Each workday morning I will be bringing you the latest events, articles and releases in the independent and mod development communities, as well as any mainstream news that seems pertinent. Most of this news can also be found daily on ModCenter.

Industry Articles:

• cactus_squid Interview - GWLog has interviewd cactus, creator of such games as Fuck Space! and the IGF finalist Clean Asia. The interview covers catus' inspiration for creating games as well as his design process. The interview also includes a sneak peek at one of cactus' new titles.
  
• Interview: Robert Lupinek (The Cleaner) - The IndieGames blog has posted an interview with Robert Lupinek, a freeware game developer. The interview covers his experience with game design, and goes into depth about his title The Cleaner.
  
• IGDA Column: The Games Games - Industry veteran Tom Sloper is back with another installment of his monthly IGDA column. This month, Sloper changes it up a bit by moving from a Q&A format to an editorial-style rant about using the terms "gaming," "developer" and "game design."
  
• IGDA Column: Famous Last Words - In his newest entry to his monthly IDGA column, attorney-at-law Jim Charne answers a question about how to approach contracts when looking for a publisher to distribute a game you've already finished developing.
• Persuasive Games: Texture - Ian Bogost continues his Gamasutra column with an excellent article regarding the use of textures in all types of artistic expression, including game design as well as more traditional forms of art such as culinary and painting/sculpture.
• Games for Zune with XNA Game Studio 3.0 - In its fifth sponsored XNA article, Gamasutra covers developing games for the Zune platform using the newly-released XNA Game Studio 3.0. Since the Zune is primarily an audio device, special considerations need to be kept in mind while approaching development.
  

Developer Events

• ZPS Level Design Competition - The Zombie Panic: Source team (Half-Life 2 mod) is hosting a level-design competition with Noesis Interactive. Three winners will be awarded various prizes, ranging from cash to game to Noesis tutorials. All three will have their levels included in the next release and an opportunity to join the development team.
  

Game Releases

• Dino Run (Indie)
  

Tool Releases

• XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP (Development Platform)
  

That's all for today. If you know someone on Pwned.com who would be interested in reading these daily blogs in the future, please tell them to add me as a friend! If you're interested in starting your own game development project (or already have one), don't forget to check out ModCenter, which can help you manage your project and move efficiently towards a successful release.