Edge columnist Randy Smith's micro development studio Tiger Style, which he runs with David Kalina, has revealed Lost Mars, its follow up to the fantastic Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor. Apparently part Metroid, part 1970s-era sci-fi films and part gardening, Lost Mars is being made for iOS and being shown off at a live demo event in Austin, Texas, on September 4. Details are through the source link, and see screenshots in our gallery below. Spider, which was Tiger Style's first game, was one of iOS' first gems - expect a similarly great blend of action and story from Lost Mars.

Toshihiro Nagoshi's announcement of Yakuza 5 comes with news that Sega has set up a dedicated Yakuza Studio, the first product of which will be Binary Domain, the thirdperson shooter that is due next February. Sega has only just approved Yakuza 5, Nagoshi told Famitsu, and the team has found a way to continue the series despite the devastation wrought on Kamurocho by the zombie infestation depicted in Yakuza Of The End. Also announced was Yakuza Black Panther 2 for PSP, which will feature four extra characters in addition to Tatsuya, the original's protagonist, as well as a return to the fictional Osaka district of Sotenbori, which featured in Yakuza 2.

Unity Technologies has whittled down "an extensive and stellar list of games" and selected finalists in seven categories: Student, Non-Game, Cross-Platform, Graphics, Gameplay, Grand Prix and Community Choice. The awards will take place during the Unite 11 conference in San Francisco at the end of September. For the full list of finalists, follow the source link below.

In an interview with FMV, the voice of Portal 2's Wheatley said he found the work so tiring he wasn't sure he could do it again. "It seemed like a fun thing to do, but in actual fact it was one of the most tiring things I've ever done," he said. "I was standing in a recording booth shouting down imaginary corridors and falling out of make-believe ceilings. For hours at a time. And I really wanted to do a good job so I was shouting and screaming and leaping about. The thought of doing it again seems so daunting I'm not sure I can face it." Despite the extertion, Merchant added that he was "thrilled people have enjoyed the game so much."

It's been a while since Atlus has said much about its plans for the Persona series, but with Team Persona's work on Catherine complete things are becoming a little clearer. Persona 4 is to be remade for PlayStation Vita under the name Persona 4 The Golden, with extra features including a new character and more voice acting, and "basic preparations" for development of Persona 5 have been completed. Most surprising is the announcement of Persona 4 The Ultimate, a 2D fighting game set two months after Persona 4 and developed by Guilty Gear and BlazBlue studio Arc System Works. The game, which will feature characters from Personas 3 and 4, will hit arcades next spring, with Xbox 360 and PS3 versions to follow in the summer.

Microsoft has announced plans to bundle a downloadable copy of Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s musical shooter Child Of Eden with the current Kinect hardware offering, which includes Kinect Adventures. Launching in all Xbox Live regions excluding Japan, where Child Of Eden has yet to be released, the new bundle will begin appearing in stores next week for the same price as the existing one, “available in limited quantities and while supplies last”. While Child Of Eden is also playable with a traditional Xbox 360 controller, it is widely regarded as a highlight of Kinect’s software line-up. Our review, which you can read through the link below, labelled the game “a convincing example of how motion control can breathe new life into a niche genre” and, “more than that, a masterclass in audio design and the emotive power of CG imagery”.

Nokia temporarily closed its developer network after it was hacked and user information compromised. The company said members' personal information including dates of birth, email and Skype addresses may have been stolen, but that no credit card details were taken. "A database table containing developer forum members' email addresses has been accessed, by exploiting a vulnerability in the bulletin board software that allowed an SQL Injection attack," the company said. "Initially we believed that only a small number of these forum member records had been accessed, but further investigation has identified that the number is significantly larger.”

Google has confirmed plans to close social game and apps developer Slide. Acquired for around $200 million a little over a year ago as part of what was then speculated to be wider efforts to build Facebook rival Google+, the studio was formed in 2005 by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, who is to leave Google. Slide-created apps and games like SuperPoke! Pets, Top Fish and Photovine, the last of which was only released last week, will reportedly be retired over the coming months. “Max has decided to leave Slide and Google to pursue other opportunities, and we wish him the best,” a Google spokesperson told AllThingsD. “Most of the team from Slide will remain at Google to work on other opportunities.”

A trio of senior staff members recently made redundant when THQ Digital Warrington closed its doors have established a new UK games outfit based in the North West. Founded by Digital Warrington senior concept artist Paul Dolan, studio graphic designer Donna Jennett and art director Stuart Jennett, Alien Apple Studios will offer a range of concept design services from vehicle, character, environment and UI design through to product branding, Develop reports. “It’s exciting times for studios like us, in the games industry especially there is a long-term change in the production model starting to emerge with outsourcing becoming the norm,” said Jennett. “As well as the big publishers there’s also a boom in small independent studios again that hopefully we can provide for. We’ve already had some amazing interest, we’re a strong team with a lot of skills and imagination to offer and I’ve every confidence for Alien Apple Studios' future.”

The publisher announced Rhythm Thief earlier this month in its Japanese guise, which translates as Rhythm Phantom Thief R: Inheritance of the Emperor Napoleon, but has confirmed a western localisation - and, thankfully, a shorter name - in a press release this afternoon. The game casts players as Raphael, the titular thief, on a quest to discover the truth behind his father's disappearance in Paris with a blend of puzzle-solving and rhythm action. While the visuals may draw inspiration from Level-5's Layton series, the sight of a three-man dance team on a Nintendo handheld brings to mind Inis' DS classic Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, which can only be a good thing. Rhythm Thief will be released for 3DS - with multiplayer and StreetPass support - early next year.

