Indie developer Moise Breton turns to Kickstarter this week to fund A.N.N.E., a 16-bittish blend of shoot-'em-up action and Metroidvania-style exploration.

Similar in premise to Sunsoft's NES classic Blaster Master, A.N.N.E. features horizontally scrolling shooter levels that bridge smaller-scale, on-foot sequences. The game also boasts physics-based puzzles and a level-up system, further sweetening an already tempting package.

In its first few days of funding, A.N.N.E. has already earned over $10,000 toward its initial funding goal of $70,000. While the project is currently Windows-only, ports for Mac, Linux, PSN, Ouya, and Wii U are under consideration, pending stretch goal support. A.N.N.E. is also up for vote at Steam Greenlight.

Nordic Games picked up most of the IPs in THQ's back catalog auction, dishing out $4.9 million for Darksiders, Red Faction, MX vs ATV, Titan Quest and a slew of unannounced games from THQ's long list of for-sale properties. Nordic was a surprise to some, especially next to Gearbox, which picked up the Homeworld franchise, and 505 Games, which snagged Drawn to Life and its sequel. But Nordic isn't new.

"We've been in conversation with THQ since January," Nordic CEO Lars Wingefors told Game Informer. "We signed all the NDAs in January."

Wingefors has been in the gaming industry for 20 years, he said, and has handled "a lot" of THQ products during that time. In November 2011, Nordic acquired publisher JoWood, in charge of Painkiller and Torchlight, and also ended up with Canadian publisher Dreamcatcher, spawning Nordic's publishing focus.

Nordic took part in the first THQ auction as well, which sold off properties such as Saints Row and some development studios for upwards of $20 million. That sale was too rich for Wingefors: "Saints Row went for $22 million and Koch bought that development studio with that burn rate on a daily basis. Even though I do have financial resources, I don't have those kind of resources."

Wingefors didn't want a studio. Nordic is a "middle man" looking for the right team to make some new sequels; there's already been plenty of interest in Darksiders, he said.

"We have to be very honest," Wingefors said. "I am a business man within the games industry. We are not the creative, talented developer that brings out new versions in house. I understand the potential of the IPs. I respect the original creators and the creative people who are able to create sequels. In the past 24 hours, we have been contacted and there have been a few discussions (but I can't confirm names)."

Nordic took home more than 50 former THQ games, but has yet to release the full list.

"As we still have some open points with regards to a couple of titles we will not publish a comprehensive list at this stage," a Nordic Games representative told Joystiq yesterday. "However, once everything is fixed and the ink is dry – around mid-May – we will go out with a comprehensive list of titles which we have acquired in the process."

Nordic will hold talks this summer with different developers, during E3 especially. Don't expect any sequels too soon, though.

"You won't see a new Darksiders this year," Wingefors said. "I don't believe in bringing out a shitty sequel."

XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Civilization series developer Firaxis Games hits the App Store today with Haunted Hollow, a free-to-play strategy game in which players command an army of semi-fearsome ghouls and ghosts.

Haunted Hollow takes place over a series of one-on-one, tug-of-war style matches in which players compete to scare the residents of a nearby village. Multiple unit types are available, and you'll need to plan carefully in order to claim territory and fend off your opponent's attacks. The town itself isn't too pleased with the sudden influx of hauntings, either, and players will need to carefully route their creatures in order to avoid pitchfork-wielding mobs.

Haunted Hollow features a Game Center-driven asynchronous multiplayer option, along with single-player and local multiplayer pass-and-play modes. Firaxis is also working on an iOS port of that other strategy game, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, coming this summer.

Update: 2K has pulled the game from the App Store, sending out the following statement: "Some of our fans may have noticed our latest mobile title, Haunted Hollow, pre-maturely appearing on the App Store this morning as a result of a testing error. We have removed this build to add a few final updates, so the game can be as polished as possible when it launches globally. But fans won't have to wait long – Haunted Hollow will be available for free to download from the App Store next Thursday, May 2, 2013! We apologize for any confusion this may have caused, but please stay tuned for more information."

This is Portabliss, a column about downloadable games that can be played on the go.

Fist Face Fight is a simple, fast-paced tap-to-punch game in which you defend a heart from attacking ninjas. You act from an overhead perspective, keeping tabs on the heart at the bottom of the screen and directing a disembodied fist while ninjas and other hazards encroach from all sides.

By tapping around the screen, Fist Guy (as he shall be called from now on) will strike out at that spot in a straight line and rest. Anything in Fist Guy's path will be be punched, even the heart.

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Namco Bandai's Idolm@ster games have been exclusive to Japan since the series started, and for good reason: they're all about being a producer who recruits, trains, and promotes a girl group of "idol" performers. It's a huge sensation in Japan, and would meet mostly blank stares over here.

And now, Namco is helping generate those blank stares, releasing three Idolm@ster games, in English, on the iOS App Store. The catch: they're rhythm game spinoffs, without any of the simulation aspects. The real catch: they're $54.99 each. They're the same, except each stars a different team of erstwhile idols and includes a different animated sequence.

