(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Ben Fritz

Left 4 Dead (Valve and EA / Valve)

For those of us who thought Epic, Bungie and Insomniac had taken multi-player action as far as it could go, Valve delivered a genuine paradigm shift. Every single element of “Left 4 Dead,” from the level design to the resource distribution to the menus to the integration of zombie movie tropes to the dynamic A.I. not only encourages, but compels cooperative gameplay. They also make it the most genuinely scary interactive experience of 2008, because you never know what's coming next and whether your team has the guts to survive.

After dozens of successful online campaigns, however, "Left 4 Dead's" most lasting impact on me is its demonstration that great videogame design can overcome even that most intractable of foes: the Xbox Live asshole.

Leigh Alexander

Persona 4 (Atlus / Atlus)

This was the year that the industry seemed increasingly willing to back-shelve traditional Japanese mechanics and genres -- but as it did last year, the "Persona" series proves it's way too early to call the Japanese RPG a relic. "Persona 4" adapts to modern, fashionable visual and music just as deftly as it updates staid, conventional game mechanics. But it's most broadly impressive for its poignant cultural subtext and commentary on interpersonal relations -- markedly adult, even while it's all wrapped in a widely-accessible high school hipster story.

Tom Chick

Saints Row 2 (THQ / Volition)

This is the paragon of open-world city-havoc sandboxes. It's a pitch-perfect example of a game that accomplishes exactly what it intends to accomplish. It's crass and generous and spectacular, stuffed with stuff to do, usually involving the liberal application of chaos. Like the first "Saints Row," it out-"Grand Theft Autos" the best of them: "Mercenaries," "The Godfather," "Scarface," "Bully," "Grand Theft Auto" itself, and even "Crackdown." If there is a better realized vision of a city as a massive free-wheeling incendiary playground, I haven't seen it. And the fact that I can play almost every corner of "Saints Row 2" cooperatively is almost obscene. Really, Volition? You're going to go that far above the competition? That's just showboating.

Chris Dahlen

Braid (Number None)

Jonathan Blow's long-awaited debut had a nice window in late August to get critics’ and fans’ attention - most famously, Soulja Boy. It has passionate advocates, myself included, yet I wonder if we’re outweighed by the players who made fun of the writing or grew frustrated with the platforming. Blow has objected to people who criticize the game for what it's not, rather than taking it for what it is - and in my experience, "Braid" is an elegant, brilliantly-designed puzzle game where each problem has an exquisite "ah-ha" solution, and the story that started out so sweetly turns troubling and confusing by the epilogue. Is Blow ultimately full of shit, as his detractors (and blogosphere sparring partners) claim? A prize goes to the critic who can get far enough ahead of him to prove it.

Coming Friday: The most overrated videogames of 2008.

Coming Monday: The best videogame(s) of 2008

Coming tomorrow: Most of you will have too much of a hangover to read this blog anyway

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Leigh Alexander

Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda)

It's more of a prototype for the wholly-lifelike game experience than a perfect execution thereof, but no coin's ever landed this close to the cup. The expansive rendition of a post-apocalyptic Washington is both breathtaking and unsettling, a wide-open nuclear playground that offers a decidedly overwhelming array of options for how it's to be experienced. It's dark and exhausting, but the sense of discovery and the opportunity to mark each fallout-dusted stretch of land with the footprints of choices invoke an almost giddy delirium.

Tom Chick

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (Microsoft / Rare)

Forget "Lego [Insert Popular License With Geek Appeal]." This is the best Lego game I've ever played. Never mind that it doesn't have the Lego license. That's Lego's loss. As I explore this colorful world built for exploring, gathering bits and parts along the way, "Nuts & Bolts" appeals to a unique compulsion that most games can't touch: the desire to engineer stuff. Not just make stuff. Lots of games are doing a great job letting me make stuff. The "Boom Blox" toy box, the map maker in "Far Cry 2," and the video editor in the PC version of "Grand Theft Auto IV" are all wonderfully accessible studios in which I can build something, consider it, and then ask myself, "Um, now what?" But the things I create in "Nuts & Bolts," the cars and airplanes and submersible attack ships, have immediate gameplay value in this colorful world. These are the vehicles I use to tackle various challenges: go this fast, jump this high, carry this doo-dad there, run this course, and so on. And I'm even free to break many of these challenges by outbuilding them instead of outplaying them. That's freedom: the ability to foil the developers themselves.

Chris Dahlen

The World Ends With You (Squre Enix / Square Enix)

I've heard from diehard Japanese RPG fans who say this didn't knock their socks off. Maybe I'm just not tired of angsty spikey-haired adolescents grinding their skills and saving the world. Or maybe I adored the game's winningly emo dialogue and its fantastic sense of place, from the ramen stand to Shibuya’s mythical phone booth of love.  “Any tree can drop an apple. I’ll drop the freakin’ moon.”

Ben Fritz

Fable 2 (Microsoft / Lionhead)

“GTA” and its legion of imitators have made physical sandboxes old hat, but “Fable 2” is the first successful societal sandbox. No videogame world has ever felt quite so alive or so full of consequences. A brilliantly accessible but rich combat system makes “Fable 2’s” quests a joy, but it’s the awareness that you’re fighting for something deeper – whether it’s new houses for all three of your spouses, a fierce reputation so people will cower everywhere you go, or revenge on the villain who killed your sister so many decades ago – that makes the experience matter.

Coming tomorrow morning: The second best videogame(s) of 2008.

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Tom Chick

Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda)

I didn't do this intentionally, but once I'd arranged my list I realized that my top four games of 2008 are all powerfully imagined and skillfully created open worlds, with rock-solid infrastructures of good gameplay and an unwavering emphasis on freedom. Here are almost unprecedented juxtapositions of developer creativity and player freedom ("Grand Theft Auto IV" would have belonged among this rare company if Rockstar had either written a better story or designed a better game). "Fallout 3" is the most contrived of the four, proceeding apace along the usual RPG trappings like dialogue trees, fussy interface muckery, and occasionally clunky world building. But it's an unforgettably bleak and epic experience, brave enough to be barren and gray, but crammed with stories, vignettes, characters, and sights. Some fans of the "Fallout" series were worried that it would be "Oblivion" with guns. "Oblivion" should be so lucky.

Chris Dahlen

Left 4 Dead (Valve and EA / Valve)

The brilliance of "Left 4 Dead’s" co-operative play lies in the way that even strangers learn to work as a team, knowing their survival is at stake.  And if you play with friends, you get a rare chance to see their true character come through. I never get sick of reading about people's experiences in the game – Daniel Purvis’ tale of cowardice under pressure is my favorite - because the same few elements can afflict you in so many ways. Sort of like browsing old chess games, with a much, much scarier queen. 

Ben Fritz

Braid (Number None)

If nothing else, “Braid” entranced me with a quality I never knew videogames could possess: relaxation. Spending hours pondering, experimenting, and rewinding time while figuring out brain-bending puzzles to the tune of a wistful cello solo and the sight of swirling watercolors was a wholly unique and utterly invigorating experience. Themes of loss, regret, and forgiveness are subtly woven and then masterfully brought home, even if the epilogue is unbearably pretentious.

Leigh Alexander

No More Heroes (Marvelous and Ubisoft / Grasshopper Manufacture)

It's shamelessly bizarre, heavy-handed, clunky and incisively brilliant from beginning to end, a loving send-up of the very gamer culture that eats up the deprecating self-references with glee. Little moments of genius abound: the actually joyous use of the Wii's controls, the necessity of playing an entire stage hanging upside down from one's couch, and the population of villains who, given only brief cameos, seem more exciting and fully-realized than all of the grave animated robots we've been fed all year.

Coming tomorrow morning: The third best videogame(s) of 2008.

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Chris Dahlen

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo / Level 5)

I love solving puzzles. I love being patted on the head when I get one right. And I love a game that will give me little, helpful hints but never hand me the answer, no matter how much I beg.

Ben Fritz

de Blob (THQ / Blue Tongue)

This unlikely translation of a Dutch student project into a AAA American release is the most unjustly overlooked videogame of the year, both critically and commercially. Its embrace of color and music over gray monotony may be simple, but it’s the infusion of those aesthetics into the gameplay, so that the visual and aural richness of the world grows along with the player’s progress, that makes “de Blob” so impressive and infectious.

Leigh Alexander

PixelJunk Eden (Sony / Q Games)

Quickly glance at its undulating colors, ambient techno and iconic floral design (which I wholly believe is ripped off in the graphic design for some current Sears ads) and it's easy to dismiss "PixelJunk Eden" as an "art" game. In fact, it's deceptively accessible in its simplicity, sometimes deliciously frustrating, and often luminously trance-inducing. Its taut design subtly graduates the player into ever more expansive challenges and provides a real sense of growth and unfurling along the way.

Tom Chick

EndWar (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Shanghai)

Okay, I'm going to get wonky here. "EndWar" is not your normal real time strategy game, and not just because it finally cracks the code for how to play an RTS on a console system (The key? Voice commands!). "EndWar" is a gamble. In fact, I think it misreads the appeal of the genre. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if this turned out to be a commercial fiasco for Ubisoft. But that's what you risk when you cannily rework how real time strategy games play. "EndWar" is about moving pieces on a board and psyching out your opponent. It's about knowing when to push and when to give. It's about carefully upgrading your units over the course of a perhaps too dynamic campaign. This is one of the most subversive game designs of the year for how it takes the fussy action movie motif of a typical RTS and recasts it as an elegant European board game. If Reiner Knizia made RTSs, this is the one he'd make. See, I told you I was going to get wonky.

Coming this afternoon: The fourth best videogame(s) of 2008.

I haven't been spending my holidays doing much kotaku reading, but when a friend send me this post, I really wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Michael McWhertor at Kotaku read this long, slightly crazy interview with GameRepublic head Yoshiki Okamoto and came up with the following nugget o'news, which was apparently hidden so carefully that 1Up, the site that conducted and posted the interview, didn't even realize it was noteworthy:

Folklore Dev Was Working on Tom and Jerry for Brash

The evidence? Deep in the middle of the interview (conducted before Brash went under) comes this exchange:

1UP: You're working on a movie-based game for Brash Entertainment. Even if you can't say what license that is right now, how is the project coming? How hard is it to work on a movie license? You haven't done that kind of project before, have you?

YO: Actually, we're working on a Tom and Jerry movie/game tie-in [laughs]. Yeah, when Brash is ready, we'll both announce the game together. But technically, this isn't my first movie licensed project.

Hopefully I don't need to explain to Cut Scene readers the many contextual hints that make it obvious Okamoto wasn't being serious. Even beyond this exchange, though, it was a totally tongue-in-cheek interview during which Okamoto gave 1UP Editor James Mielke marital advice, complained about how women don't dig him, and said, "I used to have a girlfriend that I was riding too. But I went out to the parking lot to get her the other day and she wasn't there anymore."

And of course there's just common sense. Brash picked up a few crappy licenses in its day, but Tom and Jerry? Which, by the way, is not a movie. And then assign it to a fairly well regarded developer like GameRepublic? That should strike most knowledgeable readers as a bit suspicious. And probably merit more reporting. Like a Google search.

Which would have turned up that I have previously reported the movie license GameRepublic was actually developing for Brash was "Clash of the Titans." Many other sites have since picked that up (like this IGN listing), so I'm not just assuming everyone has to read this blog.

So, ummm, yea. There's nothing wrong with quickly linking to all the interesting videogame news on the 'Net. That's what sites like Kotaku do best. But sometimes a little more diligence may be in order.

[This post slightly edited by me a few hours after posting when I realized it was a bit too snippy]

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

"Most disappointing" does not necessarily mean the worst (after all, we don't want to shower Brash with too many prizes). Rather, these are the games that Variety's critics believe fell the furthest short of our expectations and their potential.

