Atlantic Records UK has teamed up with Def Jam Rapstar to give one lucky UK resident a chance to spit hot fire all over his or her very own record. By employing the game's freestyle mode, contestants will upload their hottest 40 bars (give or take) to be judged by the Def Jam Rapstar community website's membership.

The top regional finalists will then have to compete in front of a live audience at UK HMV locations, "8 Mile style," next February. What this means, of course, is that the winner will have said the most egregiously offensive thing about the other contestants' mothers, resulting in a crowd-wide "OOOOOHHHHHH SNAPPPPPPP."

Ten word stylists who survive that round will then proceed to a central London event where "a panel of Hip-Hop / Music aficionados" will parse who's best. We're getting ourselves pumped up for the competition starting right now by putting Dizzee Rascal's "Fix Up Look Sharp" on permanent repeat.

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While it still stings, we're sure, to have to wait until 2011 to play Kirby's Epic Yarn, Nintendo revealed a European release date today that isn't too far into next year: February 25. You won't be able to get it for Christmas, but you could conceivably have some gift cards left over from the holiday, at least.

Perhaps it took Nintendo a while to translate all the cutesy descriptions of the collectible furniture items. Or perhaps it's taken Nintendo of Europe several months to stop hugging all the copies of the game long enough to get them into boxes.

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Gameloft has announced a "new" RTS for iOS. Entitled StarFront: Collision, the game bares a striking resemblance to StarCraft. For one, it features three races: A human mining group known as the Consortium, a bug-like alien race called the Myriad and a race of sentient robots referred to as the Wardens. And these three factions, you see, they're all embroiled in a battle to obtain a precious mineral known as (wait for it) Xenodium. There's also a gruff hero named Tim Gaynor and his elite psychic operative friend, Kara Serrigan. Okay, we made that last one up, but you get the picture.

StarFront: Collision will feature online or local multiplayer for four players as well as a campaign with 20 missions. More details on the game, including its price, will be revealed "soon." Check out the first trailer after the break.

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Mobile games publisher Gameloft is showing no signs of slowing down. The company announced its upcoming slate of iOS games at a press conference in Paris today, including sequels to some of the company's most successful properties, such as Asphalt 6: Adrenaline and NOVA 2, a follow-up to the company's Halo-inspired portable FPS. NOVA 2 adds new weapons and new enemies (with jetpacks!) and will offer multiplayer. Not only does it continue the story of the first game, but will reward players of the original with bonus XP.

Perhaps of most interesting title was Gameloft's new IP, Shadow Guardian (pictured above). In typical Gameloft fashion, Shadow Guardian bears more than a little resemblance to other popular console games, notably Uncharted and Tomb Raider: You travel through a variety of locations, from temples to cities, climbing and leaping through the environment in search of treasure. In addition to the requisite puzzle-solving, you'll also be able to shoot your way through waves of enemies, taking cover, blind-firing, and rushing in for melee kills. Yes, you've seen all of this before -- but have you seen it running on an iPhone?

All of these games should be available later this month, "before Christmas."

The landmark jury trial of Matthew Crippen, indicted on two federal counts last fall for modding Xbox 360s, began yesterday with opening statements in a Los Angeles court. Wired's colorful report of U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez's colorful reaction to the prosecution's case suggested that the government could be headed toward a deal with Crippen during an early-afternoon recess.

"I really don't understand what we're doing here," Gutierrez apparently "roared," as he ripped into the prosecution. The judge questioned government prosecutors' use of two witnesses who may have broken the law themselves and prosecutors' instructions to the jury that it was unnecessary to prove Crippen had knowingly breached the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The judge apparently backtracked on an earlier ruling that had prohibited a "fair use" defense (i.e., modding for back-up or homebrew purposes). "The only way to be able to play copied games is to circumvent the technology," Gutierrez said. "How about back-up games and the homebrewed?"

However, prosecutors returned from recess yesterday determined to convict Crippen, 28, on two counts of violating the DMCA (for a maximum sentence of ten years) by proving he knew he was breaking the law. ESA investigator Tony Rosario was called to the stand to recount how he had visited Crippen's Anaheim, Calif. home in 2008 and paid the defendant $60 to mod an Xbox 360. Rosario secretly videotaped the procedure -- which the defense argues is a violation of the state's privacy law -- though he did not capture video evidence of Crippen allegedly playing a pirated game on the modded console (nor did he include this supposed fact in his original report or sworn declarations). Still, the prosecution offered up a pile of a 150 pirated games, apparently seized by authorities from Crippen's home, which it hoped would show jurors that the defendant had a clear understanding that he was involved in illegal activity.