Square Enix just breathed a massive sigh of relief, as the pressure is off of its insane iOS pricing tendencies for a while.

Buddy & Me, a beautifully drawn 2D endless runner about a boy and his "magical flying creature" pal having adventures in a dream world of "infinite treehouses," passed its $40,000 Kickstarter goal, ending with $42,093 raised. That funding will enable developer Sunbreak Games to complete the iOS/Android game, expected in June.

Founder Jason Behr had experience working on the Metroid Prime series as lead level designer, and on Halo 4 as senior mission designer, before starting his own company and working on a game that looks nothing like either of those. "At Sunbreak," the Kickstarter project explains, "we're dedicated to crafting entertainment with a more 'positive' tone, so for Buddy & Me we focused on three core themes: companionship, an obsession with treehouses, and the natural excitement of exploring the great outdoors."

Apart from patching up software and hardware issues, the Ouya's biggest hurdle is the same one that every new console faces: Games. That's where Kellee Santiago comes in. Santiago made a name for herself with thatgamecompany, the studio behind Flow, Flower and Journey. After departing thatgamecompany in 2012, she joined Ouya earlier this year as its head of developer relations. That makes it her job to both work with Ouya's current developers, reach out to new ones and, perhaps most importantly, help curate the content on the Ouya store.

"One of the, I would say, main goals for the console is to create an ecosystem in which any developer can find the right audience for their game through Ouya." That means creating a system that is "naturally diverse" to begin with, she says, and "taking a look at what are our early developers naturally gravitating to. What is [the] content we want to get onto the platform in order to increase the diversity of our portfolio."

That also means avoiding "the trap that many new distribution channels can fall into, which is sort of feeding into the early successes of the games that were accepted by the initial audience of the platform." That's easier said than done, and Ouya has a handful of battles to fight.

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Indie developer Vlambeer is getting used to its games being cloned before final release, with the developer discovering today that its upcoming game Luftrausers has a clone called SkyFar on the iOS App Store. Freelance journalist Scott Nichols noticed the clone today, following its App Store release on March 24.

"We obviously endured a bit of a scare when news arrived of Luftrausers being cloned and released ahead of our own release schedule by another developer," Vlambeer lead Rami Ismail told us. "This time, however, it's not 'just' the idea of the game that has been cloned, but also the visual style. This gives us much more room to fight the whole thing, and we fully intend to."

Ismail continued, "The developer of the clone has gotten in touch with us after Twitter exploded and let us know that 'acttuly we genrated our assets, Codes and all newly' and that the gameplay as indicated on the screenshots 'is not there in game as in the screen shots. We just done those screnshots for public attraction'. They signed off with the note that 'we really dont think it links your game at all.'"

Vlambeer was famously at the heart of another cloning incident, when its 2010 browser-based game Ridiculous Fishing was cloned in 2011, while the developer was in the process of porting it for the platform. Another key issue with that clone, Ninja Fishing, was that it became a hit on the App Store. SkyFar hasn't seen such traction.

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The Realm is being developed by Atomhawk Design, a studio that specializes in art production. Having worked on several well-known games – including Mortal Kombat, Dead Island, Injustice and Enslaved, among others – Atomhawk is now trying its hand at an internal project, The Realm.

A point-and-click adventure game that draws inspiration from Monkey Island, Machinarium and Ico, The Realm tells the story of a girl, Sarina, and her stone golem, Toru. Controlling both characters, the player solves environmental puzzles using the abilities of each. From the sound of things, Toru's immense size and strength will probably come in handy.

Atomhawk is seeking £195,000 ($297,000) to fund The Realm on Kickstarter. The goal is to put the game on PC, Mac and tablets within approximately eight months.

Hiversaires, a "cryptic point & click adventure game in a textless world," is out now on iOS for $2.99. The adventure game was developed by Devine Lu Linvega, a French Canadian designer currently living in Japan.

Hiversaires was "created for adventurers who remember drawing maps to survive," its official site reads. Check out the game's mysterious art style in the gallery below.

When THQ went bankrupt and saw several of its IPs heading to the auction block, indie developer teamPixel began crowdfunding bidding money to win the Homeworld property for use in its upcoming space RTS game. Even after garnering $58,644 through a successful Kickstarter campaign and $13,675 on Indiegogo, teamPixel recently announced that it failed to win the Homeworld IP during the auction process.

"We hope you will join us in supporting Homeworld's new owners in building a future for the franchise," the developer said in a Kickstarter update. "We anticipate an announcement of the new owner to be made within a couple weeks and for the sale to be finalized around mid-May."

Well into development on its own Homeworld-inspired strategy game, teamPixel will refund all money earned during its crowdfunding efforts while also offering donors a "special credit" in the game. The developer's "Save Homeworld" site has since transformed to a landing page for tracking donor refunds.

The final THQ auction is expected to earn $6 million to $7 million. First details of the bidding results are expected to be revealed Monday.

