A group of developers whose cumulative credits include work on Gears of War, F.E.A.R. 2, Condemned 2 and Spec Ops: The Line have announced new indie start-up Strange Games.

The studio's first title is physics-based puzzler Demolicious, due out later this year on iOS and Android. See the trailer below for a closer look.

Strange Games' six-man team traces its roots back to 2001, when they met at the University of Advancing Technology in Arizona.

The group of friends developed the IGF-nominated Dodgeball Source mod, which racked up more than a million downloads, but then went their separate ways after graduation.

A few years later some of them crossed paths again at Monolith Productions while working on the F.E.A.R. and Condemned franchises, and sowed the seeds for what would become Strange Games.

Most of the team are still working full time finishing up AAA projects before, hopefully, focusing on Strange Games 24/7 after Demolicious launches.

"It's all after hours, but it's a lot of hours," explained technical director Ken Mayfield, a Gears of War alumni who is currently working on Take-Two shooter Spec Ops: The Line.

"We do our eight [hours] at one company, then we turn around and do our eight at another. We're hoping we can concentrate on ourselves after this, after we release Demolicious."

"Especially around 2005 time when AAA shooters were starting to boom, everyone wanted to make the biggest, most awesome blockbuster game," he added.

"It's fun up to a point, but the real fun is sitting down with your buddies, making a game that's not all that serious and utilising the knowledge we've picked up from AAA development. Putting those together I think is where the real money is at."

The identities of the other team members are currently being kept under wraps until their AAA work is done and dusted.

Mario Kart 7's vehicle customisation features made it into the finished game despite getting a lukewarm reaction from Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto, according a new Famitsu interview.

As translated by 1Up, Miyamoto explained that he thought the ability to tinker with your kart deviated from the "core fun" of the series.

"I was actually pretty well against some of the customisation features of the game," he explained.

"It can be fun to win money for racing and use it to buy parts and such, but I didn't think that had much to do with the core fun of the series."

However, Miyamoto allowed the feature into the final build on the condition that the rest of the game was top notch.

"The idea for that [feature] came from the studio staff, though, and my final response was 'If you can build this customisation on top of a solid control and gameplay foundation, then go ahead.'"

Elsewhere in the interview, Miyamoto revealed that there was no intent for the game to be a huge leap forward for the franchise. As he sees it, the basic Mario Kart gameplay is already near-perfect, so it was just a case of making a bigger, better version for 3DS.

"Sometimes people yelled at me to look at things more closely, but like I said, the core of Mario Kart is pretty solid at this point and I think it's safe to have it evolve in a pretty staid and traditional manner," he said.

"The basic message here is 'Mario Kart has been powered up for the Nintendo 3DS,' and I think the online upgrades in particular are pretty neat. A lot of time was spent on how to get all the individual components working together - Wi-Fi and Street Pass, local and Internet play."

Finally he revealed the thinking behind the game's rather unambitious title.

"Coming up with the title was actually a lot of trouble for us, but it is the seventh game, and so it just sort of came down to what felt best. Besides, seven is supposed to be a lucky number, isn't it?"

Take a look at our recent Mario Kart 7 preview for more on the game, which is due out on 2nd December.

Test Drive: Ferrari launches in Europe on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 30th March, distributor Bigben Interactive has announced.

No gameplay details have been revealed yet, and it's not known who is developing. However, speculation points to this being Need For Speed: Shift developer Slightly Mad Studios' long-rumoured Ferrari game.

Blimey! Games, which Slightly Mad acquired back in 2009, had a licensed Ferrari title in the works, which was then reportedly held up by legal wranglings.

When quizzed on the No Grip forum as to the game's status back in August, Slightly Mad's head of development Ian Bell replied, "On the Ferrari game, expect some interesting news very soon."

We've asked the UK-based studio to confirm or deny and will update when we hear back.

The last entry in the Test Drive series, Test Drive: Unlimited 2, was published by Atari back in February.

Bigben will distribute the game in France, Benelux and Germany. Publishing and distribution plans for the UK and US are yet to be confirmed.

UPDATE According to Sony's PlayStation Blog, Super Stardust Delta and Gravity Rush will also be available from launch.

