Disney and Capybara's Critter Crunch was awarded the Best Game Award at the Independent Game Festival (IGF) which was held as part of the 2008 Game Developers Expo. If you haven't heard of this game, you might want to head on over to the full article for more information.

Old school games being planned for next-gen releases seem to be the latest trend. Of course, this is not something new but the amount of IPs being resurrected is really worth mentioning. Today, you can add another one to that list.

Aside from the planned movie Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, the company is also planning to release a new video game title based from the said film. Check out the full details of this development after the jump!

Feeling excited by the slew of Kingdom Hearts titles for the handhelds? No? Well, we do. Character designer Tetsuya Nomura for Square Enix was interviewed by Japanese game magazine Gemaga, and he revealed some tidbits about Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, and Kingdom Hearts: Coded.

Nomura said that the control scheme of the previous two Kingdom Hearts games for the PlayStation 2 will be retained, so we'll be likely to see real-time menu surfing while beating up the baddies. As difficult as it may sound, its actually a breeze to do after some practice.

As for Birth by Sleep, Nomura said that there will be three scenarios, and players can choose which scenario to do first. There's no scenario which is more important that the others, so players can even stop in the middle of the first scenario to do another one, said Nomura.

The main theme of all three scenarios will be to answer the question "Ven, who are you?", referring to the young boy who looks like Roxas.

Kingdom Hearts for the PSP will use an evolved version of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories' card battle system, as well as a mysterious "character growth system" that Nomura didn't discuss in detail at this point.

Moving on to Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (he revealed that it's pronounced as "Three Five Eight Days over Two"), Nomura revealed that due to Roxa's slightly detached attitude, the Disney character treatment will be slightly different in 358/2 Days.

How about the controls? Nomura revealed that they will use the stylus minimally, as they want to retain the control scheme of previous Kingdom Hearts games, with the same interface as the PlayStation 2 Kingdom Hearts titles. Instead, it will be used for an in-game chat system, but he did not clarify if it will be through the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection, or through a local-based wireless connection.

Multiplayer in 358/2 Days looks fun, as players will be able to choose from any of the members of Organization XIII (that's 13 playable characters!), and will have plenty of missions like defeating enemies or retrieving items.

As for Kingdom Hearts: Coded for the mobile phones, it is unique in such a way that it takes place after Kingdom Hearts 2, and not a prequel like the other two games. The gameplay has not been touched upon by Nomura, but screenshots revealed that it will have the same interface as the first two Kingdom Hearts games for the PS2. 

Whew! That's definitely so much info. We sure can't wait for Kingdom Hearts, so you can expect us to sniff out more updates for you. Til then, stay tuned!

Riding on the fame Square Enix has developed for the series during the previous years, Kingdom Hearts readies itself for a new generation of games for the handheld and the mobile.

Announced during this year's Tokyo Game Show, the new games will be featured in Japan first before any thoughts of a U.S. release will be settled. However, we can give everyone a little preview into each of these releases.

First off, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for the Nintendo DS features the story of Organization XIII's Number 13 Roxas. The game looks into the life of the semi-protagonist of Kingdom Hearts 2's life during his days in Organization XIII. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 will feature single-player as well as multiplayer missions through the WiFi capabilities of the Nintendo DS.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep for the PSP is a sort of prequel to the entire series. It tells the tale of a trio of heroes who seek out a wayward Keyblade master. Those of you who've unlocked the hidden FMV found in Kingdom Hearts 2 will finally be able to follow the teaser ending it gave everyone through the end. The game will feature the same traditional controls, game system, and the visual style of its predecessors.

Finally, Kingdom Hearts coded for the mobile bring together the first collaborated project between Square Enix and the Walt Disney Internet Group. It tells the story of the events after Kingdom Hearts when Jiminy Cricket finds a mysterious message in his journal. King Mickey then digitizes the contents of the journal and asks Sora to investigate the matter. A digitized Sora enters the new world and tries to unravel the mystery behind it.

All these games definitely sound like a good way to extend the series and further flesh out an already fantastic story. Hopefully, the release for their respective U.S. versions won't be too far off so we can immerse ourselves in more Walt Disney video game goodness.

Looks like Ratatouille isn't just scampering into the PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Nintendo DS and PSP but into the mobile world as well.

Relive Disney's newest masterpiece on your mobile phones with the rat who wants to be a chef. Go through 20 missions and mini-games scattered over 6 worlds. The game will feature the actual voices from the movie and offers multiplayer games as well, where players go head-to-head with each other.