The Ouya has surpassed 10,000 registered developers. The news comes courtesy of Ouya's head of developer relations, Kellee Santiago, who told Joystiq that the tiny console just passed the significant milestone. Santiago didn't divulge any of the studios that might be on the list, but noted there should be some announcements in the "upcoming few weeks."

Some of the high-profile names we've already heard include Double Fine, Polytron, Airtight Games and Minority Media. We spoke to Santiago regarding her role at Ouya and how she plans to expand its library and attract developers. Expect more on that conversation next week.

The "Edge" trademark belonging to Edge Games founder Tim Langdell has been canceled by a court order, stripping Langdell of the ability to file suit against every other game developer and publisher who used the word "Edge" in any context.

Following a petition by DICE and EA (Mirror's Edge), the US Patent and Trademark Office officially issued notice of the cancelled registration on April 17, a process that has been ongoing since 2010. Two Tribes, publisher of Mobigame's Edge (pictured), celebrated by discounting all versions of the puzzle game 50%. Edge was taken down from the App Store repeatedly due to issues with the "Edge" trademark.

Subatomic Studios has announced that Fieldrunners 2, having already hit iOS and Steam, is hoofing it to Android next week. The release won't have any Android-only content, but it does have the original's twenty-plus hour campaign, colorful hand-painted graphics, and Time Trial, Sudden Death, and Puzzle modes.

The Android version of Fieldrunners 2 will be available on April 24 on the Google Play store. Subatomic says its next focus will be on releasing an update for the iOS version.

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This is Portabliss, a column about downloadable games that can be played on the go.

Halfbrick's Fish Out of Water launches on iOS today and it's unlike any of the studio's previous games. It's a much more casual experience with a far more simple premise that is, by all appearances, aimed at capturing a younger audience.

The goal of Fish Out of Water is to see how far you can fling a fish across the ocean. Your score is calculated across three tosses, factoring in both distance and the number of times your fish skipped across the water.

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Good news for Ouya Kickstarter backers (and anyone planning to buy a retail unit in June), a new firmware update will let you change your payment options. Previously, credit card information was locked into the associated Ouya account once it was entered. Now, users may change their credit card information at any time under account settings in the Manage menu.

The Ouya recently began shipping to Kickstarter backers as part of a public preview period, and today's update irons out one of the kinks cited in our review of the console's current state.

One summer, when I was a kid, I wandered into a garage sale and came across an old Atari 2600 and a shoebox full of games. I don't remember how much they wanted for it, but it was low enough that a kid without a job could afford it, so it wasn't much. I took it home, immediately hooked it up to the television and started rifling through the games.

Most of the games were simple, executions of a single concept. Some of them were great, some were passable but forgettable, while others were nigh indecipherable. Naturally, there were some genuine turkeys in there too. It was hard to be disappointed though, since I could just pop in another cartridge and, after all, the entire box of goodies had cost me practically nothing.

That summer day pretty much encapsulates my experience with the Ouya thus far.

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The Electronic Arts layoff waves continue, with cuts reported at EA Hyderabad (India) and Playfish.

MCV India reports 50 employees were let go at the India mobile studio. As has been standard ops for EA during these layoff rounds, the company acknowledged there were cuts, but wouldn't discuss specifics.

Develop reports there have also been layoffs at social games developer Playfish, which isn't surprising since Playfish appears to have no games in production or to support following Monday's sunset announcements. EA bought Playfish for $300 million in 2009 (entering a "strategic" five year deal with Facebook in 2010). Again, there is no official count of how many employees have been let go.

Based on rough estimates following last week's layoffs, including the latest information and sources speaking under condition of anonymity, it appears EA has let go of over 300 employees (full-time and contract) this past week.

If you're a member of an affected team at EA, please don't hesitate to reach out.

For close to the past year, Doug Smith has been toiling away nights and weekends on a passion project called ChuggaBugga. It's a game for children about a train full of bugs hauling four boxcars – kids poke and prod the various interactive elements, such as an accordion-like boxcar and another replete with swimming pool and high-dive for the whimsical bugs to enjoy.

Smith, a recent ex-LucasArts employee, initially started working on the game just for his daughter, though he's not complaining about all the support he's received from people who aren't his daughter – specifically, Reddit. "Who knows? Maybe I can turn this into a full-time indie thing," he wrote. In a subsequent update, Smith called the reception "an amazing silver-lining" to his LucasArts woes.

ChuggaBugga is currently available for $1.99 on iOS devices.

Kachina is a game by Ben Esposito, who did level design on The Unfinished Swan with Giant Sparrow, in which you control a hole in the ground that moves around, swallows up animals and deposits them elsewhere. It's a game about a hole, and a game "exploring the relationship between modern American and indigenous Pueblo cultures through themes of erasure & discovery."

That seems like a wide-ranging set of goals for a small game, and Esposito is getting help in realizing those goals from the Indie Fund, which revealed Kachina as its next project. Originally a Molyjam creation, the "whimsical physics toy" is planned for commercial release on PC, OSX, and iOS.