More than 170 employees have been cut from various THQ studios, including high profile game industry veteran Mark DeLoura (who served as vice president of technology at the company), according to Kevin Dent, chair of the IGDA Mobile SIG. Dent, who is also the CEO of Tiswaz Entertainment and an advisory board member at PlayHaven, said earlier this month that THQ had canceled its entire 2012 line-up. The company vehemently denied that rumor. Yesterday it was revealed that NASDAQ had threatened THQ with being delisted from the U.S.

Nikkei is reporting that Kazuo Hirai will take on a much broader role within the company as its new President. The former President, Howard Stringer will remain as the CEO and chairman of the board, according to the report.

Stringer was named president in 2009 in the hopes that he could turn the company around as its PS3 console battled both the Wii and Xbox 360 for dominance. In 2011 he oversaw the cleanup of one of the biggest security breaches in the company's history.

A TechieBuzz report points out an interesting fact about GoDaddy's initial support of SOPA; that it may have been done as a way to deal with some problems related to some pending legal action against the company by some major Hollywood trade organizations. The report suggests that GoDaddy might have supported the bill to gain immunity from a court-case against the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

According to a Digital Factory investigation, the new dashboard update that was supposed to turn the Xbox 360 into a savvy media-friendly device suffers from one serious problem: reduced video playback quality. What's more, Microsoft reportedly knew about it and covered it up, says this C&VG report. Apparently the update forces video content to run at "limited range RGB levels," which results in washed out colors.

Here's a juicy rumor for you: Netflix is reportedly in talks with Verizon to sell its streaming entertainment service to the top phone and broadband provider. Verizon may be preparing to acquire Netflix as a fast way to build its own streaming video service. Verizon wants to buy Netflix because it is hoping to launch its own streaming video service as early as next year, according to anonymous sources close to the deal. 

A Siliconera report suggests that the next Dead Rising game is already in the works and will have a serious social issue in the context of its story. Capcom is not commenting on the details of the report, save to say that they have not announced anything about the next Dead Rising game. If the report is true, the next paragraph may contain spoilers that will make you sad in your soul. If you think spoilers are bad, then you might want to stop reading right now.

Update: 1c Ukraine’s Sergey Galenkin confirms that GSC Game World has officially closed - as reported by Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

"GSC is closed, a fact confirmed by all. The team is almost completely dissolved, the state has only a few people," wrote Galenkin on his blog. 

Edge Magazine, citing an anonymous source, is reporting that "Xbox 720" development kits will be in the hands of developers by the end of the year. They claim that .developers like Ubisoft Montreal are already using 'target boxes' based on Microsoft's intended and expected specifications for its new console machine. Those that already have them will get new ones by the year's end.

According to a Computer and Video Games report, the next Xbox 360 - which some have been calling the Xbox 720 - is codenamed "Project Ten," will be released during the 2012 holiday shopping season, and will be "going the Apple route." All this comes from technology reporter Paul Thurrott, who says he's been told these things, but doesn't specify any particular source. Thurrott made the claims on the Windows Weekly video show.

While Hewlett Packard's PC division has been saved by returning CEO Meg Whitman, it looks like its tablet OS webOS is dead in the water. While the new CEO says that the company plans to make a decision soon, UK-based paper The Guardian says that the decision has already been made to get rid of the operating system. It will inevitably be replaced by Microsoft's Windows 8 Phone OS.

"We’ll make a decision about the long-term future of webOS within the next couple months," Whitman said during HP’s quarterly earnings call.

Another day, another story about game developer layoffs in Australia. This time it's at the 2K Marin studio in New South Wales. According to a Kotaku report, citing asource who wished to remain anonymous, 15 employees have been laid off from the studio formerly known as 2K Canberra. 2K Marin co-developed BioShock 2, and is reportedly involved in developing a new X-Com project.

According to the International Game Developers Association's (IGDA) Melbourne, Australia chapter, Electronic Arts is set to close the local division of Visceral Games. EA's Visceral Melbourne studio is best known for its work on Dante's Inferno. EA Visceral Melbourne staff will meet with human resources personnel on September 19, to discuss the studio's closure.

"More sad news emerging about #EAVisceral Melbourne studio closure," the IGDA chapter posted on its Twitter account. "Happy to help all affected in any way we can."

According to a Bloomberg report, Sprint will offer the iPhone next month with unlimited data service plans, according to people "familiar with the matter." The country's third-largest carrier (behind AT&T and Verizon) will begin selling the next version of the iPhone, iPhone 5 in mid-October. If the sources cited are correct, Sprint would be the only company in the country to offer iPhone with an unlimited data service for a flat fee. Naturally this would certainly help them draw customers from AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

An interesting story on Bitmob contends that we could see the PlayStation 4 (or whatever Sony plans on calling it) in about 18 months. Citing an anonymous source, who claims to be privy to information from a recent "high-level meeting" at Sony, Bitmob is reporting that the PlayStation 4 will be released in 18 months. Sony gave the usual stock response to the story: "We don't comment on rumors or speculation."

