Nvidia today announced pricing and a release window for its hand-held console system, Project SHIELD (now called simply SHIELD), this morning. The system will cost almost as much as the Wii U, which is surprising given that its other Android-based competitors like the GameStick and the Ouya are priced at right around $100.

Bluestacks wants its new console system, the Android-based GamePop, to be "Netflix for games." Pre-orders have launched for the device, which won't cost consumers more than a monthly commitment to sign up to its games services and to pay around $10 for shipping and handling. For a $6.99 monthly fee, customers get access to a library of over 500 Android-based games, the GamePop console, a controller, the power supply and HDMI cable.

An investigation examining 400 apps conducted by Develop shows that there is a lack of consistency in the way in-game purchases are presented on digital stores. The investigation follows the UK government agency the Office of Fair Trading’s recent announcement that it would investigate in-app purchases in children’s games.

Apple has won another battle this month at the U.S. International Trade Commission. The ruling dismissed patent claims by Google's Motorola Mobility against Apple's iPhone. If Motorola had prevailed, the ITC could have instituted a ban on imports of the iPhone into the United States from Apple's manufacturers in China.

Security research firm Lookout has identified 32 separate apps on Google Play for Android devices that contain malware called BadNews, according to this BBC report. The BadNews malware has been known to steal cash by racking up charges from sending premium rate text messages. Lookout says that the malware can hide on a user's phone for weeks before being detected. As a general rule the BadNews malware targets Android phone owners in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries in eastern Europe.

The $99 Android-based home console Ouya, has signed 10,000 developers worldwide that have signed on to produce content for the system, according to what head of developer relations Kellee Santiago told GamesIndustry.biz this week. Santiago, who co-founded Journey developer thatgamecompany and this year moved to OUYA, said that partnerships with larger companies will be announced in the coming months as well.

Google has made a dramatic move in removing apps that are either non-compliant or engage in some way in the art of spam. According to Techcrunch the marketplace for Android apps has about 60,000 less titles to choose from. These titles were removed in the last couple of weeks of February, according to the tech web site.

It's dueling Humble Bundles as two new bundles launch: the latest Humble Weekly Sale and the Humble Mobile Bundle. The weekly sale offers THQ's (who gets the money for these games at this point?) Darksiders; Red Faction: Armageddon; and Red Faction: Armageddon Path to War DLC. If you pay more than the average, you'll also get Steam keys for Red Faction: Guerrilla and Darksiders II. As EZK points out, the bundle is Windows only.

Humble Bundle 5 with Android has added three more games into the mix to entice those who have yet to purchase this pay-what-you-want DRM-free PC and Android game bundle - and to reward those who have already taken the plunge. The new Android/Windows/Mac/Linux games include Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Splice, and Crayon Physics Deluxe. Soundtracks are also included. Beat Hazard Ultra, Dynamite Jack, Solar 2, NightSky HD, Super Hexagon, and Dungeon Defenders.

An interesting story on The Verge quoting Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman reported that the $99 Android-based home console set to launch in June (for those who didn't back its Kickstarter crowd funding campaign) would not have multiplayer capabilities at launch. Obviously this message was not well received by the gaming community and the company quickly clarified it's CEO's statement saying that it was a mistake. First, Uhrman comments:

Humble Bundle has jumped right into its newest DRM-free pay-what-you want bundle - Humble Bundle with Android 5. Humble Bundle with Android 5 offers six games for Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux, along with some bonus material for those willing to pay more than the average price.

The base set of games includes Beat Hazard Ultra, Dynamite Jack, Solar 2, and NightSky HD. If you pay more than the average price - currently at $6.33 - you'll get Dungeon Defenders plus all the available downloadable content (Android users get Dungeon Defenders: Second Wave) and Super Hexagon.

It looks like Apple has just gotten its hand slapped away from Samsung's cookie jar - according to a report this morning on AllThingsD. Judge Lucy Koh, the judge overseeing the Apple-Samsung patent trial threw out part of the billion dollar verdict Apple had previously won in the long-running case and ordered a new trial to determine damages for patent infringement.

Ouya announced that its $99 Android based console of the same name will begin shipping to backers of its Kickstarter crowd funding campaign on March 28. Consumers who were not involved in early funding will have to wait until June when the system hits retailers like Best Buy, GameStop, and Amazon, among others.

This week hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight talk about fresh Xbox 720 rumors, new game bills in America, the releases cycle of the Ouya, and last week's GamePolitics Poll. All this and more awaits in Episode 40. Download it now: SuperPAC Episode 40 (1 hour) 55.5 MB.