Ben Fritz

Wii Music (Nintendo / Nintendo)

Finally, an accessible social videogame that uses peripherals to let anyone play music. Oh wait, I’m thinking of “Guitar Hero. And “Rock Band.” And even “Ultimate Band.” "Wii Music" is an unnecessary, cacophonous mess of a game (if it even is one, not that it matters) in which most attempts at making music sound worse than an elementary school orchestra. Though I can’t say I’ll ever forget the David Lynch-esque experience of watching a cheerleader, a sitar player, and a man in a dog suit performing “Daydream Believer.”

Wall-E (THQ / Heavy Iron)

To a certain extent, this choice is a stand-in for the many lame licensed titles (“Lost: Via Domus,” “Iron Man,” everything from Brash, and on and on) that show Hollywood and game publishers still don’t really have their act together. But “Wall-E” was the most disappointing of them all because it took source material overflowing with romantic spirit and devolved it into a product so unimaginative and formulaic (Wall-E shooting a gun? Really?) it could have come straight from the film’s corporate overlords at Buy n Large.

Spore (EA / Maxis)

Perhaps I didn’t read the marketing materials right, but wasn’t "Spore" supposed to be about evolution? Nothing in this awkward mash-up of “flow,” “Civilization,” and a space rpg resembles real physical or cultural evolution, in which inherited traits and competition inescapably define a species’ fate. The irony is that the “creature creator,” which EA released for free a few months early to whet gamers’ appetite, is far and away the best part of this disappointing package.

Leigh Alexander

Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Montreal)

So gorgeous, so technically excellent, so intriguing at first -- which makes it especially crushing that under all that richly-realized Africa is yet another first-person shooter, and endless litanies of the same ambush mission over and over.

Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar / Rockstar North)

In many ways, it's the wildest and most poignant video game ever made -- but in most ways, it's over-weighted, illogical and emotionally manipulative, so that its ploddingly earnest storyline, its precious character tropes and its over-pretension nearly suffocate its fun and sharp cleverness

Tom Chick

Too Human (Microsoft / Silicon Knights)

Although it's an action RPG that misses the point of action RPGs, it's one of the year's only games about cyber-Vikings.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts / LucasArts)

Great story. Shame about the game. 

Haze (Ubisoft / Free Radical)

The guys who made "Goldeneye" and "Timesplitters" have come to this?

Chris Dahlen

Spore (EA / Maxis)

Like everybody, I read all the advance hype for the game. And I don’t think my disappointment in the final release stems from backlash, so much as confusion: playing through one full campaign and a couple restarts, I never felt like I saw the point, never had an intuitive understanding of any of the decisions I was making, never felt the urge to go back and try a different path, and never believed that the three key parts of the game - play, create, and share - worked together in any but the most simplistic ways. Instead of revolutionizing user generated content, it trivialized it: Yes, your hermaphrodite alligator man has very spiky eyebrows, but if they don’t impact gameplay, who cares?

Mirror's Edge (EA / Dice)

" Mirror’s Edge" frustrated and annoyed a lot of players. Its soothing aesthetic didn’t match its difficulty: imagine trying to play a game of "Rock Band," except the song stops cold every time you miss a note. Combat should’ve been truly optional, and the cheapest deaths should’ve been caught in playtesting. And yet in spite of it all, I keep coming back to it – for the almost sensual pleasures of sliding down a sheer glass wall or riding the top of a subway train, or feeling the “oomph” as Faith slings herself over yet another ledge. 

Fracture (LucasArts / Day 1 Studios)

...and a dozen other shooters with high production values, elaborate cinematics, ample headshots, and nothing else to offer. I slogged through a lot of these this year, but "Fracture" saw the biggest boost from LucasArts and the most hype for its supposedly innovative “make a pile of dirt almost anywhere you want” mechanic. So I’ll honor it as one of the year’s highest-profile duds.

Coming Monday morning: The fifth best videogame(s) of 2008

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Leigh Alexander

Mega Man 9 (Capcom / Inti Creates)

In today's era of blisteringly sharp next-gen, why on earth would Capcom ape the NES era -- staticky scan lines, brutal difficulty and all? Because, given that today's audience endlessly compares new franchise installments to their rosy memories of ancient predecessors, it's a damn great idea to just give them what they want. "Mega Man 9" reminded most players what a feat it was that they fell in love with such a punishing medium, re-instilled the youthful love of frustration -- and beyond nostalgia, actually managed to show off some of the best level design the series has ever seen.

Tom Chick

Patapon (Sony / Pyramid)

No game this year that had me grinning as consistently as I grin when I play "Patapon." I love these little guys, and in return, they love me. They dance and sing for me. They talk to me. As I drum them their rhythm, which is really all the gameplay there is here, their little eyes roll around. They jump and sway. They charge forward. The colorful sky fills with their arrows. I feel terrible as they're stamped into the ground or stabbed by evil patapons. I consider which one gets which hat and which sword. I dole out horses carefully. Did I mention that I love these little guys? The simple fact about "Patapon" is that it makes me happy. Not since "Katamari Damacy" has a game been so purely and simply joyous.

Chris Dahlen

Rock Band 2 (MTV and EA / Harmonix)

A strong platform saw key improvements. The single-player band mode made it easier for me to play alone; the no-fail mode and freestyle drum trainer made the game accessible to my three-year-old. (Who doesn’t dream that their kid will grow up to be a drummer?) And the addition of hipster essentials like "Mission of Burma" to the music store proves yet again that Harmonix is staffed by genuine, signed-in-blood rock snobs – just the way I like ‘em.

Ben Fritz

World of Goo (Various / 2D Boy)

Plenty of games nailed “cute” this year, but “World of Goo” dismisses that for something much harder to achieve: atmosphere. A simple building mechanic is tied to an impressively diverse set of puzzles, making this a game worth playing even if it was set against a blank white wall. But its the sinister music, the off kilter designs and those disturbing notes from “the sign painter” that bring to mind the delectably unlikely influence of “Edward Scissorhands.” Who knew little green balls of goo could be so creepy?

Coming Friday: The most disappointing videogames of 2008

Coming Monday morning: The fifth best videogame(s) of 2008

Coming tomorrow: Christmas.

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Tom Chick

Midnight Club: Los Angeles (Rockstar / Rockstar San Diego)

It's not a good year for videogaming without an almost perfect racing title lighting up the room. "Midnight Club: Los Angeles" is this year's belle of the ball, with its crowded and evocative Los Angeles-a-like serving as a shrewdly crafted rumpus room for the same great driving physics that graced "Grand Theft Auto IV," but this time with better AI in the other cars. No one does traffic like Rockstar, bless their city-building hearts. But this next-gen "Midnight Club" will really ruin other racing games for you once you see how well it plays by actually looking at the world instead of a minimap. Not since "Forza" invented a color-coded gravity indicator (really!) has a driving game so successfully put you in the driver's seat instead of behind a TV screen.

Chris Dahlen

No More Heroes (Marvelous and Ubisoft / Grasshopper Manufacture)

Probably the roughest and least accessible game on my list, "No More Heroes" succeeds because of the way its story explores one of pop culture’s best lies - namely, that an average schmuck can become a winner through doggedness and hard labor, whether it’s pumping gas and cleaning trash, or spending half an hour wearing down a lolita with a lethal baseball bat. And the fact that after all that, Travis Touchdown remains a schmuck, is the perfect kicker. 

Ben Fritz

No More Heroes (Marvelous and Ubisoft / Grasshopper Manufacture)

The first action game to successfully embrace the Wii from the ground up, rather than jamming in something that works 100 times better on a PS3 or 360. The swordplay and wrestling are a bloody good time and the villians are over-the-top awesome. But “No More Heroes” really stands out for the way it overflows with style tailor-made for its audience, giving gamers the ultra-violent, retro, bombastic, hilarious fantasy life they never knew they wanted. It’s “The Last Starfighter” for otaku.

Leigh Alexander

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Konami / Konami)

Though "Castlevania" creator Koji Igarashi persists, in the face of fan pleas to the contrary, in pursuing the franchise in 3D and on next-gen consoles, the long-running series continues to shine on the DS. There, its jaw-droppingly complex and artful 2D sprites can take center stage, while the stylus controls make for intuitive mechanics that don't try to overhaul the basics. Previous DS "Castlevania" titles have excelled, but "Order of Ecclesia" combines a lovely heroine, environments as variegated as they are visually captivating, and the smashing new "Glyph" game system for what feels like the series' richest and most challenging entry since the classic "Symphony of the Night."

Coming tomorrow morning: The sixth best videogame(s) of 2008

Looks like there's a second videogame brand, along with Nintendo, that scoffs in the face of a recession: World of Warcraft.

Activision Blizzard put out a press release today to boast about the continued success of its mega-MMO. It seems "Warcraft" has now passed the 11.5 million subscriber mark, just about two months after it hit 11 million. Considering that it took about 9 months to get from 10 million to 11 million, that shows the growth rate is increasing, spurred in large part by "Wrath of the Lich King." Last month's expansion pack has sold 4 million copies total so far, after moving 2.8 million on its first day. 2007's "Burning Crusade," by contrast, sold 3.5 million units in about two months.

Posting an update when "Warcraft" gains another half million subscribers (as opposed to a full million) and another million units after a huge launch is a bit unusual. But not in the current economy. Though Activision hasn't felt the need to warn it won't hit guidance for the current quarter, it seems safe to bet that it'll barely reach it, if at all. "Guitar Hero: World Tour" is selling much less than "Guitar Hero III," after all, and there are no signs that high profile releases like "Quantum of Solace" or "Spider-Man: Web of Shadows" are doing much business. "Call of Duty: World at War" had a very strong launch, but in the current state of things, one has to wonder how even that is selling in December.

Investors seem to have this concern too, since Activision Blizzard stock has plunged along with the rest of the market this fall, down about 40%. Which is probably why CEO Bobby Kotick and co-chairman Brian Kelly recently cancelled plans to sell some stock.

But Blizzard, at a minimum, isn't hurting at all. In the face of a recession, spending $15 per month for unlimited entertainment may be looking like a better deal than ever. It's doing so well, in fact, that Blizzard is hiring, as it emphasized in its press release: "To keep pace with the continued growth of World of Warcraft as       well as development on other Blizzard Entertainment games, the company       is currently hiring for numerous open positions." Take, that EA and your 10% layoffs!

In the face of everything, it's tough to blame Bobby Kotick for wanting the world to know that. Looks like that merger came at just the right time.

We interrupt this top ten games of 2008 countdown for our final videogame review of the year in Variety: The Tale of Despereaux.

As loyal readers and videogame business nerds (mostly the same, I hope) know, Atari is distributing this game after the demise of Brash. But the origin of the game is a bit more complicated. While Brash funded and oversaw production of the PC, PS2 and Wii SKUs (as well as a 360 SKU that disappeared), licensor Universal Studios was actually overseeing the DS version. Wanna bet which version was pretty good and which sucked?

The answer is obvious, I suppose. Poor, poor Brash. Here's what our critic Chris Dahlen had to say in today's Daily Variety:

The DS version... is a straightforward platformer with elements as old as the first “Super Mario.” Players jump, scurry up walls, swing on nails and solve simple puzzles. The graphics are surprisingly good for Nintendo’s handheld system, with lovingly illustrated levels including the mazelike chutes from the kitchen to the coalmine-like castle dungeon. The rat’s coliseum, where two rather clever boss battles take place, rewards combatants with a colorful three-dimensional backdrop and silhouetted rodents who jeer from the stands...

By contrast, the Wii version proves that there’s nothing as irritating as a platformer that doesn’t quite work. The look and idea are very similar: Despereaux has to navigate one level after another by scaling giant books, jumping from candle to candle or hitching a ride on a moving cup. While the mouse-eye perspective should make the world engaging, the environments lack atmosphere, even in the dankest, most sewage-swamped depths of a dungeon. Poor visibility and dark colors occasionally obscure the path even in well-lit areas, and the camera frequently looks the wrong way or loses track of Despereaux altogether.

It looks like the last game to see a release that was produced entirely under Brash's watch won't exactly bolster the company's reputation. Though there's still a good chance some of the games in the works for next year which will probably see the light of day ("Night at the Museum 2," "Saw") will at least show Brash can start developing a good game.

