Digital download service GamersGate is having deals aplenty during "simulator week," where you can save up to 60% off publishers' prices. What's notable about this sale is that it includes games that aren't normally available through traditional U.S. retail outlets or even at competing digital download sites.

The majority of titles are almost comical in their bluntness, with names like Airport Simulator, Towing Simulator, Crane Simulator and Farm Simulator. Curiously absent from the list are "Lawn Mower Simulator" and "Zamboni Simulator," but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Discounts on the 31 featured simulators will run through the weekend.

Image © GamersGate AB

The Smithsonian American Art Museum will be hosting an exhibit entitled "The Art of Video Games" in 2012, scheduled to run from March 16 to September 30. The museum is attempting to chronicle the history of games as an "artistic medium."

The criteria for a game to be considered for this exhibition, according to the website, are titles that are "visually spectacular or boast innovative design." You can vote on 80 games to include (out of 240) after entering an e-mail address. Candidates from 20 platforms across four eras are included.

What's interesting about this project are the game choices themselves, of which there are more curious finalists than in the entire run of American Idol. Pac-Man for the Atari VCS is neither visually spectacular nor innovative, but it's one of the 12 games nominated for the system, along with the critically maligned E.T.

It doesn't speak well of the nomination process when two notoriously bad games could be considered art. It's also interesting that one of the four genres is called "target" instead of shooter, perhaps because the former sounds less, well, violent.

Yet the puzzling inclusions don't stop there for sim gamers. The PC platform is only represented in two of the five eras, from 1995 to present, and there's no traditional flight sim, racing game, sports title, city builder or business game.

Entries in the innovative SimCity series have been skipped (though inferior versions of SimCity and SimCity 2000 are inexplicably nominated for the Super NES and Saturn), and The Sims series is MIA as well.

It's not a total loss for sim fans -- Minecraft is a candidate (despite being in beta) as is the excellent Star Wars: TIE Fighter, but when you think about all the innovative and visually spectacular computer titles that have been overlooked, you can't help but be disappointed.

To kick off the release of Dungeons, Kalypso Media USA is sponsoring a "Get Evil" contest in which you can win one of the following prizes:

1st Prize (one winner): An Alienware prize pack that includes an Alienware-branded headset, custom keyboard and mouse, and a 21.5" HD LCD monitor

2nd Prize (one winner): Two VIP passes to "The Atticus Black 'Young & Restless Tour' Presented by Dungeons" music event

3rd Prize (one winner): An ATI HD5450 1GB video card, plus a set of Kalypso-themed pint glasses showcasing art from Dungeons and The First Templar

4th Prize (five winners): A set of Kalypso game-themed pint glasses featuring Dungeons and The First Templar

5th Prize (five winners): A limited-edition Xbox 360 The First Templar console skin with imagery from the upcoming cooperative action RPG

Entering the contest is a simple matter of filling out a form with your name, e-mail, date of birth, and country. You don't even have to sell your soul or pledge to hand over your firstborn, which means this contest seems rather nice and painless for a promotion that supposedly extols the virtues of evildoing.

To get a taste of what it's like to be a dungeon lord, you can download a demo from a number of file hosting sites, which are conveniently grouped on the official Dungeons website.

The spiritual successor to Transport Tycoon, Cities in Motion, is scheduled for release on February 22nd. Those who pre-order the game will receive five additional transportation options as a special bonus.

Early adopters will be able to acquire the following vehicles: a Jubilee Blim minibus from the '60s, a Skylark III helicopter, Sweden's Tiergarten Ferry, the Livingstone Inauguration tram, and London's Arnauld Porte metro train that originated in 1915.

Now you might be thinking that some of these transport options are rather old, especially considering the needs of a modern city. After all, you don't expect to travel by horse and buggy when you call a cab. Yet Cities in Motion takes place over a span of 100 years, so these options can be put to good use during one of the four eras chronicled in the game's campaign.

Image © Paradox Interactive