We present to you with our deepest of symptathy the announcement that Dave Arneson has passed away at age 61 on April 7th after a bout with cancer. Dave Arneson, for those who didn’t know, was one of the co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons, the roleplaying board game that put RPGs on the map.

This horrible news comes to us in an email that was released by Mr. Arneson’s family that assures us he was with his family and in a peaceful state of mind when he passed away.

From everyone here at DigitalBattle, rest in peice Dave Arneson, roleplaying won’t be the same without you.

For anyone who thought that a third addition to the Nintendo DS line wasn’t going to spurr the interest of consumers, think again.

Despite the downed economy Nintendo’s latest handheld, the Nintendo DSi, managed to sell in excess of 600,000 units in the United States and Europe on its release weekend. 300,000 units in each territory alone.

Considering the success of the Wii, and pretty much everything else Nintendo slaps their name on, this announcement is sure to have Nintendo jumping for joy, or jumping into their piles of money.

Read (Joystiq)

In a time of economic downturn you see where people’s real priorities are. In the current global slump certain industries are struggling, especially the automotive industry. Yet others are continuing to flourish as people tighten their belts and restrict their spending. Despite the crunch many are feeling, restaurants continue to flourish; not only the low priced chain joints but gourmet restaurants are still drawing in crowds. No industry though can claim to be doing better than the video game industry.

It’s growing steadily and is getting a huge foothold in a substantial marketplace: China. In 2008 the online video games market in China grew by 63% to reach $2.8 billion. Analysts at Pearl Research are expecting this trend to continue, with a projected market of over $5.5 billion in the next four years. Industry members attribute much of this growth to the rising popularity of social networking sites which make it easier for users to be introduced to new games, which in turn gets them bringing their real-world friends on board.

The three most popular games are all of Asian origin, two being from Chinese companies and one a Korean company. World of Warcraft however holds a strong foothold on the market with one million users. Some might attribute the greater popularity of the other games over Western-world dominating WOW to cultural bias, but it seems some of the appeal of the other titles could be simply financial as all the other titles are less graphically intensive than WOW and thus require less computer upgrades.

Reuters reports that Nintendo’s sports sequel Wii Sports Resort will be released to North American stores this July. It was originally scheduled for a spring release.

The game will include the Wii MotionPlus accessory which enables full 3D movement of the Wii-mote. It features new sports-based mini-games, including water sports and frisbee throwing.

Female gamers are a rarity, but not so in the realm of World of Warcraft, as according to a new Nielsen report, a surprising number of female gamers have set up characters in the game.

The report states that the popular MMORPG was the most-played “core” game for women, with over 428,621 unique female players estimated in December 2008.

That statistic is made even more impressive when considering that approximately 675,000 male players of the same age group logged into the game during that period, indicating that the gender gap is not as large as suggested.

So, the next time you come across a girl in WoW, she might actually be a girl instead of some dude pretending to be one.

Odd game of the year Stalin vs. Martians is sure to be game of the year material once released. When is it getting released? April 20, if you ask publisher Mezmer.

The result of a collaboration (and surely lots of hallucinogenic drugs) between BWF, Dreamlore and N-Game, the game is said to be the “perfect choice for anyone who just hates the strategy genre.”

"One contributing factor to the success could be the high level of historical accuracy, that is completely missing from the game," Mezmer executive producer Tom Soderlund said.

Ah, Mezmer. what can I say! Looking forward to the fun and frolic that is sure to be had with this game.

This is awesome news: Pirates of the Caribbean series director Gore Verbinski has decided not to helm the fourth entry in the franchise, leaving his schedule open to accommodate the film adaptation of 2K’s BioShock.

The news comes from Latino Review, a site popular for its pre-release script reviews and early movie news. The movie is being geared up to begin production sometime next year.

Writer of The Aviator and Star Trek: Nemesis, John Logan is set to pen the screenplay for the film. Franchise creator Ken Levine is apparently being “regularly consulted” during pre-production.

Activision today sent out word that Radical Entertainment’s open-world action game Prototype will be shipped to European stores on June 5 and North American stores on June 9.

The game has players donning the role of Alex Mercer, a shape-shifter who goes on a rampage to find out what happened to him. Also, New York is attacked by a virus that created horrible, disgusting mutants.

It is being developed for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. This comes from the same studio as Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, which was pretty awesome, to say the least.

A few years ago some companies started exploring the idea of giving gamers some of the tools the developers themselves used in making the game. Morrowind and Neverwinter Nights were two games that featured a wonderfully integrated Mod support system. No fiddling around with patch files and other complexities, just put the files in the right directory and the game can activate the mod for you. Needless to say this was embraced with open arms by the gaming community. People played Neverwinter Nights for years and the amount of user-generated content was vast with yet more skilled modders adding in entirely new coding for horses, capes and a plethora of other items, keeping interest in the game high.

In light of this incredible success Bioware are planning to release a toolset along with Dragon Age: Origins (a game that when first announced was using the NWN engine). Once again the community will be able to build their own adventures to share with the public once the main storyline is completed. Right now they’re accepting applications for the beta test of the toolset. Luckily for anyone with no real programming or modding experience they’re not just looking for people who will use it to mold their own universes. They’re looking to get a broad range of users with different computer systems and levels of expertise. Sign up for it here.

The formula behind this game isn’t exactly new; you have a trio of characters all with different abilities that you must use in conjunction to overcome puzzles, defeat enemies and achieve your ultimate goal. Fortunately, it’s an extremely FUN formula that hearkens back to cult classics like The Lost Vikings and Gobliiins. Cyanide and Focus Home Interactive are announcing Dungeon Raiders, a DS title that promises to use all the functions of the DS on your wacky journey.

You’ll play a trio of adventurers, Glandalf (that’s right folks, he’s a wizard), bumbling thief Luigi and Extermino, the beefy executioner. You’ll have to outwit puzzles using the team’s abilities including a plethora of spells. The game has a definitely humorous twist, though the nature of some of the spells (Toilet Plunger and Speed Far) suggest a slightly more juvenile tone to the humor to match the cartoonish style.

The game will be primarily touch screen controlled with the top screen being used to display a map. Unfortunately the press release says that using the microphone will be essential in activating certain mechanisms, which can be an awkward prospect depending on how you use it. Blowing into the microphone on a crowded train or bus is fine, but having to talk to it is quite embarrassing. The game is currently set for release this summer.