As for Universal, its new videogame publishing initiative -- which reps the studio's first entry into the space since it sold Universal Interactive to Vivendi nearly a decade ago -- is off to a solid start, critically speaking, at least. After the film's soft opening (due in part to the weather, but oh well), commerical prospects for the game might not be so great.

Full review: The Tale of Despereaux videogame

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Chris Dahlen

Everybody Dies (Jim Munroe and Michael Cho)

The best-written games this year worked in plain old text: the winners of the Interactive Fiction Competition, the ultra-profane meta-Internet game "ForumWarz," and the fascinating one-move game "Aisle," all provided gripping scripts and memorable characters. It took time to settle on "Everybody Dies" as my favorite. A surreal story set in a mundane suburb outside Toronto, it’s told from the perspective of three memorable characters, one of whom introduced me to the phrase “Moustache Brotherhood.”

Ben Fritz

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts / LucasArts)

I know, I know, the controls are a little wonky and that star destroyer sequence should be grounds for a class action lawsuit against LucasArts. But by giving us the power to throw objects with our minds, shoot lightning from our fingers, and generally tear sh*t up with a lightsaber, “The Force Unleashed” successful merges “God of War”-esque action with the childhood dreams of every red blooded American geek. Add a story that puts all other videogames in 2008, not to mention Lucas’ last three films, to shame and you’ve got a game that more than overcomes its flaws. 

Leigh Alexander

Braid (Number None)

Much discussion surrounded "Braid"'s decidedly opaque narrative, and the blogosphere still wonders what the ending was "about." "It's art," many decided; "It means what you want it to mean." And it was definitely thought-provoking, admirably so. Yet, perhaps ironically, the greatest thing about the year's indie ambassador to profundity in games was the actuality of its stellar time-bending, brain-teasing gameplay. Puzzles that looked infuriatingly simple were truly meaty, and "Braid"'s transcendence was assisted not by its obfuscated "meaning," but by its perfectly-chosen music and arresting, dreamlike art style.

Tom Chick

Multiwinia (Introversion)

"Multiwinia" is one of the year's most subversive real time strategy games (the more subversive one is later in my list). It's also the most visually stunning, but not for the reason that real time strategy games are usually visually stunning (see "Red Alert 3" for the worst case example of that). As they did with Defcon, developer Introversion demonstrates game design at its most economical, with muscular gameplay, perfect pacing, and ice-cool haunting production design.

Coming this afternoon: The seventh best videogame(s) of 2008

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Ben Fritz

Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar / Rockstar North)

Liberty City is awe inspiring not only for its beauty, but its subtle rhythms and sharply drawn, often hilarious denizens. Despite it’s massive scope, “GTA IV” is an intimate affair that slowly opens itself up as the player, much like Niko Bellic, discovers how exhilarating, disheartening, and up-for-grabs the American dream is. If only Rockstar had figured out how to integrate open world mayhem with a tightly structured story, it could have been a truly great game.

Leigh Alexander

Chrono-Trigger DS (Square Enix / Square Enix)

Is it cheating to rank a remake among the year's top ten? Not when it's quite this good. It's true that the original SNES game, widely regarded as one of the best RPGs ever developed, didn't need too much in the way of an improvement -- but this edition's subtly optimized for the DS, wisely allows purists to play with classic controls, and through a cleaner, more naturalistic localization, proves itself an absolute must-have for old fans and new-audiences alike. Welcome back, champion. 

Tom Chick

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (CDV / Ascaron)

Probably the most perfect embodiment of the mindless joy of a good action RPG. It's all about the loot and the leveling. The wild battles along the way and the lovely graphics are fine, too. But it's all about the loot and the leveling. Mostly the leveling. 200 levels of leveling, every one of them a lovely dilemma for how to spend your skill points. Still, the loot is pretty nice. It wasn't a good year for action RPGs. "Space Siege" and "Too Human," both showed up by the no-budget indie "Depths of Peril?" Then "Sacred 2" came out and showed us how it's done.

Chris Dahlen

Gears of War 2 (Microsoft / Epic)

Yes, the story's a mess, the canon is simplistic yet obtuse, the small tactical firefights that made the first one so replayable are missing, and it's also kind of easy. But "Gears of War 2" crept onto my list thanks to about a dozen amusement park-style spectacles that took my breath away - like the gunboat flume ride on an underwater river, or the spectacular reaver race across the open plains, or the chance to ride a brumack - which for the uninitiated, is a little like hanging off the back of Godzilla and making him kill everybody. This is how you thrill.

Coming tomorrow morning: The eighth best videogame(s) of 2008

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Leigh Alexander

Midnight Club: Los Angeles (Rockstar / Rockstar San Diego)

A car game that even a reviewer who hates car games can love. Its graphical dazzle is as glitzy as the world of West Coast street racing it portrays with the satirical disdain that serves as developer Rockstar's hallmark. The technically impressive in-game transition from a realistic Los Angeles to an overhead map lit with linking lights is one of the year's coolest special effects, and the point system for passing races is welcome and friendly for players not quite so bad-ass as their gleaming, fully customizable car might indicate. Energizing, enervating and infinitely replayable.

Tom Chick

The Club (Sega / Bizarre Creations)

As a commercially successful game, "The Club" was doomed. A shooter based on replaying the same levels to see if you can improve your score? But consider that it was from a developer known for the Project Gotham Batman-less racing games (a game based on driving the same route to see if you can improve your time?). And consider this is also the developer of the maddeningly addictive score-based compulsion of "Geometry Wars" games (it's all in the multiplier, baby!). Now it clicks. And by "clicks", I mean it slides into place with the decisive ka-thunk of chambering a new shell in a shotgun. Bizarre  Creations has taken what they know and managed to create something I haven't seen in a very long time: a shooter that's unlike any other shooter I've ever played.

Chris Dahlen

Fable 2 (Microsoft / Lionhead)

I went back and forth on whether to list this. On the one hand, while I was playing this game, there was nothing else in the world I’d rather have been doing. Bartending is my mini-game of the year; the real estate feature made "Fable II" an ideal dollhouse for grown-ups. At the same time, the story was underwhelming, and only one of the characters had three-dimensions – and it wasn’t the player. Or the dog. I felt like the entire game was just setup for the Big, Important Choice at the end, and while the choice was haunting, I wound up feeling played.

Ben Fritz

Metal Gear Solid 4 (Konami / Kojima Prods.)

Based on everything I read, I thought I’d need earn a PhD in Kojima Studies to even remotely enjoy this game. But it turns out “MGS 4” has loads to offer anyone who appreciates an uncompromised directorial vision and expertly crafted stealth gameplay. Sure, the overwrought cutsenes are as creaky as Snake’s knees, but just like its hero, “Metal Gear Solid 4” unapologetically holds onto its old school values and proves they’re not quite as irrelevant as those in thrall of the new would like to think.

Coming today at noon: The ninth best videogame(s) of 2008

With Variety's top ten games of the year countdown starting Monday (details here), I just wanted to drop a brief post with the "important" games (defined as ones we think we probably should have played) that Variety's critics didn't play, or didn't play enough of to include in the list. Nobody has infinite time, so there are inevitably at least a few games we don't get around to. So if you love one of the games below and don't see it on that respective critic's list, don't get mad. We all do have a little bit of a life beyond videogames.

(Note: None of us are really sports games people, nor are we "World of Warcraft" people. So just give us a blanket exemption on everything athletics related, as well as "Lich King.")

Leigh Alexander
Fable 2, Left 4 Dead

Tom Chick
Army of Two, Mirror's Edge, Persona 4, World of Goo.

Chris Dahlen
Metal Gear Solid 4, Persona 4, Saints Row 2, Warhammer Online

Ben Fritz
Burnout: Paradise, Midnight Club: LA, Professor Layton, Resistance 2, Saints Row 2, Yakuza 2

Coming Monday morning: The tenth best videogame(s) of 2008

I know Cut Scene readers aren't always the most prolific commenters. We've got thousands of readers per day, so it's not a problem of traffic, but I'm guessing it's because many of you are busy professionals, not loud mouthed fanboys. Given the substance of our comments, though, we've definitely got quality over most videogame blogs' quantity.

As I just described, Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and I will be counting down our top 10 games of the year, along with our most overrated and most disappointing, for the next two weeks on this blog. At the end of the process, I'd also love to announce the Cut Scene readers' top games of the year (and possibly most overrated and/or disappointing, if y'all are into that as well).

Here's how it works: Leave a comment with your favorite videogames of the year. They can be console, mobile, Web, downloadable, whatever. Vote for up to 10. If you don't have 10, no worries. Anywhere between one and 10 is fine. If you're got an opinion about the most overrated (meaning it may have been good, but not as good as most reviewers and fans thought) and/or disappointing (not the absolute worst, but the worst compared to what the game could have and should have been), feel free to list up to three votes in each of those categories as well. No explanatations are necessary, though they are of course welcome.

Voting closes the night of January 5. Then I'll calculate the votes (assigning ten points for a #1 vote, 9 points for #2, etc.) and announce the winners. But only if we get a decent number of votes (ten or so, but hopefully a lot more). So make your voice heard, because I'm willing to bet that Cut Scene readers will have make more interesting choices than any of the enthusiast sites.

With the end of the year upon us, I thought it would be fun for Variety to round up the best games of the year, as well as the most disappointing and the most overrated. But rather than just drop the list all at once, we'll be counting down day-by-day (taking breaks on the holidays and some weekends), leading up to the #1 game on or around January 5th. And I'll interrupt the countdown twice along the way, once to list the most overrated games, and again the most disappointing.

But really, how interesting is my opinion on its own? So I've invited Variety's trio of insightful, talented and attractive freelance reviewers -- Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick and Chris Dahlen -- to join me in the summary (actually only two of them are attractive, but I'm not naming names). With each post, you'll get four opinions, usually contrasting, but hopefully always interesting.

Of course, anyone's definition of a "top ten" is debatable. The best games of the year? The most personally impactful? The ones that stay with us? The ones we can't stop talking about? For each of us it's a little different, but in general, all four of us have discussed our choices as personal ones that stuck with us or stayed with us or excited us. Not necessarily the best executed games, or the biggest, or the most impressive.

I'm also going to be soliciting your votes for a Cut Scene readership favorite games of the year. Look for that post momentarily.

In a year with two well reviewed, successful, AAA console RPGs, I've noticed an interesting phenomenom: There are "Fable 2" people and there are "Fallout 3" people and rarely do the twain meet. Sure, lots of us respect both games, but I have yet to meet a single person who loves and has invested dozens of hours in them both.

Despite coming from the same genre, they've very different games in all sorts of ways. Which is why everyone I know, for one reason or another, is either a "Fable 2" person or a "Fallout 3" person. Why is that? I thought it would be interesting to have two writers who respect both games but find themselves drawn to one much more than the other discuss their differences.

I'm the "Fable 2" person and Variety's ace reviewer Chris Dahlen (who can also be found at his own Save the Robot blog) is our "Fallout 3" person. Here's us going at it.

The "Fable 2" guy -- Ben Fritz

Five or six hours into “Fallout 3,” I glanced at the bottom of the screen and realized something: I didn’t know what almost anything on the HUD means. “Cnd?” “AP?” The two numbers with a slash between them? The multiple markers, some flashing, on my compass? What the hell is all that?

I’m sure it’s my fault. I probably didn’t pay enough attention in Vault 101 (maybe I shouldn’t have cheated on that test) and I could obviously look at the “help” menu or the manual.

What’s interesting isn’t that I didn’t know what all the numbers mean, but that I just didn’t care. Fundamentally, I’m not interested in engaging with dozens of different statistics. I don’t want to spend time boosting my action points, distributing my experience, or selecting perks and S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes. But I have to, because my character is essentially a collection of points that I’ve assigned.

"Fable 2" is more my style, because your character develops not by deliberate choice, but through the consequences of your actions. I like using magic, so I become a skilled magician. I like stealing stuff and killing shopkeepers, so even if I would prefer to be loved, I'm known as a scoundrel. I spend a lot of time as a blacksmith, so I'm loaded. I like going on quests to earn acclaim and commissioning statues of myself, so I'm quite the hottie (though my wife and husband get kinda jealous).

