Neither Electronic Arts nor THQ have particularly enjoyed the past year. EA has seen share prices plummet and several new game franchises either flounder or walk into a wall of controversy. THQ, meanwhile, was pretty much off the radar entirely until the recent release of “Red Faction: Guerrilla”.

Both companies took some dramatic steps today in an attempt to get back on track.

EA merged developers BioWare and Mythic into a single team, which will focus on role playing games and massively multiplayer online titles. Mythic is responsible for the company’s “Warhammer Online,” while BioWare has developed “Mass Effect” and the upcoming “Star Wars: The Old Republic”.

The move is a big show of confidence in BioWare’s leadership. Ray Muzyka, formerly joint CEO of the company, will oversee the merged division, while BioWare co-founder and joint CEO Greg Zeschuk will become Group Creative Officer. (Mythic founder Mark Jacobs has left the company.)

February video game sales data was just released today and all the data, including the top 10 titles, console sales, and industry growth, are below. But here are your key points:

The industry is slowing, but still growing despite the recession

It's nothing close to the phenomenal 34% growth of the U.S. video game business last year. But 10% when the rest of the economy is contracting is still quite impressive. And software and hardware are contributing virtually evenly to the mix -- a good sign that the hardware cycle isn't slowing and that current gamers aren't cutting back disproportionately on buying new titles.

Microsoft had a good comparison, Sony had a bad one

The 54% jump in Xbox 360 sales is impressive. But you have to remember that last February Xbox 360 sales were dismal, due largely to supply constraints post-holiday and in anticipation of "Grand Theft Auto IV." This past Fall's price cut helped too of course. But nothing as amazing as that 54% number would indicate actually happened for Microsoft. It's just back to where it should be.

Sony, meanwhile, had a decent month, given its recent problems. Sales were almost flat, despite the fact that the PS3 sold unusually well last February (thanks in part to the then-recent victory of Blu-ray, as well as the 360's supply problems). Still, I'm sure Sony would love to see PS3 sales actually grow for a change. The PSP, meanwhile, continues to suffer. No wonder Sony's pushing aggressively for big new titles like "Hannah Montana," "Assassin's Creed," and "LittleBigPlanet" on the device.

 Killzone 2, Street Fighter IV both had solid launches

323,000 units in fifth place isn't bad for a PS3 exclusive that launched on the last Friday of the month. Quite good, in fact.

And Capcom kicked ass, at least as far as February releases go, with "Street Fighter IV," selling 849,000 units across the two high-end consoles. By contrast, Capcom's big sequel last February, "Devil May Cry 4," sold 528,700 on the same platforms.

FEAR 2 and 50 Cent, not so much

Warner Bros.' heavily hyped "FEAR 2: Project Origin," it's first stab at a non-licensed title for the  hard-core market, flopped. Despite launching early in the month, both the PS3 nor 360 versions sold less than 136,000 units. There are all sorts of possible reasons, most notably that in the current economy mid-level hard core titles simply aren't selling. But it's still a bad sign for the studios' ambitions to compete with major publishers that a sequel with relatively good reviews couldn't do better.

"50 Cent: Blood on the Sand," had the same problem, though it did launch late in the month. Still, THQ's expectations may have been more modest, since it bought the former Sierra title from Activision at what was likely a sizable discount off the full development cost.

Remember Nintendo? They're still dominating

There were no major new Nintendo releases, but that didn't slow the House of Mario down too much. It still claimed five of the top 10 games, with another, "Guitar Hero: World Tour" breaking into the top 10 only with its Wii version. Notably, the newest Nintendo game on the top 10, was at #1, "Wii Fit." It's "only" nine months old. "Mario Kart DS," meanwhile, is on the top 10 over three years after its debut.

And the Wii, once again, topped the market, growing 74% -- helped, of course, by easing supply. DS sales were flat, but still well ahead of every other console except the Wii.

It's no surprise that THQ is shuttering or spinning off some development studios given its recent decision to lay off a staggering 24% of its workforce.