Rosario is expected to return to the stand today, followed by two additional prosecution witnesses: a federal agent, who also allegedly paid Crippen to mod a 360, and a Microsoft employee, a so-called expert on Xbox security (and self-admitted modder in his younger days). The defense is scheduled to begin its case tomorrow.

Follow the drama on Wired's Threat Level blog. Update: Prosecutors dismissed their case today, Wired reports, saying their decision was "based on fairness and justice" (read: they made errors). "It still has not hit me yet," Crippen said outside of the courtroom.

[Pictured: Matthew Crippen; photo credit: David Kravets/Wired.com]

We're finding it hard to accept the fact that future generations of Wii gamers won't be able to experience the raw thrill of one roomful of people chatting it up with another roomful of people during an Animal Crossing: City Folk session. Sadly, that's the hard, hard truth one must extract from Nintendo's recently announced decision to phase out the Wii Speak peripheral, which is now only available "at limited retail locations."

Nintendo refused to hammer the final nail into the poor, puck-shaped microphone's coffin, however, telling GameSpot that "additional shipments can be made if consumer demand increases." In that case, we suppose our grandchildren can still have conversations with strangers' living rooms -- but they'll have to organize some kind of movement in order to do so.

Saying that the developer "sincerely apologise that voice chat is not available in Dead Nation's online co-op mode," Housemarque CEO and co-founder Ilari Kuittinen writes on the EU PlayStation Blog that the zombie-filled, twin-stick shooter will be updated with the feature "soon," with the team "currently working intensely to introduce it as quickly as possible."

While Kuittinen admits in his post that the lack of voice chat is "a major issue for some players," he goes on to say, "we think that releasing Dead Nation has been the right decision as the game is still great fun." We'd have to agree with that last part -- about it being great fun -- but have to wonder how much shipping without such a integral element to online co-op was worth compared to missing out on holiday sales.

EA Sports associate producer Jeff Ecker is totally confident that EA Sports MMA 2 will become a reality at some point. Speaking with Figure Four, Ecker didn't even spend a second beating around the bush and directly stated, "There is definitely going to be an EA Sports MMA 2." Ecker even characterized the sequel's launch not as an "if" but a "when."

EA Sports MMA reportedly only moved 45K units in its first month at US retailers. EA Sports' Fight Night: Champion is already set for a 2011 launch, so you'll be able to beat up friends relentlessly via EA Sports, even if the company doesn't return to the octagonal mat quite so soon.

From a GDC rant about the perils of being a game developer laid off in this tumultuous economy to announcing an acquisition less than a year later, brothers Paul and Dave Bettner have been busy. The ex-Ensemble devs were laid off, along with the rest of the studio, after shipping Halo Wars in 2008; they then established iPhone-dev Newtoy and quickly made a splash with the "With Friends" games, Chess With Friends and the Scrabble-esque Words With Friends, along with the ngmoco-published (and very Farmville-esque!) We Rule.

And today, during a press conference call, Zynga SVP of Mobile David Ko made the announcement that the social game powerhouse has acquired Texas-based NewToy for an undisclosed sum. "Zynga has acquired Texas-based mobile game development company NewToy," Ko revealed, before passing the mic to Paul Bettner. Bettner will serve the acronymical roles of VP and GM of the studio, tasked with developing "new mobile social games for the Zynga network."

The 23-person studio is being renamed Zynga With Friends, as seen in the logo above, though the press release awkwardly refers to it as "The Zynga With Friends Studio." While this represents a strong move by Zynga into the mobile gaming space, we're left wondering if the "With Friends" mobile games will make their way to Zynga's home base: Facebook. We've followed up with the company to ask about just that.

Oh, and considering the new company's name includes "With Friends" we're going to assume that its World War Robot game is probably no longer in development. We'll let you know what we find out.

Are you looking to fulfill you annual desire to get totally pumped for the holidays, but can't seem to stop playing the iPhone sensation Angry Birds long enough to do so? Thanks to a recently published expansion to Rovio's tower-toppling App, you can now kill two birds with one high-velocity bird. For $0.99 on iOS ($1.99 for the HD version), or for free (but ad-supported) on Android, you can download "Season's Greedings," an add-on that features a new level every day in the 25 days leading up to Christmas. It's like an advent calendar! Only ... like, way more fun.