If you've played either "Gears of War" game, you know there's one burning question that every single moment of the franchise's campaign implicitly asks, but never explicitly answers.

Comedy.com's Glitch in the System went to the premiere of "Gears of War 2" and asked everyone from Cliff Bleszinski to Mighty Rasta (the voice of Cole Train) to a half dozen fans waiting in line for their answer. And it turns out the vote was an overwhelming 6 to 1 in favor of Marcus over Dom.

What's the question?

(Produced, as always, by me)

Here's an interesting statistic from Take-Two's earnings today that I almost forgot to mention.

"Grand Theft Auto IV," along with catalog sales of other "GTA" titles, has generated $710 million in net revenues for Take-Two this past fiscal year, which ended Oct. 31. Take out the tiny amount "GTA" catalog sales probably represents, and we're talking about $700 million in six months (though only $40 million of that came last quarter, meaning "GTA IV" did the vast majority of its sales in the first two months). By the time the current quarter is done and the game spends some time in catalog, it could be approaching $800 million or more.

The year's biggest movie, "The Dark Knight," has grossed about $1 billion. But that's gross. Net box office revenue to Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures was probably half that. Now granted, by the time "The Dark Knight" cycles through DVD, pay TV, cable, etc. it will certainly make more money than "GTA IV." But the fact that they're even close is remarkable. "Grand Theft Auto" is one lucrative media franchise.

No wonder Strauss Zelnick felt he had to dish out an unprecedent deal to keep the Housers and other top talent in-house. Would you want to risk messing with that formula? Especially when that one brand, and primarily that one game, represented 60% of publishing revenue for an entire year?

Following today's announcement of a new contract for the brothers Houser, Leslie Benzes, and other top Rockstar folks with Take-Two, I spoke to the publisher's chairman Strauss Zelnick about the deal. If you don't yet know the full details about the pact, as well as Take-Two's weak guidance that sent its stock tumbling, read it here.

If you already know, you may enjoy some excerpts from my interview with Strauss:

Me: It's obvious from the unprecedented structure of this deal that it was ver important for you that the Housers and other top Rockstar folks remain with Take-Two. Why is that? After all you would have retained ownership of the label and the "Grand Theft Auto" brand anyway.

Strauss Zelnick: We've said all along that one of our key strategic elements is being the most creative company in the business and that means aligning with the most talented and creative folks in the business. The folks who are at the top of the Rockstar label fit that bill to a tee.

Me: It seems like they were more valuable to you than any other videogame publisher, since they're so associated with "GTA." You have experience in the film and music businesses and you know there sometimes the talent is bigger than the product, but that's not really true here, right?

SZ: You’re right it is in may instances involving videogames to distinguish top creative teams from the IP they create. In the movie business it's rather typical to do a sequel with different actors or even a different director.

In the interactive entertainment business it's more typical that creative teams continue with certain properties. But in this case it's way more than "GTA." This is a team that has been responsible for the top selling IP in the business... Rockstar Games has a unique successful creative culture. It was terribly important for us to be in business with them and we’re proud able to align the interests of our colleagues with our company and stockholders.

Me: Take-Two never really revealed the details of their last deal. Is this new contract fundamentally different, or is it basically the same type of terms, but just bigger and better?

SZ: Profit sharing is a new structure and is terribly different from what they had before.

Me: With Sam, Dan, Leslie and other folks at Rockstar forming their own company and Take-Two funding and distributing those games but them owning the IP, is that where they'll put all their new creative energy? Will they still create new properties for Rockstar, which Take-Two would own, as well?

SZ: The arrangement is basically a continuation of the prior arrangement. The bulk of their acitivities will be focused on IP that has been and will be created by Rockstar.

In addition, there will be the opportunity to create incremental properties owned by those individuals on an entrepreneurial basis and published exclusively by take two.

Me: So they will create new games for Rocktar as well?

SZ: Yes, their primary activity is unchanged. They will be creating IP owned by Rockstar, which is in turn owned by Take Two. There is also the opportunity to create some IP on their own.

Me: The announcement says it includes "several other key members" of Rockstar's creative team beyond Sam, Dan, and Leslie. Who are they?

SZ: We're only talking about the three principals today.

Me: On a related topic, in the spring you were negotiating a new contract with ["Bioshock" creative director] Ken Levine. I assume that must be done, since he's working for you on a new project.

SZ: We haven’t said anything about that. But we're thrilled to be in business with people like Ken, ["Civilization" creator] Sid Meier, [sports studio president] Greg Thomas.

[Note: I've updated this post by essentially replacing it with the article I just finished writing for Variety, which I think captures all the important info much better. I'll be following this up with a Q-and-A with Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick about the deal very soon.]

The creators of “Grand Theft Auto” are sticking with Take-Two in an unprecedented deal that includes a cut of the profits and full ownership of future games.

Ending months of speculation about whether top talent at Rockstar Games, the Take-Two label that makes the ultra successful “GTA” and other franchises, would remain when their contract expires in February, the publisher has signed them to a new three year contract through 2012.

Deal includes Rockstar co-founders Sam and Dan Houser and Leslie Benzes, president of the Scotland development studio that makes most “GTA” games.

Though Wall Street welcomed the news, Take-Two stock plunged 19% in after-hours trading Wednesday as the publisher unveiled lower than expected guidance for 2009 due to caution over the weakening economy.

Compensation under the new contract comes primarily through profit sharing for the Rockstar label, which contributes nearly half of Take-Two’s revenue. Though videogame creators typically receive royalties based on sales of specific titles they make, Rockstar talent is believed to be the first to get a major stake in overall profits.

Pact also includes an equity grant of Take-Two stock that will vest over three years.

Most significant part of the deal, however, is that the Housers, Benzies, and other Rockstar team members will establish an independent company to develop new videogames that they will fully own. Take-Two has agreed to fund development in exchange for exclusive distribution rights.

Intellectual property ownership by creators is rare in the videogame industry and unprecedented for those who are employees of major publishers.

In an interview, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said the Housers and Benzies will spend most of their time working at Rockstar and continue to create games for that label, along with sequels to existing franchises, while also working on new games for their independent company.

“This is a team that has been responsible for the top-selling IP in the business and has a uniquely successful creative culture,” Zelnick told Daily Variety. “It’s terribly important for us to be in business together with them and we’re proud to align the interest of our colleagues with our company and stockholders.”

April release “Grand Theft Auto IV” has already sold more than 10 million units worldwide. In addition, Take-Two has high hopes for a downloadable expansion pack to the game that will be released in February and a spin-off for the Nintendo DS coming out in March.

However, Rockstar games have been selling modestly so far this fall as the videogame business has slowed down along with the economy.

On a conference call with analysts, Take-Two CEO Ben Feder said “GTA IV” has performed only “OK” lading up to the holidays. He characterized initial sales for Rockstar’s car racing game “Midnight Club: Los Angeles,” which was released in October, as “slower than expected.”

Take-Two’s overall performance for the quarter ending October 31 was in line with previous guidance, as the publisher lost $15 million on $323.4 million in revenue. That’s up from a $7.1 million loss on $292.6 million in revenue last year and was driven primarily by “GTA IV,” “NBA 2K9,” and the company’s successful “Carnival Games” family franchise.

However, Wall Street was disappointed by Take-Two’s conservative guidance for the current quarter and the fiscal year ending next October. Though the company always suffers in the year following a major “Grand Theft Auto” release, investors didn’t expect revenue to dip from over $1.5 billion to between $1.1 billion and $1.25 billion, as Take-Two now says it will due to the ongoing recession, which has already impacted competitors including Electronic Arts.

“It’s important to remember that consumers of interactive entertainment are as effected by the economy as other shoppers,” Zelnick noted. “We’ve taken a hard look at our forecast for the next 12 months and we’ve significantly reduced our expectations.”

Take-Two stock closed up a fraction at $12.07 Wednesday before earnings and the Rockstar deal were announced.

I officially had my scariest envelope opening of the year Monday when I discovered I had been sent Uwe Boll's "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale," with its all-star cast including Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Ron Perlman and Burt Reynolds, on Blu-ray. Perhaps there's enjoyment to be had watching the film ironically (and in high-definition, the way all Uwe Boll films are meant to be seen!), but I just don't feel ready for it.

However, I am intrigued by the director's commentary. What great insights on his filmmaking does Uwe have to share? Does he include any of his trademark thoughtful responses to his many critics? I want to know, but I don't want to have to watch the film to find out.

So... Are any Cut Scene readers up to the task? Here's the deal: Leave a comment explaining why you want "In the Name of the King" on Blu-ray. If you make the best case -- or you're the only person willing to go for it -- I'll send you the disc. But with the win comes responsibility. I'm hoping the recipient will listen to Uwe's commentary, write down the highlights, and email them to me so I can post them on The Cut Scene and share them with the world.

If you want to win and you're willing to take notes on Uwe's genius, leave a comment now. I'll pick a winner early afternoon tomorrow (Thursday, PST), so I can mail the movie before the holidays.

In today's Daily Variety comes news that "Pirates of the Caribbean" director Gore Verbinski, who is (gamers hope) busy developing a "Bioshock" movie, has optioned a second game-related project. This one isn't quite the stuff of gamers' dreams, though. It's based on an article from the Wall Street Journal and described by reporter Michael Fleming as follows:

The article by Alexandra Alter focuses on a married man who spends as many as 20 hours a day on a computer, existing through an avatar who is a thriving, musclebound entrepreneur. In reality, he is a diabetic, chain-smoking 53-year-old.

Apparently Verbinski and writer Steven Knight (who has some very classy credits like "Eastern Promises" and "Amazing Grace") hope to make a film "about the online fantasy role-playing world and its detrimental impact on the real lives of players."

OK, so gamers probably hope to see the more positive side of their lives portrayed. But it is a real side to MMOs. I actually knew a couple who broke up in part because of dozens of hours per week one person spent in "World of Warcraft" (I suspect that was a symptom of their deeper marital problems of course, but still).

So long as the movie (should it actually get made) portrays gamers as real people, not social misfits, I think it's a good thing. The identity split that comes when you spent more life as your avatar than yourself makes for interesting drama. It's a real problems some gamers face. Just as movies sometimes show the downside of professional sports and politics and other respected parts of modern life, gaming can and should get the same treatment. Mass media doesn't have the best track record of doing so respectfully, but it's worth hoping, especially since Verbinski, based on my conversation with him about "Bioshock," seems like someone who respects videogames.

At the least, it's a good thing that Universal (where Verbinski has a first look deal as a producer) thinks a story about MMO playing has the potential to be commercially succesful.

Full story: Universal, Verbinski plan to role-play

Today Midway laid off 25% of its remaining staff, or 180 employees, in a bid to cut costs as a massive $150 million debt payment looms in January. It has also closed its Austin, TX development studio.

For full details on how that huge payment was triggered (two words: Sumner Redstone) and how it may impact Midway, which doesn't have nearly that much cash on hand, check out my previous post on the topic here.

However I was able to confirm that today's bad news for many of Midway's employees isn't necessarily bad news for all its projects. First, the layoffs won't impact the development team that works on the "Mortal Kombat" fighting franchise. No surprise there, since "Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe" had a decent debut last month as the #3 Playstation 3 game and #8 Xbox 360 game, making it the lone bright spot for Midway as of late.

In addition, the 2010 and 2011 projects that were suspended today, which include two being made in Austin and one in Chicago, aren't necessarily dead. Midway is looking for partners to help fund those games, or perhaps buy the IP. That would be good for the publisher's bottom line, of course, but also possibly good news for gamers if those titles turn out to be any good.

Meanwhile, the only projects stil definitely in the works for 2009 are "Wheelman," which comes out in February, a TNA Wrestling sequel, and open world game "This is Vegas," though I have heard from sources that the latter is nowhere close to finished, so I wouldn't expect it before the second half of next year.

If Midway survives that long, anyway.