But it's perhaps instructive to notice about which of its 11 remaining studios it is now spinning off or selling (after previously closing five). One that really stood out to me on a list reported by Crispy Gamer is Heavy Iron. It has been around since 1999 and has worked on nine titles for THQ in that time. But if you look at its four most recent releases and the one it's currently working on, you'll notice a trend:

Heavy Iron has become THQ's go to studio for lead development on Pixar games. But that deal is about to be over. Disney is taking development of the Pixar games internal starting with 2010's "Toy Story 3." Which pretty much leaves Heavy Iron without a raison d'etre. THQ doesn't have any more licenses to assign. And given how conservative the publisher is now being about original properties, we can't expect it to keep many, if any, internal developers alive for that purpose.

Of course, Disney will probably be on the hunt for talent to help it make Pixar games. The only internal studio it has that focuses on kids' games, Avalanche Software, is already pretty busy making games based on the Disney Animation Studios films. So as Heavy Iron looks for assignments, or its staff looks for new jobs, it's possible they could be working on Pixar games for a new publisher.

What about the other two studios being spun off or sold? Well, Incinerator Studios never really got off teh ground since it was founded in 2006. At the time, the publisher said it looked forward to Incinerator bringing "its own ideas for next generation development." But all it made in its short life was versions of "Cars" for the Wii and 360, "Cars: Mater National" for the PS3 and Wii, the Wii and PS2 versions of "MX vs ATV: Untamed" and Wii/PS2 game "Nicktoons: Globs of Doom." Once again, experience working on Pixar titles probably didn't help.

The fact that those two developers are being spun off as independents, rather than shut down, indicates that some people involved must think they can get work. Which makes some sense given their history working on licenses. The road is tougher for RTS/RPG specialist Big Huge Games, which THQ has said it will either sell or shutter. The publisher only bought it last year, but has apparently quickly given up hope of competing in that space favored only by core gamers. It will probably be an uphill climb to find another publisher or investor willing to bet money on a developer like Big Huge at this time, even given what's probably a dirt cheap price.

In my time covering film development at Variety, one thing I've learned is that when an actor or producers says they're planning to make a movie, that doesn't always mean it's happening. Which is why I've been a bit skeptical at 50 Cent's widely reported claim to be developing a film based on THQ's "Saints Row," apparently made during a conference call today to promote his game "Blood on the Sand."

Sure enough, I checked with THQ, and the publisher would only confirm that "it's something he has expressed interest in."

Well, anybody can be interested in making a movie. Pretty much every producer in Hollywood is interested in making a "Grand Theft Auto" movie, for instance. I'd like to make a "Street Fighter" movie focused on Chun-li in which she's suddenly half-white (damn it!).

But to do anything, you actually have to get the rights. Let alone get a good script, set it up at a studio, put together a budget, etc. etc.

So even in the annals of videogame-to-movie development, most of which never turns into an film at your local theater, consider this alleged news little more than a glint of desire in a talkative artist's eye

Yesterday Electronic Arts reported terrible earnings with an enormous loss. Today THQ reported terrible earnings with an enormous loss.

But EA stock rose 11% today. THQ shares, meanwhile, have plummeted 15% in after-hours trading.

That means investors are actually more optimistic about EA's future than they were yesterday morning, but significantly less optimistic about the future of THQ than when they woke up today.

Why the disparity? In part it's because EA warned investors that it would be missing guidance back in December. THQ didn't provide any update since its last earnings report, in November. So the fact that revenue came in over 10% lower than expected and net loss was $192 million when THQ had said it would make a small profit came with no preparation (even if savvy investors must have sensed it was likely).

The fundamental difference between the two companies, however, is that EA's problem is really one of cost. It's spending too much and launching too many titles. Its revenue was actually up 10% in the December quarter from a year ago. As I wrote yesterday, EA has to recognize it's not the powerhouse it once was and cut costs in a smart way that maintains the products with the most market potential, supported with smarter marketing, made as often as possible for Nintendo's Wii.

At THQ, meanwhile, revenue was down 30%. It didn't just get too big for its britches. Its britches are rapidly shrinking. That's why EA CEO John Riccitiello can justifiably claim "Our expense base is geared to a business that assumes much more revenue." THQ's CEO Brian Farrell couldn't get away with that, since his company can't reliably assume what its revenue is. You know it's a bad sign when a company says the environment is so bad it's can't provide revenue guidance for the current quarter. But that's what THQ did.

