Tecmo's unquestionably in a bubbling tub of hot water the past couple of months, but could their luck be changing? Square Enix has revealed earlier that they have a proposal for a friendly takeover on the beleaguered developer.

Leipzig's over and the Tokyo Game Show won't be till October. But that doesn't mean there won't be any other conferences around to satisfy ever-curious gamers' appetites. And this time, we won't even have to fly overseas. The Austin Game Developers Conferences is coming up next, and they've added in a nice touch to this year's event.

If you're bored with all the unicellular screenshots and videos of Maxis' upcoming life simulator Spore(PC, Nintendo Wii, DS, Mac, and Mobile), then feast your eyes on this latest trailer for the game. Producer Kip Katsarelis and Software Engineer Soren Johnsen explain how the civilization stage of the game works and show just how cool it can be waging war against your fellow life forms. Video and details after the jump.

If having Spore on your computer isn't enough, then get yourself a copy of Spore Origins. It's a spin-off of the game for mobile platforms. The game isn't out on all platforms yet, but it is out for the Classic iPod and iPod Nano. Details in the full article.

Get equal parts of Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, and a generous dose of '50s sci-fi movies, and you get the makings of Astro Ranch. Primarily marketed for the iPhone, the game is also set to come out on the DS and N-Gage platforms. Screens and more details in the full article.

British game developers have launched an all-out war against illegal file-sharers. They're not about to take piracy in the industry sitting down. But the music industry, another victim of the pirates, aren't backing them up on this cause. It's an apparent disagreement in approach and disposition.

TransGaming has announced the release of a Cider port for BioWare's martial-arts RPG, Jade Empire: Special Edition, which is now available online via digital download. Learn more after the jump!

 How much grief must a muggle bear? Just days after news hit that Warner Brothers was pushing the release of the sixth movie in the septology into 2009 comes this quote from an Electronic Arts spokesman regarding the fate of the videogame adaptation:

Â?We are making a great game that Harry Potter fans will really enjoy Â? we are evaluating the impact of the movie date change,Â?

Yes, but what does that mean? Find out what we think after the jump.

The Need for Speed ProStreet gig didn't work out for Electronic Arts and internal studio Black Box, but the superstar publisher decided they could still make a turnaround for the franchise again, starting with Need for Speed Undercover. Perhaps guided by the popularity of night and illegal street racing movies, Need for Speed Undercover's design resettled for the open sandbox design of Most Wanted with a different story. A story, they say, that will include Mission Impossible 3's Maggie Q.

In light of the EA Maxis' Spore going gold, concern once again has hit the PC gaming segment over the definite inclusion of digital rights management (DRM) software with each copy. Many have argued over the integration of SecuROM on executables of The Sims 2 and its expansions, and now that Spore producer Lucy Bradshaw has confirmed Spore will be succeeded by at least one expansion, there's a whole lot of bickering to come for PC gamers. More details at the full story.