Friday shorts, part 1: Fruit Ninja acquiring “next big thing” status, John Romero’s still hardcore, much more

By Patrick Garratt

If we tried to write up all the little stories, all we’d do is write all day. What?

• Mobile game Fruit Ninja has passed 20 million downloads. This is happening very quickly, so watch carefully: the title hit 6 million sales in mid-February. That’s on Joystiq.
• Angry Birds has beaten 30 million downloads on Android. That gives you a frame of reference as to Fruit Ninja’s popularity. That’s Joystiq again.
• There’s a trailer of EA’s The Fancy Pants Adventures on Gamespot.
• There’s a NASCAR The Game 2011 dev diary on Gamershell.
• Relic’s released an update for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution. There’s details on Steam.
• Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux disected Populous’s development at GDC yesterday. Apparently his career was fuelled by “cigarettes, Coca-Cola and pizza,” and he’s making a 256-player version as a “hobby”. There’s a report on IGN.
• Ubi’s noted that it doesn’t rate its own games, after racey Wii party game We Dare was branded suitable for children by PEGI. Via Cubed3 and Destructoid.
• Deadly Premonition director Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro gave GDC seven tips for creating a memorable game story yesterday. That’s on Gama.
• Introversion has said it’s “unlikely” the developer will ever work with Microsoft again. “They make you work harder on the production value, but they don’t back it up with sales,” business guy Mark Morris said at GDC yesterday. That’s on PC Gamer.
• Turbine’s gone into detail on LotRO’s next raiding update. Via Massively.
• There’s an interview about the Doctor Who PC games on Bigdownload. A second season will release this year.
• Retro talked about making Donkey Country Returns at GDC yesterday. Dev started in 2008. That’s on Gamespot.
• There’s going to be a Saints Row Facebook game, according to Destructoid. The third title in the series was announced this week.
• Another GDC postmortem. This one’s Mark Cerny talking about Marble Madness. The report’s on Gamespot.
• John Romero’s abandoned hardcore gamers, says Eurogamer. “I am not done making hardcore games, Eurogamer,” says John Romero.
• Battlefield Heroes boss Ben Cousins has addressed concerns that paid-for weapons have unbalanced the game, speaking at GDC yesterday. That’s on Joystiq.
• Microsoft’s Sidewinder peripherals haven’t been discontinued, according to a statement given to Bigdownload, despite reports to the contrary earlier this week.
• Aventurine’s Darkfall MMO is being offered for cheap. Check Massively for details.
• Want to see some Dynasty Warriors 7 screens? Look on Destructoid. Want to see a Dynasty Warriors 7 video? Look on Destructoid.