While not going into explicit detail about how the system will function, BioWare producer Cameron Lee did reveal during PAX Australia that saves from previous Dragon Age titles will have an effect on the world of Dragon Age: Inquisition.

"It will absolutely come across," Lee said, adding that a player's past decisions "will matter" in the new game, although no further specifics were given about how someone's unique world history will be integrated into Inquisition.

Unlike the Mass Effect series and its perpetual Shepard, Dragon Age's installments are not branched by a single hero, but rather by the effect they may (or may not) have on the lore of the world. This initially sounds as though it may be an issue for players who buy the game for Xbox One or PlayStation 4, as they will presumably be unable to import their saves from current-gen systems, but writer Patrick Weekes noted that "you can have an equally rich experience no matter which platform you're playing on."

Microsoft's reversal of its publishing philosophy for the Xbox One has obvious and wide-reaching implications for the indie development community. While the original plan mandated that developers release games through a third-party publisher or broker a deal with Microsoft itself, indies will now be able to self-publish. Furthermore, retail Xbox One SKUs will function as development units, which historically are more expensive and more difficult to acquire than off-the-shelf models.

"Ideally, this news could have been broadcast more proudly and loudly months ago, giving indies more time to prepare strategies for upcoming games," Minicore Studios founder and CEO John Warren told us, "but I suppose they don't owe anyone that courtesy. We know now, so now we can prepare for life with a Microsoft console, which is something I wouldn't have said yesterday."

Warren and his team at Minicore are in the process of Kickstarting PC, Mac and Xbox 360 versions of their latest project, Laika Believes: The Sun at Night. "I think releasing on Xbox One without a publisher is a big step forward, of course, but the fact that (eventually) I'll be able to use my retail console as our dev kit is huge," he added. "My secondary (maybe flailing and futile) hope is that the fees for publishing won't be insane. It's one thing to only have to shell out $600 for a dev kit, but quite another if we have to spend another $10k on publishing fees. My hope is they'll be content with 30 percent of revenue and be done with it."

Cautious optimism was a consistent theme among most of the indie developers we reached out to, though some had greater reservations over Microsoft's inner machinations than others.

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NaissanceE is a first-person puzzle exploration game, built in the Unreal Development Kit and set in a beautiful monochrome world with a heavy emphasis on light and shadow. The baby of developer Limasse Five, It's a project that began in 2006 and is now patiently waiting for votes on Steam Greenlight to push it out this Fall.

Limasse Five explains NaissanceE as "a game, a philosophical trip and an artistic experience." Limass Five says the game's main goal is to make players appreciate the "loneliness, the feeling to be lost in a gigantic unknown universe" and expects them to be marveled by the beauty of this black-and-white world. "A world which seems to be alive, leading the player, manipulating him and playing with him for any reason."

The thing about being a spy is nobody tells you about all the prep work. You have to oil up your sneaking suit and make sure your goggles have fresh batteries before you can even set foot in the field. So, naturally, you can prepare for Splinter Cell: Blacklist by purchasing the game ahead of its launch at the end of August.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist is available on Steam in both standard and deluxe editions. Pre-ordering either will net the Upper Echelon DLC pack, which includes an additional co-op mission, special suit that ups weapon defense and stealth in shadows, plus some gold sonar goggles. If you sign on for the deluxe edition, you'll immediately unlock a copy of Splinter Cell: Conviction on top of five custom suits, weapons and armor accessories.

Earlier this month, we were able to sample a few missions from the single-player campaign, providing us with a good look at Sam Fisher's new team and their distrust of his judgment.

A new version of the Nexus 7 tablet is coming to market on July 30, anxious to show off its thinner and lighter summer body to the world.

The new Nexus 7, which sports an increased 1,920 x 1,200 resolution and upgraded innards, will retail for $230 for the 16GB model and $270 for the 32GB model. A $350 model supporting LTE will be available "in the coming weeks." The latest version of Android, Jelly Bean 4.3, is on board the 7-inch tablet.

Just as it did with the original Nexus 7 tablet, GameStop will be selling the updated Nexus 7 tablet - both online and in-store. "The original Nexus 7 was a great success for both GameStop and Google, and we are excited to continue this success as the 7-inch tablet and Android market continue to grow," said GameStop's VP of mobile, Joe Gorman, in an announcement. Anyone who comes into GameStop and trades in goods toward a new Nexus 7 will receive an extra 30% in credit for a limited time.

Nintendo made sure to highlight the Wii U's friendliness to independent developers right out the gate. There were indie games on the Wii U eShop at launch last year and the platform continues to play host to great indies like Runner 2 and Toki Tori 2. Nintendo's independent outreach, however, doesn't extend worldwide, Kotaku reports.

According to a GDC questionnaire that recently began circulating, the Japanese company isn't accepting Wii U game pitches from independent Japanese developers. The policy has since been confirmed by CVG.