Which is probably why investors don't have a lot of confidence THQ's cuts will do the trick, even though it's slashing a jaw dropping 24% of its workforce, compared to EA's 11%. Fundamentally, the two companies' plans are the same: cut back on the number of titles, support the few high end AAA releases aggressively, and develop more for the Wii. As Farrell summarized it: "Focus, focus, focus."

But there's more reason to think that will work for EA. It still has a reliably best selling suite of sports titles, most notably "Madden" and "Fifa." It has sequels to huge franchises like "The Sims" and "Need for Speed." It has a major license, "Harry Potter," that lends itself easily to gameplay. And it has some well respected developers like Bioware bringing out new properties.

THQ, by and large, is a big pile of question marks, beyond its solid annual seller "WWE Smackdown vs Raw." From its new UFC license to core gamer properties "Red Faction: Guerilla" and "Darksiders" to its new "Warhammer 40,000" MMO (we've seen how EA's "Warhammer Online" has struggled), there are no sure sellers. Its' only new positives in recent years have been "Saint's Row" and some decent Wii performers like "De Blob" and "Big Beach Sports."

It used to be that THQ's kids' licensed properties provided a reliable base. But it's about to lose the Pixar license and this year's movie, "Up," looks even tougher to adapt than "Wall-E" and "Ratatouille," both of which had disappointing sales. Nickelodeon properties haven't been performing that well (Farrell diplomatically told me last year "we'd love to see a new hit property from them"). And what it has to replace them are Marvel's new "Super Hero Squad" and a single movie from DreamWorks, "Master Mind." All this at a time when, as Farrell said on today's earnings call, "units for kids' titles are down across the board."

EA, fundamentally, is a company that needs to shrink and regroup. THQ has to stop its freefall and, quite frankly, justify its continuing existence. Nobody doubts that EA will still be around in five years, unless its gets acquired. THQ? As the market is proving, one can't be so sure. And it may not even make for much of an acquisition, since once you lose the licenses, all you're left with are a handful of solid studios, "Saint's Row," and "Warhammer 40,000." How much would you pay for that?

...must have been for THQ's upcoming "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand." At least if this clip from IGN is any indication.

If you've ever been to a voiceover recording for a videogame, you know it's usually one person in a booth saying the same phrasez dozens of times to get multiple usable takes of the hundreds or thousands of different lines their character might be triggered to say.

Given that, how much would you love to be in a room and hear 50 Cent say lines like "Fire in the motherf*cking hole, bitchs!" or "Come on, you and me, f*ckin' p*ssy!" over and over and over? It definitely would have been a lifetime highlight for me.

PS Would it be embarassing to say that, as far as crude shooters aimed at young men that aren't embarased to be exactly what they say they are go, I'm kinda looking forward to this game now? Probably.

(Hat tip: Kotaku)

(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.)

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.

(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

I said Wednesday that we'd have a really good insight into how the videogame industry is weathering the economic storm in Activision Blizzard's earning today. The answer? By a thread.

The nation's most successful videogame publisher didn't reduce guidance or announce layoffs today, which is undeniably good news. It's confident it can still perform as it expected when the economy was better on the back of sure-to-be hit titles like "Guitar Hero: World Tour," "Call of Duty: World at War," and "World of Warcraft: Rise of the Lich King." But the normally ebullient and confident Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, took a decidedly reserved tone with statements like this:

We are reaffirming our full-year outlook, while recognizing our titles still need to perform
well, and there is great uncertainty.

Hard to believe that's the same guy who in July, when Activision Blizzard merged with Vivendi Games, was saying things like, "this transaction marks the beginning of an important new chapter in the history of interactive entertainment."

THQ, as expected, announced layoffs, shuttered studios, slashed its guidance, and said it would focus on "fewer, higher quality titles." Probably a good idea. Full details on both companies performances are in the areticle linked below.

Full story: Activision Blizzard perserveres, THQ dips

We already know things are starting to look a little less rosy for the videogame business after EA announced 6% layoffs last week. I think Wednesday will be the really telling day, however, as both Activision Blizzard and THQ will be reporting their earnings. Assuming Kotaku's reporting today is correct, THQ will be announcing major layoffs, including the closure of five of its 16 studios and layoffs at two more.THQ has been having its own problems for a while, but dramatic cutbacks of that scale suggest that the recession really is impacting the videogame biz.

