It's been a rough 2008 for game publishers, at least financially, and 2009 doesn't look good either. That may cause some publishers to become targets for being bought by larger multi-media companies. A new story on the Variety web site speculates that one of those publishers could be none other than Electronic Arts.

EA's financial situation isn't the best right now after a failed attempt to purchase rival Take Two collapsed and losses that are causing EA to shut down dev studios and lay off 10 percent of its workers. However it's still one of the biggest game publishers in the industry and could be a target for acquisition itself.

Variety states, "Disney is seen as a buyer, with market speculation centering on videogame company Electronic Arts as a possible target." Disney has its own game publishing division, Disney Interactive, which released titles like Turok and Pure last year and owns a number of game developers itself including Junction Point Studios which is reportedly working on a Disney-themed game.

This patch for Sword of the Stars: A Murder of Crows adds new game enhancements and resolves some balance issues. Continue reading for full list of changes.

Download Sword of the Stars: A Murder of Crows v1.6.4 Patch (77 MB)
Check out all Sword of the Stars: A Murder of Crows downloads

Sega would seem to be very busy in the first half of this year. They already have two RTS games from The Creative Assembly (Empire: Total War and Stormrise) due for release this March. Now MCV reports that two major Unreal Engine 3 based titles from Sega are due sometime in "the first quarter"

That time period may refer to the calendar year but it's much more likely that the term refers to Sega's first fiscal quarter of the year (April-June). MCV reports they plan to release Gearbox Software's movie based shooter Aliens: Colonial Marines in that time period. Also due for release that quarter is Alpha Protocol, the super-spy action-RPG from developer Obsidian Entertainment. A few months ago rumors about Aliens: Colonial Marines being put "on hold" were quickly snuffed by Gearbox head Randy Pitchford. Currently Gamestop's retail web site shows a June 1 release date for that game and a June 15 release for Alpha Protocol.

The demo for Crazy Machines 2 includes the tutorial and 10 puzzles. Crazy Machines 2 lets you use ingenuity build machines using items to solve 3-D puzzles.

Download the Crazy Machines 2 Demo (352 MB)

It looks like the technically issues that were keeping Saints Row 2 off of Steam have now been resolved and the open world action game is now available for purchase and download via Valve's download service. The relatively cheap $39.99 title from developer Volition is the first major PC game released in the US in the new year.

THQ even sent out a press release announcing the game had shipped to stores this morning (something they didn't do on Tuesday). As we reported before, Saints Row 2, both in downloadable and retail versions, uses Steam as its DRM set-up for activation purposes. The PC version will also ship in Europe on Jan. 23 and in game banning-happy Australia on Feb. 5

This demo for netKar PRO is the full version with certain aspects locked off. Users may unlock the full game by purchasing a license from the official website.

"netKar PRO is a racing car simulator with realistic physics, aimed both to professionals in the racing business and to racing enthusiast all around the world. It's aimed to offer an enviroment where people can learn about racing, car handling, behaviour on a racing track, car setup and data telemetry analysis."

Download netKar PRO v1.0.3 Demo (236 MB)

Welcome to the Indie Showcase, a semi-regular column on Big Download that takes a look at games we haven't covered on the site that we really think you should play.

Wow. 2008 sure was a whirlwind year for independent games on PC and console alike. Games like World of Goo, Braid, and Everyday Shooter have defied our expectations and brought forth a sort of indie gaming renaissance. So let's take a look back at all those indie games released or significantly updated in 2008. There's a lot that can be learned from the independent and the auteur, after all. These games will be in no particular order, because I don't want to taint this list with trying to name a best, second best, and so on. They are all great games.

Click on the image above to continue reading about the best indie games of 2008

Take Two Interactive's 2K Games brand hit a home run in 2007 with the release of BioShock. The art-heavy shooter from its 2K Boston/Australia studio is already spawning a sequel which 2K Marin is developing for release this fall. But MCV reports that 2K Games could have even bigger plans for their franchise beyond just BioShock 2.

2K Games' global president Christoph Hartmann is quoted as saying, ""For BioShock, because it's so story driven, the question obviously arises: how long can you do it without turning into The Matrix?", He adds, "But, then again, look at Star Wars. It's a fight between good and evil, just like BioShock. If we spin it the right way and get the right twist of innovation, we can make six parts of it, as Star Wars did." Even with these kinds of ideas, Hartmann claims he doesn't want to "cash in" by simply releasing a ton of BioShock sequels.

