With its shares dropping 70% in the past year, Sony Corp. announced that it will lay off about 4% of its 186,000-strong workforce (8,000 employees), an additional 8,000 contract employees, cut back on investments by 30%, close several of its overseas manufacturing plants, and pull out of businesses as it is looking to cut $1.1 billion in costs by March 2010. It was not clear whether the games division will be affected, but judging by the large amount of cutbacks, it's hard to imagine that it would not be involved.

Koei's Nobunaga's Ambition: Iron Triangle is an epic historical simulation from legendary game producer Kou Shibusawa where players assume the role of Nobunaga, or of a rival warlord, in their quest to unite Japan under one rule.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles provides a seamless environment for everyone who loves to compete, with no load times, no tracks, and no rules, allowing players to race who they want, when they want, and where they want in a recreation of LA. Rockstar has issued a title update improving AI balance to adjust dynamically to user skill level. The X360 update also adds support for additional leaderboards for tournaments on the Rockstar Games Social Club, broader multiplayer match searching, and upgraded streaming and performance.

War Plan Pacific is a turn-based computer wargame for one or two players (IP based multiplayer capability) covering the entire war in the Pacific from 1941 until 1945. Shrapnel Games is looking for a few good men to ensure smooth sailing.

Playrix Entertainment, known for casual games such as The Rise of Atlantis, Fishdom, 4 Elements and newly-released Call of Atlantis, announced its publishing plans and has already signed several agreements to publish games from external studios.

Killzone 2 throws players back into the midst of a hostile and dramatic ongoing battle between the ISA and Helghast army, delivering intense warfare with lifelike character animations, detailed and destructible environments, realistic physics, and advanced levels of AI.

MadWorld is a third-person action game that has a unique black & white style depicting a sharp backdrop that straddles graphic novels and 3-D worlds, mixing irreverent humor and over-the-top violence. MadWorld will feature ultra-violent ‘Blood Bath Challenges’ which can be played offline multiplayer with your friends or enemies.

Another day, another batch of game trailers was released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for:

• Batman: Arkham Asylum [PS3/X360/PC] - Trailer
• Deadly Creatures [Wii] - Dennis Hopper Trailer
• Mirror's Edge [PC] - PhysX Trailer
• Resident Evil 5 [PS3/X360/PC] - Mutalisk Trailer
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Sins of a Solar Empire will feature several micro-expansions over the next year, starting with Entrenchment which promises to bring fans a Starbase defense platform, turret upgrades to make them more powerful, mine fields and a Subspace Inhibitor platform that will slow enemy ships within its range.

A survey released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project reveals that 53% of American adults play video games and 20% play just about every day. In all, 81% of people between 18 and 29 play games, compared with 23% of people 65 and older, while 50% of all women get their game on, slightly less than males, at 55%. While video games don't make you smarter, the higher your education, the more likely you are to play (57% of gamers went to college, against 40% had less than a high-school education).

Codemasters' Rise Of The Argonauts is an action/rpg set in ancient Greece where you will embark on an epic quest, and encounter legendary figures such as Jason, Hercules and Atalanta.

Mirror's Edge is a first-person action adventure game where you are Faith, a 'runner' framed for murder in a world where communication channels are highly monitored and the movement of human traffic is closely watched.

Trogdor must be stopped! The beefy-armed dragon of legend has broken free from his arcade cabinet and is burninating the land. With classic 8-bit games leaking into the real world and Strong Badia a fiery mess, only Strong Bad can take back the night and conquer this scorching menace once and for all. Does anybody know how to kill a dragon?

Splash Damage announced that Lionhead's Richard Ham, lead designer on Fable II, has joined Splash Damage, known for Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, as creative director where he will head the design team working on an unannounced mystery title being developed with Bethesda Softworks.

Rock Band 2 builds upon the original to introduce co-op band gameplay, multiple instruments, online multiplayer, unparalleled downloadable content and raises the bar by delivering an entirely new level of depth, connectivity, authenticity and features. Revealed last week, Harmonix and MTV Games confirmed that Rock Band is getting a taste of country music for the first time with the addition of the "Going Country" 5-pack.

X-Blades, previously known as Oniblade, is a third-person, anime-style action/adventure. Your heroine wields two magical blades that can be used as swords or guns, and has magical abilities, all of which are upgradeable.

Commander In Chief offers a true, realistic, and entertaining simulation of running a country’s government and taking part in economic, military, political, social, cultural, and foreign affairs by giving you the opportunity to become a head of state or government and make decisions on its behalf. Originally scheduled for release in 2008, CiC has been delayed until inauguration day (Jan 20, 2009).

Another day, another batch of games shipped to stores. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are announcements for:

• Defense Grid: The Awakening (PC)
• Steel Fury: Kharkov 1942 (PC)
• 
  We will update this throughout the day when new announcements become available. Read more for details ...

Halo Wars is a strategy game based on the Halo universe where players will command armies of familiar and new UNSC units in its initial encounters against the Covenant, an alien coalition threatening to obliterate mankind. Originally scheduled for a worldwide release in Feb, 2009, the North American launch has been moved to early March, while the rest of the world is still set for late Feb. 2009.

Burnout Paradise gives players license to wreak havoc in Paradise City, a seamless racing battleground, with massive traffic-heavy roads to abuse. The PC edition will be customized with expanded online features, and community driven content.