Nintendo didn't provide its reason for excluding Japanese developers, stating only that "[t]he policy in question is the decision of Nintendo's department responsible for licensing activities in each region, and the licensing department of Nintendo is currently not accepting subject applications from individuals in Japan."

Nintendo not accepting applications from its home country is strange, especially given the recent push from console makers to create more open publishing models. Sony's PS4 will allow for self-publishing, and Microsoft has just announced that the Xbox One will support it as well.

Molten Games is a new development studio hoping to break free of the traditional relationship between developer and publisher. In a debut announcement, CEO and co-founder Jungwon Hahn says the studio will achieve this by putting gameplay and player experience "first with every decision" as the studio undertakes its flagship free-to-play online PC game.

"We're just trying to take advantage of the free-to-play model, but we want people to have the same expectation of quality they would if they went and bought a $60 console game at the store," chief product officer Paul Della Bitta tells GI International. The pedigree at Molten Games is very much rooted in online games, with key talent having previously worked at Sony Online Entertainment, Blizzard and Relic Entertainment.

Since its formation earlier this year, Molten Games has assembled around 30 employees, but Della Bitta expects headcount to rise to 60 by the end of next year. That headcount is in part thanks to VC funding from NCSoft, which has already given millions to Molten Games through a Series A round investment - a preferred stock allocation to investors typical of most start-up enterprises. Despite the investment, Molten Games will retain the IP to its unannounced game and NCSoft will not serve as publisher.

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Eight PC ports of what Indie Gamer Chick, a site devoted to Xbox Live Indie Games, calls "the best Xbox Live Indie Games ever made" are all available in the latest Indie Royale bundle. Throwing down more than $8 will guarantee three soundtracks in addition to the games.

Dead Pixels, a zombie shooter with a hard survival slant from CSR-Studios, headlines this latest Indie Royale bundle and is joined by Brilliant Blue-G's 2D platformer with light RPG elements, Chester. Gravity-flipping side-scroller Antipole from Saturnine Games leaps into the fray, as does Monster Jail Games' quirky retro romp, Lasercat. Rounding out the bundle are espionage puzzle game SpyLeaks, space-age shmup Orbitron: Revolution, top-down racer Little Racers Street and Smooth Operators: Call Center Chaos, a game where players create and manage their own call center. A handful of the games are also vying for Steam Greenlight support, if you feel like tossing a few votes their way.

As of now, the current minimum is around $4 for this Indie Royale bundle. As with all Indie Royale bundles, this one will be available for a week.

Director SWERY65's intensely bizarre action-adventure game Deadly Premonition is headed to Steam after earning community approval in the latest round of Steam Greenlight votes.

Critics weren't quite sure what to make of Deadly Premonition when it was originally launched in 2010 for the Xbox 360, earning it the dubious distinction of "Most Critically Polarizing Survival Horror Game" in the 2012 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition. The upcoming Steam release is based on the recent PlayStation 3 port Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut, which features a redesigned control scheme and a new batch of bonus content.

Fourteen games and two software titles were chosen in Steam Greenlight's most recent community vote, including Krillbite Studio's Kickstarter-funded horror game Among the Sleep, 2D fighter parody Divekick, and the free Half-Life: Opposing Force remake Operation Black Mesa. A full list of today's newly-Greenlit games is after the break below.

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Following a report from earlier today, Microsoft has confirmed the Xbox One console will support self-publishing for independent developers. Retail systems will also double as development kits, meaning any Xbox One purchased in a store can be used for game development and testing purposes.

"Our vision is that every person can be a creator. That every Xbox One can be used for development," Xbox corporate VP Marc Whitten told Engadget. "That every game and experience can take advantage of all of the features of Xbox One and Xbox LIVE. This means self-publishing. This means Kinect, the cloud, achievements. This means great discoverability on Xbox LIVE. We'll have more details on the program and the timeline at Gamescom in August."

Before this revision, Microsoft's Xbox One policies required developers to be paired with third-party publishers or publishing deals from Microsoft itself, making no exceptions for self-publishing.

LocoCycle may continue developer Twisted Pixel's tradition of ridiculous premises – a sentient motorcycle on the run, in this case – but it will be following some very different musical cues. For the Xbox One launch game, Twisted Pixel's longtime composer Matt "Chainsaw" Chaney has switched up his typically humorous style for a dead serious, fully orchestrated score. Twisted Pixel CCO Josh Bear wanted to "approach the soundtrack from a very cinematic standpoint for this game," Chaney tells Joystiq. "You know, give it a Back to the Future Alan Silvestri treatment. Big themes and lush instrumentation with tons of dynamics." To create this feeling, Chaney worked directly with the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

"I was terrified that I'd show up in Prague and the musicians would look at the sheet music and then up to me and just be like 'What the fuck is this shit?'" Chaney admits. "I mean, I had never written for a bassoon before. I wrote a part for the double bass section in a track that I particularly liked, and it was pretty awesome to look over at them and see the huge smiles on their faces while they were performing."

