s available for the low low price of free, assuming you already have the original game.

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Ripoffs are nothing all that new in gaming, whether we’re talking about on the indie level or the large scale level. But indie portable developer Vlambeer has been getting it particularly bad lately, seeing their games getting duplicated before they’re even released to the public. Well, hot on the heels of one ripoff, another has supposedly taken place – with Vlambeer’s Luftrausers being beaten to the punch yet again, according to Gamasutra. While the trailer to competitor Rubiqlab’s product has been changed from public to private, the word is getting around and prompting some discussion about the ethics of these kinds of moves. After all, no one has accused Vlambeer’s competitors with stealing any assets; they’ve simply taken what they’ve seen of the company’s ideas and rushed to the market ahead of them.

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