Paramount's top videogame exec is leaving just as the studio enters the publishing business.

Senior VP of interactive and mobile Sandi Isaacs, who helped lead Paramount from pure licensor to publisher,is leaving, I've confirmed. I'm not sure exactly when or why. But the studio is currently searching for someone new to replace her.

Given Paramount's ambitions, not to mention the growing number of people out of work, I wouldn't be surprised if it's someone fairly high profile in the videogame biz. (Just like Warner Bros. hired Vivendi vet Martin Tremblay to run its videogame unit earlier this year).

After all, Isaacs, who first joined Par to oversee videogame licensing, has started Paramount down the road to becoming a small publisher. Her plan, now underway, is to start with mobile and casual games, most of which are co-published, and eventually move toward more expensive AAA titles (details here).

The first results are two iPhone games, based on "Iron Man" and "Saturday Night Fever," which were released last week. Early next year come casual games based on "Pretty in Pink," "Clueless," and "Mean Girls" that Par is co-publishing with Legacy Interactive (details here). And I've heard rumblings of bigger projects in the works for 2010 and beyond. But it looks like somebody new will be spearheading that effort.

(this post has been edited from the original version for the sake of clarity)

Way back two years ago when I covered box office, I became extremely familiar with the concept of "legs," which in Variety-speak means movies that perform well at the box office for a while, instead of just doing some business on their opening weekend and then quickly fading

In the videogame business, legs are rare. Most games in NPD's top 10 ranking came out that month or the previous month. Gamers, by and large, seem to know what they want and they buy it pretty quickly.

There's one big exception, however: Nintendo. The continued presence of "Mario Kart Wii" and "Wii Fit" in the top 10 every single month since they debuted (eight and seven months, respectively) is simply astounding. Then there's "Wii Play which has been in the top 10 for 22 months, though more for the extra Wii-more it comes with than the game.

I decided to take a look at "legs" in the videogame biz this year and it's amazing how much Nintendo dominates. I defined "legs" as videogames that are on NPD's top 10 two months or later after they came out. With the sole exception of "Call of Duty 4" for the 360 and a brief appearance by "Guitar Hero III" on PS2, every game with legs was for a Nintendo platform, and all but one of those were for the Wii.

Starting in February (I'll exclude January since almost nothing new came out that month), here are the games that have shown legs in 2008 and how many months they stayed in the top 10 after their first two:

Wii Play: all 10
Mario Kart Wii: six
Wii Fit: five
Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360): three
Guitar Hero III (Wii): two
Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS): one
Guitar Hero III (PS2): one

Even some of the biggest games of the year, like "Grand Theft Auto IV" and "Madden NFL," fell out of the top 10 after their second month. "Mario Kart Wii," meanwhile, has built up an astounding 4 million plus units in the U.S. alone. "Wii Fit" has sold 3.5 million units and counting. And there's still the little matter of December left to go, when both games should see huge sales. I wouldn't be surprised to see them end up the #2 and #3 games of the year, after "Wii Play."

What's going on? As the continued dominant sales of the Wii (capped by a phenomenal 2 million units last month amidst a recession) demonstrates, Nintendo buyers are a whole different class than the traditional gamers who, by and large, are still buying the 360 and PS3.

Millions of people are buying the Wii and when they do, they're buying "Mario Kart" and "Wii Fit." Which makes sense, since those are well branded games that almost anybody can play (if that word even applies to "Wii Fit") and they're also endlessly replayable, which is probably why there's not a healthy used market for them (used copies on Amazon.com, in fact, are all well over the standard prices). It doesn't even seem to matter that "Wii Fit" costs $90, way more than your typical videogame.

The core gamer audience is still eager for the right titles, of course, as the huge launch for "Gears of War 2" shows.  But what any media company, be it a film studio or videogame publisher, wants is legs. A big launch takes a big marketing budget, but when a game is still performing six months after debut, it's mostly selling itself.

Nobody else has figured out how to do that. Sony couldn't even keep "LittleBigPlanet," which has plenty of mass appeal and replayability, in the top 20 for two months. Even the terrible "Wii Music" managed to sneak into the top ten during its second month. If it stays there in December and beyond, that's officially scary.

Warner Bros. has upped its stake in "Tomb Raider" publisher Eidos (which happily no longer has an official corporate name of Sci that we all have to pretend to care about ) from 16.1% to 19.9%. Eidos didn't have to disclose how much Warner spent, but based on the company's pathetic trading price of about 18 pence, it's likely about $2.75 million. Or practically nothing.

Does this mean Warner Bros. is moving toward buying Eidos and moving it into its growing WB Interactive videogame division? Possibly, but not necessarily. Warner recently got permission from Eidos to buy as much as 30%, so the studio could just be taking the opportunity of a very low trading price to get more of a stake in anticipation of things improving next year thanks to games like "Arkham Asylum." (For which Warner is also licensor and U.S. distributor) It might even be upping its stake in anticipation of somebody else buying Eidos, which could net Warner a nice profit. Or really it maybe is moving closer toward the goal of buying the storied but troubled British publisher.

All I know for sure is that Warner is very interested in the potential Eidos offers and is, at a minimum, taking a very cheap opportunity to increase its bet on the company's future.

Of the 10 new trailers shown at Spike's Video Game Awards, there was a clear distinction between ones that only showed a dramatic moment, or series of moments, similar to a film trailer, and those that demonstrated what it will actually be like to play the game. In terms of the audience reactions that I observed, people to really like the latter (shocker!). Based kind of what on I observed, but mostly on my own opinions, here are the four that stood out as really good and then the three that stood out as lame.

#1 God of War III. The voicework may be terrible, but the action is out of this world awesome

#2 Brutal Legend. A slick mix of gameplay and rock comedy attitude.

#3 Terminator Salvation. The action actually looks like pretty standard third person shooter, but the transition from transmission static to the familiar "Terminator" theme is truly inspired. (As I predicted, though, the inclusion of five separate company title cards up top is super annoying)

#4 Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and the Damned. Not enough gameplay to be truly great, but it mixes dozens of in-game scenes to give a great sense of the downloadable expansion pack's story, characters and attitude.

Third worst: "Uncharted 2." So at some point in the game Nathan Drake is riding in a train and then it crashes and he falls out the back. Which relates to the other 99.9% of the game how?

Second worst: "Dante's Inferno." There's a few seconds at the end of the protagonist hitting a monster with a cross, but the rest is explaining that it's based on a famous story about hell, which I'm guessing most of us either can figure out based on the title or don't care about.

The worst: "Mafia II." So the story is a second-rate "Goodfellas" rip off. Anything else we need to know about this game? Like what the players do? I guess not.

The Spike Videogame Awards were definitely a somewhat classier affair last night than in the past, but it's still not quite the Oscars. So there's not exactly a post-show Governor's Ball. What we got instead were two relatively low key post-show gatherings at bars close to Sony Pictures' studios, where the VGAs were held. One was sponsored by CAA's videogame department, the other was just organized last minute by some industry folks.

For the sake of idle, pointless industry gossip, here's a report on who I saw where (mostly first-hand, a few second-hand from sources I trust).

The CAA party:

"Gears of War" creative director Cliff Bleszinski from Epic
Insomniac chief Ted Price
Several folks from Double Fine (I didn't see Tim Schafer, but I assume he was there)
Jason Rubin, formerly of Naughty Dog
A bunch of folks from Media Molecule, maker of "LittleBigPlanet"
Kellee Santiago of ThatGameCompany
All the folks from CAA's game division (natch)

At the other party (no official sponsor, though I hear Vanity Fair may be signing on next year):

"Fallout 3" director Todd Howard and other folks from Bethesda Softworks
Infinity Ward co-founder Vince Zampella
Sony Santa Monica chief Allan Becker

I dont' want to turn into Page Six and share who was talking to who about what. However I can't help but share this one unsourced quote of the night, which came up in a discussion about "Brutal Legend," the fact that it was so heavily promoted at the VGAs (Jack Black hosting, Tim Schafer helping give out an award, a very cool new trailer, etc.) and us all wondering why in the world Activision dropped this game but kept dud franchises like "Spyro the Dragon":

When Bobby Kotick saw tonight's show, I bet his head exploded.

Speaking from the perspective of sitting in the audience, this year's Spike Videogame Awards were a big improvement over last year, and not only because they added a Golden Globes vibe by serving alcohol. OK, that definitely helped, but it was pretty much counter-balanced by the guy a few rows ahead of me who got drunk and felt the need, when Megan Fox appeared to give the "game of the year" award, to yell out "Take your top off!"

I'm not here to write about the awards show, however, so much as the award. What in the heck is it? We all know the Oscar statue is a guy with a sword. There's the emmy statue that's a big globe. And a Spike VGA Award ("Spikey?" "V'ger?") is... A rainbow colored monkey with a crown holding a bong? I'm not really sure, but I took a photo at an after-party of one of the winner's trophies so Cut Scene readers can enjoy the mystery as well:

Most of my videogame playing time is spent on titles I"m reviewing or writing about and online multi-player with my friends in Nerd Poker (mostly "Gears of War 1/2," "Call of Duty 4," and, more recently, "Left 4 Dead").

So it's a wonderful and exciting thing to have finished my review of "Prince of Persia," my last of the year, and have absolutely nothing I need to play. Which means I actually have time to just enjoy some games I want to play that I haven't gotten around to. And since I'm not reviewing them, I don't need to pause every few minutes to write down thoughts in my notebook.What a crazy way to play a videogame!

I do have added incentive to get through some games quickly, though. With with the end of the year rapidly approach, we'll be doing a Cut Scene count down of the best games of 2008, which we'll be presenting in a way that I hope you'll all find cool and interesting (not just one post with a list of 10 games). I say "we" because I'm being helped in this endeavor by some very smart videogame writers.

But I'll provide more details on that in a few days. For now, here's the list of videogames that I didn't play, or didn't play enough to form a fair opinion of, in 2008 that I'm now enjoying. Obviously there are dozens, if not hundreds, of games I never played that aren't on this list, but I'm only including the ones I'm most interested in based on reviews from the writers I trust (which mostly means Variety's three regular freelance reviewers):

-de Blob
-Fallout 3
-Patapon
-Far Cry 2
-Midnight Club: Los Angeles
-The World Ends With You
-Metal Gear Solid 4
-Burnout Paradise
-Saints Row 2

If you're curious what games I have already played, there's an easy way to find out. Visit my Variety.com bio here and scroll down to "recent reviews." You'll see a list of every game I've reviewed in 2008. With only a few exceptions (mostly downloadable games like "World of Goo" and "Braid"), those are the games I've played in 2008.

What about you Cut Scene readers? Any suggestions for cool games that I didn't review and aren't on my list that I should be playing? And/or that you want to suggest your fellow readers check out? I'd love some suggestions.

PS Several of those titles are ones I never received from the publishers. Which means I'm out buying them. Which means, just like a typical videogame player, I am of course buying them used. Much as it pains some in the industry, I just can't imagine why I would do otherwise. I feel like my charitable giving will be better utilized at Doctors without Borders or Habitat for Humanity than helping videogame publishers maintain their profit margins.

(photo above is the games currently sitting beneath my TV)

Well that took long enough.

I've got a story in today's Daily Variety reporting that "Brutal Legend," the heavy metal action game starring Jack Black, finally has a home: Electronic Arts. EA Partners, to be precise.

The last major game from Sierra left homeless by Activision Blizzard that hadn't found a home will be released by EA next fall. As Cut Scene readers know, developer Double Fine and its reps at CAA have been very close to a deal in the past six months, most notably with MTV late in the summer (details here and here). Once that fell apart, finding a new home took a long time, with previous rights holder Activision Blizzard apparently not making a new deal easy.

But developer Double Fine apparently found a way to extricate itself from Activision Blizzard and retain the full IP rights to "Brutal Legend." EA Partners will be funding development going forward (but isn't reimbursing Activision Blizzard for the money Vivendi previously spent) and handling worldwide distribution and marketing.