ORIGINAL STORY: Sony has announced its first party PlayStation Vita launch line-up for Europe.

Among the SCEE-published titles on shelves from 22nd February are Uncharted: Golden Abyss, WipEout 2048, ModNation Racers: Road Trip and a previously unannounced MotorStorm title.

Here's the full list:

• Uncharted: Golden Abyss
• WipEout 2048
• Reality Fighters
• Little Deviants
• ModNation Racers: Road Trip
• Everybody's Golf
• Escape Plan
• Top Darts
• Hustle Kings
• Unit 13
• MotorStorm RC

Sony exec Michael Denny reckons it's "one of the best launch line ups of any games console, ever launched."

Six augmented reality cards that showcase the handheld's WAAR (Wide Angle Augmented Reality) features will also be available at launch, to be used with a number of free games available from PlayStation Network.

Unlike the 3DS's single-card AR, the Vita can read up to six cards at once over a much larger play area. It also supports markerless AR that does away with the cards altogether.

Vita also offers Facebook, Skype, Foursquare, Flickr and Twitter applications, as well as Sony's own new geo-based social plaything Near.

"We're counting down the days to the launch of PS Vita. This launch is something we are all so excited about at PlayStation as that's when we can see PS Vita where it was made to be - in the hands of gamers," commented Denny.

A full list of third party Vita launch titles is yet to be announced. However, Namco Bandai has already revealed that it will have Touch My Katamari, Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen and console launch perennial Ridge Racer ready for 22nd February.

Codemasters' portable version of F1 2011 and EA's FIFA Football are also expected to appear close to launch.

Sony offered up the following list of third party titles currently in development for the Vita:

• Army Corps of Hell, Square Enix
• Asphalt: Injection, Ubisoft
• Disgaea 3 Return, NIS America
• Dungeon Hunter: Alliance, Ubisoft
• Dynasty Warriors Next, Tecmo Koei
• EA Sports FIFA Football, EA
• F1 2011, Codemasters
• Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7, WB Games
• Lumines Electronic Symphony, Ubisoft
• Michael Jackson: The Experience HD, Ubisoft
• Ninja Gaiden (working title), Tecmo Koei
• OddWorld: Strangers Wrath, OddWorld Inhabitants
• Puddle, Neko Entertainment
• Pure Chess, RebelPlay
• Putty Squad Vita, System 3
• Rayman Origins, Ubisoft
• Ridge Racer, Bandai Namco
• Shinobido 2, Bandai Namco
• Silent Hill: Book of Memories, Konami
• Stardrone Extreme, BeatShapers
• Super Monkey Ball Banana Splitz, SEGA
• Supremacy MMA, 505 Games
• Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, Drinkbox Studios
• The Treasures of Montezuma Blitz, Alawar Entertainment
• Touch My Katamari, Bandai Namco
• Troopies, Bloober Team
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom, Capcom
• Urban Trials, Tate Multimedia
• Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition, SEGA
• Orc Attack, Casual Brothers
• Ben 10 Galactic Racing, Bandai Entertainment
• Dragon's Racing, Ignition Entertainment
• Robot Rescue Revolution, Teyon
• Mortal Kombat, WB Games
• Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft
• Bioshock, Take Two
• Street Fighter X Tekken, Capcom
• Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard

UPDATE: More details on MotorStorm RC have appeared courtesy of the PlayStation Blog. Rather than the full racing experience of its predecessors, it features miniature remote-controlled cars.

As the Vita version, it'll also be available for PlayStation 3 users as a PSN download. A single purchase grants you access to both versions.

Take a look at the trailer below for more.

ORIGINAL STORY: Sony has announced two more first party PlayStation Vita titles: a portable entry in its MotorStorm series and new shooter IP Unit 13.

MotorStorm RC, developed by franchise mainstay Evolution Studios, will feature 24 vehicles and a host of social interaction features, with DLC adding more tracks and cars post-launch.

Unit 13 is a third-person military shooter from Socom/MAG developer Zipper Interactive. It promises a gritty, contemporary setting in which the player has to stop terrorists, dictators, gunrunners, warlords and drug traffickers from destabilising the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and South Asia.