Don't expect any spiritual successors to comedic songs like "Donuts, Go Nuts" either. "For the first time since 'Splosion Man, I've made a game devoid of goofy music. It just didn't feel like it was needed in this situation, and I didn't want to shoehorn something in just for the sake of having a silly song."

For more on LocoCycle and Twisted Pixel's speeding jump to the next generation, be sure to read our recent preview.

Nvidia has unveiled its new mobile graphics processor, built on the same Kepler architecture found in its latest PC graphics cards. Dubbed Project Logan, this new chip supports Unreal Engine 4 and, according to comments from Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, will empower mobile devices with "the same high-end graphics hardware capabilities exposed via DirectX 11 on PC games and on next-generation consoles."

Right, it's not just Unreal Engine 4 – Nvidia says Project Logan supports popular graphics standards Open GL 4.4 and Direct X 11, and uses one-third the power consumption of GPUs found in "leading tablets, like the iPad 4." Project Logan runs at 2.2 teraflops, with more raw processing power than can be found in the PS3's GPU.

Above, you can see a video demo of Nvidia's faux-face "Ira" rendered on Project Logan in real-time, and embedded past the break you'll find Nvidia's "Island" demo running on the mobile chip. Project Logan is still in the prototyping phase, so don't expect to see it in the wild anytime soon.

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The latest Xbox One-80 move is to integrate support of a self-publishing model for indies. Citing "sources," Game Informer reports that Microsoft will now support the model prevalent on Steam and announced for PlayStation 4.

Microsoft's earlier publishing requirements did not enable self-publishing, but at this point anything and everything appears to be back in play for the console with the ever-changing messaging. Game Informer also reports the certification process for games is being streamlined and – although they can't confirm it – that all Xbox One units can also serve as debug (or developer kit) units.

We've reached out to Microsoft for comment.

Update: Confirmed.

Indie horror Outlast opens its nightmarish doors to PC players on September 4, admission price $20. Red Barrels' debut game, set in an abandoned asylum and seen through the lens of a reporter's digital camera, is also coming to the PS4, but when that may be remains TBA.

Brave Mike Schramm went hands-on with Outlast at E3, the experience leaving him (even more) disturbed. Said he, "the camera's digital artifacts and heads-up display help sell the excellent graphics, and the whole experience found my scaredy-cat brain constantly having to remind myself that what I was seeing wasn't real." Check out more of his scaredy-cat thoughts here.

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SimCity has built sales of over 2 million units, according to EA Labels President Frank Gibeau. In a recent interview with VentureBeat, Gibeau noted the biggest takeaway the company took from the game's disastrous launch was how lucky it was SimCity has such loyal fans. Preach!

"Since then, we've sold more than 2 million units, and the number of people logging in and playing is holding steady," said Gibeau. "SimCity is a success. However, underestimating demand in the first month was a major miss. We hope that the game and the service we've provided since then meets the fans' high standards."

Several leads from the SimCity project have moved on to start their own studio, Jellygrade. SimCity's latest upgrades include $9 airships and $10 amusement park sets.

Six to Start first tried to get you off the couch with Zombies, Run! an audio drama that combined fitness with gameplay by casting you as Runner 5, a survivor of the zombie apocalypse. For those who can't quite work up that much energy, the developer is now working on The Walk, which would incentivize you to get up and move by once again making you the star of the show.

Due to come out on mobile devices later this year, The Walk puts you at the center of intrigue as you're given a package that needs to be delivered to Edinburgh, Scotland. Before you can board your train, terrorists hot on your tail blow up the station, and an electromagnetic pulse knocks out anything electronic. With no functioning cars at the ready, you're forced to walk to Scotland, hopefully staying one literal step ahead of those pursuing you.

The Walk will be the "best pedometer you've ever had but it's also got a game built into it. So you're king of playing all the time whenever you have your phone with you," says Six to Start co-founder Adrian Hon.

"Getting into the habit of moving more is a big process," says Hon. "It can take several months to get in the habit, so the idea of having a single, huge, long journey is just more inspiring than short or intense exercises. We're sensible about this. The only way you can get up to what health officials say you should be walking, which is about 10,000 steps per day, is by walking throughout the day."

Runner's World recently called sitting "the new smoking" due to its negative impact on your health. If you need a nudge to get moving, perhaps The Walk could be it.

Saints Row 4 will feature a season pass for downloadable content, publisher Deep Silver has announced. The season pass will be available for $9.99 (€9.99 / £7.99) and will grant access to two mission packs, including a "Director's Cut" of the Enter the Dominatrix DLC, which is "a tongue-in-cheek vision of what this content was originally going to be like." At a recent Comic-Con panel, developer Volition said the DLC would involve the characters explaining why the content was cut from the game. The second mission pack will arrive in late 2013.

The season pass also includes an exclusive weapon, the "Rectifier." Yes, it's an anal probe. Saints Row 4 invades your personal space on August 20.

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