Sydney studio Team Bondi is on the verge of declaring bankruptcy, according to a growing number of online sources. Mostly, the rumors are coming from the Neogaf discussion board, and the claims have not been substantiated by an official representative. While an official "statement is forthcoming," Develop claims that an unnamed company representative declined a request to comment.

Daily Variety, citing unnamed sources at "a few leading European film distributors," is reporting that the popular streaming movie and television subscription service is headed to the United Kingdom and Spain later this year. The report makes logical sense given that Netflix launched in Canada last month, and earlier this month it announced plans to expand into 43 Latin American and the Caribbean countries later this year.

If true, Netflix will enter a market already dominated by several streaming media services such as the Amazon-owned LoveFilm and Mubi. Both are currently available on the PlayStation 3.

One would assume that the service would be available on multiple platforms including Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and 3DS - as well as Internet capable televisions and Blu-Ray players.

We will continue to follow this story as it develops.

Source: Gamasutra

As you probably already know, to play a popular Xbox 360 title on the PC you have to hope that the publisher has released a PC version of it and that it supports the use of the Xbox 360 controller. A rumor today - if true - could change all of that. According to an IndustryGamers report, Microsoft is rumored to be working on providing Xbox 360 support to Windows 8 users. The report adds that the system probably won't support cross-platform play between the platforms, and that Xbox Live for PC would probably still require a subscription fee.

On a related note, Engadget has uncovered some Windows 8 source code that references an "Xbox _360_System_Crash." While this proves nothing it probably wouldn't hurt Microsoft to offer that kind of support for Xbox 360 gamers. I know I'd be happy to play some of my favorite 360 games on my PC.

Fallout Online and a number of other lesser titles may not see the light of day if Interplay doesn't get its financial act together. Or at least, that's what a recent SEC filing from the company indicates. A 76-page filing obtained by website Develop paints a grim picture for the company, who says that it has “substantial doubts" over its "ability to continue as a going concern," and has told investors that it has a cash balance below $3000 and a working capital deficit of $3 million.

“The lack of any credit agreement has resulted in a substantial reduction in the cash available to finance our operations,” the company said in a filing.

You may have heard of Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 disc format and an upcoming firmware update to add support for it, but you may be one of those Xbox 360 owners whose system doesn't support it. The new XGD3 disc standard adds an additional 1GB of useable data to 360 DVDs, but a small number of Xbox 360 systems are having trouble supporting it.

According to Kotaku one beta tester owned such a system, and Microsoft rectified the situation by giving him a new system and a year's worth of Xbox Live Gold. Microsoft has not commented on the story, so this generosity could just be an isolated incident.

"Checking my e-mail earlier today I found a rather interesting message from Xbox Customer Support, saying that a software update is stopping some Xbox 360s from reading game discs," said beta tester Avery Penn.

C|Net is reporting that Sony is considering offering a reward for information leading to those hackers responsible for breaking into its PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment networks that lead to both services being taken down nearly two weeks ago. According to the report, the company has been kicking around the idea of a reward for a while, but has not yet come to a final decision on the matter. Apparently, they are still weighing the pros and cons of offering such reward. If they do agree on it, the report claims, it will be brought before the company's top executives for approval.

CNET's report adds that any reward would have to be offered in cooperation with various law enforcement agencies around the world investigating the security breach including the FBI.

Sony has not publicly commented on this story.

According to a C|Net report a group of hackers is planning another attack on Sony this weekend. C|Net is calling the planned offensive a "major attack" that will target various Sony web sites. The information comes from IRC chatter, observed by an unnamed source. According to the report, the people involved plan to publicize the information they are able to steal from Sony's servers, which could include customer names, credit card numbers, and addresses. The hackers claim they currently have access to some of Sony's servers.

According to a source close to Split/Second and Pure developer Black Rock Studios, 100 staff members are to be laid off. Speaking to Eurogamer, a trusted source says that roughly 100 Black rock employees will face a "voluntary" layoff, leaving about 40 to continue working on current projects. The wholly owned Disney studio has been unable to successfully pitch new project ideas to its parent company, according to the source:

According to an internal document cited by Eurogamer, Nintendo plans to create a budget range of Wii titles. Nintendo plans to introduce a line-up of lower-priced Wii software, which will consist of repackaged first-party titles according to the report. Some of the games that will be part of this range include Mario Super Sluggers, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. These and other titles will retail for $19.99 each.