And even though CEO John Riccitiello said just on Tuesday that the company is cutting back its slate and being very careful about what it invests in, and even though he said in October that "Brutal Legend" is a "significant creative risk," EA feels "Brutal Legend" is a bet work making, at least with the limited exposure it has through EA Partners (as opposed to just buying and owning it outright).

But rather than me keep explaining it, here's my full interview with EA Partners chief David DeMartini:

Me: EA Partners usually acts as a distributor and marketer for others, like MTV with "Rock Band." Are you putting any money into "Brutal Legend?"

David DeMartini: It's a development and publishing deal. We are funding development... Brutal legend is an IP owned by Double Fine and we're doing publishing and distribution

EA Partner's specific charter is to be the venture organization of EA. We're out there seeking to strike a variety of types of deals with the bet third party developers in the industry.

Out there seeking to strike a variety of types of deals with best third party devs in industry. Harmonix, id, Valve, Epic, Crytek, Grasshopper, and so on. In some cases we fund the entire thing. Some cases partially. Some we just distribute.

Me: That would be like "Rock Band" for MTV?

DD: Yes. The other end of the extreme would be Starbreeze, where we are fully finding those games and publishign and distributing them as well. The other end is pure distribution. Something in the middle might be co-publishing. This is more of a development and publishing deal.

Me: "Brutal Legend" has been "on the market," so to speak, since at least the summer. Have you been interested and in talks the whole time? Or only more recently? How did this come about?

DD:We have a very close relationship with CAA and [games department head] Seamus [Blackley]. He worked with us on some deals like the one with Grasshopper Manufacture and others not yet announced. Since we have that good relationship with them and they represent Double Fine, when the opportunity presented itself, CAA involved us in the discussions.

We're obviously familiar with Double Fine as well as [its president] Tim Schafer. We had the opportunity to look at the property and it took us about 37 seconds to realize what a huge opportunity it was.

Me: A lot of people in the industry liked the game, but were concerned because past Double Fine games that were acclaimed, like "Psychonauts," didn't sell well. EA CEO John Riccitiello even called it a "significant creative risk." Do you think you can do a better job than other publishers have? 

DD: Actually I think Tim might look at some of his creative work and say, "Wow it's hard to make 90-rated games, so why are my 90-rated games not getting out to as many people as I want?" That's part of the reasoning why Tim looked at EA as his publishing distribution partner. We have a long history of taking games that should be in the hands of millions of people and putting them there. Tim's work is at that level.

When we saw this particular IP and the opportunities this game represents based on the focus on open world gameplay, the rock background, the involvement of jack black, the fact that it's action/adventure... Everything associated with this game yells "mega hit" and "mass market."

That's what we look for in these titles. With Tim you always get quality. It's a tremendous confidence boost to have someone who can deliver the goods every time. Tim and his team deliver the goods every time.

The good news is that hard core gamers, who are traditionally the hardest to reach, they love Tim's games. Need to maek srue they recognize this as equally high quality game and get concept tout to mass market.

Me: John Riccitiello said Tuesday that EA is cutting back its slate and focusing only on games with the biggest profit potential. Is "Brutal Legend" being impacted by those changes at all?

DD: This game falls exactly into the words John was saying. The strongest will survive and the most creative mass market ideas. We feel like this falls right into the middle of that category.

Me: Originally "Brutal Legend" was going to come out this fall. Would the game not have been ready if it had stayed at Sierra, or are you using the extra year to add new features? Did you pick the fall release date because that's when teh game will be ready or you think it's the best opportunity?

DD: I believe Double Fine has a really storng reputation for shipping on time. If appropriately supported, Tim and the team would have hit the quality bar in a timely fashion. We evaluated this opportunity and saw it to be huge. So we asked when Tim will get to the greatest level of quality and how long it is going to take us to help make the world aware of the quality of the game.

Fall is the perfect window for a title as epic as this, with star power it has.

Me: And just to be clear, you're distributing it worldwide?

DD: Everythwhere that rocks.

(A few answers moved around and/or trimmed for clarity and brevity. And yes, that really was his reply to the last question.)

The New York Times is amazed to discover that videogames have trailers. That they're professionally made and quite good. That people get really excited about seeing them for the first time. That media outlets compete to be the first to show them.

Which is really shocking. Because it's not like that happens in other media. I can't think of any movies for which people get excited about the trailer. Can you imagine websites making a big deal out of showing a film trailer first? Or hard core fans going to see a movie just to watch the trailer attached to it? Not at all.

Of course it's kind of interesting that a TV event like the Spike Awards makes such a big deal out of getting 10 exclusive trailers. But I would imagine movie studios would do the same at film award shows if they didn't have this other great vehicle for delivering trailers: movies themselves.

Also, according to the New York Times, Spike's "Game Trailers TV" is just half an hour of videogame trailers. Which means Geoff Keighley must have the easiest job in the world.

It was a good November for Nintendo and Epic/Microsoft Game Studios, but a bad one for the industry, especially Sony and, to lesser extent, the makers of "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band."

The latest sales data from NPD shows overall sales growth was 10%, which in the midst of a recession is pretty good, but is still down a LOT from last year. That shows the videogame biz is hurting, on a comparative basis, just like pretty much every other sector.

NPD points out that this November had seven fewer post-Thanksgiving shopping days than last on its calendar, which is a fair point. But even still, the growth rates are down by such a huge amount that that can't explain the whole difference. Total growth, for instance, plunged from 52% to 10%. Hardware sales growth fell from 41% to 10%, which is somewhat expected since we're now later in the console cycle. But software sales growth plunged from 62% to 11%, which isn't what you'd expect. Seems like software sales should be further increasing now that the console install base is so much bigger.

Without a doubt the company in the most trouble is Sony. Forget about declining growth rates. Playstation 3 sales were actually down 19% in absolute terms from November 2007. Considering that Sony has some very high profile exclusive games out in the past two months, like "LittleBigPlanet" and "Resistance 2," that's downright disastrous. Looks like people just aren't willing to pay $400 for a videogame console right now. (PSP sales were down an even worse 26%, but at least that has the excuse of launching 3.5 years ago, not two).

Also suffering are "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band." 1.5 million "Guitar Hero: World Tour" units have been sold so far this year by Activision, off 55% from "Guitar Hero III" at the same moment in 2007. "Rock Band 2" has sold 809,000 units for MTV and EA. It's tough to compare to last year, since this sequel launched in September, but only for 360, and the original launched last year in late November for 360 and PS3 and added PS2 in December. But consider this: Last November Rock Band sold 382,000 units on its two launch consoles, followed by 463,000 in December for 360 alone, for a total of 845,000. December's always the biggest month, of course, but one week for two consoles and one month for one, compared to a month on one console and a month and a half on two sounds like a more than fair comparison. And "Rock Band 2" is losing to the original.

I'm almost as confused as you are, so here's a cleaner stat: According to UBS analyst Ben Schachter, combined "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" revenue was down 12% in November from last year. And keep in mind that the "Guitar Hero: World Tour" band kit costs $100 more than the highest priced version of "Guitar Hero III."

"Gears of War 2" had a huge month, as expected, though. And "Call of Duty: World at War" launched almost exactly even with "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare," a start that Activision has to be very happy with. The only new original game in the top 10 for November was "Left 4 Dead," which debuted with a strong 410,000 units.

There is one other company I'm forgetting... Oh yea, Nintendo. It seems that recessions don't impact them. I'm not even sure if the law of gravity is in effect at Nintendo HQ. Thanks to more supply and growing demand, Wii sales more than doubled to 2 million last month, the biggest ever for any console outside of December. No doubt Nintendo will break that record next month. Meanwhile, two of its games continue to show what the movie business calls "legs." "Wii Fit" was no. 4 and "Mario Kart" no. 5 six and seven months after their debut, respectively (I'll exclude "Wii Play" because of the free controller issue). Every other new game seems to come and go from the top 10 quickly, but "Fit" and "Mario Kart" keep being snatched up by all those new Wii buyers. Even the much maligned "Wii Music" came back from a weak October launch to sell a solid 297,000 units in its debut.

Notable new games that sold less than that -- though I can't tell by how much and so it's hard to evaluate whether they're bombs or just not quite big enough -- include "Quantum of Solace," "Tomb Raider: Underworld," and "Mortal Kombat vs. DC." There's also "Mirror's Edge," but we already know that one is a bomb.

Here's the complete set of NPD November data. At the suggestion of a smart reader, I've added release dates, so you can fairly compare games that came out earlier or later in the month. I've also added percentage growth from last November for each console, just because I think it's interesting.

Game                      Console     Publisher     Units sold in Nov.  Release date

Gears of War 2         360           Microsoft       1.56 million        Nov. 7

Call of Duty 5            360           Activision      1.41 million       Nov. 10

Wii Play                    Wii           Nintendo        796,000            Feb 12, 2007
Wii Fit                      Wii           Nintendo        697,000            May 19
Mario Kart                Wii            Nintendo        637,000            April 27
Call of Duty 5            PS2           Activision       597,000            Nov. 10
Guitar Hero: WT       Wii           Activision       475,000            Oct. 26
Left 4 Dead              360           EA                  410,000            Nov. 18
Resistance 2            PS3           Sony               435,000             Nov. 4
Wii Music                PS3            Nintendo        297,000            Oct. 20

Console       Nov. unit sales  Growth from Nov. 2007       Lifetime-to-date
Wii              2.04 million                108%                           15.5 million
DS               1.57 million                 3%                              24.6 million
360             836,000                       9%                              12.5 million
PSP             421,000                      -26%                           13.2 million
PS3             378,000                      -19%                            6.1 million

Category             Nov. revenue   Change  Year-to-date revenue  Change
Total industry     $2.91 billion        10%       $16.04 billion             22%
Hardware           $1.21 billion        10%       $5.93 billion               14%
Software            $1.45 billion        11%       $8.21 billion               31%
Accessories        $255 million         7%        $1.91 billion               17%

Well "Patapon" didn't work out so well for me today (the story reveals what a moron I am, so I'll skip it), but in the hours I spent with nothing to do in L.A. Superior Court (I obviously wasn't chosen for a jury) I finally played "Fieldrunners."

And wow is it good. I've never particularly gotten into tower defense on the PC; it's just not something I would ever choose to do in my home when I've got a million other options. But when I'm short on options and I need something that works and looks great on my phone, "Fieldrunners' is pretty much perfect. It looks awesome, plays almost flawlessly, and a game that's entirely about placing weapons is perfect for the iPhone's touch screen (luckily it doesn't use the iPhone's clunky tilting sensor -- I'm talking to you, "Spore Origins!"). And because the game is played in waves and has a simple save feature, it's perfect for a device on which you often don't know how long you'll have to play.

Unlike consoles or PCs, which offer an almost unlimited array of game types for an almost unlimited array of situations, mobile devices are severely limited in what they can do and when/how we typically use them. Which is why the fact that "Fieldrunners" is so perfectly suited to the iPhone is its best asset.

True, there's only two maps, but at $5, there's still a lot more enjoyment to be had per dollar here than on many $60 titles.I must have spent a good three or four hours on it today and I honestly am already looking forward to my holiday cross-country flight when I'll have the perfect situation to play some more.

But at least i am getting some time to finally play Patapon!

My Daily Variety story with full details on EA's guidance reduction and cuts is right here, if you want the big picture.

But here are a few key details of particular interest to gamers:

-EA Sports titles are expected to escape the planned cut in game releases for fiscal 2010, which starts next April. CEO John Riccitiello said the cuts will be roughly equally divided between casual and "core" games, which I interpret to mean the EA Games label and the casual/Sims label.

-Confirming what I reported yesterday, "Mirror's Edge" seems to be doing very poorly. Asked how new properties are performing, the best Riccitiello could say about DICE's parkour action game is "'Mirror's Edge' is one that was very strongly reviewed. It's going to go forward. We're going to look at some issues in the design to make sure a strong IP is married to a strong business."

The other game that seems to be particularly underperforming is "Rock Band 2," which, as I just wrote, Riccitiello basically asked investors to go out and buy this week.

