Jay Moore, marketing director for Garage Games announced via his blog today that he’ll be leaving the Garage to pursue other opportunities, no doubt within the gaming industry (we can only hope). Jay was seen by many as the one of the driving forces behind the success of Garage Games, the Torque Games Engine and the success of Marble Blast on the Xbox 360. He’ll surely be missed and I wonder how he possibly could be replaced in a company which is still struggling to establish itself outside of the hobbyist indie games market.

Read more: Jay Moore leaving Garage Games | Torque Game Engine

The ever so lovable Ichiro and Mimi from Indie Superstar have graced us once again with a new episode of their quickly maturing video cast covering indie games, developers and fans. Seriously, I want to pinch the cheeks of these two everytime I see them on-screen. So yeah, I apologize for completely breezing over episode 2, but I wanted to get back on the ball and talk a bit about episode 3. The crew have made a few small changes, giving games a bit more screen-time and a little less banter during the in-game scenes. There’s also YouTube and Google Video hosted videos, which I’m sure is pleasing their growing fanbase and easing up a bit on their web hosting bills. But on with the show, first up, we hear and see a little bit about Dark Horizons Lore, the mech-shooter, which was one of last year’s hot contenders at the IGF. Looking good, even for a Torque-powered title. Next up we have a bit of wackiness, with a little Japanese sing-along which actually got me to thinking. What is the Japanese indie gaming scene like and why do I hear so little about it? If there IS a Japanese indie scene, what are their marketing and distribution systems like, how successful are Japanese indie games titles, and who are the ones making them? I envision a large and profitable market full of broadband-enabled customers, demanding high quality and innovative games they can easily buy, download and play, but, what do I know?

Watch Indie Superstar Episode 3 after the jump..!

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Indie superstars Introversion Software have confirmed their next title, Defcon, will finally see the light in September 2006. After missing their previously announced deadline for April, and having a problematic Alpha/Beta testing phase, it’s good to finally see the War Games inspired title coming out! I know a group of dudes waiting for some online multi-player thermonucleur destruction (of the virtual, digital kind of course).

[Defcon | Introversion confirms Defcom September release]

Arenanet, the ex-Blizzard developers who went on to create Guild Wars, arguably one of the few successful games NCsoft publishes, has announced the next game in the series, named Nightfall. Little information on what the game will actually feature is present, but Arenanet and NCsoft are planning an upcoming PvP event for current players to get a taste of the current beta-level features of the game July 28 — 30, 2006. From the few screenshots released from Nightfall, really only a few character renderings, nothing much seems to have changed, but I’ll be interested to see where Arenanet plans on taking the Guild Wars world.

[Guild Wars Nightfall press release]

NCsoft has announced an odd promotional event this weekend for both CoH and CoV players. This weekend (July 21-23) players of both titles will earn double the usual experience points for all acts that involve XP gains. This is giving players the opportunity to quickly level up their characters in order to reach the many new features for higher-level players recently introduced in the “Destiny Manifest” expansions. As dear as I hold CoH and CoV to my heart, NCsoft is having some major problems keeping players interested in the game as it ages and moves forward in it’s story lines. With some of the most recent news out of NCsoft, I hope they can pull things back together, I guess we’ll have to wait and see how Tabula Rasa performs (though I’m not holding my breath).

[Coh / CoV double XP weekend event] (via MMORPG.com)

Iceland-based MMORPG creator CCP has launched a new feature for members of Eve-Online, called, EVE TV, a scheduled video-cast featuring live coverage of in-game events, mixed with commentary and analysis from PVP experts. Broadcasts are all live, straight from CCP headquarters to your Windows Media Player and also feature exclusive interviews with Dev and GM teams, for a behind-the-scenes look into one of the largest and most visually stunning massive multiplayers out there. Coverage is between 1500 and 2100 GMT, June 14th, 15th and 16th wtih another set of shows happening on July 21st, 22nd, and 23rd.

[Eve TV | Eve-Online]

Apparently fighter pilots not only get to fly extremely fast jets and blow things up, they also get to play amusing web-games that test their dexterity, hand/eye coordination and many other human attributes. Escapa! is a simple web-based interactive game, which is similar to the ones used by fighter pilots in-training around the world. The goal of the “game” is to hold a block, while avoiding collisions with other blocks which are moving around you, which seems simple enough. According to the creator of the game, average fighter pilots are supposed to last up to 2 minutes in this exercise, which would explain why I’m not a fighter pilot, seeing as I can’t even break 30 seconds. :(

[Escapa! dexterity training]

Indie games studio Positech Games have performed a “soft release” of their new sim-title, Kudos, announcing the game’s release direct to fans before a public release scheduled to begin next week. Kudos is a turn-based life-simulator title for the PC (at the moment) created by ex-Lionhead Games AI programmer Cliff Harris, who also was behind the much acclaimed political-sim title Democracy. In the game, players create their sim (almost a mini-game in itself!), decide where they work, who their friends should be, what they do to relax in their spare (game)time and many other activities. Kudos explores gameplay that other mainstream games ignore, allowing the player the freedom to do everything from watch television, to raising pets, to being an alcoholic starting drunken brawls with sims they don’t quite care for. Kudos to Cliffski for again releasing a solid and entertaining title and proving yet again that indie games market is emerging as both a viable and high quality alternative to mainstream gaming.

Video preview and links after the jump…

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An 11-year-old boy in North Carolina was in for a little shock after her purchased the latest “N-B-A video game” from Wal-Mart, only to find the disc contained a pornographic film, rather than the game he assumed he was buying. This was reported to be for the Sony PSP and the game was sealed and wrapped, but I’m finding this to be a little suspect (“oh gosh dad, that porn was in the packaging when I bought this game! Honest!”), without at least some more details. Wal-Mart are said to have replaced the game and are working together with the manufacturer to figure out what could have happened. Naturally, the boy’s father has already contacted his attorney, but is stating he only wants his son to get the right game before they leave on a trip next week. Ahhh North Carolina, how I miss you!

[11-year-old finds porn video in game package]

NCsoft has announced that all Auto Assault players, including EU players, will soon be merged onto one mega-server, known as Nexus and located within North America. According to NCsoft, this move is according to player’s wishes of having all players united on one major server in order to raise server population and give users a more diverse and satisfying game experience. The move will be occurring Thursday, July 13th and appears to indicate that the struggling MMORPG’s numbers are in fact disappointingly low and despite a huge marketing push, failed to really pull in a large enough userbase to justify multiple servers. This doesn’t bode well I’m afraid, both for NCsoft nor NetDevil, the Colorado-based developer behind Auto Assault. I personally am hoping that NCsoft implements their one-price, play-all strategy, which NCsoft reps have mentioned in several interviews over the past year. Lineage II, City of Heroes/Villains, Guild Wars and Auto Assault for one low monthly price, yes please.

[The Nexus is Coming: July 13, 2006]