On Wednesday, THQ reports earnings and we'll find out if things really are as bad as Kotaku is reporting. Even more importantly, on Wednesday we'll hear from Activision Blizzard. It's the financially healthiest of the videogame publishers and is going into the holidays in an incredibly strong position with a "World of Warcraft" expansion coming out, new versions of its uber-successful "Guitar Hero" and "Call of Duty" franchises, and licensed games based on "Madagascar: Back 2 Africa" and "Quantum of Solace," both of which are almost sure to be hits at the box office.

So if ActiBlizzard feels the need to lower its guidance and/or lay off staff, it will be undeniable that the videogame biz can't escape the recession. If it reaffirms guidance and keeps on with business as usual, then that will show that the only thing the recession is really doing to EA and THQ is exacerbating problems that would be slowing them down no matter what.

According to GamesIndustry, based on an Australian ratings board filing, it looks like THQ has picked up "50 Cent: Blood in the Sand" from Activision Blizzard. It was one of numerous Sierra titles that Activision execs chose not to publish after merging with Vivendi Games.

Assuming it's true, that would make it the first rejected Sierra game to officially find a home. I haven't gotten a definite answer yet, but given that THQ is on the hunt for more adult-oriented titles, loves licenses, and this fits pretty nicely with its "Saints Row" franchise, it wouldn't be too surprising.

Other titles that were kicked to the curb by ActiBlizzard but were far enough along in development that they could easily come out if a new publisher works out a deal include:

-"Ghostbusters." Sony Pictures has said it plans to put it out with a new publisher sometimes in 2009. But no word on who it will be.

-"Brutal Legend." There were rumors it would be picked up by MTV, but I shot those down in August. Now, despite indications a deal would get done quickly, we're still waiting.

-"Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena," Starbreeze's quasi-sequel to 2005's well received "Escape from Butcher Bay." From what I hear, license holder Universal is still working with Activision Blizzard to find a new publisher.

Wow. Two of our strongest reviews of the year have come in the same week. First there was "Silent Hill: Homecoming" and now we have another in "de Blob," which Variety critic Tom Chick calls "a wonderfully simple, infectiously enthusiastic joyride." I've edited a good number of review by Tom and trust me, he doesn't get that enthusiastic very often.

For those who don't know, "de Blob" started as a project by nine students in Amsterdam to present their city's urban renewal. After it showed at festivals and won awards, THQ picked it up and decided to turn it into a full-fledged Wii release. Little independent project getting adapted by a bit company sounds like a bad recipe, but it appears THQ and developer Blue Tongue pulled it off. Tom was entranced by the wildly creative visuals, the "cooly fluid" soundtrack that adds "aural color" to the experience, and the level design that can be finished quickly but makes it easy to get lost (in a good way). And how often do you see a sentence like this in a videogame review? " It's so visually and musically rich that watching is nearly as captivating as playing." We don't need online multi-player here.

But I think the sentence that really convinced me I have to play this game (as soon as I have a break from all the titles I'm reviewing and check out "Silent Hill: Homecoming" on Leigh Alexander's endorsement) is this one, which was like an arrow stuck in this gamer's heart: "The only thing remotely like it is the madcap Japanese videogame series 'Katamari Damacy.'"

With so many huge AAA shooters and sequels coming out this fall, though, can "de Blob" find an audience? Or at least become the cult hit it apparently deserves to be? That's the big question, I'm thinking, and the challenge for THQ.

Here's an full excerpt from Tom's review:

"de Blob's" gameplay is akin to giving an artist a blank canvas. Players roll a gelatinous blob that picks up paint and splashes it around colorless city streets. There's a satisfying sense of havoc and beauty as the monochrome backdrop comes alive in brilliant reds, yellows, purples, and more (the inclusion of brown was the only unwise choice). As the city transforms, stray paint is splashed and trailed all over the place, making it look like the art studio of some mad genius trafficking in primary colors. In addition to newly lurid buildings, trees, cars and billboards, even the sad grey citizens become dancing, cheering, candy-colored pips. The only thing remotely like it is the madcap Japanese videogame series "Katamari Damacy."