-Other new franchises seem to be doing at least decently well. Riccitiollo said both "Spore" and "MySims" "established a strong base to be an ongoing franchise," while "Dead Space" "looks like a long-term big winner for us." He added that "Warhammer Online" "will continue to perform very, very well [with a] life measured in multiples of years, not multiples of months."

-Though EA is regularly #2 in Wii sales behind Nintendo, which dominates for its own console, it doesn't appear to be at the top on PC, PS3, or 360 (though, because Nintendo is such a strong #1 on Wii, EA titles on the other three still sell better). But he didn't cite any EA titles selling near the top of the charts on the 3 "core" platforms. Instead he said "Really strong titles from a few of our competitors are doing really well on 360, PS3 and PC."

-That's significant, because Riccitiello said one key trend hurting EA is an increasing concentration of sales going to the top 10 titles, while catalog is doing poorly. That's a bad sign for those of us who want more diversity and innovation in the industry -- at least from the big publishers -- since EA is responding by cutting back on titles "at the bottom of the profitability range," a.k.a games that are different from what we have seen and thus appear riskier in a sales projection. I'll probably post more on this soon, since combined with other trends we're seeing in the media industry, it's casts doubt on the "long tail" theory that hits are becoming less important, especially in the midst of a recession.

Full story: Economy takes its toll on EA

Much more on EA's guidance reduction and development cuts in the face of weak holiday sales. But I thought this was a really interesting quote from the conference call, which I'm just finishing up listening to. When asked how "Rock Band 2" is selling, this is what CEO John Riccitiello said:

One of the things we didn’t want to do on call is provide specific info on title performance. I would only highlight that "Rock Band" is one of the top franchises in the industry overall and one that I think consumers are finding themselves delighted with. I would encourage all of you to get out before the end of the weekend and pick up one for yourselves.

That's a really specific request. Sounds like EA really wants to move "Rock Band 2" units and move them soon.

It's probably not the best sign when the CEO of a major publisher feels the need to pimp a title to investors and analysts during a conference call.

When a company finances a major purchase entirely with debt, it's making a big bet.

It's an indication of how key Atari (well technically its parent company Infogrames, but let's just say Atari for simplicity's sake) thinks Cryptic Studios is to its future that the resurgent, but still cash poor, publisher is financing the acquisition entirely with bonds.

I'm not sure exactly how much the bonds will be, but based on Infogrames' public filing, they should total at least $40 million (31 million Euros), which will be used to pay back a bridge loan that will immediately finance the acquisition, as well as Cryptic's working capital needs and an old loan Atari needs to pay back (oops!).

Meaning that Atari needs Cryptic to be successful and generate cash if it wants to pay back those bonds and avoid an awkward Midway-like situation.

So what Cryptic need to do to succeed for Atari? Well, there's "Champions Online" next year, but it's unclear whether Atari will even publish that, since 2K originally signed on for that job (a 2K rep told me "discussions aren't finalized" on that point). If Atari doesn't publish it, all it will have is Cryptic's royalties if the game performs well. Then there's 2010's "Star Trek Online," for which it'll have to pay royalties to CBS, meaning the margins are smaller than for an original MMO (though perhaps the chances for success are greater). And of course there's the inevitable "unannounced game" in the works.

That's a decent slate, but MMO's are very risky propositions. They usually lose money (paging "Age of Conan," "Matrix Online," etc.) and very rarely turn into big successes. Even "City of Heroes/Villains," the games on which Cryptic made its name, had a relatively modest 180,000 subscribers at their peak (about 1.6% of "World of Warcraft's" subscriber base). If even one of these games hits it big, especially one Atari publishes, it could be in very good shape. But those aren't great odds. (Cryptic's revenues were $17 million in the year ending June 30, but Atari didn't report how much the developer made or lost).

The other benefit Atari is counting on is Cryptic's technology, which it says will "reduce development risks for future online games developed internally and improve margins due to the low cost structure of the Cryptic engine’s technology and tools."

That's a big sign, much bigger than any of the statements Phil Harrison and David Gardner have made, that online gaming is really at the heart of the company's future. Though "Ghostbusters" and the other games Atari is picking up / announcing should help along the way.

Here's a way to help increase respect for videogames in mainstream culture: Celebrate a release with the lamest collection of Hollywood c-list reality stars imaginable.

That's what Ubisoft is bringing us tonight with a launch party for "Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party." I've seen my share of lame videogame launch parties here in Hollywood, but this one really takes the cake in terms of the lamest group of people who almost certainly know little to nothing about the game.

Is associating videogames with the caliber of celebs listed below really good for the industry and the art form? I'd venture not. Though I guess the nicest thing we could say is that "Raving Rabbids" is aimed at a very casual audience full of Moms who probably watch and read the E!/Access Hollywood/AOL  type of shows and websites that would cover this.

Ubisoft presents RAYMAN RAVING RABBIDS® TV PARTY VIDEO GAME LAUNCH PARTY

WHAT:             In celebration of Ubisoft’s newest video game, Rayman Raving Rabbids® TV Party, celebrities and LA’s hottest VIPs will come together to show off their gaming skills at the private launch event hosted by Kim Kardashian. Exclusive to Nintendo, Rayman Raving Rabbids® TV Party is taking full advantage of the Wii Balance Board™ accessory by being the very first game that gamers can play with their butts!  In this installment of the hit game series, the Rabbids take control of Rayman’s TV station and monopolize the transmissions for a week, with each day containing a different set of mini-games based on films, fitness programs, gardening programs, etc. Guests will get a chance to preview the new game and snack on TV favorites such as popcorn and hotdogs. DJ Spider will provide the tunes for the night.

WHEN:             Tuesday, December 9, 2008 // 8pm-12am

 Press Check-In to begin @ 7pm

                       Celebrity Arrivals start @ 8pm

WHERE:          Apple Lounge

 665 N Robertson   Blvd // West Hollywood, CA

WHO: Confirmed Celebrities: Kim Kardashian, Lacey Schwimmer, Ryan Cabrera, Kourtney Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kyle Howard, Holly Montag, Jason Wahler, Kellan Lutz, Leven Ramblin, Carrie Ann Inaba, Kris Jenner, Corey Feldman, Rex Lee, Brittny Gastineau, Daveigh Chase, Michael Steger, Shalim Ortiz, Kerr Smith, Jonathan Sadowski, Lisa D’Amato, CariDee English, Andy MacDonald, Vida Guerra, Jo De La Rosa, Slade, and many more…

Ubisoft's new "Prince of Persia" introduces a metaphysical question we don't think about very often: What does it mean to die in a videogame?

"Prince of Persia" is the rare action/adventure videogame in which the main character simply can't die (maybe the first that doesn't involve time control or "experience points" that can be lost?). Nobody really dies in most videogames in the strictest sense of the word, since they always re-appear a few seconds later (or a few minutes in the case of "Too Human," but I digress). But by the rules of the in-game narrative, they have died, and then essentially time re-starts at the last checkpoint.

In "Prince of Persia," the rules are different. The eponymous hero has a partner, Elika, a princess who's essentially a bohemian hipster with magic powers (I imagine that if she wasn't a princess, she'd sell handmade jewelry in an open-air market, volunteer at a community garden, and organize Kucinich phone banks). Every time the Prince makes a potentially fatal mistake by falling, or getting his ass kicked in a fight, she saves him, essentially doing everything we're used to in a checkpoint system except rewinding time and interrupting the narrative.

Some critics think this makes the game too easy. "Prince of Persia is one of the least frustrating games ever, because you can't die," Chris Kohler wrote in Wired. "[The designers] have eliminated the lows, but also the highs. It is free of frustration, but it is also free of joy."

As others have noted, though, Elika is really just a new reset mechanic. And the fact that it's easy (I agree with Kohler about that, but it didn't really bother me, for reasons explained in my review) is not inherent to the mechanic. There's no reason Elika couldn't drop the Prince off at a smaller number of checkpoints, spaced further apart, than the most recent spot where he stood still. In fights, she could easily restore more health to the enemy when saving the Prince from his imminent doom.

Narratively speaking, Elika solves a major problem inherent to most videogames: They don't explain how characters come back to life after dying. Why is it that Master Chief and Marcus and Nathan Hale are reborn, and time rewinds, after they die? When I was playing "Left 4 Dead" last night, how is it that I re-appeared in a closet a few minutes after getting clawed to death by zombies? Is there some kind of Hindu reincarnation thing going on? Perhaps Tim from "Braid" has been secretly controlling time in every videogame?

We don't ask, because we accept that the gameplay convenience is more important than narrative consistency. When the "Gears of War" movie comes out, I doubt we'll see any characters die and then the plot re-start at a checkpoint a few minutes earlier in the film. We wouldn't accept that because, of course, narrative consistency is of paramount importance in that medium (unless Michael Bay is directing).

"Prince of Persia" takes videogames pushes the art form by confronting this issue and presenting an elegant solution. But in doing so, it introduces a new problem: In order for Elika to be able to save the Prince from situations where he can't save himself, she needs to be more powerful than him. Which forces players to ask two questions: If she can do all this stuff, why is the Prince -- and I, as the person controlling him -- bothering to try so hard? And why does Elika even need him in the first place?

Most of "Prince of Persia" is spent running, swinging, jumping, etc. through environments to collect "light seeds" and/or get to the boss character. But if Elika can fly anywhere at anytime (go ahead and die 20 times in a row; she doesn't even get winded), it seems like she could just fly him there and save the us all the headache of running along walls and shimmying up and down those poles.

Combat is a bit more problematic. The implications in the game seems to be that Elika needs the Prince to help fight the baddies. But that's hard to buy. Many of the Prince's most powerful moves involve Elika jumping in with some magic. And, just as with him falling, she never seems to run out of power to push the enemy off the Prince and restore his health when he's about to get the whipping that, as anyone who has listened to his lame quips knows, he kinda deserves. I have a feeling that with a little more confidence, Elika could have handled every challenge in "Prince of Persia" on her own.

Of course then the game would have been called "Elika," not "Prince of Persia," and I doubt Ubisoft would have given it the greenlight.

But it leaves me asking: Is it possible to have a "dying" mechanic in a videogame that doesn't introduce as many narrative problems as it solves?

As the first information about sales in November -- the most important month of the year for videogame sales -- starts to creep out ahead of Thursday's official report from NPD, it's looking like amidst recession, gamers are going for the familiar and the cheap.

To wit, Nintendo prexy Satoru Iwata told Reuters that his company sold 800,000 Wii units in the U.S. during Thanksgiving week, more than double last year's figure. The increase is helped in part by the fact that the supply is bigger, but still, the fact that there's still that much demand indicates consumers are still happy to buy the cheapest (or rather believed to be cheapest, sorry Xbox 360 Arcade) console.

Also selling very well,. it appears, is "Gears of War 2." Microsoft already announced it sold more than 2 million units worldwide and Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter predicts the game sold as many as 3 million units domestically last month (EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich predicts a more conservative 2 million-plus). The other huge game, according to Pachter, was likely "Fallout 3." Bethesda already announced that it shipped 4.7 million units worldwide and the analyst predicts it sold around 1.5 million units in November, on top of the 510,000 from the end of October.

Not selling so well? It looks like the big music games could be in decline. "Guitar Hero: World Tour" sales were already down 61% in October from "Guitar Hero III" last year (as I detailed here) and Divnich predicts the November "III" to "World Tour" drop could be 50%. "Rock Band 2," meanwhile sold a so-so 238,000 units in October and Wii Music moved a dismal 81,000. Only the latter is a flop, but it seems that none are setting the world on fire they way they did last year and even in the first half of this year (when "Guitar Hero III" for Wii, in particular, was very hot).

Another sign: Prices for "World Tour" on eBay are significantly cheaper than retail, indicating that supply is no longer a problem.

It could be that "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero: World Tour" are so expensive and these are obviously lean times when not many people are ready to spend $200 on a videogame ("Wii Music" is only $50 but has other problems, like the fact that it's not very good). Of course the bigger question that Activision and MTV have to worry about is whether this is a sign that the music videogame biz has peaked. Given the hundreds of millions MTV spent on Harmonix and the major investment it's making in a Beatles game, plus the fact that Activision plans to triple the number of "Guitar Hero" skus by 2010, that's a worrying thought.