"In general though, when I'm playing as Marcus Fenix or Nick Drake (or whoever), their body is my body. I don't compare it, I inhabit it. This may be unique to my experience, but I doubt it."

This was Penny Arcade's Jerry Holkins in a recent post, referring to the idea that some gamers find video game depictions of human bodies to be somewhat off-putting. To be sure, if you're in the habit of comparing yourself to the heroic ideal portrayed in games, you're bound to come up short in some respect or other. But as Tycho says, he doesn't compare his body to the game's protagonist, he becomes it. This begs the question: how big a problem is this? Does it amount to anything practical? What's the solution?

If you happen to have a little money left over from your grandmother's Christmas gift and haven't picked up the Civilization IV: Colonization or the PC version of NBA 2K9, then 2K Games has a nice deal for you. The publisher has now released a PDF coupon on their web site that can be printed out and used in select retailers to shave off $10 from the price of both those games.

Of course there are other consoles games you can use with the coupon but why would you bother with those (hehe)? The coupon can printed more than once if you want more than one game on the list. The coupon expires on Jan. 31.

Capcom is going to have a very busy February with the console release of Street Fighter IV (the PC version is due out later in 2009). Also on February 27 the second Street Fighter feature film is due in theaters. IGN has posted up the US trailer for the movie which is sub-titled The Legend of Chun-Li. Will this movie make us forget about that first horrible Street Fighter film or make us wish it was as good?

Meanwhile Capcom has released four more screenshots showing some more action from Street Fighter IV. The latest game in the fighting series (and the first to feature 3D characters) is looking like it will be one of the highlights of the first quarter of 2009.

It's perhaps the highest profile contest for indie game developers and today the Independent Games Festival announced the finalists for the 2009 edition in several catagories. The games were chosen out of 226 entries this year with the finalists picked by a number of game developers and journalists.

Winning one or more of the awards in the past has lead to bigger things for the games and their creators. Last year's winner of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize (worth $20,000) was Crayon Physics which, ironically, is due to release its commercial version for the PC later today. Hit indie games World of Goo and Audiosurf also won IGF awards last year before being released to great acclaim and sales.

The winners of the 2009 IGF will be announced on March 25 during the Game Developers Conference in San Fransisco. Check out the nominees after the jump:

The NPD Group has provided their latest top 10 best seling PC games list for the US retail store market. Unfortunately the list, for the week ending December 27, is just a repeat of the same list from last week with some changes in positions.

As expected Blizzard's MMO expansion pack World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King remains in the number one spot but EA's The Sims 2Double Deluxe supplants Spore this week in the number 2 spot. Other than that, this new list is a bit of a yawner:

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
3. Spore - Electronic Arts
4. Left 4 Dead - Valve/EA
5. The Sims 2 Apartment Life - Electronic Arts
6. Fallout 3 - Bethesda Softworks
7. Call Of Duty: World At War - Activision
8. World of Warcraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
9. The Sims 2 Mansion and Garden Stuff - Electronic Arts
10. Bejeweled Twist - Popcap Games

It's perhaps the single biggest web data base for game mods and now Moddb.com has begun the process to pick the best mods for 2008 in their seventh annual awards. From now until Jan. 16 people will be asked to nominate their favorite mods released in 2008 as well as their favorite upcoming mods. After that the voting will begin and last until Feb. 1. The winners will be announced at the end of February.

Winners won't just get bragging rights either. A number of sponsors have donated prizes to the winners in various categories. The winning Best Mod Team in both the Editor's Choice and Players categories will get the big prize; a full Torque Game Engine Advanced license from GarageGames (valued at $295 for an indie game or $14.95 for commercial use) along with a whole suite of other game development tools.

Eidos' line-up of games for 2009 includes one that we are very interested in playing. Battlestations Pacific is the sequel to the WWII naval strategy-action game Battlestations: Midway and today Eidos took the curtains off the game's new official web site.

The new site has more info, a new dev blog, official forums and new official screenshots from the game that will pit American and Japanese planes, ships and subs against one another in the Pacific campaign of WWII. The game is a Games for Windows Live title so expect things like achievements and other features to be supported. The game is due out sometime in 2009 but no specific release date has been announced.