The launch will supposedly coincide with a Wii system price drop. A new Mario Kart bundle priced at $149 (down from $199) will also be introduced.

The follow-up console to the Wii will be revealed next month during the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. Nintendo has not confirmed that this story is true.

Source: Eurogamer

An All Things Digital report claims that IGN Entertainment will buy video gaming network UGO for an undisclosed amount of money. The report also alleges that parent company News Corp. will spin out the brand new network of game-related sites into a stand-alone company. Based on Comscore traffic numbers for both networks, the combined monthly visitors of this new entity would be around 32.8 million visitors a month. UGO is owned by Hearst and is best known for owning 1Up and a massive game-related ad network.

Plans to spin-off IGN into its own company would take months, and would be headed up by long-time IGN front man Roy Bahat. One can expect that the new company would have a number of redundancies and some staff would have to be let go.

According to an ABC News report, an Adelaide, Australia man is the first official victim of credit card fraud related to Sony’s PlayStation Network security breach. Another report on PS3 hacking site PSX-Scene also alleges that some underground web sites that sell credit card information are trying to sell around 2.2 million credit cards from Europe - which includes user information, credit card numbers, CV numbers and expiration dates. The latter is anecdotal at the moment and has not been confirmed by law enforcement or Sony.

According to several published news reports, Sony plans to halt production of the PSP Go. The story's origins can be traced back to a blog post by a Sony Shop employee at a store in Shinjuku, Tokyo. According to that employee, a Sony representative told his sales manager that the handheld was no longer in production (as translated by Andriasang). The blog post goes on to say that the Japanese Sony online store will no longer allows users to purchase the PSP Go, marking it as "out of stock."

For its part, Sony is not confirming or denying the story. The company issued the following statement:

While rumors last week indicated that Nintendo might slash the price of the Wii console to $150, retailers around the country seem to have taken the matter into their own hands. What we do not know is if these price cuts are sanctioned by Nintendo or if retailers simply decided to slash the price to move stock. Whatever the reasons, the Wii is available at a number of retail outlets for $169.99. Best Buy was apparently the first retailer to list the lower price sometime on Friday, but others soon followed.

Now retailers such as GameStop, Target, Toys 'R' Us, and Amazon have listed the Wii at the same price. Walmart has lowered the price of the white Wii system to $179.

We do not know if this is a permanent price drop, sanctioned by Nintendo, or simply an indication that retailers are losing confidence in the Wii (the latter is doubtful). We will wait and see what happens, but if you do not already own a Wii now is as good a time to buy one as any.

Here's a big fat "IF," predicated on the theory that a recent Engadget rumor about a 25 percent Wii price cut to $150 in May is true. If true, say analysts, the price cut could mean that an even bigger announcement will come from Nintendo: a new game console system. While C&VG is calling it "Wii 2," the at-this-point imaginary new console from Nintendo could be a game changer. Nintendo does not ascribe to the long-haul 10 year life cycle that Sony and Microsoft have adopted. so I guess anything is possible but the IndustryGamers piece is more of a "what if" than rooted in reality..

The speculation comes out of an IndustryGamers story quoting M2 Research analyst Billy Pidgeon, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich, and Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter. Naturally, all of these comments are speculation based on an unconfirmed rumor. It still makes for interesting reading:

According to an Engadget report, citing a "trusted source" Nintendo will cut the price of its Wii console by 25 percent to $150 on May 15.

Last month Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said that a price drop is one of the tools the company might use to extend the Wii's lifecycle.

"The Wii has a long life in front of it," he said at the time. "We're still sitting at $199. There are a variety of marketing tools at our disposal."

The Engadget report further speculates that the timing would be good because it would be a good lead in to the Electronic Entertainment Expo, but by the same token price cuts and E3 go together like peanut butter and jelly. A new game bundle might also be another reason to give the system a price cut..

We'll have more on this story as it develops. Hopefully it's true.

Maybe Microsoft is taking its cues from Sony Online Entertainment's and Playstation Network's launch of Free Realms, or maybe the whole story is the stuff of rumors.. According to "trusted source" speaking to IGN, publishers and developers will be able to release games for free on Xbox Live. Developers and publishers will then be able to allow users to purchase content such as weapons, experience points, in-game currency, perks, and novelty items. The first of these titles is expected to arrive next year, according to the source.

While that is fine, next year seems like a very long time to wait to bring free-to-play to Xbox Live. Microsoft is notorious for controlling micro-transactions on Xbox Live, so it is doubtful that it has suddenly changed its policy. More likely, if it does allow for free-to-play products they will be of the first-party nature.