And you can read the whole thing right here.

Keycards? Check. Exploding barrels? Check. Tedious boss battles? Check and check.

As I wrote in my just posted review, THQ and Heavy Iron's adaptation of "Wall-E" has all those elements, which is maybe not all that surprising for a family movie adaptation, but particularly disappointing given how quirky and original and romantic the new Pixar animated movie is.

Just take a look at the screenshot  above. Yes, that's the cuttle little robot "Wall-E" running around with a laser gun mowing guys down. As if he's Master Chief or something.

Sure, I can appreciate that turning "Wall-E" into a game isn't as easy as "Cars" or "Kung Fu Panda." But "Wall-E" is such a thoughtful and inspiring movie, and the film's huge commercial potential so certain to generate initial interest in the game, that it seems like a great opportunity to take some risks and prove that a videogame based on an animated film doesn't have to be a lame collection of game mechanics that were boring 10 years ago pumped out with plenty of problems in order to meet a release date.

But that's exactly what the "Wall-E" game is. Plus it takes less than five hours to finish. Even by the standard of licensed kids' games, that's really weak.

Here's an excerpt from my review, which runs in tomorrow's Daily Variety:

Developer Heavy Iron certainly had a tough task in adapting "Wall-E" into a game. This isn't "Cars" or "Kung Fu Panda," where the toon naturally fits into an existing game genre. But turning Wall-E into a "Master Chief"-like killing machine with a laser or sending Eve on timed flying races isn't the answer. Puzzle solving more naturally fits Wall-E's inquisitive personality, but the game's puzzles are so straightforward and repetitive that they won't challenge anyone old enough to hold onto a controller.

And you can read the whole thing here.

In tomorrow's Daily Variety: THQ has nabbed a long-term deal to make games based on Marvel's upcoming animated series aimed at little kids: "Super Hero Squad."

Makes pretty obvious sense for THQ, which has had a lot of success with kids games based on the Nickelodeon and Pixar licenses.

What's notable here is that THQ is banking on a license before it's a success. Well, sort of. Certainly the Marvel heroes are well known. But in their incarnations as brightly colored little guys with big heads, they're new. The "Super Hero Squad" series won't hit TV until 2009 and Marvel doesn't even have a network signed up to air the show yet (though it surely won't have much trouble finding one).

I spoke to THQ CEO Brian Farrell and Marvel's head of videogames Simon Phillips for the story and they both commented that they hope this is the start of a longer-term relationship between the two.

It's especially important since THQ's lucrative deal with Pixar is likely coming to an end. There's "Wall*E" this year, "Up" next year, then in 2010 Disney Interactive is adapting "Toy Story 3," then THQ has "Newt" in 2011 and the deal is up. A lot of people in the industry will be shocked if Disney Interactive doesn't start making all the Pixar-based game after that.

Here are a few other interesting comments from Farrell:

You just made a deal for DreamWorks Animation's 2010 film "Master Mind" and now this. Are you on a new licensing spree?

We're all about building big entertainment brands in the videogame space and we think this Marvel deal is more of what we have done very well. If you look at the Dreamworks deal, I think the reason we won that is execution. They’ve seen that we outperformed "Shrek 3," which is a great videogame property, with "Ratatouille," which isn't obviously one. It's about our ability to understand that younger demo space and execute well on the game, marketing and at retail.

But you recently said on an earnings call that both "Ratatouille" and your Nickelodeon games last year didn't sell as well as you had hoped. What's the reason for that?

If you look at game quality in the kids space, we lead that. Last year, "Ratatouille" was a great film, but didn’t translate well into any consumer products. We've done over 4 million units of "Ratatouille," which a lot of people blown away by for a property that doesn’t translate.

We have a great relationship with NIckelodeon. We’d love to see a new hit property from them.

Your deal for "Master Mind" is just a single movie. But given that DreamWorks Animation's long-term deal with Activision is ending, are you hoping to be their new partner for a while to come?

The "Master Mind" license does include sequel rights, or if becomes series. We don’t like one-off deals. We like long term deals... and to the extent that there's a sequel or a series, it can be long term. For us it’s about building a relationship.

Just because a publisher issues a press release doesn't mean we have to print it as news.