There are six different classes to choose from - Infiltrator, Sniper, Soldier, Technician, Point Man, and Support.

It's apparently designed specifically for bite-sized portable play, allowing you to jump in at any time without having to keep track of a over-arching story.

Both titles will be available from the Vita's 22nd February launch. We'll post trailers just as soon as Sony makes them available.

The first glimpse of BioWare's brand new IP in action has gone live.

A teaser hosted on Spike TV's site offers a second or two of footage from the game in a plug for its VGA event next month.

The clip shows some tanks rolling through a barren urban landscape and attacking a convoy of trucks.

This and the single screen shot revealed earlier this month are all you have to go on until the game's full reveal on 10th December.

It looks like the new Dizzy game Codemasters teased this morning is in fact an iOS port of 1991 effort Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk.

In a post dating back to July, a member of the Yolkfolk forum claimed that Paul Ransom, founder of now-defunct Dizzy developer Big Red Software, had told them he was working on an iOS version of the sixth game in the classic platforming series at his new Slam Productions outfit.

"It's going to be a proper port rather than emulation with 32 bit graphics and some updates (the ghetto blasters are now mp3 players) and it's virtually finished, it just needs Codemasters to give it the ok," wrote the poster.

The source added that it will feature virtual thumbstick controls and that an Android version is also planned.

Slam's CV includes Wii and DS games based on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Telly Addicts, Golden Balls and Family Fortunes.

Codemasters is expected to make a formal announcement tomorrow as to exactly what it has planned.

Ubisoft Shanghai started from scratch when it took over production of I Am Alive, with much of original developer Darkwork's efforts being scrapped.

Since it debuted with a spectacular trailer in July 2008, I Am Alive has been shrouded in mystery. It emerged that Darkworks handed over the reigns to Ubisoft Shanghai last year, and the game was re-announced as a digital download late in September.

With its release at an unspecified date this winter drawing closer, and with the game nearing completion, Ubisoft has started to take the wraps off I Am Alive with a series of gameplay presentations - and the story behind its protracted development has started to become clear.

"First it was a CG trailer," Ubisoft Shanghai's Aurelian Palasse told Eurogamer, "It arrived in Shanghai in 2010, and we decided to make it more realistic."

In its current near-final shape, I Am Alive is a survival game set a year after a mysterious apocalyptic event, with a focus on traversal and inventory management.

"We started from scratch, but with the same pitch," Palasse said, "I don't want to take the point of view that our game's better [than Darkworks'] - but first of all it was a CG, so everything was possible, and it wasn't real gameplay. But we liked the pitch, and we liked the way it felt."

I Am Alive is scheduled to hit Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network this winter. We'll bring you a more detailed look at the game in the very near future.

Rayman 3 is being given the HD treatment, with a re-jigged version of the game scheduled to hit Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

First released in 2003, Rayman 3 received a warm reception and is one of the series 3D highlights.

There have been rumours of a Rayman HD collection floating around for some time, but today's news suggests Ubisoft will be applying the HD brush one game at a time.

There's no firm news on a release date or price just yet.

Rayman recently made a triumphant return to 2D with Rayman Origins, which Simon recently reviewed.

First screenshots of Rayman 3 HD lie below.

Techland's new game has been shown, with the Dead Island developer working on Haste, an ATV racer that's being brought to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network by Ubisoft.

Bearing more than a passing resemblance to Nail'd, Techland's similarly themed game that was published by Deep Silver earlier this year, it's an extreme racer with a fleeting relationship to reality, with extravagant and unlikely jumps and stunts being the order of the day.

Haste was first shown by Ubisoft late last month, though we seem to have been looking the other way back then. A quick hands-on at today's Ubisoft Digital Days revealed the game to have more than an aesthetic relationship to Nail'd, with the light handling and simple boost mechanics of that game seemingly intact.

Nail'd met with a muted critical response earlier this year, though with its spiritual successor coming to digital platforms and with the reduced price tag that suggests Haste may be in for an easier ride. A loose 2012 release window is all that's been offered up so far.