The game industry may be getting swamped with sequels, remakes, annualization, and all manner of money-raking tactics. That's bad news, an analyst says, because creativity among developers is often compromised. He says, however, publishers are better off in the long run by breeding talent among the minds behind the medium. Get his full take in the article after the jump.

QuickJump QuickPeek has already reached more than half a year old. We've had thirty three issues, not including the special editions that cropped up from time to time. Here's the latest, and probably the greatest - it's our token of appreciation from us to all of you, it's Valentine's after all. Judging from the title alone, you probably know what to expect: every single Comment of the Week, all compiled and neatly packed in one huge compendium! Ever wondered who won the first ever Comment of the Week? You'll be very much surprised indeed...

Similar to Harvest Moon games, Marvelous Interactive's Yasuhiro Wada said he wants to create something like Spore (Nintendo Wii, DS, PC) in which gamers can create something that grows and produces other nifty stuff. In an interview, Wada talked about micro worlds and shared his ideas.

Find out more at the full article.

It's an endless debate when talking about girls playing the same video games guys play. They say girls only like MMORPGs, then follow up with "there are no girls on internet." Others believe female gamers stick to casual games, but Mario and Pokemon titles have more fanboys than fangirls.

No matter what your stand is, here's a list of non-girly games that aren't Barbie, Bratz, or any of those glamorous stuff.

Whether it's Turkey Day or Christmas, we feel the need to thank the greatest figures in video game history for their contributions that made gaming as fun as it is today. For decades, we've seen creative minds emerge and bring forward games that amaze the world, but they don't get much recognition. But now, we have enough time to list down some of the greatest geniuses behind phenomenal landmarks like Mario, Wolfenstein 3D, and even The Sims.

Looking for a quiet getaway from the routine bustle of civilization for this weekend? Electronic Arts is announcing that the Nintendo Wii, DS, and Sony PlayStation 2 ports of The Sims 2: Castaway is being readied for an October 26 release in Europe. The PlayStation Portable port will be coming in shortly after this year's Halloween festivities, on November 2.

The Sims 2: Castaway takes players on the wild side of Will Wright's The Sims game franchise as they struggle to survive, and hopefully flourish, on a deserted island. Players can look forward to adventuring in lush jungles and mysterious caves, as well as understanding the ancient civilization that's also on the island.

In addition to the exploration, DS owners will also be treated to six mini-games making the most of their handheld's controls - spear fishing, fire starting and bug squashing are among the activities you can expect.

Buy: [The Sims 2: Castaway (DS)]
Buy: [The Sims 2: Castaway (PSP)]
Buy: [The Sims 2: Castaway (Wii)]

Turn up the radio in the upcoming The Sims 2: Pets, and you just might hear familiar songs. Contemporary artists from around the world in rock, pop, hip-hop, and other music genres have rerecorded their songs in Simlish, the quirky who-said-what? language in The Sims and The Sims 2. So far, the 25 Simlish-translated songs EA has announced are present on the console and PC versions of the game, and they might just be included in the DS and PSP versions of the game. The Sims 2: Pets for the handhelds will be coming out late October (DS) and early November (PSP).

So take a look now at the list of songs and artists who will be included in The Sims 2: Pets soundtrack.

• "Chemicals React" (Aly & AJ)
• "Candles Cast Long Shadows" (Brazil)
• "I play Chicken with a Train" (Cowboy Troy)
• "Future" (Cut Copy)
• "Fortuzala" (Dena Deadly)
• "Free Radicals" (The Flaming Lips)
• "Colours" (Hot Chip)
• "So Glad To See You" (Hot Chip)
• "Hit It" (Isabelle Huang)
• "Topsy Turvy" (Jessi Malay)
• "Unthinkable" (Joanna J)
• "Come On Come On" (Kristen Dex)
• "Turn Out the Light" (New Amsterdams)
• "Dixie Dixie Where Have You Been All My Life" (Prescott)
• "Hurt Nobody" (Prescott)
• "Boombox Breakdown" (Ralph Myerz and The Jack Herren Band)
• "Girl Next Door" (Saving Jane)
• "Boyhunter" (Skye Sweetnam)
• "I Never Know" (Something for Rockets)
• "Wow Wow Wow" (Tanaila)
• "Black Shoes" (The Films)
• "The Compromise" (The Format)
• "Topy Apa Ty" (The Netw0rk)
• "Don't Cha" (Pussycat Dolls)
• "Simpatico" (Touchstone)
• "Aff Wubbas Doo" (W of P3)

Simlish first debuted in SimCopter, and Sims creator Will Wright brought it back for The Sims when he realized he needed some sort of dialogue in the game that wouldn't sound repetitive. Simlish is the result of the dev team playing around with Ukranian and Tagalog (a Philippine dialect). If you're wondering what a Simlish-translated song sounds like, below's the Sims 2 Pets video for Aly & AJ's "Chemicals React."

Numbers are a very reliable source of data because they have a fixed value. Like how the number one can never be the number two and vice versa. Using numbers, we can immediately tell how the Games Convention at Leipzig is going.

This year there are 32% more exhibitors; 13% more exhibition space; 200 World, European and German premieres; 150, 000 expected visitors and over 2,500 journalists from 30 countries. Needless to say,  Europe’s leading exhibition devoted to interactive entertainment, infotainment and edutainment is opening with some record-breaking figures. "Over the next four days we expect to welcome far more than 150,000 visitors from all over Europe." says Josef Rahmen, CEO of the Leipzig Fair.

In August 2005, 136,000 visitors came to Leipzig to size up 189 European and German premi?s presented by 280 exhibitors from 15 countries. GC 2005 certainly hit the headlines with some 2,000 journalists from 28 countries (up from 1,700 journalists from 21 countries in 2004) reporting from Europe’s leading public exhibition and trade show focusing on interactive entertainment.

The full article awaits after the jump!