Case in point: THQ brags in a press release headline that "THQ's Nickelodeon Portfolio Surpasses Billion Dollar Mark as Company Announces Extensive New Lineup for 2008." The same day, numerous game websites run stories with a headline focused on that $1 billion number. They include Kotaku, Joystiq, 1up, IGN, GameDaily, the Escapist, GameIndustry.biz, and probably plenty of others. (Note: I'm not including sites that just reprint press releases, clearly labeled as such, with no introduction or comment.)

For the record, that's old news. THQ announced that in February as part of its last earnings report, when it stated, "During the quarter, total lifetime Nickelodeon franchise net sales surpassed $1 billion..."

I understand why THQ wants to re-emphasize that fact as it unveils its new slate of Nick games, but I don't think journalists should be re-printing it as exciting news.

Just as importantly, nobody should be taking it as evidence that THQ's Nick games are doing great (as several of the sites linked above did). Along with that February earnings report, THQ CEO Brian Farrell said on a conference call with analysts that "In a very competitive year for kids titles, ‘Ratatouille’ and our Nickelodeon titles did not perform to forecast." (As I wrote on this blog at the time.)

So, THQ revealed the details on its upcoming NIckelodeon-based games. There's the actual news.

Activision's relationship with DreamWorks Animation has been probably the most stable in the videogame biz for as long as I've been covering it. It's like that marriage you thought would last forever.

While other movie studios constantly flirt with different videogame publishers -- and vice-versa -- Activision has consistently put out two games per year, based on every single one of DreamWorks' toons (save for a little spat over 2005 bomb "Wallace and Gromit," which DWA just distributed for Aardman). Hell, sometimes they've been so in love that Activision has put out extra games based on DreamWorks characters, like "Shrek Super Slam" and this fall's second "Kung Fu Panda" game.

But just like with my parents (whoa! too personal?), even the most seemingly perfect relationships can end suddenly. So it is with these two, as DreamWorks Animation announced that it is moving onto THQ starting with the fall 2010 movie tentatively titled "Master Mind." Activision is already committed to make games based on DreamWorks toons through spring 2010's "Shrek Goes Fourth."

What's the reason? According to DreamWorks, it's simple: It went out to the market for "Master Mind" and THQ made the best offer. Activision, for whatever reason, wouldn't or couldn't step up to the plate.

The THQ deal may just be a one-time fling, however. DreamWorks isn't making any commitments. What happens in 2011 and beyond? Will it commit to THQ? Try out some other suitors? Go back to Activision?
We'll have to wait and see. Love can be fickle.

For more details, check out the story on Variety.com.

THQ's new music/rhythm entrant "Battle of the Bands" is out and Variety critic Leigh Alexander doesn't have too many nice things to say about it. She likes the core idea: "A competition between two genres of the same song... players can be privy to a disco 'Blitzkrieg Bop' or even a surprisingly lovely Spanish-language mariachi version of Def Leppard's 'Photograph,'  only to hear the genre flip again when the other team, controlled by a friend or the computer, has its moment in the sun."

But the controls aren't up to par, the graphics are "terrible, even for the underpowered Wii," and the characters designs "aim for edgy but land squarely on obnoxious."

Leigh makes two particularly important points I wanted to highlight. One is that if you define your characters entirely by the musical genre they play, well, you're not going to get the most racially sensitive characters. So we end up with "some questionable portrayals of redneck country singers and bling-bling black rappers." Maybe "Resident Evil 5" isn't the only game that could use a little more racial sensitivity in a diverse world.

Also: It's understandable that developers want to make more games for the Wii given how well it's playing and given the relative lack of quality games for the console. But as Leigh says, "only certain types of games make solid Wii titles." And a game that requires precise timing and movement detection isn't one of them, since we all know the Wii's motion sensor more gets the gist of what you're doing then exactly what you're doing. "This one," Leigh concludes, "probably would have worked better as a timed tapper on the DS, along the lines of "Elite Beat Agents."

Read the whole review right here.

Yesterday Disney unveiled its feature animation slate all the way through 2012, as we detailed at length in Variety. It includes two movies a year -- in most cases one from hit factory Pixar and one from the less successful (these days) Disney Animation Studios.

