Pete Davison

We've already seen today that Angry Birds plagiarism is rife -- but what does developer Rovio think about all this?

Apparently, the company isn't too worried. TechCrunch reports that Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka wandered out on stage at the Disrupt conference in Beijing holding a clump of illegal Angry Birds balloons he had purchased on the streets. Rather than seeking to attack these producers of illegal knockoffs, Vesterbacka uses the unlicensed products and designs as inspiration for official products and the Angry Birds brand's whole retail strategy.

I can't be the only person out there who has absolutely no interest whatsoever in playing Battlefield 3, or indeed any competitive multiplayer manshooter -- however beautifully it might be rendered (or, err, not).

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The UK-based GamesMaster Golden Joystick Awards have been running for 29 years now, making them one of the most long-running award ceremonies in the industry. They're also one of the few events where the winners are determined exclusively by the public rather than industry representatives, making them a good indication of what the people actually playing the games think is worthy of note.

This year saw over 2.06 million votes being cast by the public, smashing the Guinness World Record previously set at the 2009 ceremony. Big winners included Portal 2, which picked up the Ultimate Game of the Year award, while The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was determined the "One to Watch."

OnLive launched in the UK recently and brought with it a special deal where new users could get any game for £1. Sadly, this arrangement didn't apply to the U.S., but the company has made a promise: if their Facebook page gets to 62,791 Likes by this coming Saturday, North American users will get their next game for just $1, regardless of what it is.

Sounds like a pretty fair deal, and it doesn't require anything more taxing on your part than simply heading over to Facebook and clicking "Like."

Sony and Nintendo are very much into 3D at the moment, and some (unverified, probably unfounded but plausible) rumors suggest that the next generation of Xbox console may be 3D enabled too. Games comparison and marketplace site Playr2.com decided to investigate whether this is what gamers really wanted.

Back in April, startup Kiip revealed its plans to the world -- to offer real world rewards for in-game achievements. Essentially a form of gamified advertising, Kiip's service allowed game developers to partner with advertisers to provide coupons and freebies to players who reached certain milestones in supported games.

Several months later, and Kiip is attempting to evolve its mission into something that makes in-game achievements even more rewarding. As such, the company has partnered with Guinness World Records to allow players of Kiip-supported games to set official world records.

Games are not exactly well known for their sensitive handling of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender issues. Sure, BioWare titles and The Sims have traditionally allowed you to pursue same-sex relationships, but the issues surrounding these partnerships are never explored by the story. New research by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) lab aims to change this situation.

"Rather than having it be sidelined of there for a one-off joke, games can and should be doing something explorative and expressive on the topic [of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) content]," says Todd Harper, developer of the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab-developed title A Closed World -- a research project designed to specifically include compelling LGBT content rather than have it tacked on as an afterthought. "[Our] project addresses a very basic idea about identity and representation in mass media. Think about the first time you heard someone famous was different in the same way as you, or saw someone different in the same way on TV or in a movie. It gave you a little rush of good feeling. This is the way I sold the project to the interns. Cultural content shapes our reality."

One of the best things about Tetris on the original Game Boy was its simplicity and purity. You simply played Tetris, and you didn't have to worry about time limits, powerups, "holding" pieces -- it was just you against the ever-accelerating storm of falling blocks, or occasionally a friend.

Subsequent versions of Tetris over the years have added more and more in the way of different game modes. Some of these have been quite fun, and some more friendly to short play sessions, but I certainly always find myself returning to the traditional "Marathon" mode before long.

We've heard it all before, usually from Fox News: games are murder simulators, games will corrupt your children, games cause youngsters to become murderous fanatics.

Dragon Quest X is an online game, though the phrase "MMORPG" hasn't been bandied around. This suggests it may take a more Phantasy Star Online/Guild Wars approach to online gameplay rather than providing a truly persistent world. This side of things hasn't been explained fully as yet, but this week's issue of Japanese publication Weekly Shounen Jump (via Andriasang) reveals a few more details about the game's characters and world.

The setting is a world known as Astoldia. This world is split into four continents, each with their own dominant race. These continents are called Ogleed, home of the Ogres; Eltona, home of the Elves; Dwachakka, home of the Dwarves (do you see what they're doing here?); Pukuland, home of the Pukuripo; and the Wena Islands, home of the Wedi. There's also a mysterious central area where unspecified Bad Things are happening. It's suggested that this central area is the home of the humans, no doubt called something like Humancularagua or similar. Jump's article suggests that players will only be able to play as Ogre, Elf, Dwarf, Pukuripo and Wedi characters, with the plot revolving a mystery surrounding the human world, though some early footage seems to suggest humans will be playable also.

PopCap has announced that the iPhone version of Plants vs. Zombies is to get a big new update today. The update adds 9 new minigames taken from the computer versions of the game; a new microgame; and new Game Center achievements.

BitMob reports that an anonymous source claims the words "PlayStation 4 in 18 months" were uttered during a "high level meeting" at Sony. Sony, naturally, responded with the usual "we don't comment on rumors and speculation" so beloved of tech companies and so frustrating to people actually wanting answers.

BitMob's reporter Rus McLaughlin believes that the source from Sony is reputable and trustworthy, but has his doubts over whether the company is really likely to launch a PlayStation 4 on the world within the next 18 months.