Here are screens for the mobile version of the game:

  

Check out more screenshots after the jump!

Nokia has been rumored to re-enter the handhelds game market for quite a while now. There are a lot of hushed talks about it, but the giant mobile phone manufacturer has been playing mind games with both the competition and consumers as well. Apparently all those end today.

Online site Pocket Gamer mentioned that Nokia actually held a top-secret workshop for publishers and developers in Santa Monica last week. Accordingly, the company unveiled N-Gage II for the first time in the said workshop and provided the attendees with its technical aspects.

A lot of analysts actually credit the original N-Gage's failure to lack of games but if these attendees are serious on making games for Nokia, then we're sure that there will be hell to pay for Nintendo and Sony. Those who were at the workshop are as follows:

Disney, Sega Of America, Sony Online Entertainment, Universal, Square Enix, Capcom, THQ Wireless, Glu Mobile, Digital Chocolate, EA Mobile, Tecmo, Namco, Vivendi Games, and first party developers Backbone Entertainment and Foundation9.

Furthermore, Nokia explained how next-gen N-Gage games will be distributed as well as something called the "N-Gage activation code system." Would-be publishers are also said to be able to track and manage their own games. The on hand publishers also got their own SDKs as well. And so, is 2007 going to be the year the handhelds console war begins anew? This is going to be exciting.

If for a second you think that mobile gaming war is not as exciting as the much talked about next-gen wars, you are dead wrong. It's as exciting, probably as much fierce - with each company not giving an inch, not allowing competition any moment of repose.

Analyst M: Metrics recently released new figures concerning market shares among various companies. Most glaring on their list is Electronic Arts' decreased market share for this round. Accordingly, three months ago, EA was enjoying a 32.2% share for overall new paid downloads. Now, they're down to just 26.5%.

This is not because people are turning their backs away from mobile gaming. It's more quite the opposite, if you really look at the list. Glu Mobile has now secured the second biggest share of the market, pushing rival Gameloft into third place. More familiar names Namco and Walt Disney occupy the next spots.

Gosub 60 CEO put the scenario in words very nicely:

It's a very fluid space with a lot of close competition, so these rankings are constantly in flux. But directionally, it's certainly very encouraging. The business is on a solid growth path and satisfying our aggressive forecasts. At the end of the day though, we still consider ourselves a boutique publisher.

The said company ended in number 8 this time, one notch better from its last outing.  Also, Gosub 60 is just one of the four companies that experienced growth in terms of shares and revenues.

If you live in Europe and you have a cellphone (who doesn't, right?), then this post is for you.

Disney has just announced the launch of their 3-in-1 Puzzle Pack for mobile which consists of these classic puzzlers: Solitaire, Sudoku and Mahjong.

Sunil Gunderia, VP of mobile for the Walt Disney Internet Group, Europe, says, "By presenting mobile versions in a bundled package, we hope to appeal to a broader range of mobile phone users who are looking for a fun and easy way to pass the time anytime, anywhere.”

So whether you're stuck in the subway or in a boring meeting where no one's obviously paying attention to the speaker, all you have to do is bring out your nifty cellphones, get caught in the addictive puzzle gameplay, and voila! Instant solution for boredom.

Puzzle games may be considered by some as part of the lower end of mobile games, but I can personally vouch for Solitaire. I mean, I used to spend hours just playing that damn game without even realizing it. Talk about addictive, eh? So anyway, Disney’s 3-in-1 Puzzle Pack is now available across Europe from all known carriers and leading mobile entertainment portals. Consult your mobile service providers for availability.

PockerGamer today announced the results of their survey among UK mobile gamers on the most popular Muppets. Taking the top spot is Animal, the Wild Thing that beats the drum like nobody's business. The kooky Gonzo took second place and comedian Fozzie Bear made it to number three despite his oft-misfiring jokes.

The survey, commissioned by the Walt Disney Internet Group, marks the launch of Muppets Dance Party - their spoof of dance competitions. Muppets Dance Party is available now on Muppetsmobile and across O2, Orange and T-Mobile.

The complete results of the survey among 1000 respondents are:

• Animal – 33 per cent
• The Great Gonzo – 21 per cent
• Fozzie Bear – 19 per cent
• Kermit the Frog – 15 per cent
• Miss Piggy – 5 per cent
• Waldorf – 3 per cent
• Statler – 1 per cent