Round-Up: Runescape/WildTangent, HK Pirates, Blizzard Art

Today's Gamasutra round-up includes RuneScape's partnership with WildTangent, a Hong Kong raid of pirated coin-op arcade machines, and Blizzard's first annual art contest, as well as the latest GameSetWatch posts, product news, Serious Games Source news, and Gamasutra job postings. - Jagex Ltd, creators of MMO RuneScape have signed a deal making WildTangent, Inc. their marketing and exclusive advertising sales partner in the US. The advertising deal includes selling advertising campaigns in and around the game, while the marketing agreement will add RuneScape to the WildTangent Games Network to drive subscription sales. - According to a a Coin-Op Today report, touchscreen arcade manufacturer Merit Entertainment announced today that the Hong Kong Customs and Excise raided a Kowloon, Hong Kong business on June 28, 2006, arresting one employee and seizing 32 illegal copies of Merit’s 2005 and 2006 Force video games. The raid culminated a three-month investigation into the illegal distribution of Merit’s 2005 and 2006 Force video games. Bob Fay, Merit’s Director of Government Relations remarked that "This police action will be the first of several that are likely to happen worldwide in the months ahead." -Blizzard Entertainment, makers of uber-popular MMO World of Warcraft recently offered a sneak peek of their first annual Blizzard Art Contest for 3D artists and 2D concept artists with submissions to be accepted beginning on July 31, 2006 at midnight PST. Grand prizes valued at over $10,000 each will be awarded in the four following categories: Best Diablo Art, Best Cinematic Art, Best Starcraft Art, and Best Warcraft Art. Fourteen additional secondary prizes valued at over $1,400 each will also be awarded. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include an interview with Halo screenwriter DB Weiss, news of The Escapist's website format change, and a much-needed fix to the Xbox Live version of Uno. - Also updated today: a Serious Games Source/GDCRadio audio feature of a Serious Games Summit lecture entitled 'Can Serious Games Work in 45 Minutes?', plus the latest Gamasutra job postings, featuring openings from Activision, Blue Fang Games, Kush Games, Visual Concepts, and Volition.