Sean Ryan says publishers can help Facebook gaming mean more than just FarmVille.

Ubisoft Reflections has just upshifted the rules of racing.

Developer Treasure's website confirms that the long-awaited Xbox Live Arcade release of its beloved Saturn shooter will launch on September 14, costing 1200 Microsoft Points. We've contacted Microsoft to ask if that's a worldwide release date, and will update when we hear more.

It's not every day that a player who only makes the top 48 at a fighting game tournament finds a sponsor, but The Traveling Circus has made an exception for Noah Solis. And little wonder: the player who won over the crowd at the Evolution Championships earlier this month is just eight years old. "I went with TTC as my sponsor because they treat me good, they are nice people, they give me hope in my future, and they believe in my ability," Solis said. "I like their name. They are nice to me, my dad is comfortable with their character and my brothers approve." Solis is in esteemed company at TTC - it also sponsors Taiwanese Street Fighter player Gamerbee, and Japan's Tokido - and as well as arranging travel to tournaments TTC is to release a line of Noah clothing, some of which will be designed by the boy himself.

Majesco shares rose seven per cent following the announcement of a Kinect game based on Hasbro's Twister, which is set for release in November. With support for up to eight players, Twister will feature 16 game modes in all, including one based directly on the original game. Majesco's chief marketing officer, Christina Glorioso, said: "This is using your full body as a game piece," presumably willing us all to ignore the fact that the 45-year-old original game is as well.

Gamification isn’t the problem, argues Thom Dinsdale. It’s the circus that surrounds it.

A trademark filing in July outed Harmonix's next project, an iOS app called Vidrhythm, with the developer at first refusing to reveal anything about it beyond a curt "it will be awesome" and later moving to correct reports that described it as a game instead of an app. At last weekend's PAX event in Seattle, Vidrhythm was formally unveiled as an earnestly lo-fi music video generator: it records a succession of short video clips of users making various sound effects and stitches them together. As IGN's report shows, there's clear potential for some clever creations in the right hands - and some frankly nightmarish efforts in the wrong ones.

A trademark filing in July outed Harmonix's next project, an iOS app called Vidrhythm, with the developer at first refusing to reveal anything about it beyond a curt "it will be awesome" and later moving to correct reports that described it as a game instead of an app. At last weekend's PAX event in Seattle, Vidrhythm was formally unveiled as an earnestly lo-fi music video generator: it records a succession of short video clips of users making various sound effects and stitches them together. As IGN's report shows, there's clear potential for some clever creations in the right hands - and some frankly nightmarish efforts in the wrong ones.

Guillaume Martin's XBLIG puzzle-platformer won the $40,000 grand prize in Microsoft's fifth annual XNA development contest, which gives "aspiring game developers the opportunity to showcase their innovation and talent to the world." Other winners were Solar 2, TIC: Part 1, and Sequence, with honourable mentions for Alien Jelly, The Bridge, and Ninja Crash.

The upcoming Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary will feature an optional 3D mode, Microsoft has announced. Dennis Reis of developer 343 Industries told CVG: "It's a fun way to increase the immersion of the game, and if you've got the technology, you definitely want to take advantage of it."

Users can now sign up for the first beta phase of Funcom's upcoming MMOG The Secret World. Players can choose between one of three secret societies - Templar, Illuminati, and Dragon - and Funcom is also asking that existing members of the game's community sign up again to ensure their partication in phase two of the beta, which will add social features, including a "web-based community game." To register, follow the source link below.

The Ambassador Programme - Nintendo's way of compensating early adopters for the 3DS price drop - begins on September 1. We're yet to receive a final list of the games on offer to European gamers, and have sought confirmation, but in the meantime Nintendo has announced the ten NES games that will be available to Japanese users: Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong Jr, Balloon Fight, Ice Climber, The Legend Of Zelda, Wrecking Crew, Mario Open Golf, Mario & Yoshi, Metroid, and The Legend Of Zelda II.

Here's a video of the $25 USB stick-sized computer that David Braben has co-created running Quake III at 1080p. But at 10-15fps. They reckon it should run faster, however. Hang on, isn't Raspberry Pi meant to be all education, education, education? It's like the BBC Micro all over again.

Despite EA senior VP Patrick Soderlund saying last month that no mod tools would be released for Battlefield 3 because "it's going to be too big of a challenge for people," developer DICE's general manager Karl-Magnus Troedsson has said that the team is considering releasing mod tools further down the line. "We have heard the community very loud and clear on this topic," he told Ausgamers. "We are considering it, back in the studio. The game won't ship with mod tools, but we have heard it. I'm not saying that we're going to do it, I'm saying that we are thinking about it."

The US retailer was last week found to be removing codes from the PC release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution that gave users a free copy of the game on streaming service OnLive, which it saw as promoting a competitor. It has since removed the game from sale entirely, and has written to customers to apologise. "We were not aware that the product box would contain this competitor's offer," CEO Paul Raines wrote. "We regret the events surrounding this title release and that our customers were put in the middle of this issue between GameStop and Square Enix. For this, we are truly sorry…We want to earn back your trust and confidence in the GameStop experience." The retailer is offering all affected customers a $50 gift card, and a buy-two-get-one-free deal on pre-owned games.