Finally, it appears that EA's "Mirrors Edge" experiment may not be working out, at least off the bat. I am hearing industry sources that initial sales on the first person parkour game were quite soft.

Of course we'll get actual hard data on Thursday from NPD.

Can a videogame be compelling even if it's not challenging?

I come down on the "yes" side of things with my review of Ubisoft's new revamp of "Prince of Persia." It's not like there's a shortage of challenging games out there, after all. "Prince of Persia" offers something different: drop dead gorgeous visuals, an absolutely perfect camera, spare but engrossing sound design, and a wide variety of easily implemented acrobatic moves, all of which combine for a relaxing, meditative experience. As I wrote in my review:

Normally, a shortage of player control is a debilitating flaw in an interactive medium, but when the experience is as drop-dead gorgeous and consistently exhilarating as Ubisoft's revamp of the 20-year-old "Prince of Persia" franchise, it's easy to overlook. One of the most visually stunning videogames ever made, it melds a hand-painted look with spare sound design and haunting music to create an aesthetically consistent work that's meditative but rarely boring.

While the combat is too non-strategic and repetitive and the relationship between the Prince and his partner Elika is downright annoying (the writers seem to be going for a Hepburn and Tracy dynamic, but the result is more Heidi and Spencer). But the entire experience was worth it to me purely just to drool at what's on screen. We've seen cel shading before, but never with design with such realistic and detailed designs, not to mention top-notch hi-def renderings. The Prince's acrobatic moves are impressive enough, but the vistas revealed when walking to the edge of a tower, or simply swinging around a corner, are truly stunning. "Particularly breathtaking," I noted in the review, "are a battle against a flame-engulfed monster who provides the only light in the room, as well as a final boss fight shot with an ultra-wide lens in black-and-white."

I was also engrossed, much to my surprise, in the game's epilogue. After a fairly generic story (king unleashes an evil god who takes over the land; princess has to set things right), the emotional depth expands infinitely by "tying together the narrative, aesthetics and gameplay in an epilogue that gives the completed experience a new level of meaning."

Other elements are intriguing, particularly the role that Elika plays in the game (more on her in an upcoming post). But my most important fact is that I was almost never bored, even when I was just pushing a button every two or three seconds to keep the prince moving through a long acrobatic sequence, or watching him and Elika soar through the air off a "power plate."

There's one question I'm glad I don't have to answer though: Is this breathtaking, meditative but short experience worth $60? That's a tough one. "Prince of Persia" is great in so many ways, but it's really not that much game for players with a budget.

Full review: Prince of Persia

iPhone games have gotten so hot so fast that traditional media is now partnering with the hottest of the bunch.

The super popular rythm title "Tap Tap Revenge," which was recently ranked as the #1 free game in Apple's app store, has garnered around 3 million downloads and over 100,000 active players per day. As Bart Decrem, CEO of publisher Tapulous, told me when we met earlier this week, it was originally a game from the "jailbroken" scene, where users hacked their iPhones to put in non-Apple approved applications. But Tapulous bought it, along with several other applications, once Apple came out with a legal store for distributing them in June. "Tap Tap Revenge" has since become not just the company's biggest hit, but it defining product (thus the corporate name).

The only revenue it's currently generating, however, comes from small ads on the bottom on the bottom of the screen (served to those who are online, which explains why people like me who only play on airplanes have never seen them). Tapulous has managed to add new song downloads for the game every week, but they've all come from artists/labels/publishers willing to provide their music purely for promotional purposes, for free.

But of course Tapulous needs more than little ads to build a business. It needs players to pay. Which means it needs better content. Which means it needs to start sharing revenue. And it needs to do all that without disrupting the free "Tap Tap Revenge" model that has proven so successful.

Decrem's solution is two spinoffs, both of which are being released this week. The first, "Tap Tap Dance" is a partnership with EMI that features ten dance tracks from the Chemical Brothers, Moby and others. The second is "Christmas with Weezer," which has six traditional Christmas songs recorded by the band, along with two "bonus tracks." They both feature the same basic gameplay as "Tap Tap Revenge," but with totally different graphics that match their content (the Weezer version also has a new, can't fail, "kids" setting). Both cost $4.99, with that money being divided between Apple, Tapulous, the labels and publishers.

It's a real sign of how much Apple's app store has grown, and how fast, that Tapulous is already in a position to sign deals with major labels and artists. The obvious choice would be to start charging for track downloads, as "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" do. But given how easy it is to produce these small mobile spin-offs, perhaps the "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" model makes more sense, especially if there continue to be more bands willing to provide free tracks to the core game (an update to "Revenge" coming this winter will allow Tapulous to delete tracks after a while, thus encouraging labels to circulate them into the game for promotional windows).

If the spin-offs are a hit, it will demonstrate that Apple's app store is big enough to not only launch successful games, but successful brands. Which will make it an even more powerful force in the franchise-obsessed videogame biz.

Here's a very cool use of videogames for a great cause.

As part of a larger corporate partnership with the U.S. government, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is launching a free multi-player PC game in Kenya intended to change HIV risk perception, attitude and behavior. Called "Pamoja Mtaani" ("Together in the Hood"), it's launching in youth centers in Nairobi, Kenya.

This is how WBIE describes it:

The “Pamoja Mtaani” game, developed by noted serious games developer, Virtual Heroes, Inc., follows five strangers who are brought together through unforeseen circumstances, losing what is most precious to each of them. Working their way through various East African neighborhoods, players must recover the stolen items and help an injured woman on their quest. Along the way, they will experience barriers and facilitators to behavior change through a variety of missions and mini-games.

The five person game, which can be played via LAN, also has music from Kenyan hip-hop artists. All of the characters are being introduced via trailers that the studio is producing.

"Pamoja Mtaani" is part of the Partnership for an HIV-Free Generation, a public-private partnership that's part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Kudos to Warner Bros. for not only getting involved, but using its videogame unit to engage young people in this vital issue.

Sumner Redstone's sale of the struggling videogame publisher may have been good news for him (as good as new can be after you've lost $500 million-plus in equity) but it has made things even tougher for company management.

As diclosed in an SEC filing today (I had help understanding what it means), the change in control triggered a provision allowing holders of the "Mortal Kombat" publisher's debt notes to request payment of the principle. Given Midway's dire financial state, they're expected to so.

With only $10.3 million on hand as of Oct. 31, Midway won't be able to come up with that kind of money that fast, no matter how well "Mortal Kombat vs DC" sells (and it seems like it is selling pretty well). So the board of directors has engaged financial advisory firm Lazard to help it explore "strategic and financial alternatives" to its liquidity problems. If it can't find a new source of funding or re-negotiate its debt, looks like it will probably have to declare bankruptcy.

Mysterious private investor Mark Thomas, who bought Redstone's 87% stake, won't be any help. He will remain completely passive and won't take a seat on the board or get involvedin management.

Looks like we can expect some seroius changes at Midway by the end of January.

(I've also confirmed that beyond its $150 million in debt notes, Midway also has a $90 million credit facility with Redstone's holding company National Amusements that's still in place, along with a $40 million "factoring agreement" <basically more credit>. As part of the his convoluted purchase deal, Thomas is now participating in $70 million of that $90 million. Though it's largely irrelevant because even if Midway finds a solution to the $150 million of note, it doesn't look likely to pay back NAI or Thomas anytime soon.)

We've been kinda tough -- not undeservedly, of course -- on some recent Disney videogame releases, but there's a turnabout of sorts from a somewhat surprising outlet: the new "Club Penguin" game for the DS.

It's the first major spin-off Disney has done for the uber-popular kids virtual world since purchasing it last year in a deal worth up to $700 million. As Variety critic Chris Dahlen reports, it's a fun collection of mini-games and mysteries that fits smoothly into the "Club Penguin" landscape:

"Club Penguin's" simple cartoony style loses little in the move to the smallscreen. The island's layout remains essentially the same, but players now explore it from a first-person perspective -- which makes it easier to comb each space for hidden coins and clues.

The missions challenge players with object-manipulation puzzles, simple decoding tasks and plain old hunting and rummaging for clues. Any kid who reads well, follows directions and doesn't mind scouring the island once in a while for new leads should have no trouble. Unfortunately, the gameplay will occasionally frustrate their best efforts: A lack of negative feedback can make it difficult to figure out why penguins don't always move where the player points, for instance, and some design mistakes in the final action sequence makes it difficult to trigger the right action and complete the game.

There's also a smart, if rather simple, tie-in to the virtual world. Kids can't import their "Club Penguin" character to the DS, which would probably be the ultimate tie-in, but coins earned on the new game can be transferred to the virtual world, and content like newsletters and polls from "Club Penguin" can be downloaded onto the DS. Which is probably a smart move by Disney to ensure that "Elite Penguin Force" will only reinforce kids' online "Club Penguin" interest/addiction, rather than replace it.

Full review: Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force

Valve is continuing its campaign to reveal really specific sales and financial data to the public, which I noted last week is surprising and kinda odd.

Gamasutra has a report today with retail sales figures on every game the acclaimed indie developer (and online publisher) has released in its 10 year history, apparently drawn from a profile in GameInformer. GamaSutra's analysis of the figures, along with speculation about what more sales may have come via digital download on Steam, is very good and I recommend it.

However, I continue to ask: Why is Valve sharing all this data? Speculation in the comments on my last post including that Valve is looking for a buyer/partner or is trying to promote the usage of Steam. But neither makes a ton of sense to me. Maybe it just wants to raise its corporate profile right now? Maybe they really a little more respect in the world for not only making good games, but being a successful company? Something is clearly up. And in my experience, when a company puts on a full court press to raise its public profile, it has plans to do something big, or at least try to do something big, in the near future.

The first of Brash's many orphan games has found a new home.

As I'm reporting in tomorrow's Daily Variety, Atari has bought North American publishing rights for the PC, PS2 and Wii version of the game from Brash (though not the 360; so much for that). It has also picked up the deal Brash made to distribute the DS version for Universal, which is funding and producing that game itself. (Details on the original deal between Universal and Brash are here)

I've been hearing for a little while that Atari was going to pick up a few of Brash's completed games that need a publisher ASAP. Apparently it didn't (or hasn't) bought the completed Wii version of "Six Flags Fun Park," but "Despereaux," which needs to come out before the film's Dec. 19 release date, was more appealing.

Atari, of course, has been on a bit of a spree buying homeless movie-to-videogame adaptations of late, since it also picked up Sierra cast-offs "Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena" and "Ghostbusters" from Activision Blizzard in October (details here).

The newly revived publisher also announced some new games in the works at a London event today, including a new Wii music title from the creator of RezHD, Lumines Live and Every Extend Extra Extreme. GameSpot has a good summary.

Atari won't have any time to market the game and will be relying on primarily on some promotions Universal has in the works. But, as is always true, if a kids' movie is successful and the tie-in game is halfway decent, it should sell just fine. Even the famously abysmal "Alvin and the Chipmunks" moved a few hundred thousand units last year. And Brash ex-employees assure me that "Despereaux" is much better.

The deal is so last minute that Brash actually had the game in production when it shut down. So while Atari is publishing, the box art will say Brash. Making this game, in a sense, the last hurrah for Hollywood's (dearly?) departed videogame publisher.

CVG is reporting that the next Lego game from Traveller's Tales will be "Lego Harry Potter." This sounds like a very good bet to me.

After all, Traveller's Tales chief Jon Burton told Variety freelancer Leigh Alexander over the summer that the developer was getting started on Lego games based on the IP of its new corporate parent Warner Bros. Given that Harry Potter is one of WB's most valuable properties, not to mention probably the one that's most kid-friendly and thus appropriate for the Lego formula, it's almost a no-brainer. I'm kind of embarassed I didn't think of it earlier.

I have a feeling we'll all be collecting lego pieces around Hogwarts by the end of 2009.