Sony Online Entertainment and THQ are both handing out pink slips this week.

SOE was hit hard by a devastating round of downsizing that resulted in one-third of the workforce being laid off and three studios closed. THQ cut more than 30 jobs at two of its studios, but both remain open.

205 of the roughly 700 SOE employees were laid off Thursday and "The Agency," an MMO that has been in development for more than six years, has been cancelled.

"This strategic decision will have no impact on SOE’s current portfolio of live games," the company said in a statement. "This strategic alignment of development resources better positions SOE to remain a global leader in online gaming and deliver on its promise of creating entertaining games for players of all ages, and servicing the 20 million players that visited SOE servers in just the past year."

SOE was a front-runner in the persistent world genre of gaming. While it was not the first company to create a massively multiplayer title, "EverQuest" was the first breakout MMO and still retains a very loyal group of players, who, with an average age of 38, skew much older than the typical player. Competition from "World of Warcraft" and other MMOs has hurt the company, though.

THQ, meanwhile, let go 32 people across two studios – Volition and Kaos (makers of the company's recent "Homefront" action title).

The company classifies the moves as "workforce adjustments" that are "a relatively common occurrence in the game development industry."

Variety tech guru David Cohen chats with Jenny Fulle, visual effects producer and founder of the Creative Cartel.



Roku has been something of a trailblazer in the cord-cutting world, but it has had a relatively small following since it has historically only been sold online. That's about to change.

Starting today, Best Buy customers are able to purchase the Roku XD in stores. So are shoppers at BJ's Wholesale club, Fry's Electronics and Radio Shack.

The set top box, which retails for just shy of $80, handles a variety of streaming media, from Netflix to HuluPlus to Pandora. It supports high definition (720p/1080p) streaming and features an HDMI output.

To date, Roku has sold over 1 million units via its online storefront and other Internet retailers. With its low price and wide range of services, though, it has built a very dedicated fan base in the process.

Rockstar Games has been edging towards a Hollywood model for quite some time now, but the film community is finally taking notice.

The Tribeca Film Festival will present a one-hour gameplay session of "L.A. Noire" at this year's event, followed by a question and answer session. Scheduled to take place April 25, this is the first time the festival has recognized a video game.

“We’re thrilled that 'L.A. Noire' is being recognized by the Tribeca Film Festival in this way,” said Rockstar Games founder Sam Houser. “It’s a real honor, and another step forward for interactive entertainment.”

Geoff Gilmore chief creative officer of Tribeca Enterprises (and a former director of the Sundance Film Festival) will oversee the Q&A, which will focus on the making of the game, the technology behind it, and story and action in this medium.

Like many Rockstar games before it, "L.A. Noire" pushes new boundaries in the interactive space. Rather than stretching gameplay methods this time, though, the revolutions are in the incredibly lifelike characters that populate the world.

That's more than window dressing. It's essential to the game, as you play a detective working to solve a series of mysteries. To successfully do that, you'll need to read the body language of people you're questioning. The facial animation scans, done by Culver City-based Depth Analysis, make that possible.

Warner Bros. is doubling down with Facebook.

Roughly three weeks after offering "The Dark Knight" for streaming via the social network, the studio has added five more films – including a trio of recent releases.

“Inception,” “Life as We Know It” and “Yogi Bear” are all available immediately, each carrying a $4 price tag. That's a buck higher than the catalog content the studio offers, which (in addition to "The Dark Knight") now includes “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets".

Warner's being selective with its rollouts, relying on the popularity of films with the Facebook audience guide its choices. Execs say the fan pages for Harry Potter and "Inception" are "two of the most popular and active communities on the site."

As with the first Facebook offering, Buyers will be able to watch the film through their Facebook account for up to 48 hours from purchase and pay with Facebook credits, rather than directly via a credit card.

Films can be viewed in full-screen and watched in segments (with the film resuming where left off the next time user log in). Users can also use other Facebook features while watching the film, such as posting comments or status updates.

Nintendo is one of the few, refreshing companies that constantly surprises you.

As Apple was mounting its assault on the portable gaming space, the Kyoto-based company threw gamers a curve, announcing plans for a new handheld system that would allow users to see images in stereoscopic 3D without the need for special glasses. It was a risky move, but it seems to be one that will pay off.

Preorders for the system are twice those of the Wii, according to Lazard Capital Management. And despite the plethora of less expensive games on the market, it appears the mass audience is eager to get its hands on the 3DS – even before they've seen what it can do.

I've been putting the system through its paces for a little over a week now – and the 3DS is an impressive game machine that has lots of potential. It is not, however, perfect – and if you're on the fence about getting one, you might be well served to wait for the inevitable refresh of the model.

Full details about the reasoning for this can be found after the jump.

Zack Snyder’s controversial action fantasy “Sucker Punch” serves up multiple levels of reality, wild action sequences, and a team of action heroines that puts Tarantino’s Fox Force Five to shame. With CG environments, robots, zombies, samurai giants and more, it’s a remarkable challenge for the vfx team. We talk to vfx supervisor John “DJ” Desjardin about the working with Snyder and getting it all to hang together.

Steve Jobs will remain on the board at Disney.

Investors voted Wednesday to re-elect the CEO of Apple (and one-time owner of Pixar), despite proxy advisors who lobbied against the action, citing continuing concerns about Jobs' overall health.

Bloomberg reports 74 percent of the investors voted to keep Jobs on the board, a not completely surprising move, since he is the company's largest individual shareholder with a 7 percent ownership stake in the Mouse house.

Two shareholder groups and the AFL-CIO raised questions about Jobs' re-election bid, citing his regular absence from board meetings. One group noted his “recent leave of absence from his primary employer, raises questions about his ability to fulfill his responsibilities as a director.”

Jobs has been on medical leave from Apple since Jan 17 – the third time he has taken such a leave in seven years. However, he has been seen regularly on the Apple campus and led the public unveiling of the iPad 2 earlier this month, surprising some attendees.

With the 150^th anniversary of the start of the Civil War fast approaching, it probably won't come as a surprise that PBS has plans to rerun Ken Burns' acclaimed series on the War Between the States.

What might be a bit more unexpected, though, is that the network plans to offer a free stream of the series' first episode to showcase its PBS App for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The stream will become available March 24 for a 10-day window.

If you're not a fan of streaming media, PBS will also offer a downloadable version of the episode via iTunes that same day. And if you're boycotting all things Apple, the episode will be streamed from PBS.org starting April 4.

Since its launch four months ago, the PBS app has gathered a notable collection of free video – over 250 hours worth. The selection includes full episodes as well as previews of new programs.

"Just four months after launching our apps, nearly 20 percent of our video streams come from users of our Apps for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch," said Jason Seiken, SVP, PBS Interactive and Product Development.

The PSP Go, which shunned physical media for a download only model, might not be a roaring success, but Sony's doubling down on digital distribution as it prepares its next generation handheld gaming system.

The head of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe says that every game on the so-called NGP (Next Generation Portable) will be available to buy as a download the same day the physical game appears on store shelves.

"One thing we learned from PSP, is that we want to have simultaneous delivery in digital and physical for NGP," House told MCV. "Just to clarify that, all games that appear physically will be made available digitally. Not necessarily all games have to be made available physically."

The simultaneous distribution plan is something of a new step for the industry, which is inching towards digital distribution on a steady basis. It's still an overall slow movement, though. The system has no internal storage, but will reportedly let users store downloadable titles on proprietary SD memory cards.