In the wake of a rather high-profile App Store scam involving a Pokémon game (or at least its title screen), the Pokémon Company has issued a statement saying it's on the hunt for the bad guys.

"We continue to combat the unauthorised release of games, applications and merchandise that trick our fans into purchasing something that does not meet our quality standards," they told Develop.

"Fans who encounter questionable products should report to us immediately so we can keep other fans from falling victim to these scams."

Which is well and good, but if Apple's going to have a closed store, it needs to do a better job of policing it. There's only so much the Pokémon Company (a Nintendo subsidiary) can do looking from the outside in.

Pokémon Company issues warning to scammers [Develop]

Opus Artz is a concept studio in London which specialises in production art for the video game industry. Among its artists are guys like Bjorn Hurri and Theo Stylianides, so yeah, we're about to see some good stuff.

The studio has worked with clients such as EA, 2K, Paradox and Square Enix, on games like Dead Space 2, BioShock 2, InFamous 2 and, to complete the pattern, Sniper 2.

You can see more of Opus' work at their company site.

Sims modder Pixel Pixies brings a touch of wholesome sex appeal to EA's Sims 3 with her Marilyn Monroe skin, turning a modern family drama into a flick from the 50's.

I've never been able to get into the Sims games, but I remember spending a lot of time with earlier iterations importing mods and skins because, well, there's something about how mundane the game is that makes such user-made objects and items seem more transformative.

Just like we see here.

Pixel Pixies has way more stuff than just this Marilyn gear; if you like messing around with The Sims, you should check out her site.

Pixel Pixies, Sims Addict [Pixel Pixies, via Gamer Grrlz]

On the subject of gamification - turning things/activities that aren't games into games - Greg Costikyan gets it 100% right.

The Problem with Gamification...[Play This Thing, via Super Punch]