There will be 30 percent more games competing in the 2009 Independent Games Festival than in 2008.

Organizers revealed the names of 226 entries in the main competition on the festival’s Web site, up from 173 last year. Entries include games where players fight mutant ponies, fly via flatulence and simulate sex in the dark.

The festival’s student showcase will also contain more entries, up 15 percent to 145 from last year’s 125.

Lists of all competitors are available on the IGF website, many of which have free demos or are completely free to download and play. The festival awards almost $50,000 in prizes including the $20,000 Seumas McNally grand prize. Judges were announced in October and include developers and journalists like Braid designer Jonathan Blow and Kotaku.com’s Brian Crecente.

The festival runs from March 23 to 27, 2009 in San Francisco.

Winners from last year’s festival included Crayon Physics Deluxe, World of Goo and Audiosurf.

The National Institute on Media and the Family has given “A” grades to videogame organizations in their annual report card this year. Parents were given a grade of “incomplete.”

In its 13th report card, the institute awarded two “A” grades to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board for adding content summaries to its Web site that explain why a game earned a certain rating. A mobile-friendly site makes the summaries available to cell phone users. The ESRB received another “A” for its work promoting game ratings to parents.

The game industry also earned an “A” for family-friendly features like parental controls and play timers.

Parents received a grade of “incomplete” with an explanation stating that with all of the information and tools available, “parents need to pay more attention to the amount of time and the types of games their kids play.”

In 2007, the ESRB received a “B-“ grade, the game industry got a “C,” and parents also earned a “C.”

The institute also provides a buying guide for parents, which lists games like LittleBigPlanet, Rock Band 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE!. A “Games to Avoid” list includes Dead Space, Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead among others.

Rock Band has gone country?  That’s right!  Harmonix and MTV Games have announced today that they are set to give their first country track-pack that will become available next week.  The “Going Country” track-pack features five hit singles from renowned country artists like Brad Paisley and Brooks & Dunn.

Each track will be priced individually at $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) or the “Going Country” track-pack can be purchased with all five tracks for $8.49 (680 Microsoft Points).  The tracks will be available starting December 16, 2008 on the Xbox 360 and on December 18, 2008 for the PlayStation 3.  Hit the jump for the full track listing. READ MORE

Thirteen new tracks will be available next week from No Doubt’s album “The Singles 1992-2003.”  The album is a compilation of hit singles from previous No Doubt releases.  The album will be priced at $19.99 (1600 Microsoft Points) or you will have the option to purchase each track individually for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points).  The album hits the Rock Band Music Store starting December 9, 2008 for the Xbox 360 and December 11, 2008 for the PlayStation 3. READ MORE