September proved to be a good month for three independent game developers: Zeboyd Games, Carpefulgur, and Mojang. Let us start with the elephant in the room that is Minecraft. It has been widely reported that the developer of Minecraft, Markus 'Notch' Persson, has made $3,787,748 off his game to date - and it is only in alpha! The game is DRM-free, and Persson does not care all that much about piracy. Obviously, that position has not hurt sales.

Persson has reportedly had job offers from Bungie and Valve (he declined) and is now focusing on opening up his own development studio. Here's what Persson told GI.biz: Read More

The Justice Department announced this week that Law enforcement agencies throughout the United States would receive almost $4 million in grants to fight intellectual property infringement. Police departments and District Attorneys in California, North Carolina, Florida, New York, Mississippi, Virginia and Texas will get a chunk of the money, according to The Wrap.

The Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sherriff's Department, the National Crime Prevention Council, the National Association of Attorneys General, and the National White Collar Crime Center were also on the list to receive grant money.

Steam Wallet, Steam's new in-game currency solution, is now live and the first game to support it is Team Fortress 2. Team Fortress 2 players can jump into the Team Fortress 2 Mann Co. Store within the game and make purchases. Steam Wallet users can add money in denominations of $5, $10, $25, $50, or $100 dollars using PayPal and most major credit cards.

Here is more from the announcement: Read More

Game Connection Invest Initiative 2010 will take place November 15 - 18 in Lyon, France. The event that connects game makers with venture capitalist will be part of the Lyon, France-based Game Connection Europe event. According to GameIndustry.biz, the event will feature 150 companies trying to sell their game ideas to 50 venture capitalists. A few select companies - 20 that were "pre-selected" - will receive additional promotion and a more prominent show floor presence at the event.

Exhibitor space for the event is still available and applications remain available until October 30. More details here.

The final eight nominees have been selected by GamesAid for the final round of voting. The announcement was made at the opening of the London Games Festival. Five final winners will be chosen by GamesAid members to be supported in 2011.

The eight charities include Action for Kids, Special Effect, Rainbow Family Trust, Family Holiday Association, Families Need Fathers, The Willow Foundation, Volunteer Centre Sutton, and Huntingdon Dreamdrops. All are dedicated to children's causes and are worthy of your support.

More information on all of these UK-based charities can be found at www.gamesaid.org. To give directly to any of these groups, check out GamesAid's giving page.

Content: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (Demo)
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE Regions
Dash Text: Download the Enslaved demo and get a sneak peek into a gripping, surprise-filled journey as two dissimilar characters form an uneasy partnership in order to survive through a perilous, post-apocalyptic America where few humans are left and nature has reclaimed the world. Play as Monkey, a strong brutish loner who has been captured by a mysterious slave ship. Trip, a technologically savvy young woman and fellow prisoner, hacks a slave headband and commands Monkey to help her get home. If she dies, he dies, and her journey has now become his.