That has some big implications for THQ and Disney Interactive Studios, the Mouse House's own videogame publishing arm. As I reported in February, DIS got the rights to publish a game based on "Toy Story 3," which comes out in 2010, but THQ still has one game left in its deal with Pixar, which was made before the animation studio was acquired by Disney, after this year's "Wall*E" (which looks like it could make a natural puzzle/exploration game) and next year's "Up" (pictured left, about 78 year-old on some kind of adventure with a little kid -- a movie starring an old man looks like even less of an obvious game than "Ratatouille," which didn't do very well for THQ).

So we can probably assume that one of Pixar's two 2011 toons (2011 is an odd year in which Pixar will actually have two games) will turn into a game for THQ -- either "Newt," a romantic comedy about two mismatched amphibians, or "The Bear and the Bow," a mythical adventure set in Scotland. I think it's safe to bet which one THQ would prefer to get, but we'll see whether it has to deal with the romantic comedy instead.

Another question left unanswered... THQ made the original "Cars" game, which was a big hit, plus this year's follow-up "Mater-national." But does it get to keep making "Cars" games through 2012's "Cars 2?" Does it lose that right at some point? I'll be looking into it.

Meanwhile, there's a lineup of Disney animated films  for which we can safely bet DIS will be making game adaptations. They include all of the Disney Animation Studios releases: this year's "Bolt," 2009's "The Princess and the Frog, 2010's "Rapunzel," and 2012's "King of the Elves." Also, as we already know, it's doing the game based on Pixar's 2010 release "Toy Story 3." And then there's a good chance it will do one of the Pixar films -- either "Newt" or "The Bear and the Bow' -- in 2011 and probably "Cars 2" in 2012.

Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks that EA's bid for Take-Two signifies a period of consolidation coming to the videogame business. Take a look at the performance of several small and mid-sized publishers' stocks Monday, none of whom had any news of their own:

THQ: Up 10% to $9.65

Midway: Up 7% to $2.19

Atari: Up 13% to $1.61

Anybody want to take bets on how many of those companies, along with some European publishers like Eidos and maybe even Ubisoft, will still be independent a year from now?

Most videogame blog readers aren’t particularly interested in kids’ games, for obvious reasons. But as data has come in for 2007 sales, some really interesting stories have emerged.

THQ has grown its business on large part on kids licenses in the past few years, primarily based on Nickelodeon Shows and Pixar movies. But as part of a disappointing holiday earnings report that saw net income fall 75% to $15.5 million, neither license worked. “In a very competitive year for kids titles, ‘Ratatouille’ and our Nickelodeon titles did not perform to forecast,” CEO Brian Farrell said succinctly on a conference call with analysts.

(It’s worth noting that Disney/Pixar in general had trouble licensing “Ratatouille” products, since the main character is a not-so-adorable rodent It’s also worth noting that last year’s “Cars” continues to be a huge success. THQ specifically mentioned follow-up game “Cars: Mater-National” as a solid seller.)

So if Nickelodeon and Pixar didn’t work in kids games this year, what did? The same things as on TV and, as we just saw this week, the movies: “Hannah Montana” and “High School Musical.” That’s good news for Disney Interactive Studios, which has been on a bit of a tear recently, underneath the radar of many of the mainstream game press.

Take a look at these statements from the Walt Disney Company’s earnings report, released yesterday: “[Consumer products] operating income growth was primarily due to increases at Merchandise Licensing and Disney Interactive Studios… The growth at Disney Interactive Studios was primarily due to the success of new self-published titles based on 'High School Musical' and 'Hannah Montana'  in the current quarter, partially offset by higher video game development costs.”

Just last week, as part of a press release announcing a spring date for its third “High School Musical” game in under a year, DIS noted that it shipped 3.8 million units of the previous two in 2007. That’s a hell of a lot of games, and a very healthy business considering that, based on what I’ve seen, the development costs were probably a fraction of  typical best-selling titles.

Ironically, a lot of people have noted how Disney Interactive seemed to be in a bad situation since the most valuable titles in its parent company’s library – the Pixar pics – have been licensed out. Last year, however, DIS turned out to have the right film and TV properties  at the right time.

[That being said, it's widely expected that when THQ’s deal expires in 2010, Disney Interactive will eagerly start handling the Pixar games.]