Purchasing the pack also unlocks the 45-level Halloween expansion for free -- or, if you've already acquired this extra spooky level pack, you can grab "Season's Greedings" in a free title update. We wonder if we can expect a purchase of this new add-on to grant us free admission to the next holiday-themed level pack, "New Year's Evil Pigs," or "Punxsutawney Panic." (Yes, those are made up. For now.)

Download: Angry Birds Seasons [iOS SD: $0.99] [iOS HD: $1.99] [Android: Free]

"But Joystiq," you ask, "isn't there already a way to get the absolutely delightful ilomilo for XBLA right now?" Yes, there is -- or you could wait until it's "officially" released on the Xbox Marketplace come January 5 as part of the "Games for the Holidays" promotion. But really, who would do such a silly thing? (Either way, it'll set you back 800 Microsoft Points, or $10.)

Of course, since there's no way to secretly procure Ninja Bee's latest, A World of Keflings, or the puzzle/racer mash-up that is Raskulls from Halfbrick Studios, you will have to wait until their official launches on December 22 and 29, respectively, at 800 points ($10) each.

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It may not be as nice as finding a for-real sonic screwdriver under your tree, but the BBC does have a great holiday gift in mind for any Doctor Who fan: the last episode of the first season of Doctor Who: The Adventure Games, called "Shadows of the Vashta Nerada." This episode takes place during Christmas and entirely underwater, and it'll be available for download on Christmas Day.

If you're a UK resident, it's a really cheap gift -- like all the episodes, it'll be free. US residents will have to pay $5 for it, or $12.95 for the whole season.

Ignition Entertainment's Los Angeles branch is moving to Austin, Texas, reports IGN. "All business will be continuing as usual," a company representative told the site -- which, for Ignition, means typically unusual business.

While no official reason was given for the closure of the Glendale, Calif. publishing offices, a fresh start in Austin is an unsurprising choice given the city's rich history of game development and the state's business incentives. Maybe the move is simply a matter of consolidating Ignition's two U.S. studios, L.A. and Gainesville (Fla.), and having them meet halfway. The move from L.A. is said to have no effect on the company's current staff or projects, according to IGN, while Ignition still won't confirm exactly what is going on in Florida.

A month ago, the Florida branch was reported to be closed and staff rumored to be forced out to Texas (or to find a new job). The studio's sci-fi FPS Reich was assumed to have suffered the same uncertain fate as Ignition's WarDevil game, which was left in limbo following the closure of the Ignition's London-area development studio in late September. Of course, WarDevil has since been resurrected as "Project Kane" and is supposedly in the hands of a "core team" and on track for a Q4 2011 release.

See? We told you: unusual business.

[Image sources: UTV Ignition; 25or6to4 (Wikipedia)]

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime will be a downloadable follow-up to 2009's Ghostbusters: The Video Game, 'cause Gozer knows publisher Atari can barely afford a full-cost sequel. Being developed by Assault Heroes creator Wanako, the four-player (online and couch co-op) top-down action game will not feature any voice work by the original Ghostbusters like Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. It's still unclear whether their characters even appear, or if they've been replaced by a new team of specter hunters.

Sanctum of Slime, to be released in the Spring of 2011 on XBLA, PSN and PC, will have players taking the role of "the rookie," who was introduced in the 2009 game. We don't have more details beyond what little information and screens were given to USA Today, so let's just cross our streams and hope for the best.

Team Meat has cheekily responded to yesterday's PETA Super Tofu Boy parody by announcing that it will add the soy-based protagonist as a downloadable character in the next Super Meat Boy PC patch. The character will only be available on PC, since the XBLA can't be patched in the same fashion.

In a blog post, Team Meat's Edmund McMillen said he "repeatedly made fake user names" in PETA's forums, trying to push the game in hopes of a response. Well, he got one -- and so did they.

McMillen added that the parody was "beyond flattering and amazingly helpful," but also had some harsh words for PETA's stance on animal testing. He also reiterated, just in case some folks weren't aware, that Meat Boy isn't actually made of animal meat, "he's simply a boy without skin."

And here come the Robbie Williams "Rock DJ" flashbacks again.

Update: According to Team Meat, the "bit malnourished" Tofu Boy will be playable by typing "petaphile" at the character select screen following the next Steam update.