If you are one of the many thousands that backed the Ouya Kickstarter or plan on getting one of the tiny Android based home console systems when it hits retail in June then you should be happy to hear that Double Fine and the Word With Friends co-creator are working on games for it.

An update to the OUYA Kickstarter page reveals that the tiny little Android-based console that raised millions in crowd-funding will be available in select retail stores, with some even offering pre-orders.

"We have some good news today," the update reads. "Because of the support for OUYA you showed, some of our favorite stores are going to carry OUYA when it officially launches to the public in June."

Temple Run 2 has been downloaded over 50 million times on iOS, Android and Kindle devices, according to developer Imangi Studios. The latest game from Imangi Studios reached that milestone in just 13 days, breaking the previously set record for the fastest growing mobile game (Angry Birds held the previous record with 50 million downloads in 35 days in April of 2012).

Indie developer Mat Dickie announced that his wrestling title for Android, Wrestling Revolution, is back on the Google Play store. In late December Dickie said that WWE somehow compelled Google to pull the game from the store. While he posited that this was done because his game was outperforming WWE's WrestleFest game, there was very little proof to back up that claim.

According to indie UK game developer Mat Dickie, World Wrestling Entertainment has managed to get his wresting game, Wrestling Revolution, pulled from the Google Play Store. While the details on how the WWE accomplished this remain unknown, Dickie claims that the world's biggest professional wrestling organization had it pulled because it was doing better than their game, WWE WrestleFest.

In a bizarre move, Kickstarter issued a message to backers of the Android-based high definition console, the Game Stick. The crowd-funding site told backers that the device, which has already been fully-funded and is working on stretch goals, had become the subject of an intellectual property dispute. Because of this Kickstarter said that - under the law - it was required to remove the project from the "public view" during the dispute process. They said at the time that if they could not put the project back up within 30 days than the Kickstarter campaign would be cancelled.

While there has been some speculation that the Android-based mini-console GameStick will have a hard time competing with the likes of Ouya, that hasn't hampered the enthusiasm of the community. The Kickstarter for the tiny little stick-based Android device designed to simply plug into the HDMI port of most modern high definition television sets has easily destroyed its funding goal of $100,000 in a little over a day and a half.

It looks like the Android-based Ouya will have some competition. A Kickstarter funding campaign for PlayJam's "GameStick" has launched asking the community to help it raise $100,000 to bring its mini gaming console devices into full production. The GameStick is being billed as a home console that plugs directly into the HDMI slot of most major modern high definition televisions.

Zynga will shut down a total of 11 of its social games as it finds new ways to cut costs to fulfill the cost reduction plan announced by CEO Mark Pincus in November of this year. When Pincus made that announcement he said that 13 games would be shut down. The list of games scheduled for closure covers 11 on that list.

On Christmas day iOS and Android device activations were greater than any other day in history, according to a new report from mobile analytics company Flurry. As highlighted by VentureBeat Flurry claims that over 17 million new smartphones and tablets were activated on Christmas day. Compared to the rest of December, new iOS and Android activations rose a whopping 332 percent on Christmas Day.

A new game for Android devices called Whack a Candidate: Election' 12 charges you with suppressing the vote of the political party you don't like by whacking them in the face with the "Hammer of Justice." The game is much like whack-a-mole but the field is a map of the United States. When a candidate or their vice-presidential running mate pops up on the map you whack them with a hammer to stop them from scoring votes in a given state.

A new research paper from Google reveals what most gamers already know: the majority of tablet users spend more time playing games than anything else on their device of choice - whether it be Android, Windows, or iOS-based. In fact, Google's research found that gaming is the most popular activity on tablets right behind checking email.

Samsung got some good news today: an appeals court has lifted the injunction against the Galaxy Nexus, which Apple won in a lower court. The court ruled today that Apple should not have been granted the ban in the first place.

Speaking to the New York Times, social game developer Supercell claims that it is raking in copious amounts of cash with its mobile endeavors. How much cash is it making on a daily basis of its games? According to the company, it is averaging over $500,000 a day from two of its most popular releases.

A new poltically themed game from developer Mayonaise Games lets you cast your vote for the U.S. president in a whole new way. The Android game is called Face Chop: Decision 2012, and it lets players "chop" the faces of candidates to earn points and "win the election."

Amazon.com has asked California U.S. District Court judge to dismiss Apple's claim that the online retailer's use of the term "appstore" is a case of false advertising. The request is in response to an Apple lawsuit filed in March 2011 that alleged that that Amazon.com's use of the name "Amazon Appstore" violated its App Store trademark. In November of last year Apple amended the complaint to include allegations that the use of "appstore" amounted to false advertising and would cause consumer confusion.